"He becomes nothing more than a beast, starved for blood. I tried to quell that nature, but it's quite engraved in him." Draven sighed.

"Your madness is starting to influence him," Remulus looked to have grown more wrinkles. "Still, what other weaknesses does this demon state have? Becoming a beast that can't discern friend from foe is one."

Draven stood up and cleared the table, dusting off his hands. He rubbed his chin in pondering before answering. "It's too much for him. The demon state utilizes everything he has and ramps it up with the fusion of Ein and Reis. But it's all instinct, no reasoning behind it."

After a moment of silence, Draven resumed. "He moves beyond his limits, but that damages his body. But he can't feel pain in that state. Despite everything an enemy can throw at him and what he does to himself, he'll keep going until his bones are dust."

"So an adequate strategy is to keep wasting time until he falls under the weight of his own power. Without his mind to know when to rest or hold back, that will be inevitable." Remulus chuckled. "I am curious to know what will happen if he can accomplish without needing that demon state."

"Who knows?" Draven shrugged and walked away. "Now stop bothering me."

…….

Orden dragged his body forward, short of breath and bleeding from the various injuries from Oscar's destructive attacks that surpassed all logic and knowledge Orden knew of. He blinked once, and Oscar came into view, taking slow steps toward him. As always, the air was eerily calm and silent around Oscar, except for the light steps that dug into Orden's ears, beating like the hands of a clock.

This demon, no, death itself, was coming for him. He would accept no excuses and show no mercy; only the desire to wipe others from existence could be seen from the abyss that was his dark eyes.

"I guess I bit off more than I could chew." Orden cracked his shoulder, setting the bone back in place, and smashed his hammer against the wall to rouse himself. As the rubble tumbled down from the broken wall, Orden flashed a smile and continued walking. "If you want to kill me, then do it now. But be careful. I won't give up my life that easily. You don't look to be in great shape either."

Although Oscar had handled his twenty-multiple hammer strikes well, the bleeding wounds over Oscar's body told a different story. 'I thought my Earthen Echo was not working, but that's not the case. He's constantly been taking the Earthen Echo twenty times per strike, leading to those wounds. I must preserve and keep at it until he finally falls from the accumulated damage.'

Though he had a plan, Orden paled from the pain of his wounds. Some wounds were more painful than others because of Oscar's Shattering Wave that wrecked the flesh around them. If this continued, Orden would be on the floor instead of Oscar.

"Come. Try to kill me." Orden growled. "Either you fall first, or I do."

However, after taking a few steps, Oscar vomited blood and fell to a knee without uttering a single cry or groan. Blood flowed down Oscar's face, not just from the lips but the eyes, two rivers of teary blood dripping down his cheeks.

"Are you at your limits?" Orden said.

Oscar stomped his foot as his muscles tensed, his cold gaze fixated on Orden. In a burst from his feet, Oscar charged ahead toward Orden.

Orden smiled. A vision of victory finally revealed itself. "You can't maintain that state for long, can you? Perfect, I was going to use this method anyway, but now I have a better chance to win."

His hands lifted as the Ein around him flickered and turned into sand. The sand swirled around him like a hurricane and picked up the dust, sand, and fine dirt from the floor to become larger. Orden dodged Oscar's wild strike and retreated into obscurity, sighing in relief. "Sorry, I don't like to win this way, but we are Exalts, and anything goes."

Oscar and his deer anima stuck close, but Oscar's body was deteriorating at a fast rate. Blood spewed out from his wounds and even splurted from some unmaimed parts. His body had gone beyond its limits, but Oscar did not feel any pain and continued to run around, searching for Orden.

Orden threw his hammer with all his might toward Oscar, who dodged by ducking. The hammer forcibly moved down against the momentum, coming down on Oscar's head. But again, Oscar deflected the hammer by spinning and retaliated against it.

More blood flowed from Oscar's old and new wounds from the churning waves of twenty earthen echoes rattling in him like the inside of a bell, painting a horrid picture on the floor. Orden continued to move within the sands, not wanting a repeat of the last time Oscar found him.

'Time. I need to buy time. He's running out and should collapse soon.' The sand flowed endlessly, scraping past Orden's skin, oddly soothing and soft like a warm blanket wrapped around him. The comfort of victory and survival filled his heart as his demonic foe continued to writhe within the sands, battered by his hammer.

Then Oscar began to contract, crouched, and muscles tensed. Orden poised himself to defend and be ready, gripping the returned hammer. Though he played it safer than before, he still feared Oscar's retaliation.

Orden heard a loud snap, followed by a deafening burst of wind. His sands parted away, and his gaze met Oscar's, his fear against Oscar's destruction, a prey and its predator. The sands continued to part and blow way farther.

'Shattering Wave x Ripple Shroud'

The immense force of Reis fused with Ein exited Oscar in all directions and coursed through the sands. The flimsy sand was nothing before the fusion of Reis and Ein, the power of mastery. With the path now cleared, Oscar came before Orden.

"A monster with each second that passes," Orden mumbled, seeing Oscar's horrific figure. Oscar's cheeks had sunken in with streaks of blood flowing down his eyes, the rest of his body covered in wounds and blood. Orden had never seen such a display from a person.

Fear and confusion continued to grip his heart, but his hands lifted his prided hammer. For the first time, Orden felt smaller, looking up at his enemy, the blood-covered Oscar. After nineteen years of towering over others, he had finally met someone who made him feel small; not even the grade eight geniuses could instill this feeling in him, but Oscar did.

Orden faced Oscar with a defiant stance. If he were to fall, then he would take Oscar with him. His resolve emboldened his figure, and his wounds closed from his clenched muscles.

However, right before he could swing, he saw Oscar fall to his knees again, wheezing and gasping. Oscar's heartbeat was so loud and fast that Orden could feel it reverberate into the ground under the soles of his shoes. Oscar gasped, and clarity returned to his obsidian eyes.

…….

"Hold on," Remulus waved his hand. Draven's feet stilled and did not move. Rather he could not move against Remulus's pressure.

"Old bastard, let me go. I'm done talking." Draven growled.

"How do you stop the boy when he's like this?" Remulus smiled. "I'm quite interested now."

Draven clicked his tongue, expressing his irritation. "Just knock him out again or hope he regains consciousness before his body destroys itself. Once he's back, he'll stop and wonder what happened."

…….

"What happened?" Oscar asked. His body was too weak to remain up, and so he fell to the side, scraping his nails against the floor in a weak effort to get up. He could not recall anything other than blacking out after receiving Orden's blow.

"You're back?" Orden did not relax despite Oscar's apparent return, keeping his hammer up.

"What do you mean I'm back?" Oscar staggered on his feet before falling back down to the floor. He stared at Orden, confused at the wounds on the large hulk. "How are you so injured? Did some enemy come while I was knocked out?"

"No enemy," Orden walked past Oscar. "I won't kill you since you're back to normal, and I'll keep to our agreement, but I still have a duty to fulfill."

"Normal?" Oscar groaned, unable to understand any of Orden's cryptic words. His head felt like needles had stabbed into every part of his brain. He remembered. He remembered why they were fighting.

"Don't move another step!" He dragged his bloodied body across the ground, leaving a slick trail of blood and sand. But Orden's large figure continued to get smaller as the distance between them widened. "Get back here."

"I'm sorry, but rather than rely on a fringe hope, it's better to eliminate the potential threats. Even if we can't cure him, I'm sure you'd want to keep him around to find a way. All the effort wasted on someone who might be a lost cause does not agree with me." Orden spoke roughly, but he had some empathy for Oscar and Austin.

Then a cold voice came from behind.

"Who's a lost cause? I'll melt you down for that."

Oscar laughed weakly and got to his feet. Across from him and Orden were Erik, Gol-4, and Austin, freed from the parasitic vine. The trio leaped off a stone house, landing before Orden.

Austin spat on the floor, brandishing his two daggers. "It's time for some payback for Oscar."