"ow," Sam mumbled, picking himself off the ground and stepping over the trench in the ground. It was a wreck, torn cracks littering it. "well, can't slow down!" with a shout, he kicked a cat-sized rock at his opponent. She simply cut it down before jumping over the diagonal slash for his sword.
They quickly moved into a batter of attack, defend, parry, divert. Sam's blade aims for the gaps in her armor. While Lorie tried to cut Sam into pieces. Casting with his free hand, regardless of the burns, started to stretch across his skin. He threw the runes into the ground, freezing it and coating the ground in ice.
"I won't slow down for a little ice!" she cried, horizontal slash booth crashing through the ice." dropping into a split, Sam slammed both hands into the ice, his witch power causing it to change. The chill grew up Lorie's legs as Sam spun, throwing out a mule kick; she blocked with her blade and had her head to keep blocking as he kept kicking.
The moonlight ice grew quickly, eating into the runs she had carved into her armor. "how many fucking curses do you know." she pushed back, throwing Sam into the air. Which he flipped into a superhero landing. Using the space she brought, Loire blasted the ice with rune-conjured fire.
'great, it's not melting!' not that it surprised her; the curses this boy was putting out were no joke. Several curses were still active on her body. Still, Lorie resisted and pushed through their effects. "if it doesn't melt, it'll break!" he brought down her sword hard several times as Sam rushed at her.
At the same moment, the male started to swing his weapon, and the female threw herself back in an act of flexibility. Hands smacking against the ground. The blade flashed over her, and for a moment, she saw her reflection.
Sam plated his foot, turning with his momentum. As he spun back on her, Lorie used her core strength to pull himself to her feet and avoid being bisected. Standing straight once more, she stuck the ice again, cracking it enough to rip out one foot.
That same foot was used to divert Sam's sword several times while she chipped away at the ice to pull out her other foot. Diverted the blade down with one foot, the other came up in a round kick. "Bah!" Sam squawked as his head snapped to the side, his spin making an unpleasant noise before he forced his head back in place.
'I need to overcome this regeneration!'
'she's really putting a dent in my food store.' somehow, his "sword" was still covered despite the massive damage his clothing had taken; if it was mundane, he'd be worried about getting them back, but after the fight, he's magic them better. In the middle of the fight, it wasn't; Lorie would probably be more bothered if he ended up fighting nacked.
'I guess I should think about ending this fight.' even though he was having so much fun, his blood was pumping! his soul was on fire! Lorie has bled! Screamed! Sam witched before he pushed the darker thoughts aside and rushed at her. The two clashed with pure swordsmanship for a few moments, catching their breaths and not letting the other use space to do something big.
Not that space was a requirement for either; this was shown in several big energy clashes between them that shook the air. damaged the ground more, "screw this!" Sam shouted the next time he opened his mouth. he actiede the rune he drew with his tounge.
Fire blust out, "AH!" Lorie jumped back, the flames licked at her helmet as she retreated several feet to expose them. "drawing a rune with his tongue. How much shit is he going to pull out!" she had never heard someone doing that; who thought that like. The fact that it worked was "not complete," and she could see the slight burns on Sam's mouth.
"Alright, I'm starting to get hungry." Seriously, when has his stores been dropped down this low? How many years? who had he fought? Sam couldn't remember, but he didn't care at that moment. "You are strong, incredible so! My blood and battle lust are singing. But I can't indulge; I might kill you!"
"I won't go down so easily!" Lorie rushed forward, sword high over her head," when she swung, Sam sidestepped, thrusting his own weapon at her head." that makes it worse!" Lorie pulled back her head, rowing her body at the same time. Lowering his sword, Sam blocked the chop. Rolling over the sword, he swung his leg at her head.
Before he could fully center his legs, Lorie met his attack with her arm and rolled her shoulder, diverting the blow. Serval blows were quickly exchanged, some landing dead, others before they broke apart. Spit out a tooth, Sam held his sword high above his head. "When was the last time I did this?" he didn't know, nor did he care.
Releasing more ribbon, Sam rushed at her. Lorie raised her sword for another clash of blades, only for Sam to throw his sword to the side. Reaching her, Sam spun on his heel, slamming his other foot into her side. enduring and gritting her teeth, Lorie swung.
But as it started to move, so did Sam; looking her dead in the eyes, he let her cut off his ribbon-covered arm. The other drove itself into her stomach before she could recover from the shock. "Sacrifice-ah!" he hit her again and again. Forcing her back and keeping her attention on him.
'The wound has already stopped bleeding, and I've seen his regeneration. but still to be unphased by the loss of limb!' it was either steel will or pure insanity! Grabbing his fist, she pushed him away just for a moment to catch her breath.
Going on the offense, she made complete use of her sword range to keep him back. without his sword or runes, he was at a disadvantage. That's probably why he started spamming the runes; dozens of crest blades were dancing on the field. Lorie danced between them, her sword never resting to deflect them.
Even if she was at her best, she knew this wasn't completely to completely avoid. so if she was going to take a hit. It would be to her armor only, sense stretched to her limit, even as sweet dripped into her eyes. Couldn't stop moving, or she would lose this fight. She no longer had the space to think about past failures or try to redeem herself.
no, what mattered was the warrior before her, waving his fingers while one directed an opera. Even with only one arm, he was still incredibly dangerous and powerful. strange and unpredictable, but not without flaws.
the slight motion of his eyes, looking over her shoulders. Shaping her head around, Lorie was stunned as her body moved to block the shard of eight, wielding by the saved limb. "the fuck!"
"you cut my body, not my soul!" Sam said with a slight echo in his voice that exposed the amount of ghost power he was using. The only thing said before the blades resumed their motion. the severed arm that was still bleeding as it was swung around the blade, or maybe it was swung around by the blade.
Sam watched as Lorie slowly built up injuries, but she was still fighting. standing on her feet, one step at a time, coming closer to Sam. "AHAAH!" the raven laughed even as his lengthened hair started turning white," incredible. just incredible!" Sam could feel his self-control seriously slipping. "what strength, what will! I'd almost fear for my life. but it's clear you don't have that kind of power!"
"What are you talking about!" with a strong swing, she shattered the crescent blades, creating a gust. She did this several more times, steps coming faster as she approached him. "you can't harm a metaphysical thing. without that power, you can't kill me. You could swing that sword for as long as you like, even after my regeneration slows down to normal healing. there will never be a fatal blow!"
"it' will still fucking hurt!" she swung at his head, planning to bisect him head to groin." that's true!" saw shouted as a shard of night blocked the blade, deflecting it to the side as he kicked. Leaning her body out of the way, Lorie went with the motion. Bringing her blade back around.
Ducking under it while it swerved around and slashed at her arms. Too committed to the strike, Lorie was forced to reforced her arms with the runes in the armor. The black edge blade still cut deeply before she could pull her arms back and into a guard to lower the damage of Sam's double heel kick.
Stumbling back, she switched the flow of the mana to the healing runes in the armor. there was little more than first aid, but she'd be able to swing her sword. She could already feel her grip tweaking, blood running down her fingers and blade.' come on, just one more swing!"
"Lorie is on the back foot!" the announcer announced. "with her arms so injured she can't swing her sword, and Sam's seems to be playing with her."
"I am just a little." the partly transformed raven admitted." I really want to see what you pull off." he knew it was a bad habit; he knew he was induing in a bad desire. but he wanted it! wanted it even if she screamed and begged.
'my lord, you're drawing in your own lust. I suggest ending the battle now before the beast takes action.' Sam blinked before pouting. the thought of the beast was an excellent mood killer. If it took action and tried to control him, it would be a disaster he refused to have on his hands.
"I have to end my fun. I wish I didn't! I wish we could keep playing until our bodies and souls give out! But now the thr- no, the four- no, the five! powers merge into one!" he called on his mana! His demonic power! his ghosty power! his witches powers! his lust power! All five were power touring out and condescending at the tip of his finger.
The finger was used for dramatic effect as the five colors swirled and mixed. Giving birth to something dangerous, 'I can't let him shoot that off.,' even part of her being understood. This drew on a strength she didn't know she had left. with speed she's never used, swinging her blade with grace and power unreached until this point.
Everything coming together in the form of enlightenment, she moved, smashing through the crescent blades. Parring the shard of night. rushed at Sam, who didn't look up from the power he was preparing; Lorie moved and reached him at the same moment Sam unleashed the blast.
"midnight hour blast!"
"Stone-splitting sword!" the technique was basic, but it was strong. spitting the air as she swung. The multi-colored beam was faster, 'it doesn't hurt.' she thought, a strange numbness spreading where the beam struck her chest. 'that's a very bad thing!' she realized just before the pain and damage spread through every inch of her body.
Lorie was backing out, and from that single strike, her mind and soul shut down the body to protect itself. The body and the decades of sword training were still strong and alive. carrying through the strike until it struck the ground, Sam's blood over the metal.
"Well, I'll be." Sam commented as his decapitated head spun in the air. "god and ancients. Why couldn't we have truly enjoyed this battle? It would have been glorious. But I know such insurance isn't worth the cost."
his served arm grabbed his head and brought it back to his neck before the wound started to quickly heal over. That would be a pain; he was not doing a headless horseman thing. Then he worked to put his arm back in place. By the time both wounds were seriously healing, the medics had reached Lorie.
"any side effects of that beam, we should know!" it wasn't a question. It was a simple demand, and Sam tilted his head. "nothing for sure; no one's ever survived that trick. even before it evolved into this state. so frankly, I can only guess; you can probably deal with the physical damage, but it also attacks her spirit and soul." Sam thought of a few other problems his technique might cause.
But it was only theory, and having an expert examine her was much better; as for his own medical state, Sam walked off the edge of the area diving directly into the ocean. "okay, what the fuck was that? Send the scuba team!" a healer shouted.
Since the area was floating above the ocean, it wasn't too strange for someone to fall off and hit the ocean. most of the time, they weren't too badly injured, simply because of how strong their usual fighters were.
"Target located," the diving team said more than a dozen minutes later. "it seems he is still in good health to be moving around." in fact, he was moving around quickly. As they got closer and shined as light, they were met with the sight of bones and half-eaten kelp. "he's eating a lot... I don't like the way he's looking at us."
Glaring at the divers, Sam turned around to find more kelp or some shellfish monster. One found and tried to eat him, but Sam ate it from the inside-out shell. "Ugh," coughing a bit, he spits out the thing that was lodged in his throat. a musk pear, Sam tossed it towards the diver who was following and continued his feasting until his tattoo was big enough to spread 2/3s his chest.
Only then did he swim for the surface, "Mmm. I need to dry land; better start swimming." he turned in the direction of what he believed to be the nearest land mass. He'd reach land at some point," you can't seriously be considered just swimming hundreds if not thousands of miles towards land!?"
"ugh, yes." he'd done it before, but the looks he was being given actually kind of hurt a little, so he kept quiet as they boarded a boat copter and took him back to the floating area. Where he meets his mother in the food court. "I didn't know this place had a food court."
"Would you have jumped into the ocean if you had known?" Sam paused before shaking his head. "the red kelp was cheaper."