"So… what conditions are we going to work with for our fight?"
As the three of them repositioned themselves to where both sides had enough space to move about, Valyr decided to ask the twins after it seemed like both sides had settled down.
"It would be incredibly stupid and absurd if we were to tell you that both sides would have to fight to the death until only one remains standing," said Daon. "After all, our current strengths are on a whole other level compared to yours."
"Instead, we'll be fighting against each other by putting all of our strength into a limited number of strikes," said Dawan as he continued where his twin left off. "Still scary, but more manageable."
"One side will act as the attacker, while the other side would be the defender. I'm pretty sure that's more than enough for you to understand the gist of what's going to happen."
"Basically give your everything in your attacks until the other side concedes." Valyr nodded, to which the two nodded in agreement.
Seeing the two's response to his words, the young man was reminded of his fifth fight with Matthias, where each of them had three moves to make the other side concede, switching back and forth with every attack.
With that, Valyr's body slightly shuddered as he realized the implications of his current situation.
"Say… you wouldn't be attacking me at the same time and count that one attack, right?" he asked, to which the two let out a bit of laughter in response.
"If we were to do that, the Gates of Awakening would make a move to restrain us," said Dawan as he shook his head. "But no, we'll be attacking you separately."
"I'll be attacking first," Daon said. "Then, after your turn, it'll be Dawan to attack you, swapping back and forth between us two."
"How many moves would each of us have before the fight ends?" asked the young man, the gears in his mind turning as he inputted their words into his mind.
Dawan raised three of his fingers in response. "Three moves. In total, we would be attacking you six times."
"At the same time, you'd be able to attack us six times as well," said Daon soon after. "However, there's nothing stopping you from attacking both of us when it's our turn to defend."
"Is that so?" At those words, a faint smile briefly crept up the young man's face as a bunch of ideas surfaced in his mind.
At the same time, the three prepared themselves for their fight as all of them got into a battle stance.
"I'll be moving first," said Daon as he stepped forward, prompting Valyr's expression to turn solemn as he prepared for the attack that would be thrown his way.
Though, just as he thought that the man would send his attack without hesitation, the young man was instead greeted by a question.
"Though, before that, I'm really curious. What's going on in Veldanyr at the moment?" asked Daon, looking at Valyr with slightly pleading eyes.
Seeing that the attention of the two were fully focused on his words to the point that he felt like the fight wouldn't proceed without his response, the young man let out a sigh as he acquiesced.
"There's a war brewing between the orcs and the humans," said Valyr, eliciting a look of slight shock and understanding to appear on the twins' faces.
"At first, it was just a small skirmish between one of the human kingdoms and the Khagarax Empire. Now it's expanded to cover more of the human kingdoms where it's only a matter of time before the Meltierre and Khagarax Empire make their moves."
"So the information we've received was correct," said Daon, looking at Dawan for a bit before letting out a sigh.
"We've heard that the orcs and humans had a falling out, but we dismissed it at first. Who knew it would actually be true?"
"In our days, the orcs and the humans had a harmonious relationship to the point there would be frequent exchanges between the two," said Dawan, hoping to give the young man more context towards their train of thought.
"That's why we found it odd that the two had become at odds all of a sudden."
"In any case, we could talk about in greater detail after this fight," Daon said, returning their frames of thought to the matter at hand.
With that, the man took in a deep breath as a massive force began to brew his body.
"Huuu…" Letting out a drawn-out exhale, Daon began to move his body into various poses, all of which made Valyr wonder what the intent behind the seemingly random poses were.
Fortunately, as he continued to watch the man move about, he began to notice that there were nuggets of truth interspersed here and there.
At some point, he realized that each of the movements seemed to be infusing something into the air, gradually forming a pattern that began to grow in both aura and power.
"[Intent of the Raging Waves]."
Whoosh!
As Daon got into a horse stance, the man pushed both of his hands outward as he let out a bellow, sending out a part of energy from his Intent into the pattern he had formed.
Within seconds, the aura being radiated by the pattern surged in power, faintly reminding Valyr of the tsunamis that had destroyed the cities of Earth in his past life.
Though, just as he had begun to reminisce over his quaint life from the past, Daon had finally made his move.
"[Art of the Calamitous Waves]!"
"[Heaven-rending Tsunami]!"
Bang!
With his right fist clenched, Daon struck out like a drawn bowstring as he sent all of his strength into his punch.
Once the punch and the pattern made contact, it was as if the world had briefly turned into the deadly oceans, sending out a small yet terrifying wave of water that swiftly headed towards Valyr.
"[Refined Defense Aura]!"
"[Refined Bulwark of Life]!"
"[Refined Mana Barrier]!"
In response, Valyr unleashed all of the defensive skills in his arsenal, even going so far as to rouse his Shadow Energy as he retrieved his spear.
"[Arcane Shadow Serpent Combat Style]!"
"[Dark Arcane Mirror]!"
Whoosh!
Just before the attack could make contact with Valyr, the dark barrier immediately burst forth, shielding a great portion of the momentum contained within the attack.
Yet even the barrier he thought of as sturdy eventually began to crumble under the attack's force, slowly making ferocity known through both the mana barrier and armor he had conjured.
'This really makes me wonder whether the Trial of Nine Stars is meant to be cleared,' thought the young man to himself, deciding to use a skill from [Arcane Shadow Serpent Combat Style] to counteract some of the forces from Daon's attack.
Though, seeing how his attack only seemed like a drop in a bucket, it was there that Valyr knew.
He was in for a losing fight.
