"—Boom!" the vagabond exclaimed, snapping his fingers as he did so. This prompted an immediate reaction from Castellanos, who instinctively covered his head by crossing his massive arms, hunching his posture and instinctively expanding his metallic defense.
However... the powerful Fireball never came.
"Ha! Gotcha! Three-nil, demon!" Tori, still suspended over Carlino, jeered triumphantly. The demon, bewildered for a couple of seconds, managed only to clumsily lash out with his arm's backside. Tori, however, anticipating this move, attacked using the energy he had indeed accumulated. Although there was nothing resembling a fireball, the energy served the vagabond well as he used it to propel himself up to shoulder height. Thus, he struck Castellanos' clavicles with both palms, finally breaching his barrier. "Bigger isn't synonymous with stronger!" the young mage commented, referring to the weakened resistance of the demon's shield, a consequence of the abrupt and uncontrolled increase in its size.
After landing the double blow, Tori landed several meters away from the demon, panting, with one hand and knee on the ground. He was certain he had at least broken the demon's fragile right clavicle joint. "First bone broken! Four-nil, this is starting to be pathetic..." he said, feigning concern for the demon. Antorique, already on his feet, began jumping in place, shaking his joints and trembling his body in an attempt to recover from the previous strain, then to replenish his energy.
Castellanos, on the other hand, had been forced to lean on the ground. The ground beneath him looked sunken from the impact Tori had just inflicted upon him. Slowly, the demon stood up and let out a huge laugh.
"Well, very well! Since the sword-wielding mage in Valtoria, I hadn't received such humiliating damage..." Despite his words, Castellanos' tone was one of obvious relief. "I congratulate you, peasant! I cannot deny you're clever..." he continued with another laugh. "But you're weak... and you're going to die here," he concluded, looking at Tori with macabre eyes and a predatory smile.
"Bah! Did you really expect the Fireball? My nature is Yin Fire. It's those with Yang nature who can afford to throw bombs," said Tori, shrugging. "But I won't lecture you on polarities; it's clear you didn't do your homework." Tori smiled, inhaling slowly through his nose, trying to regain some of the energy he had lost. Even if everything related to the Fireball had been a performance, the energy expenditure was absolutely real.
"Bravo, peasant. But what are you going to do now?"
"Are you going to ask me out to improve your grade?"
"I won't fall for the Fireball trick a second time, which means you're harmless again."
"I don't date guys, nor demons."
"I could say you wasted your chance to win... But you never had it; that blow was the best you had. Now it's over," Castellanos spoke with restrained bloodlust, boasting the movement of his right arm. "Ah! The joint. I can replace it with muscles and tendons, this body has that facility," he said arrogantly, pointing to the horn adorning his head.
"Oh! When you feel like you're in advantage, you really like to talk..." Tori said, rolling his eyes and making a grimace of annoyance. "Well, let's talk... Do you know what I think, demon? You never took the time to learn or train; you just absorbed disordered and raw knowledge from the people you killed to become strong."
"And is that wrong?" Carlino Castellanos let out a laugh. "I don't need to know all the theoretical details, not about elements, nor about meridian paths. At least not to kill you..."
"Well, that's partly true..." thought Tori as Castellanos leaped towards him with his spiraling Earth-piercing attack. The vagabond blocked it using his left palm on the demon's elbow, but the outline of the Spiral managed to open a wound on his shoulder, destabilizing him. Castellanos quickly took advantage of this to strike him in the face with the back of his other hand. Tori fell and rolled on the ground, evading a series of stomps from a malicious and entertained demon who had always enjoyed the moments before ending his prey. Finally, he managed to land a kick to the vagabond's stomach, making him spit saliva and fly several meters.
Tori made an effort to get up before receiving another blow and took a long leap backwards to gain distance.
"It's sad for you, mage. But this is over. And if you're as smart as you pretend to be, you already know it. I'll use all the theory I absorb once I've eliminated you, and so your effort will have been worthwhile." The malicious excitement in Castellanos' smile surpassed what was possible in a human being. "Yin Fire," it sounds weak, and yet you're exhausted...
"Not like you, that even using more than one element, have a larger reserve? Oh, how you like to talk..." Tori added, for the first time in the battle with a hint of frustration. The mage searched his pockets, pulling out the lighter he still had. He lit the object and brought the flame to his right palm, causing it to be completely covered by Fire.
"Another trick... Another weak trick."
"Oh, hush! Let's play a little more! If you bore me, you lose, lesser demon," Tori declared, opening his legs in the classic horse stance, with slightly more weight on the rear, and raising both hands, covered in fire, forming a classic guard of Fengnian martial arts. The young mage had an expression of genuine and childlike annoyance.
"Ha! You've decided to die fighting... Very well!" said Castellanos, preparing to finally end Antorique Veluard's life.
