The rain falling through the broken roof suddenly changed direction.
One moment, it descended in silver sheets. The next, it swept sideways across the arena, striking the eastern wall hard enough to burst into mist. Yuzuki's balance shifted with it. The pull beneath his feet no longer led straight down, dragging him sharply to the left as loose stones and twisted pieces of metal began sliding across the ruined floor.
He planted his right foot against a crack in the stone and lowered his weight before the altered pull could throw him. His injured left arm remained tucked close to his body, while his right hand pressed briefly against the knife wound beneath his ribs. Blood had soaked through his shirt again, and the sudden change in balance made the torn muscles around his spine tighten painfully.
Chrollo stood on a raised section of the arena with Skill Hunter open in one hand and the bookmark held between the fingers of the other.
This was not one of the abilities Yuzuki remembered seeing Chrollo use in the world he had known. That meant little now. The book had always contained pages the story never revealed, and Yuzuki's presence had already changed far too many events for old knowledge to function as a complete guide.
'He's changing which way things fall.'
That was all Yuzuki trusted himself to conclude.
A slab of broken flooring rose into the air as though the open roof had become the ground. Smaller stones flew sideways, while several puppets drifted diagonally along the walls before dropping toward him from different directions. Some pieces of rubble still carried faint Sun and Moon marks. Others might have been linked to Chrollo's position-swapping ability. In the rain and broken light, Yuzuki could no longer tell which objects were dangerous until they moved.
He activated Infinity as the first wave reached him.
Fragments of stone slowed around his body, hanging at the unreachable edge of the barrier. A steel beam struck from above, followed by two puppets from opposite sides. None could touch him, but the number of attacks forced the Six Eyes to follow too many things at once. Each object might explode, change direction or become Chrollo's escape point.
Yuzuki tried to track them all.
For the first two seconds, he managed.
By the third, the constant switching began to hurt. His uncovered eyes were still hidden beneath the blindfold, but even through the filtering cloth, every altered path and fading aura trail demanded attention. The pain behind his temples sharpened, joining the wounds already tearing at the rest of his body.
'This is what he wants.'
Chrollo did not need every attack to be dangerous. He only needed Yuzuki to treat them as though they were.
The marked stones, puppets and shifting pull of gravity filled the arena with questions. Yuzuki could spend the entire match answering them and still never reach the person deciding which one came next.
He stopped watching the rubble.
Instead, he looked at Chrollo.
The Spider's thumb shifted before each page turn. His shoulders settled differently before a positional swap. When the altered gravity changed direction, Chrollo adjusted his stance first, preparing his own balance before forcing the rest of the arena to follow.
There were dozens of abilities inside the book, but only one person arranging them.
Infinity ended.
A heavy slab tore sideways past Yuzuki the moment the barrier disappeared. He moved with it rather than fighting the pull, letting the altered direction carry him across the wet stone. A puppet dropped into his path, but he ignored its raised blade and watched Chrollo's right hand instead.
The bookmark shifted between his fingers.
A marker behind Yuzuki began to glow.
'He's about to move.'
Yuzuki changed direction before the swap occurred. He allowed the sideways gravity to pull him closer, then added a small point of Blue beneath his feet. The combined movement carried him across the arena faster than his injured legs could have managed alone.
Chrollo's eyes narrowed.
Yuzuki did not aim for his head or chest. He extended his right hand toward Skill Hunter and formed a precise point of attraction against the spine of the book.
Blue pulled.
Chrollo tightened his grip, but the sudden force tore the book from his fingers. It flew several metres across the arena and struck a section of floating stone, where it remained open beneath the rain.
For half a second, Yuzuki believed he had broken the sequence.
Chrollo did not look toward the book.
The altered gravity remained active. The puppets continued moving, and the marked debris still floated around them.
Yuzuki saw the bookmark held between Chrollo's fingers.
'Double Face.'
He remembered that much. The bookmark allowed Chrollo to keep a chosen page active without holding the book open in the usual way. Removing Skill Hunter from his hand had disrupted his rhythm, but it had not ended the ability already fixed through the bookmark.
Chrollo stepped forward while Yuzuki's attention flickered toward the distant book.
"You wanted that to be the answer," he said.
Yuzuki shifted his guard. "For about half a second."
"That was enough."
Chrollo brought his fingers together.
A faint mark flared against the blood soaking Yuzuki's right side.
The Six Eyes found it only because it had already begun to activate.
During the knife strike, Chrollo had left more than a wound. A trace of marked aura had remained inside the blood coating Yuzuki's clothes, hidden beneath the disorder of his own injured aura and the fog of the previous abilities.
Yuzuki's eyes widened beneath the blindfold.
The mark exploded.
The blast was small compared to the earlier minefield, but it detonated directly against his body. Pain tore through his hip and reopened the knife wound before he could reinforce it properly.
At the same moment, gravity changed direction again.
The western wall became the new ground.
Yuzuki was thrown across the arena.
He could not use Infinity. The technique was still deep in its cooldown, and the explosion had destroyed any chance of controlling his landing through normal footwork. The retaining wall rushed toward him through the rain, broad cracks and exposed reinforcement bars becoming clearer with every instant.
'Not again.'
Against Viktor, he had saved himself with a violent Blue-assisted skip that nearly damaged his spine beyond repair. He would not repeat the same mistake unless there was no other option.
Yuzuki turned in the air and reached toward the wall with his right hand. A broad pull would only accelerate him further, so he formed a smaller point of Blue above and behind his shoulder. The attraction changed the angle of his fall rather than stopping it, dragging his body into a partial rotation.
His boots struck first.
The impact shattered the outer concrete beneath them. Yuzuki bent his knees and allowed his body to slide along the wall instead of colliding with it head-on. Even so, the force travelled through his damaged back and ribs, driving blood from his mouth.
He fell several metres before landing on a broken pillar.
For a moment, he remained on one knee with his right hand braced against the stone. The arena tilted around him under the altered gravity, while rain travelled sideways across his face.
Chrollo walked toward the floating platform where Skill Hunter rested. He retrieved the book and turned it upright without hurrying. His breathing was heavier than before, though he hid the fatigue well. Maintaining the gravity shift while moving puppets, preparing marks and managing the bookmark was costing him aura.
Yuzuki noticed, but he did not know whether Chrollo wanted him to notice.
Yuzuki raised his right hand to the knot behind his head.
The blindfold was soaked with rain and stained with blood from a cut near his temple. It had helped reduce the constant strain of the Six Eyes during the earlier rounds, but Chrollo's smallest movements now mattered more than preserving comfort.
Yuzuki untied it.
The wet silk slipped from his face and fell into the pit below.
His Six Eyes opened fully beneath his rain-soaked white hair.
The world became painfully sharp.
Every drop of water carried light and movement. Aura residue clung to the broken stones, the puppets and the marks spread across the arena. Cracks travelled through the walls beneath his feet, while Chrollo's aura shifted through the hands holding Skill Hunter and Double Face.
The flood of information made the pain behind Yuzuki's eyes flare almost immediately.
Yuzuki straightened despite the blood running from his side. His left arm hung uselessly beside him, and his breathing had become shallow enough that speaking hurt.
He did not look at the marked rubble or the puppets drifting through the altered sky.
He looked only at Chrollo.
"I've been fighting your book," Yuzuki said. "That was stupid."
Chrollo's expression changed slightly. "And now?"
"Now I'm fighting you."
Yuzuki lowered his stance on the tilted pillar. His uncovered eyes followed the smallest movements in Chrollo's hands, shoulders and breathing.
The book could contain hundreds of answers.
The man holding it still had to choose one.
---
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