The fire Zeke holds will rocket him to a costly victory.
A surge of power radiated all over Zeke's body. His wounds started to disappear, and he feels a whole lot stronger than before. He felt like he could topple an entire building with the strength he has.
The Phantasm felt strange in his hands. The now black and orange switchblade was bursting with fiery power different from what it was when it was still held by Benedict. Instead of cloaking flames, it was releasing a concentrated flame from its hilt and blade, much like a rocket thruster or a flamethrower.
Zeke couldn't believe he activated a Manifest the moment he blocked Shintel's attack.
Then again, he just thought he was lucky.
Whatever reason that the Armistice Seal on this Manifest unlocked for him gives him so many questions to ponder about. First of all, why? He didn't even have a passionate goal. He was even planning on activating the Manifest. He just wanted to buy all of them some more time to escape, even if there was a slim chance of doing so. Second, did Benedict gave up his possession of the Phantasm to lend him a hand?
He doesn't know the answers. And he doesn't have time to think about it, either.
This is the reality of the situation at hand.
Jihyo was down. Benedict was mortally wounded.
He was the only one left able to fight the Koul'in enemy. He doesn't want to involve the people at the settlement either. It was too dangerous.
Shintel on the other hand was shocked. She thought she had the whole thing in the bag, and she was about to claim her reward.
And then Zeke comes along.
Something about him suddenly turning from a regular human into a wielder amazed her. She has never seen a regular human become one, after all. But despite her utter amazement, she was still calm as ever. She readies her rapier and claw once again as if she isn't affected by the sudden addition to her work.
"Frankly, wielder, you may not see it, but I'm feeling quite good today. I've just defeated two wielders, and now I was able to witness how Manifests truly activate, because of you."
"..." Zeke doesn't respond.
"What powers do you have, I wonder...? I'm intrigued... It would be interesting to know." Shintel continued.
"Why don't you come at me and find out?" Zeke finally said.
"Oh. A good idea."
Shintel teleports right in front of Zeke as she unleashes a barrage of clawing and piercing attacks towards the Filipino wielder. Zeke notices that he sees her fast attacks slow down, and he was now capable of countering and dodging them.
"So this is how Jihyo, Mr. Benedict, and Mr. Seojun felt while wielding the Manifests..." Zeke thought. "It's... amazing..! But she's...she's...!"
Shintel almost overwhelms Zeke as he just kept his guard, unable to retaliate.
"...she's still too strong...!"
Shintel swings her icy rapier as Zeke parries with his weapons, immediately clashing both his Manifest and pipe wrench toward her thin blade, causing a blade lock.
"Ugh..!" Zeke gets dragged back a few inches due to the force of her charge. Shintel sees Zeke desperately struggle, showing that he doesn't have any idea on how to use his newly unlocked Manifest.
"Well, well, well..." Shintel began speaking. "Looks like you don't have any idea on how your Manifest truly works, hmm..."
She continued to push Zeke further.
"Damnit...!" Zeke keeps on struggling as he pushes Shintel back with all his might. "Get... back...!"
Zeke breaks free of the blade lock and yet again engages with Shintel. He soon finally manages to land a solid hit onto Shintel's waist with his pipe wrench, but her armor cushioned the blow.
"You think a measly mortal tool can harm my armor? You're wro--"
Suddenly, a glowing, circular, orange seal forms around where the pipe wrench was on Shintel's side. It then erupts a fiery, concentrated stream of fire that sends Shintel flying towards the wall of the bowling center, crashing as debris of concrete, ice, and metal poles get destroyed in the wake of the attack.
Zeke was finally beginning to understand his Manifest ability.
"I see now..." Zeke said to himself as he looks at his Manifest. "From my observation, the Phantasm generally grants the wielder the ability to wield and control fire. And of course, the application of the said element or ability varies for each wielder... so while Mr. Benedict's version of the Phantasm allows him to manipulate fire into cloak-like attacks, I'm granted the ability to control fire by generating "seals" that spew concentrated jets of fire... Like a rocket thruster mounted on a spaceship!"
Zeke was amazed by his newfound ability, but it was far too early to celebrate. He knew Shintel would come back in mere seconds.
His slight amazement immediately turned into dread as Shintel teleports back a few feet in front of him.
"Tsk...It's great and all... but how could this ability even work against a highly-skilled teleporting enemy...? My Manifest isn't fast enough to catch up to her..!"
He just looks at her as she stands there. Shintel looked back with cold eyes. He was surprised at how she was still calm despite getting overwhelmed by him, Benedict, and Jihyo multiple times in this fight. The lack of emotion she exuded was scary enough.
"I'm pretty sure you're wondering why I'm always calm and collected in a fight like this," Shintel speaks. "That's because I believe that in your line of work, you must display professionalism."
"..." Zeke kept silent, focusing on recovering his strength.
"This is how I do things." Shintel continued. "General Khera has always given me combat-related tasks, and they're naturally life-threatening, so I take the work given to me very seriously. But sometimes, I add a little spice to my work... Just make it fun."
"....and this is the fun you're talking about?" Zeke replied. "Harming innocent people? Taking their lives?"
"Yes," Shintel said with conviction on her answer. "In my view... This country... This world... is just one big workplace. And to me, you... your friends... and all of the humans in this world... you're all just tasks waiting to be finished."
Zeke grunts as he charges towards Shintel, two rocket seals forming on his weapons. She teleports next to him, attempting to slash Zeke with her claw. He immediately retaliates by blocking with his rocket-powered switchblade, but he gets slashed by her rapier.
"Ungh! Curses! Her teleporting ability is too annoying..! That damned rapier..." Zeke thought. "There has to be a way to destroy that stupid ass weapon! But... I can't even land a proper hit on her, and I'm sure that weapon is tough! Unless..."
Zeke continues to fight the teleporting Koul'in, but he slowly gets overwhelmed as his fiery aura started to fade from sight.
Jihyo looks worried. Benedict just watches him as he exhales.
Soon, Zeke's counterattacks start to feel weaker due to Shintel's consistent barrages.
"He lost strength, now is my chance! Artic Blade: Strikethrough!"
"ZEKE!" Jihyo shouted.
Zeke struggles as he sees his right shoulder gets impaled by her rapier.
"And even in the end... you still fall," Shintel said. "Too bad... you really can't control its power..."
Zeke struggles once more as he slowly lifts both of his weapons, hooking the pipe wrench and the Manifest scissor on her rapier. He now has Shintel's weapon on lock.