Instead of rushing recklessly like I do when battling with Rakka, I decided to take a more subtle approach. Even though Azalea could outmarch Magni in speed, she was rather frail. If I commanded her to rush in and attack, it could leave her wide open to a counter attack and if I wanted to make use of her special trait I would have to fight a lot smarter.
[Azalea, use Duelist].
Azalea's eyes glowed orange as I gave the command. Azalea soon moved her arms and torso into a fighting stance, which looked a bit odd due to the lack of legs. [Duelist] was a bit different in comparison to other combat techniques, in the sense that it strengthen the user. When activated, as long as the user is in an one-on-one situation, their Strike and Protection will become a full grade higher. In essence, she'll be able to hit faster and defend better.
Magni rushed towards Azalea with a dangerous gleam in his eyes as his massive war club began to spark with lightning. With a loud grunt, Magni stopped mid rush and used the momentum to swing his club from the side. A loud crackling sounded in the air as the lightning-laced weapon flew towards Azalea's side. I could feel from Azalea that if Magni's technique hit, she would be in a world of hurt.
Luckily, I had just the technique...if I could get the timing right.
[Not yet...not yet..not yet...now! Azalea, Body double]!
A mere moment before Magni's technique hit, Azalea's body mysteriously disappeared from the impact zone and was replaced with a wooden log made of aether. As the technique landed, the log exploded into aether while a confused look appeared on Magni's face. Unbeknownst to him, Azalea was right behind him ready to strike back and maybe hit even harder.
[Verdant Claw]!
One of Azalea's hands began to glow with a green light, as razor sharp blade claws sprouted from between her wooden knuckles. She quickly raked her claws against Magni's back, eliciting a loud whooshing noise. The claws cut deep into Magni's back, leaving three long and bloody gashes across it.
Magni let out a small grunt of pain as the wound on his back began to darken in color and fester, leaving him vulnerable to Azalea's special trait, [Assassinate]!
Most majimonsters can only perform at least one combat technique within the span of six of seconds due to having to recharge their aether after using said techniques. Azalea( and maybe other Bushinados in the future if I decided to become a Breeder) could circumvent that with her trait, [Assassinate].
Apparently when majimonsters are initially inflicted with abnormal status conditions, they release a special type of aether that normally dissipates into the environment. However, [Assassinate] enables a majimonster to absorb this aether and use it to fuel a second combat technique. Which means this next part is going to hurt.
[Azalea! Ferocious Strike]!
Using the momentum from swinging her claw hand, Azalea spun around and made a fist with her other hand. The fist began to glow with an orange light as aether condensed around it. The fist soon became encased in orange aether, forming an even fiercer gauntlet that I felt through the bond was radiating pure rage. Without even stopping her spin, Azalea aimed a hammer fist straight at the poisoned wound.
At the last moment before impact, Magni used his war club as a support and swung his body around in order to avoid the blow. I clicked my tongue in disappointment as Magni dodged the attack, because I knew [Basic] majimonsters like Magni were vulnerable to [Fury] techniques. I then mildly cursed as Magni followed up his dodge with a swift kick to Azalea's head.
That counterattack wasn't light, as I could feel my own head pound in protest as I felt Azalea's pain through the bond. I didn't notice at first, but it had apparently used its own reactionary technique in response to Azalea's second attack. Unfortunately, the pain didn't stop there.
After the counterattack, Magni landed with a grunt and swung the lightning-covered club upward. My head was still reeling from the counterattack so I couldn't tell Azalea to use [Body Double] in time. A quick dull pain soon blossomed from my gut as Magni's war club landed squarely in Azalea's torso. If it felt this bad through the feedback, then Azalea must've felt much worst. I could see(sense?) cracks starting to form on Azalea's armor-like torso.
Fortunately, the pain from that blow cleared my head enough to have Azalea launch another [Ferocious Strike] directly at Magni's head. I had no idea if this blow would be enough to aether Magni, but I knew for certain that it was going to hurt a lot!