At the behest of his chant, several thin, invisible arrows shot out of his eyes like a rain of tiny spears. It arced through space in smooth arcs, all of it aimed at her vulnerable parts.
Mainly: her legs.
"…!!" Master Feng immediately retaliated, taking a step back… just a moment too late. The tiny barrage of arrows were just too fast and too many. Even her astonishing speed and graceful battle art wasn't enough to dodge the torrent of invisible projectiles.
And then, they met their target.
"Gah! Dammit!" A pained groan escaped her lips and she cursed heavily as numerous holes suddenly appeared on her thighs and legs, easily piercing through her robes — which seemed to be enchanted as well — as if it was paper, not the valuable artifact that it was.
…Though, most of the shots did miss, given how little control he had over them, in exchange for the numerous arrows and higher damage output. It was a risk that could have cost him his life, but now that he had won it, he was more or less satisfied with this tradeoff he had made, creating another facet of his most-trusted spell. This would surely help him greatly in the future, given time to cultivate and develop.
…If he was going to survive, that is.
Looking back at the blind woman, her leg and thighs riddled with numerous bloody holes, he couldn't help feel pity for her… almost.
Her eyes were still alit with the fury of a thousand.
She had not given up yet.
Just like he had.
He was not the only one risking their life here.
Just as she was about to topple back as her legs lost all the strength in it, Master Feng suddenly threw her body forward and circulated her mana in her body, no doubt the same vicious and flowing way he had glimpsed when they had met blows.
Straining to keep his eyes open, Lieren clutched at one of them and struggled to stay standing. He had spent a great amount of wild mana, and overworked his channels — especially his eyes — much more than he ever had than fighting the Witch of Envy.
His eyes, specially, felt like they were burning — whether that was from Manavision or something else, he couldn't tell. All he knew was that the world, for him, was nothing but a wavy mirage of cacophonous color and unstable shapes. He found it difficult to focus on one thing, as well as keep the basic image of anything stable.
And so, he closed his eyes, greeting the familiar — but different — visage of infinite darkness. He swore he almost saw something waiting and glaring at him in the abyss…
But none of that was important right now, what's important was what awaited him after that darkness, beyond it and past it. At the horizon of that boundless darkness, he could see a smooth and flowing image of a lithe woman, the channels in her slender body outlining her form perfectly, from the top of her head to each separate toe. It was mystifying how clear and accurate the image truly was… but he had no time to be impressed. There was much to be done.
While his eyes were closed, therefore eliminating the confusing mess that his vision was previously showing him, he — ironically enough — had an easier time sensing his surroundings, but mostly focused on the smooth and flowing image in front of him, the mana within her body vicious circulating, with the greater collection of it concentrated on her right arm, both legs and thighs, and just a trickle on her left abdomen. The rest… the rest was mostly the same, split perfectly even, and flowing all the same with whatever her reserves had left.
His eyes still felt like they were being incinerated by some divine immolating flame.
And then, the mana within the smooth and flowing, lithe figure suddenly concentrated on her legs and hips as the figure suddenly hunched forward and pushed off the abyss.
She was rapidly approaching!
But he wad dead calm. Something about this darkness but him disturbingly at ease, almost like it was his second home. But no, it couldn't possibly be.
His home was elsewhere, after all. Waiting patiently for him to this very day.
Moving in a pitiful copy of the vicious and elegant master's flowing and solid form, he raised his hand and concentrated his mana inside of it, then allowed it to circulate the same hers was, albeit infinitely less efficient.
Still, it was a start. A step he would need to take, no matter how dire the situation was. No matter how close he was to Death's Edge.
He exhaled once, and immediately sucked one back in.
A mind-numbing amount of reverberating pain assailed him as if a giant had collided with his forearms. His nerves warned, screamed, and cried at him stop, but he did not listen.
If he was going to grow, he needed to be able to resist this much pain… as unfortunate as it was.
His Resistance automatically met, diluted, and disabled any possible malicious effects her blows could have dealt and his heavy Fortification met all the physical damage that she dealt… though much less effective in comparison to his Resistance. He had managed to resist most of the damage she had dealt to him.
And yet, she was winning.
Struggling to keep his arms raised and his body stable, Lieren enhanced it and swiftly extricated himself from her heavy blow and swung another one, this time aimed at her leg, and let his Enhancement flow from one fist to another.
His body was on the verge of breaking down.
And that made him more vicious than ever.
Nothing is scarier than a cornered animal. No matter how advantageous or disadvantageous the situation was.
As long as the threat of certain death was beyond a certain point, a person's true nature is bound to come out.
Dismissing his Fortification to further enhance his arm, Lieren poured as much mana as he could into it and then some more, until he felt his arm break apart in response to his strenuous abuse, and then channeled even more, to the point where — even with his eyes closed — he could feel the skin on his muscles burst apart and his blood drain from his body as his muscles tear part from the enormous influx of his remaining wild mana reserve.
This was his only real chance left. After this, and possibly in the far future, there was no other possibility of him beating the vicious master.
It was all or nothing. With everything on the line.
Opening his eyes, he saw her distorted facial expression… and the horrifying amount of blood streaming down her face like a waterfall of molten crimson metal. Her blank grey eyes were still the same though, calm and collected as ever. Despite the curving and arcing set of lines that stretched from her slender neck and simple robe. She looked — no, was in much more pain than him.
That was for certain.
And then, his fist connected with that blood-soaked face, and his guilt was immediately replaced. He had to enhance his feet for a moment to be able to even reach her face, but he was able to gather his wild mana again and further enhance his blow. At this point, even Manavision had been doused, and his eyes shone no longer with magical light.
Instead, it was alit with the glimmer of his undying will.
*BAM*
His bruised body cried as his small fist collided with her bloody, pale face.