Tiger's Battle II

the witch got to her feet her robes were torn and shredded by the young celestial's attack

but it hadn't been strong enough to cause her physical injury

"That was quite unexpected attacking from the shadows like that," she said to him

he smirked "you haven't done battle with any of the young celestials of this generation, have you?

be warned every single celestial of this generation were trained by their masters with the sole focus

being to eliminate you however we possibly can manage to do so

any dirty tricks and minor abilities we have are allowed to be taken advantage of

as long as it causes you some kind of damage and enables us to hold our own and survive

there are a lot more tricks where that one came from up my sleeves"

"disrespectful brat! you dare to play with me!" she snarled launching a power attack at him

taekwon redirected the wave of power, sucking it through shadows and then releasing it

the power came roaring out of the shadows behind her

the witches own power wave turned back on her

she gasped in shock leaping into the air to avoid it Ziesoo chuckled

activating his ability

Sword Rain as a sigil ring activated expanding in the air above her

a thousand swords manifested from the sigil

she suddenly found herself the focus of the murderous intent of each blade as she was surrounded

swords flew at her from every direction she had no choice except to defend herself with her best martial swordplay

back on the ground Taekwon finally found their master after searching through the shadows

he was lying unconscious under some rubble from the dojo Taekwon breathed a sigh of relief

he didn't seem to be seriously injured just knocked out

the shield around the dojo had protected him somewhat

Taekwon pulled him out and into the woods using the shadows to carry him a safe distance away in the valley beyond the hill

he set a healing shield around him reaching out to the woodland creatures with his spirit asking them to help him watch over him

he returned to the hill to help Ziesoo gathering information on the ongoing battle

Ziesoo was holding his own so far Ziesoos Sword Rain was keeping the witch occupied

he emerged from a shadow at Ziesoo's back

putting a hand on his shoulder from behind

"I found master he's alive but knocked out I hid him in the valley woods

he's safe as long as the battle doesn't go in his direction"

"Thanks, Taekwon" Ziesoo breathed

"let's take this b***h down," Taekwon said

"agreed I've had enough of playing with her"

at the moment the witch used power to blast away Ziesoo sigil ring shattering it

Sword Rain vanished her murderous glare on a Ziesoo she swept towards him with a scream of rage

"stay hidden in the shadows" Ziesoo breathed before flying away

from him to cross swords with the enraged witch the pair fought the ringing clash of their swords

filled the air Ziesoo was fighting with all

his powers celestial energy bleeding from his body creating a glowing cloak of energy around his body

his tiger spirit was helping him as he fought, dealing heavy attacks on the witch

the two were a blur of movement in the air but their swords sparked and flashing in the dark

Taekwon waited for his opportunity to attack from the shadows but it was hard watching his mate

fight someone and not be by his side he knew he was being protected

but he also knew he wasn't strong enough to fight her on his own

his true ability was to be a support for his mate lending him aid using his shadow ability and stealth

Taekwon used the shadows to block her next attacks on Ziesoo once twice three times rendering them ineffective

as his shadows absorbed the power of her attacks she flew into a rage and changed tactics suddenly transforming into swirling bright red fabric the same color as her dress

her movements danced beautifully but erratically through the air making her faster and more flexible

unleashing unbelievably fast swordplay Ziesoo was now having a harder time keeping up with her speed and movements

Ziesoo summoned out about twenty clones of himself and they attacked the swirling red fabric head on

Taekwon reached into the shadows creating a barrier using them to restrict her movements as much a possible keeping the swirling red fabric entrapped within a certain area

Ziesoo used Sword Rain again and with his clones on the attack

as well with multiple swords flying all at once, this form was soon shredded and she was forced to change back to her previous human form

her body was covered in shallow cuts and her dress was shredded she was panting "you brat how dare you do this to me? I will absolutely kill you now even if there was a slim chance I would play with you and leave before there is none now"

"I wasn't counting on it" Ziesoo snarled back

"Do you think I didn't notice you?" she suddenly shot a bolt of power into the shadows Taekwon gasped and dodged it leaping into another shadow

but his movement was enough to expose his presence

"There are two of you brats here" she snarled "I'll kill the weakest one first"

"f**k!" taekwon breathed she activated a glowing red sigil ring in the air above

"you will not harm my mate" Ziesoo roared the hill shook with his wrath and transformed as his six tails appeared

her eyes widened "no one threatens my mate and lives" he roared

each of his tails began to lengthen and grow bigger he swept through the air

each tail unleashing attacks as balls of energy was fired at her one after the other

she had no choice but to engage with Ziesoo to defend her own life she had crossed his bottom line Taekwon took the opportunity to destroy her sigil ring

shooting a bolt of energy through the shadows the sigil ring itself cast on the earth below

his energy blasted out of the shadows on the ground into the air vertically slamming into the sigil ring above and it shattered

"dam you both" she screamed her sword suddenly multiplied into thousands and attacked Ziesoo

his breath came to halt as the witch managed to get Ziesoo at sword point

her blade drawn up against his Adam's apple as the battle paused

while she held him captured encircled with a binding spell at the same time

even though his fighting skills were on par with hers she had two thousand years of experience on her side

"Now it's your end brat!" she snarled "I'll disable you and then make you watch while I kill your little lover hiding in the shadows"

"don't bet on it!" Taekwon breathed armed with his own sword he attacked

aiming ambitiously for a lethal blow to end the battle once and for all

a stab through the heart from the back with his sword and using his celestial vision for accuracy

and a shadow like an invisible bow

he loaded his sword like an arrow took aim and fired

his sword flew silently out of the shadows covered in darkness it should not have been seen but the black witch was not just anyone

at the last possible moment, she caught its movement from the shadows as she shifted her body

slightly to turn her gaze to her back she glared at him but

his sword plunged into her back the blade penetrating through and out of her chest missing her heart by just two centimeters because she had moved just slightly 

she coughed spitting up blood clutching the blade as her sword fell from Ziesoo's neck as the biding spell around him disintegrated

Taekwon stepped out of the shadows and she was staring at him with a murderous glare he lifted his chin with pride

"I told you, witch, you shouldn't underestimate any of us young celestials of this generation," Ziesoo said

she backhanded Taekwon with a wave of power sending him hurling away from her

as his sword was pulled from her back violently at the same time

taekwon watched in disbelief with his vision as the blade of his sword came free from her body

the tip of his blade closed the two centimeters and left a wound on the witch's heart a thin and shallow slice

but as her heartbeat, blood leaked from the wound she was fatally wounded and she had no idea

she would slowly bleed to death

if the wound wasn't healed soon she didn't have long left to live

with a screech of frustration and anger, she clutched her wounded chest and summoned a storm cloud, and fled the battlefield

taekwon crashed to the ground his sword falling a distance away from him he lay

on the ground, for the moment catching his breath Ziesoo flew over to him his arms going around him he picked him up

"are you all right?" he asked him "that was quite a huge risk you took just now"

"I couldn't let her kill you" he coughed with a crooked smile

"We failed," Ziesoo said

"We didn't fail the witch is going to die soon" he informed him

"I aimed for her heart but I missed it at the last second cause she moved, but when she hit me my sword still cut her heart on its way out, she's mortally wounded and will die soon unless she gets healed"

"then you two should go after her" their master's voice spoke behind them

Ziesoo turned around cresting the hill was their master

"Master!" Ziesoo cried putting Taekwon down and rushing to the limping old man who

came to kneel at Taekwon's side he checked his condition

"you two did well holding her off like that, Taekwon you took a risk but it paid off you were able to mortally injure the witch

no one has been able to do that in two thousand years she's in a weakened state but still very strong go after her don't let her get the chance to heal herself

there is no telling if the next celestials she encounters on her way will be able to fight her off or not and she is most likely going to be very pissed off now that she's injured"

"Taekwon are you up for a second round?" Ziesoo asked concerned about his mate's condition

"I'm fine he replied I just need to minute to recover I hardly fought at all

you're the one who is bound to be more worn out than me"

Ziesoo you are depleted of energy I'm afraid" their master said "however I can help you"

he summoned his spirit a tiger appeared

around its neck hung from a necklace was a glowing orb filled with energy

their master touched the orb and energy poured out of it he cast it into the pair healing them both

and restoring their energy levels

Taekwon sat up now completely fine "thank you master" Ziesoo breathed bowing to him

"We won't let you down we will carry out this mission"

"go on both of you I'll inform the council of what's transpired here come back to me alive

even if you can't finish her off at least save the lives you can" their master said

"we will do our best Master" Ziesoo replied

the pair summoned a cloud and took flight Taekwon swept over the hill

casting energy out and soon found what he was looking for droplets of the

witches blood that had spilled on the grass from her wound using it to cast a tracking spell

she was fleeing back to her domain in Japan by the most direct route

now that she was injured seriously enough for her to be concerned about her own condition

she was covering distance flying as fast as her cloud could take her.