Jean twirled Eliza back into his arms, wrapping them in a circle around her as his opponent fell to the ground from his spinning attack. Jean had the fortunate fate of fighting the brother with the hammer, while Sayed had taken on the one with the sword. If it had been different, the fight might have been more difficult for Jean.


    "Where am I?" the man asked as he lay on the ground, his hands planted in the dirt and his head shaking. "Where are you at Bragg?"


    That would make this man Cragg. Jean took a deep breath, filling his nonexistent lungs as he focused his power. The energy from his gate spiraled through his body, giving it to his limbs in kicks and jabs in a way not that different from his dances.


    "You''re fated to separate from your brother," Jean said as he looked over Eliza''s wispy white hair. "I have seen it."


    "Ain''t no one going to separate us," Cragg said, standing up, grabbing his hammer, and taking a wide stance. "Momma always said twins have to stick together."


    "Then you''ll just have to prove your own fate," Jean said, leaning forward as he began his next movement. "Spirit Step."


    He disappeared from where he was with Eliza, closing his eyes as he embraced the aether flow around him. They spun through the air like two dancers in a waltz. In the flash of movement, they reappeared behind Cragg, Eliza extending her legs in a kick.


    Bam.


    Solid metal rose to block the kick as Cragg raised his hammer so the head of it intercepted the kick. The force of the blow reverberated through Eliza and into Jean''s arm, and Jean clenched his teeth against the force that rebounded. Cragg would be no slouch in a fight.


    "Hammer Swing!"


    Cragg''s muscles bulged as he took one step and swung his hammer in an arc. Jean saw the attack coming and pivoted on one foot, carrying Eliza out of the way of the strike as the next movement of their dance. The very air where Eliza had been shook from the force of Cragg''s blow as it missed, and the rotund man spun away.


    "Missed it," Cragg said as he caught his footing.


    "You''re aiming for Eliza," Jean said as he wrapped his arms around her again.


    "Why not?" Cragg asked, cracking a toothy smile. "She''s your weapon, ain''t she? There ain''t no better way to win."


    Jean frowned. To say such a thing was unthinkable. He would need to correct Cragg''s misconception.


    "You say that she is a weapon, but there is where you''re wrong," Jean said, throwing out his arm and sending Eliza twirling in a pirouette. "Spirit Pirouette."


    She twirled faster and faster, building up speed and rotation on that one spot. A twister formed around her as Jean held her there contained. The longer he waited, the more powerful the technique would be, and he needed to make a point very clear.


    "We are partners in this world, bound by fate. Not even death could separate us from each other. To call her a mere weapon is nothing short of a request for death."


    Jean released her out like a top, sending her careening toward Cragg. The brother was not idle, though. His leg muscles flexed as he held his hammer in both hands in front of him. With a grunt, he threw himself up into the sky.


    "Hammer Jump!"


    This time, his target was not Eliza but Jean. He vaulted over Eliza, ignoring the attack and coming down with a heavy hammer swing. Jean watched him, but there was no way for him to escape. He would have to rely on his own curse to counter.


    "Spirit Wall."


    Jean raised his hand and called the purple wall into existence above him. Skulls with dark black holes for eyes cackled out into the air, spreading their purple energy out and around them in a large rectangle. Jean pushed his will and his aether into the technique and hoped fate would preserve him one more time.


    Boom. Crack.


    Wall and hammer collided together with a horrific thunder. A line of darkness cut through Jean''s barrier as the hammer broke through and careened toward him, supported by Cragg''s mass and the strength of the man''s technique.


    Bone and hammer connected as Jean took a glancing blow across his hand. His barrier was enough to drive Cragg off target but not to stop the brother. Jean''s arm was struck to the side as the hammer crashed into the ground.


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    Boom.


    Dirt and rock exploded out from the ground as Jean jumped back from the attack, reaching out an arm and calling Eliza back to him. She came in her spin back into his arms, and he encircled her tightly in a hug as he regained his footing further away from Cragg. The man stood with his hammer resting in the crater, breathing hard as he looked up at Jean.


    "You''re fast, skeleton man," Cragg said with a smile.


    "And you are strong," Jean said, looking down at his hand.


    Cracks had formed down his palm and reached up his arm. They would not render his arm useless, and they would heal through the power of his curse, but they served as proof of Cragg''s strength. His bones were as hard as steel, yet the hammer-wielding brother had managed to crack them with one blow. Jean would have to be careful if he wanted to win.


    "This is just starting to get fun," Cragg said as he stood from his crater and rested his hammer across his shoulder. "Ain''t had a good fight like this in a long time."


    Eliza looked between Jean and his hurt hand, and he knew she was concerned. They were soul mates, after all. Jean smiled at Eliza and nodded to her. She wasn''t able to speak, but he could at least ease her worries.


    "It will be alright, Eliza," Jean said. "Our love is greater than this man."


    In the distance, Jean could see Sayed struggling against his own opponent. The two swordsmen continually clashed swords against each other, yet Sayed had not draw his second blade. That made no sense to Jean, but he wasn''t in a position to question it. He could only focus on his own fight until he took Cragg down.


    "You talk big, skeleton man," Cragg said, cracking his fat neck back and forth as he swung his hammer in a circle with one hand. "You think you can beat me, but I know. I know what I will do to you. I''ll break your bones into pieces. I''ll break them down into dust. When I''m done with you, there ain''t going to be nothing left."


    Jean smiled and tilted his head toward Eliza so that her ghostly hair could tickle across his nose. Cragg was such a simple man. What he would do to the man was almost a pity. He had a hundred ways to express that, but he was sure that Cragg wouldn''t understand.


    "Your mistake was thinking you stood a chance against me," Jean said as he gathered aether through his body. "Fate has decreed to me that this will end here and now."


    "You think so?" Cragg stopped spinning his hammer as his leg and arm muscles bulged again. "Hammer Festival!"


    Jean''s eyes widened as the brother took a bounding leap again into the air. As he had before with his brother, he spun in the air like a top, the hammer going so fast in a circle that it kicked up dust and dirt along the brother''s path. It twisted down towards Jean, but Jean merely took a few steps back.


    Cragg was a fool. He had given up control for a random attack, and Jean would not participate.


    Boom. Crack.


    Cragg collided with the ground with an explosion of motion, and Jean prepared to release Eliza into a kick the second he was off balance. That was when Cragg surprised him. Cragg came out of the spinning attack with one foot, breaking down in the ground as he swung his hammer as hard as he could. Jean was right in the path of it, and he didn''t have time to dodge.


    Thump. Crack.


    Even though his body was just bones, that didn''t mean Jean didn''t feel pain. Lines cracked down his left arm as the hammer made contact and knocked him away. His bones shook under the force of the strike, and Jean was stunned as he sailed through the air.


    It felt like, well, a hammer had struck him at an absurdly high speed on his arm. Pain blossomed out from his arm and through his shoulder as a brief moment of weightlessness encompassed him. The ground came up to remove that feeling, and Jean tumbled to his side, far away from where he had been.


    He lay on the ground, forcing his thoughts together as he built his mind back into a coherent whole. Stones stung against the skin on his cheek, one of the few places on his body he could still feel that kind of pain. He forced himself up from the ground with his right arm as his left fell uselessly at his side.


    "A twist in fate, indeed," he said, spitting on the ground as Eliza reappeared around him.


    He could see the look in her dark eyes. She was worried. He did his best to smile as he struggled to his feet. The problem with fights to the death was that one mistake could lead to an upset, and he had let his guard down for just a moment. That had been enough for Cragg to get in a good hit. He couldn''t afford to let it happen again.


    "What do you think now, skeleton man?" Cragg asked as he approached, his hammer in one hand while the other hung over his lip. "Ain''t any fancy words for me after I hit you?"


    Jean took a deep breath and drew in as much aether as he could. Eliza disappeared from him as he called in his power. Normally, he would restrict his curse to its use at the second level. He loved Eliza dearly and did not care to be separated from her. However, he would need all of his focus for this, and while Eliza was an excellent partner, sometimes a solo performance was needed.


    Purple light flashed out from him, reaching down his limbs and wrapping around them. Even his broken arm was caught up in the light. Skulls shot out and cackled down his body as it was entombed in the energy. Jean exhaled as his new costume was completed across his body.


    "Spirit Shroud."


    A long purple coat curved away from him, going above his head and down in two arches beside his legs. Beneath the coat was a yellow shirt that covered his skeletal frame, and matching purple pants, glowing in the same energy as the rest of the costume, covered his legs.


    Jean reached up, and a long purple hat flowed out from his head to cover his bald head. He tilted the hat forward, bowing as he smiled. This was the peak of his first level of curse. His curse gave him the power to manipulate small ghostly entities. His second level allowed him to manifest more powerful singular spirits, like Eliza.


    Eliza was powerful, and when they worked in tandem, he could create a great dance. Truly, she was what he desired from his curse, which was why he chose her when his curse grew the first time. However, there was nothing wrong with his original ability.


    A curse''s grade was not simply an increase in power. It was a new way forward that did not negate the old path. Cursed users who did not recognize that were doomed to failure. Sometimes, using an old, perfected routine was better than a new experimental one.


    "We were fated to meet this day," Jean said as he rose from his bow. "Let me ask you this simple question, Cragg. Would you like to dance?"