Chapter 56:
*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*
"…!"
"…!"
*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*
Mina fends off my series of swings with two of her ice swords floating in the air.
*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*
I try to get close to her as much as possible while she steps back wanting to gain some distance.
*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* - *CLASH*
*SSSSSSSSSSSSHNG!*
Landing on the ground after I performed a flip, I instantly lunge towards her. With her staff, she draws a circle in the air. The sword that I just jumped over with a flip, is swinging to cut my face off. I instantly duck underneath it at the last minute, I swear I could see that some of my hair was cut off. While still underneath it, grabbing another throwing knife from within my coat and throw it at her.
"…!"
She moved her whole body just to avoid that one knife. With the ice sword passing above me, I swing the sword towards the head.
*CLASH!*
"Tch...!" suddenly, a wall of ice shoots up from the ground blocking my attack. Because of how thin it is, it breaks apart immediately but that slowed down my swing.
She steps back…
"Oh no you don't…!" …and I step in closer, swinging my short-sword at her.
*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*
I swing in a frenzy as I chase her. Making sure that each time she steps back I step in closer to her.
*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*
With each swing, she summons another ice wall to block it.
*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*
The ice walls shatter almost immediately each time it blocks my weapon's swing.
*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*
Playing cat and mouse, I relentlessly shorten the distance between us with each swing. The ice walls are getting thinner and thinner, and they're easier to break without diminishing too much force.
*CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!* *CLASH!*
"…!" she tries to step back but realized that she was forced into the wall. Stepping in during her realization, I swing the short-sword from her lower right. The ice wall needs a good amount of depth to make it hard enough to block an attack. since I'm this close to her summoning one it'll come out thin enough that it won't disrupt the swing.
"…!" realizing that, Mina looks around her quickly finding a way to get out of this mess.
*CLASH!*
"Damn…!"
An ice spike comes rushing from her right side, it hits the middle of short-sword. Since it's pushing forward as I push forward, the vibration of the collision disrupted my grip and the sword went flying to nowhere behind me.
My hand is still in motion so I swung and miss my slightly awkward hand at her.
"Tch...!" instincts flashes me with warning signs, pulling me backward.
*SCHWING!*
From the wall, just as I had jumped away from her, ice spikes shoot out aiming from where I was before. I land with 5 paces between us. Damn, she's almost untouchable. She can counter most of my techniques instantaneously with her ice magic. Magic is really scary if you're fighting alone. It's like I'm fighting Histy all over again.
But she does have a weakness, well two of them, one of which is fairly obvious and the other is what I confirmed earlier. And exploiting the latter is really risky for my clothes. It took me 30 minutes to decide on how it would mend well together too. Well, we can't always have it both ways. Plus she's an angry woman with serious issues, it'd be a miracle if my clothes survive this mess.
My eyes sprinting all over, my overclocked brain formulated a plan. And like following a pre-determined path I run straight towards her.
"You're through passerby!" and just as she screamed at me spikes of ice springs out of the ground like waves.
I take out a something from my inner pocket and throw it to the side as I change direction to the opposite side.
"...!" she closes her eyes, wanting to avoid being blinded.
*SKSSSSSSSSSH*
But the bang she was expecting didn't come. Instead, it's the sound of smoke rapidly escaping from its can. Opening her eyes, it darts all over looking for me.
"Miss me?"
"Wha…!?"
Deliberately insulting her just to get her attention, I vault over the spike of ice that she hasn't defrosted yet. My right foot is already close to her face. She raises her staff, then freezes it, bracing it for impact. My kick connects, she stumbles backward from the force. Landing on the ground, she immediately fires off ice shards at me.
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
Thousands of ice shards dart off towards me, I head to the smoke that I made earlier, swallowing me whole and avoiding the shards altogether. The smoke has already grown in size so the area around it provides good cover. Instinct tells me where she is. I take out the last of my throwing knives, throw it, and dash towards her.
"…!"
*CLANG!* *CLANG!*
"…!" I lunge toward her as soon as I heard the second knife being deflected.
She summons an ice spike from her feet intending to cut my leg off, but I pull it away behind me just as I stepped in with my other foot. I swing my raised leg towards the ice spike shattering it in two. With the same foot, I bring my knee close to me then thrust my foot towards her performing a sidekick. She horizontally blocks the kick with her ice-covered staff. I raise the same foot over it immediately and bring it down to her staff.
"…!" the attack neither broke the staff nor made her let go of it. When did she superglue her hand to it?
My foot landing on the ground, I clench my fist perform a body jab. She blocks it with her staff, I pull it back reverse my fist and push it again to the same spot. She snaps her staff at my oncoming fist, minimizing damage, I instantly change the direction of my hand to the direction of the staff as soon as it made contact with it. I snap it into action again by snapping the fist, like a whip to her head. She moves her head to the side. I bring it back by folding my elbow in, I grab the wrist of the hand that's holding the staff, pass it to my other hand, before I snap my fist again to her head. She avoids it easily as well.
But that serves as a distraction as I press down on the point of her wrist called Heart-6 which results in releasing one's grip.
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
"…!" since her other hand is still holding the staff she summons her icicle shards at me from above.
I jump away as I leave a flashbang behind.
*BANG!*
"Kh…! Dammit…!"
*SKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSH!*
"Smoke again…!?" Yes Mina, smoke again. And both my smokes and my flashes are all gone. Thanks for making me use them dammit. Like I didn't need those other than this. The smoke should be surrounding her since I placed it near where the flashbang had gone off.
"Time to get you to wake up, Mina…" without making her think of a way to clear the smoke, I fire…
*BANG!*
"…!"
*CLANG!*
The bullet sounded like it was intercepted by something. I keep on firing.
*BANG!*
*CLANG!*
*BANG!*
*CLANG!*
*BANG!*
"You finally ran out of bullets, huh…!"
She defrosts her staff as she points it and 7 swords made out of ice appear in an arc above her. They all point to their target and each for the kill.
"Now die, Passerby…!"
"Look again, woman…"
"What…?"
I aim the rifle towards the rear of the handle of the sword, squeezing the trigger, the last bullet flies through the air. It reaches the short-sword's rear while it's flying through the air it has my red coat on it as it flies. Like playing a game of pool, it changes direction and aims for the forearm.
"…! KaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAH!"
