In the Grand Coliseum, everyone was awestruck by Catherine's display of strength.
"Incredible!" exclaimed the mustachioed little announcer, "but…"
The little man turned his gaze toward Mako.
"Where's the weapon of the House of the Sun's heir?!" he asked, pointing at Mako with his finger.
Mako didn't know how to respond.
At first, a murmur rippled through the stands.
Then, when the crowd realized he was unarmed, they couldn't help but erupt into loud laughter.
"This has to be a joke!" one person in the audience said, indignant.
"Yeah! We came to see a real fight!" another followed from the stands.
What started as laughter soon turned to boos.
"Tch!" Catherine clicked her tongue. "Are you telling me I took this brat seriously?"
Mako, fed up with the disdain, stood firm. Locking eyes with Catherine with a murderous glare, he shouted at the top of his lungs:
"I don't need a weapon to defeat you!"
Those words created a silence that, though it lasted only moments, felt eternal.
"Ho! Well, look at that," the announcer began, "What tricks does Mako Sol have up his sleeve?"
With that, the orchestra beside the stands launched into another drumroll.
"And since we're about to start, it's time to welcome our guests of honor! The king and queen!" the announcer said, pointing to a towering column.
Atop the column were seats.
There they were: the king and queen of Galandria, alongside other nobles.
Mako swallowed hard.
Once the royalty's presence was acknowledged, the atmosphere shifted.
The orchestra fell silent.
The Lunar House members accompanying Catherine began retreating, leaving the arena.
Even the announcer was no longer in the center of the platform.
It was just them: Mako, Catherine, and the sandy arena floor.
"Any last words, Mako Sol?!" Catherine shouted from the opposite end of the arena. Several meters separated her from Mako.
'It's now or never,' Mako thought, starting to walk. 'It's not just my life at stake…'
Catherine's confident smirk vanished, replaced by a more defiant glare.
She, too, began walking toward the center, toward Mako, dragging the massive whip known as the Chain of Roses.
"…The pride of my House, the will of my parents. It's all on my shoulders…" Mako murmured. His heart was racing.
The entire crowd in the stands watched in silence, not uttering a word.
The announcer, now standing with the orchestra, waited for the first move, the first attack.
"…Ana's life is on the line too!" Mako said, resolute.
With that, Mako quickened his pace.
"Huh?" Catherine exclaimed.
"No matter the cost!" Mako shouted from the depths of his lungs. "No matter what it takes! I'll win, whatever it costs!"
What started as a jog became a sprint.
Mako charged straight at Catherine, kicking up small explosions of sand under his feet with each powerful stride.
The announcer couldn't contain himself, shouting, "Is he insane?! A suicide charge!"
Catherine stopped.
"To think you were once our greatest rivals," she murmured to herself.
Raising the whip of spiked metal chains, Catherine began a circular motion with the hand holding the weapon's handle.
At first, the movements were slow.
"Fool…" Catherine said under her breath, head lowered, disappointed. Then, lifting her chin, she quickened her hand's rhythm and shouted, "Fool! Fool! Fool!"
The whip, fueled by those movements, began spinning around her in circles, like a streamer.
Except, of course, this was no dancer's ribbon.
The whip was dense, heavy iron spinning at inhuman speeds, capable of shredding anyone in its path.
It was the ultimate defense and offense. The chain was no longer distinguishable, as the human eye could only see a blurry image encircling Catherine.
But…
Mako didn't stop.
"Ah! Making my job easier, I see. How foolish I was," Catherine said. "You're just seeking a warrior's death on the battlefield… How sweet!"
Mako drew closer.
And closer…
Until finally…
"Now!" Catherine shouted, her eyes never leaving her target: Mako.
Catherine halted the circular motion abruptly, seizing the momentum. When Mako was close enough, she unleashed a direct lash toward him.
It was a fraction of a second.
The sound of the metal whip was like a cannon blast.
The Chain of Roses struck with the force of ten spears and the precision of a scorpion's tail, kicking up a cloud of sand with the impact.
Deadly and bloodthirsty—that's how the Chain of Roses' attack could be described.
"Incredible!" the announcer cried out. "It was so fast! There's no way he survived that!"
Catherine was on the verge of claiming victory.
From the dusty cloud of sand that had risen, nothing could be seen inside. The whip's chain vanished into the orange haze of the Grand Coliseum's arena.
Then, Catherine's premature victorious smile faded.
She saw the chains of her whip begin to move.
From the cloud of dust, Mako emerged, running.
"He dodged it!" the announcer screamed, joined by a wave of shocked cries from the crowd. "It can only mean one thing—he's truly awakened his system! There's no other explanation! The rumors are true! No ordinary human could react to something like that!"
"Damn it…!" Catherine exclaimed. It wasn't seeing Mako unscathed that alarmed her—it was the strange movement of her whip.
Catherine tried to move her whip, but she couldn't.
Mako, charging at her again, held something in his hands: the other end of the Chain of Roses.
'That kind of strength and speed doesn't come from just any system… No. Don't panic, Catherine,' the blonde thought, moving the whip by its handle again.
But this time, she felt even greater resistance.
Mako stopped dead in his tracks.
They stood just a few meters apart.
The spiked metal chains trembled ceaselessly. Catherine held the handle, Mako gripped one of the final links.
It was then, in that moment of tug-of-war, that a lightbulb went off for Catherine.
Or rather, something made her realize… she had already won.
It was a faint sound, the drip of a drop falling.
With her deep navy-blue eyes, Catherine saw blood begin to drip from Mako's hand.
One of the whip's many spikes had pierced his palm.
"What? This?" Mako said confidently, glancing at his bleeding hand. "It's nothing… Barely a tickle."
Indeed, though painful, the wound was more than manageable thanks to Mako's newfound strength.
A sting.
That's all.
But what started as a sting in his palm quickly turned into a lightning bolt of pain coursing through his flesh.
"Ha, ha, ha!" Catherine laughed.
Mako gripped the spiked chain tightly, as his life depended on it. But he couldn't help letting out a sharp cry of agony.
'It's not like… Fox's paralysis,' Mako thought as his vision blurred. 'I can still move, but… I feel like I'm… going to die…'
"Oh, you're such a fool," Catherine said, walking toward Mako with elegant strides. "Now you'll suffer unimaginable pain. Isn't it wonderful? From the tips of your toes…"
Catherine closed the distance. The Chain of Roses was no longer taut, as Mako had lost the initial struggle.
"Oh," the king exclaimed from his high seat, watching the spectacle between Mako and Catherine. "I expected more from a Sol. Disappointing…"
Mako, seizing the short distance between him and Catherine, tried a desperate punch with his free hand.
The swing was full-force, but Catherine stopped it cold with her palm.
"How savage," Catherine said, looking at Mako with disdain. "This is a duel of systems, darling. Understand? These barbaric acts… are unacceptable."
"Wait…" Mako said, wracked with agony. "Of course. It's not this stupid chain—it's you. Your ability…"
"Well, well!" Catherine said, surprised. "I must give you credit for that. You're less foolish than I thought."
Sadistically, Catherine yanked the whip still lodged in Mako's hand.
Mako felt the spikes slice through his hand, the pain radiating through his entire body.
"Die," Catherine said coldly, raising her weapon for the killing blow.