The person in front of me… I can’t believe I’m thinking this, but this is by far the most feared I have been against anything. Perhaps that sage is the sole exception, however her lack of malice that is clear as day makes it way less intimidating on her part, this one I’m not so sure I could simply get away with.

The world feels like it has been painted black as she stood there in my way. I’m not stupid enough to make a sudden movement that this person here could’ve easily intercept. I’m not even sure if teleporting away would’ve done much.

“So… What’s your answer?” She asked in a cold voice. If this will be my end is it? Regardless of the objective fact at hand there is one thing that is certain to me, and that leads me to my only answer.

“I have no end” I stated flatly as I braved on and stared back at her. I cannot end here, I will not let that be the case.

*Whirl*

The black wind howls. Her posture unmoving, her face hardened as rock.

She raised her right arm up as she continued to look at me. Her right hand open ups as if receiving a gift from on high.

*Shine* *Dim*

What seems like a bolt of light and darkness engulfs the opened hand. She’s about to pull something out…

*Glimmer*

In the dark forest there exists a light reflecting on an object. The thing that is in her hand tells me so many things that I cannot process at all at one. The sharp and curved edge that glimmers in the light, the handle of dark cyan and black, the back edge that has protruding curved blades out of it like multiple fangs. It’s not a weapon that should exist in this place and time, it’s not something that anyone from this time and place could possibly possess, and even if they do, there's no way they know how to use it.

“I’ll be the judge of that” She said in the same emotionless and heavy tone. Her posture remained unchanged as we still glared at each other and let the world around us swirl in chaos and power.

One second… Two second… Three second… Four second… Five second… Six second…

*Dash*

The first move. I cannot see the movement clearly as it’s way too fast for any normal man to see, actually even if you are abnormal chances are you can’t perceive it.

*Swing*

The swing already came for me by the time I realized what’s going on. To my right she’s right there swinging the eastern blade at me.

*Parry*

I don’t know if she’s messing with me or what, but realistically I shouldn’t be able to parry that with how unfamiliar I am with her and her movements, nor the fact that there’s a clear power gap in place. Just parrying a single attack alone causes my arms to numb.

This person is unlike all others who I go against, the chance of victory for many of my battles were never zero, and the same could be said for this as well, however I am not confident in my chances even if I were to go all out here.

She simply stares at me still after I parried the attack and gets a few meaningless meters of distance. Her posture rather relaxed yet it’s clear that that’ll change the second I go on the offensive, as if that’s not a stupid idea to begin with already. 

A sudden movement from her arms and-

*Evade* *Crack* *Rip*

A part of my cloak got ripped to shreds, but more importantly a part of the ground just turned into multiple small ravines from that movement. The few swings in the air that could’ve torn me along with it if I was even a second late with my reaction. Good thing my clothes rewind.

“Survive two. Let’s see if it’s three” She said. It’s definitely worrying that she said that herself.

*Swing* *Evade* *Rift*

“Wha!?” I can’t help but let out a voice in complete shock. The swing of darkness aiming at me I managed to avoid, but the gravitational effect of it completely caught me off guard as to how powerful it was, causing what seems like a rift in time and space itself. I’m completely off balance and she could easily kill me within the next second or even less, she’s already on me at this point. There’s only one thing to do…

“[Accel-Self: Triple]!” I chanted as my life depends on it.

Her face is filled with shock the moment she hears my chanting, she knows it’s something way beyond her control and stopped her in her tracks.

*Spark* *Blast*

I blasted her with a powerful blast spell to get her off me, with the impact of the blast propelling me backward. 

I cannot maintain this state of time for long. At most only a minute before I am unable to continue. Three minutes to me, one to her. I cannot give her even a moment to breath if I want to even have a chance to survive here.

*Dash* *Slice* *Slash* *Grazed*

I jumped in and immediately attacked her as soon as she’s recovering from the blast. She clearly doesn’t expect me to move at this tempo. Of course I’m not completely safe, even with the world slower than me by threefold her movement still looks fast to me. It’s comparable to that of a wild animal moving wildly, you do not want to go anywhere near that.

Getting some distance I quickly readies my bow.

*Shoot* *Sizz* *Boom*

An arrow flaming hot that explodes on impact. It hits my opponent head on. There’s no way that did nearly enough damage to even slow her down, I need something more severe.

*Shine*

Gah! That bright light, she’s the cause of it? A small ball of light in her hand that seems to dispel the smokes away and destroy everything it touches. Even with the difference in the configuration of time she’s still keeping up with me.

*Throw*

The ball of light is thrown at me, and clearly it’ll almost definitely end me if I were to come into contact with it.

*Evade*

Of course I dodged it, it’s either that or death. It’s clear this is not the end of her assault.

*Dash* *Swing* *Clash*

She closed in on me extremely quickly and swung her monstrous nodachi right at me. I cannot do anything but lock the blades with hers, I need to get out of this situation quickly.

*Crack* *Rise* *Sprint*

I quickly summoned the earth under me to interrupt the clash, getting between the blades and forcing them to split up. That cost a large amount of mana to cast, as unless it’s an extremely strong earth spell there’s no way it would’ve even budge either of us. I quickly get the hell away from her.

*Splurt*

“Ugh!” Dammit… Seems I was too hasty. The bloods are all over me and there’s no way I could’ve done that again. My advantage is gone, and I’m almost a foot in the grave, this is bad.

“What the heck was all that?... Ahem. It seems you’re at your limit, unfortunately I cannot let you live now that you oppose me” She said as she raised her weapon intimidatingly. Well I don’t know about her but the limit is there to be broken, just like every part of my body would probably be if I am to succeed in defeating her.

“[Time Prison]!” I chanted out loud which was almost cut out by her swinging of the blade.

*Crack*

Her body stopped moving as if restrained by thousands of chains. Her expression once again of surprise and the maintained seriousness to defeat me. I think some of my bones cracked from the backlash. Spells do not simply consume mana, but also reflect back like force, the more powerful, the more it bends the world to one’s will, the more one tries to defy their own limit, the stronger the backlash one will receive.

“[Stars and faith. Surrounding]” I began my incantation as soon as possible. Bring out my bow and ready my shots.

The world seems to suddenly shake like the law that governed it began to crumble. The might of the foe in front of me and some unknown power caused her to begin moving again. Soon she’ll charge out of that prison of mine, but not before what I am about to do.

****Shoot****

“[Heaven forms four paths]” I continue my incantation as the arrows go to the sky. Putting my bow away and ready my swords. Ready to go once the moment presents itself.

*Rift*

“Gah!” She breaks loose sounding irritated at the spell I just used on her. She looks at me with no small amount of irritation as well as general paranoia, if I was to do the same trick again it will most likely no longer work.

****Descend****

“Hm?” She quickly noticed my shots it seems, just as I expected. She readies her blade and takes a fraction of a second to think as to how she should counter this situation. Would she go for me who probably can’t take even more or hit and risk being slowed or pinned down by the arrows? Or will she stand still and guard against the arrows? Possibly letting me get a few hits in if she doesn’t deal with them quickly enough.

*Shine*

Her answer is a shield of light that surrounds her entirely, that’s not what I quite expected but it doesn’t matter. She quickly put that up and rushed towards me instantly, no doubt confident in her barrier’s ability to protect her, and it might if not for one simple thing…

****Zoom****

“Wha-” Just as she is about to swing her blade at me she reacted. Bewildered at the sight before her, her barrier is pierced through like it’s not even there.

****Swirl**** 

Taken off guard by the arrows that moved not in accordance with the law of the world, she stepped back paranoid to the threat it may possibly pose.

*Pierce*

One suddenly lodged in her side before she could even process its movement. The shield dispersed along with its caster’s shock surfacing. The arrow then once again rotates around her like the rest. I’m in a lot of pain but I must still go through.

“[Fate unlimited. Parallels infinite]” The incantation continues as I feel my body surging with power that surpasses what I should have at this point. Gripping my blade tight and ready to take haste.

*Dash*

I run for it. Running towards the target confused at the stunt the arrow pulled. There’s four of them and they all have such a function, there’s no way to block one, let alone four at the same time. 

*Leap*

I leaped towards her, above the ground as my motion aimed directly at her. My swords in hand I raise them up high and to go down at my opponents.

**Slash**

Two slashes. From my twin swords I swung downward as she’s preoccupied with the arrows surrounding her like boomerangs causing a surprising amount of trouble. Still those arrows won’t last for too long so I need to make it count.

*Leap*

Leaping backward up into the air once again. I can see her clearly taking damage, however with how I am at the moment I’m not sure which of us is faring worse at the moment. My arms feel like they’re tearing apart and my legs are becoming numb. I’m still gripping my swords and not letting them go, such a slip up will be the end of me.

**Clank** **Launch**

My two blades came apart into chains. I motioned them forward towards my opponent while filling it with magical energy and force of direction. They will engulf and overwhelm the opponent in front of me, but if that's not enough then I’ll simply keep going.

*Graze* *Clank* 

Seems that only grazed her at most, but the chains are still binding her for a bit. She will break out of it in just a second, then before that second I must intercept her with something else.

****Pierce****

As she attempted to break free the four arrows went through the cocoon of chains and interrupted her attempt. The arrows went through and out like it simply flew through air.

*Bind* *Pull* *Splatter*

“[Unstoppable strikes. Flow against currents]” The incantation continues, the second last verse. I pull the swords back forcibly with all my might, letting the smaller blades that bind her tightened and ripping her apart. My arms feel like they actually will fall off, by the time the blades reformed and back to me both of us are a mess. My body while having no clear external injury is worked way beyond the limit and will probably begin breaking down, meanwhile my opponent is full of wounds on her that are regenerating at a frightful rate, all the more reason to end this quickly.

*Dash*

I rushed towards her again as she still began recovering from the wounds inflicted, despite the clear power difference if one cannot defend then it barely matters, and I will not allow her to defend.

**Slash** *Leap*

Upward slash with both of my swords. Soon after I dealt the blows I retreated back seeing the wounds on her increasing, yet not quite compensating for the ones she recovered from. Now to the final part, binding and ending it all. With the last and powerful attack.

****Thunk****

“[Life and death to be all ends. Unending grey waves]” The final verse. The four arrows all hit her at the exact same time, piercing hard into her body with unnatural levels of force.

*Shine* *Sizz* *Chill*

In my hands are no longer the weapons, but the mana left in me to end this. My preferred spell. The destructive flames, the lifeless ice. I will end this battle with this last magic. I put them all together into a condensed spell, into a small ball that will burst into destruction. This is the end!

*Launch* *Splurt*

Guh!!! My body can’t take even a little more exertion… But… At least I pulled out my last attack… It hits her…

*Boom* *Blast* *Sizz* *Shine*

Multiple colors, array of blasts. The spell came into contact with her and unravelled its power. I cannot clearly see the effect of the spell on her, as the smoke formed and my eyes are blurry… I’m still alive at least, that’s the important part… 

…

**Drop**

…Damn… I can barely even move a finger at this point, I can still move my head about slightly thankfully so I can see how she fares… She’s down as well it seems… However considering her monstrous regenerative power I think I’m better off not celebrating at this moment. I need to escape most of all, if I could recover enough mana to teleport just once.

...So much pain… I can barely do anything and I’m not even sure if my sight is working properly. I don’t think my foe is doing much better either.

“That was… unexpected” The opponent who tried to silence me earlier said so in a bored tone, no longer can the malice be heard in her voice. She sure changes her tone quickly just from that, was she impressed or something? At this point I’m just perplexed at her reaction, she should’ve been more willing to kill me if I just almost did so to her.

“Is that really how… You’re going about it?” I retort feeling annoyed. I feel like I recovered a bit of energy and mana to be able to teleport away if I can help it.

“What else would I do? Bitch about it like an annoying villain? I have better standards than that thank you” She said it so sarcastically it feels like I’m talking to a different person. I’m not even sure why she bothers talking to someone sleeping on the ground, with nearly every part of her body broken almost in the grave unable to crawl out. Still what an interesting way to say it, and considering her weapon as well it’s pretty clear who she is… Yet she’s clearly something more than that.

“And what about me? Letting me go would be quite idiotic would it not?” I snarked back at her. Perhaps a bit of a foolish move but I’m pretty confident I could at least teleport away if it comes to that.

“It honestly would be… I mean if you won’t try anything funny in here maybe I could let you go? Maybe? At least you didn’t expose me so far so there’s that” She replied casually. How comes it went from us killing each other to a casual conversation? 

“And you repay my kindness in what could be my death, you’re either horribly damaged or the most inconsiderate person to exist” I replied, I’m not too amused from her reply I must say. Hopefully I could just get away right now.

“Sorry I guess. Still killing you seems a bit wasteful to be honest, I mean honestly I wasn’t expecting any challenge at all” She said. The wording is a bit ominous I must say.

“Is that really how you determined if someone lives or dies?” I replied feeling really sick of this conversation that doesn’t seem to go anywhere.

“Well… That and a gut feeling. Anyway, what's your plan inquiring about so much information anyway?” She asked me in a completely different tone. Now it sounds like she’s interrogating me.

“I’m just wanting to enjoy this world okay? That and keeping my friends safe. Literally nothing else, I’m not even slightly invested in this conflict” I answered bluntly. That’s my honest opinion about the whole deal.

“Hmm… Well that sounds about right… what’s your opinion on keno- Ahem. No no that should’ve been obvious” She was about to ask me something else but immediately backtrack.

“It’s so obvious that the answer is positive. I’m not going to do anything to them if that’s what you’re wondering. I don’t even know they’re here” I replied. If I could just go back and sleep somewhere else except this cold floor.

“Yeah I should’ve guessed that I guess… Well since I recovered faster than you I guess I’ll take my leave first… Reiza was it?” She stood up with a great deal of her wounds and clothing already restored and asked me.

“Yeah… And you are Maova” I replied dryly.

“Yes I am” She responded sounding slightly cheerful and walked out of my sight, as soon as I moved my head to see her what I saw was… nothing. She just vanished.

“Well I guess I’ll do the same” I just sighed at the thing that just happened and said to myself out loud. What an encounter, that really could’ve been the end, or will it? Guess no one will ever know… I’ll just go back to my room and try my best to recover, and make sure to not antagonize this woman I supposed…

*Zoom*