His wounds grew worse with every movent, blood flowing more abundantly from his shoulder, his side, and his thigh. His aura beca unstable, fluctuating in bursts as he drew recklessly from his reserves. His breathing grew heavier, interrupted by deep gasps that painfully lifted his chest.
He disliked using this move because it put trendous strain on his body. With Aura Farming, he could normally tank thanks to near-infinite endurance. But with his body already exhausted, he was putting himself in great danger — after this, he would be bedridden for weeks.
Katrina wiped the blood trickling from the corner of her lips after a face strike he had managed to land.
"I know this power taxes your body, Kaiser. At this rate, you’ll collapse before I do."
"You should worry about your throat first."
Kaiser’s blade was close to her neck.
The clash of their weapons echoed... Ice cracked beneath their feet with every shift, producing sharp snaps that punctuated their movents. Compressed wind whistled around their bodies, creating localized gusts that sent debris flying. The eight frost wings on Katrina’s back beat slowly, stabilizing each of her movents and allowing her to instantly correct her balance.
< Second Movent : Quarter Moon >
He tightened his grip on the chains of the twin blades, feeling the cold tal bite into his blood-slick palms. The residual aura around his swords grew denser, sharper as he poured more of his aura into them. Each motion left an invisible cutting trail in the air.
The half-elf vanished in a current of wind that carried her sideways and reappeared to his right, her frost wings beating once to stabilize her reappearance. Her ice sword struck diagonally toward his neck — a lightning-fast move designed to slice and end the fight in one blow.
Kaiser raised his black blade to block, his arm moving in a precise trajectory calculated in a fraction of a second.
*Clang.*
The sound of tal eting ice rang across the entire area. At the exact mont of impact, he twisted his wrist outward — a subtle but critical motion. The residual aura from his previous strikes, still lingering in the air around him, slid along the ice blade as if following a pre-set path, then redirected straight toward Katrina’s shoulder.
A clean gash appeared on her white skin, the fabric of her outfit tearing neatly under the invisible blade.
She stepped back, surprised by a counter she had not sensed coming at all, her free hand instinctively rising to the wound.
He gave her no respite.
He advanced with a determined step, shifting his weight onto his front leg for more power.
His white blade sliced horizontally toward her abdon in a smooth, continuous motion. She parried by lowering her ice sword, but the delayed residual energy from the previous move struck her wrist, knocking her guard off by a few degrees. The tip of the black blade imdiately followed in the natural extension of the motion, seeking her right flank with surgical precision.
She activated a desperate wind burst to break away, her wings beating violently to generate a gust that propelled her backward. The tip did not sink deep into her flesh, but her outfit tore open over several centiters and a red line marked her hip where the steel had grazed her skin.
She clenched her teeth, her jaw jutting under the tension.
"Kaiser..."
Her voice was no longer mocking or taunting.
She was genuinely stressed by how the fight was turning.
He pressed the attack without answering, conserving his breath for the battle.
A gliding step forward on the ice, his soles sohow finding grip. Vertical strike with the black blade toward her shoulder. She blocked with her ice sword, but he used the impact to imdiately rotate his hips. The white blade rose from below in an upward arc — a sneaky attack aid at her stomach with surgical precision that left no room for chance.
She instinctively tried to block by bringing her sword downward — a survival reflex.
The residual aura from the previous strike, still active in the space she had just crossed, redirected her ice sword outward with an invisible force. Her defensive angle shattered completely, her weapon knocked aside.
Kaiser’s blade grazed her abdon, tracing a clean red line across her white skin.
Blood fell onto the ice in large scarlet drops that ford patterns on the frozen surface.
The wind around her suddenly exploded in a roar — an instinctive reaction of her mind that pushed her several ters backward. Her wings beat furiously to regain altitude and stabilize her position in the air.
Kaiser paused for a mont, planting his blades into the ground to catch his breath. His chest heaved heavily with each breath, his lungs desperately seeking oxygen. Blood continued to stream from his shoulder and thigh in steady rivulets. His clothes hung in tatters around his body, shredded by impacts and explosions.
Yet he sketched a smile.
"I told you... you should have stayed away."
Katrina wiped the blood on her stomach with her fingertips, then stared at her red-stained hand with an expression mixing surprise and anger.
She raised her eyes to him, her icy blue pupils gleaming with a new light.
"You really think you control the rhythm of this fight?"
She extended her free hand in front of her, fingers spread.
Ice blades appeared around her, floating in the air.
Thin, compact swords charged with swirling wind.
They all rushed toward him at once, forming a cloud of blades.
Kaiser imdiately activated his Eyes of Predation, feeling his pupils dilate as the world slowed in his perception.
Three from above, diving toward his skull. Two from the left, aiming for his already wounded flank. One from behind, delayed, trying to catch him from the rear.
He spun on himself, his twin blades describing a protective circle.
He blocked the first blade with the black blade — a solid clash that vibrated up his arm to the shoulder. The residual aura sliced the second without needing direct contact, cutting it in half mid-trajectory. He deflected the third toward the fourth using his attractive aura, altering their paths to make them collide. The two exploded in a spray of ice and compressed wind.
One blade still managed to gash his back, slipping through his defenses.
User Comments
0 comments from readers