[Defend. Time remaining: 10 hours 32 minutes.]0

The sudden newfound strength didn’t cause a dramatic shift in the battle between us, unfortunately. I still remained on the defensive.0

I focused on keeping the distance between us close, knowing all too well that if I allowed him to create space, he would unleash a beam of destruction.0

The only significant difference between moments before and now was that every ounce of my focus was locked onto Valsaron and the movements of my axe.0

When he thrust his spear, my senses sharpened on how he rotated his wrist, the placement of his lead foot, and the degree to which his torso and pelvis were angled. I had never concentrated this intensely in my life.0

Huh?0

And somewhere in that process, I realized that Valsaron had a pattern. Whenever I performed action A, he responded with reaction B. Gradually, I began deciphering his rhythm.0

Even still, I was forced to abandon my attempts to fully unravel it after a while. While his attacks did follow patterns, there were simply too many of them. There were dozens—no, perhaps even hundreds of variations.0

A-B, A-B1, A-B2.0

Countless combinations...0