Multiple minutes had gone by since Theodore and Sarasvain had ceased being able to properly harm each other. By this point, the latter had fully adjusted to their present situation, allowing him the luxury of analysing his foe in greater detail. And amongst all of the oddities and fascinating abilities that Theodore had showcased so far, one detail stuck out the most.
'Where does he get all of this Energy from?'
No matter how hard he thought about it, it didn't make any sense whatsoever. Every person only had a limited amount of Energy to rely upon, and they needed to utilize it optimally to come out on top of whatever situation that they found themselves in. But in his opponent's case, it felt like he was tapping into a functionally infinite reservoir, which just didn't make any sense.
Yet no matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't come up with a theory that satisfied him, settling on his best guess: Some sort of Talent that either improved his Energy regeneration speed, or one that allowed him to store Energy not only in his Dantians, but also in other parts of the body–or even in objects.
'Whatever the case, I think I've more or less figured him out by now.'
Giving up trying to determine the truth of the matter for the time being, the corner of his mouth rose with a hint of confidence. He hadn't just spent the past few minutes being led by the nose or relying purely on instinct. No, he had been studying Theodore as best as he could, seeking to understand his combat style.
Finally, he had become certain that he could fully assure his own victory without much difficulty. So right after fending off another one of his foe's assaults, he strongly counterattacked, obliterating not only the Winter Soldier's weapon, but even more than half of its arm!
Pressing his advantage without letting up, he wrapped the stump in his own Divine Energy and ever-reliable power, preventing recovery. Of course, it didn't go flawlessly smoothly–Theodore was once again throwing spatial restrictions his way, and even teleporting around the place. But no matter where he stepped, all of his actions had been predicted by Sarasvain, playing right into his plans.
His imprisonment technique couldn't halt the Undying President's steps for more than an instant, and despite doing his utmost, he hadn't been able to escape. As a result, the Array Eidolon was effectively crippled!
Calmly resisting a shield bash, Sarasvain's eyes sparkled with joy and a trace of smugness. But then, right as he was about to open his mouth and egg his opponent on, seeking to make him reveal even more of his fascinating means, he suddenly felt a hair-raising, horrifying danger approach from behind.
It all happened far too quickly for him to react to at all. In his perception, out of absolutely nowhere, a silent, black and blue lance of Eternal Ice had appeared less than a meter from his back, shooting towards him at an incomprehensibly fast speed, like a lightning bolt.
He could do naught but register this fact in his mind when it had already arrived, tearing through his Divine Energy armour as if it was made out of paper, offering up no resistance whatsoever. Even the trusty power that he had always been able to rely upon couldn't react to the offence quickly enough to counteract it.
Before his eyes had even begun to widen in shock or pain, the majority of his torso had already been pierced and obliterated, his internal organs entirely destroyed. Then, by the time that the agony finally registered in his brain, the blood began to flow as well, drenching what remained of him and his clothing in a deep red.
Theodore didn't continue his attack, calmly observing the unfolding events instead. Contrary to what Sarasvain had been convinced of, he was the one who had truly been directing this little play from start to finish.
All of the discoveries about him that the Undying President had made were nothing more but deliberately revealed flaws. They were bait that he had dangled in front of him, and once he finally got a bite–or in other words, once Sarasvain acted upon them and his mind got clouded with belief in his imminent triumph–it was time to deal his devastating blow.
One of the plentiful benefits of the Winter Soldier and Array Eidolons like it was the fact that it was very difficult if not impossible to detect what was going on in its interior. Neither the position of the individuals inside nor what they were doing could be determined at all. Else, all enemies could simply focus their assaults on where they knew the Array controllers to be, breaking through at a single spot and killing them without too much difficulty. Naturally, this was an unacceptable weakness that the Winter Family had eliminated in the cradle back when they had first designed their Array Eidolons.
Making optimal use of this, throughout the entire duel, Theodore had been diverting some of his attention to accumulating Eternal Ice in a central position right between his six bodies. He had even got Faavi's help with fashioning it into a lance and further reinforcing it!
At the same time, he had brought a part of his Void Walker Talent into play–the rather inconspicuous Void Affinity. During his recent travels to the Tetrachroma Palace, he had dabbled with it enough to discover that he could very minutely affect the Lesser True Void. It wasn't to the point that he could actually control it, but by putting in a lot of effort, he could help to ever so slightly 'offer suggestions to it' and therefore direct it.
It had taken him minutes to get tiny traces of it to align themselves with the lance that he had been fashioning. Balancing the Eternal Ice and Lesser True Void had been a headache and a half, but he had managed to intertwine the two after much trial and error.
This had then finally formed the calamitous 'bolt' that had managed to rip through Sarasvain's defences. His power's initially sluggish and crude reactions to anything new meant that the first strike would be the most effective, and would have to be the final one.
With not only spatial, but also temporal manipulation, Theodore had sneaked his destructive projectile behind the Undying President without the man's knowledge... and the rest was now history.
He had avoided aiming for Sarasvain's head, as doing so would have definitely crossed the line, potentially pissing the guy off beyond repair–it simply wouldn't have been polite at all, and could have even been seen as a genuine attempt to kill him. Instead, Theodore had chosen to attack his upper body.
'As expected, he can heal from severe injuries like this one pretty easily.'
Nodding to himself in approval, he saw that unfamiliar power flood into the massive hole in Sarasvain's body and supporting him in stitching himself together. It wasn't quite as fast as his own recovery speed, but it was impressive nonetheless–in less than a second, the Undying President was well and whole again!
"I believe we can judge this to be my victory, right?"
Dispelling the Winter Soldier, Theodore's bodies appeared in Sarasvain's sight once more, a calm smile devoid of any arrogance on their lips. Although the man felt uncomfortable and annoyed when he realized that he had been practically dancing in the palm of his foe's hand the entire time, he didn't let the shattered pride get to him.
Taking a deep breath, he stayed silent for a while, replaying their duel in his head. Upon reflection, he could now spot so many mistakes that he had made, and a plethora of instances where he could have made better choices.
'I'll definitely have to learn from this, that's for sure.'
Sighing to himself, he considered how to respond to Theodore's question, then he nodded and formally acknowledged the result of their little spar.
"Indeed, you've bested me. Just like we have agreed, you may make my people your Students. I do have one other request, though."
Having anticipated something along these lines long ago, Theodore motioned for him to continue, a hint of curiosity in his gaze.
"Oh? What sort of request?"
Meeting the Winter Family heir's gaze head-on, Sarasvain steeled himself. He knew that what he was about to say might be a little unreasonable, but he needed to get it off his chest no matter what.
"You're definitely strong enough to protect the Federation, but I don't know anything about you as a person. I would like to observe how you handle my people, and learn more about you. Else, I'll be unable to rest easy and let you determine their future."
Showing an understanding smile, Theodore didn't beat around the bush and simply nodded.
"Go ahead, feel free to keep an eye on my actions. Later on, when we've established proper Teleportation Arrays, you can come and visit me on Pytho–or wherever else I am at that point in time–whenever you wish. There is one thing you should be aware of, though."
His smile widening in a calm but terrifying manner, he continued.
"To simplify things a lot, I can grow stronger by killing. I don't indiscriminately slaughter people, though–only those I deem evil get put on the chopping block. As I've been told by Vigi, you've already been vaguely informed about this matter before, but I still wanted to clarify a few things. You see, I've long developed a method which I refer to as 'cleansing'..."
Presenting his exact approach for weeding out targets for eradication, he held nothing back from the impressive figure in front of him. After all, he had no power or control over him so he would indubitably witness what was to come. Therefore, to prevent misunderstandings, it was best to put everything on the table at this early juncture.
"... Lastly, it's impossible to prevent more scum and vermin from appearing in the future. Some are simply born evil–the culprit behind it all is not just nurture, but also nature. Therefore, the more people there are under my rule, the more 'passive income' there will be."
Ending his explanation with such morbid, gruesome words, Theodore observed Sarasvain with unconcealed interest in his eyes. He rarely proactively revealed his true character this easily to others, but he knew that there was no point in hiding it from this person. Instead, perhaps being honest and forthright would do him the most good here.
"... I see. Your modus operandi definitely has a lot of benefits. I never would have thought of creating a Compound Array expressly for perfectly detecting the worst of the worst, even before they can act on their impulses."
With narrowed eyes and deep in thought, Sarasvain slowly nodded, a mixture of emotions flickering in his gaze. There was both appreciation for such an ingenious method and the resulting peaceful development that his people would welcome, as well as a strong touch of caution.
'One thing's for certain: This guy is absolutely not a good person! He doesn't inherently value anyone's life at all–only those who he approves of get that privilege. I should be feeling appalled at this... but to be fair, am I any better myself? I did regularly eliminate the filth infesting my people, after all.'
Caught in a mental dilemma, for a while, he didn't know what to think–both about himself, as well as about Theodore. He had simply never before encountered anybody who would divulge such self-incriminating information this casually and without any shred of guilt or discomfort.
'... just like I thought, further observation is definitely warranted!'
Resolving to truly understand this being as soon as he could–for not only his inner peace, but also the safety of his people–he once more stated his intentions clearly.
"In any case, like I've said earlier, I'll monitor your actions for a while–thanks for your understanding."
Smiling at him in a relaxed manner, Theodore inclined his head in acknowledgement.
"Don't mention it."
Having come to an agreement, the two of them could finally put this matter behind them, if only temporarily. They were right on schedule as well, because the others, who had left to watch the duel from a distance earlier, were about to return now that the dust had settled.