Though slightly smaller, the energy was released as a cylindrical beam, just as it was at the time Val sealed it. However, unlike before, it began to expand. The energy erupted in a flash of blinding light.
Val tumbled off the asteroid and into interstellar space. She managed to shield her only remaining eye before flying shards from the asteroids embedded themselves in her forearm. There was a ringing in Val's ear. It was as if she'd lingered too close to a firecracker.
By the time the blurriness in her vision cleared, she was drifting through outer space, barely aware of how fast or far she was traveling. She had no idea how much collateral that astronomical explosion caused. She was just grateful that she had sealed it before it fully developed and destroyed the Shi Mountains, along with her home planet and surrounding planetary systems.
Out of the endless black, a figure was rocketing toward her. It directly opposed Val's slackness. Much less of a prisoner than her, it moved as it pleased.
Its shape was hazy, but she knew who the apparition clad in wounds was.
Warui.
He hit her so hard in the midsection that it knocked her back, sending her careening into a terrestrial planet. Val was on her feet in no time. It hurt, but far less than before. Warui was weakening.
"You presumptuous little stain," Warui shouted. "If Saku hadn't weakened my body all those years ago, I would have finished you in an instant!"
Val wanted to scream back, but she couldn't waste any more precious energy. She looked around, trying to gain an understanding of the environment. She needed every advantage she could get.
The air was thin, offering a hazy and reddish tint to the surroundings. The terrain stretched out before them. Jagged, rust-colored cliffs rose in the distance, casting elongated shadows on the ground.
The sky was pale, and a dusky glow enveloped the scene as if the atmosphere was tinged with the planet's rusty hue. A flicker of movement disrupted her gaze. There, amidst the sea of stars, she saw a symphony of meteors plunging down at them.
Val's heart quickened, adrenaline flooding her veins. She'd wasted too much time stalling. She had already marked Warui with her Prana but hadn't placed any seals until she was sure it was the right move. That was a mistake.
She struck her arm down.
"Sealing Prana: Prana Seal!"
Val willed the seal to halt the flow of Warui's Prana temporarily. While it worked as intended, Val was too late. The meteors, varying in size, were no longer attracted by Warui's gravity but by the planet itself.
Warui took one measured leap back. In the next second, a chunk of ice the size of a building hit the ground right in front of him and exploded, showering everything around with sharp shards.
That marked the start of the chaos.
Val had her next moves mapped out, but to act on them, she had to eliminate the meteors from the equation. Additionally, she couldn't let Warui get a chance to regroup. The fight had to end here, on this very planet.
She darted at Warui, the ground bending and swaying beneath her feet. The meteors continued to fall, leaving a dazzling backdrop and plotting cracks and craters across the planet. That didn't stop Val's momentum. She leaped over jagged boulders and slid through narrow crevices, closing in on Warui, who was flitting around meteors at a slower, ragged pace. One that Val could keep up with.
She timed her punch with the trajectory of a nearby meteor, swinging a wild hook at Warui. She rattled Warui, but he caught himself and threw his own fist in return.
Stumbling back, Val began to strategize what body parts she could sacrifice. A fractured elbow was better than a shattered rib. She could take shots to the chest, but she had to focus all her Prana on protecting her torso and arteries.
Val gave it all she had. She fell into an exchange of brutal, vicious strikes with their feet and fists. Each time they rammed a fist into the other's face or aimed a foot at their opponent's temple, they let out a shockwave that rattled the terrain.
They absorbed each other's blows with their shins and forearms, skillfully dancing around the falling meteors by mere inches. Every time Val landed a blow on Warui, he grimaced in pain, marking her progress.
By the time the meteors stopped falling, their hearts were beating in unison. They both winded up punches, landing simultaneously on the other's cheekbone and sending crackles of energy through the air. The impact rattled their bones, sending them crumpling to the floor.
This was the first time Val knocked Warui down. It was no longer about predator and prey but whose will and stubbornness would see them through.
Val and Warui wheezed, bent at the waist and heaving for scarce air. Their blood and sweat dripped off the tip of their noses, pattering and mingling on the ground.
Warui approached slowly. His pace increased from a jog to a sprint. "Go and meet the dragons!" he shouted, lifting his leg through the thin air. He seamlessly transitioned into a roundhouse kick.
"Doragonken: True Round Kick!"
As his foot traveled, he released a long streak of energy that rippled through the world. Jagged cracks fractured the surface, spiderwebbing outwards. Mountains shattered and crumbled while deep canyons fractured open as the world split in two, revealing the planet's molten heart.
"I knew you'd try it eventually," Val muttered, throwing her hands apart.
"Sealing Prana: Restrain!"
Warui's foot halted, a mere naked inch away from Val's temple. Violet chains appeared on his limbs, spiraling down his arms and legs.
"A movement seal," Val explained. "Those chains restrict you from using your close combat fighting style. Your Doragonken is neutralized."
Val channeled her Prana, creating a solid, long violet katana. "This is it," she said. "This is where it ends."
Warui's eyes roared with a ferocity that Val could feel through her grip. He summoned Ame-no-Ohabari into his hands. "Very well. I'll play your game."
Val found herself bothered more than she should have been. She had the skill advantage in sword fighting, but Ame-no-Ohabari's latent power allowed it to bypass the physical toughness of its targets. One wrong move could be fatal.
Warui sprung out, sword raised, a snarl on his lips. He was fast and vicious. Ame-no-Ohabari whickered down. Val rolled to her right, narrowly avoiding the blade and the division in the planet.
Val heard the sword whistle through the air, and then pain erupted on her right side as the blade slashed her just below the line of her breasts, grazing her ribs.
Val nearly fell forward, yet instinct made her roll over and away. Ame-no-Ohabari whizzed past the side of her face missing by a whisker.
The next time Warui lunged at her, she pulled him to the floor with her. They rolled around one half of the crimson planet, each attempting to slash the other and failing.
Warui swung madly in the air, flinging the blade haphazardly at Val's face.
She dodged the first one, but Warui flung the blade back in reverse and caught her with a slash across the ear. Val scrambled back, away from Ame-no-Ohabari, but Warui heaved the sword down with reckless regard; his impatience being his greatest enemy.
Val sidestepped with elegance, flinging her sword upward and rotating it around sideways to parry Warui's chop.
Their blades collided, and a surge of energy cracked between them. Val made quick work of the attack, deflecting the energy and sending it funneling into the depths of outer space. The power scattered light across the galaxy, and despite the reduction in the number of stars shining, their battle raged on.
Val was growing more tired by the minute, but judging by how telegraphed his movements were, Warui was too. Val quickly took the offensive.
Her sword came down. Warui shoved himself upward, and it landed just below his neck, shredding his torso into a neat row of bloody ribbons. Val thrust her blade forward, but Warui jerked his head away, leaving it to pierce a hollow between his neck and shoulder.
Warui spun to regain his footing, but without his Doragonken, he was always half a heartbeat behind. Val continued thrusting her sword forward in quick movements as she danced around Warui.
Warui parried most attacks thrown his way, but Val managed to slip past his guard.
The tip of Val's blade made a stinging trench in Warui's chest, piercing halfway through his breastbone. Had she struck slightly deeper and to the left, she would've punctured his heart.
Warui dropped to one knee. He looked up, only to see Val raising her blade high above her head. Her stance, coupled with the raw determination in her expression revealed more than necessary.
"It's coming," Warui muttered. "This attack is different from the others. It's too powerful to ignore. I'll end it here."
Warui rushed to his feet, spread his legs, and raised Ame-no-Ohabari into an overhead hold. Mirroring Val's movements, their blades came plummeting down with ferocity.
"What a shame, Saku," Warui said mid-swing. "I'm faster."
Both swords struck flesh.
***
Warui and Val stood back to back in a dark pool of their own blood. He and Val warred in stillness, their whole beings locked in silent opposition.
Warui's jaw flexed. He bared his teeth, finally breaking the silence. "Did you sacrifice your left arm for that?"
Val had moved just before the moment of impact, prompting Ame-no-Ohabari to slice through the flesh just above her armpit, at the midsection of her humerus bone.
Val held her blade with her right hand as her left arm fell to the floor, followed by a steady flow of crimson.
On the other hand, Warui had received a deep lateral cut across his chest, hardly an inch away from being fatal. In addition, the chain that restrained his Doragonken was no more.
The next attacks would decide the winner.
Val and Warui moved in sync, spinning around to face each other. They raised their blades simultaneously.
"I can win," Val said, her voice beaming with hope. "Father, Grandfather, Aziel. . .everyone, please lend me your strength."
They swung their katanas once more, but in that instance, Val's willpower surpassed Warui's. She unconsciously summoned Ame-no-Ohabari into her remaining hand, replacing the blade of Prana. She channeled Prana into the sword, betting all her reserves on this final attack.
With Ame-no-Ohabari gone, Warui had to switch forms at the last second, giving Val the time advantage. He raised his knee and swung his leg in a semicircular motion, a blue blur of light trailing his foot.
"Ririsu Prana: Shōkyo!"
"Doragonken: True Blue Dragon's Kick!"
Warui's kick was a zeptosecond too late.
Val's blade struck true.
***
Warui dropped to one knee amidst a flash of violet light. It started at his feet, but his whole body was beginning to disappear. He had lost.
His opponent was standing just a few feet ahead, holding Ame-no-Ohabari. How was she still standing? On top of all the pain he'd dealt her, he had taken her left arm and left eye, scarring her permanently.
"What is your name?" Warui asked. He wasn't sure why he asked. His death was set in stone. Knowing her name wouldn't change that. But he figured he should at least know the name of the second person to best him in battle.
"Valerie Shi," the woman replied.
Hearing the name "Shi" irked his core. They remained silent until Shōkyo spread to Warui's neck. The last thing Warui saw was a tear leaving Valerie's dark, unyielding eye. Her choppy breathing and watery eye remained for quite some time, and he stayed there, unmoving. She had pity for him, just like Saku did all those years ago.
Warui felt something well up deep inside him. He squeezed his eyes shut. "Just stop," he said as Shōkyo erased his head. "I hate you."
***
Raijah and the others were tightly packed into a crowd. Along with the Shi family, they continued anxiously watching the evening sky. The crowd began to part, making way for something—or rather, someone.
Raijah saw Val's silhouette limping toward them, illuminated by red and yellow bursts of the evening sun. He couldn't tell if his eyes were playing tricks on him, but Val seemed to be missing an arm. When she finally came into view, he noticed that not only was her arm gone, like Ujinari's, but her left eye was missing, leaving a wound that resembled Aziel's.
The others seemed to notice this too. Wrinkles of surprise appeared on their foreheads. Ujinari and Aziel hurried to her side while Cora and Teo stayed back to help Raijah carry his weight.
Val began to fall forward just as Ujinari and Aziel reached her. She fell into their arms, muttering, "Father. . .Aziel. . .I've become just like you."