Rain fell through the broken roof and struck the damaged arena in a steady hiss, turning the dust from Chrollo's explosions into grey mud. Yuzuki stood near the centre of the ring with his right hand pressed against his wounded left shoulder. The hooked blade from the puppet had torn away part of the muscle, leaving his arm weak and blood running beneath his sleeve. His ribs and lower back hurt every time he breathed, but the two missing arena workers were still somewhere beneath the northern rubble.
Chrollo stood across from him with Skill Hunter open in his right hand. The remaining black fog drifted around his legs in thin strips, no longer dense enough to hide the whole arena but still thick enough to obscure movement near the broken floor. He turned one page, and several faint lines of aura slipped from the book into the fog.
Four figures stumbled out of the ruins.
All of them wore the yellow-and-black jackets used by Heaven's Arena medical workers. Their faces were covered in dust, their movements unsteady as they called for help and tried to cross the wet stone. Two held their sides as though injured, while another dragged one leg behind him.
Yuzuki did not move immediately.
There had only been two missing workers.
The Six Eyes found aura inside all four bodies, but something was wrong with the flow. Chrollo had layered false pulses through the puppets and wrapped the real workers in the same threads, making their signatures overlap whenever Yuzuki tried to separate them from a distance.
'This isn't an ability I remember.'
That no longer surprised him as much as it once had. Chrollo had already displayed stolen abilities that never appeared in the version of the world Yuzuki had known. His memories could warn him about people, places and major disasters, but they could not tell him what Chrollo had placed on the current page.
Yuzuki took one step toward the figures.
His legs suddenly felt heavier.
It was not enough to stop him, but the weight increased when one of the workers cried out and Yuzuki hesitated over which figure to approach first. The effect eased slightly when he committed to a direction, then returned the moment doubt entered his movement.
'It reacts when I hesitate.'
He could not tell whether Chrollo was strengthening the weight directly or whether the stolen ability was responding to his reluctance. The difference did not matter yet. Standing still would only make the decision harder.
Chrollo watched him from beyond the rain. "One attack would clear the whole area."
Yuzuki glanced toward him. "You could do it yourself."
"I could."
"But then you wouldn't learn anything."
Chrollo said nothing, which was answer enough.
Yuzuki looked back toward the four workers. A wide Red would destroy the puppets and anyone hidden among them. Chrollo knew he would never choose that answer, but the ability was making every safer option slower and more difficult.
The nearest figure stumbled, then suddenly raised one arm. A narrow metal spike slid out from beneath his sleeve.
Yuzuki activated Infinity and moved.
The coercive weight pressed against his limbs as he entered the group, but committing to the rescue kept it from becoming unbearable. The first spike stopped before reaching his throat. Yuzuki caught the attacker's jacket and felt no breathing beneath the fabric, only wood and a thin aura line controlling the body.
He struck the puppet's elbow, broke the joint and tore the control thread free from its back. The wooden body collapsed beside him. A second figure attacked from his blind side, but its blade slowed against Infinity. Yuzuki redirected the arm into the floor and drove his heel through the puppet's knee.
Three seconds remained.
The final two workers backed away from him in panic. At close range, the difference became clearer. Their breathing was uneven and uncontrolled. Their hearts raced without matching the artificial rhythm Chrollo had threaded through their bodies. One had a shallow cut above his eye, and the blood moved naturally beneath the rain.
"Both of you, down," Yuzuki said.
The men stared at him.
"Now."
They dropped without arguing. Yuzuki seized the back of the first worker's jacket with his right hand and used a restrained point of Blue to pull the second by the belt. The technique dragged both men across the slick floor behind him while Yuzuki moved toward the safety boundary.
The added weight tore at his injured back. His left arm hung uselessly, and the wound in his shoulder opened further whenever one of the workers caught against broken stone.
One second remained.
Yuzuki reached the edge of the arena and pushed the first man across the damaged barrier. Security staff caught him from the other side. The second worker was still several steps behind, half-dragged through the mud by the pull of Blue.
Infinity ended.
The fifteen-second cooldown began.
Yuzuki hauled the second man forward and shoved him into the arms of the waiting guards. The movement twisted his ribs and forced a harsh breath from his chest.
The fog moved behind him.
Yuzuki tried to turn, but Chrollo had already reached him.
A knife entered his right side beneath the lower ribs.
The blade drove through muscle before stopping short of anything immediately fatal. Chrollo had chosen the placement carefully, damaging Yuzuki's breathing and movement without ending the match in a single strike.
Yuzuki's breath escaped in a wet gasp. His knees weakened, and blood spread rapidly across the side of his shirt.
Chrollo stood close enough that Yuzuki could see the rain gathering along his eyelashes.
"You were always going to save them," Chrollo said.
Yuzuki gripped Chrollo's right wrist, locking the hand holding Skill Hunter in place. "Then that wasn't much of a test."
"No. The question was what it would cost you."
A small point of Blue formed between Yuzuki's palm and Chrollo's wrist. The attraction tightened the grip and prevented Chrollo from pulling the book away without first dealing with Yuzuki.
Yuzuki raised his injured left arm.
Pain tore through the damaged shoulder, but crimson aura still gathered at his fingertips. At this distance, even a restrained Red would break Chrollo's guard, destroy the arm holding the book and send the Spider across the arena.
Chrollo did not panic. He released the knife and placed his free hand against Yuzuki's chest, ready to strike the moment the technique failed or changed direction.
The red light grew brighter.
Then the Six Eyes followed the path beyond Chrollo.
Shizuku sat behind the reinforced glass of the private viewing section directly in line with the attack. The barrier might survive the first impact, but the force continuing past Chrollo would tear through the damaged enclosure and everyone seated behind it.
Yuzuki redirected the technique before the thought had fully formed.
He forced his wrist upward.
Red erupted into the open sky.
The repulsive blast tore through the falling rain and scattered the clouds above the arena. The sudden change in direction drove the recoil through Yuzuki's already damaged arm. Something cracked in his forearm, while the wound in his shoulder split wider beneath the strain.
The force threw both fighters apart.
Yuzuki struck the wet floor and slid across the stone until his back collided with a broken pillar. The impact drove the knife wound open further, and blood spilled between the fingers he pressed against his side.
Chrollo landed on his feet several metres away. The edge of the redirected blast had torn and scorched one sleeve, but he remained standing with Skill Hunter still in his hand.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Inside the private box, Shizuku watched the fading crimson light above the ruined roof. She had not ducked or tried to leave her seat. Her hands remained in her lap, though the fingers of one hand had closed tightly around the edge of her sweater.
Bisky stared down at Yuzuki. "That idiot."
Bisky's anger did little to hide the fear beneath it.
Chrollo looked at Yuzuki lying against the pillar.
He had known the boy would refuse to sacrifice the workers. That kindness had become predictable enough to build a strategy around. What he had not known was how quickly Yuzuki would choose to injure himself once Shizuku entered the path of the attack.
There had been no visible debate.
One moment, Red had been aimed at Chrollo's chest. The next, Yuzuki had broken his own arm turning it away.
An old memory surfaced before Chrollo could prevent it: a small girl in Meteor City stepping between danger and children younger than herself. Sarasa had been frightened. He remembered that now. Her courage had never come from an absence of fear. She had simply decided that someone else being hurt was worse.
Chrollo tightened his fingers around the book and pushed the memory back into silence.
Yuzuki slowly forced himself upright using the broken pillar. His left arm hung at his side, visibly misaligned beneath the torn sleeve, while his right hand remained pressed against the knife wound.
Chrollo watched him struggle to his feet. "You knew I was waiting for the barrier to end."
"Yes."
"You knew saving them would leave you open."
"Yes."
"And you would choose the same thing again."
Yuzuki spat blood into the rain. "You're asking questions you already answered."
Chrollo's gaze remained fixed on him. "Perhaps."
Yuzuki steadied his breathing as much as his injuries allowed and stepped away from the pillar. "Are we fighting, or are you writing a report?"
A faint change touched Chrollo's expression, too brief to become a smile.
He turned to another page.
Yuzuki lowered his stance and faced him through the rain. Saving the workers had cost him another wound. Protecting Shizuku had cost him the best opening he had received since the match began.
Neither decision had been tactically correct.
He did not regret either one.
Chrollo raised his free hand, and the aura across the ruined arena shifted once again.
This time, Yuzuki watched the man rather than the page.
---
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