Chapter 59: Arc 4: Chapter 8

In true fights, there was rarely a convenient indicator for when it would begin. In sparring, it was common to similarly rely on some external factor to signal when the engagement would begin. At least, that’s what Bianca assumed, since she saw no gun – or otherworldly equivalent – nor any other person or thing that would tell these two to begin.

The ship captain, who she had spotted releasing a bunch of energy all over the deck, seemed content being quiet, and the rest of the observers weren’t too concerned about it either.

Every second felt a lot longer when everyone around her was still, with even Song Ming shutting her mouth and simply enjoying Bianca’s boobs, treating them as pillows to rest her weary head on. It was nice, but she couldn’t focus for long before something outside the ship fell into the water with an audible splash – and if it was audible to her, someone with little physical strengthening from her cultivation, it was inevitable that the others would hear it far, far more clearly.

Xue Yaling began with a wave of energy, her Spiritual Wave, while Qi Er filled the glass thing in her hand with energy and brought it in front of her. A vibrant light filled the glass, quickly spreading throughout it and then outside, extending into something resembling a bow.

The glass component became the majority of the bow’s body – or whatever the proper term was, Bianca hadn’t exactly done her research back when she had the option to do so – and strands of glowing light, a mixture of shades, emerged from either side and linked up in the middle, forming the string. It all happened in a second, before the kitsune’s wave of energy reached her, and gave Qi Er more than enough time to draw the string of this strange bow.

As she drew it back, a ray of rainbow light manifested between two of her fingers, forming an arrow that was very thin and lacked any kind of arrowhead.

However, as the string and arrow was pulled further back, all of a sudden, after crossing some unseen threshold, the light exploded in brightness and vibrancy. It went from being barely thicker than a hair to a proper, mighty arrow. It was practically bursting with power, to the point that Bianca had the strange fear that it would shatter pop into her mind. She had no clue why, given that unlike the bow itself, this arrow looked to be made of pure energy, but she had little time to ponder before it was suddenly let loose.

This arrow flew at a far greater speed than Xue Yaling’s wave of energy, and more importantly, as the arrow flew, it was radiating a vibrant rainbow of light that filled nearly the entirety of the battle area. When it struck the incoming wave, the light around the arrow exploded, shattering the wave while the arrow itself was able to continue onwards.

Xue Yaling frowned, but responded quickly by reaching out with her empty hand towards one of the ghostflames she had thrown out. A spark of flame flashed between her hand and the ghostflame, and in the next moment, she was already leaping away from the arrow’s path.

It hit the edge of their battlefield, exploding in a blinding flash of colours that might as well have been a flashbang. Bianca had to look away and shut her eyes immediately, and even when the light began to fade, the sight was still seared into her eyes, whether she let the Demonic Tyrant channel energy into her eyes or not. Thus, she almost couldn’t be sure if she was seeing things correctly when she suddenly noticed Qi Er standing on the other side of the arena, with Xue Yaling twisting in mid-air as another arrow was readied.

Although Bianca couldn’t be sure due to still being half-blinded by the vibrant light, she believed that the time it took for the arrow to ‘blossom’ into its brighter state was set and not purely up to Qi Er, as she could’ve released the arrow much earlier than she did. Potentially, she might have even defeated the kitsune with it, which would’ve certainly been impressive.

However, she did not, and thus the arrow was loosed after Xue Yaling had gotten a little too close. She swung at Qi Er, but the woman vanished from the spot the moment the second arrow exploded on the other side of the arena.

From that – and the foresight to look away in the moment of explosion this time – Bianca was able to conclude that her movement skill, possibly the one that belonged specifically to the fourth realm, was tied to those explosions. It seemed that she could appear anywhere that her arrows landed amidst the overwhelming light they spawned, and if they could be loosed prior to their eruption of energy, it might be possible for her to travel nearly instantly at any moment within the battlefield.

If Bianca understood something, then, unless it was something related to Orbis, it was certain that the kitsune would as well. Indeed, she didn’t attempt to pursue Qi Er this time, and instead waved her hand and produced several spikes of ghostflame. Just like the random motes she left out in the air, this one was tinted with a golden shade, though whether Qi Er even knew the difference was unclear.

It certainly didn’t stop her from using her new position and distance from the kitsune to draw her bow again, except this time there were several strands of light between her fingers rather than just one. The time to charge them was the same, however, and thus she met four Soul Spikes with four arrows, while the rest of the spikes were left to soar past her. Presumably, they were meant to catch her if she chose to run away from the main spikes, but that seemed… unlikely.

‘Either she can’t do much here with her skills, or… ’ Bianca recalled what she had seen the day before, and frowned, ‘I don’t want to interrupt Song Ming, since she’s adorable while she’s resting on me, and… well, it doesn’t really matter, does it? Qi Er probably won’t hurt Xue Yaling, and there’s no way to help anyway.’

She tightened her embrace ever so slightly and kept watching.

When Qi Er tried to ready another four arrows, the kitsune didn’t ready any more soul spikes, and instead waited until the arrows were nearly ready to be fired, their great eruption of power merely a moment away. And then, she reached out with the power of her soul.

All of a sudden, the woman wavered and she let go of the arrows a moment too soon, and they flew out without any of the vibrant light the others possessed. They soared past the kitsune and struck the walls of the arena without a hint of the power the other arrows had. The archer let out a sigh and landed on the ground – having been standing on the planar walls somehow – with her free hand away from the bow.

“That’s quite something you’ve got there, kitsune. I hope that wasn’t an attempt at my life.”

“Oh please, if that hurt you, then I think you ought to find something to strengthen your spirit. I held back on purpose,” Xue Yaling shrugged, “That being said, I can’t keep using it on you without truly risking some permanent damage.”

“I suspected as much. Well, in that case, it seems that you can’t actually defeat me even with me keeping my power in check, so… let’s finish this?”

“That soon? Fine, show me what you can do.”

Qi Er smiled and readied her arrows again, except this time, each arrow looked to be split into several strands. Thus, although she had the same number of strands between her fingers, they diverged into three times the initial amount, and the moment that they were ignited into their true forms, she let them go and then exploded into the same light that her arrows contained.

The arrows flew at a slightly slower speed than her previous attacks, but the twelve projectiles seemed to have a mind of their own as they went all over the place, none of them heading straight for the kitsune. Instead, they landed all around her, detonating nearly simultaneously into overwhelming masses of light, the rainbow dyeing the entire ship and the lands around it like some kind of excessive disco ball.

That effect alone would be enough for Bianca to go blind, if she had to endure standing in the middle of it, but she was sure that there was more to it. Hence, she encouraged the Demonic Tyrant to channel more energy into her eyes and disregarded her instincts to gaze upon the scene.

Past all the light, she just barely saw Qi Er appear at one of the explosions with her bow already drawn and arrows already at the ready, light bursting from them. She released just one arrow before disappearing and showing up on a different side of the arena, shooting one more arrow before vanishing again. This repeated cycle let Bianca notice that once the arrows were ready for a little too long, they seemed to lose some of their lustre and vibrancy, though even the last arrow fired did not lose enough lustre to return to the non-explosive state.

All of them were aimed at the kitsune, and all of them forced her to block or dodge at an increasing pace. Qi Er didn’t need to ready the arrows one by one, so she shot them the moment she appeared at a new spot, and once she was down to a single arrow, she suddenly withdrew the arrow from the bow and held in in a manner akin to a sword.

The arrow transformed in shape to fit this purpose, and then she leapt forth at the same time as her previous arrow was still flying towards the kitsune. Her speed was immense, and thus they arrived mere instants apart.

Xue Yaling was able to evade the projectile, but this put her directly into the path of Qi Er’s blade.  Bianca’s perception of this all seemed to slow as she wondered whether the kitsune would survive this, as neither the arrows nor the blade formed from one seemed rather… powerful. It was likely to be more than powerful enough to tear apart Bianca and her overly durable body, not to mention the somewhat more frail kitsune, so…

Then, she saw a golden object appear in her hand- no, she recalled that it had been there all along. However, it had such a muted presence that nothing about the kitsune’s movements gave it away.

As soon as Bianca recognised it, the golden weapon – a sword of some kind – instantly erupted with great power, and it was brought out in a single swing that the kitsune met Qi Er’s weapon with. Golden light clashed with an overwhelming rainbow, and the clash resulted in a flood of loose power that crashed against the bounds of their battlefield.

The ship captain had to put down his anchor and stabilise the barrier in order to prevent any of that energy from exploding out. It was strong enough to shake the ship itself.

And yet, it was little more than light in the end. It faded quickly, leaving the ship quiet for a while.

Xue Yaling and Qi Er were frozen in place even after that, only breathing heavily as they recovered from the energy they had exerted. Eventually, both of them returned to neutral stances while continuing to stare at one another for an uncomfortable length of time.

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“Was that your own power, kitsune?”

“Of course.”

“Hmph… Impressive.”

“Same to you.”

Qi Er shook her head, then looked to Bianca, “Hey, cutie. Want me to teach you a few things? We’ve got the barrier here anyway, and I am really curious as to your cultivation.”

“I haven’t even departed from the arena, you know,” Xue Yaling muttered, though she did step down as she, too, looked into Bianca’s eyes, “Up to you, though be careful. The gap in realms is greater between you two than it was with us, so if you aren’t able to handle her, you can get hurt much worse than I ever could.”

“Don’t try to terrify her out of this, kitsune. I won’t be injuring a lovely junior like her.”

She really hadn’t expected to be invited, so she froze up just like those two had, up until the lovely pet in her arms pulled herself away.

“Do you want to go?” Song Ming asked, her voice soft and quiet.

“… A bit.”

“Then go ahead, Mistress. I’ll be fine without your touch for a while… though I wouldn’t say no to a kiss afterwards.”

“As if I’d ever pass on that… or as if you’d ever refuse a kiss or two regardless,” Bianca leaned in and kissed her cheek, “Be right back.”

Bianca was about to walk off and into the arena, but then she remembered something and turned around to grab the pet’s sword. As much as she might want to avoid using weapons at all – and fighting in general – she would need to use something in order to fight, and a sword was quite a bit better than her favourite kitchen knife.

She remembered that she had apparently taken a weapon from Song Ming before, and although she still couldn’t remember what her Demon Queen self had done, Song Ming’s excited shiver suggested that she had clear memory of it.

Thus, Bianca stepped away and made her way into the barrier surrounding the central part of the ship, feeling it glide over her skin as she entered. It was an odd sensation, but it only lasted a moment, and when she briefly tried to tap the barrier behind her, it turned entirely solid, akin to a hard and cool marble wall.

“Captain, mind blocking the sound as well? I’d prefer to have a closer conversation with her,” Qi Er said to the ship captain, and once the barrier changed to be even thicker, she turned back to her opponent, “There, now we can chat without any issues. I doubt the kitsune is any good at reading lips, so don’t be concerned that she’ll figure it out.”

“Eh… I wouldn’t know with her, but sure. I doubt I’d share anything with you that I wouldn’t with her.”

“Do you trust your master that much? Or, are you even the slave of that woman? Regardless, it’s of no importance to me. I like your pet, and I’d prefer to ensure that her owner is able to keep her safe,” Qi Er explained, raising her bow, “So, I can assist you in improving your skills, at least a little. If you require any guidance, I may be able to provide it… though I’ve not spent quite as much time as that bitch on studying.”

“You don’t like her much?”

“Why would you ever presume that? I definitely don’t dislike the arrogant, immature brat that dared to posit herself as some kind of expert and master and presented countless assertions and assumptions that nearly led to me ruining my own cultivation before my seniors corrected me!” Qi Er’s voice rose until she was at the very brink of shouting, only for her to catch herself and take a deep breath, “Yes, I don’t like her. You don’t seem to be as much of a horrible excuse for an intelligent being as her, and you’ve got yourself a cute girl, too, so I have no ill will towards you.”

Bianca couldn’t help but turn her head towards the kitsune, who had arrived at Song Ming’s side and was now looking at her and Qi Er with a semblance of her usual grin.

“Are you sure she can’t read lips?”

“Honestly, I have no idea, but it’s none of her business anyway,” Qi Er shrugged, “We ought to begin. I’ll begin slow so that we may still discuss as we go.”

“A-Alright…” Bianca raised the sword and let the Demonic Tyrant unleash her energy and surround the edges of the sword with it, “My energy tends to run amok when I get emotional, and I can get rather aggressive, so I’m sorry if I hurt you by accident.”

“Hah, as if a second realm girl like you can injure me. I’ve got plenty of defensive methods, and I cultivate a body technique, so I’m a rather tough girl. Give me your all, cutie.”

Bianca had to oblige, using her movement skill to close the gap and slash with more strength than technique. She had never been able to learn the best ways to attack with it, not that she had much practise to begin with, so she could only make up for it with enthusiasm… a bit like Song Ming would make up for her lack of experience with as much vigour as she could.

The lewd thought certainly didn’t help, since Qi Er was able to swat aside her strike with the glass component of her bow. It proved completely trivial to negate, as were the other strikes that Bianca attempted, swinging time and time again until she figured out that the normal approach was not working.

“You seem to be holding back. Are you concerned about your emotions?”

“Yes. The angrier I get, the more I want to kill my enemy, the more powerful my energy gets, but I tend to lose control, and when I do…”

“You do things you regret?” Qi Er asked, leaping back and preparing her bow, “How do you exert that anger?”

“Hm?”

“If you keep it pent up, and if it’s related to your energy, and if your archetype is similar to the Killing archetype, then all those emotions are more likely to burst out at a moment you’d prefer them not to. In other words, you need to find a proper place to vent those emotions, and not just something like exercise or brawling. You need to determine what you hate, what you’re angry about, and then take reasonable steps towards dealing with it.”

Bianca would’ve stopped and listened if she didn’t see an arrow being readied, but the circumstances forced her to dodge instead. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but consider this matter again now that it wasn’t the kitsune insisting on similar ideas.

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