Chapter 34

I sent three blasts of magic against Vivian's way, but before they could even reach her, she put up her shield immediately. I dashed forward, planning to break her shield with my physical strength. However, she cancelled her defense and pushed forward with her sword ready to cut my neck. I brought my knees low on the ground and tackled Vivian until her back touched the floor. She kicked me upwards and I used that momentum to get off her.

In midair, I sent another blast of magic while she was still on the ground. But she was fast. Before the magic could touch her armor, she rolled quickly and stood up on her feet. I was still in midair when Vivian unleashed a bolt of magic in my way, hitting my armor. The electricity sent my whole body to almost spasm, but I dispelled the spell by imbuing myself with dark magic.

As I imbued myself with magic, Vivian was smart enough to do the same to herself as well. I charged at her, swinging my sword on one hand while using magic on my other. Vivian copied me and the battle became deadly. However, we weren't alone in this battleground.

The demons had reached us and surrounded us in no time. Before Vivian's sword and my sword could reach our necks, we both dodged our blades and focused on attacking the demons that were behind us.

"Stay away from this fight, little insects!"

"Get out of my way!"

As we both roared, we swung our blades against the horde of demons while keeping our focus on each other. Our swords did the work, using air magic to control the blade without the use of hands while we focused on attacking each other with our physical strength. We exchanged blows to one another using martial arts. Vivian was being pushed back by me, but then she imbued herself with magic, strengthening her body and physical attacks. Soon, I was the one being pushed back. I didn't give up. I kept on parrying her blows and dodging those I couldn't parry while exchanging attacks against her.

Her fist tried to reach my head, but I ducked down and caught her with an uppercut to her chin. She used the momentum of my strike and flipped backwards, her foot kicking my chin. We both gained distance against each other, turned around and focused on the demons again. Swords and magics were flying around us, light and dark dancing in the middle of the ground.

After a few minutes of dealing damage against demons, we focused on killing each other again. Despite the fatigue we were both experiencing, none of us gave up. As expected, Vivian is still strong as ever. But the only difference was that she was no longer that sharp. She used to be the sharpest in our kingdom, equal to my mother. But now, she is but a weak little warrior hiding behind the Heavenly King's powers and name.

We kept on exchanging blows. The longer we fought, the intensity of the earthquake became stronger. We both lost our balance, cancelling our explosive returns of blows. We were both on the ground but we didn't give up. While our swords were still busy dealing against demons, we used our free hands to unleash magic against each other. We both found ourselves rolling on the ground to dodge each other's attacks. But I stood up first and leaped up in the air. I summoned a huge black ball above and threw it to Vivian that was still standing. Before she could turn around and block it with her shield, the black ball struck her and it exploded in her face, sending her flying until the edge of the platform. She coughed blood, yet she showed her smirk with blood around her teeth.

"You are so focused on dealing with me, you have failed to realize your death is near you already." She said. I thought she was bluffing at first, but I felt a strong holy magic behind me. As I was about to put my shield up, her Holy Swords descended upon me, hitting and slicing me from behind until my whole back was covered with blood. I plummeted on the ground coughing out blood.

The two of us slowly stood up. I used recovery magic while she did the same. After a few seconds of resting, we resumed our fight. We showed no mercy against each other, despite protecting each other against the horde of demons. I don't want anyone to steal my prey, so I couldn't let the demons attack her from behind. Of course , she was also feeling the same way as well.

We both exchanged attacks of martial arts combined with magic. Whenever we were close to each other, we only attacked with martial arts. But whenever we gained distance far from each other, we used our magic, not letting the other person to rest.

From each corner of the tower, more demons appeared. I clicked my tongue in annoyance and summoned three huge black spheres and threw them against the incoming new horde of demons. Vivian did the same. She summoned three bright spheres and threw them as well. As our magic made contact with the new horde of incoming demons, they exploded, eliminating almost the entire wave of new demons. Black and white covered the tower like fireworks, sending demons flying to the wall or below the floors. The explosions combined with black and white colors continued for a few minutes, while we both continued our onslaught against each other.

Fatigue was clearly showing on her face. But I can't say I was different. I was getting tired too with this constant use of magic. To make it more worse, my focus was split to fighting demons, controlling my sword using air, using my raw strength against Vivian, moving around the floor, while constantly using my brain to think of a plan to finish her off.

"Why don't you just give up already, little Ashe? You are clearly tired from this fight." Vivian said amidst her pants.

I snickered at her remarks. "Thanks. But take a look at yourself, autie. You are getting old and weak. Why not rest and let me put you in a deep sleep for eternity?" I talked back.

But talking to each other made it even worse.

We retreated, gaining distance from each again. Instead of using magic, we both thought of resting for a bit before we continued. I stared hard against Vivian, watching every single move she made while she was inspecting me as well. I laughed and she also laughed too.

Funny how we went from getting tired of playing with each other… To getting tired of killing each other. The memories I had with Vivian tried to resurface, but I closed those gates and set a wall around my heart.

After a few minutes of resting. We were both feeling a little energetic. We resumed our fight, charging against each other. However, something or someone plummeted on the floor in front of us, creating a deep crater and a huge dark smoke that covered whoever or whatever dropped in front of us.

I and Vivian halted, trying to assess the situation. Is it an enemy? Is it Serpentine? Is it Kalgaron? I don't know. But my thoughts were silenced as the smoke slowly dissipated, seeing the figure that appeared in front of us.

"Having fun without me, girls?" My eyes widened, so did Vivian as we watched Nashia standing in front of us with demonic wings behind her back and sharp claws replacing her hands.

"NASHIA!" I roared in anger. Nashia looked at me with a smile on her face after seeing me.

"It's been a while, little Ashe."