*
"Localised time stop." (Barius)
Fixing only a single point of space in time, she sleekly immobilised Kaede's void sword. It was akin to an ever rotating mass of darkness, its mechanism was closer to a drill than an actual sword as its edges constantly spun around the hilt. And it... Stopped rotating. The main driving force of its edge was pressure accumulated from its gyroscopic rotation, without that it was pretty much just air.
Barius followed it up with a quick knee smash, swinging her right knee into Kaede's solar plexus. At the instant of impact, she saw her vision vanish for a moment. Barius wouldn't let go of this opening, she launched her other fist, striking squarely into her chest. She flew back, crashing into a nearby hill... Well, a few kilometres was as near as it gets. Without the sturdy hill, she might have kept flying until she rounded the earth.
Her lungs were punctured, her vision red with her own crimson body fluid, her fingers felt cold and her sight trembled vicariously. Her brain wasn't able to make effective use of the sensations her body were feeling, giving an overall wobbly feel. Her joints felt light and weightless, numbingly so. Her flesh felt heavy like lead as it hung around those joints.
She used her core strength and pulled herself back up without using her arms. They were still trembling from her earlier punches, meeting a larger force like Barius had damaged her arms with sheer recoil. Her hair swayed around in a rigid manner, dampened and weighed down by her sweat and blood. She blinked once more, and the blood in her eyes vanished. Her regeneration had caught up, sucking the blood back into her burst eye blood vessels.
"Haa~ fuuuuuhh~" (Kaede)
She exhaled a deeper breath, sharpening her gaze onto her target. She concentrated her magic onto her fists, strengthening them.
"Magia Retainment 20%" (Kaede)
Travelling faster than she had ever done before, she busted through the sound barrier within a second. Think calmly, no matter how much she boosted her stats now, hse would never match up to Barius in that department. In other words...!
Kaede swung her entire body, jumping into the air to slam her feet down at Barius with an aerial kick. Barius would always be able to react with her sheer speed and strength, then Kaede must fight better. She needed to execute moves that would bring her a winning position, admittedly that sounds easier said than done, but this meant that she simply needed to pull off moves that would allow her to win even if Barius were to block and disarm them. Attacks that inevitably damage Barius or rushes that she can't block or dodge no matter what.
Barius formed a water glove with her first skill, it bubbled and jiggled without a fixed shape over her wrists as she swung it at the aerial kick. The glove bursted, and the water evaporated into fine mist as it collided with Kaede's right foot. Kaede bent her hips lower, using Barius' fist as a foothold to channel her strength into her other foot, throwing a wide swing at her neck from the side. Barius blocks with her other arm, now Kaede's legs were locked to Barius' arms, akin to a certain thunder cross attack.
At the same time Barius launches a kick from under Kaede, bending her pelvis to the absolute to strike Kaede's back. Kaede smashes her right arm down her back, barely blocking the kick as it struck her palm instead. Kaede was desperately searching for alternative ways of attacking in order to eke out some damage, but was promptly shut down each time. She swings down a newly materialised void sword with her remaining arm, which was similarly repulsed by a reinforced water blade, she then made use of the momentum to push her body back and escape the deadlock.
She seemed to be constantly on the receiving end of damage as she had to wait for her regeneration to patch her back up each time. She leapt towards Barius once more.
"Magia Retainment!!! 30%!!!" (Kaede)
Her speed gained even more as she zoomed towards Barius. She swings a kick from the side...
" 40%!!!!!! " (Kaede)
With another burst of speed, her leg accelerates towards Barius' neck, the sudden acceleration had shocked her for a moment but she quickly recovered and barely dodged it in time, causing Kaede to fly past her as she spun forward after the missed kick...
A familiar black rapier pierces through her chest, slicing through the center of her still beating heart. It contracts and expands over the edge of the blade, continuously tearing itself a larger hole. Barius had gotten the timing messed up and subconsciously relaxed, assuming that Kaede would have been carried by her own velocity, pushing her continuously after her missed kick... But instead Kaede stopped herself mid-air right behind Barius and exploited the chance to launch a surprise attack.
Unlike the sword, the rapier was thinner, lighter and quicker. It also made less noise, effortlessly tearing through the air without stimulating any particles to form sound. It was thin enough to slice inbetween atoms, the only reason anyone could see a visible black rapier was due to the aura that it gave off, it was always radiating magical particles that sucked in the light.
She pulled out the void rapier from Barius' body, readying her next attack with a forced backwards step, by smashing the ground with her feet she propelled herself backwards with immediate explosive agility. Sure enough, Barius had already followed up by closing the distance before Kaede could even see her move. She desperately blocks the oncoming strike by swinging her rapier at an awkward angle, enough to change the flight's momentum completely.
Right now, the stage was mostly neutral, perhaps slightly in Barius' favour as a fair battle would favour her higher stats. Kaede had ever so slightly been pushing back, putting her all into edging out the slightest advantage for herself. She accelerates to maximum speed, she has to maintain this speed if she wanted even a chance at dodging Barius' attacks, the tension spreads throughout her body, pushing it to its limits just for an opportunity of surviving. On the other hand, Barius had a much calmer experience. It might have resulted in her carelessness which had allowed Kaede to survive up till this far into the fight...
...Which was supposed to be the usual flow, unfortunately she fully utilised her mental fortitude that possessed a significantly higher amount of composure. There was absolutely no gaps in any of her movements, truly displaying that her moniker of perfection was not just an intimidation technique. She displayed absolute efficiency, there was almost no waste in all of her movements.
She swung her water blade, making absolute use of its reach as Kaede barely dodge the straight thrust, its edge causing a deep bloody cut in her cheek. Right now she was too close to the opponent to make any comfortable move, Barius had swiftly destroyed her posture and Kaede couldn't even fault her for it. Barius had subjugated her position so neatly that Kaede couldn't help but admire her skills.
Would things have been different if Barius was there during the fight with The Progenitor? No... The Eye God had deemed her unworthy of fighting The Progenitor after she lost to one of the ArcMaidens... But as things stood now, they were in opposite positions. Kaede might not even qualify to stand on the same stage any longer.
She swings her rapier against the water blade that was inching so closely to her face, protecting the rest of her body, then she twisted her hips mid air and struck Barius' torso with her right leg. The impact cracked the ground under her feet as Barius was sent back a few meters. Kaede was planning to sacrifice a limb or two to get out of that dangerous position, but oddly enough her body 'felt' that a different course of actions would be better, so she went with it.
In the first place, it wasn't as if her muscles weren't trained. In fact her body was honed to the very limit, right now what she was overcoming was a mental slump. She needed to learn how to fight better and move properly. This entire time she had been getting by by relying on others.
Her heart beat faster, her mind sharpened and her vision focused into her opponent. For this match, even if it was just training... Yeah... She reaffirmed her feelings herself, no matter what she didn't want to lose. Not even in training. She leaped forward, swinging her long 2m rapier from a short distance away. Barius ducked and shifted her center of gravity to her left, causing the rapier to only slice through a few stray strands of hair.
She then swung her rapier to her right, slicing closer towards Barius. Relying on pure speed, Barius materialised a water shield to block the lethal strike. Using her magic, Kaede applied the propulsion technique under her feet. A small explosion of air occurs under the soles of her feet, shooting her forwards and into the air. Kaede bent her body and shifted her weight around to manipulate her trajectory, drifting around the shield to open another space for attack.
Barius twists her torso, bringing her shield with it which withstood another attack from the void rapier. Kaede spun her waist and struck her foot onto the shield's surface, her combat dress included some low heels that functioned to protect her feet during such attacks that she executes.
*BANGG!!!*
A dull metallic scream resounds, the recoil traversed into Barius' elbow joints as Kaede somersaults off the water shield that she stood on. She landed on the ground while facing Barius, but-
As she somersaulted, Barius rushed straight into her body, ramming it with a shield. Even if she tried to block it with a parry from her rapier, it would have struggled to even slow down the rush, it was just bad at stopping a shield rush due to its low surface area build. The impact pulverised her ribs and sent her flying backwards.
"GAHAGHH!!!" (Kaede)
She dug her rapier into the ground, dragging it across while she was thrown to slow done her speed, and to kill the momentum of Barius' attack. Her arms convulsed in pain due to the overwhelming recoil that ran through it. She grabbed her rapier with both arms, tired and weary muscles screech at her in turn, but she wouldn't let herself rest now.
She landed with both legs on the ground, followed by an immediate propulsion that sent her straight back at Barius. She swung her rapier which collided with the water blade, then she shrunk its blade to pull away her rapier before expanding it again and slamming it into Barius a second time. Barius barely blocks it, but launches a devastating kick into Kaede's side. In response, Kaede raised a knee and gritted her teeth, the force was still great enough to send her flying a few metres but nothing as bad as the previous times she was thrown.
She hopped into the and spun to gather more force, bashing her rapier down onto whatever met it in resistance. Barius changed to a shield which was more effective in this situation, then her other arm conjured a water whip. They haven't used their second skills yet, as they directly counter each other and simply wastes their magical particles.
She a twist of her wrist, the whip flies ferociously into the air, like a living eastern dragon it consciously curved around and flew towards Kaede. She summoned a second rapier and sliced the whip exactly down the middle, as if she bisected the dragon down its length through its head. With another propulsion...
"Magia Retainment: 50%." (Kaede)
Despite having a 10% difference, it required immense control to keep the activated magical particles within her body to fuel her magic and enhance her body simultaneously. As such, it was far better to vocalise it as if she was commanding reality to obey her. Others would say that speaking their skill names out loud makes them stronger due to this slight margin of control, a portion of them would secretly just think it was cool.
With 50% of her Well enhancing her stats, another short burst of speed launches her forward as her body adapts to its new capabilities. One more time, she swings her rapier and Barius blocks it with her shield in response. She rushes closer and lets go of the blade, then she swings her enhanced fist in quick succession. Barius stops the first punch, but her other arm was still holding her shield for a moment, so her second punch got through and struck Barius' chest.
The impact reverberated through her body which involuntarily caused her body to be stunned for a moment as it hasn't adapted to any concussive force yet. This was the first hit dealt by Kaede, she would fully make use of that single window of opportunity, launching an enhanced kick at her head, which caused even more convulsing on Barius' side. Her head sways for a moment before Kaede launches another punch, she catches it in time but couldn't react to the low kick into her torso.
A sensation of weightlessness engulfs her body.