Yure had gotten up from the ground, still holding the rock he had picked up from the ground. He threw it towards Yamikuro, who was jumping at him.
Yamikuro didn't dodge it; the rock landed against his chest. Was it luck that Yamikuro had slightly changed his position from before, or had he calculated all of it?
That Yure couldn't confirm, but he didn't let it get to his head. In fact, he himself had calculated multiple possibilities of this encounter.
Yamikuro landed on the ground, and Yure had gotten up from the ground, avoiding the kick from above. They faced each other, Yamikuro seemingly confident that he had figured Yure out.
Yure held onto his black bucket hat, his most precious belonging, and almost used it like a prayer before moving.
'Father... I will carry on this will of mine. My peace will be left untouched.'
With his left hand, which was free, unlike his right hand still clinging onto his hat, he threw a punch at Yamikuro.
Yamikuro evaded it without thinking twice, relying on his instincts. But as his head swayed to the left, his eyes shot open as he realized the mistake he had made.
'No...!'
He had dodged an attack. The one thing he wasn't supposed to do in this Ascension.
And just as Yamikuro guessed, he stood in front of the downed Yure once again, just like before. The loop resets happened so suddenly that he wouldn't have known what was going on if not for the small changes he kept as reminders. Such as Yure, who was on the ground.
Yamikuro's cheek swelled up before pain filled his nerves, shooting the ache from the punch that Yure had thrown earlier throughout his face.
Yamikuro fell to the ground this time. The looping was starting to get to his head. He didn't know how long it had been going on, but he had to wrap this up quickly.
'Mom, Dad... I will get revenge for the two of you. I can't let Yure stop me from killing Lucian.' Yamikuro vowed to himself in that moment.
Yamikuro still couldn't figure out the Ascension, and it frustrated him more than the thought of Lucian's confrontation being delayed.
However, there was a theory he wanted to test out. One about dodging Yure's attacks and how he got attacked.
It seemed to happen at random, or by Yure's control, but thinking about it more, that couldn't have been the case. Otherwise, Yure would make every attack land.
All of it seemed too deliberate to be random; there was a piece Yamikuro was missing from the bigger picture.
'Think Yamikuro... Think.'
The first time he fell to the ground from Yure's attack, despite dodging it, he swayed his body twice.
This time, he evaded the attack twice by swaying his head twice, and the attack landed.
The attacks had something to do with dodging, but how would they land if they clearly never hit in the first place?
Yamikuro got up from the ground. He kept in mind the first two attacks that landed and narrowed his eyes, letting the wind manage his longer hair.
Yure couldn't catch onto what Yamikuro thought of, but could only guess he was getting closer to figuring the Ascension out.
"Asaki Yamikuro, for someone so desperate, you show no impatience."
"Shut it, bucket hat." Yamikuro shot back. He could tell Yure was trying to mess with his head, and besides, Yure was wrong; Yamikuro's patience was starting to run out.
Yure raised an eyebrow; it felt out of character for Yamikuro, but that was to be expected. Yure's loop tended to mess with people's heads, and they'd collapse in their own minds before Yure could actually harm them.
That's why Yure attacked first again, hoping to force Yamikuro into a position where he'd have to dodge and give Yure an upper hand.
However, Yamikuro noticed the incoming attack, and in response stood completely still, as a stick stuck to the ground.
Yure didn't almost want to land the punch, his hand drawn into a fist beside his head as he appeared next to Yamikuro. The opening was completely free, too free.
Yamikuro had to be up to someting.
He stood too confidently, his long hair adding onto his imitating presence and the sharp jawline that defined his face. And Yure hated those cold eyes of Yamikuro the most, not because it frightened, but because it mirrored his own eyes too closely.
The eyes that have shut off the surrounding world.
Those were the eyes Yamikuro was carrying with him, and so did Yure, who could never admit it aloud, but knew it too well.
And so, Yure's punch landed against Yamikuro's left chest, twisting deeper into his skin. Yure attacked with the intent of using force he had promised not to use initially. Or so he told himself.
Yamikuro stood in the exact same position he did earlier, as if Yure only nudged him in a playful manner.
"What?" Yure couldn't help but spurt aloud, staring at his fist, and then Yamikuro's perfectly fine chest.
Yamikuro turned, his right hand drawn before himself, as his eyes fell on Yure with an arched back from the attack.
"You have lost."
Yamikuro's hand gripped onto Yure's forearm, just a bit more force and Yure's bones could've cracked from the pressure.
'How did I lose?' Yure asked himself.
He knew very well that this was the end for him. Yamikuro had him trapped and he could feel an attack coming from any direction, forcing his eyes to be focused on his failed fist.
'I... I hesitated.'
Those were the words Yure was afraid of admitting to himself. Had he not seen the mirroring image of himself in Yamikuro, perhaps he wouldn't have wavered before actually throwing a punch.
The second that Yure wasted, allowed Yamikuro to gather Naiko to his chest, sending Kishin underneath his skin and hardening it. Thanks to that, Yure's attack felt nothing but a tickle.
Yamikuro on the other hand raised his knee and kicked Yure in the middle of his chest, sending his body flying upwards.
Yamikuro looked at Yure with no clearly visible emotion, as if he had shut down everything, and his only focus became Lucian.
The hesitations, questions, stress, everything he experienced in this battle vanished, as his right hand curled into a hardened fist. Yamikuro's goal of killing Lucian was closer than ever before. All he had to do was defeat Yure.
And that's what he did without hesitation. Perhaps the old Yamikuro would've also hesitated, but now wasn't the time to think back on those days.
Yamikuro's punch sent Yure backwards, his bucket hat floating off his head. The one he had held onto this whole battle.
However, Yure wasn't focused on the hat, but instead his eyes met with Yamikuro's.
"Those eyes... I was mistaken, they are colder than mine."
Yure fell to the ground back first as a ragdoll being thrown away.
With that, the Ascension collapsed, and Yamikuro was free.
"My justice is over, isn't it?" Yure said, feeling his eyelids get heavier with each breath.
Eventually, his eyes shut together, unsure if Yamikuro had already gone to the other world, or if Seiji and Raien managed to show up.
But that didn't matter to him anymore. He had lost.