Chapter 21: UNCONSCIOUS
Sirris raised her bow, an arrow made entirely of essence forming on the string.
Swoosh.
She let the arrow loose, sending it flying toward Azrael.
Azrael lunged, his fist clenched as he punched toward it.
His fist collided with the arrow.
For a moment both forces strained against each other.
Then essence surged through Azrael’s knuckles.
He punched straight through it, reducing the arrow to mere fragments that drifted off with the wind.
Azrael did not stop.
His body shot forward.
Sirris backflipped as he closed in, narrowly avoiding his attack.
Mid air, she fired another arrow at his head.
Azrael’s head snapped to the side as he launched himself into the sky toward her.
A branch wrapped tightly around Sirris’s legs, pulling her down before Azrael’s fist could connect.
Without pause, she drew her bow again, three arrows forming on the string at once.
They tore toward Azrael, who was still airborne.
He eyed the incoming arrows with a raised brow.
He could not dodge from his current position.
But he did not panic.
A coin began to expand in front of him, essence pouring into it until it grew large enough to shield him fully.
The arrows smashed into the coin and broke apart from the impact.
The coin shrank instantly, shooting toward Sirris’s head in the same motion.
A branch swept it aside, sending it crashing into the barrier.
A crack formed at the point of impact, too small for either of them to notice.
Azrael landed, lunging forward before his second foot even touched the ground.
The earth beneath him cracked from the force.
Sirris was already prepared.
Branches sprouted through the space, all of them lashing toward Azrael at once.
The first aimed for his head, drilling through the air at incredible speed.
Azrael sidestepped, narrowly avoiding it.
He somersaulted past another branch.
Swoosh.
Five arrows were already in motion, ripping through the air as they closed in.
They passed through his body as though he had never been standing there at all.
Azrael landed on the floor with a soft thud.
They locked eyes for a moment.
Then Sirris moved.
Wood coiled to life beside her, forming five wooden men, each gripping a sword.
A large tree grew beneath her, carrying her high enough to vanish from Azrael’s sight.
Around the entire space, trees began sprouting from the earth.
In under a second, the whole arena had transformed into a forest dense with plants and trees.
Azrael sidestepped.
An arrow pierced through the space he had occupied a breath earlier.
Then another. Then another.
They came from several directions at once.
Azrael did not move from his spot, yet he dodged every single one perfectly.
The wooden men lunged.
Azrael met them, his fist smashing through the head of one before sidestepping.
A sword cut a line through the air beside him.
His leg drove into the attacker’s chest.
The wood splintered, fragments scattering through the air.
He pulled back, ducking beneath another horizontal slash aimed at his neck.
A golden line tore through the air, clean and precise.
The remaining three wooden men were sliced into hundreds of tiny pieces as the coin cut through them.
Azrael lunged, briefly moving through the air at a speed that blurred his form.
He landed on the branch of one of the trees, then began to climb.
An arrow tore toward his arm.
Azrael caught sight of it.
His essence flared and a dark mote formed at that point, expanding rapidly before sucking the arrow in.
Not just the arrow. The surrounding branches were pulled in too, shredded before they could fully enter.
Azrael leapt up, landing on the highest branch.
From there he spotted Sirris on another tree some distance away.
They locked eyes before Sirris drew her bow again.
This time a wooden arrow formed on the string.
"Let’s go ranged then," Azrael said, straightening his posture as he dipped both hands into his pockets.
Sirris frowned at the sudden shift but did not hesitate.
She let the arrow fly.
A sharp golden line tore through it before it could even leave the string.
The coin was faster than Sirris could track.
Her eyes widened as she stared at Azrael.
His expression remained calm, as if the strike had nothing to do with him.
’Why does he look like that?’ Sirris wondered.
She regained her composure quickly, dismissing her bow entirely.
The tree beneath Azrael shuddered and collapsed in on itself as Sirris pulled it back.
Azrael plummeted, finding no foothold to catch himself.
But he remained calm.
His hands stayed in his pockets even as he landed.
Sirris was already above him, her dagger driving toward his chest.
"Switching to close combat?" Azrael asked, catching the blade with his bare palm.
It could not even graze his essence coated skin.
Azrael twisted, his left leg smashing into Sirris’s head.
She was sent flying, her body crashing into the barrier.
A ripple swept through it on impact.
She spat blood from her mouth.
Azrael looked at her, narrowing his eyes.
"Is she alive?" He muttered.
Sirris’s eyes were shut.
Her chest had stopped moving.
Azrael began walking toward her with slow, cautious steps.
Boom.
Her body exploded, flames spiralling outward.
Azrael’s eyes widened as he conjured a black hole that sucked in every flame that drew near him.
He peered into the heart of the explosion.
From within the flames, Sirris rose again, unscathed.
"All kinds of crazy skills here," Azrael muttered as the flames receded.
The black hole shrank into a small mote, which he flicked toward her.
Space groaned as the singularity tore through it.
Sirris steadied herself, ducking beneath the attack.
Then she lunged.
From her previous position, two wooden men formed, each gripping a bow and a quiver of wooden arrows.
Essence flared along her dagger’s edge as she thrust it toward Azrael’s neck.
Azrael’s head snapped to the side, narrowly avoiding it.
His fist burst forward, smashing into Sirris’s stomach.
Her body folded inward as the air was forced from her lungs.
Creak.
Two arrows struck Azrael’s knee, embedding themselves in his flesh.
Before he could register it, they began expanding rapidly.
His leg burst apart from the force.
Before the fragments could even scatter, his leg regrew.
The wooden men had already vanished, their source of essence knocked unconscious.
