I'm at my peak, but he's still toying with me. He managed to hurt me in a few places, but thankfully it wasn't too serious. But I'm not going to be fine when he stops holding back. I'm gonna die if Lily doesn't start helping me anytime soon!
He's using a strange weapon which is so grotesque to look at. Protruding from the palm of his right hand, it is an extremely sharp bone where he can extend or retract at will. That bone blade of his is strong enough to even withstand my Fa Jin Zhòu. You would think a wolf would be using claws instead of bones.
"Is this all you've got to offer? Honestly, I'm starting to get disappointed," he yawned.
Starting to get cocky, eh? So be it. I readied my palm for a spell that I forbade myself to use, but this is a life-or-death situation right now. I cannot allow myself to relax as I need full concentration just to keep up with him. I started chanting, making sure the spell is ready in a moment's notice. I will need to get close to him for this to work.
He charged at me with blinding speed. Even with all my buffs, he was still faster than me. But I have better reactionary speed to avoid his attacks, which is why I only have minor injuries so far. He swung his bone blade, and I crouched low to avoid it. He immediately followed with a stab, but I avoided it with a roll.
I clutched my rapier tightly; losing my weapon in the middle of this fight would be a stupid way to die. I need a ranged weapon to fight him; facing close combat with him is suicide, especially with that bone blade of his. No choice then, while a whip is effective at hitting or catching people at a distance, it doesn't deal significant damage to the target. I'll have to use that weapon despite still struggling to use it effectively.
I swung my rapier and changed its blade to a thinner but more flexible long blade. I'm gonna get cut by this blade again. I held the end of the blade and readied myself to strike Horrus. He grew cautious as soon as I swapped to this blade. This is a weapon that, once again, was born thanks to Zen's weird ideas.
"W—what is that weapon?" he remained alert.
"This… is an urumi. A weapon envisioned by the man you killed!" I shouted as I swung the blade towards him.
He avoided it easily and dashed towards me; but he was sliced behind by my weapon. I quickly swung my weapon to the side to prevent it from slicing me. I'm not fully proficient in using this strange, flexible blade yet. Urumi is much different from a whip. Using a whip is like an extension of your body, focusing only on the tip most of the time. But for Urumi, the entire blade is flexible and sharp. I need to focus on using the entirety of the blade rather than just the tip. Not to mention I can extend or retract the blade at will, which changes its trajectory on the fly. It certainly pushes my skills and brain to the limit when I need to calculate the trajectory of the blade to attack.
"What an unpredictable weapon. But what's unpredictable is the wielder herself. It takes skills to wield such a weapon," he growled as he inspected his wound.
"What can I say? I'm a prodigy," I smirked.
"You certainly live up to your name, to say the least," he continued his charge towards me.
I maintained a safe distance from him using Sacred Wings, flying backwards or upwards to avoid his bone blade; all the while slicing him with my urumi blade. I felt a few cuts on myself from my own blade as I struggled to keep up with the pace of attack, and Horrus knew that he could take advantage of that.
He struck out the moment I retracted my blade, leaping towards me with his bone blade ready to pierce me. But he fell for my trap. What he doesn't know is that I have already readied my forbidden spell. Luring him closer in mid-air was exactly what I'm looking for!
The two of us landed some distance apart after attacking one another. He was aiming for my side, and he wounded me. I was bleeding, but it didn't look too bad. Nothing a little pressure and healing gel couldn't fix. He, on the other hand, is in for a world of hurt. The mark on his neck was a sign that I had succeeded in casting my spell. He seems to have no idea why I would risk myself just to slightly choke him earlier. He grinned at me as he readied himself to attack me once more.
I'll admit, I commend him for not screaming in pain when the first silver threads sprouted from within his body. With quick succession, he pulled out the thread immediately, but more and more threads began to sprout as it started to wrap the entirety of his body. I didn't want to use Subjugate on you, but consider this a professional courtesy for killing my husband.
Horrus continued to pull as many threads as he could, but the sheer number was overwhelming him. As long as you have blood, you can never stop this spell. Even I don't know how to counter this forbidden spell despite being the caster. I'm so glad this spell is declared a forbidden spell, and it was excruciating to learn it. May those rats rest in peace. Victory was at hand; I did it, I stopped a Vessel all by myself.
The threads suddenly caught fire and began to burn. I watched in horror when the flames burned blood-red, acting unnaturally as they burned all the threads from within Horrus's body. Did he just burn all his blood away? How is that even possible?!
Horrus was panting horribly as he glared at me with murderous intent. I should prepare for a counterattack before he—
"YOU—you… that took a toll out of me! That was the most painful thing I had ever experienced. To force myself to burn all of my blood—that spell of yours is… cursed!" He growled loudly as he lifted me by the neck, tightening his grip by the seconds.
I couldn't even react in time. He literally vanished from my sight without me even having the chance to blink. I'm losing my breath—can't think straight. His wounds started steaming as he began to heal himself; possibly regenerating all his blood that he had burned. Horrus extended his bone blade from his right palm again and swung it towards me. I need… to move.
The sound of glasses breaking rang in my ear, and I fell to the ground. I must catch my breath while I can. Breathe, Rose, breathe. The sudden surge of air entering my throat caused me to cough reflexively.
"Took— your time, didn't you? Cough. Were you waiting for me to die before deciding to help out? Cough, cough," I panted.
"Sorry. Not used to this new power," said Lily, who sounded different than usual. Did she hurt her throat or something?
Catching my breath, I finally saw what had happened to Horrus. Frozen lightning spikes protruded from the ground, piercing his body through various parts, keeping him in place. Lily—looked different too. Her armour was different, as it glowed with a hint of blue, and so did her hair. No longer did she have her iconic silver hair with a hint of emerald at its tips. What shocked me was her lack of eye pupils; they were completely light blue.
"Lily? That's you, right?" I asked.
"Do I look that different? I'm just feeling extremely calm right now. It's such a strange feeling," she explained.
Horrus broke through the frozen lightning keeping him in place, or more like he tore himself free. A couple of limbs were dangling from his body as it started to regenerate; not a scene I would like to remember.
"You met someone, didn't you?" asked Horrus.
"You're right. And he's gonna help me destroy you," hustled Lily with her fingers.
"Such arrogance, you will pay for your insolence! To think I have such high hopes for you," Horrus dashed towards Lily with blinding speed once again, but was met with an uppercut to the jaw, sending him flying backwards.
"Rose, you might want to stand back. I would hate for you to get caught by my attacks. Even I don't know what I'm capable of right now," she sped ahead.
Is that—Lily's version of Focused Meditation? She was never able to achieve that state despite trying whatever she could. Even Zen couldn't explain it to her, as he said that it occurred naturally to him after meeting his mother in a dream. And apparently, he made his decision to choose me after his mum agreed on it. The nerve of that man to have his dead mother making decisions for him.
"Who did you meet?! That power doesn't belong here!" he shouted.
"A God," Lily charged towards Horrus, who was retreating at Lily's newfound strength.
I performed a quick check on myself. Focused Blessing, Scared Wings, and Grand Blessings are on cooldown. Only Accelerate and Light Blessings are ready. I can support from range using my whip; definitely not using urumi unless I want Lily to send me flying.
***
I—feel so calm, as though I'm floating on a calm sea without a care in the world where I drift off to. I thought I was a hot-headed elf by nature, constantly charging ahead to brawl in close combat. But now I just feel so… composed.
"Careful now, Arctic Form doesn't last long as it's your first time using it," Prifrolid spoke through my mind. Then I guess I should end him before it comes to that.
Horrus was recoiling with every step forward. Is he afraid of me? The beast who murdered Zen in less than a second? Now that is baffling to me. But let's not stall any longer; I want him dead.
I dashed forward, noticing I was leaving a trail of ice-shaped footprints with my every step. I delivered a punch to him, but he blocked it with his bone blade. He extended another bone blade with his left palm to combat my attacks with his own.
We exchanged a flurry of attacks, punches, and blocks. Neither giving any quarter to one another. He is fast with his attacks, some managing to hurt me even through my frozen armour, but with every millisecond he fights in close combat with me, he's getting his speed reduced. Frost began to form throughout his body as I brought the surrounding temperatures to subzero levels. I hope Rose is far enough to not be affected by it, as I don't have sufficient control over my newfound powers yet.
Horrus realises too late as he tries to gain some distance away from me, but he was already moving too slowly now. I gave no quarter and continued to pursue him, further increasing frost all over him. I thought I had him, but a burst of blood flame emerged from within his body, melting all the ice that I had fought so hard to freeze him with. No matter, let's see whose power is stronger then; your blood flame or my frozen lightning!
The surrounding temperature was reaching subzero now; the ground was cracking due to the temperature, and it cracked or shattered with my every step. Horrus was regaining his speed as his blood flame was melting the frost on his body. Extinguishing his fire was what I needed to do if I wished to win against him.
Time to try out Frozen Lightning Strike with this new form. I leapt into the air and lifted my right arm. An enormous blue lightning bolt flew from the sky and landed on my palm. Horrus retreated at the sight of my lightning, but there was no way I was about to let him escape. I cast Time Freeze and took aim. Time had completely stopped for approximately five seconds, and I threw the enormous frozen lightning towards him, flying at lightning speed before hitting its mark, sending him flying and impaling him against the ravine's wall.
Horrus struggled to remove the giant frozen lightning embedded in his torso, and frost was spreading throughout his body at a ridiculous pace. He intensified his blood flame, but the strength and intensity of my Frozen Lightning Strike outmatched his.
All I could do was watch. I wished I could continue my assault on him, but I knew that I had hit my limit after that last attack. I had never dared to test whether this lightning from the heavens would cause friendly fire to me should I get too close.
"No—it doesn't," said Prifrolid. Ah, thanks for clearing that up.
Horrus's blood flame was beginning to freeze over. Never before can I imagine that flame would just stop moving and be frozen over. Right, what am I thinking? That blood flame is already unholy in nature. Just— a little more. C'mon, you can do it. Please— Just… DIE ALREADY!
He gave his last roar of defiance but finally succumbed to the frozen lightning completely, his whole body covered in frost. Everything went eerily quiet aside from the sound of my frozen lightning that continued to spread throughout the ravine walls where Horrus was impaled.
I… I did it. He's dead. Oh my— this new form is so powerful! Thank you so much, Prifrolid-sama. I'm so glad you chose me as your host.
A sudden wave of fatigue hit me, and my legs gave out; but someone held me by the arm, preventing me from touching the ground. Zen?
"I guess you're the strongest now. Heh heh," chuckled Rose.
"Hah—I really wonder if that's the case," I sighed. My strength had officially left me, and I couldn't even stand properly. Arctic form is powerful, but it takes its toll on my body. I need to be careful in using it in the future, and possibly learn how to take full advantage of this form.
"Wait—did you check up on Zen yet?" I asked her.
"I'm… afraid of finding out. Can you come with me?" she shivered.
I daresay that I understood what she was going through. Even I can't bear the thought of seeing him lying dead on the ground in a pool of blood once again. As though experiencing it once wasn't bad enough, the Goddess decided that I had to experience it twice. It is better that the both of us checked on him. At least we'll have a shoulder to lean on should one of us burst into tears.
"Well… you're gonna have to carry me then. I'm here with you, Rose. Let's find out together," I uttered.
"Alright… let's go," she slumped my arm over her shoulder.
As we headed to that dreaded location, the sound of ice breaking could be heard over the silence in the den area, sending a shiver through my spine. You've got to be kidding me!
Both of us slowly turned our heads, dreading every second of finding out what was making that sound despite knowing the truth. Blue flames melted the ice around Horrus's body. Fuck, why isn't he dead yet?! To think I wanted to mourn him earlier when I thought he saved my life.
Horrus fell to the ground from where he was impaled, seemingly pissed at what had happened to him.
"To force me to use Hellfire, what a bloody joke. The power of the Gods should be reserved for powerful beings, not for the two of you," he spat.
Prifrolid-sama, are you able to help me once again? Otherwise, we're fucked.