Once again Camila found herself below Mane's towering figure. The red in his eyes were not at all inferior to her own, but the deep contradiction between the red of his eyes and the white of his lightning wasn't lost on her. Several loud screeches were heard as Mane gathered lightning into his twin blades, their edges sharpening rapidly under the tempering of the destructive element.
"Bloodied Blade: Crazed Cut of the Blade King!"
With a furious bellow Mane announced the name of his technique. It wasn't to anyone in particular. It was more like a declaration of what he was going to do. He intended to crash the foe before him with absolute force. The lightning around his blades screamed even louder as they became more destructive. The Bloodied Blade Series was so much more destructive than the Prideful Sword Series. So much so that Mane had been able to pick up just one technique from it so far. And when used in conjunction with an element of mass destruction like lightning, its effects were catastrophic. As the swords reached Camila, the temperature of the blades caused her swallow skin to turn redder and sustain a few more burns. The small fiery sparks born from lightning forced Camila to rethink her decision to take the attack head-on.
Releasing a small growl, she twisted he body strangely as massive amounts of death energy were consumed. The large image of the Flood Dragon appeared again. Mane had seen it so many times that it was more annoying to see the scaly face of the beast than it was to hear his father speak about how he met his mother. I mean for crying out loud, he was happy that the two got together. After all, he was born from their union. But did he have to be told over and over again – at least three times a day – how the two met?
Anyway, the image of the Flood Dragon was not as defined as before. It was blurry and much more illusionary, and the death energy that surrounded it was minuscule when compared to its appearances from before. The realization almost had Mane smiling, but he reminded himself that nothing was set in stone yet. He had seen the kind of things Camila was capable of whenever this image appeared. When it was absorbed into her axe she became a few times stronger. And when it was absorbed into her body like right now, she became like a feather – lightweight and difficult to pin down.
Mane watched wide-eyed as Camila turned and shifted and somehow evaded his strike. The resultant sword lights flew towards the ground like misfired high energy beams and left deep cuts that extended way beyond the earth's surface. Even Mane with his Scholar enhanced vision couldn't see how deep those cuts were! Yet that remained a minor concern for him.
Camila eyed Mane with a wrathful gaze. Without holding back any punches – as he had done with her – she swung her giant axe at the seedling Supreme.
"Prideful Sword: Guard of the Half-Moon"
*Bang*
Mane's arms creaked under the sheer power of that strike, and he was knocked several more meters into the air. Camila crouched midair and pushed upwards like she was stepping on solid ground. And even more fascinatingly, her action birthed results. For she dashed towards Mane, moving through the air like she would if she was on the ground – albeit a little bit slower.
"How could I forget that Flood Dragons can actually move through the air?!" Mane scolded himself. Because they had been fighting on solid ground all this while, he had not considered Camila's current movement when the Flood Dragon reappeared. And now he was paying for his carelessness.
In less than a second, Camila was below him again. Her axe was sent swinging upwards as she sought to reap Mane's life like a harvester gleaning for grain. Mane's eyes flashed with a green light as he was hit with sudden enlightenment.
"Of course! I could use it that way!"
Several green specks of light invisible to the naked eye shrouded Mane and he was pushed to the side, successfully evading Camila's strike. Mane used Wind to move midair. He wondered how he had never thought of this before when it was actually the first thing that should have come to mind. It was an element called Wind, which was basically 'moving air'. How did he never link that to the word 'airborne'? He wished he had paid a little more attention to Wind, for he was very unfamiliar with using it midair. And that unfamiliarity cost him. For Camila was right next to him in no time.
Once again she swung her axe at him. And once again, Mane evaded by relying on Wind. It seemed she had realised that he wasn't good at controlling himself midair, so when he escaped her axe, she moved rapidly to the side and struck her long legs towards his side.
"Prideful Sword: Guard of the Half-Moon"
*Bang*
Mane was struck by those thin legs and two of his ribs were fractured instantly, causing his expression to turn a bit pale. He felt as though he was struck by a large bull, and the pain that he felt was one he hadn't felt in a long time. Blood slowly seeped out his mouth as he was sent crashing towards the ground. Because he was midair and was off balance, Guard of the Half-Moon was only able to contain about 60% of Camila's kicking power. The remaining 40% was enough to inflict such a degree of injury on him.
Mane timed his landing well, using wind like a mattress to break his fall and prevent any more injuries. He kept his eyes glued to Camila as he was falling. And because of that he was able to see her rapidly descending towards him. His eyes flashed with a bit of rage – and some weariness for he was mentally drained – and then he did what she had done to him only moments ago. Only this time, he did something it better.
"Combination Technique – Flickering Prideful Sword: Wrath of the Half-Moon!"
Violent torrents of lightning filled Night's Kiss and Night Mare as they were filled with the power of Edict. They shone brightly as powerful sword lights gathered on their edges and covered them entirely. Mane made sure his connection to his swords was robust, and then he threw them!
Like javelins, or Gungnir itself, Night Mare and Night's Kiss flew towards the falling Camila in a straight trajectory. Enhanced by Star Flicker, they moved through the sky like stars on earth. This combination was something Mane had been trying on Zandor. It only had a 30% success rate, and took quite an amount of energy to activate. So it was a huge risk. But he had taken his chance, and it was a success! The swords were so swift that Camila had very little time to react. But she did get her axe in front of her in time. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough.
*Bang*
*Poof*
The large axe was only able to prevent the charge of Night Mare. As for Night's Kiss, it had avoided the large axe and lodged itself into Camila's shoulder. Several bolts of lightning sneaked into her system, destroying organs and tissues and blood vessels along the way. Their destination? The source of her death energy. And they reached their target in no time.
*Boom*
Blood poured out of the wound on her shoulder, and some more found its way out of her mouth as her death energy core was destroyed. The cry of the Flood Dragon was heard once more, only that this time it was grievous, containing feelings of pain that expressed its reluctance at this forced resignation. The image of the flood dragon appeared behind Camila once more, only to shatter into several tiny fragments. Her appearance started to return to what it was. Her hair regained its black color, yet her skinny frame remained unchanged. It seemed that it would take the careful attention of a healer for that portion of her transformation to be rectified. Seeing the changes Mane's eyes flashed in expectation. It was the indication Mane was hoping for. The sign that the technique similar to Possession had been broken. And once he saw it, he moved.
He powered through the pain of the broken ribs. It wasn't his first time getting hurt this badly, and there had even been worst moments. Besides, it wasn't going to be his last. He dashed towards Camila, his speed lesser than it was before, but still more than enough for the current Camila to contain.
The eyes of the Barbarian woman flashed with helplessness as Mane' fist descended upon her. In her last moments all she heard was the name of the fist technique.
"Splintering Fist!"
*Boom*
Mane's fist crashed Camila's chest and destroyed her heart. Once she fell down dead, Mane fell right next to her. Takeover subsided, and its effects racked his body and reminded him not to depend on it so much. Now that the fight was over, he could truly 'relish' the pain that was born from both Takeover aftereffects, the reckless use of lightning and his broken ribs.