Chapter 16 (snow)

After looking for Skylar for some minutes in this vast snowy landscape I find her sitting on a rock playing with a dagger made out of sharp rock.

She is still alive and it doesn't seem like she found it difficult to survive more than a week in this place alone.

Her long silver hair is packed into a bun and all her attention is fixed on the dagger that she doesn't know that I was standing in front of her.

"I'm leaving this place," I scan her and it looks like she won't agree to go back with me easily, "do you want to tag along?" I ask her but she remains silent and keeps on playing with her cruelly shaped dagger.

"You survived for more than a week, but are you sure you can survive here longer than that?" I raise my eyebrow. This place has no human residence, the only human resident is a few kilometres away from her, if she stays behind she is going to die from the terrible weather.

Still no reply.

I am frustrated by her snobbish attitude and I begin to lose my patience. I turn around to leave, I don't care who she is or why my subconscious wants me to go back with her, I am leaving without her.

As soon as my back faces her, she gets on her feet and dashes towards me with the speed of light with the dagger in her hands. I dodge by turning sideways and her dagger misses me by a hair's breadth.

What is that speed?

"Looks like someone has been training for a while."

She is stronger than the last time I saw her, her speed has increased and I'm sure that her strength has increased. It will not be as easy as before to defeat her like last time.

"I'm going to kill you this time." She says through her teeth and changes the position of her hand. She steps on the floor and draws her hands backwards, aiming for my head.

I crouch low and she misses me again. That was very close, I could feel the dagger missing my head only by a few inches.

I kicked her on her ankle and she staggers. I rush to her and hold the hand she is using to hold the stone dagger and I face it upwards. Then I hold her other hand and put my leg in between her legs.

I lift her into the air and throw her to a pine tree. She lands on it and the snow and ice on the tree's leaves fall on her.

She stands up with her face lowered and then an impish grin crawls to her face, "I guess someone has been training." She repeats my words and this makes me smile out of both excitement and curiosity. This can be a great opportunity to test how strong I have become, and all the skills I have learnt, I can test them here.

I chuckle wickedly and use my palm to cover a part of my face.

"Bring it on!" I let out, spreading my arms into the air and excitement coursed through my body.

Skyler frowns and comes after me the second time. She swings her arm and I don't dodge this time but I block it. Since I am holding her hands she jumps into the air with the speed of a bullet and kicks me on my face.

I stagger backwards. I begin to feel the metallic taste of blood in my mouth. I spit out blood and my grin got wider.

She rushes after me and I use my imaginative power to create a huge block of ice in front of me but she slices it into half like it is baked bread.

She is strong and fast if I am not careful I might lose my head. The thought of me getting decapitated by a girl is just so sickening.

I have to win.

I make more ice blocks, blocking her paths, but she slices through all of them easily. Her movements are so smooth, they are in rhythm with her body, and the way she handles the stone dagger is breathtaking. It looks like she is dancing.

She is in front of me, she swings her arm and I bend low. She cut the pine tree behind me in half and I gulp.

The fact that she is using a dagger made out of stone to do this made me baffled. I realise that the last time we fought she wasn't at her fullest, if she was I shouldn't have defeated her so easily.

I am sitting on the floor, and she steps on the ground to support her fast-moving body. She turns to me and swings her arm again. The dagger is going to my crotch area and I spread my legs on the snowy ground. The dagger misses me by an inch and hits the ground

That should have been by d!ck!

If I reacted a bit slower, I would have become impotent for life.

I get on my feet quickly and before she can straighten herself, I place my hands on the ground and use both of my legs to push her backwards.

She flies backwards landing on a large stone, breaking it into two.

I turn the dagger to water with my imaginative powers so that she won't be able to use it again.

I get on my feet and I rake my hair with my fingers. Now the dagger is gone I can't fear that she will slice me in half.

"Now we are even." I intone with a smirk plastered on my face.

She grits her teeth and runs towards me. I turn all the snow in the area apart from where I am standing into a lake and she falls into the water.

I have realised something about my ability when I am in an environment that favours the condition I want it's easier for me to accomplish and I expend less XO. It will be harder and I will use more XO if I turn here into an active volcano because the environment here is cold and snowy. The more favourable the environment I am in is to the condition I want, the easier for me to use my ability.

A part of the lake starts to bubble and before I know it, Skylar jumps out of it.

I make tentacles out of water and use them to attack her while she is in mid-air. She dodges all of them and heads towards me. I create a huge wall of ice in front of me and she punches it, and it breaks. The impact from the punch made me fly backwards.

She is not only good at using weapons but she has crazy brute strength. I remember how she destroyed the bridge back in the city with just a punch.

Who is she?

Is she a disciple of Hermedox?

Shit.

I have to think of something fast unless she will beat the crap out of me.

I land on my feet and I turn the lack back to snow. One thing I know for sure is that I have gotten better in my ability before I could not keep an object changed for a long time but now I can do it as long as I want.

This time instead of her charging towards me, I am the one who charges towards her. I punch her and she blocks it. She tries kicking me but I block it.

"Who are you?" I try to engage her in a discussion so that I can get some information from her. "Why are..."

Her fist lands on my face and I stagger backwards. Screw my subconscious, it is the one that's making me go through all this, I wanted to leave without her but it won't let me, and now I am getting beaten because of it.

She kicks me in my face and I spit out blood. My vision blurs and my legs feel heavy.

Her blows are heavy and as the second passes by they become harder to dodge and carry more weight.

Will I be able to win this fight?

It is obvious that she is skilled and has more fighting experience than I am. I am supposed to be very strong with my power, but she can see through it, no matter what I think she always does something to deter it.

"I won't let you win," I raise my voice, there is no way I can let myself get defeated by a girl, I must win this battle.

I make giant flames of fire engulf the whole area but that doesn't stop her, she keeps coming to me with great speed. When she is an inch away from me, I put out the fire and tons of steam and smoke cover the whole area.

This place is filled with water moisture so I made the fire heat up all the water drops here. The boiling water will produce steam and the flames of the fire will produce smoke. If this place is covered with both steam and smoke, Skyler won't be able to see me and then I'll use this opportunity to land an attack on her.

I take in a deep breath and position my body in a fighting stance. Now is the perfect time to use the Zoa stances, the Zoa stances enable its user to be almost invincible if they master it well.

Let me see how she'll react and whether she'll be able to stop me.

I hear footsteps and a sly smirk makes my lips part.

As expected she will still come for me even if the whole area is covered with both steam and smoke.

"Stance 1; Silence." I slowly close my eyes and concentrate on the direction of her footsteps. She is getting closer with each passing second, and my curiosity grows. When she is a few meters away from me, I step on the ground and change my position.

"Stance 4, rage." I stop and I begin to breathe heavily, droplets of sweat begin to form on my face.

The steam slowly clears and I see Skyler standing in front of me, my hand only a few inches away from her.

She stopped.

"How did you know that stance?" She asks with her eyes in shock. She narrows her eyes, "Now I know you're him."

What does she mean by that?

I want to ask her but then I feel this sharp pain in my head.

I crouch low and I clasp my hair with my hands as I begin to have strange visions. And in a glimpse, I see Skylar standing in front of me with tears in her eyes, she is saying something but I can't hear her, the ringing sound in my ear prevents me from hearing anything.

Why is this happening now?

Why does she feel familiar?