She regarded Igor with a furious expression, her desire to kill him not hidden. Her breaths were heavy, her pupil-less gaze focused on him. She sniffed the air a few times and immediately, her power fluctuated once more.
He was a threat, a threat that must be eliminated. On instinct alone, she charged.
Her goal?
His destruction.
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|DxD|
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CLASH!
Like a powerful tsunami, Triny's foot collided with Igor's raised forearms. The impact alone created a shockwave that uprooted every single piece of grass for hundreds of metres.
Triny was more powerful than him in his current state. He could easily admit that. But as he had come to learn that power was not everything.
And he would impart that same lesson to her.
"Hup!"
Grabbing her foot, he used her momentum to swing her over his back and slam her into the ground.
BOOM!
Holding her felt like plunging his palms in burning oil. He imagined this was the reaction caused by her chakra clashing with his ki. Regardless, this wouldn't hinder his ability to fight. Though he wasn't tanking blasts any time soon.
Su!
Sidestepping away, he dodged a rather nasty mouth beam of black tainted energy that shot right up into the sky.
He didn't have enough time to admire it however when black tentacles suddenly shot out of the ground like pillars.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
"..."
She was going all out, wasn't she. With a pair of crimson ki blades in hand, Igor flew away while dodging the horde of little monstrosities that sought to restrain him. Cutting across the rapidly growing forest of tentacles, he spotted a relatively clear path to Triny and used his Instant Vanish to immediately close the distance.
Tswii!
Leaving behind only a high-pitched squeak as the note of his rapid departure, he appeared right next to her. With his body still in midair, the ki blade on his hand extended by a metre before quickly…
Shiiiing!
…he swung it to decapitate her.
"?!"
Yet whether it was instinct or her danger senses saving her, Triny was able to duck at the last moment. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for her wings.
"RAAAAAAAAAAH!"
With a piercing demonic scream of pain, she unleashed a powerful explosive barrier that pushed him back.
GRUUUUU!
Surrounding herself with a giant dome of black energy, it continued to rapidly expand in all directions, even underground.
[Wow. That is a lot of power.]
Flying away to escape its ever-expanding radius, a distance of a few hundred metres opened up between them. Once he was sure the wave wouldn't expand any further, he stopped and observed his forearms. There was black miasma on them, but his aura was doing a very good job of burning it away.
[Demi-ki can combat her nature energy-infused chakra. Good to know.]
Aside from his will, maybe it was because of it that she didn't succeed in completely controlling him the first two times.
[She'll be an absolute monster if she can control her power.]
If she can induce madness in people along with frying their bodies from within, all without moving a single muscle, then she would belong to her own threat class. Possible a flee-on-sight threat category.
Watching the giant barrier finally dissipate, it revealed Triny to be hovering in midair with all her wings out. The entire area had turned into one giant crater, the ground appearing to have been scooped out with a spoon.
What caught his eye more than the destruction however was that visible part where he had cut off a part of her dragon wings.
[They aren't healing?]
Mildly taken by surprise at the sight, he didn't linger on the phenomenon. He was more concerned with the lass who seemed ready to kill him at any moment.
"RAAAAAAAH!"
She was still berserk all right. And very ready to eat him alive…literally. If those canines in her mouth had anything to say, then the feeling he got when she bit his shoulder earlier would feel like a love-bite in comparison.
"..."
Shaking his head, he stopped his mind from having useless thoughts. Regardless, if he wanted to induce consciousness, then he was going to have to up the punishment.
[If demi-ki can burn her miasma, then it should hurt her enough if I lunge a few ki blasts at her.]
Spreading his hands wide, crimson spheres formed within his palms before he thrust them out.
"Haa!"
Immediately, numerous ki blasts flew out of his hands like a machine gun. A long massive wall of earth rose to her defence, but his blasts pierced through it with ease.
Keeping up the barrage, he could sense some of his blasts were being redirected and others outright detonating before they reached their target.
Her defense was fairly impressive, but a real warrior would know this unnaturally long barrage was a distraction. Firing the last deluge of ki blasts, he swiftly manipulated the ones that had 'missed' their target to suddenly turn back and attack from behind.
Being pressed from all sides, there was only one foreseeable result.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Like dozens upon dozens of grenades, the spheres continuously attacked Triny from all directions in a suicidal bombing. No matter how good her defenses were, the constant deluge of demi-ki fueled blasts were quick to overwhelm her already weakened defenses.
Her pain-fueled roars resounded throughout the region, her cries sparking a hint of hesitation in Igor's heart…hesitation which was quickly squashed.
Hopefully, the pain would be enough for her to come out of her berserker effect because what he was about to do next would really hurt.
Su!
Charging right in through the smoke, his glowing gaze narrowed in on her. Her attire was tattered, but she was healing at a visible rate. Still, as he closed the distance between them, he would take care not to grievously harm her.
Booom!
Landing a kick on her chest, he sent her flying once more before he vanished.
Su!
Appearing ahead of her flight path he elbowed her right in the back, causing her to sputter out a cry of pain.
"Control your power, Triny!"
Tswii!
Instantly appearing above her, he landed a falling heel kick to the top of her head, sending her careening towards the crater below.
Suuuuuu…BOOOM!
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Silence…
Igor didn't rush after her. He needed to give her time for her consciousness to stem and take control.
"Come on, Triny! Are you really going to be controlled by puny desire?!"
There was no reply. Her energy seemed to be rather stable compared to her constant state of flux, giving him the subtle hope that she was slowly regaining control over her current state.
However, he guessed too early.
"?!"
It was only his reactions that saved him. Moving on instinct, he dodged a very sharp tentacle that would've pierced through his brain had he not got out of the way. Leaning back, it passed right above his forehead, giving him a very clear view of its texture in HD.
But that was not all.
Su!
Feeling her presence behind him, Igor tried to evade using Instant Vanish, but was struck before he could use the technique.
"Argh!"
Feeling the kick to the back rattling his spine, he was sent flying through the air. The sudden pain spread throughout his body, making his nerves shut down for a moment or two. Rebooting at the last second, he opened his eyes to find that he was on a flight path to Triny.
She was holding a black spear in her hand that would no doubt be used to pierce his chest if given a chance.
"?!"
Already too close to her to use conventional reaction measures, he once again used Instant Vanish to appear behind her…
Tswii!
…just in time for her spear to pierce the flickers of his form. Now behind, Igor was confronted with her wings. Jumping up to dodge the appendages that tried to attack him, he unleashed a quick double kick to the back of her head that made her stumble forward.
Tswii!
Another application of Instant Vanish saw him elbow her in the gut before he released a powerful uppercut that sent her soaring into the skies.
Vwomp!
With his free hand, a crimson sphere formed before he launched it at her.
Booom!
Unfortunately, the explosion happened far from its intended location. At the last second, Triny had reacted and dodged the sphere, righting herself in the process. She looked down at Igor, the animosity on her face making Igor smile in amusement.
[This little…]
She was conscious, wasn't she. Even with all the tribal tattoos covering her face, he would recognise that angry expression anywhere.
[Fine. I'll play your little game.]
If she wanted to sell her story of still being 'berserk', then she should've worked on keeping her energy in a constant state of flux because as it was, it was too controlled for someone who's supposed to have nothing but destruction on their mind.
Su!
Rushing forward, he engaged her in combat.
CLASH!
No longer influenced by her berserk state, Triny was actually putting up a better fight than he thought. Then again, she was privy to the experiences of numerous individuals who failed to control nature energy. Still, he held the advantage.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Darting across the horizon, their figures were replaced by brief motes of light and the continuous sound of thundering strikes caused by their clash. For those with more discerning eyes, the most they'd see were afterimages or "pictures" in the air before those eventually faded.
If Igor wasn't sure Triny was posing, he was definitely sure now. The little girl was fighting way too cleverly and most importantly, way too cautiously for someone who was supposed to be berserk.
Sidestepping a sharpened tentacle aimed for his stomach, he used the motion from the movement to land a left hook to her face. Through gritted teeth, she tanked the hit and tried to retaliate with a punch to his gut. But like always, he grabbed her hand and used the new opportunity to drive his knee into her ribs.
"Argh!"
Remarkably, she only grunted instead of crying. But this proved the disparity between them. Triny was strong. There was absolutely no room for doubt there. Her higher power-level automatically made her faster and stronger than him by default.
But she lacked his perception, reaction speed, and combat experience. And since the power gap between them wasn't that wide to begin with, Igor was able to easily dominate her with his techniques.
At this point, the redhead was somewhat satisfied. The worst of his battle-lust had been somewhat sated so there was no need to continue any further.
Channelling ki into his fingers, he flicked her forehead, which was surprisingly enough to send her stumbling back for a few metres.
"Alright, Triny. That's enough. I know you're not berserk so we can stop."
"?"
Rubbing her forehead, Triny looked at him with a pupil-less gaze before she frowned.
"Boooo! Hmph!"
"..."
This…the disparity in her actions and her appearance was too much. Even his mind blanked out for a moment as he tried to process how she just shattered her demonic persona.
Did she not know that when you transform, you are supposed to maintain the image of a strong man? It was an unwritten rule meant to preserve the majesty of their new powerful state. And now, there she goes shattering her powerful demonic persona.
Placing a hand to his forehead, he shook his head in disbelief and amusement.
"Pfft…"
Still, he was proud that he learned to control her powers. She was surprisingly quick too.
"Pwahahahaha!"
He assumed he'd have to beat her up for a long time.
"Meanie! Don't laugh at me!"
Seems like he won't have to anymore. Though, he certainly would have to teach her about the unwritten rules of maintaining a persona when transforming. No one ever saw Goku at Super Saiyan 3 acting like a child. Maybe he should introduce her to the holy book after this. With her own transformation in her skillset, she definitely needs it.
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AN
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Why is Triny's true form a horrible rendition of a wannabe fairy instead of the super megaton monster that rivals Great Red in size? I think it has a lot to do with this little tidbit below.
'It had been quite a while since Shiva and Nandi had appeared as spectators in this battle. It had come as quite a surprise when while in training, both of them felt the avatar of Trihexa manifest, a unique phenomenon that warranted a personal observation.'
Seems like this version of Triny is more of an avatar or her soul than anything. In my opinion, I think there's a lot more to her story that we haven't found out yet so I won't draw conclusions.
Those interested are welcome to read ahead on my patreon. Otherwise, until the next chapter.