Surprise attack

In the ruins, Vektor and Kder position themselves for battle as they confront Maken, who says:

"My seven days are nearly over... Today is the last day of my mission to eliminate Vektor Drenn. Katsuo, I don't want to eliminate you too... but all obstacles must be removed from the path. If you come to me, you won't come out unscathed. After all, even with this broken blade, with my full power I should be able to take care of both of you in 15 minutes at most..."

Maken jumps from the rubble and lands in front of his opponents while wielding his sword, and says:

"Come!"

Without wasting any second, Vektor and Kder advance simultaneously. Maken manages to dodge most of their attacks. Kder proves to be a more threatening opponent in combat, making him Maken's focus.

After seeing himself miss consecutively, Kder increases the speed of his attacks, thus rivaling Maken and surpassing Vektor, who falls behind while Kder forces Maken to defend himself and gradually retreat whenever he is able.

Realizing that his attack is not being very efficient, Kder retreats, jumping back to where Vektor is.

"It wasn't enough... What should we do...?"

"Hey! Don't leave me behind! I'm fighting too!"

"I'm sorry. But our opponent isn't just anyone. We won't stand a chance if we don't give our absolute best. But even if I say that, I still haven't accumulated enough stress to awaken my true potential..."

"If you can't fight with everything you've got, let me fight alone for a while! Stay here and concentrate, and in the meantime, I'll fight Maken using the energized Burning Silver. I should be able to hold out long enough for you to go all out later. How about that?"

"As you wish. Well, it's not like we have a better option at the moment..."

Maken had already been in front of the two again for a few seconds, just waiting for the next attack.

After slowly taking a few steps forward, Vektor runs towards Maken and begins his attack. Obviously, being much slower than Kder, Vektor finds himself unable to land a single hit with his flaming sword. Maken soon loses his patience:

"Playtime is over for you!"

Maken then counterattacks with his broken sword. In a few seconds, Vektor receives several attacks that injure his arms and face. When he lowers his guard, he receives a kick in the stomach that makes him fall sitting on the ground. Maken approaches him while saying:

"I won't be generous with you this time. I advise you to just give up and die in silence..."

Maken prepares to stab Vektor in the head, but his already raised hand starts trembling in hesitation. After stabilizing his hand for about a second, he tries to deliver the fatal blow, but Kder appears and blocks his attack, leaving him puzzled:

"Looks like you're denying your own defeat..."

"Now it's my turn again! I'm going all out this time!"

"...Even though you're saying that, from what I can see... you're still not showing your full power, are you? The same power you used to break this sword I'm using. Do you plan on hiding that power until the last moment? Or is it... that you're simply not capable of giving it your all?"

"Khhh...!"

Kder begins another series of attacks while Vektor recovers. This time, the speed of his attacks is at the highest level possible at the moment. With great difficulty, Maken manages to dodge and defend himself from all the slashes, but he cannot find any opening for a counterattack. Still, he does not stop taunting Kder:

"Come on, Katsuo! Show me your full power! What's wrong, something holding you back?!"

"(Why...? Even though I've already learned to control my strength... Even though I'm giving it my all... Why now of all times... Why can't I release my power...?!)"

"(His movements lost speed and precision... It's my chance!)

Guard's down!"

Taking advantage of his opponent's internal conflict, Maken changes the direction of one of Kder's attacks using a counterattack, leaving him open to attack. Vektor then reappears and attacks again with his Burning Silver, but misses his attack once again. Maken starts getting angry:

"How insistent... You should have noticed by now that you don't stand a chance against me. Unlike Katsuo, you're not even close to being a worthy opponent."

"You may be right, but even if I don't have a chance alone, if Kder and I fight together, the one who won't have a chance here will be you!"

Without giving time to their opponent, Kder continues his attack, this time with Vektor as support. While defending himself from Kder's slashes, Maken constantly moves to dodge Vektor's flaming slashes. Once again unable to counterattack, Maken finds himself cornered by the enemies' constant attacks:

"These two's movements are completely uncoordinated, but they still manage to fight without getting in each other's way... I need to split my mental processing in two to be able to keep up with all these attacks. If this continues, I'll end up getting tired, and then I won't be able to fight anymore! I need to find a way to destabilize this formation... but how? ...I know, that's it!"

Maken tries to disarm Vektor through a counterattack, but unlike planned, his opponent's physical strength surpasses his own, causing Maken himself to be disarmed by Vektor's attack. Unable to defend himself from Kder's attacks, Maken decides to resort to using his own muscular strength to continue fighting.

In an instinctive act, Maken delivers a powerful punch to Vektor's stomach, a punch so strong that it instantly interrupts his attack and loosens the grip on his hands, making him drop the Burning Silver. This moment is enough to distract Kder, and this momentary distraction is the opening that Maken uses to deliver a combo of 2 kicks to Vektor: one to the chin and another to the chest, with this second kick being what sends Vektor's body flying towards Kder, who is forced to interrupt his attack to grab Vektor's body.

All this confusion of a few seconds creates the perfect opportunity for Maken to retrieve his broken sword and then return to the rubble, a temporarily safe place to execute his plan of attack, which is exactly what he originally planned in the battle at the Burning Silver altar. After quickly raising his left hand towards Vektor, he begins to recite his incantation to summon the power of Vak-Oh.

Meanwhile, Kder helps Vektor stay on his feet:

"Are you okay?"

"Y- Yeah... My body just feels a little sore..."

"Rest for a few moments. I'll continue fighting alone for a while, only come back when you're recovered, okay?"

"O- Okay... Good luck out there."

Kder runs towards Maken again, while Vektor slowly walks to retrieve the Burning Silver that fell a few meters away. As he runs, Kder can see from afar a concentrated mass of dark energy forming in Maken's right hand.

"The power of Vak-Oh?! He's going to...!"

Before Kder has time to react, Maken's dark energy shoots towards Vektor, passing quickly over Kder's left shoulder. The legendary swordsman immediately stops running and looks back to see Vektor approaching the Burning Silver, an instant before he is struck by the mysterious attack.

After receiving the attack, Vektor feels his body gradually becoming heavier, making it difficult to move his body.

"W- What was that? My muscles are getting too stiff... and my breathing is failing...

(...! Just like that day!)

This is not good... Not good at all..."

Vektor's body starts burning with weak purple flames, which slowly heal each of his wounds. From afar, Kder notices that Vektor's eyes have turned purple and are exhaling a thin, bright purple vapor. Desperate, the swordsman shouts:

"Vektor! The sword! Touch the legendary sword!"

Trying his best to move his muscles, Vektor slowly moves his right arm towards the hilt of the Burning Silver, and manages to grip it with his hand. The purple flames slowly fade from his body, and after a few seconds, he seemingly returns to normal...

However, in the next instant, his body suddenly bursts into purple flames, and this is the exact moment when his self-control is completely lost. The dark curse has once again been activated. Horrified, Kder watches as Vektor's body glows in purple and red flames, and remains in disbelief:

"What...? T- This... This shouldn't be happening! The Burning Silver should have nullified the dark energy of the curse! What did we do wrong?!"

"GRRAAAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!"

Maken decides to watch everything from afar attentively:

"This way, Katsuo will be forced to use all of his strength and will also lose the energy needed to go after me. He's much stronger than the apprentice Drenn, so I doubt he'll die here. Even if he leaves here exhausted, I'm certain that he will be able to kill Vektor on his own, and then all of my problems will be solved. It's time to face reality, Katsuo... It's your turn to stain the blade of your sword with blood!"

Reluctantly, Kder grips his sword tightly and positions himself for combat.

"You're no longer the apprentice of flames I know, are you? You're just an evil entity, taking possession of a human body with the goal of destroying everything around you... It's a shame, but if the Burning Silver couldn't stop this, I have no choice but to restrain you. I'm sorry, Vektor Drenn... You may feel some pain, but I'm sure you'll be fine. Now, let's duel!"

And so, the sudden duel begins: Vektor Vs. Kder!