Chapter 38- Skadi’s Embrace

Inside a private training grounds, two figures stood 10 meters apart, staring into each other's eyes. Long Ren and Yun Ning, waiting for the other to start the match.

The sun shined upon them, casting their shadows on towards the other, and as their shadows touched, Long Ren made a move.

Long Ren brought his right hand up and shot five bullets toward her. They appeared and disappeared into a portal in a matter of milliseconds.

Yun Ning saw his gesture and felt danger surround her body. She noticed the portals near his fingers for but a split second and that gave her enough clue as to what was going to happen.

She opened her ring and brought out what looks to be a katana. A blue sleek katana made out of materials unknown to Long Ren.

It radiates a chilling aura, her breadth now visible as she brought her katana up close to her head.

Barely a few moments passed when Yun Ning suddenly tilted her head towards her right, dodging two bullets, while her katana managed to deflect the other three in one swiping motion.

Long Ren whistled in surprise, his face showing an excited expression. He knew his [Spatial Bullet] is anything but perfect, however, dodging them requires a great perception of her surroundings.

Nid pointed out his flaws when she trained him. His [Spatial Bullet], though unavoidable by the naked eye, is susceptible to those with great qi control.

Those who could feel their surrounding qi moving when Long Ren opened the portal, could dodge the incoming bullet if predicted correctly.

Hence why she advised him to open his portal and redirect his bullets in ingenious ways. Don't use a straight trajectory, those are the easiest ones to avoid.

As she deflected his bullets, Yun Ning did not stay idle, she quickly stepped forwards and closed their distance. Her opponent looks to be mainly long-ranged, and closing their distance seemed vital.

Cracks begin to form wherever she stepped, her body tilts towards the ground as she arrived in front of Long Ren. Her body swerved as she swung her katana towards Long Ren's right shoulder, only to miss at the last second.

Long Ren successfully space-stepped away and shot 5 more bullets. Yun Ning felt surprised as she saw him blinking away but quickly regained her composure. She saw Long Ren 20 meters away to her right and the 5 bullets he sent out.

She looked around and noticed the five bullets coming through her right, she quickly stepped away and shouted, "Frozen Tower!"

Blocks of ice formed on her right, blocking the bullets as they passed through the portal. Yun Ning ignored the aftermath and chased after Long Ren, only to notice the lack of collision, but decided to focus on Long Ren.

Offense is sometimes the best defense.

Long Ren moved away, trying to kite her as his bullets went over the tower's sides and homed on her. He readied his stance and started preparing on using [Swift Storm's Encore].

She quickly reached him once more and swung her katana, but this time, faster. Her Katana glowed bright blue as the temperature near them dropped. Long Ren felt his movements getting sluggish.

'That's annoying.' Long Ren thought, his movements now slower by a considerable amount. The ice permeating his surroundings started to latch onto his body.

Though slower, he executed [ss encore] and dodged her strike and counterattacking, making her frown once more.

"Bye~," Long Ren said after a few exchanges. His fingers pointing upwards.

"Huh?" Yun Ning tilted her head up, only to see nothing as felt danger from her back.

*BOOM*

Explosions occurred around her as she slowly stood up. Her back, now armored with ice, blocked the bullets Long Ren homed on her.

Her legs though, not so much.

Long Ren had slipped two bullets right as she closed on him.

He sent them into a portal and waited for her to slash at him. He distracted her attention by pointing upwards while the two bullets went for her two legs.

The extra five bullets homing in on her back didn't help her much.

He concealed the two bullet's qi disturbance as much as possible, and with that many distractions he prepared for her, the bullets successfully hit their mark.

Yun Ning panted, her legs now adorned with two bullet holes.

"You're dirty." She said, her breath still puffed out smoke as her surrounding started getting colder. Frostbites appear whenever she breathes.

Long Ren chuckled. "All's fair in love and war."

Yun Ning chuckled back, "True, then I guess I can go all out," She said, her body starts radiating an even more chilling aura. Her qi surrounded her leg wound and closed them, acting as a temporary band-aid.

The surrounding arena tiles start to brittle as even they felt the cold. Her short ponytail reveals a white hue on its end. Her body now blazes as the sun's rays reach her, glowing in the afterglow of the sun.

"Don't die now…" Yun Ning said, her hands now shine and showed a blue hue, complimenting her katana's natural colors.

She dashed, utilizing the surrounding ice forming from her legs to propel her even faster, her body now blurred in Long Ren's eyes.

He readied his stance, expecting her to go melee, only to realize she didn't need to. Her sword shines brightly as she swung it towards his direction, a blue hue appeared and took off towards him.

'Is this the legendary sword intent,' Long Ren exclaimed, he never thought of her already having it!

Xing Lao claimed sword intents are only achievable after transcending above the tenth rank…guess he got bamboozled.

Although surprised, Long Ren did not stay there flustered. He moved away from the slash and threw a couple of bullets, homing toward her four limbs.

As if expecting his movement, another slash appeared as he landed on the ground, which he dodged by space-stepping away.

Yun Ning did not even dodge the five bullets, as they froze upon appearing near her, much to Long Ren's dismay.

"That's not fair." Long Ren's eyes opened wide as he saw his bullets drop down to the ground. He could not even duplicate them as they stayed encased in her ice, frozen. He needed to let it go.

"Heh, all's fair in love and war," She said, taunting him back.

She moved once again towards Long Ren. She knew his blink or whatever had a cooldown, and that little bit of timeframe is all she needed.

Her arm slashed towards Long Ren, five times to be exact, each of them producing the same five glow, aiming towards him.

She did not stop there; she closed in on their distance as much as possible,

"Skadi's Embrace," She whispered. Her feet started to glow purple as she stomped on the ground.

Cracks started forming, surrounding both of them, and Spikes of purple ice jumped out, forming a captivating battle arena.

His vision, now clouded by her spikes of ice, preventing him from space stepping out of this.

He fixed his gaze on her. Her face had morphed into something he hadn't expected from someone so gentle.

She, in all sense and definition, proved to be a battle maniac.

"Nowhere left to run~," She smiled warmly. How ironic.

~

(A/N: Probably one of my proudest chapters, ngl.

Also, look at all this time I could spend on writing chapters xD)