Chapter 1052: Alice Vs Karya
Above the city of Elyndor, the sky had become a battlefield of exploding abilities and arcs of energy.
Behind, the giant white tower stretching towards the heavens was untouched, its surface reflecting the slashes of colour that mirrored the war raging between two combatants.
Each clash sent the clouds further apart as the blue sky was clear for all to see.
Trails of burning light and rivers of blood clashed. Void portals opening and closing in mere moments.
Yet all of it felt ignored as none of the civilians seemed perturbed by what was happening.
Radiant spears descended once more like meteor showers, each one blazing with Abyssal energy, enough to carve canyons into the landscape.
The Lord hurled the attack without hesitation, as though the destruction of the city was irrelevant to her. It felt as though she only had one goal. The annihilation of the woman fighting against her.
"Reckless b*tch!" Alice cursed, her disguise now fully torn apart. Her strands of white and black hair fluttered in the wind as her eyes darted across the battlefield.
She registered every single spear that was being launched.
Clenching her fist, she raised her hand into the air and opened her hand. A single swirling mass of Void energy spun to life as a tsunami of blood erupted around her.
It twisted through the air before condensing into tiny orbs that lingered in front of every spear and detonated with thunderous force.
Each birthing a singularity tailored to swallow the attack whole as the spears disappeared before they could destroy the city.
Taking a deep breath to calm the beating of her heart, Alice glared at the woman hovering above her. The Void portals casting an ominous purple light behind the woman while a pair of radiant eyes stared back.
Almost uncaring.
Just as Alice was about to say something, the Lord took this chance to launch a spear that Alice quickly ducked under.
The moment the spear missed, the Lord swapped places and Alice’s eyes constricted.
*BANG!!!
A single line stretching from one side of the city to another. A spear stab that couldn’t have been dodged without Vision.
Alice stared at the spear shaft just inches away from her nose. She had dodged back at the last second but had she been even a second slower...
Turning her body, she swiped up with her hand as an arc of blood shot forward.
The Lord unleashed a veil of radiant energy, pushing the blood away and creating some distance between the two of them.
"Still holding back? Do you think you have that leisure?" The Lord narrowed her eyes.
"Leisure? You’re mistaken. I was taking it slow so that I have time to analyse everything." Alice massaged her neck with a grin on her face.
While she had to admit that there were a few close calls during their exchanges, she had also been focused on something else entirely.
The replication of this Lord’s attack methods!
Analyse, understand. Refine and replicate!
And right now, her threshold of understanding had just reached a level that Alice was satisfied with.
Her sixth Sigil burned as Alice traced the woman’s fighting style.
With a wave of her hand, metal spears intertwined with blood started to appear once after another as the Lord frowned.
That familiar movement... The way she shifted her body...
It felt as though she was looking into a mirror.
And to seal the deal, Alice had perfectly replicated her spears and even the hidden traps she’s set around the place.
###
Karya took a deep breath. She knew the girl in front of her was abnormal but not to this extent.
The reaction speed of Allura in her prime. The casting capabilities of Kaden and the Sigils of Lords.
Allura had warned her not to look down on Alice but this...
This was no longer just a casual greeting. This felt like a battle to the death.
Karya had long stopped holding back, even using some of her strongest abilities yet Alice persisted.
And now, to make matters worse, somehow the girl had perfectly copied her abilities and habits. As for whether or not this included her fighting style...
She’ll find out sooner or later!
*RUMBLE!!!
Karya clasped her hands together as golden light enveloped the area.
Second Resonance!
In order to gain an advantage, she’ll bring forth her personal domain! To turn the tides of this battle, to guarantee her victory-
*CRACK!!!
"Eh?"
Kayra blinked. A deep dread rippled through her body as her eyes slowly turned up.
The personal domain she had tried to deploy just now...
Had a fracture running along its surface.
Not just one, but multiple.
However, Alice didn’t give her the chance to understand what was going on.
In a split instant, she had already appeared in front of Karya who quickly lifted her spear to parry.
Alice committed to the same motion as their spear tips collided at the exact same moment. The same motion.
Sweep into stab, stab into pommel jab followed up with a twist then kick.
Even her desperate movements were copied one for one and Karya understood that Alice must have learned her decision making and not just habits during that time.
’What a freak.’ Karya thought to herself as cold sweat dripped down her back.
Creating some distance between the two of them, Karya wanted to reestablish her control over the battle but Alcie didn’t give her the opportunity.
Behind her, a Void portal opened as blood spears shot through.
Quickly defending herself, Karya’s eyes snapped up as chains rained down from above in an attempt to restrain her.
Thinking about it for a moment, she came to a conclusion.
Right now, she needed to focus on evasion!
Discarding her spear, wings unfurled behind Karya as she dove down at breakneck speeds.
Her surroundings started to stretch to a blur but before she could get her hopes up, countless rifts opened around the airspace.
Triggered Cast!
No matter where she flew, streaks of energy would shoot out, intercepting her movements.
Forcing her to make erratic evasive manoeuvres in order to avoid capture.
Time was running out. And soon, defeat would arrive.
Narrowing her eyes, she glanced towards the tower before making up her mind.
She already knew Alice probably had the power to kill an Apostle if the conditions line up. But how would she deal with the unexpected?
As the Lord of Life, fighting was never her strong suit. And it was exactly because of that weakness did Karya improve on hand to hand combat with Allura.
But at the end of the day, her power was still classified as a ’gimmick’. And thus, she had her own methods of concluding a fight.
*BANG!!!
Flying straight up towards the sun, Karya unfolded her wings as golden threads of light filled the airspace. Alice couldn’t avoid it even if she wanted to!
Seeing the split haired girl rushing towards her with the threads now latched onto her body, Karya sighed inwardly.
Charging head on with brute force rather than thinking about what these threads could do.
Absolutely reckless behaviour.
Before she could even say anything, Alice aimed her finger and detonated a Void Flux at point blank.
*BANG!!!
Both of them were flung back as confusion could be seen on Alice’s face.
Stopping herself in the air, Karya glanced down at her wound.
Through the golden threads, the damage was being patched up at an absurd rate.
’Her vitality is insane...’
Turning her eyes back to Alice, she summoned a spear.
"What will you do now? Hurting me means hurting yourself. Can your body handle it?" Karya asked confidently.
Yet Alice’s next response shattered this confidence.
"Pft! Pftahahaha! Can my body handle it? MY body? Of course I can. If I can’t, who can? The real question you should be asking... is whether or not you’re ready for what’s to come." Alice laughed.
There was a sickening glint in her eyes that sent shivers down Karya’s spine.
A deep insanity comparable to the cultists of the Eclipse. These were eyes belonging to a mad woman who cared not about the damage done to her own body.
Unfurling a set of draconic wings behind her, Alice gathered her energy into a single orb.
Compressing it until it was no bigger than a spark, she pointed it at her own arm and fired.
*BANG!!!
"The f*ck!?" Karya cried out instinctively. She couldn’t hold it back.
The sheer confusion as to why Alice would harm herself.
"Ah~ So the damage doesn’t transfer from me to you. Only from you to me. But such an ability would have its downsides. Let’s get to figuring that out shall we?" Alice grinned, lifting up the stump of an arm.
Then, from that charred lump of flesh, bones started to regrow. After the bones came the veins, then flesh and finally skin.
Until her arm was good as new. A regeneration stronger than any Karya has seen before.
’Moon? No, it’s different. The usage of souls seems to be similar but it’s operating on something completely foreign from what the Moon does.’ Karya creased her brows.
And with this realisation, Karya froze.
She understood what Alice was about to do.
And as she feared, the split haired girl traversed the space between them in less than a second using Void Steps.
Void Flux Cleave!
A slash tore through her shoulder and the damage was reflected back to Alice.
Karya winced from the pain. Her wounds healed but the pain was still very much real. And it should’ve been the same case for Alice...
At least she hoped so.
Instead, Alice fired another slash.
Then another.
And another.
A continuous barrage of slashes without care for her own body, stressing the limits of their link until a weakness revealed itself.
In her madness of blood and laughter, Karya came to a single conclusion.
This girl is insane!
