*
"Fine, I'll fight with one arm." (Kaede)
Her long range attacks are too weak, her mind was too dull. The lose of blood was taking a toll since she hasn't substituted oxygen with magic yet. Her left arm felt numb and fatigued at the same time. Karell continues to fire spatial attacks, distracting the swordsman who could only parry away the attacks into nonexistence.
"Haa~ haa~" (Kaede)
... Damn, even my breathing is getting louder, she thought. Tightening her grip on her rapier, she lowered her chest and hips, adding a little bend to her knees to loosen them up. Remember, despite the present state of her body or mine, she was still the strongest that she had ever been by using Fully Retained Magia. She assured herself as such and leapt in with all her strength. Her right leg bent towards her chest as she flew through the air, her right arm bent to the left side of her body with her rapier, winding up for a powerful swing.
Right as she stepped into his range, she launched her right foot into the ground to barely dodge his blade by redirecting her momentum and body. Then she proceeded to swing her rapier which was longer in length, abusing her long reach to deal damage. Preventing her regeneration with distorted space that impeded any place for her hand to grow... Fine, don't blame me for taking inspiration.
The rapier sliced through the air over the outstretched sword, attacking before she even dodged his attack, it soared and struck into the left side of his neck. His muscles were too thick for her rapier to slice apart, but the tip was able to barely burry itself into his flesh with all the added pressured applied to it.
"Just a bit more..." (Kaede)
The rapier's blade spun like a drill, tearing off slightly more of his flesh to hit the carotid artery. She jumps back to ensure her own safety while the rapier shrinks and hides inside his wound. Nice, the attack busted through both his natural toughness and his magic defence. For a temporary amount of time, that chunk of missing flesh wouldn't count as part of his body and his magic defence wouldn't cover it, she could maintain the void disc inside his body to leave a lasting wound.
Offensively, his sword was just a better version of her first skill while missing its utility. It can't shape shift, so it can't form a barrier or extend to reach the opponent.
"ARGHH!!" (Yiren)
Letting out a pained groan, he gritted his teeth and began enduring the disk spinning through his flesh and imepding his regeneration. Kaede would like to be snarky and comment about it at that moment, but she wasn't really that patient. She jumped in once more with a new rapier in tow, while Karell had gone slightly before her, seeing as there was an opening.
'Leave his sword to me, I've thought of it and I'm sure now.' (Karell), was what Kaede believed she heard after observing a nod from Karell before she sped up. Splitting into the left and right, Karell was far closer to him on the right. By the time they had finished speaking, he was already on high alert. Karell showed absolutely no sign of stopping while Kaede prepared a killing blow by enhancing her rapier with as much magic as she could.
"Second skill transcendental imbuement, move" (Kaede)
Karell swung her right fist at his face which he promptly slices through from the front with his blade, starting from between the middle finger and ring finger then through her arm and elbow. Half of her her upper arm had been serrated but she paid it no mind as she followed up with a left punch to his jaw while his blade was still in the middle of her arm. While her left fist didn't knock him off his balance, it managed to conceal his vision which Kaede took advantage of.
She side stepped out of his peripheral vision while concealing her movements through concealing the wind pressure it generated, then from the side, she sliced deeper into his neck with a powerful thrust. This time her blade slid in smoothly as it stabbed into his skin, sure it made an incredibly deep wound and was so powerful he might have to revise his list of people that could threaten his life. He was boasted as the Demon King's right hand man, a potential individual who could arrest control of the demon throne if not for his absolute devotion to the royalty.
But the attack was just that, her rapier was thin. The wound might be deep, but its volume persay was quite small. She barely reached it, his spine. It was only slightly off to the back but she slice closer to the back.
Not a sound escaped from his lips, tremendous pain suppression was being practiced as he calmly gripped his sword tighter to slice her rapier in half. Karell somehow repaired her right fist and launched at his jaw, but her torso was quickly bisected in exchange. She was too slow, the enemy swung one final overhead swing at Karell.
Why did it have to end like this...? Was what she would have thought if she hadn't gone on this crusade against the Demon King. The fate of humanity rested on these heavy shoulders, the hopes of her comrades who left earlier pushed her on even now. There is no time for such futile thoughts, only action. She shifted the gradients of her entire vicinity while hopping forward.
Yes, she feels she can still make it now if she runs, it wasn't much of a distance anyway compared to the entire trip here. Compared to 4000 km, this was nothing, a mere 3 metres was such a short cross that there isn't even any point in calculating the time. Karell pulled her over to this side, to Kaede's own land of hopes and dreams. This was the final destination for Kaede, where she knew what she needed to do to get her answers but not whether she had the strength to execute it.
But at least for this very movement, she felt her speed blaze past all her previous records, for her moment her body no longer felt pain. It felt elevated, as if she was ascending into a higher state, even though she knows no such thing is happening. The only change was in the gradients of her surroundings. Ah, she acknowledges. Pulling the spatial gate earlier on, she knows she can just close it to retreat and save Karell. But the Demon King hasn't been defeated, and every moment they waste, the Demon King clones kill more innocents.
She can't retreat then. For the sake of humanity... To save everyone... To save Kaori... To save Karell... Kaede needed to...
"... Who the fuck is going to save me? That's me that has to do it isn't it?" (Kaede)
Her voice reverberated through the air coldly, echoing in her own mind like an anguished curse. Her hatred towards everything leaks through, but she barely contains her shivering lips as she stared straight at Yiren. She had arrived on time, her body served as some resistance by using her will stay as a magic shield. Of course she got injured in the process, her flesh served to detain the blade for a moment, allowing Karell to escape.
The blade cleaves through from her shoulder to the centre of her torso, near her belly button. Blood seeps through her lips as she gazed at the unicorn monster. The Demonic Heavenly King's were basically the highest forms of existence in the demon country, to highest known evolutions that the other monsters could achieve. Towards this being that had reached the peak of their own journey...
She can't care anymore than that. To her, his title was just his title. What's the point in being scared by his ominous title? His absurd magical weapon, or his obnoxious skills?
"Have you given up?" (Yiren)
He took her ramblings as that of a madman. He didn't really seem to think much of her or her words anyway. At her deaths door, that was the impression that all her efforts amounted to in the end. He swings his blade back up, ready for a quick and swift victory.
"Ahh~~ why did I... Why was I like this... Why the hell have I been-" (Kaede)
He swings down. Karell rushes against Kaede, attempting to do the same as what she did to save her. Her body crashes against Kaede as Kaede stood firm.
"...!?" (Karell)
Kaede's eyes were dim and lifeless, did she want to die that badly? Karell racked her mind for an explanation for Kaede's reaction to her attempt, but she couldn't think of anything. Miraculously... The blade stops right above her head before it begun to convulse, his strength was struggling against some kind of resistance. Relief that her friend survived, Karell was still surprised at what she was witnessing, before she turned her head towards Yiren.
Her eyes widened, she felt her heart dropped into a deep hole. Kaede didn't even get stronger or anything, she was just using her powers differently than usual. Over a metres away from her, Kaede looked to be lifeless as her skin and complexion was pale of all colours. She was floating in mid air, none of her muscles were tense. She had released all the stress that she built up and began moving in an inhuman way.
She laid her back and supported her body with air pressure, shifting her head below where Yiren's sword struck. Kaede had begun to trust her instincts instead of thinking and analysing her opponents so hard, it was forgivable only for this battle because her opponent had such simple skills. As for why the sword was stuck... Floating black hands with wrists connected to nothing were holding and suppressing his elbows and wrist.
Her way of fighting had become more animalistic, no longer using weapons but otherworldly palms of emptyness. Other than the 4 hands suppressing his arms, more palms complete with their own set of fingers began to materialise in the air around him. Each finger spun like a drill, they swarm his skin like bees as they pierced playfully into his skin. All the while, she floated casually under the edge of his sword. He swung his leg, but a palm promptly smashes against the top of his knee to suppress it. Then more palms materialise to drill his thigh and knee with their fingers.
"Ho~? You still have the will to fight while restrained. I admire that. I don't have such a will anymore." (Kaede)
"What the hell are you talking about..." (Yiren)
He spoke through his gritting teeth as he kept pushing his muscles to the max. In fact, he is reliant on his muscles. The efficiency of his muscles are not part of a skill but part of his evolution, it could be thought of as a passive skill. At the same time, it is this hyper optimisation of his muscles that further exacerbates their weakness as well. Strangle holds, points where his muscles can be disabled are further intensified.
It's not as if those little hands that Kaede create are weak either. Each of them have enough strength to match a low S grade, combining them is able to slow him down and have her second skill work to freeze the air around him. It's as if he's trying to swim through solid concrete without magic.
Right, she lost her will to fight. She's entrusting her body to spontaneous decision making, she's no longer planning her moves. Engaging in such a reactionary combat, this was the first time she tried it. It's all because she's no longer fighting, she's subjugating. As the one on the weaker side, it's as if she's a prey that's using everything at her disposal to overturn the battle and kill the predator. Anything she could think of on the spot, nevermind the risk, she'll just do it now.
More hands materialised, this time they grasp at his neck and pushed his jaw up. He unleashes his aura as a wave of magic, disintegrating all of her detached hands and finally swinging his blade down. She rolls through the air beautiful, dodging while maintaining her midair state. Then she launches void spears. Karell was not as heavily, so she stepped in to offer some support. Slicing at the space around Yiren to give him some cuts while softening some of his swings.
He swings once more at Kaede, to which she lands on the ground like a frog before hopping to the side and spinning to land on the wall, another swing smashes the wall right after she jumps onto the ceiling to rain void spears on his head. Long rods of jett black fly at top speeds towards him, which he smashes apart with a wide swing of his sword. She had been thinking for a while, but this battle must have only taken a minute.
He was really fast, the only time they had managed to defeat him were when his blade was literally inside their bodies, cleaving them apart. She feels far more relaxed than ever, she felt like she was finally closer to the truth than ever.
This must be what Grail wanted. It feels familiar as well. The desperation for survival when I first met Grail, this was the way the entire journey started.