However, Shu hadn't completely lost control or the ability to fight back. Losing the initiative didn't mean he lacked the capacity to counterattack.
After hastily blocking [Shu]'s attack, Shu backhanded a grab, locking down the other's hand as well. The two fell into a bizarre stalemate.
Shu actively gripped [Shu]'s hands, momentarily preventing any further strikes, and [Shu] didn't seem in a rush to break free either.
Four arms intertwined, mutually shackled, neither making a move to escape.
[Shu]'s inaction was ultimately because he held the center of gravity; right now, he had the initiative!
The offensive resumed. His hands might be shackled, but he had more than just hands to attack with.
[Shu] raised his leg, intending to use their close proximity to deliver a knee strike. Shu had controlled [Shu]'s hands, but in doing so, he had also tied up his own means of defense!
In [Shu]'s eyes, this move was completely shortsighted—drinking poison to quench thirst!
Body off-balance, hands restrained, backing himself into an unavoidable corner...
How could you—
A look of ruthlessness suddenly flashed through Shu's eyes.
While [Shu] was calmly launching his attack, Shu made a move so savage it completely defied [Shu]'s expectations.
Muscles in his neck snapped tight like steel cables. He threw his head back, and then, using the remaining strength in his core, he hurled his entire upper body forward and upward like a trebuchet—
SMASH!
THUD!!!
A tooth-aching, muffled sound erupted, like two hard rocks colliding. The noise briefly drowned out the roar of the blizzard.
Damage the enemy a thousand, self-inflict eight hundred!
In a near-unbalanced state, Shu had used a sacrificial headbutt to interrupt [Shu]'s offensive!
Violent shockwaves rushed into both Shus' brains simultaneously.
[Shu] felt his vision explode into white light mixed with seeing stars.
Shu's ears were ringing, as if a bell were tolling inside his skull.
Acidic, splitting pain radiated from his nose bridge. Warm liquid gushed from both their nostrils, rapidly growing viscous in the extreme cold.
This utterly savage strike had an immediate effect.
This unreasonable, mutually assured destruction forcibly dragged their balance back to the same starting line!
Amidst the agony and dizziness, both simultaneously released their grappling left hands to clutch their buzzing, splitting foreheads. Warm stickiness coated their fingers.
Their scalps already had wounds, and after Shu's collision, blood splattered across their foreheads. The sharp pain was merely temporarily buried by the concussion rattling their brains.
Yet, even though they were nearly knocked unconscious, their right hands remained clamped onto each other like they were welded shut.
Shu's fingernails dug deep into the other's flesh, as if in retaliation for [Shu] grabbing him first earlier.
After a brief moment of intense vertigo, [Shu] gritted his teeth and violently shook his head, forcing himself to stay awake. Through vision blurred by blood, he glared viciously at his opponent.
The pain in his forehead felt like a branding iron searing the inside of his skull.
The rusty, metallic scent of blood in his nose mixed with the freezing air; every breath tugged painfully at his brain.
Both clutched their heads, the warm blood between their fingers quickly turning cold and crusty in the sub-zero temperatures.
Yet the ruthlessness in their eyes wasn't extinguished by this self-mutilating collision; instead, tempered by pain, it burned even hotter.
Before the dizziness had fully faded, the left hand clutching his forehead moved down. Fingers splayed open—not to wipe away blood, but aiming at the roaring blizzard beneath their feet.
A growl suppressing his pain squeezed out of his throat.
He seized the dancing snow and ice crystals around him, compressing them, frantically gathering them into his palm!
The biting cold wind became an accomplice, sweeping in more ice and snow.
Almost in an instant, a spear nearly two meters long, crystal clear and flowing with multi-colored light inside, materialized in his grip.
The tip possessed not only the sharpness of ice crystals but also a heart-palpitating fluctuation rendered by that multi-colored energy, looking as if it could twist light itself.
Without hesitation, without even fully regaining his footing, Shu seized the split second where [Shu] was still sluggish from the dizziness. He thrust this lethal weapon of mixed ice and energy with full force toward the other's head!
Multi-colored streamers tore through the pale curtain of snow, so fast they left only an afterimage.
[Shu]'s pupils shrank instantly.
It was another unreasonable, reckless attack. The concussion had slowed [Shu]'s reaction by half a beat.
In this life-or-death moment, he only managed to wrench his body desperately to the right.
Ssfft—!
The ice spear didn't hit the heart, but grazed closely past his left cheek.
The [Hope] attached to the spear shaft acted like the sharpest file, easily slicing through his body's passive energy defenses. It plowed a thin, long gash from his cheekbone down to his jawline.
A line of blood was drawn out by the spear, rapidly condensing into beautiful crimson beads in the extreme cold.
This time, without the dizziness to suppress it, the stinging pain arrived immediately, shocking [Shu] completely awake.
The last trace of hesitation caused by "self-harm" in his eyes froze over.
You used your Authority first!
Almost at the exact instant his cheek was sliced, [Shu]'s right hand—which had been death-gripped by Shu—erupted with astonishing power!
With a decisive tearing sensation, [Shu] forcibly ripped himself free from Shu's clamp!
He didn't care that fingernails gouged deeper bloody furrows into his skin.
The moment he broke the shackle, [Shu] used the momentum to retreat rapidly, widening the gap between him and Shu.
Distance was the domain of long weapons.
And even more so, the absolute rule of thrown projectiles!
As he retreated, his left hand copied the move, grabbing at empty air!
He forcibly seized even more violent wind and snow, pouring more Honkai energy mixed with the power of [Hope] into it.
A similarly shaped but heavier ice spear, wreathed in intertwining azure and dark purple energy, condensed beside him!
However, this spear flickered with unstable energy glimmers, looking as if it might explode at any moment.
Giving Shu no chance to adjust or pursue, the moment the spear formed, [Shu] waved his hand violently.
The frost spear condensed in mid-air didn't even settle into [Shu]'s hand before it shot explosively toward Shu's chest!
The spear tore through the air, emitting a shrill, mournful shriek.
Wherever it passed, the snowflakes fluttering in the wind were instantly annihilated from their perception!
This strike was faster than Shu's thrust! More vicious! More condensed!
Shu had just completed a strike and his strength was flagging. Seeing the lethal javelin approaching, his pupils constricted sharply.
He didn't have time to shape another spear for a counterattack; he could only rapidly pull back the ice spear in his hand, gripping it with both hands and blocking it across his chest.