Chapter 238: The Crimson Phoenix (1/2)
Underneath the reddish sky, running on the cracked, dry ground that had various purple flowers ran two figures, dashing like 2 blurs.
Moby leading the way, he did not look back even once to face Emilia, although he always kept his guard up against sneak attacks. Many thoughts ran through his mind, disregarding all the unimportant ones clouding his thoughts and focusing on what was now truly important…
He had tried to do some research on Emilia before the fight, in order to gauge her strength and fighting style, yet, to his surprise, he had found absolutely nothing of use, nothing but what her main weapon was, being a rapier and her ability being fire which did not serve much help to him…
The only thing that he could assume about her was that her skills and styles are similar to Abby, but that was just him grasping at straws trying to make an educated guess...
He did manage to find a few videos of her fighting in tournaments and such back when she was a first-year student, but even then it did not serve any help at all, all of the videos showing her defeating her opponents with ease, swatting them like a fly in 1 or 2 hits with no remorse at all.
On the other hand, now Moby had his fights posted from when he fought at the Griffith mansion, which was not entirely a bad thing since he concealed most of his moves and trump cards. Yet, he was also sure that Abby told her everything she knew about him, yet at the same time, he had a lot hidden from her such as sin-mode's power to absorb emotions. He could still play to her knowledge and catch her off guard, as he had a plan brewing and forming in his mind, making a smile form under his serious poker face.
”Here is good enough!”
Moby spoke in a calm voice, halting his movements immediately with a simple step, turning around to face his opponent who had also stopped her movements.
Stalling for time was the last thing he wanted to do, he had no time to waste while his friends were busy fighting a few kilometres away so he only ran for a few minutes.
”Hmmmm… So this is what you chose for your grave… very flowery indeed…”
Her voice was ominous yet calm with a hint of malice, the emotions on her face, unlike anything he had seen from any human before as she examined the abundant amount of purple flowers in the area along with the two rainbow-shaped rocks above them directly adjacent to each other.
”Enough of your empty words, let's see you put them to action…” Moby taunted her, tightly grasping his katana, with a smile on his face.
”Heh… I'll have you know that you brought this onto yourself… Your pain could have been far more peaceful if you had just kept your mouth shut,”
The fiery aura around Emilia exploded once more, the smell of burnt rocks and the sound of crackling and raging flames filling the air, her eyes that had already turned into deadly, fiery slits, now were even more serious yet amused, staring straight at his very core, her hand firmly holding the hilt of her rapier.
”Well then! Come at me! Or do you want me to start instead!?” She yelled once more, sweat running down from Moby's face from the immense heat and power exuding from her, the ground shaking and turning black in the face of her crimson flames that devoured all.
Moby once again stood firm in his place, unmoving in the face of such great power. He could not risk being careless, he knew that she entertained no games.
He had to go seriously, full strength from the start. This was no anime where the main character could afford to go easy on his opponent to gauge their strength before transforming, he would no doubt be dead if he was stupid enough to try that.
He had to go all out and go straight for the jugular to take her out when she least expected it…
Suddenly, Moby closed his eyes, a deadly, ominous aura of black, blue, and red surrounding him from every angle, flowing and ravaging his body. The ground underneath his feet began to crack and shake with an immense earthquake, making the ground swallow many of the purple flowers underneath his feet that was slowly sinking into a crater, shadowy lines beginning to ravage his entire body, his previously green eyes now glowing a complex purple with viper-like shape, red pupils in his eyes as he felt wings and horns beginning to form and sprout from his back and head respectively, his arms crossed in the form of an X as he aura of death and despair began ravaging all around the air with a cold, raging killing intent, his aura now clashing head to head with that of Emilia's.
”What do you think you're doing!? Do you really think that I'm gonna let you do that right in front of my face!?”
She seemed annoyed and disrespected at what Moby was trying to attempt, an intense ball of fire forming around her open left arm as she shot a burst of crimson flames from it, flames that looked straight out of the blazing core of the sun, far stronger and deeper than he ever remembered Abby's flames being.
Instinctively, Moby erected a wall of purple ice, infusing it with as much energy as he could which managed to just barely stop Emilia's attack that was far stronger than he ever expected, using up a large chunk of his mana, the steam from the clash being blown away from the strong wind.
Yet, before it all cleared away, Moby thrust his arms that were previously crossed in an X wide open, using a technique that he had been mentally practicing in his head yet had never tried in battle before.