Chapter 177 - #176 Bringing her home to the battlefield. (1/2)
”Mahapdama” Esdeath muttered as a large amount of blue aura concentrated in her hands began to expand to all locations at extremely fast speed.
[Fire Form]
[Energy: 2290/2500]
Akashi didn't hesitate and his entire body became transparent before becoming just pure flames but these flames were very different from the others. They had a pure crimson color, no shade of orange.
The blue aura quickly enveloped him and he felt a heavy pressure on his body which slowed his movements but it wasn't anything drastic.
'Hm, I thought that she would perform large scale destructive skill but it was most likely supposed to freeze the time. I could have just enveloped my body with my aura and endure it for a bit since such a large amount of energy she had to gather...she won't be able to maintain it for a long time.' Akashi thought that he made a little mistake by being too cautious. Therefore he canceled his skill not to waste more energy than needed since maintenance of such skill also cost something.
”?! You can move?!” Esdeath exclaimed with a shocked expression but she quickly kicked off the ground, not sparing any second to attack him.
The ground under Akashi glowed in blue light so he quickly jumped to the side before the ice spikes erected at the previous position he was standing at. Esdeath in meanwhile appeared in front of Akashi and struck her rapier towards his midsection.
'My body feels heavier but her impatience makes it easy for me to read her attacks' Akashi thought and struck her rapier slightly to the side while also turning his torso to the side to dodge her piercing attack. When he dodged her attack, he took a step forward closer to her and thrust his other hand towards her neck.
Esdeath moved her head to the back and grit her teeth while watching his nearing flaming hand. Esdeath stomped her right foot and a large pillar suddenly was erected behind Akashi, unfortunately for him, he was right at the edge of the pillar so he was taken to the sky with it.
'She is really good but her techniques are ineffective against me' Akashi thought while regaining his balance on the ice pillar.
He looked down from it at Esdeath's figure and jumped down from more than 100 meters height and before he landed, he activated his wings to lighten his fall.
'Since this is useless against him, there is no need to waste even more of my energy on it' Esdeath thought with a displeased frown while watching Akashi land in kneeling position before standing up. She canceled her own technique and pressure around Akashi's body disappeared.
---On the hill---
”WHAT?!” All girls exclaimed at the same time when they blinked and suddenly a large ice pillar appeared on the battlefield and even Akashi and Esdeath's positions completely changed.
”Hm...I see, so that was it.” Mera muttered with a thoughtful expression when she recalled the memory before ”blinking” when she saw blue light around Esdeath's hands.
Girls immediately looked at her with questioning gazes and she slowly explained her hypothesis of Esdeath slowing time or maybe completely freezing it.
”Akashi wasn't affected by it most likely because his powers are exactly opposite to it. He might have been hindered somehow but that should be all, judging that nothing really happened between them, no new injuries or anything.” Mera said while holding her chin and watching destructive exchanges between Akashi and Esdeath.
When one of them attacked, the ground around them was either scorched or frozen.
---Back to the battle---
Akashi looked up while standing still before narrowing his eyes. His vertical pupils suddenly became enlarged.
”USELESS!” Akashi shouted with an arrogant smirk.
[Absolute Dominance - ACTIVATED]
”HA!” When the meteor was above his head, he punched up.
*CRACK!*
”?!” Esdeath was surprised when Akashi actually decided to defend against her attack with his physical strength alone but she was even more surprised when the entire meteor stopped more than 2 meters above the ground while cracks started quickly spreading on its surface.
Esdeath decided to quickly jump down from it and as she did, the entire meteor crumbled down into the chunks of ice. The chunks of ice started falling down all around Akashi's figure.
---On the hill---
”You are kidding...right?” Poney muttered with a disbelieving expression while her eyes were shaking when she saw Akashi actually catching the enormous meteor with only one hand.
”Are you still saying that he isn't monster despite not seeing his trump card?” Mera asked with a slightly helpless smile when she saw this.
”...” Kurome kept quiet and only continued observing the fight with all her attention focused on it with her lips slightly parted.
'I wouldn't be able to keep up with her...!' Kurome thought while clenching her fist.
Mera just noticed something strange and that was Taeko who was quiet the entire time, when Mera turned Taeko's direction, her eyes actually widened when she saw Taeko's calm expression.
'How can she be so calm? I mean, even I am quite overwhelmed by their battle not to mention Esdeath is her rival in love so she should feel extreme pressure.' Mera thought while observing Taeko who was calmly watching the battle between Akashi and Esdeath.
However, unknown to everyone, Taeko was already simulating her own battle against Esdeath in her mind, she was observing all of her moves and her habits when countering Akashi's attacks. She had no dėsɨrė to lose against Esdeath so she was already preparing for the worst.