The weapon he held in his left hand was a combat keris — a dark, wavy blade made for quick and precise strikes. In his right hand was a sharpened tomahawk, heavy and built for powerful, crushing blows. The keris moved fast, slipping past defenses and creating openings, while the tomahawk followed to break bones and finish the fight.
Swords or sabers aren't very effective against weapons like a combat keris, which put me at a disadvantage if our weapons connected. I had to make sure he couldn't latch onto my saber — otherwise, he would control the flow of the fight.
Clank
Since both of us lunged at each other, he managed to target my saber with his keris mid-air while swinging his tomahawk toward my neck.
Thud
Instead of trying to pull back my saber, I kicked his right shoulder with a quick maneuver as we both fell in opposite directions.
He could have turned his hand into mist for that moment... but he chose not to. Was he conserving his energy?
Without giving me another moment to think, he rushed toward me, his keris covering his front while his tomahawk stayed behind him, winding up for a powerful strike.
The wall behind me blocked my retreat. I could roll to the sides, but he might throw his tomahawk at me in such a confined space. So I jumped up and fired at the ground to propel myself higher.
...But he did something I didn't expect — he threw his tomahawk at me mid-air without hesitation.
Crack
The spinning tomahawk hit the wall after grazing my left arm. I used the handle, now embedded in the wall, to propel myself mid-air before landing to his right.
Unfortunately, this time he turned his right arm into mist, allowing my saber to pass through harmlessly.
The tomahawk is stuck firmly in the wall, he has no means of attacking right now!
With that thought in mind, I tried to slice down toward him once again, to disable the keris while using the opportunity to shoot him.
Once again, he attempted to turn his stomach into mist when the bullet got close but this time, he was surprised to feel excruciating pain in his gut as he staggered backward.
"...What?" Tom asked as he stumbled back.
"Magnetic atom bullets. Not the kind of magnetism you're thinking of," I explained as he touched his stomach but found no blood. "These bullets pull every kind of atom toward them while passing through your body. It won't kill you — but it hurts a lot."
"Please don't tell me you're trying not to hurt me... like that alien I fought. Why even use a gun if you're not going to kill someone?" Tom asked, clearly irritated.
"Why would I kill someone when I have the option not to? Every life is important, no matter whose it is," I replied.
"Sigh... Dad was right — all of you Allens are the same," Tom exhaled heavily as he raised his hand. "You need a reason to fight seriously, right?"
All of a sudden, the tomahawk flew back to his hand.
"I'll give you that reason!"
...Sometimes, I really want to hate myself for my stupid mouth.
Shhhkk
A cold, sharp hissing sound filled the air. The ground began to crack and break as sharp pieces of ice pushed their way up.
My eyes glowed with a glint of green light as everything around me slowed down. I could have finished him off right there but I didn't know if he had already activated the Field of Stagnation around him. I couldn't take that risk, so I ran out of the cavern to escape its range.
Stagnation is a property of the Water Path, it slows down anything it touches. It's a direct counter to my ability. If he added Adhesion to that technique, I wouldn't be able to escape easily.
But before I left the cavern, I made sure to shoot him once — it was worth a shot. The only problem was that I had to carefully let the bullet out from the gun at the speed I was moving.
At this point, I considered causing a small earthquake to bring down the entire cavern — but I wasn't sure if he could escape with his belongings if I did.
"Do you have time to worry about that?" Ryuk asked in an amused tone. "Because from the look of things... you're in for a terrible storm."
"What?" I asked, slowing down after exiting the cavern. But when I turned back, I understood what he meant.
"Curses—"
A huge wave of water gushed out of the cavern as I barely dodged it. Tom wasn't creating an arena of ice — he was trying to flood the entire cavern.
He used the groundwater to create a small tsunami... That maniac...
"Ouch... Those bullets really hurt," Tom said as he reformed from the water into his original form.
"You tried to kill me!" I exclaimed in surprise.
"Then why aren't you doing the same? You're not even as strong as that alien — at least try your best to kill me!" Tom shouted angrily.
"No—" I began, but before I could finish, he froze his tomahawk to make it bigger before throwing it at me. I tried to parry it, but all of a sudden, the ice expanded even more as I activated my ability to dodge.
He had kept a string of water attached to the handle of the tomahawk — that's what allowed it to grow into an ice ball of death.
Without wasting a moment, he instantly retracted all the water that formed the ice ball before raising the tomahawk and bringing it down toward me.
KA-CRASH
"I'm this close to taking over if you don't stop dodging and finish the fight," Moriarty warned me as I dodged once again.
Tom still had a lot of energy left if he was pulling all this off. I couldn't risk getting close to him despite Moriarty's warning.
At close range, he had the advantage with that keris. At mid-range, he could summon a giant ice ball of death. My bullets would lose effectiveness over time... He was good at utilizing his surroundings... Oh, I got it.
"Wally... burn the forest," I ordered as numerous nanobots fell out of my saber.
All this time I'd been thinking about how to counter his Path — but I never needed to do that in the first place. All I had to do was burn this entire forest to the ground. He could turn into mist — but he couldn't control the smokescreen created by burning the entire forest.
Before Tom could realize what was happening, I shot at his tomahawk to prevent him from bringing it down on me immediately, then charged in with my saber.
My eyes glowed with a green glint as I activated my ability and accelerated. Predicting my move, he used the Field of Stagnation as a small dome enclosing both of us — canceling out my speed.
Although he didn't have his tomahawk, he blocked my saber with his keris once again and held my left arm away from himself so I couldn't shoot him.
"Wanna call this a draw?" I asked, even though I already knew what his answer would be.
"You're stalling for something. I don't need to be a mind reader to figure that out," Tom replied as I twisted myself to force him out of the dome — but ended up falling out myself as he turned into mist yet again.
Unlike what I'd expected, he didn't immediately cancel the Field of Stagnation — it was as if he was waiting for something.
"You do realize it'll drain your energy if you keep that up for too long, right?" I asked as I got up from the ground.
Fire had started to rise in the distance, quickly spreading through our surroundings. The screams of cadets in panic were clearly audible from where we stood.
"This was your plan?" Tom asked, disappointment on his face.
"Technically, no — this was my plan," I replied as the smoke from the fire drifted toward us. "Now let's say I shoot you with one of these bullets while the smoke is around — would you be able to transform into mist, water, or ice with impurities in your body?"
"Haha... That... Hah... I didn't think of that," Tom admitted with a grin. "You think like a hunter... A kind-hearted hunter. Honestly, it's hard to imagine that. Fine..."
Tom canceled his dome and dropped his keris as a sign of defeat.
"You got me this time."
"Thank you," I said, lowering my gun. "The last thing I expected from you in your condition was to charge at me with that thing again."
"If it were life or death, I might've considered it..." Tom replied, glancing toward the burning forest. "Do you want to put out the fire now?"
"Uh... yeah, I might need some help with that," I admitted, watching as a few trees toppled over — cadets scrambling to avoid the falling debris. "I definitely made that fire bigger than I meant to... I really didn't mean to do that."