Aldrich, who said, "I'm going to make sure I return the favor," was referring to the humanoid beast who hit its hands on Kira.
Aldrich kept walking forward, closing the distance between them, and he said, "I had to use the Speed of Hermes technique that the Library of Hermes grants, or else I wouldn't have been able to save Kira on time. So now I can't use that again. I can't one shot him even if I can. But anyways, I have the Danger Detection technique back."
Since Aldrich's last battle, his body had been enhanced in speed and strength, so he would be able to move faster and better than before, even without the Speed of Hermes technique itself.
Aldrich's last footstep on the ground was visible as his footing left its print on the ground. But he was no longer there.
He had vanished and appeared right in front of the Hollow Oni. He swiftly swung his blade vertically, raising it from below upwards, aiming to use his sword to give the Oni an uppercut.
The Hollow Oni didn't move. Rather, he brought his head down to look at Aldrich, and the impact connected. His sword sliced the Oni's from below towards its face. While the whole attack was going on, Aldrich's blade released an enormous gigantic wave of ice simultaneously that raised upwards from the sword that was already cutting the Oni, sending it upwards and the ice properties slipping into it to freeze it.
But still, the attack shot the Hollow Oni backwards with raising ice spikes from the ground, pushing it backwards until it hit a mountain nearby, pinning the Oni right there. Black blood dripped to the ground, drop after drop it dropped mimicking the sound of water itself. The ice began freezing the Oni itself.
But something was off.
The blood from the Oni began to boil, and so the ice began to melt. Within a few seconds, the black blood had expanded, covering the entire ice and melting it away. The Hollow Oni moved from the position the ice kept it on the mountain to the ground slowly since it was free now . Its feet touched the surface, and its tails dropped to the ground.
Aldrich's eyes widened as he observed the Oni. He said, "It's strong. Kira, you're truly amazing, staying and fighting this monster for who knows how long?"
But as he said that, the surface behind him cracked, and a tail burst out from it and quickly reached his waist region. But his body immediately reacted on its own using the Danger Detection technique. Aldrich vanished from the position he was at and landed on safe ground.
The tail was that of the Hollow Oni. When it landed on the ground from Aldrich's first attack, it slipped its tail into the ground, and that was how it was able to attack Aldrich.
Aldrich, on the other hand, who was now at a safe ground spot, said, "I didn't notice anything coming, even from my normal senses. If it wasn't for the Danger Detection, I would be a dead guy right here."
And so he asked the Library of the Bookkeeper if it had any other ability he could use in fighting the Hollow Oni.
The system prompted.
[System Alert: Library of the Bookkeeper - OFFLINE]
Aldrich said, "What??????"
While he debated and tried to figure out what was going on, the Hollow Oni was done regaining itself. It moved, running down on Aldrich, and it was super fast. Before Aldrich could even notice, it was next to him already. In its right hand, a sword made of pure bone was on it.
It swung down on Aldrich.
But He was able to react, and so he clashed his IceBreaker Sword with that of the Hollow Oni. A powerful impact was created, scattering the ground below Aldrich. His face was terrible. One could tell Aldrich was being pushed back a bit.
But then he did the unexpected.
With his Chainsmile Manipulation one that lets Aldrich switch the IceBreaker Sword to whatever shape he wants,he immediately switched it to a small dagger and moved to the side. That made all the pressure the Hollow Oni was putting on him disappear giving him some extra momentum. Its body rushed downwards, and it crashed towards the ground.
Aldrich launched a rotated kick towards its torso quickly, and it was able to push the Hollow Oni backwards some meters away crashing its back against the ground raising up and crashing one more time before it stopped.
Aldrich said, "I cannot use the ice form anymore because it isn't effective. And here we go this stupid system isn't responding to me anymore. However, I just must fight with everything that I've known and learned so far."
The Hollow Oni roared within,It was angry with the way Aldrich was fighting, and it was only possible because Aldrich was matching it in power in some way,The Hollow Oni may be a monster, but it was a monster that thinks and adapts to things.
And so it raised up and decided it was going to change its static and use something different completely. It was going to go into a wild ranged attack from afar, it began to devour the bone sword, eating it up chomp after chomp it devoured it, Once it consumed it completely, it raised its hand up and clapped it together.
Aldrich was stunned, seeing this monster behave like a something with a brain and who was thinking.
It opened its mouth and fired rapidly the pieces of the bone it had consumed, all flying into the air, which then began to drop rapidly downwards on Aldrich.
His eyes could scan and see them and so he reacted quickly reshaping his IceBreaker from dagger form to sword, Aldrich immediately began swinging side to side, left and right, blocking as many as he could.
But something else was happening. Each particle of the bone that dropped on the ground after Aldrich deflected them it turned into a sharp bone spike. So Aldrich had to be very careful, which he was, and he blocked all he could see.
After that, Aldrich was breathing heavily. He seemed to have missed one which was telekinetically being controlled by the Hollow Oni as a last resort. It then shot downward on Aldrich and pierced his neck. Then it expanded into a large bone sword that had been impaled into him. The bone had massive weight which instantly dragged Aldrich body downwards.
Aldrich was stunned by the attack. But before he could even register this completely, the Hollow Oni had moved, and he was right next to Aldrich. A punch was sent towards Aldrich's face which sent him flying several meters away with a massive injury on his neck.
What would Aldrich do without the system?