Chapter 177 - #176 Bringing her home to the battlefield. (2/2)

'That technique...how can I counter something like stopping the time?' Taeko was confident in her swordsmanship but she was helplessly thinking of strategy against Esdeath's powerful technique.

'If I were to use twister and disappear large distance away...Not sure, the range of her technique is unknown and it actually affected us who are standing quite a large distance away from her, however, if its range was just slightly behind us, it would definitely be manageable. Still, I need to train more for this to be possible.' Taeko was in a completely different world than the other girls observing the battle.

---Back to the battle---

[Absolute Dominance - INACTIVE]

'I am quite drained, I can use Mahapdama one last time but it's almost useless against Akashi...Despite all that training and all those things I have gained in 2 weeks, will I truly lose to him in such a pathetic way?' Esdeath thought when she took Akashi's kick head-on into her midsection, which had blown her away and her body crashed into one of her ice pillars, making it collapse.

Esdeath looked at the sky for a split second before she narrowed her eyes and grit her teeth. She slowly stood up while holding one hand over her stomach where she was kicked.

'Hm?' Akashi frowned when he sensed the change in Esdeath. At first, he felt like her aura was getting weaker and was about to break but another second...

'I am prepared to lose, however, I must show those girls that none of them can compare to me or steal Akashi from me!! I refuse to lose in a pathetic way!' Esdeath gripped her left wrist with her right hand and released a completely different crazy smile from her usual one.

Esdeath could sense that Akashi wasn't even going all out against her, she still hasn't seen any significant moves that would make her feel threatened which completely irritated her.

Instead of light blue aura, a dark blue aura started gathering around Esdeath.

'She is...?' Akashi narrowed his eyes when he felt her potent killing intent, even he who was quite experienced killer felt threatened under her killing intent. It must be mentioned that Esdeath actually killed many more people than him and she also tortured numerous of them which gave birth to her dense and almost evil aura. Akashi never liked words evil and good since many people might perceive others' actions as evil and others might perceive them just as necessary or selfish, everything depends on people's perspective, however, her aura truly had that taste of evilness or maybe a better word would be destruction. Even the destruction can give birth to something good.

Esdeath suddenly put her right hand on the ground and ground all around Akashi in the perimeter of numerous meters glowed.

Akashi smiled a bit since he knew that his regular speed wouldn't be enough to escape so he decided to creatively avoid her attack by attacking her on his own.

[Energy: 1890/2500]

Akashi appeared in front of kneeling Esdeath and kicked out with his right leg, intending to kick her into the side of her head but she suddenly released a nasty smile. She moved her head down, dodging Akashi's attack.

When he missed his attack, he used the momentum to spun around and then kicked behind him with his left leg. Esdeath created a shield of ice on her left hand and blocked his kick that only cracked it but the shield served its purpose as Esdeath used her right hand to materialize in it ice sword slashing Akashi's back.

'Her ice became more solid?' Akashi was surprised when his kick actually didn't break through the entire ice shield.

*splash*

Akashi's back was protected by his flames but it wasn't enough to melt down the ice sword.

[Health: 980/1000]

'?! Such a shallow wound?!' Esdeath's eyes widened when her sword made only small scratch across Akashi's back however it was enough for blood to show up.

While Esdeath was surprised Akashi took her attack head-on despite having the way to counter it in exchange for wasting more energy, he didn't waste any time and performed another roundhouse kick with his right leg and this time Esdeath was caught off guard as she quickly put her cracked ice shield in front of her.

'It will break!' Esdeath quickly judged and put her other hand behind the shield,

*Crack!* *Bam* As she expected, the shield this time broke and she received his kick with her hands first, making them slightly numb, however, she used this chance to perform her own kick towards his midsection.

'?! She isn't retreating?' Akashi was actually surprised that Esdeath decided to continue her attack therefore her attack connected with him, making him slide back a few meters.

”Heh, your abs are quite solid, even my foot feels a bit sore after that kick.” Esdeath complimented while looking at his abs since he had open shirt that was tied at his waist with the crimson belt.

”We can arrange some massage if you will surrender” Akashi jokingly replied while shrugging his shoulders.

”I have better idea and all I need to do is to defeat you for you to give me massages every day and only to me, alone.” Esdeath said with a wide smile. Her confidence was already once again in a regular place.

”From where do you get that confidence of yours?” Akashi asked curiously not underestimating her after her recent change.

”From this! You have an honor of being the first to experience this new technique of mine...” Esdeath shouted with a crazy smile while spreading her arms and Akashi narrowed his eyes, ready for anything.

”This new technique of mine is still in experimental stages and it will also drain me of my all energy but that won't matter at that time anymore, heh!” Esdeath shouted while pointing her index finger towards the sky and all of the ice pillars and chunks of broken ice sculptures began to dissolving back into her energy and began gathering on the tip of her index finger.

”This was supposed to be a new technique just for the biggest wars but I made sure to adjust it so I can use it against only a few people and I must say that even I was slightly scared of its power at first!” Esdeath said jokingly as the sun was covered by dark clouds and it even started snowing.

'This must be her last move or maybe she just wants to create terrain suitable for her where she can use her powers without even her energy. Simply said, she will be drawing the energy from the outer sources. Nevertheless, I better keep my distance before trying anything else.' Akashi narrowed his eyes and moved into his optimal stance.

”Welcome to my humble home, the Northern Lands, Akashi!” Esdeath shouted with a crazy smile and sadistic look in her eyes as the perimeter of numerous kilometers around them was covered in snow, ice, and even ice pillars began growing from the ground.