The Change of Tide (3)

Change of plan, she stands up from her previous posture, which is a sprinter on a 'set' position. 

This is due to the opponent she was fighting gone from her sight.

Yes, although it is stated that her eyes could keep up with her opponent's movements, the shadow warrior always disappeared the moment her eyes catch sight of it. 

She could only see after images instead of where exactly the shadow warrior is.

Her posture right now is bent forward a little and she equip herself with two futuristic revolvers. It's light and powerful, suited for fighting with close ranged enemies.

Her eyes always glance to the surroundings while her aura scan is in maximum mode. Which allows it to detect anything even as small as a microscopic size.

With such an overpowered detection technique, you can say that Kino is cheating but against an ancient curse. What's more, a shadow warrior coming out of it, every trick is necessary.

After a few seconds of brief silence, Kino picks something from where she stands. It was coming from beneath her to be exact.

Most people would jump when they knew that there's a danger beneath them, she didn't, instead, with her right hand. She aimed the revolver to a very small black pond right below her feet and shot it a few times.

The pond then starts acting wild, it makes a wild ripples before making some distance from Kino and after that, the shadow figure rises from the pond.

Without giving it a chance to rest, Kino moved forward and her speed was so fast that she made a deafening sound that was similar to a sonic boom.

The shadow warrior didn't flinch and swung its two meters Katana to Kino's neck and when the sword was about to separate the head from her body, its opponent suddenly lowered its head.

A second late would send Kino to the afterlife, the Katana passed her head and a very small amount of her hair was slashed by it before finally flying away.

Didn't pay heed to that and only focused her next attack, as her petite body is closing in to the shadow warrior's body. She uses the chance and raises both guns towards it. 

The revolver on her right hand is aimed at its abdomen while the left one aimed at its chest.

Before she shoots however, she activates a skill for the revolver.

"System. Enhance Firepower, activate."

[Activate success.]

The shadow warrior was about to dodged the attack but somehow, its body is heavy and won't listen to its command. It was like something shackled its movement.

Bam bam.

Two shots simultaneously and due to that, the shadow warrior's body flew to the sky. 

The bullets left two huge holes on its abdomen and chest. They even came out from the other side and then continued to fly up straight to the sky.

Instead of falling, it came back just like there's glue in its body and a few breaths later, the shadow warrior rolled for a few times before finally standing up. 

Kino quickly leaped forward and shot the shadow warrior for a few times before their distance was as close as last time.

Kino indeed had a plan to fight the shadow warrior in distance but she didn't say it had to be a long distance! It could be a safe distance, which could also mean long or short.

It depends on the tide of the battle really, if she was in a disadvantaged situation, she would keep a long distance and if she was in an advantaged situation, she would keep fighting in short distance.

With her aura energy circulated faster than usual, she's confident that she would win. Though, it doesn't mean she isn't serious and underestimates the shadow warrior.

The latter's body then regenerates back at a quick rate and after that, Kino is about a meter from the shadow warrior and aimed its head with her revolvers.

The shadow warrior whose speed is faster than missiles quickly dodged the upcoming attack by tilting its head to the side and with that, two bullets passed.

If it was a second late, the shadow figure would be a headless warrior.

Kino who ran out of bullets quickly retreated but the shadow warrior seems to notice this, therefore. Had the chance, it swung its Katana to Kino's body with the intention to slash it in half.

Kino quickly grabbed something from her pocket, it was that ball that can exude thick and white smoke. 

It is true that the smoke can't be stopped from exuding but she could slow it down. To make it easy to understand, just imagine the ball as a bucket and the smoke as water.

The bucket had a small hole and Kino used her finger to cover it but the water is still leaking out through the small gap from her finger.

The reason as to why the ball is still in her pocket was because Kino thought that it would be a waste if she threw it away so she covered the leaking part with her aura and put it into her pocket. 

She does it while having a short conversation with the Elder earlier.

Had an aura that could be changed into anything must be very convenient, what an overpowered power indeed.

With her aura that was covering the ball is removed, the smoke bursts out from the ball and Kino's figure was disappeared from the shadow warrior's sight.

With this, the shadow warrior quickly searched for her trace but there's nothing.

Vain, it then uses its ability to detect an enemy or in this case, searching for one. Though, it didn't expect that it wouldn't find anything…

Its ability to detect an enemy is very different from anything else, it could trace even from the smallest details but within this white smoke, it couldn't pick up anything!

Whether her smell, aura, breath, heartbeat, steps, and even little movements. It couldn't find it! When that happened, the shadow warrior raised its guard up and gripped tightly the handle of the sharp Katana with its right hand.

It also didn't move a single muscle, it only stands there just like a statue or maybe just like a predator waiting for its prey?

Kino who just escaped from a dangerous situation immediately reloads her revolvers and drinks a stamina recovery potion. Her stamina bar slightly increased and she nodded in satisfaction with the sight, she then said to herself.

"The smoke would only last for only a few minutes, during this time, anything from outside wouldn't know what's happening inside. "

In conclusion, anything inside the smoke is like a room that can't be accessed with any kinds of technology. 

This was a good thing considering the shadow warrior is connected with the black ball.

Which allows them to communicate and it was like a 2v1 situation instead of 1v1. Inside the smoke however, 1v1 situation is what she needed.

Although she could still win fighting with the shadow warrior without using the smoke, she's in a hurry and had no time to waste.

That's right, even without using the smoke, she could easily get away from that dangerous situation either by leap backward or block the attack with her aura energy.