Chapter 186 A One Sided Fight
Ava stood tall, her sword held in a defensive position as she stood between Himiko and Shinya. The air around them was tense, charged with the remnants of the battle that had just taken place.
Himiko lay on the ground, gasping for breath as she tried to regain her strength. Shinya glared at Ava with an irritated expression on his face, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword tightly.
The sound of their heavy breathing filled the silence, broken only by the faint rustling of leaves in the wind. Ava stood her ground, her eyes locked onto Shinya's, waiting for him to make his next move.
Shinya's sword crackled with energy as he eyed Ava with a mixture of amusement and hostility. "Who the hell are you?" He demanded.
Standing tall and resolute, Ava met his gaze with a steady one of her own. "I am Ava, the witch of destruction," She replied calmly. "And if you value your life, you'll return to where you came."
Shinya's laughter echoed off the nearby trees. "So you're one of the mysterious witches everyone was talking about," He said, shaking his head in amusement. "I must say, you look impressive." His eyes narrowed. "Too bad it seems like you are working for that failure Sato".
Ava's eyes narrowed, her gaze fixed on Shinya as she strode confidently towards him. The air around her crackled with electricity, the ground beneath her feet trembling with each step. In her hands, her sword gleamed with a deadly, otherworldly light.
"How do you prefer I kill you?" She asked, her voice cold and menacing.
Shinya's laughter faded, replaced by a look of apprehension as he took a step back. He held up his sword defensively, the red energy swirling around it intensifying.
"You think you can take me on?" He spat. "I've faced countless witches and mages, and they've all fallen before me".
Ava's lips curled into a sneer. "You haven't faced me yet," She replied, her voice dripping with contempt.
With a sudden burst of speed, Ava closed the distance between them in an instant, her sword flashing through the air in a deadly arc aimed at Shinya's neck.
'Shit she's fast!' Shinya panicked as Ava closed in on him, but he was lucky enough to block her first strike that was aimed at his neck.
Shinya's eyes widened in surprise as he blocked Ava's lightning-fast strike. Despite managing to deflect the attack, the sheer force of it sent him hurtling into the air like a ragdoll, his sword clattering to the ground far below.
As he soared higher and higher, Shinya struggled to regain control of his flight, desperately flailing his arms in an attempt to right himself.
The wind whipped past him, tearing at his clothes and tousling his hair, and he felt his stomach lurch as he started to plummet back towards the earth.
With a cry of panic, Shinya managed to right himself at the last moment, landing in a crouch several meters away from where he had been standing moments earlier.
He looked up at Ava with a mixture of fear and admiration, realizing that he had vastly underestimated her power.
"That was only one strike?" He stammered, his voice barely audible over the sound of his own racing heartbeat.
Looking at his hand to see how it was bruised and shakey it got just from blocking on attack. "You've got to be kidding me".
Without a single flinch, Ava stood still on the ground. Her voice echoed through the field with an intense calmness, immediately startling Shinya.
"Infinite domain," Ava uttered, her eyes fixed on Shinya. At her command, the ground began to shake and tremble as if it was alive.
Suddenly, the darkness started spreading from her feet, spreading like wildfire all around the ground and even towards where Shinya stood.
Shinya's eyes widened in fear, as he felt the darkness creeping closer to him. He tried to move, but his feet felt like they were stuck to the ground. He watched in horror as the darkness enveloped him, swallowing him from his feet.
"She's doing another attack!" Shinya yelled, he quickly reacted and stabbed his blade to the ground to absorb the darkness that was covering his feet.
The red glow on his sword intensified as it absorbed the dark energy, and the darkness around his feet dissipated. He stood up and raised his sword, ready to face Ava again.
"Your attacks won't work on me," Shinya said with a smirk. "I can absorb any kind of magic."
Ava remained silent, her eyes focused on Shinya. Shinya felt irritated by it and wanted to kill her even if it meant blocking another one of her deadly attacks.
"I am seriously going to kill this witch!" Shinya roared, his eyes blazing with fury as he took a step forward, preparing to launch himself at Ava.
However, as he lifted his foot to take another step, a sudden vision flashed before his eyes - a multitude of ways in which he had met his demise, each one more gruesome than the last.
The dread that filled him was intensified by the intense gaze that Ava fixed upon him, her eyes burning with an otherworldly fire.
For a moment, Shinya hesitated, uncertain of what to do next. The fear that had taken root in his heart was so overpowering that he felt as though he couldn't move.
'What the hell was that?'.
Without any warning, Ava's sword sliced through the air with an ear-splitting crack, the dark energy radiating from it enough to make the very ground tremble.
Shinya's reflexes kicked in just in time, and he hastily lifted his own sword to meet hers in a clash of steel.
Despite the force of Ava's blow, Shinya managed to hold his ground and deflect the attack. But even with his sword absorbing most of the impact, he still felt a jolt of pain as the shockwave sent him hurtling backwards through the air. He crashed against a boulder, sending a shower of debris raining down around him.
Shinya lay sprawled on the jagged rocks, his sword lying haphazardly beside him. His body was a mess of bruises and cuts, and he struggled to draw in each breath. The pain was overwhelming, and he could barely feel any sensation in his limbs.
His eyes fluttered open and shut as he tried to stay conscious, but darkness crept at the edges of his
vision. It was clear that he had been completely battered in the fight..