Eiro looked back at them man standing in front of him and slowly crossed his arms, "Hmm... Then let me think... What would help me for? Having someone like you, someone that clearly only cares about himself and nothing else, by my side, or... killing you right now and increasing my rank within the organization?"
The Letter standing in front of Eiro looked at him surprised, "What's that supposed to mean? You think you would be able to kill me?" With a loud laugh, 'M' held his hand in front of his belly as if he had the time of his life.
"Of course, that's what I was saying. If I'm not stronger than you, then why'd you need my help at all?" Eiro asked bluntly. And 'M' slowly squinted his eyes, "Because you have special abilities that allow you to take out the execs. Why else? If we really want to conquer the organization, we need to be able to properly deal with people with higher-tier artifacts than us. You seem to be able to do that."
"So you want me to become your subordinate?" Eiro asked bluntly. The man slightly tilted his head to the side, a bit puzzled, "I thought that was kind of obvious?"
"Then how about this? We fight here, and if I win, you die. If you win, I become your subordinate and help you take over the organization." The Demon suggested with a broad smile underneath his mask, his fingers itching so that Eiro could quickly and completely overpower this man in front of him.
And it seemed like the man was pretty excited about this as well. The smile on his face turned into a vile, excited grin as well. And it was obvious why; He was a member of an organization built on the basis of being strong. There was nobody here that didn't enjoy fights with other people, oftentimes more so if the fight may or may not end in death.
"Sounds like a plan for the kinda man I am!" M grinned as he immediately rushed forward toward Eiro. With every single step he took, the ice underneath his feet was just so slightly cracking, but of course not all the way through. It just seemed like the guy's boots suddenly started weighing much, much more than they did before.
He swung his body forward and slid over the ice, before lifting his leg high up into the air. It was like the foot was being pulled directly toward Eiro's body, and judging from its weight, it was going to do quite a bit of damage as well. If it managed to hit straight-on, at least.
But instead, Eiro held forward his left hand, using his Rock-Skin ability. He concentrated it there as much as he could and layered it multiple times until his fist basically became a thick rock, his fingers not even visible anymore.
Like that, Eiro was able to defend the attack relatively easily. With some water salvaged from the lake underneath his feet, Eiro infused his body with water with a second-step infusion. A lot of the damage from the heavy boot was stopped through Eiro's thick hand, and the rest was able to be diverted through Eiro's whole body. He diverted the waves into his legs and let it flow into the ice, forming some cracks.
Those cracks were used by Eiro. He picked up the shards of ice created by those cracks and shot them at 'M' with a wave of his hand.
However, it seemed like 'M' was really more skilled than Eiro thought at first. After his first hit had been defended against, 'M' twisted his body and kicked Eiro once more, albeit this time in a different spot and with his other foot.
But Eiro simply moved his Rock-Skin over to the exact spot where he was about to be hit. And since his hand was now freed up a bit, Eiro was able to properly push the waves right toward his left palm.
Everything gathered there, and the Demon let out a shot of manal that he lit up with his own flames. They had been compressed highly, and due to the way that Eiro twist his body, arm, and hand, he was able to hit 'M' right into the center of his chest. However... It didn't hit. Or rather, it was defended against, revealing one more 'Card' that the organization seemed to have access to.
"They really have the 'Aegis' as well? You kidding me?" Eiro groaned loudly. How many Cards did the organization have? And was it really this sub-organization, or was it the larger organization that seemed to be controlling this and many more groups from the shadows? The more different artifacts that Eiro saw the members have, the more he believed the latter to be the case.
It would foil one part of Eiro's plans a bit, since he would be unable to collect more cards, but at the end of the day, it would be fine. Probably. Since he had 4 cards just for himself, he already could be said to be the individual with the most cards on his own.
But it was kind of annoying, but he would survive it. It just meant that he had to change a few smaller parts of his plans, but that was fine.
For the most part, if Eiro took control over this organization, he would still be able to get a lot of artificial artifacts from the overarching organization anyway, which would at least kind of make up for it, even if not fully.
Either way, while Eiro was having these thoughts, his fight with 'M' continued. And despite what Eiro thought, instead of slowing down, 'M' simply got faster. Either it was because he was slowly warming up, or because he simply became more confident now that he saw that Eiro's magic attacks couldn't penetrate the Aegis.
The Aegis was the greatest shield in existence, of course. The Seven of Swords. Eiro didn't know what shape it normally took, but judging from the stories he's read, it was in the shape of a normal bronze shield. But it was durable beyond what the bronze shield usually allowed, and it could wrap protective magic around the user.
That was the aspect that Eiro was seeing right now. The protective magic that was glowing in a slight amber light, covering 'M' just a few centimeters away from his skin. However, there were a few clear weaknesses, like with most cards.
With the Ace of Cups, while you died while using it, you would practically be wiped from existence. It was hard for that to happen of course, but if you had a fatal injury and used the card, you simply wouldn't return to normal and the world itself would still forever forget about you.
With the Three of Swords, you might go insane if you're not careful. And with the aegis... you were unable to breathe and hear while the protective layer covered you. The only thing that the shield let through was light. No air, no sound, nothing.
Of course, now that Eiro was able to properly manipulate all of his abilities at a new level, he should probably be able to manipulate them so that he could only cover the areas where he needed the shield. Basically an upgrade of his Rock Skin, then. So there would be nothing that he needed to be worried about.
However, with this version of the Aegis, the artificial kind... already didn't have that weakness. Not because it wasn't covering 'M's whole body, it certainly was, but it simply let through air and sound. Eiro knew that from the fact that he was able to hear M's breathing and heartbeat.
For one, his breathing never changed, so there was no lack of air in this sealed 'container', and the fact that Eiro was able to hear those things showed that sound was let through in the first place as well.
And so, Eiro came up with another idea. For now, he kept on fighting M like he did before, although he soon started runninng a bit. For one, to exhaust M and make his breathing faster, and just to distract M while Eiro started out with his plan.
Subtly, he gathered some of his poison inside of the containers on his tail. And soon, he pulled those containers away from his tail and pressed it into the hollow part of the poison-dagger's handle. The poison was pulled out and filled the blade's hollow part.
Acting as if Eiro simply had to make use of the dagger at this point because M was so strong, to make him slip up more easily as well, just in case, Eiro swung the dagger at his opponent. Every time that the blade hit the Aegis' shield, Eiro let out some of the poison and turn it into very, very thin mist that he quickly pushed through the Aegis.
It seemed like M was slowly being affected by it and his body began to move quite sluggishly, at least compared to before. And the more of the poison gathered in M's lungs, the faster it would affect him, so it was an exponential curve.
Slowly but surely, he was being poisoned, and he started to notice, "What's going on? What are you doing to me? And how are you doing it?" M asked confusedly, while Eiro laughed loudly, "What's wrong? Feeling a bit exhausted, bud? Want to give up and just die by my hand?"
The Demon laughed. He was gaining the upper hand, clearly. While M's body had been weighted down considerably due to some sort of magic, once Eiro was able to push him down, he was going to be fine. Even if Eiro couldn't stab him because of the Aegis, he could still push him down onto the ground and figure something else out. If he had to, he would just drown him in the lake as well, or maybe poison him. Well, either way, Eiro would be able to kill him rather easily.
Once the Demon pressed M down onto the ground, tripping him over surprisingly easily, with the ice slightly cracking underneath the weight, Eiro pressed his right hand onto the center of M's chest. Right onto the Aegis.
Slowly but surely, he made his Three of Swords slither out of the gauntlet, and the five blades pressed into the amber light.
"You think you'll be able to shatter this shield? Hah! Right! This is the ultimate shield, you idiot!" M exclaimed, as if he was unbeatable. However, he forgot one thing.
"It's not the real Aegis, you dumbass. These are the true 'Marionette Blades', though." The Demon replied.
