I woke up the next day with Hawk embracing me. I noticed this long ago, but I was once again reminded that Hawk was not a morning person. It took forever for him before waking up for breakfast. As expected, he didn’t bring up about last night.

Cheers roared upon our arrival on the plaza. Thankfully, people respected us enough not to get close to us.

“I dislike the situation.” Commented Hawk.

“Why?”

“Kin is not only the only Player in the tournament without an Artefact. He is also the only top Player without one. If this were a story, he would definitely receive Chorale.” Elaborated Hawk.

---

Once we arrived near the center of plaza, we immediately noticed three stands covered in bronze, silver, and gold respectively.

“It is now 10 A.M. The final day of the tournament. Kin, Hawk, Blitz, and Dove good luck in the rest of your matches.”

Hawk and Kin faced off at the center of the plaza. Hawk had both of his swords out. Noticing this, Kin commented, “No single-sword bait tactics?”

“Not part of the plan.” Replied Hawk.

As soon as the Duel, instead of the usual run at each other, both Players revealed their new Abilities. Thick roots appeared from the ground and gently entangled Kin’s and engulfed him in a green aura. At the same time, Hawk activated his new Ability: Snowflake Paradise. Ten differently shaped snow sigils appeared in a circular formation behind me. Both intrigued and wary of the other’s new Ability, neither Player made a move. This decision confirmed that neither Player’s Ability had a time limit.

Kin took the first step, moving rightwards by one step. Hawk imitated Kin’s movement, leaving them in the same position relative to each other. Noticeably, both Player’s Abilities followed their user’s movement.

Twenty seconds. This was the amount of time where nothing happened. Both Players either didn’t move or simply moved a step sideways.

Finally, Hawk broke the standstill and dashed towards Kin. Kin, being the more defensive Job Class, stayed put and defended himself. The moment their swords connected, Hawk withdrew his blade and struck again. Kin blocked and countered with a vertical swing overhead, which Hawk ducked and avoided. Hawk swept kicked Kin, but Kin strengthened his foot and was unaffected. He immediately swung down at the crouched Hawk. Hawk rolled to the side an attacked Kin’s flank. Kin blocked successfully but was thrown a bit off balance. Hawk capitalized and spin kicked Kin. Surprisingly, Kin was able to get a hold of Hawk’s foot, forcing Hawk to jump back and let Kin regain his footing.

Hawk immediately circled around and leapt back towards Kin. Kin blocked the attack; however, Hawk persisted in circling around to attack him. Hawk continued to make unorthodox offensive maneuvers to keep up the pressure against the more skilled Kin.

When their swords connected for another time, Hawk headbutted Kin for 1% damage. He immediately spun and connected at Kin’s torso with Icebrande for another 6%. One of the sigils behind Hawk disappeared at the same time one appeared on Kin’s torso where he was hit.

Kin’s utilized Enrichment Roots. Enrichment Roots immobilized the target and then healed the target. Enrichment Roots’ duration was equal to its cooldown. After less than two and a half second, Kin was back full Health.

Hawk, who was a distance from Kin, said, “3% Health regen per second at permanent uptime when I do 6% per hit. How is that balanced?”

“You knew fully well about this Ability beforehand. Stop acting you’re surprise.”

“I didn’t expect to deal 6% per hit with Icebrande. I used to deal 11% minimum. Guess that root around your body reduces damage taken.”

“Armoring Root blocks 5% damage against any attack that deals more than 5%. You are especially weak to it since you rely on multiple but weak damage instances. Of course, it has permanent uptime like Enrichment Root”

Surprisingly, Kin revealed both the name and properties of his Abilities. It could be a lie, but the truth would be revealed one day and if he lied now, his reputation would worsen. Also, Kin wasn’t a liar from what I knew.

“Thc… I wish you were lying but my observation confirms not.”

“Even so, this snowflake on my torso worries me.”

Hawk continued to attack. Ideally, he didn’t want to receive attack as well, since that would transfer the snowflake back to him. Since Kin was playing defensively, it wasn’t that impossible; however, it was very difficult for Hawk to hit Kin and inflict the snowflakes as well.

After the ten second of duration of Enrichment Root, the Players traded hits. Hawk hit with both blades while Kin hit Hawk. Hawk’s damage was irrelevant since Kin healed it with Enrichment Root before Hawk could successfully strike again. Hawk took 11% from the hit. Kin had two Snowflakes on his body while Hawk had one plus the seven behind him.

The battle continued. The same pattern repeated multiple times. When Hawk lost half of his Health, Kin, while full Health, had six snowflakes on his body. Also, Kin’s breathing was ragged; he was clearly in pain. In contrast, Hawk didn’t show a sign of suffering at all.

Despite the Health advantage, the Golden Warriors showed worry on their faces. No one knew the effects of Snowflake Paradise. Despite this, Kin continued his play: fighting normally when not Immobilized and extremely defensively when Immobilized.

At one point, Hawk and Kin’s swords were inches from the other’s body with Hawk’s landing first by a few milliseconds. Hawk activated Skadi’s Caress and hit. Utilizing’s Skadi’s Caress’ Mini-stun allowed Hawk to avoid the attack as well as land another one.

Hawk tried to capitalize on Skadi’s Caress, but Kin played extremely defensively during Skadi’s Caress for ten seconds even though Skadi’s Caress only lasted around six seconds on Kin. Unfortunately, Hawk was unable to land an additional hit on Kin.

Dancing around the field, neither committed unforced errors. Anyone could see they were performing at the best of their skills; however, the gap in skill began to show. Kin slowly but surely overwhelmed Hawk as he began to take the offensive.

Hawk failed to delay long enough for Skadi’s Caress cooldown and took another strike along the way, but he was able to barely launch out a counterattack as the strike hit him. Hawk willingly took another hit once Skadi’s Caress cooled down. While down to a fourth of his Health, Hawk landed three attacks during Skadi’s Caress duration. He successfully achieved his goal—to inflict all ten snowflakes on the enemy.

While I know Hawk’s plan, most of the people watching had a rough idea already. While they didn’t know exactly how, they knew Hawk, using the snowflakes, would try to burst down Kin from full Health. They knew this was realistic because the setup was far too difficult to do if this wasn’t the result. Also, this was the only way to defeat Kin—extremely high damage over a very short period of time.

Unfortunately, Skadi’s Caress was necessary in the burst, but Hawk was forced to use it preemptively to land the last two strikes. This meant Hawk had to delay for another cooldown while maintaining the ten snowflakes on Kin. Also, this was Hawk’s final Skadi’s Caress. Snowflake Paradise had an extremely high Mana Cost.

Hawk’s and Kin’s sword pierced through the opposite’s owner. Thankfully, Kin landed first, which allowed Hawk to maintain the status and finally achieve the final scenario one hit away from losing.

Within striking range of Kin, Hawk activated Skadi’s Caress and triggered one of the snowflakes for and dealt 4% for the bursting snowflake and 1% for Skadi’s Caress. For reference, I take around 8-9 percent from a snowflake explosion. The mini-stun allowed Hawk to land two sword attacks for 6% and 3% plus 1% for each Skadi’s Caress. Once the mini-stun from the second strike ended, Hawk burst a second snowflake for 4% and 2%. He followed with an Icebrande strike for 7% and 2% into a third snowflake for no damage and 2%.

Unfortunately, the snowflake entered the 5% block minimum of Kin’ second Ability due to the increasing Chain Gauge. Even so, Hawk continued with another sword strike for 4% and 2%. Hawk exploded the fourth snowflake for 1% and 3%. Hawk attacked with Icebrande before needing to explode another snowflake to chain-stun Kin for a total of 14%. Three seconds had passed since Hawk began his combo, leaving Kin at 53% Health.

The fifth snowflake exploded for 1% and 3% and with it, another sword strike for 5% and 3%. A sixth snowflake and an Icebrande strike dealt damage of 1, 3, 8, and 4 percent. This was followed by a regular sword strike for 5% and 4% and the seventh snowflake for 2% and 4%. Kin was down 20% Health; however, this marked the end of another three seconds

Despite not maximizing the chain-stun, Hawk exploded the three-remaining snowflakes to maximize Skadi’s Caress damage. The reason was obvious: Skadi’s Caress was at his last moment.

“No!” I exclaimed as I glued my eyes on the damage dealt. I wanted to run towards Hawk… to help him…

The increase in Chain Guage brought Skadi’s Caress into 5% territory, blocking it. Only the Snowflake Damage went through; 3% each. Why? Did it really need to leave Kin at exactly 11% Health?

Hawk fully utilized the final mini-stun of Skadi’s Caress and swung diagonally at Kin. Kin; dazed, pained, and tired; barely blocked Hawk’s attack in time, which threw Kin off balance.

“Please!” I cried out.

Hawk did not give up. Hawk had exactly three seconds to land another strike before Kin regenerated out of danger range. Hawk capitalized on Kin’s worse conditions and aggressively attack him.

Towards the tail end of the three seconds, Hawk and Kin traded strikes. Hawk hit milliseconds earlier but left Kin at 11% Health again. Hawk was the same, he had regenerated enough life to live at exactly 11%.

Kin switched to complete defense. Hawk attacked and attacked, slowly breaking through. The crowd probably cheered. I heard nothing. The only thought in my head was praying for Hawk’s victory.

As if history repeated itself, Hawk broke through two seconds later and the two traded blows. Since Hawk’s Chain Gauge was broken, Kin only lost 6% to Icebrande, leaving him at 11% for a third time.

This was also the final time as Hawk did not regenerate enough Health to survive the strike. The crowd probably silenced in awe, but I cared not. I rushed as fast as I could to Hawk. I had to take care of him.

Both Players collapsed to the ground but with different reasons. Kin lost consciousness to the pressure, pain, and tiredness. Hawk fell to the agony of defeat. It was at this moment that the crowd cheered louder than ever before.

As I neared the two, I noticed the Golden Warriors rushing to Kin as well. When I finally, arrived, Hawk stood and turned. While his head was down, I could see tears dropping down. I went closer to embrace him, but he simply touched my shoulder and went back to Canary and Kiwi.

The rest of the Golden Warriors carried the unconscious Kin back to the Inn to rest. Players didn’t normally feel pain. The pain only started once Player took Damage of more than 100% due to healing. Hawk and I tested this after I felt pain during the fight against the Sewerberus.

I breathed deeply and calmed myself. Hawk did not want my comfort now. If I did, I would lose concentration for my Duel against Blitz. I settled my emotions and brought myself back to reality. When I came to, Alcor had already did his speech and Blitz had reached my vicinity.

I will not lose. I cannot lose.

[Enrichment Roots]

Heals a three percent of a target’s Health every second. Lasts 10 Seconds.

Range: Single-target; Clear Vision

Cooldown: 10 Seconds

[Snowflake Paradise]

User is imbued with ten Snowflakes. One Snowflake is transferred to the attack recipient whenever a person with a Snowflake successfully lands a weapon attack. User is able to detonate Snowflakes at any time and any range instantly for moderate Damage.

Range: Self-target

Cooldown: 40 Seconds.