the era of calamities-Chapter 91: Two Minutes and Ten Seconds (1)

Conrad was now far enough that Sirius no longer had to worry about him getting caught in the fight.

He held his sword in hand and pointed it at Kai.

"My lord, you truly are a idiot. Who would’ve thought you’d believe every word I said? After meeting that calamity, I feared all of you were as clever as him. Luckily for me, there are brainless types like you to keep the balance."

Count Kai couldn’t hold back at such provocation.

"Who are you calling an idiot, you insolent human? I take back what I said earlier. I’ll kill you right here and now, and your corpse will serve to lure those humans in coats."

Sirius chuckled.

"Are you blind, or just the dumbest creature alive? You’re looking for the black coat while I’m standing right in front of you."

Then, remembering something, he added,

"Wait don’t tell me you’re dumb enough to believe that grandmother’s tale? So pathetic."

Kai’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets; never in his life had he wanted to kill someone so badly. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

In a fraction of a second, he crossed the distance between them, his pincers ready to slice Sirius in two.

However, Sirius had already foreseen such an attack and prepared accordingly.

Pointing his sword to the ground, he materialized chains from the mist and ordered them to seize Kai’s tail, while he leapt into the air.

Kai felt something pulling his tail and almost lost balance. He dug his claws deep into the ground and turned part of his body to grab the chain.

Sirius, having distracted Kai even for a moment, imprinted his will on his sword. The blade rose from the ground and attacked Kai from behind.

The sword slipped between the gaps of Kai’s exoskeleton but couldn’t pierce through the carapace.

("Tsk, what a pain. It’s as tough as the outer coating,") thought Sirius before using

<< Nephele Burst >>, making both the sword and the chain implode, momentarily staggering Kai.

But instead of attacking, Sirius used that moment to flee.

When Kai regained his senses and the mist cleared, he saw Sirius running away and roared,

"Come back here, filthy human! I’ll tear you to pieces!"

Sirius ignored the screams and ran as fast as he could, his mind analyzing every possibility.

("His physical stats are way above mine. He’ll catch up before I reach the top of the cliff. Still, he’s incredibly stupid , I can easily delay him with a few provocations or cheap tricks.

Even so, despite being a fool, he’s strong. If I don’t find something clever, I’ll never beat him.

If I think about it, that enforcer at Master rank should be somewhere watching us. I wonder if he’d step in if I were about to die.

I’ll gamble on that. After all, it wouldn’t make sense for that director to assign us a mission to prevent casualties among candidates only to let us die in the end.

So, I can fight until I’m on the verge of death, knowing someone will save me before I actually die.

Perfect. That means I can test techniques to pierce the coating what better training dummy than the sturdy body of a high-ranked calamity? And this one’s perfect: predictable to a fault.")

---

Just as Sirius predicted, by the time he reached the cliff’s edge, Kai was already two meters behind him; Sirius only sensed him once he entered Nephele Sens’ range.

Sirius used the split second he had before Kai reached him to hatch a plan.

He could use Nephele Burst again, but he feared the trick wouldn’t work twice. Even a fool like Kai would eventually adapt to it.

Luckily, Sirius had more than one trick his three main techniques: Nephele, Stereo, and Igros.

From those three, he could create countless variations depending on the situation.

And as soon as an idea flashed in his mind, Sirius acted.

<< Igros >>

Part of the mist turned into a liquid that spread across the ground. This time, Sirius didn’t just liquefy the mist he altered its viscosity and texture to make it as oily and slippery as possible.

And unsurprisingly, when Kai, charging full speed, nearly reached Sirius, he slipped, crashing headfirst into the rocky wall.

Sirius, meanwhile, materialized a dozen sharp stakes along the cliff and used them to climb rapidly.

However, by the time he was halfway up, Kai had recovered and caught up. Enraged beyond measure, he unleashed his power.

<< Authority: Venomous Cloud >>

A jet of purple gas erupted from his stinger a very bad sign.

Sensing the danger, Sirius reacted instantly. He used Nephele, forming a rotating mist around him that pushed back the poisonous cloud, then narrowly dodged Kai’s stinger as it embedded itself into the rock.

"I’ll kill you, filthy vermin!" Kai screamed.

Clinging to the cliff with his claws, he tried to grab Sirius with the others.

To avoid him, Sirius let himself fall or at least gave that impression.

Kai took the bait and lunged, only to grasp empty air, barely stopping himself from plummeting to the ground.

It didn’t hurt him, but it bought Sirius the time he needed to reach the top.

"He’s annoying, especially that poison. I must avoid contact. Judging from that liquid dripping from his stinger, it’s definitely toxic."

<< Igros >>

Sirius spread more of the slippery fluid to slow Kai down, buying enough time to reach the summit first.

---

Sirius was panting; it had only been two minutes, but he’d drained both mind and body to the limit.

Now that he’d reached the top, he had to end the fight as quickly as possible.

After all, unlike him whose ether reserves were limited calamities drew directly from the ambient ether.

Kai soon climbed up to face him, his eyes bloodshot.

"Hahaha! Humans! I’ve decided I’ll massacre every last one of you! I, Count Kai, will wipe out your species!"

Sirius mocked him.

"You can’t even touch me, let alone defeat me, and you think you’ll exterminate humanity? That’s not stupidity anymore it’s paranoia. My lord, you’re clearly mentally ill."

"Go to hell!" Kai roared, ripping off his own tail and wielding it like a sword.

("He can’t get any angrier now,") Sirius realized.

From the start, he had intentionally provoked him. People ruled by emotion especially anger were easy to predict.

("Still, that doesn’t change the fact that he’s stronger than me. I can’t even hurt him. If that stinger hits me, my body won’t survive whatever poison a Count-level calamity carries.")

Kai charged, and Sirius felt his heart pounding; adrenaline flooded his brain, awakening sensations he’d long buried.

A drug he’d once overcome one that now threatened to consume him.

The ecstasy of battle: when life hangs by a thread and every move means death or survival for a few more seconds.

("Just for today... I’ll dive into it. Let the poison consume me.")

Sirius didn’t move and let Kai’s poisoned blade pierce his abdomen.

He felt it the poison seeping into his body, corrupting his system; the pain in his torn belly was unbearable, yet he smiled.

Because only at the edge of death does life reveal its meaning, and light pierces the darkness.

When Sirius closed his eyes, his body staggered backward, letting the blade slip free.

Two minutes and ten seconds .

that’s how long he had before collapsing for good.

His mind emptied; he no longer thought, or rather, thoughts were born and died before consciousness could grasp them.

<< Stereos Chains >>

<< Nephele Sens >>

<< Stereos Sword >>

He stopped conserving ether and unleashed everything.

A white sword in hand, mist swirling around him, and chains spinning at impossible speed as if alive.

---

In that fleeting instant, Kai felt something unfamiliar danger.

A question he had never once considered.

What if we’re not the predators... but the prey?

He had no time to dwell on it before his body reacted instinctively, defending against a blade that should’ve been harmless.

Sirius moved like a cat fluid, agile using his airborne chains as platforms to launch himself, attacking from impossible angles.

He didn’t aim for Kai’s hardened shell but the small spaces between its segments.

For a moment, Kai was overwhelmed by Sirius’s speed and agility.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t see him his body simply couldn’t keep up.

And not just Sirius the chain tips were armed with small blades slashing and gripping him, moving faster than even Kai’s eyes could follow.

That was because Sirius wasn’t controlling them with his body, but with will alone.

And while Kai’s physical abilities far surpassed his, Sirius’s will and intelligence operated on another level, allowing his chains to move faster than his own limbs.

<< Authority: Venomous Cloud >>

Kai unleashed his poison again, thinking it would end the fight but it didn’t.

For the remaining two minutes of his life, Sirius’s body had forgotten what poison meant.

At that moment, he was no longer human, but a machine or rather, a program constantly evolving mid-battle.

The scene no longer resembled a duel, but a cat toying with a ball of yarn.

And for San, who watched from the shadows, there was only awe and unease.

Not at Sirius’s strength but at his madness.

Because who else would balance their life on a thread just to perfect their fighting style?