Mako fell from high above after being released from Polyphemus's grip.
Even so, falling into the abyss of the night, Mako held onto his weapon as firmly as he could and aimed directly at Erick, who was coming at him like a bullet.
That feeling came back to Mako's body—the feeling of being about to face a decisive blow: the fate of his entire House seemed to depend on the next moves.
In a fraction of a second, Mako pointed the tip of his sword toward Erick's face.
Erick, on the other hand, was coming straight at Mako, intending to strike him in some way. There was no technique in him, only raw strength.
A fraction of a second.
Erick's fists were heading toward Mako like two loaded cannons. One hit, and he would be shattered into a thousand pieces…
Still, Mako had that unusual glint in his blue eyes.
With a swift flick of his wrist, Mako turned the sword's hilt, changing the angle of the blade in the last moment.
The tip of Mako's rapier began sliding across Erick's right fist during the fall.
A disgusting stream of blood began to pour from Erick's skin as the sword slid hastily, getting stuck in his own muscles.
Mako, knowing that a direct blow would be suicide for him, used this maneuver to alter his own trajectory.
But…
Even with Mako's incredible abilities, Erick was still overpowering him with brute force.
A fraction of a second.
The clash of the sword against Erick's arm was enough to activate his powers.
Erick's crimson eyes also began to glow fiercely.
Zork, Polyphemus, and Erick's angel watched the impact of both attacks, creating a tremendous flash from the explosive force of Erick.
Like a star in the middle of the square, they only heard the explosion and the flash.
After the flash, only darkness and a cloud of smoke remained.
From the smoke, in those moments when everything was happening at dizzying speeds, they saw part of the broken blade of Mako's sword flying out to fall and embed in the hard ground of the square.
The other part of the sword, shattered from the explosion's impact, fell and rolled to another corner of the area.
"Ugh," Mako groaned in pain from the ground.
He got up from the rubble of the ground. Broken pieces from Erick's initial explosion, which had destroyed the building, were now displaced by Mako's body hitting the hard ground.
Stunned, Mako got to his feet. He had managed to avoid the worst thanks to that maneuver, but even so… He had some superficial burns on his arms, with a few blisters.
Without a shirt, Mako was a collection of all the wounds he had suffered in his battles and deaths.
Mako's arms felt incredibly heavy, hanging like they were made of lead. Head down, the legitimate heir of the House of the Sun, Mako, felt like he couldn't go on.
'I haven't fully healed the wounds Arthur gave me on my arm and leg,' Mako thought, still feeling pain in those muscle areas.
'I haven't recovered from anything… Rebecca also managed to wound me,' Mako kept thinking, surrounded by dust and debris.
But Mako wasn't the only one who had fallen. Lifting his gaze, he could see it.
Erick was pressing his left hand against the terrible wound Mako's sword had caused. Even so, he couldn't cover it entirely. Blood cascaded from the wound.
Without wasting any time, Erick tore part of his shirt to make a makeshift tourniquet. He had to stop the bleeding as quickly as possible.
"All those wounds…" Polyphemus murmured as he noticed Mako's body covered in scars, recalling the story Mako had told him about his battle with Catherine.
Mako, seeing that he had managed to injure Erick so badly, sighed.
The feeling of despair didn't leave his mind, but knowing this was life or death, he forced his body into another burst of action.
Still dazed from the fall, Mako began running across that desolate square full of debris, corpses, smoke, and fire.
His speed was incredible, after all.
But Erick had already finished tightening the tourniquet.
Mako kept running. He couldn't give his brother Erick any breathing room.
"Come on, come!" Erick shouted while holding part of the torn fabric in his mouth, tightening the tourniquet knot with his own teeth.
With his good arm, Erick slammed his fist into the ground. At that moment, Mako was only a few meters away.
"Shit," Mako said as he reacted to this.
The ground trembled again. Mako jumped, trying to avoid being caught in the implosion.
But as he jumped, he was right where Erick wanted him.
It was like Erick was reading his next moves. Erick jumped to intercept Mako.
Erick's hand stretched out like a fearsome beast's claw. Mako, with the back of his own arm, deflected this first attack.
But he couldn't do the same with the next one. Mako saw as Erick unflinchingly used his injured arm to grab him by the face.
Mako and Erick crashed to the ground with a loud impact.
But there was no explosion.
"Did you really think you'd beat me?" Erick began, already victorious, "You couldn't even kill me using the coward Igor."
Mako tried to fight, but he couldn't remove Erick's hand from his face.
"What the hell are you talking about?!" Mako yelled back.
Mako desperately struck Erick's right arm at the tourniquet, but still, his strength didn't give way. No matter how much Mako attacked the open wound, nothing stopped him.
"I never…" Mako began with a melancholic pain in his voice, "I never wanted this to end like this."
It was useless. Erick just had to activate his ability and finish him in an instant. Slowly, what started as desperate punches turned into weak strikes.
Finally, Mako let his arms drop to his sides.
Erick, who had always kept a proud face, now showed a grimace of disgust.
"Are you kidding me?" Erick said, tightening his hand, pushing Mako's face harder into the ground.
Erick's eyes glowed again, but this time they were filled with fury.
"I'm not going to believe your lies. I've fought for this House for years!" Erick's shouts came out like a rabid animal's.
"I kept us afloat by making deals with scum like Fox! You never awakened your system! I was alone!"
Erick's shouts echoed throughout the square.
"You're weak, Mako," Erick finished, lifting his good fist, preparing to deliver the final blow.
Mako clearly didn't fear death. He knew that in the worst case, he would return in a worse state than he was in. Maybe he had a chance.
'The wound in my arm…' Mako thought. If Erick tried to kill him in that moment, the wound in his arm might be his ticket to victory.
But Mako, despite knowing this, was tempted to give up completely.
'If I tell him how my power works,' Mako thought, looking at Erick's fist high above, like a shadow against the silver moonlight, 'if I tell him, he'll win.'
Zork was getting up from the ground, starting to walk toward the dock.
"Where are you going?" asked the angel, enjoying the spectacle.
"I'm going to make sure my men did their job," Zork answered dryly, glancing at the scene between Erick and Mako.
Despite the temptation to give up entirely, Mako's lips only uttered one thing:
"I'm sorry."
Those words made Erick hesitate.
"Sorry?" Erick said, incredulous when he heard those words from his brother Mako, "Is that all you're going to say?"
Zork stopped in his tracks when he heard Erick's screams, not the final explosion of his fists.
In a furious rage, Erick removed his blood-soaked hand from Mako's face to grab him by one of his shoulders.
Furious, Erick began to punch Mako's face with his good fist.
But there were no explosions.
Erick punched with all his strength, but his anger was so great that it didn't warrant a supernova explosion in his knuckles.
It was a different kind of fire.
"How can you say that?!" Erick yelled without stopping.
Mako remained silent, with an empty look, receiving each attack, spitting blood.
The punches didn't stop until Erick's fist was soaked with his brother's blood.
Still, Mako breathed. He was still alive. There hadn't been another time jump to the past.
Mako now looked at Erick's blood-soaked fist, lifting again high into the air.
But then...
Mako saw another shadow in the white moon.