Chapter 12: Serious opponent
Now, let's backtrack a little bit.
It was a normal day, with demon manticores assaulting the walls and the heroes ferociously slaughtering them. I was in my usual spot, on the mountain ridge, observing the situation when I suddenly lost track of the lightning hero.
I've been tracking the heroes by their specific magic. I mean it's really flashy so usually I could discern their approximate position even in the midst of battle. The fact that she kind of disappeared while the battle was still raging made me nervous.
"Dammit...where are you?..." I was nervously searching for her with my eyes when I heard a loud noise below me.
I immediately jumped back and in a couple seconds saw a bolt of lightning hitting the ground where I previously was. On the same spot now stood a tall and beautiful woman with long silver hair and a sheathed katana on her waist. It was none other than Ozawa Ayaka, the lightning hero that I was searching for a couple of seconds ago and the sight of her here dumbfounded me.
"~ How? I mean getting here isn't that hard for someone like her, or me, but how did she find out about someone being here in the first place? ~"
My thoughts were running wild but they were interrupted by her clear voice.
"Who are you?"
I calmed myself and put on my best mask, trying to fool her like I did numerous times before with other people.
"Oh, young lady, I'm just a normal merchant. I found out about this spot recently and decided to sneak a glance at the battlefield." I said that with my most innocent smile and a mild voice.
"Cut the crap, you've been watching us for a couple days already, also, that giant thing behind you that sucks souls doesn't look 'normal' to me at all."
My smiling face slowly crumbled.
"~ What the fuck, she can see it? She's the first person to actually see it. Wait, if she can see the 'gate' then she could potentially see the 'scythe' too? Fuck, she's also a hero so I can't just kill her...what am I supposed to do? ~"
"I'll ask again, who are you?"
There's no way out of it huh...damn...I'm tired...
"First name Mario, last name Mario, Mario Mario." I said in a defeated voice.
"Twelve steps of Raiden!" The moment she said that, a lightning bolt struck her and her body became covered in a lightning aura.
"Ok ok, calm down little girl, it was a joke. Here's the thing, I can't really tell you a lot but believe me when I say, I'm not your enemy. I know it will sound suspicious and outright insane to believe in, considering the circumstances, but I'm telling the truth, I am not your enemy." I said in a firm voice, trying to sound as convincing as possible.
"~ It doesn't look like he's lying but his words are giving me weird vibes. His whole aura is quite frankly scaring me...why is it so dark and sinister? What if he becomes an enemy in the future? Should I eliminate him here?...Can I do it?...I have a feeling that I should be able at my current level but what about the future?... ~"
"We're of similar age you jerk."
"~ Hey, why the hell is she calling me a jerk? I was pretty nice to her. ~"
"You don't know that for sure." I answered with a small chuckle.
"You'd be surprised of how much I know and see." Ok, time out, I have a feeling that this was a serious piece of information.
"Ok but jokes aside, I know what you're thinking about. I know it's hard but trust me, I'll be just watching the battlefield and not interfering in any way, hell, I'll even help you if needed. Don't do it, think of your friends and the hero you cherish so much. "
"~ Fuck ~" I realized my slipup too late. On hearing me mentioning Arthur her face became somber and her eyes full of determination.
"Second step, lightning bolt!" She immediately disappeared from her previous spot.
Faced with such a situation I decided to go all out and instantly casted 'scythe', summoning skelly, then used 'pulse' to determine her position and turned to face her.
"~ What...is...that? I planned on flanking him and closing the distance but he suddenly summoned this...thing and my eyes went crazy signaling me to not approach it. ~"
"~ Ok, I have my eyes on her. Shit, that speed is nuts. It's not quite on the level of a lightning bolt yet but it's still too fast for me. Think...if following her is impossible then how about knowing where she'll go and then following her with my eyes? Ok...there's no way her speed is purely physical which means that she boosts herself with mana and I have the perfect way of seeing someone's mana. ~"
I used mana eyes and focused on the mana circulating through her body and prepared to test my theory.
"~ I can't thoughtlessly approach him, let's test the waters first. ~"
I saw her mana circulating to the right leg and then she moved. This time I was able to follow her though but before I had time to rejoice I heard her voice.
"Third step, Vijaya!" I saw a magnificent blue bow appearing in her hands. She proceeded to stretch the bowstring and a lightning arrow appeared on it.
"Roar!" She released the arrow and it flew straight at me, accompanied by a loud thunderclap.
"~ Shit! ~"
I immediately snapped my fingers and skelly dispelled the arrow.
"~ So, it seems that I can follow her movements with the help of mana eyes and block her ranged attacks with my 'scythe' but if she decides to go into melee I doubt I'll be able to match her without accidentally killing, shit... ~" I thought while keeping my eyes on her figure.
"~ That thing can block my attacks? What the hell is that, anti-magic?, or is it something else? What's the range on it? Can it block attacks from all angles? Shit, too much to verify. He already adapted somehow to my speed and was able to follow my movements...what a monster...ok then...let's try this! ~"
We both had a perfect poker face and were fully focused on one another. This time she moved some of her mana towards her left leg and moved to the right. I was again able to follow her movements and this time saw 2 lightning arrows appearing on her bowstring. She fired them simultaneously but surprisingly they passed on my both sides. For a second I thought she missed but then I realized her intention.
"~ Fuck! ~" The arrows abruptly changed directions and were heading towards my back. I gave skelly an order to kill anything dangerous for me around myself and snapped my fingers to execute it and the 2 arrows disappeared.
My back was drenched in cold sweat after this one. She is truly a frightening opponent.
"~ That was way too close, she is my worst opponent to date, and compatibility wise she's absolutely the worst for me, fucking hell! ~" I thought frustrated while trying my best to maintain my poker face.
"~ He managed to defend against attacks from his back. It would be wise to assume that his anti-magic shield doesn't have a blind spot, nevertheless I'll still test it out. ~"
She proceeded to do a couple more jumps, which I successfully followed, and launch a couple more arrows, which targeted my sides, but I somehow managed to defend against them. After this short exchange she dispersed her lightning bow before speaking up.
"I have to admit, you're a tough nut to crack. Magic doesn't seem to work on you and surprisingly you've managed to follow my movements despite my speed. You have good eyes."
"~ Oh come on! Please don't tell me she figured it out. I mean it was expected that she'd notice my glowing eyes sooner or later, I just hope that she didn't realize how I use them. ~"
"~ His eyes are weird. I am sure they're glowing because of one of his spells but figuring out which one is it will take forever so I won't even try, there are too many possibilities. He's basically invulnerable from range. A drawn out battle will benefit him more than me so I have to finish it fast. I have a couple mana potions in my storage ring but I doubt that he'll let me drink them peacefully. He's yet to go on the offensive which makes me nervous. Judging by the sword on his waist he's probably a melee fighter just like me but he might have a ranged ability so I can't lower my guard. ~"
I saw her contemplating something profoundly for a couple seconds before slowly drawing her katana.
"~ Come on now, this is what I've been afraid of! My situation was already bad and now it's even worse! I am a shit swordsman and will probably stand no chance against her proficiency and speed....think...how to combat it....shit...there is only one way....I've already shown her too much and I really don't want to show her more but it seems that I have no other option.... ~"
"~ My eyes scream at me that I shouldn't approach him but even so, I have no way of hurting him from afar and my forte is close combat so my only chance at winning is to engage him in melee with my superior speed. Wait...what is he doing? ~"
I've put my hands in a praying position and closed my eyes. I've received this spell only recently, after absorbing the souls of the soldiers on one of the raid days. Never thought a hero will be its first target.
"~ Death Chapel ~"
Church bells were suddenly heard and the Image of a giant Chapel appeared on the horizon. The spell created a barrier in which my powers, physical and magical, were doubled and any enemy captured in it would have his or her mana constantly drained and transferred to me . That wasn't the reason I actually used this ability though.
The main reason is that the insides of the barrier are considered part of the underworld, which makes the artificial invisibility of my spells disappear. This means that now everything spiritual became physical, including my gate and skelly. I also stopped the mana absorption property of the spell by regarding Ayaka as an ally and then released a wide range pulse that left me with a low amount of mana.
My plan was to defend myself against her physical attacks with the physical version of the scythe without triggering the kill property of the spell, now it was supposed to work in theory but I never performed something similar so my confidence was shaky.
Meanwhile Ayaka stared dumbfounded at me and at the Chapel.
"~ How many more times will I get surprised today? When that thing appeared in the sky, for a moment I felt my mana being sucked out but then it suddenly stopped. More importantly though, I can see it clearly now, I can actually see his skeleton without utilizing my eyes of Zeus. What happened? How come something spiritual became material? Who is he actually? ~"
I didn't want to let her think things through and seizing the opportunity, for the first time during the fight, ran in her direction, while unsheathing my own sword as a distraction. I noticed how she immediately became alert and used her second step to gain distance.
"Come on now, aren't we both swordsman, well, you're more of a swordswoman but same thing really, how about we finally start this dance huh? little girl." I tried provoking her.
"Noisy." She kept her distance and jumped with her second step a couple more times, trying to get a better angle on me before finally committing to a melee fight. That was exactly the moment I was waiting for. With the Chapel deployed, I had a better chance in close combat against her, considering what a monster she is though, I didn't expect to hold out for long. I decided to gamble everything on one maneuver.
The moment our swords clashed I snapped my fingers with my left hand and skelly hit her sword from below, in a way to knock it out of her hands. She wasn't expecting that second strike on her sword, that combined with skelly's strength was enough to knock the katana out of her hands.
"~ What? Shit! ~"
I saw her mana going into her right leg in preparation to jump out of my range but before she could do that I threw my sword in the air, momentarily distracting her attention, then snapped my fingers with my left hand again, this time ordering skelly to trip her right foot with the scythe.
When she lost her footing, as a final move I used my right hand to hit her in the chest with all my strength, slamming her into the ground. Before she could try anything to escape this position I ordered skelly to point the scythe at her throat.
"You lost, little girl." I said that with a calm voice, my eyes staring at hers, then I heard my sword falling somewhere nearby. The whole exchange took only a couple seconds but it was enough to seal the outcome of the battle.
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