Chapter 176 - #175 Akashi vs Esdeath (1/2)

”Looks like you had your own fun before I arrived...” Akashi said with a smile while looking at numerous corpses of the Danger Beasts and ice sculptures.

'Her ice changed the shade of its color a bit, it's almost impossible to notice it with the nȧkėd eye but she definitely improved from the last time I saw her using her powers.' Akashi thought while narrowing his eyes at the ice sculptures.

”Nah, it was just a little warm-up before the main event! Anyway, what has happened to your clothes?” Esdeath replied with a sadistic smile. Even she noticed changes in Akashi's aura but all she could see with her eyes that changed on him was his clothes.

'He is usually a serious person who likes to wear formal clothes but this loose black shirt that is open at his torso is completely opposite to what he likes to wear.' Esdeath frowned as she began to observe Akashi and his changes.

Akashi sensed her intense stare so he turned from the ice sculptures at her with a carefree smile without replying.

That smile alone was enough to make her narrow her eyes in caution.

”Shall we start?!” Esdeath asked pointing her palm at Akashi and thousands of small ice spikes appeared behind her.

”Heh, I thought you would have never asked!” Akashi replied with a small grin and as he stretched out his arm and pointed his palm to the side, a raging sea of flames appeared behind him.

”Then let me have the honor of having the first move!” Esdeath shouted and her sadistic smile only widened as she waved her hand towards Akashi and thousands of ice spikes were shot towards Akashi.

”Feel free!” Akashi pointed his hand in front of him and the flames behind him moved forward even enveloping him in the process but not even his clothes were damaged.

When Esdeath's ice spikes made contact with Akashi's wall of flames, they quickly melted after traveling a certain distance within the wall.

'Hm, 1 meter thickness is more than enough against such small ice spikes.' Akashi quickly judged and reduced the thickness of the wall which considerably saved him the energy.

[Energy: 2480/2500]

”It looks like I have won this exchange, it's my turn now!” Akashi said with a confident smile and put his index finger and middle finger together and pointed at the flames in front of him.

'Hm?' Esdeath frowned, displeased that her attack did absolutely no damage but she turned quite cautious when she noticed Akashi's actions.

Akashi gently and slowly flicked his 2 fingers up.

*Screech* The entire wall of flames took a form of a small Phoenix and flew right at Esdeath.

Esdeath narrowed her eyes and when the Phoenix was close enough, she jumped to the back, making Phoenix miss and slowly crashing into the ground but before it made contact with the ground...

Akashi released a nasty smile and Esdeath shudder a bit seeing his smile.

*whoosh* Esdeath leaped out of that cloud of dust with one hand pointing close in front of her and slightly cracked ice shield connected to her hand.

[Phantom Strike]

[Energy: 2420/2500]

*Whoosh* The sound of sword tearing through the air resounded behind Esdeath which made her glance behind her.

”You haven't forgotten about me, right?” Akashi asked with a smile as his sword was about to touch Esdeath's back but his eyebrow raised when he saw her another hand behind her back.

*Clash!* The sword made of ice blocked Akashi's sword. Hearing the sound, Esdeath couldn't help but release an even more excited smile.

”How could I?! I want to make you mine, of course, I will never forget about you!” Esdeath replied and made her ice shield connected to her right hand in front to crack down before pointing the palm of her right hand towards Akashi's torso before ice spear began quickly growing in front of her palm.

”Hm?” Akashi was planning to use his physical strength to overpower her but he changed his plans when he saw her counter attack. He enveloped his free hand in flames and struck it towards the ice spear aiming to pierce his torso.

*bang* The explosion once again happened when his hand and her ice spear met.

[Health: 998/1000]

”Heh” Both of them raised their heads and when their eyes met, both of them chuckled.

'I have lost this exchange' Esdeath thought with a slightly irritated smile.

Why would she say that when both were injured? It was because Akashi used his own hand to block it while Esdeath's hand was quite far away from the supposed impact. In her mind, he should have been injured more if she was to be the one who won that exchange.

”Let me see how you intend on dealing with these!” Esdeath drew her rapier and pointed it at Akashi before Ice sculptures in the form of cavalry started appearing all around her.

The cavalry made of ice dashed towards Akashi who didn't wait for them and charged forward to meet them head-on with a curious smile on his face.

When the first spear attacked him from the ice horse with the upper body of human instead of its head, Akashi leaned forward, narrowly dodging it before slashing his own sword, cutting it's human's body part from its horse's part of the body.

”One...” Akashi muttered and he already had to take one small step backward to dodge another spear coming front his right side before he jumped towards his new attacker and put his hand on the face of the human part of the body, completely engulfing it in flames within a second.

'Hm?' Akashi frowned since they were much more resistant to his flames than any other of Esdeath's creations.

”Got you!” Esdeath said with an excited smile and Akashi looked below him just to see the ground shining in cold blue light before numerous ice spikes erected from the ground.

However, Akashi just smiled and remained in the air with the wings formed out of his flames on his back.