Chapter 696: Chapter 696: Don’t Have Any Time to Waste
Point-of-View: Kavi Intrix
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"Don’t freeze up, get yourself into the habit of staying on the move while under pressure. Try not to panic," I instructed, as I unleashed a barrage of fire blasts at Alkimia, adding as she frantically raced across the space to evade my attacks, "Remember, you’re immune to Elemental attacks, so my flames will have no effect on you!"
I’m using Spirit Fusion with my Devil Spirit, who I’ve named Gabriel. Huh, I wonder if one of the two remaining Angels could possibly also be named Gabriel?
On another note, I have to say, I really like the way I look while using this particular Spirit Fusion. My skin is fully white, like a sheet of paper, except for my forearms and my legs from my knees onwards, which are pitch-black.
My hair’s turned silver, and my eyes are fully black, plus I’ve got a third eye on my forehead. It took some getting used to the expansion in the range of my vision, but now that I am used to it, it always feels a bit disconcerting when I revert back to having just two eyes.
I’ve also got a pair of backward-curved black horns, a long, wiry, whip-like tail, and sharp fangs and claws.
"E-Easy for you to say! Even if I won’t get burned, it’ll still hurt like hell with the amount of force you’re packing behind these blasts!" She exclaimed, before chanting as she took aim at me with her staff, "<N₂, Liquid Nitrogen>!"
"<Spirit Art: Anti-Magic>," I swiftly chanted, a sphere of white energy that had a black outline around it forming as I raised my right hand.
As I fired the sphere, I erased her attack, before unleashing another Anti-Magic blast as she fired out another attack, wiping it out before it could reach me.
"Come on, take it easy! Unlike most of you guys, I can’t heal myself or regenerate!" Exclaimed Alkimia, as I fired out a barrage of fire arrows at her.
"I mean, minor wounds like shallow cuts and scratches heal fast, with your heightened physical prowess. And you’re doing great, my attacks are barely grazing you now! Keep it up, I’ll ramp things up once you’re able to evade this level of intensity!" I called out, her face turning pale as she continued to rush around to avoid my attacks.
This is going well, she’s learning and adapting quickly. Still a lot of room for improvement, of course, but her movements are definitely getting sharper.
"Damn it...<H₂O, Water>!"
A massive cloud of steam erupted around her as she swung her staff across, obscuring her from my line of sight...I see, so she can choose which state to create water in; solid, liquid or gas. Which means, she can probably adjust the temperature of whatever she creates too.
Well, I’m not exactly a chemistry expert...I think I was okay at it in school, but I’m not a hundred percent sure. Between both my lives, it’s probably been over a century since my school days. Damn...way to make myself feel old.
Hm?
Suddenly, a wide spray of liquid came shooting out of the steam cloud towards me with immense speed. That’s probably some kind of acid...I get it, she fired it in a spray so that I won’t be able to cancel out all of it with an Anti-Magic blast.
However...
"<Spirit Art: Anti-Magic Field>."
The liquid splatter disappeared as I cast a barrier of Magic nullifying energy around myself, not so much as a single drop hitting me.
"Damn it...," Muttered Alkimia, taking a seat on the floor as the steam dissipated.
Huh, okay, guess we’re taking a break. Well, to be fair, I’ve been running her ragged for a fair amount of time without giving her a moment’s respite, so I suppose she’s earned some time to rest up.
"Come on, you’ve used Appraisal on me, haven’t you? You should’ve seen that coming," I pointed out, as I descended back down, deactivating my Spirit Fusion as I landed.
"Yeah, I guess so...but that Anti-Magic power is just unfair. All my attacks are pointless, since I can’t fight at close-range. I mean, I guess I could’ve tried to bash you with Caduceus, except for the small detail that I can’t fly," She sighed wistfully, before tilting her head back and pouring some water into her mouth.
"Hm, I suppose you’ve got a point, maybe I should’ve opted for a different Spirit. Although, you weren’t really faring that much better when I was attacking you in my normal form," I replied with a wry smile.
"Fair enough. I’m sorry, I wish I could do better than I am, but I just can’t seem to get my body to move the way I want it to. And keeping my cool in the heat of the moment is a hell of a lot easier said than done," She responded, taking off her glasses and pushing her hair back as she stared up at the ceiling.
"Oh, there’s nothing to apologize for. It’d be unreasonable to expect any drastic changes overnight, you’re actually progressing pretty well. Though, in hindsight, maybe we should’ve trained you at this level of intensity during those two months.
I guess we took the time dilation for granted, and we opted to train you and Leto at a more steady, careful pace...though, in our defense, we had no way of knowing that the Gods would restrict the time dilation the way they did," I frowned in reply.
"Yeah...after our fight against Baraqiel, I am regretting not training harder when I had the chance. Alright. Let’s get back to it, we don’t have any time to waste," She declared, before stumbling as she got back onto her feet, her knees wobbling.
"Well, I think we can spare ten to fifteen minutes or so. Sit back down, focus on resting and recovering some energy. We can pick up where we left off after that."
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