>> 3rd POV << 

Kanae's dead-looking eyes cleared out.

She had recovered focus; back to being conscious.

As she regained her bearing, Kanae notice a presence near her. 

Immediately, her eyes followed where that presence was coming from. 

Then what registered in her vision was a demon baring its two sharp fangs, barely an inch plunging her neck.

'No!' Kanae shouted in her mind. 

And at that moment, time seemed to stop in her perception.

Her mind was processing the situation quickly at a rate unimaginable to normal humans. 

In a short amount of time, she spotted that his guard was down.

The demon was careless knowing that she couldn't move. After all, Kanae was trapped. She had been brought into a state where she experienced that fake world.

Going back to what happened earlier, when Kanae remembered that she was still fighting a demon, she noticed that the world she had been seeing seemed not right.

There was one single detail that made her conclude about this and that was:

She couldn't smell Shin's odor in her body.

Kanae had smeared her uniform on Shin's body. She also cuddled with him for a longer amount of time. 

It was still there earlier, yet she couldn't smell the distinct fresh nature-like scent coming from Shin.

There was also something that had disturbed her mind. Kanae's thoughts were running on their own, confusing her.

But by drowning it with another separate thought, she had been freed from it. 

After that, Kanae searched for a clue to escape. 

Yet she couldn't find anything.

But an idea came into her mind.

Knowing that she was seeing a fake reality, without further implications, she stabbed herself in the heart.

It wasn't a gamble. She was confident in herself.

Which allowed her to be brought back into the present reality.

Currently, as her world moved slowly, she thought of a way to break out of this situation. 

Kanae pulled her sword, quickly sending a powerful horizontal slice, cutting the demon's torso in half. 

"Urk!" The demon released a pained groan. 

His eyes widened. He had a surprised expression on his face.

Having a bit of room to herself, Kanae noticed this brief situational advantage she had created.

So with a flash of successive movement, Kanae sent a strike at the demon's neck; cutting his head in the process.

*Thud* *Thud*

The demon's lower half body dropped forward. 

While his upper torso fell backward. 

The demon at that time managed to put weight on its back to incline towards the opposite direction from Kanae. It was an instinctual reflex to avoid her strike. 

The head, however, flew out and landed near Kanae's feet.

"Szthhhhhhhht." She inhaled deeply. 

Her mouth produced a smoking effect.

Kanae was using the focused state of the Flower breathing. 

But this state Kanae was in, is different from the usually focused breathing she had been training for years.

In a critical situation, Kanae had awakened something in her.

Looking at her face, was a pink Lotus mark.

It was located at her right cheek with a size that stretched below her eye.

Kanae had not experienced this before.

In this state, she felt stronger. Her speed increased 5 times compared to her normal focused breathing. 

Also, her instincts had become sharper by 5 folds. 

Three seconds had passed since she had decapitated the Demon.

And at that exact time, Kanae sensed danger.

She leaped backward, creating a distance of about: 

5 meters —

10 —

20 —

And finally landing 50 meters away from the body of the demon.

As she landed, the corner of her eyes glanced at the moon and back to the place she was standing before.

'Long…'

 

Based on the moon's angle, she had estimated that it had moved millimeters relative to the place she was standing when she was unmoving. 

She calculated that about less than 2 minutes had passed.

However, the fact that the time had passed and it wasn't in seconds was not good.

And in a situation such as being rendered immobile while facing an enemy, would've cost Kanae her life.

She was a sitting duck at that time.  

However, she was fortunate.

'I dunno what happened at that time I was out, but I guess he got complacent.'

Which is understandable.

'Looking at his surprise expression, he must've not expected me to be freed from that hypnosis.'

Seconds later, after Kanae had distanced herself from the demon's body, something happened.

The body erupted in a sea of blood; disintegrating, producing a red-bloody mist that has the scent of rusty iron. 

Thirty seconds later, the blood stopped erupting. 

Then all the bloody mist was pulled over in a single point.

'What?' 

This event shocked Kanae.

A humanoid silhouette emerged from it.

The demon was back into pieces, good as new.

Scratching his waist, the demon spoke lazily: 

"Ouch… That hurts, you know." 

He picked his ears up while cracking his neck.

'He looked unharmed.'

'That attack didn't affect him at all.'

Based on the demon being unhurt, Kanae took in mind:

'He couldn't be killed by simply cutting his neck.'

'But I know, there must be a way.'

'I'll find whatever his weakness.'

Kanae's body tensed up and moved.

She runs — charging at the demon.

'I have about 5 minutes left.' 

Kanae also realized that while she was in this state, her stamina reserves have been burning faster.

She had no time to waste.

Moving closer, the demon being in Kanae's range, she attacked:

'Fifth Form: Peonies of Futility'

With a flash, Kanae delivered a sword strike.

Her momentum sent her passed the demon.

Facing his back, with quick succession, she followed another slash, and one, then another.

Sounds of flesh meat being sliced resounded at the place.

Slash, slash, slash…

In 5 seconds, Kanae unleashed a flurry of 9 consecutive cuts toward different parts of his body.

The attacks flowed elegantly. 

Ultimately, forming a peony.

In her 9th slash, Kanae's attack went towards the demon's side.

"Urk!" He groaned painfully. His body was littered with deep cuts.

But he didn't fall. 

As Kanae was done connecting her slash, he counter-attacked. 

He waved his fan in an 'X' arc. 

*Wooooooooshh* 

Sensing invisible sharp wind slices coming in her direction, Kanae pulled her body to dodge.

Seconds after leaving the area of attack, trees were cut into pieces.

'Shit!' 

'If I hadn't dodged that…'

She would've been diced into minced meat.

Kanae had no other choice but to stop her assault.

That attack was impossible to deflect. 

Disregarding how powerful it was, it further added to the difficulty that the wind slices weren't visible to the naked eye.

As a result, the demon had bought enough time to completely heal his body.

…