Chapter 8: 8. DEATH’S DOOR

YUKINA AYLING

I felt significantly fatigued but couldn’t stop, desperately trying to land a finishing blow on Vixra. I pressed on with a relentless barrage of slashes and hacks until she went defensive. The fire and rocks she conjured seemed to have little to no effect. Thanks to phantom steal, I cut through everything she threw at me.

I caught a glimpse of her as she smirked,

“Hope you have enough fuel to keep these up,” she said as our eyes made contact.

Her words made me wonder what other tricks she had up her sleeve. Sounded like she was deliberately trying to wear me down. 

Two boulders covered in fire approached me from opposite sides in an attempt to crush me between them. Just as I was about to make a quick dash clear of the two boulders, my feet were stuck, encrusted in the ground.

“Shit!”

Instinctively, I tried to free myself, but it wasn't as easy as I had imagined. I could let the fiery boulders hit me as long as I strengthened my body. 

The impact came as expected, and I fell to my knees, obviously in a lot of pain. I bit it down as hard as I could. But I knew I was going to be okay.  

Vixra released me from my earthen constraint,

“Done already? I thought you were just getting fired up,” she asked me.

I needed her to let her guard down, even just for a moment, so I slumped in make-believe. From the few words she said so far, I knew she was full of herself and wouldn’t finish me off instantly. She grabbed me up by my hair which was already disheveled, and with a sardonic smile across her face, she said,

“You must have exhausted all your mana, huh. Now tell me, how do you want to die?”

Given the distance between us and the fact that I was armed with my phantom steal, I was sure I would land a good one on her.

“You are so full of yourself, aren’t you?” I said, quickly slashing upward toward her throat.

Her supposedly automatic defense was brought to life once again, but it was something I had anticipated. Rocks from who knows where appeared in an attempt to stop my blade from reaching her throat. Though I was able to cut through, it did just enough to stop my sword in its tracks, so I let it fall. I wasn’t done yet as I pushed myself from a stationary position to a maximum speed with my other sword pointed to her chest,

“Got you.”

I was met with resistance, a rock slab erupted from the ground at an even greater speed, but my phantom steal-clad sword punched a hole through it. The speed at which I approached did the most in shattering the already faulted slab. 

Just when I thought I would run my sword through her, it was met with hers.

A sword? I almost forgot she had a sword until she parried mine with hers. The slab bought her just enough time to get herself prepared. At that point, I couldn’t tell if she had an astonishing precision or was just lucky. I was a better swordswoman. I had to because the situation at hand called for it. I loosened my grip on the sword, and just as it was about to slip off my hands, I held firm again, but this time in my favorite reverse grip.

As quickly as I could, I directed it to the side of her belly, and she repeated the same actions as earlier, conjuring rocks for the first block, just to buy her enough time to wield her sword. 

She knew I was quick and couldn’t keep up with me on pure speed, but she knew just how to make up for it. I didn’t press on. Instead, I simply rolled over, picking up my other sword before putting a little distance between us.

It was frustrating; all I needed was a single clean strike, but she was doing enough to prevent me from getting it. At the same time, I was a little scared; scared because I didn’t know what kind of deviant ability she possessed. I didn’t need anyone to tell me that she was one, her fine and precise control over fire and earth elements at their base form was already giving me so much trouble. Worst case scenario, she might even be a chaos-class caster.

I knew I was fighting a losing battle when Vixra was able to keep up with my phantom steal, and I was fully aware that she was holding back. Even Evren didn’t give me this much trouble.

“Come at me with everything you’ve got,” she said mockingly, almost laughing.

I was going all out already, but I had to do more; I had to lose it. If only I could at least use two stillbrings simultaneously, the fight would have been a lot easier. Whenever I compensated for speed, I always had to be mindful to avoid fatal blows, and when I did the same for strengthening, I couldn’t just land the hits I desired. Either way, I wasn’t at maximum efficiency.

 I felt a trickle from my nose, and using the back of my hand to wipe it, I saw the obvious; blood. I sniffed in, trying to push the trickling blood back as I walked slowly towards Vixra with swords in both hands. It was clear that I was working myself to the point of breakdown.

She didn't look exhausted, and that baffled me even more. I knew I could easily outlast a caster, but she wasn't giving off the slightest hint of fatigue. She, too, should have been worn out. I was well aware that phantom steal was significantly wearing me out, but defending against it wasn't easy.

“One more time,” I said,  giving myself a mental tug as I went from walking tiredly to running at a full sprint.

I charged through her barrage of spells, deflecting some of them with my swords while a considerable amount of them hit me. I didn’t have any new tricks up my sleeve, but as long as I was alive and standing, I had to fight, not just for myself but to protect Svan. I closed the distance between us again, and this time she was already brandishing her sword, expecting me to break whatever defense she’d set up.

My breathing was ragged, my legs heavy, and my vision blurred a little. For a second, I said to myself,

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“I might really die here.”

It was funny because there was so much I wanted to do and know, but I couldn't think about any of those. My chances of survival were realistically slim, and even if I miraculously managed to take out Vixra, her brother wouldn’t just stand and do nothing. 

Svan. I could only think about him. I brought him into this mess. If I had just left him to live a normal life, he wouldn’t have found himself in this situation. Although he just happened to have an interesting ability that I had no clue how it worked, he wouldn’t possibly stand a chance against Vixra.

Reconstructing the whole situation from scratch made me beg the question,

“Why is she after Svan?”

I didn’t have an answer to that question and didn’t have the luxury to immerse my thoughts in it as I still had an unfinished deathly match. I squeezed out all mana that could possibly be in my body and surged forward for one last attack. Seeing me approach her, she doubled her defenses, using her solid fire to bolster the rock slab she erected. I broke through, but it hurt. Some parts of my clothes were torn, and some parts were charred. I engaged her in a sword fight but also had to fend myself off rocks and fireballs approaching me from different directions. 

My instincts were dulled, and my precision blurred. I depended solely on strength augmentation with my stillbring, taking hits at different parts of my body. Using my speed stillbring would be pretty useless, as the speed at which she conjured her spells outmatched mine. I lost count of how many times my swords met with hers; she was also good with the sword. The fire and rocks she conjured were a constant source of distraction, preventing me from landing any significant blow on her.

I didn’t know what had happened, but I finally had a breakthrough. Maybe she was carried away for a brief moment. I slashed hard across her torso, knocking off her sword. In sudden realization of what I just did, I felt a surge of strength. She wore a shocked expression on her face, but I wasted no time pressing. I went for her head, and she blocked as expected but was just able to this time. I could tell that she hadn’t recovered from her slip-up. I slashed again almost instantly with the same arm in a reverse swing toward her neck. Her last-second block made her keep her head but lose her footing. And before she could blink, I drove my other sword into her belly.

My mana was utterly drained, and my movements were defined in staggers, but the feeling of victory was sufficient enough to keep me going. Finally, Vixra dropped to her knees with my sword stuck in her belly.

She stared at it in disbelief. She was still well alive. The job wasn’t done yet; I had to properly finish her off. Strange enough, Crit stood motionless, staring at us. He didn’t even bother helping his injured sister. It was understandable that she ordered him not to, but the situation was very different at the moment. Why should I bother? It was even the best-case scenario for me.

I realized that there was more to why he did nothing. I couldn’t describe how horrified I was when Vixra started pulling the sword slowly out of her belly. Blood spurted like it was coming off a valve that opened and closed at intervals. She let out a loud groan as she was engulfed in black flames, the same flames that clouded her sword when she stabbed Fio. The flames appeared to be non-combustible because she wasn’t burning.

As if she wasn’t done surprising me, I watched as the stab wound I inflicted on her slowly closed as though some invisible zipper ran across it, leaving no trace of any injury. It closely resembled the regenerative ability of stillbringers, but this one seemed to be aided by the flames that engulfed her. She slowly got to her feet, kneeling on one knee first and using her hands to support her weight on her other knee before finally standing. Wiping off the blood that drooled from her mouth,

“I think I am done playing with you!” she screamed.

I felt tremors vibrating from the ground beneath, which made it difficult to even stand properly as golems the size of adult humans erupted. I couldn't count all of them correctly, but they were well above twenty. My legs failed me. I was too stunned to move, and with whatever strength I had left, not sure if the pitch of my voice was high enough,

“Svan, run!” I cried out.

I just witnessed a deviant class ability, and not just any deviant could create beings with their elemental attribute. A very high degree of mastery was needed to do so, making me wonder what deviant she possessed. The golems attacked all at once from all fronts. I was able to take out a few until I didn’t even have the strength to swing my swords. I was helpless as they pummeled me to the ground.

“Oh Yukina, just look at how weak and pathetic you are,” I said as tears rolled freely from my eyes.

I faintly heard footsteps as they approached me. Already lying faced up, I stared at Vixra though my left eye was swollen and almost closed. I felt some of my bones were broken, and my utterly battered body was sore from bruises inflicted on them. I couldn’t even heal myself as there were just wisps of mana I could detect from within me.

Vixra’s demeanor changed. It was like she was a completely different person. She squatted beside me, looking sorry, almost like she was filled with pity for me.

“I gave you a chance to leave, now look at you,” she said as she stroked my hair.

I wasn’t even interested in what she was saying; I just lay there, wondering how strong she was. I didn’t get to see her Feel realm, and I didn’t get to see her deviant ability, yet I was beaten effortlessly.

“Are you a chaos class?” I asked with a failing voice.

She chuckled,

“I wouldn’t normally reply to a question like this. But since it’s the last thing you would probably hear before you die, I would give you an answer. What do you call it? Casters? Stillbringers? No. I am none of those, but I am something much better. I am a demon,” she said as she wore a sinister smile.

She drew her sword, pointing it downwards to my chest, precisely towards my heart.

“A demon?” I asked myself. 

It was something I would probably never know as I saw her sword draw closer to my chest, covered with her black flames.

“Svan, I am sorry, I am so sorry,” I said, crying, 

“I don’t want to die.”

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