Soon blown backwards as a result of their collision, Theodore and Sarasvain separated, if only for a moment.
Still steady on his feet, the Undying President took nary a few steps back, his gaze sharp and his spear ready to intercept whatever might come his way. Further reinforcing the Divine Energy armour that he was clad in, he had barely taken a breath before another sword strike had arrived at his side in less than the blink of an eye.
'To exhibit this kind of power and speed at such a weak cultivation stage... it's truly astonishing! But surely, this isn't all that he's got, right?'
Deflecting the blow with a rather casual swipe of his spear, he shrugged off the aftermath of the clash, beginning to adjust to Theodore's heretofore displayed capabilities. With a faint smile, this time, he was the one to go on the offensive!
Despite the massive size of the Winter Soldier, the Array Eidolon was remarkable quick and agile. Although the battle appeared like an elephant fighting against an ant, neither of the two were moving in a slow or lumbering manner. To most observers, as the attacks continued to be exchanged, the two looked to be roughly on par–but the two duellists knew that this was very far from the case.
Ever since Theodore's Winter Soldier had first come into contact with that unknown higher order power, during every single collision, the Eternal Ice it was primarily fashioned from rapidly dissipated. If he hadn't promptly and continuously made up for what was lost, then he poor Array Eidolon would have already begun to fall apart!
'As expected, he's a tough nut to crack.'
Keeping his calm, Theodore didn't let up his offensive and defensive manoeuvres, trying to discover any sort of weakness that he could exploit. Or at the very least, he aimed to lull Sarasvain into a sense of security, establishing a fake, expertly hidden pattern for his opponent to detect and fall for.
The powerful blizzard surrounding both the Winter Soldier and the Undying President didn't serve to hinder the latter in the slightest. Any Eternal Ice flake that got close to him was annihilated by the power he was utilizing, leaving no remnants behind. And even though it happened continuously and there was an overwhelmingly large sample size, the process was too quick for Theodore to understand what exactly was actually occurring.
That was why he kept on having frontal clashes with Sarasvain, as at least when the Winter Soldier's weapon, armour and shield were influenced by that unfamiliar power, he could actively study it for far longer.
'My Eternal Ice is technically only of Transcendent-grade, but relying on my family's Array Eidolon, it can currently be considered to be roughly Supreme-grade, more or less. And still, it's barely able to put up any sort of effective resistance!'
Deciding that he already needed to kick it up another notch, he activated a part of his Foundational Element Conduit Talent–for what was ice but a variant form of water? This allowed his control over Eternal Ice to skyrocket once more, improving every single aspect of the Winter Soldier. Even the countless flakes constantly harassing Sarasvain became a smidgen more irritating.
'Oh?'
Raising an eyebrow in surprise, the Undying President suddenly found himself on the back foot, his previously perfect defence showing burgeoning signs of faltering. Unable to fully withstand one of the glacial giant's attacks, he felt his arms grow numb and his body shaken, a hint of discomfort in his chest.
'That's a bit much, isn't it? How is anybody but me meant to endure this? And you're telling me that there are more monsters like this guy out there??'
The last vestiges of perceived self-superiority fading away, he dispelled all distracting thoughts and met Theodore's next attack with his full force, resulting in both of them taking many a step backwards. In the Winter Soldier's case, however, every single stride equated to hundreds of meters.
'Let's see how you'll handle this, then, shall we?'
Narrowing his eyes, Sarasvain's movements changed completely. From one moment to the next, he transformed from a valiant and above board fighter into a dangerous, duplicitous snake ready to bite. His spear thrusts grew harder to follow or understand, and the force contained within them became more expertly utilized. It was all concentrated at a single point–the spear tip.
For the first time since the duel began, even the spectators could clearly tell that Theodore was at a massive disadvantage. Some of his foe's attacks couldn't be avoided or deflected–or even defended against at all–resulting in the Winter Soldier being 'wounded' all over.
It even began to shrink slightly in size, likely due to the vast amounts of Eternal Ice constantly being obliterated, with Theodore unable to replenish what was lost quickly enough. At least, that was what Xie Mei, Han Junqiao, most others, and even Vigdis figured was happening.
Little did they know that he was merely optimizing the summoned Array Eidolon as much as he could on the fly. In its regular state, it was thousands of meters tall–and even that was considered to be quite tiny and compact during the battles that these creations usually participated in.
But right now, he needed not a mass-produced product. Instead, he required a heavily modified version which was fine-tuned to his current situation.
The first to go was the enormous, towering size. From a giant figure multiple kilometres tall, it shrunk until it stood at barely a hundred meters. All of the surplus Eternal Ice that had been necessary to sustain it previously was now infused in this much denser and smaller version.
Sensing the significantly increased threat that this new Winter Soldier posed to him, Sarasvain's breath hitched, his eyes widening in a mixture of fear and excitement. His instincts had warned him about this creation earlier already, and now, they were growing even more insistent and frantic in their protests than before.
'Shit!'
Barely able to react in time, he turned to face the blade aiming at his waist from behind, doing his utmost to get out of the way and divert the attack with his weapon. This time, however, it wasn't as easy to handle as previously. Blasted backwards and into the World Shard down below, he skimmed over the crater's surface like a rock across a lake.
Glancing at the shattered wooden shaft in his hands, he felt a mouthful of blood rising from deep within, but gulped it down before it could escape his lips. Fortunately, his own recovery capabilities weren't too bad either, therefore such a comparatively slight injury couldn't truly impact him.
Not having any time to think, as the Winter Soldier had already rushed to his side and was bearing down on him, his combat instincts fully kicked in. Pulling another spear like the one that he had just lost out of his Storage Ring, his eyes began to glow in a hazy and indistinct, iridescent light.
As if it was injected with steroids, the unknown power that had been suffusing his Divine Energy armour and empowering him took on the same lustre. Wrapping the newly retrieved weapon in it as well, this time, when it met the attacking Array Eidolon, the blade in the Winter Soldier's hand shattered after an almost imperceptible moment of resistance.
Once more, the tide of the battle had shifted. From crushing Sarasvain in one instant to being suppressed by him in the next, Theodore found himself at a substantial disadvantage yet again.
He had actually been under a lot of strain earlier, when he had made some impromptu adjustments to the Array Eidolon that he controlled. Not only did he have to alter the Compound Arrays at the very core while they were still running, but he also had to cram far more Eternal Ice into an increasingly smaller vessel. The resulting mental burden hadn't been simple to endure, to say the least.
If it hadn't been for his monstrous Mind Attribute, then he would have been sweating bullets long ago! But even now, he didn't lose his composure. Although Sarasvain had changed his battle style twice, he sensed that he was close to grasping his underlying, subconscious tactics.
Clearly, despite having lived for an incredibly long time, the actual combat experience that this man had under his belt was rather scarce. Or, he had always had a crushing advantage on his side, never necessitating the acquisition of a deeper understanding of fighting itself. This didn't mean that Sarasvain wasn't rapidly learning and improving even now–he very much was–but he was still extremely far from mastering it. Or from being able to control his subconscious when he needed to.
Instantly reforming his destroyed blade, Theodore switched from a head-on confrontation back to parrying and evading any and all attacks that Sarasvain sent his way. Admittedly, it was anything but easy, but by peppering his responses with plenty of feints and ruses, he was able to trick his opponent enough times to remain undefeated.
'It's about time. I wonder if he can handle this.'
Utilizing one half of his Spatiotemporal Harmony Talent, he began to restrict Sarasvain's movements, turning the very space surrounding him into an obstacle at every opportunity. He emulated Ninna as best as he could, although he couldn't pull off impressive moves like hers even if he gave his utmost. Still, he became more and more skilful in wielding this ability.
'Wait, what?! How did he adjust this quickly?'
To his shock, despite initially being able to practically cage Sarasvain, Theodore shortly realized that his spatial prisons soon amounted to nothing more than slight annoyances and hindrances to the man in question. The speed at which the power surrounding him deconstructed them wasn't quite as rapid as when it annihilated his Eternal Ice, but his foe swiftly became more proficient in handling them nonetheless.
'Whatever this power is, it effectively corrodes and disintegrates anything that it comes into contact with. It's somewhat similar to acid, but it requires a bit of time until it really gets going. Almost as if it's analysing everything that it encounters, and then internally develops a countermeasure for it.'
Theodore was still trying his hardest to understand this phenomenon, but the above thoughts were as close as he had got so far–a few theories and analogies without much substance. Yet, that alone already gave him yet another useful tool to rely upon in this battle.
Slowly but surely, despite the outrageous, continual pressure that he was facing, he was accumulating a hand of cards to play. And once it was time to reveal them, he was reasonably certain that he could heavily injure Sarasvain. Outright defeating or even killing him, however? That was definitely impossible.
'He clearly still hasn't revealed all that he is hiding. But truly driving him into a corner and forcing him to go all out would be a foolish choice on my part.'
As much as he wanted to fully relish this battle, his own personal enjoyment wasn't his goal today–rather, he aimed to win! And besting Sarasvain at his ultimate strongest was not required to achieve this.
Weaving in progressively more spatial manipulation into his offensive, Theodore began to utilize it to transport himself to different places, making his attacks even more rapid and harder to react to. In his foe's eyes, he was effectively teleporting, although it wasn't quite as smooth, instantaneous and perfect as his Intraworld Teleportation Talent.
No matter how rapid his offence became, however, Sarasvain was always able to match him. Ever since that iridescent light had first appeared, he had been incapable of truly rattling the man. He could roughly keep up the pace, but he was completely unable to overpower him.
Instead, his Eternal Ice and Energy attrition had spiked to unimaginable heights. If he couldn't occasionally trip his opponent up via spatial imprisonment, which Sarasvain couldn't fully ignore, then he might have been successfully worn down within a few minutes. But for now, he could still hold on.
Although the duel's momentum had shifted back and forth multiple times, the two were effectively stuck in a stalemate–and he was just waiting for the right moment to grasp victory!