In front of the cave, Gil hoisted the blue-haired man high into the air and brought his heel crashing down, shattering the ground beneath him. The man lay faceup, embedded in the earth, motionless.
Gil raised both hands toward him.
"Is that guy seriously planning to do more...?"
As if prompted by Chato's stunned, faintly terrified murmur, Gil unleashed a torrent of sinister black flames from both palms, burning everything to cinders.
"It seems... we have won."
Kiji barely managed to squeeze the words out. The opponent was already mangled beyond recognition, and there was no way he was still breathing. On top of that, Gil continued to shower him with black flames of scorching intensity. To anyone watching, the outcome was beyond question.
"Hey, Kiji, could you follow any of that just now?"
Chato let out a heavy breath and turned to Kiji beside him.
"No, not at all."
Wiping away the sweat dripping down his face, Kiji shook his head.
"Those stakes were supposed to restrict abilities, right?"
"At least that's what he said when he handed them over before leaving. But rather than restricting abilities..."
Indeed. This was far beyond whether the blue-haired man's abilities had been suppressed. They hadn't been able to keep up with the movements of those two—no, with Gil's movements—at all. The only thing they could faintly perceive was the split-second Gil wound up to strike. In the very next breath, the blue-haired man was smashed to pieces.
It made far more sense to think the stakes had boosted abilities rather than restricting them. But if that were true, something didn't add up. The magic circle rising from the ground had targeted the blue-haired man, not Gil. He wasn't well-versed in magic, so he couldn't say for sure, but could an enchantment like that truly grant a boost to Gil under those conditions? No, given what had just transpired, that was the only plausible explanation.
However—
Just as his thoughts began wandering into a maze—
"It's over. I made sure to burn him right down to the bone, so there's no way he can resurrect after that."
Gil turned around and offered this utterly bewildering remark.
"Resurrect? Humans don't have that kind of Restoration ability... That final heel drop killed him outright."
"Yeah, no kidding. His neck was twisted clean around."
Sheep cats possessed keen distant vision. Just as Chato said, his neck had been snapped, his limbs were mangled, and his torso itself was twisted; no living creature could survive wounds like that.
"Maybe so. But if he'd regained his original strength, the tables could've easily turned on us."
"Original strength?"
To Chato, who stared back blankly, Gil merely shrugged.
"I mean the ability restriction from the stakes. I only won because we had that; without it, things would've been bad."
"No, no, no, you've got it all wrong! That was—"
"Chato, that's enough. We won, after all. Besides, this should put an end to them. If I'm right, Charme will be back shortly."
"I sure hope so. Wait...?"
Suddenly, all strength left Gil's body, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Gil!"
"H-Hey!"
Rushing over and propping him up, they breathed a collective sigh of relief upon hearing his calm, rhythmic breathing.
"Let's head back. We need to announce our victory to everyone."
"Kiji, looks like that won't be necessary."
With a grin, Chato pointed his thumb back toward the cave. There, their fellow sheep cat kin were watching them from just inside the entrance.
A smile broke across Kiji's face as well. Supporting Gil with one arm, he raised his right hand high into the air.
"Victory is ours!"
At his roar, a resounding cheer echoed across the land.