As Beam's arm twitched again for another jab, the Half-Titan unleashed a vicious swing towards Beam's head. It was perfectly timed, all in line with that reality that Beam had been creating, that sense of expectancy, that the attacks would rain down in this position, regularly.
But as it threw its overhand, Beam was already ducking down, in a slash of his sword that started at the ground and flew up towards the Konbreaker's torso. He'd won the exchange – that much was clear, as the wind rushed past his ear, and his balance was perfectly contrary to the Half-Titan's, he landed an attack clean on its torso.
Of course, an attack on the torso of this shelled Half-Titan meant very little. As Beam had expected, the edge of his sword couldn't catch, he couldn't lacerate the shell. If he'd put any more force in, then his blade would have shattered.
Then, what was to be done? His misdirection had created an opening, now what? His style of overwhelming might, that hero's slash, it would have no effect on that shell, no matter how much force Beam put behind it. Not only that, the superior manoeuvrability of this creature, compared to a regular Konbreaker, was already beginning to make itself apparent.
The Half-Titan was already shifting its legs underneath it, to recover its balance, and to return the battle back to an even state. Beam sought the answer to the question – he sought a completed solution, a total battle art.
He could create openings, he could end the enemy in a single slash, and at times he had even been capable of using momentum, but how did he keep the state of battle for himself once he'd taken it?
The eyes of a monster seemed to offer him insight into that instinct. Those predatory eyes, that searched for the slightest hints of weakness. Those monster eyes that delighted Ingolsol so thoroughly.
It was with reckless abandon that Beam moved forward. His sword had failed to do the job, and so he moved in with his fist next, forcing the Half-Titan to defend perfectly, as his knuckle aimed for the underside of its hard chin.
For the first time, he'd managed to seamlessly push his three different styles together, with his misdirection creating opportunity, his monster's style creating momentum, and his hero's style delivering the execution. But though it was overwhelming, it wasn't where he wanted it to be yet. He felt more potential from it. It needed to be more unified, more seamless.
They shouldn't be separate styles at all. They needed to be one unified idea.
A stunned state overtook the soldiers as they watched him end that Half-Titan so easily. One pair had to share a glance with each other, so that they could confirm that they'd both seen the same thing. With the Half-Titan head on the floor, they were uncertain – could things really have been ended so easily?
But when the body tottered and collapsed along with it, it was clear that they could and they had been.
Cheers erupted as they abandoned their work and raised their shovels up into the air once more. A mighty enemy, indeed it was, but they had a mightier ally. They raised those spades up high and cheered that fact.
Beam was already running down his next set of enemies – there were still those bothersome archers to deal with, after all. But as soon as he closed the distance between himself and them, the ease with which he slaughtered them, even being Horned-Goblins as they were, was almost tragic.
They raised their bows up to fend off his sword, but his sharp blade easily passed through the wood and the string, before burying itself into necks and into chests, taking organs and taking throats.
They were dealt with soon enough, and Beam left the battlefield as clear as it had been ten minutes before.