With the Juggernaut struggling to move, Ryuu took in a deep breath and dashed straight at it. As she gathered her strength, Ryuu grunted as she swung her sword, aiming for the Juggernaut's head.
Still confused at why it suddenly became difficult to move, the Juggernaut noticed Ryuu's attack too late and wasn't able to do anything to block it, taking it head-on.
Ryuu immediately saw a large crack forming on its head and was surprised, 'Its defence weakened too?' Before, despite suppressing her fears, she still wasn't confident that she could really defeat the Juggernaut, but with this, hope bloomed inside her heart and it gave her greater motivation.
Not wasting her momentum, Ryuu continued her attack with great fervour, slowly crushing the Juggernaut's defence.
Of course, the Juggernaut wouldn't allow Ryuu to just one-sidedly beat it up. After adjusting to its weakened state, it also started counterattacking.
At first, Ryuu could still dodge the Juggernaut's sluggish movements with relative ease, but as time went by, the monster kept refining its movements and was also getting used to the restrictions placed on it. As a result, the easy to dodge attacks became harder and harder for Ryuu to avoid. The situation only got worse for her as her stamina was depleting fast with no way to restore it.
And even if she wanted to disengage to take a quick breather, she wasn't able to. Because even if they were slugging it out at each other, Ryuu noticed that the Juggernaut never committed its full attention to her and kept looking in Kisuke's direction as if it wanted to jump at him at any moment, 'If I create a space now, it'll surely use that chance to attack Urahara-san... I can't let that happen.', thought Ryuu and gritted her teeth.
Meanwhile, Kisuke just silently watched the battle as he adjusted the restriction in real-time to accommodate Ryuu, 'I didn't weaken its defences any further, but she should have a tougher time with me slowly lifting the restrictions in its movement.'
Unbeknownst to Ryuu, although she was getting faster by surpassing her own limitation in desperation, again and again, Kisuke was also adjusting the Juggernaut's speed. With just the two of them moving within the battlefield, Ryuu couldn't tell that she was improving.
A few minutes later, within the intense battle, Ryuu finally realized something that instantly brought her to the cliff of despair. Even if she could whittle down its defences, she didn't have any strong attack to finish it off. Her strongest attack, 'Luminous Wind', was ineffective against the Juggernaut's armour.
At that moment, Ryuu finally slipped up and failed to dodge one of the Juggernaut's attacks.
"Kuhh!!!" Failing to get away, Ryuu gritted her teeth and used the drop items that she prepared to accept the Juggernaut's attack. Since she couldn't risk the only weapon she had breaking from blocking the Juggernaut's attack, she prepared something as a substitute. Even then, the bones and hide that she'd prepared as a shield instantly broke into pieces as she flew away due to the sheer force behind the attack. Thankfully, though, it managed to do what it was meant to do, reducing the strike of the Juggernaut, even if it was just once.
Ryuu did her best to regain her orientation and landed on her feet. As she did, she felt the damage she received, 'Despite jumping back at the last moment, my left arm was still fractured...'
Ryuu prepared herself to re-engage the enemy but she suddenly saw it turn away from her and set its sights on Kisuke, just as she feared, 'No!' Ryuu internally screamed.
"Watch out!" She shouted but as if he didn't hear anything, Kisuke didn't open his eyes nor move even a little bit, 'Could it be that he can't move!?', assumed Ryuu and started panicking.
As more adrenaline rushed to her head, time became slower for her and everything went into slow-motion. Ryuu's mind raced to think of something to turn things around and within a very short amount of time, she was able to think of a 'good' idea. And that idea coincidentally had the potential to finally land a decisive blow on her arch enemy.
In an instant, Ryuu's expression of panic changed to a solemn and apologetic one as she looked towards Kisuke, 'I'm very sorry... It looks like I won't be able to keep my promise.'
Gathering her resolve with a deep breath, she used all of her strength to dash forward while chanting her Magic with a face full of determination.
Just 21 feet before the Juggernaut reached Kisuke with an open maw, Ryuu arrived in front of it, and used her bare hands to grab the monster's upper and lower teeth, forcefully stopping its charge.
"AAHHHH!!!!" Digging both of her feet into the ground to the point of bleeding, Ryuu yelled her lungs out as she was pushed towards Kisuke. But a few feet from Kisuke she was able to stop the Juggernaut's momentum. However, that manoeuvre cost her her legs to the point that she wouldn't be able to run around anymore.
And as if losing her strength, her right arm slipped and entered the Juggernaut's mouth. The monster, not missing the chance, immediately bit down on her shoulder, intending to rip her entire arm off.
Its fangs pierced Ryuu's shoulder, making her bleed profusely. However, the Juggernaut suddenly felt something inside its mouth which made it not able to bite down any further. It then saw the bleeding Elf suddenly smile while whispering, "Got you."
The moment the Juggernaut thought that it got Ryuu, the latter snuck the sword made from the branch of the World Tree inside the former's mouth. It wanted to let go of Ryuu, but Ryuu used her left arm and both of her knees to keep its mouth close, "You might have a very strong Magic reflection, but what if I unleash my Magic inside? Will it bounce around and cause multiple explosions?"
Ryuu finished her chant with a smirk and controlled her Magic by only releasing the first ten light balls. She was wrong that the Juggernaut has a reflecting ability within its body, however, the contained explosion dealt more damage than she could have hoped for.
The Juggernaut wanted to scream in pain, but it couldn't even open its mouth so it could only make an ugly and desperate growl. Nevertheless, Ryuu saw this as an opportunity and released 27 out of the 37 light balls she could still make all at once.
The Juggernaut tried its best to make Ryuu let go by biting down more and smashing her to the ground. But the determined Elf's smile didn't disappear as she watched the monster writhe in pain despite most of the bones in her body shattering with the Juggernaut's struggles.
'These last ten... Are for my revenge.'