Purged State

In this state she was severely weakened compared to before in exchange for temporary immunity to the Hunter's power. "That's fine though because without the World's power they are relatively useless." Most Hunters largely ignored the Astral Path and mostly focused on the body strength instead. She was positive she could handle that even because in these brief few moments she was essentially a pseudo human. Spawning that familiar black flame she felt the strength difference compared to before as she threw it out.

This was the first time she had ever used this purged state in actual combat. "Seems he can't swat it away like nothing anymore." Watching the man actually struggle with it a little bit as he crushed another piece of paper she blew up her flames in his face as she rushed forwards at a speed she was no longer used to. "So slow." This state was an extension from one of her Mother's past experiments that she had adjusted over time just for this kind of moment. Bawling her small delicate hand into a fist she spread flames over it as she punched the Hunter's head on as he finally waved the flames off.

"What did you do!?"

Unable to sense any demonic energy in her body anymore he was left clueless. This was something he had never seen before from any kind of demon. "Looks like I need to resort to pure strength." Crushing another paper he pumped even more energy into his body as he strengthened himself even further as his body turned from a man's to a teenager's but his body's strength soared even more as he chose to meet her fist head on. Without the World's suppression working on her anymore they clashed head on as their fists collided at a stalemate.

"Oh, never saw something like this before? I guess you're getting too old for this."

Pushing back against his strength she heard her fingers popping as she managed to knock him back a few steps. "Even like this he seems to be strong." Her strength had probably dropped all the way down to the tenth stage which was a pretty significant drop from her previous strength. "About half or so." Which meant just his natural strength without any Astral Energy was actually on par with her. "It seems this Hunter is different from the others." Most we're definitely not this strong if her Mother's words were correct and she would never doubt those. Which meant he had trained in more than one area breaking the tradition they usually followed.

"I don't know about too old for this anymore, as you can clearly see, I'm in my prime."

Smiling he crushed another paper that released the girls in the distance from their torture as he felt the damage in his body. Shaking his hand he got rid of the slight ache before cracking his knuckles. "It's been a while since I've been like this, going to take some getting used to again." The last time was almost three hundred years ago. "That one put up one hell of a fight before dying." Bracing himself for another attack he watched as flames came his way as he jumped out of the way. His tools wouldn't do much good against that so it was best to avoid them when he could.

Studying his speed she threw another flame snake at him that flanked him and exploded them both at the same time. Watching the dust kick up the ground she heard a faint grunt of pain at her attack working as she pushed in. "His awareness of his surroundings is dull." Using that information to her advantage she rushed through the dust as flames fell all around her and snuck up behind him. She had to do as much damage as possible within a couple minutes. Playing defensively wasn't an option, if she wasn't careful enough and lost track of time she would lose her mind.

Maybe one day she would be able to extend this state but that would involve more experiments. One of her goals was to achieve the one thing her mother couldn't but that had been put behind her for a while now compared to her father. "One day mom, I'll free us of this curse." Slamming into the man's back she heard the sound of cracking bones as dust clouded her vision. Following it up she burned his skin as she injected more Astral Fire into his body and tried to burn him slowly from the inside. Unfortunately the power inside him purified it in an instant as it kicked it out of his body and back at her stronger than before.

"...!"

Watching her fire come back at her no longer in her control she panicked as tried to get out of the way but it's speed was too much for the current her. "Block it." Unable to dodge she brought her other arm back from attacking and blocked the flame from hitting her face. Feeling her skin to burn she quickly put it out as the feeling of a body left her senses. "Where did he go?" Feeling herself slipping away she looked for the Hunter in the dust but found nothing as something slammed into her stomach.

Stifling a grunt she looked down to see a fist in her gut before she felt something smack her face. "Dammit, that actually hurt." Unable to remember the last time she had felt physical pain she felt her body flinch in recoil as an unhuman growl of anger escaped her throat that she couldn't stop. "Don't get overconfident you damn insect." Latching onto the fist that hit her body she dug her fingernails into his skin refusing to let go as she set the area in front of her on fire in an instant. Compared to her physical strength her Astral Fire was still the strongest thing she had at the moment.

Sadly she didn't get to hear any screams though as the arm she was holding disappeared from her grasp without her knowledge. "To my left." Whipping her head to the left she saw a leg coming her way as she attempted to grab it. She wasn't sure how he escaped her grasp but all she could do was try again. If she figured it out she might be able to end this in one attack seeing as how desperate he seemed to be to avoid her Astral Fire every time she used it.

"A couple minutes left."

The Clock was counting down on her.