Chapter 125: A Hard Battle
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I unleashed a barrage of slashing attacks against Blednica, her two halves quickly moving to attack me. She wasn’t an S+ Rank Vampire Countess for nothing. Her two halves moved independently as if they were alive; her second half, from her stomach to her legs, started regrowing its torso, arms, and a head made out of pure blood, while her upper half regrew long legs and a tail out of blood and darkness, making her resemble a giant lizard-like centaur.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
“{Abyssal Blood Shields}! {Crimson Blood Mirror}!”
She quickly conjured a dozen rotating shields, fused with mirrors made of magic, that started to block my slashing attacks while at the same time shooting them back at me as if they were beams of energy!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“What the…?!”
I was clearly taken aback; her mirror magic could even reflect the power of my slashing attacks! It seems that her mirror magic wasn’t just mirror magic; it could mirror most other elements?!
No, this felt off.
The skies had yet to fully clear, and the {Presence} of the Bleeding Scream was still there. Was she mixing this {Presence} with her own magic?!
“Hah! Did you truly think those pitiful attacks could reach me?!” She laughed. “You might have been able to break my master’s {Presence}, but if I shape it correctly, there will be a completely different outcome!”
She quickly began to shape a formless and invisible energy again, fusing it with her Blood and summoning dozens of crimson spears overflowing with dark auras.
“{Abyssal Crimson Spears}!”
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
[“Be careful, Anna! These things can’t be easily blocked!”]
Even Gram seemed to be panicking; I couldn’t take things easy just because I had a strong Evolved Skill. I had to use it smartly with my other Skills to gain some sort of advantage.
“Alright then, how about this?!”
As I descended towards Blednica, I unleashed a barrage of slashing attacks. But before they could multiply, I harnessed the slashing blows together into a mass of Blade Ki. The reason why this was possible was that these slashing blows were produced from this energy to begin with!
“{Wind Compressing Blade Barrier}!”
By fusing Wind Compression with the Blade Ki and slashing the empty air, a powerful mass of strong air pressure was created, enveloping my body and managing to block most of the deadly spears as they clashed against me and exploded.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“RAAAH!”
With a furious roar, I finally reached Blednica, clashing against her shields and barriers and unleashing a devastating spiraling attack as I spun in midair, gathering the slashes together into a devastating slash of light!
“{Thousand Blades}: {Holy Sunlit Arc}!”
SLASH!!!
The powerful slashing attack could not be contained by the shields, as they were instantly shattered, while the nearby mirrors were instantly burned into ashes by the light.
Blednica gritted her teeth in that split second, her eyes clearly desperate, as she gathered energies within her entire body and hands and unleashed a barrage of claw attacks.
Her delicate hands quickly gained enormous blood and dark claws, harnessing the fragment of {Presence} from The Bleeding Scream!
“{Abyssal Demonic Claws}!”
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
“Ugh…!”
Her attacks were much more potent than I imagined. And without a shield to protect myself from explosive blows, I was quickly pushed back. My small height and weight were important factors in how I couldn’t receive strong blows well without being blown away like a ragdoll.
“You’re nothing but a little and pretty doll! I shall tear your skin off your flesh once I cut all your limbs!”
Blednica grew furious as her lower half fused with her spells, instantly shaping into a gigantic wolf-like jaw and attempting to devour me whole.
CRASH!!!
The enormous pressure made me feel like my bones and muscles were soon to snap and be crushed into pieces, only for the Aura of Protection from Gram to emerge, covering my body and strengthening my defenses, alongside my several other Privileges taking effect one after another!
“That’s not… ENOUGH!”
With a mighty roar, my body erupted with blinding light, the wolf-like maws made of blood exploding as I was freed from Blednica’s attack, only for her second half to emerge behind me, the upper half having shapeshifted into a dozen snake heads!
“SHAAAAH!”
Two of its heads reached my legs, biting them strongly as I felt my armor beginning to gain several cracks, its durability lowering rapidly. The third and fourth heads aimed at my arm holding Gram and my head, but I evaded them by firing both of my daggers into them, making one explode into flames and the other freeze into ice, and then shatter apart.
I slashed the two heads biting my legs, which had thankfully not broken yet, and then rushed down into the floor, finding that Blednica’s upper half was still hovering above me, raising her arms and gathering an enormous mass of blood with countless spikes.
“I’ll show you the difference between a half-baked Celestial like you and the strongest Vampiress left in this pitiful world.” She smiled wickedly. “{Crimson Star}!”
FLASH!
She fired the enormous sphere of crimson energies towards me, its enormous quantities of power beginning to distort space itself, generating shockwaves as it descended!
[“ANNA!”]
“I got it!” I nodded. “{Demonic Mode}!”
I deactivated the Celestial Mode from Gram, activating the Demonic Mode as his appearance quickly changed, resembling an accursed, monstrous, and evil demonic sword, overflowing with large quantities of power, while beginning to drain my life force.
I felt the corruption of this demonic energy quickly rushing into my arms and creeping into the rest of my body, resembling a parasitic, cancerous energy trying to devour me whole.
I harnessed this power, combining it with Celestial Energy and my Thousand Blades Skill, alongside Sunlight Blade and Arcane Hands, and small hints of Cosmic Energy!
“{Chaotic Nova}!”
An enormous mass of swirling black, purple, and red energy erupted from Gram as I swung it vertically. A titanic blade made of pure Chaotic Energy clashed against the sphere of crimson-red blood, both energies resisting each other!
CRASH…!
“Just DIE already!!!”
“RAAAAH!”
Blednica and I roared at the same time, putting our all into our respective attacks. Her tenacity and willpower were tremendous; I had to admit that.
However!
“{Thousand Blades}!”
I activated the Thousand Blades Skill by spending Mana in that very moment. That single slash of Chaos turned into seven slashes of Chaos, all of them becoming Critical Attacks, meaning that they dealt thrice as much damage too!
SLASH!!!
Their converged powers slashed through Blednica’s Crimson Star, both halves exploding amidst the skies as her upper half was sliced into two more halves, at the same time as I controlled the other Chaotic Slashes to slash her apart into even more pieces!
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
“GRYYYAAAAHHHH…!”
Her screams of agony resonated across the entire Demon Realm! However, I suddenly felt danger, as if a sixth sense activated, my Skills activating at the same time as I realized her second half was nowhere to be seen!
“ROOAAARRR!”
And then, a gigantic crimson wolf appeared from behind, Blednica’s second half of her body I had sliced before, made of darkness and blood energy, biting through my armor as its sharp fangs pierced my stomach!
“AARGH!” I screamed in pain; I couldn’t help it. I gritted my teeth and then pointed my free hand at the wolf’s head. “FUCK OFF!”
FLASH!!!
My Arcane Hands activated as they conjured Sealing Chains and Exorcizing Light, while I hacked into the magic structure of the wolf and made it much weaker, sealing it and pushing it away from me!
“Ugh…!”
I barely resisted the urge to drop onto the floor in agony; my stomach was punctured and bleeding a lot. I could even feel my guts touching the gold armor that had failed me now. I should have commissioned a better armor set from Hilda! Dammit!
Healing Touch wasn’t closing such big wounds; I gathered my magic together, combined it, and imbued it into my Arcane Hands in hopes of creating a stronger healing spell by combining several small ones.
[You have activated the powers of the [Arcane Hands (SS)] Skill!]
[You’ve engraved the [Healing Light], [Restoration Essence] and [Revitalizing Cure] within your Right Hand!]
[You’ve combined the effects of the three engraved spells into one!]
FLASH!
In that instant, a purifying light covered my body. The wound in my stomach began to slowly close as even the guts coming out were pushed back inside. The bleeding stopped, but the pain was nowhere to be gone.
“Fuck…!”
As I popped one of the last Health potions left, Blednica crept from above, emerging as a shadow in the shape of a snake. Her second half was still kicking! So annoying!
“SHAAAAHHH!”
“Dammit!”
I quickly stepped back and started swinging my sword almost clumsily; the pain was strong. But I had to bear with it! I started spending more Cosmic Energy to give myself a better chance, and my wound regenerated faster with it, thankfully.
“{Cosmic Blade}!”
I harnessed pure Cosmic Energy into a blade over Gram, mixing it with Celestial Energy and Demonic Energy, and then swinging the sword against her several times, Thousand Blades activating and conjuring a storm of slashing cosmic attacks!
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
SLAAASH!
The slashing attacks slashed through Blednica’s second half, cutting her into pieces, only for the pieces to quickly fuse back through tendrils and rivers of blood, its single snake-like head shaping into many small ones, trying to reach me once more.
“HAH!”
I kicked the air and flew with my Seraphin wings, all while desperately activating many buffs from both gear, skills, and privileges at once, boosting my stats as much as possible. Blednica kept chasing me, flying into the skies with me.
“SHAAAAH!”
Her second half lacked her brains, which I just slashed into almost the cellular level, but still had part of her soul, her thoughts, and her fury and powers.
The snake heads opened their jaws, gathering the dark energies she had acquired from The Bleeding Scream and firing several beams of red and black energies against me!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“You damn bitch, you really never give me a break, huh?!”
I gritted my teeth while desperately swinging my blade against her attacks, only for my senses of danger to activate again—even Gram panicked!
[“ANNA! ABOVE YOU!”]
“Wha…?!”
I looked upwards, finding a strange sight. A Blednica-shaped mass of pure blood smiled back at me, her deep black eyes gathering her energies as hundreds of spears of blood hovered above my head!
Did she just regenerate back from her bits of flesh and bones, or did she just use blood to connect it all?! Is she just all blood?!
“Don’t underestimate me.”
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
The moment she said those words, the spears descended upon me, and at the same time, her lower half bit through my legs, her many jaws piercing my muscles and reaching my bones, which barely held off!
“{Spirit Call}!”
I screamed in desperation, channeling the power of my [Spirit’s Little Sister] Privilege as I harnessed their power. Blednica and her lower half were suddenly shocked as thousands of tiny sparks of light erupted from the ground!
FLASH!!!
I was saving their help for the very last moment because Spirits are fragile beings. If I ask too many for help, too many will die, and this world’s elements might go in peril!
But right now, I don’t have many options! I’ll have to use one of my trump cards a bit ahead of time.
The Spirits generated countless rivers that flowed into my body, their wills unifying into my body as I felt their Spiritual Energy make my body overflow with their strength!
[You have activated the [Spirit’s Little Sister (C++ Rank Privilege)] Privilege!]
[Based on your high amount of Charm Stat, thousands of Spirits have answered your desperate calling!]
[Your Physique is reacting to the Spirits willingly fusing with you! Enormous Quantities of Spiritual Energy are overflowing from your body!]
[All your Stats have increased by +100%, you can now replace Spiritual Energy with other Energies when using Spells or Skills!]
[Duration: 10 Minutes.]
“Amazing!”
Harnessing my newfound strength, I kicked Blednica’s second half as I flew towards her upper half, or whatever that was, my body glowing with so many colors that I resembled a sparkling rainbow star amidst a sky of darkness.
“Blednica! Why won’t you die for once?”
I kicked the skies, and a beam of pure light emerged from my kick, disintegrating Blednica’s spears one after another as I clashed against her, swinging my sword, sparkling slashes slicing through her blood-made body, only for it to regenerate back again!
“Whatever powers you’ve conjured now, it won’t make a difference!” She laughed, her entire body constantly shapeshifting into gigantic hands, monstrous animal jaws, or countless eyes and tentacles, trying to capture my body.
I clashed against her by constantly slashing apart her attacks, my wings growing larger with the overflowing Spiritual Energy. But the more minutes passed, the more spirits sacrificed themselves for me. I don’t want to find out how long this realm can hold off without their spirits holding the elements together!
I had to end this quickly somehow, yet Blednica kept regenerating; each slash simply closed instantly, each blast on her body recovered, and her blood was endless.
“You might have interrupted the ritual, but I still gained a part of the power my sponsor promised to me! Even if only half, I am now an Immortal being! I’ve become like a Death Apostle! No matter how much you slash me apart, I WON’T DIE!”
“Immortality?!”
No, there’s no such thing as immortality.
I’ve read the end of this story, Blednica, and you would be surprised to find out that not even the Void Rulers are eternal!
Everything can be killed, as long as you have the means for that.
And I’ve got just the thing for you!
“What’s that?!”
Blednica instantly changed her expression as she witnessed me taking out of my inventory a small, broken black scythe, overflowing with dark energies.
[You have equipped [Thanatos’s Broken Scythe]!]
[The Ancient Relic asks for a Sacrifice!]
[You have offered a part of your Soul as a Sacrifice!]
“This is what’s going to end you, Blednica!”
SLASH!!!
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