To the untrained and unfamiliar eye, it's likely that Vergil would seem ultimately unaffected by the explosive. He keeps pace with Mizu without too much trouble, parrying and dodging his strikes as they come. One after the other and Vergil doesn't break a sweat or show any signs of tiring. But Mizu's had enough time sparring with Vergil to know the difference. Mirage Edge doesn't glow with quite the same brightness, its afterimage smaller and closer to the blade itself rather than proving itself to be a potential threat that it tends to be. Rather than taking the opportunity to strike back or turn the tide of their clashing back into his own offensive measures, Vergil plays it conservatively. He remains defensive instead and simply focused on not getting hit. But even his defensive maneuvers have changed. He's less keen to use his trick dodges, no longer teleporting himself out of harm's way. He opts for more physical movements, leaning, stepping, and even rolling and flipping himself out of the way when it calls for it.

So, she doesn't need to land strikes to wound and slow him down. As it is, he's already slowed down relative to normal. As ready as Vergil is to fight again and as much as he still holds his own seemingly easily enough with what he's been reduced to relying upon, it's more an illusion of being hardly worse for wear than the truth. An injury such as the one Mizu bestowed upon him with the grenade takes a bit of time for Vergil to recuperate from the expenditure of demonic energy to heal. Never mind using his clone to bring Mizu to safety just moments before. It serves as evidence that for Vergil, it's not just his abilities or raw strength that define his skill. He has a sharp mind and is attuned deeply to the rhythm and flow of their sparring that he doesn't need to move at a speed faster than Mizu can track with his eyes to avoid being sliced.

But before Mizu can find any potential comfort in the evidence that Vergil has slowed a bit, Vergil starts to gradually find his second wind. As Vergil focuses less on the dull throb of his side as the last of the injury truly heals, and more on predicting Mizu's next move, Mirage Edge slowly begins to glow brighter again. The more they clash, the greater the distance from the spectral blade to its afterimage. Mizu gets a strike past Vergil's defenses as he sometimes tends to, but rather than finding Vergil stumbling back or faltering, Vergil doesn't hesitate and attempts to exploit the inherent vulnerability in landing a strike by returning one to Mizu. He ignores the pain in his side, the wound healing just as quickly as it always does, to follow up regardless of whether he lands one strike after the next or not.

He's more than a little determined not to lose.