Chapter 65 - Chapter 65: Strength and Blood

At the Nether Forge, Kaya and Selena stood opposite each other; the air was thick as Kaya spoke, "I'm going to ask you once more: where did my sister go?" Selena shrugged her shoulders and dashed towards Kaya. Selena punched the ground; the space between Kaya's feet was crumbling. She jumped into the air and created multiple blood spears that fired towards Selena. Pvelgr flew into the air and blocked the incoming projectiles with its burning wings. Kaya looked at Pvelgr with disgust as she said, "That damn bird, the mythical creature Pvelgr, a bird made out of pure mana that has the unique ability Afterflow, it must have given its ability to Selena. I must be careful." Selena jumped up in the air and punched Kaya in the stomach. Kaya went flying towards the ground. She looked down and noticed blood leaking from her stomach. Kaya smirked while she started healing her wound and said to herself, "Her strength is incredible." If I didn't use my blood magic to move organs, that could have been bad. If I can't match her in strength, I will increase my speed." Kaya summoned Iyasu and crouched down a little bit before drawing a small bit of the blade. She stomped her foot on the ground; large rocks flew into the air as Kaya started jumping onto the rocks multiple times, each time speeding up. Selena was trying to follow her movements; she ordered Pvelgr to destroy the rocks. Pvelgr dived into the rocks, breaking them to pieces swiftly, but Kaya's speed kept increasing. Selena smiled and said, "Impressive. Your speed is phenomenal, but it won't be enough to beat me." Selena started gathering Afterflow ran into her hands, and then she crossed her arms, and then a massive burst of afterflow covered the area, burning everything in front of her. Selena looked down and saw a little dust pile; she started laughing, then she said, "That's all you had? How pathetic, Kaya Bloodfallen." Suddenly Kaya appeared behind her as she fired a massive wave of blood that directly hit Selena on the back. Selena started falling towards the ground until she called out to Pvelgr; he dived into Selena's body as gigantic flaming wings came out of her back. She recovered from the attack before hitting the ground. Selena looked up at Kaya and dashed towards her. They both started trading attack after attack until Kaya used Iyasu's first technique, Crimson Flood, to cover Selena in acid blood. Kaya fully drew Iyasu from the sheath and dashed in, going for the killing blow, but Selena grabbed Kaya's shirt and headbutted her. Kaya was disorientated; Selena followed up with multiple punches to the stomach and head. Kaya's body started falling, but before she hit the ground, she used her blood magic to pump more blood into her heart. She planted her feet and fired a massive blood wave towards Selena. She grabbed the blade and crushed it. She noticed that Kaya's blood veins started increasing across her body. Selena said in her mind, "I see now. By pumping more blood into her heart, she's able to create blood spells at a rapid pace." Blood magic is one of the few organic magics in this world, being able to create blood from the mana in the atmosphere and being able to use the blood throughout the user's body; it indeed is quite troublesome." Selena created an orb of afterflow in her hand and squeezed it tightly. The afterflow started leaking into the surrounding space, and multiple blade-like projectiles started forming from the afterflow. Selena fired the afterflow projectiles towards Kaya. While projectiles ripped through Kaya's jacket, she stood there with a psychopathic smile on her face. Kaya looked up at Selena as her eyes shone bright red while she said, "Act II: Rain." Blood started raining from the sky. The raindrops started hitting Selena's afterflow projectiles; every time a raindrop hit one of Selena's afterflow projectiles, it vanished. Selena was shocked as she saw her projectiles vanishing before her eyes, but then Kaya dashed into the air, slashing Selena's arm open and kicking her towards the ground. Selena crashed into the ground; she slowly got to her feet, punched the ground and lifted a giant piece of metal from the ground through it at Kaya. Before the metal hit Kaya, she swiftly cut it into dust, but suddenly multiple blue flaming chains appeared on her arms. She looked down and saw Selena holding the end of the chains; she swiftly dragged Kaya down with the chains and slammed it into the dirt. Selena said, "I understand now that rain nullifies all projectiles, including yours, requiring you to fight up close. Very impressive." Kaya started laughing while walking towards Selena; she sheathed her sword and said, "It's been ages since I have had such a thrill, and for that I shall show you my strongest technique." Selena cracked her knuckles, and the blue symbol started glowing on her hand. She said, "I feel the same way. You are indeed far more interesting than I have ever imagined." Kaya's blood veins shone bright red. The space cracked as blood started covering them. A crimson moon appeared behind Kaya while a barrier formed around them. The blood started to flow like a river while Kaya said, "Act III: Drowning." Kaya and Selena fell into the blood river; it covered the surrounding space. Selena's eyes widened while realising her mana was slowly being drained. Kaya smiled while saying, "This is Act III of the river of the Damned. It allows me to summon a small-sized river that slowly drains mana from my opponent, but even though it's powerful, it's a double-edged sword; it also drains my mana in the meantime. Whoever gets completely drained first will drown, and the other will live." Selena laughed while saying, "So this subspace will completely drain us of mana. How interesting! But it won't be enough to beat me." Selena's body started to be covered in blue like Aura's. Selena opened her hand and said, 'In weakness and growth, strength overflows within; it shall burn through bone and blood.' Engulf Me, My Strength – a massive force of pressure started breaking away at the space. A giant lion appeared behind Selena; it started clawing away at the space. Selena and Kaya both started smiling while Selena's pocket dimension was trying to take over Kaya's subspace. Both of them went back and forth until the mana in the atmosphere cracked and both spaces started fading. Selena and Kaya fell back on the snowy ground; they started breathing heavily. Selena said, "Incredible. Your power is equal to mine, and even that final technique was amazing as well, Kaya Bloodfallen. You truly are a worthy opponent." Kaya smiled and said, "I could say the same for you, Selena Luminous. I will end this epic battle with this attack." Kaya started Pouring the last of her mana into Iyasu, meanwhile, Selena started collecting the last of her mana into her hands. Selena created an orb of afterflow and fired a grand spell towards Kaya called "Flowing spatial black hole". As the attack closed in, Kaya said, "Iyasu's second technique, Red Fang." Kaya drew Iyasu swiftly; the tip of the sword was dark red. Once it hit Selena's spell, a massive explosion covered the whole area. Smoke covered the area, but once it started to fade, Kaya and Selena were both left standing, completely drained of mana. They started slowly walking towards each other, but before they met face-to-face, they turned around and sat down, leaning their backs against each other. Selena said, "It's been a while since I had an opponent that was equal to my strength." Kaya pulled out a box of cigarettes from her pocket, put one in her mouth and lighted it while saying, "Same. It's been a long time since my heart was racing with excitement like this." Selena smiled as she coughed a little. Selena said, 'Do you have to do that here? Anyways, I don't know where your sister went, but she mentioned something about the black fragment if that means anything to you." Kaya sighed while saying, "Shiki, huh? I always felt like she would cause me problems." Kaya and Selena sat in the snow, waiting for their mana to recover.