Chapter 1027 Clash of Wills part 2
Ais didn't know for how long, but after some time, she was able to regain consciousness. And while her head was still a mess, light entered her eyes, and saw the outside world for the first time. But this wasn't at all good news to Ais since she immediately found out that her body was trying to move on its own despite being enclosed in a block of ice.
The first thing that Ais saw was the state of her arms which were obviously not hers anymore and that made her realize that she had already lost and the worst scenario came true. And knowing how dangerous she was right now, she panicked and despaired when she saw that Lysa was approaching her. But when she saw who was beside her, she immediately pleaded while she could, "...P-please... Kill... Me... I... Can't..."
She couldn't hear what everyone was saying but it looked like Serafall was smiling and everyone else was admonishing her. However, she couldn't care about any of that now because Lysa is still approaching her, "...N-no... Don't come!!!"
Immediately after that, Ais' consciousness sank back into the darkness.
Strangely enough, however, the 'dirty' darkness seemed to have escaped from her and was replaced by a different kind of darkness. A kind that gave a regal and majestic feeling, totally different from the darkness just before that was slowly gnawing away at her mind.
Before she noticed it, Ais was standing in the darkness again, but this time, there was an extra person watching from afar and she was someone familiar to Ais, "Ophis?"
However, 'Ophis' ignored her and just blankly stared at one point in the darkness. Ais followed her sight and saw the Black Dragon growling and gritting its teeth at Ophis from some distance away from her. Ais didn't notice it, but her rapier instantly materialized the moment she thought about it. She gathered her Magic Power and Ki to prepare for the inevitable clash.
Ais waited for the Black Dragon to move but even a few minutes later, it refused to even step forward from its spot. She, however, noticed that not all of its attention was on her, but on 'Ophis' instead and she could see fear and apprehension within its formerly arrogant and madness-filled eyes.
Ais turned her sights back to Ophis and the latter was now staring at her using the same expression she had when she's looking at the Black Dragon, indifference, 'What does she want?' Ais didn't know what she's doing here or how she came here, but the most important thing to figure out was what her intentions are.
Deep in thought, Ais started second guessing Ophis' intentions but it was also at this moment that she felt a threat coming towards her fast, "!?"
Ais hurriedly turned and lowered her body to block the incoming claw with her rapier. Nonetheless, due to the element of surprise, Ais was sent flying away and almost dislocated her arm, "Guhh!!!"
She stabilized herself right away using her wind and performed a counterattack. Unfortunately for Ais, the Black Dragon wasn't playing around anymore with its life on the line and roared, releasing a massive amount of black wind that formed a horizontal tornado of nearly invisible blades.
Ais was taken aback and also used her own wind to block but she was no match for it and got engulfed within the wind blades.
Her clothes and armor were instantly shredded into pieces and she was only able to escape when her body was full of cuts and she only got away with her because she was able to concentrate her wind on top of her skin. Sadly, she couldn't protect one of her eyes and so she was blinded.
The sharp pain all over her body made Ais buckle and take a deep breath. It was so painful that she almost dropped her guard against another incoming claw, "Tsk..!" Ais couldn't figure out how it could move so silently and stealthily with that massive of a body, but she knew for sure that it wasn't using the darkness anymore to hide.
As she was sent flying once again, the world in her eye slowed down when she saw the Black Dragon preparing another roar and this time, the power it was gathering was more than five times the first one. After it concluded that Ais wouldn't be able to defend effectively anymore, it decided to use everything it had to finish her off, 'Ah... Is this the end?'
At the same moment, her eyes incidentally glanced to the side and saw Ophis, with the same indifference within her deep black eyes.
Those eyes that didn't care about her upcoming demise woke Ais up to the reality that she wouldn't be saving her. As that realization dawned on her, Ais gritted her teeth and became angry at herself, 'She was not here to save me... She's here to create a level playing field and be an impartial judge... And I just wasted the opportunity that she gave me.'
She should have known that a hero that would save her wouldn't easily come. And she questioned herself, 'What's wrong with me? Why am I expecting something like that? When did an idea like that enter my head?' She remembered what her late mother said about finding her own hero and for the longest time, she believed it while bearing the weight of hatred and revenge.
But it's also been a while since she also learned that one 'truth' is not all the 'truths' in the world and finding a hero is only a single option in the sea of all possibilities. Her mother wasn't wrong, but it also wasn't what her own story should be about since they had very different experiences.
She realized this, however, some Gods, especially Hermes, kept mentioning the idea of a hero and without her knowing, she started to long for it, 'But that isn't right... Hoping for a hero that will save me would mean that I'm resigning myself to fate.'
Ais' memories kept flashing in front of her as she tried to gather her remaining strength in an attempt to resist until she was reminded of the first time she fought Kisuke, 'That guy... He had the power to save everyone yet he never moved forward himself unless he could get something out of it...'
It was the memory of their sparing that reminded Ais that her wind was very weak and unpolished. Her tensed jaw relaxed and a smile emerged, 'But he's always been a big help. He helped me walk so it'd be too much to ask him to help me run, huh?'
Relaxing her body, Ais sharpened her mind and recalled everything from her first spar with Kisuke while the black tornado was approaching her, 'I don't need to overpower it. I just have to read its flow and apply the necessary pressure on certain focal points to disturb its entire structure.'
Ais held her rapier tightly and reoriented her body mid-air, 'Using my vision won't be enough. I have to feel it using all of my senses to get a better read.'
The aura of defeat had already entirely disappeared from Ais and her chaotic wind became serene, 'Predict the path, wait for the right time, and create an opening. Just a single opening, without disturbing anything else. I only have one chance. If I fail, the price is my life and potentially my family's life.'
Strangely enough, the more she focused, the more the fear she had been feeling subsided. It was supposed to be a bet with her life on the line, but she only got excited. An unprecedented amount of excitement for when she's about to break the chains of her fate.
The Black Dragon thought that it'd already won when the wind barrier surrounding Ais weakened and let its guard down. So when its 'food' suddenly took a drastic action, it became too late for it to react.
The serene and gentle wind around Ais suddenly became a strong gust that pushed her forward directly towards the eye of the tornado. By now, her fear had completely left her, and knowing that it'd be a life or death moment, something that'd make her hesitate had no place in her mind.
With very precise calculations, Ais arrived at the center of the tornado and it started shredding her, taking off bits of flesh. Ais, however, entirely ignored the pain and instead of counteracting the black wind, her own wind went along with its flow until her proportionately small amount of wind had completely melded into her enemy's wind, 'Remember how he did it. Hitting it is not the only way to change its direction. Following along and changing it from the inside works too. This wind is something it only stole and I shouldn't be afraid of a tool that it only knows how to swing.'
Ais could now understand Kisuke's frustration at that time, '...It really looks like child's play.'
Not long after she entered the tornado and shrunk the distance between them, Ais controlled her wind at a very specific moment. The next instant, the Black Dragon could only stand shocked when it saw its attack suddenly dispersed into nothing, leaving only behind the bloodied girl that was glaring at it with her only remaining eye.
Because it'd just used a big spell, the Black Dragon was temporarily stunned and could only watch helplessly as Ais arrived right in front of it and thrust her rapier that was aimed straight at its heart.
It became scared for its life and immediately called for the trump card that it received from the corrupted Spirit.
The power of the corrupted Spirit of Lightning, Tornitus, came out of its heart and black lightning arcs blocked Ais' rapier.
Ais was already expecting this and released her remaining power to act as a defensive shell against its stunning capabilities before pushing forward.
Ais clenched her jaws and used the entirety of her strength to push this one final thrust.
The rapier kept moving forward and slowly going through the black lightning and the Black Dragon's scales and flesh. For several seconds, it became a battle of attrition and the Black Dragon did its best to harden its flesh. It knew that once it could move again, it'd win.
Ais also knew this and kept pushing with only a tiny bit needed to reach her target. Despite this, however, the progress of her blade is not up to her expectations. Whether she's a lot weaker or the Black Dragon was a lot stronger than expected, she didn't know. But what she did know was that her strength was already waning and didn't have the confidence that she could reach its heart.
Seeing this grim future, she regretted it. She regretted the fact that she acted and realized things far too late, 'If only... If only I acted before I was reduced to this state... I could have won.'
The pain she has been enduring had already disappeared and for someone who was trying to move, it was bad news. Ais couldn't feel her legs or arms anymore and was just pushing herself with her lingering wind. Obviously, that wasn't enough to close the gap that was only a fraction of an inch. So close yet so far.
'...I lost.' There was no fear in her eye, only regrets.
But at the moment that she'd lost all of her strength, she caught the sight of golden hair at her side. If this was a normal situation, she would have mistaken it for her own hair. However, her own beautiful hair was already gone and only a few inches of it was left on her head, so the long flowing hair shouldn't have been impossible.
The next instant, a very familiar scent tickled her nose, followed by a very familiar soft voice, "Don't stop. You promised her that you'd never give up, didn't you?"
'Mother!?' Ais wanted to yell and turn around, but she didn't have the strength to do either.
Tears started blocking Ais' sight as she saw a flawless arm stretch out from behind her and gently held her hand that was holding her weapon, "This isn't the real world. This is your world. As long as you don't give up, you'll never lose your strength. Forget the laws of the world that you know of, for your mind is the only thing that matters here."
Ais knew that it was her real mother this time but before she could say anything, the outstretched arm disintegrated into motes of golden light along with the presence behind her, "I know you can do it, Ais. Your father and I will always be watching over you. We love you."
The last vestige of her mother that silently lingered within Ais that even the fake Aria didn't notice until the end had completely disappeared, but not before leaving her final gift.
The golden motes of light traveled along her arm, towards the rapier, until it reached the black lightning. As soon as they touched, they annihilated each other into nothing.
She shouldn't have any strength remaining yet she noticed that she could still cry, 'Not yet... There's still something within me. I just have to pull all of it out!'
Ais opened her mouth and took a deep breath and shouted, "AHHHHHHHH!!!"
The inner world, while it followed the understanding of the individual owning it, was a malleable world where one could act like a God to a certain extent. The reason why Ais was losing in the first place was because she was using common sense to fight while the Black Dragon was proficient in moving about in such a world, which made it capable of moving silently and stealthily while also covering this world in his own darkness.
So when Ais lost her strength, it was her mind that lost its power to provide strength. And with the right motivation, strength that she never knew she had all came erupting out, easily pushing the sword and crossing the gap, piercing through the Black Dragon's heart.
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