Chapter 56 : A bout (3)

Embra P.O.V

The first round with Goddess Algadore is over and now, she is preparing for the second round. Well, should I say, as expected of gods? Goddess Gaia alone can freeze the time of this whole world for eternity? This is insane, Oi.

Maybe I should travel to Japan and kill Muz*n while the time is stopped? *teehee*

*Oops*

What the -

I was distracted for a moment and before I realize it, Goddess Algadore has already healed her wounds. And, the fighting spirit she is letting out, this is no joke, Oi.

Hm? Her fingers... It is turning black while elongating.

I stand in awe while looking at the changes in Goddess Algadore, the goddess of the dragon. Her normal human fingers are now elongated with a black claw at the tips. A pair of golden wings have come out from her back too. Her form in front of me is the same as the form I saw in Goddess lashili's palace before I was reincarnated. With her wings fully unfurled, she takes a lower stance.

It was a Tai chi stance I think? I am not good at remembering names but, I am sure that stance is one of the tai chi stances. Her left hand is placed at the front while her right hand is behind her back. Her legs are also so far apart with each other that she looks like she was about to sprint.

Oi.Oi. If she sprints with that low stance while flapping her wings, her speed would be at least five times than before, isn't it? *sigh* I really would have died if not because of my advanced Observation Haki that can see five seconds into the future.

Well, I didn't actively use haki in the previous battle because a moment of distraction would result in my death. So, I am only leaving it in passive mode so that it can show me the 5-second into the future when I will be in danger. My haki did not warn me once in the previous fight. But, for now, seeing that she is quite serious, let's get serious too.

I take out several daggers, swords, and kunais to place them near me and a pouch of the shuriken from the inventory to strap them at my waist. The ground, no, floor of this separate dimension that Keinnayi created cannot be destroyed so, I have to lay the weapons down instead of striking them on the floor.

"...What are you doing, taking out weapons and laying them around? There is no pattern in laying the weapons too? What is that, a technique?" (Algadore)

"Oya. You curious? Don't worry. You will see it soon enough. This is a fighting style I created. Fighting style against someone stronger than me." (Embra)

"Fighting style created solely for stronger opponents? What is that? You said, you created it yourself, Embra?" (Algadore)

"Yep. I called it Mugetsu no Mai. Moonless dance." (Embra)

"Mugetsu no mai... I am looking forward to it." (Algadore)

Algadore smiles fearlessly still in the stance that seems unmovable. But, while I am placing the daggers and kunais around, Keinnayi shouted from the audience seat. Oh right. If she is seeing my fights with Eve, she might have seen it too, right? After all, I get this idea from my fight with Sethar in ... Iraq, I think. That night when I tried to assassinate the Valkyrie.

Since then, I have been developing this dance in my spare time and I have been training this since year-one in this world too. *smile* I am getting excited to try it on a different opponent than Eve for the first time.

"Al ! Be careful." (Keinnayi)

"Hm? Even you are telling me to be careful? ... Alright. I will not let my guard down." (Algadore)

It seems Algadore takes the advice of her friend seriously because her 'eyes' which seems closed are focused on me. Alright. Let's start this, shall we? I take out another katana from the inventory and held it in my left hand.

"Embra. This time, you make the first move." (Algadore)

"Alright..." (Embra)

How can I say no to such a good offer? I take a deep breath and let it out while trying to focus on this battle alone. I coat both of my katanas in haki in preparation for the first move.

"Then, Here I come." (Embra)

I throw the katana in my left hand, aiming straight at her chest. Following that, I also throw two shurikens in a straight light with the sword, so that they are in the blind spot. I have already turned my fingers into hand sign for the 'shadow clone shuriken jutsu' but, before I do anything, Algadore voice can be heard,

"This won't work twice, Embra." (Algadore)

She does a straight punch with her right hand that was placed behind her back and together with her punch, a wave, no, an air cannon come out that throw out all the weapons I threw at her into different directions.

Oi.Oi. I have been thinking that for a while now but, is her CQC skill as high as Sethar too? Well, they are goddesses so, their skill levels are also 'god' level?

!!Ding!!

My haki reacted while I was thinking and show me the future of Algadore coming near me to drop an Axe kick. *smile* Let's give the goddess of the dragon a taste of my dance.

Changed P.O.V

On the sideline where the audience members are sitting, Goddess Gaia asks her niece who warned about Embra's 'moonless dance' to Algadore while watching Embra taking a deep breath for the battle. Keinnayi has already put up a vacuum wall between the fighting area and the audience seats. So, their voice does not leak out.

"Keinnayi, is his fighting style that dangerous that thou have to warn Algadore who has higher combat skill level?" (Gaia)

"Dangerous? It is but, well, how should I explain it, um..." (Keinnayi)

"Goddess Gaia, Embra's 'Moonless dance' is not dangerous. It is lethal. It truly is a fighting style created solely for stronger opponents. To defeat his dance, one must crush it with absolute strength. After seeing his dance for a number of times, that is the conclusion I have reached. Warning that girl was not an excessive measure.

It is because, even though that girl possesses a higher skill level than Embra, if she underestimates him like the first fight, she would lose her head. Well, even without the warning, she looks quite serious, too. But, it will not hurt to be more cautious against that dance. More so because she now has the body with the same strength as Embra." (Lashili)

Goddess Lashili explains Embra's dance in the stead of Keinnayi and that makes Goddess Gaia raise an eyebrow. Looking back to the two fighters, Goddess Gaia sees that Embra's first attack failed and Algadore preparing to approach Embra. An exciting voice can be heard beside Goddess Gaia,

"Oh? He is going to use that dance now, great Aunt." (Keinnayi)

Including Goddess Gaia, all the audience goddesses focused their attention on Embra who closes his eyes after breathing out a long breath. Algadore appears in front of Embra in less than a second and attack with a left Axe kick to Embra, who then disappear after crouching down.

Embra reappears again behind Algadore and attacks her right ankle, that is now supporting Algadore's whole body weight because her left leg is still in the air. Algadore sidesteps to dodge the attack aiming at her ankle even though she was surprised for a moment. Embra trusted forward hiding his hands behind his back and attack Algadore with a Tanto.

"A dagger?" (Gaia)

Goddess Gaia is also surprised for a moment to see Embra is now holding a different weapon and aiming for Algadore's wings. Algadore attack with a hand chop aiming for Embra's hand to parry away his Tanto but, as soon as her hand touch Embra's wrist, Embra disappear from her view and appear behind her back with a slash aiming at her neck. In his hands that are aiming for Algadore's neck is a katana, not a Tanto.

"Ah. So, he changed the weapons with that mark. The mark seems to contain a bit of space power." (Gaia)

Goddess Gaia mutters, seeing the 'Y' symbol on Embra's Tanto and sword. She has already seen through Embra's 'Hiraishin no Jutsu' and Keinnayi who is beside her nods while explaining in detail.

"That's right, Great aunt. All of his weapons are marked by the mark and during the 'moonless dance', he changes it freely. There is no pattern to his weapons changing so, it is quite hard to predict which weapon he will change into next. Normally, that technique is supposed to enable Embra to teleport to the marked place but, he modified the technique so that now, the marked objects can be changed.

And, his moonless dance heavily relies on that weapon changing. He himself is also changing into marked places so, the opponent cannot predict his movements. He also changes places while doing an attack just to attack another place with a different weapon. That's why, the dance is ..." (Keinnayi)

"I see. That's why it is lethal, huh? Without good instinct and an abundance of fighting experience, a normal person would have already lost the fight. So, that's where moonless come from. Under a moonless night, if he were to attack an opponent with black clothing and a myriad of different weapons, it would be quite lethal. It really deserves to be called a fighting style for the stronger opponent." (Gaia)

As wise as she is, Goddess Gaia has already seen through Embra's technique and thought about the situation where his technique would shine most. Goddess Lashili in an agreement with Goddess Gaia and even add a few more things.

"I am in agreement, Goddess Gaia. In the original moonless dance, he uses a long black cloth like a shawl to obstruct the opponent's vision while hiding his presence. But, he seems to not be using both of them. It is a good choice because that Algadore girl is not using her physical vision." (Lashili)

Embra's technique is even acknowledged by the goddesses and the audience members continue to exchange their ideas on Embra's dance.

Meanwhile, Algadore is dealing with Embra who is now dual-wielding two katanas. There are already a few shallow wounds on her body that are bleeding a little. Algadore is having a hard time against Embra whose attacks are completely unpredictable.

'What am I dealing with right now? Is he really a mortal? His position changes every time and his weapons and fighting style changes every time too. And, when it looks like I was about to let him land an attack on me so that I can hit him, he would disappear and attack me from another place with a different weapon. And, if I use my wings to turn this into an aerial fight, he would drag me with strings, too. I am glad, he is only using five weapons. If he uses more variety of weapons, I would be fatally injured by now.' (Algadore's thought)

Algadore is correct because Embra is using five different kinds of swords that are varied in length: Katana, Tachi, Tanto, Wakizashi and Tsurugi. Except for Tsurugi which is double-edged, every sword is single-edges but, when Embra dual-wield them sometimes, it was quite hard for Algadore to deal with. It is especially hard for her now because she has the same strength, same speed, and same instinct as Embra.

Algadore could not take the fight into the air either because of Embra's hidden strings that drag her leg every time she tries to do. Thinking that she no longer have a choice, Algadore uses high-level martial art even though her energy levels are now left '320'.

Algadore flaps her wings at an incredible speed just to create a shock wave. Moreover, Algadore put her hands together and further makes the shock wave stronger.

"Exploding star: Kushini " (Algadore)

An extraordinary force explodes out of Algadore's body and Embra is sent flying while all the weapons laying on the floor are also sent away from the explosive force. Algadore's stand firm not to collapse from exhaustion of using high-level martial art with a weak body and energy reverse. Algadore glance at Embra who is still in the midair and ready her claws to finish Embra off but, before she does, she saw electric arc dancing in her vicinity.

Her instinct alert and Algadore quickly put back her wings to dodge an incoming attack from behind but, along with her right arm, the right side of her back is assaulted with many weapons coated in lightning. The lightning numbs her for a second but, that is all Embra needed to put his sword at her throat.

What Embra used is a technique he created called 'Static Strings Jutsu: Magnetic Ring'. Embra draw a ring with his hand and all the weapons that has iron in it are pulled towards the ring. That's why various weapons that littered around in the air from the shockwave all flew towards Algadore's back at the speed she could not avoided.

Algadore smiles and laughs out loud. She sits down on the floor completely and from the bottom of her heart, she admitted,

"I- ... It is my loss." (Algadore)