Chapter 109
Ruler's battle did not go unnoticed by Angra Mainyu. Entrenched in the system of the Greater Grail, he was alerted to the fact that there was an increase in the energy output of the system, and he followed the flow of energy to find that Ruler was somehow still alive and fighting. Her mana signature from crashing into the Edelfelt mansion was still present, so Avenger was sent to investigate, leading to the current situation.
Avenger was encased in the black armor once again, her powers limited and her body fully under the control of Avenger, but nevertheless she was still a dangerous foe to face.
With a roar loud enough to shake the very room itself, shaking the soil and leaves on the branches, Avenger dashed into the room and swung her sword recklessly like a wild beast, the pitch black blade with red accents flashing through the air with such speed that Ayaka could only see the after image, a blurry sweep left in the air as her retinas failed to register the sight in time.
Like cutting through cake, the thick trunk of the tree almost two meters in diameter was slashed in half, the sword reaching for Rider who was standing beside it. Even with Rider's enhanced sense beyond the reach of normal humans, she was still forced to raise her broom in a hasty block, the blow pushing her back as she struggled to anchor her footing on the loose soil she had torn up earlier. Her feet were driven into the ground, the dirt going up to her ankles as she was buried into the brown earth. The broom, a shape shifted version of Excalibur Morgan, bent from the blow, the red shaft curving inwards as sparks flew between the sword and broom, metal grinding on metal as Avenger refused to let up.
Slowly but surely, Avenger pushed back Rider, the maid's feet sinking deeper and deeper into the ground, unable to extricate herself from the deadlock as Avenger brought the sharp edge of her sword ever closer to Rider's chest. The red shaft trembled as Rider strained her muscles and strength to their limit, but the fact remained that she was braced on unstable, loose ground, while Avenger was bracing herself against the stump of the tree and it's base, securely and steadily pushing against it, the roots of the tree anchoring the stump solidly in the earth.
It was stroke of luck when Avenger broke the even the upper part of the stump, the strength she was exerting proving too much as the even the short amount of wood that shouldn't have been possible to break with the lack of leverage shattered into dust, breaking her footing and allowing Rider to suddenly push Avenger back with little resistance. The moment she did so, Rider wasted no time in aiming at Avenger and firing her handgun, bullets packed with enough kinetic force to pierce the armor she was wearing flying at her with supersonic speeds, a steel alloy piercing shell equipped on every bullet. The handgun barely moved in her hands, kickback, recoil and vibrations all perfectly controlled in her hands.
Avenger immediately bent her back in a show of extreme flexibility as bullets flew above her belly and chest, her entire body in a backwards bridge plank with the face towards the ceiling, except her hands weren't even touching the floor. The bullets whizzed past, one barely passing over the chin of her helmet as they slammed into the dirt and the wall behind her, kicking up small specks of dirt as bored deep into the earth.
Rider was already slowing backing away with each shot, creating some distance while she navigated to more solid ground to fight properly. While it was certain that she could fight on this upturned soil, the uncertain footing and soft ground would impede her style of fighting, whereas Avenger with her beast-like skill would remain unaffected most likely, though there was always the chance she could be caught unawares.
Avenger twisted and turned, her arms, legs, neck and torso exhibiting such insane prowess at flexibility that it would put all gymnasts past and present to shame. It almost looked like she was pulling her limbs out of their sockets with each move, some of them seemingly only possible with a body made of rubber. It was done incredibly fast and precise as well, each move well-coordinated like a master ballet. Without missing a beat in the dance of deadly steel, she dodged every single bullet, with barely a millimeter to spare as each piece of metal flew past her, some even scratching her armor. Yet she remained unaffected by the near misses, calmly weaving out of the way of each one, no matter how expertly Rider aimed her bullets.
Gradually, bit by bit, Avenger closed the distance between the two, each step bringing her closer and closer. Then out of nowhere, Avenger sank into the soil, the soil having turned into mud from being mixed with water, the originally loose soil easily sucking in the heavily armored Avenger until it was up to her knees, mud and water dragging her in.
It was easy enough for Avenger to escape, but Rider never gave her the chance. The moment before Avenger fell into her trap that she had prepared while retreating, she had readied herself and launched herself at Avenger. Avenger of course had managed to read her body movements while advancing and had braced herself for the sudden charge, but she hadn't expected the muddy ground. Limiting her mobility, Avenger was about to use Mana Burst to escape when out of the corner of the eyes, she spotted the broom sweeping towards her from the left. With no choice, she lifted the sword to deflect the blow, the broom scraping on the blade and going just above her head, the wind sharp enough to slice off human hair.
Without missing a beat, Rider fired shots of water into the ground, mixing normal AP bullets between those shots as well. The blasts of water were too large for Avenger to dodge completely with her legs lodged in the ground, though her waist was flexible enough to weave her way between them. The water blasts did little damage besides rattling her armor a bit, instead she was more concerned about dodging the bullets hidden between the blasts of water that could cause deadly wounds if she wasn't careful. Rider, who had borrowed the force from Avenger's deflect to lift herself high into the air, fired nonstop, soaking Avenger while keeping her pinned down with rapid bullets. The water soaked into the ground Avenger was trapped in, further converting the loose soil into more mud, the pool of mud growing larger and deeper.
Avenger refused to be locked in the mud, her legs charging up with Mana Burst as crimson electricity crackled in the black greaves, ready to blast out and straight up into the air to clash with Rider head on.
Without missing a beat, Rider dropped half a dozen grenades on Avenger.
By this point Avenger was almost up to her chest in mud, the water blasts hitting the mud further adding to the viscosity and amount of the brown semi-liquid, each shot sinking Avenger deeper with her heavy plate armor. The mud was slightly above her belly, proving difficult for even Avenger to escape with only a moment's notice.
Rerouting all the energy she was preparing, Avenger overloaded the sword with mana and swung at the grenades pouring onto her with a massive roar.
Red electricity crackled along the length of the blade, energy pouring out of the swing as Avenger put so much strength into that one swing that the air itself rippled, Mana Burst from her elbow and wrist tripling the speed and force applied. Pain erupted from the arm, a self-harming technique that gave great power and speed in exchange for ripping the muscles and cracking the bones, though with Avenger's healing it was quickly negated. The air pressure blasted at the grenade, a great wind sending them flying away from Avenger as they exploded in the air, some even going back towards Rider.
Piercing through the explosions, Rider fell straight down on Avenger, her sniper rifle fully assembled as she fired a full force beam of incandescent water that became a pillar smashing Avenger into the ground. Ignoring the pain from the reflected grenade and the wounds on her body, she focused all her mana into the one shot, pouring her energy into the barrel of Excalibur Morgan (rifle).
The water became an immense physical force pushing on Avenger's blade, the black hunk of metal creaking with the force as Avenger attempted to push back, in vain. The water pushed her ever deeper into the dirt, Avenger sinking deeper and deeper as the beam kept on forcing her down. Even with the aid of Mana Burst, the Avenger with most of her abilities and mind sealed was unable to display her full strength, forced into blocking with all her strength with all the energy she could muster.
Rider sustained the blast all the way until halfway, the water shooting out of the sniper rifle actually slowing down her fall like water jetpack, then she stopped and morphed it back into a broom, and sped down with a massive jet of water shooting out of one end of the broom, the other end pointed straight down at Avenger.
The sniper beam combined with the broom slamming down from the heavens was too much for Avenger, her arms collapsing as the flat of her own sword slammed into her black helm, the metal denting from the collision. Like a nail being hammered into the ground, Avenger was hammered into the mud, finally going in all the way up to her head.
Barely giving her a second glance, Rider ran out of the room, intent on leaving as soon as possible.
She knew that no matter how hard she tried, Avenger would come back. Being sustained by the Grail itself, it was possible that no matter what she did, it was impossible to kill her, and after seeing Avenger take out Ruler and Berserker after having the armor removed, she wasn't going to stick around in case that happened. She had already spent quite some energy, and she had barely made a dent. As if to prove her point, right after she dashed out of the room, Avenger emerged from the mud, one gauntlet slamming pushing out of the slurry, then another, before a massive explosion of mana threw her out of the mud, her entire body rising from it like a shark from the water.
"ARRTTTHUURRR!"
Giving chase to Rider, Avenger dug her hands into the dirt and bellowed, before charging like a bull, smashing through the wall into the corridor and going after the quickly receding back of Rider.
The petrified Ayaka remained in the branches of the now collapsed tree, her body trembling as liquid gathered around a certain area of her long skirt.