Chapter 118

A flash of marine blue streaked past Assassin's ears, narrowly cutting past her bare head before drilling into the concrete behind her. Assassin kicked up the baseball cap lying on the ground, hooking it with the toes of her boots as it flew up in the air towards Rider's face. Undaunted by her vision suddenly blocked, the black handgun barked as it spat out several bullets, both solid and liquid. The metal projectiles flew much faster, whistling as they drilled the air with their lead noses, shell casings dropping to the floor, while the water blasts had a wider impact area, with even near misses cutting Assassins skin from the aquatic blasts.

Still, she managed to dodge most, Rider's aim mostly off from the baseball cap blocking her, but she was unable to attack as the bullets sealed off her path of advancing on Rider. The baseball cap was quickly knocked aside by Rider, and then the broom was thrust with great force, a vortex of water gathering at the mophead.

Ducking under the mop, Assassin stabbed upwards with her sword. The glow lit up Rider's pale face, reflecting off her pale yellow irises as she bent her neck, the tip sailing right past her chin. As if on cue, both brought down their weapons at the same time, the mop's head and blade of the sword falling in sync.

Assassin shot out her hand, gripping the staff of the broom and resisting Rider's

strength as the swirling water hung over her head, inches away from ripping away her hair, stray droplets splashing onto her golden hair. Rider performed a similar maneuver, but instead of using her bare hands, she used Secace, the black gun catching the blade with the underside of barrel, the blade barely scratching the tough outer casing wrapping around it.

The two of them maintained their deadlock for a few seconds, both of them trembling with exertion. With equal strength, it came down to the question of how much energy both sides had spent earlier. Rider had fought Avenger and expended some energy to create the flood earlier to escape her, so she wasn't in top condition, but Assassin was more wounded from her more recent fight with Avenger, the cuts and bruises from near-misses weighing her down, not to mention the effort and injuries she sustained while riding Avenger in the process of subduing her.

Sweat rolled down their faces as their arms shook, the sword metal screeching against the gun's outer shell as the staff of the broom creaked, their hands exerting so much force that the red pole was starting to bend slightly near the middle, between the two hands grasping it.

The one to break the stalemate was the black leather boots shooting out from underneath to kick at Rider's shins, Assassin using Riders broom pushing down at her to provide momentum as she stopped resisting it all of a sudden, the blade locked with the gun acting as a fulcrum, sending Assassin flying at full force near the ground, one leg bent at a 90 degree angle to provide support as she aimed at the soles of her boot at Rider.

The kick landed before Rider could shift it out of the way, her hand twisting the broom shaft to swing towards Assassin's head, the air whistling as it blurred into a red arc. Without any way to dodge while still standing on one leg, while her body was parallel to the ground as well, Assassin raised her sword and both arms, bracing for the blow that was about to arrive.

*kshang*

The clanging of the two weapons screeched into Gray's ears, the blow pushing Assassin's even more forwards as she took the blow and rolled with it, having anticipated that it would come with great force, especially with the water pushing the mophead, the reason to a trail of mist that followed behind the mop's movements.

As Assassin tucked into a ball and rolled past, Rider saw an opportunity, for the first time unironically using the mop for its original purpose in battle. Gripping the mop with both hands, she mopped it across the floor, the handgun dematerializing. As intended, the frothing mop swept across the floor, gliding easily while Rider spun to follow Assassin's body, the mop catching up to the Servant. The water shooting out of it simultaneously made it faster, and acted as a lubricant on the floor to make it go even faster with less friction.

Stopping herself mid-roll with a blade to the floor, Assassin hopped up, and landed straight on the red shaft above the mophead that was poised to strike her from behind. Even with the extra weight of Assassin weighing down the mop, Rider was still easily able to lift her weapon, but before she had the chance to shake off Assassin, Assassin struck first, her sword cutting forward in a straight thrust like a trained fencer, while from the left, right and back, portals spat out brilliant bolts of energy not dissimilar in color to Rider's own water blasts.

It was still dodgeable by Rider though, who had created a small puddle of water under feet and could just barely get through the gaps between the shot, if she let go of her mop and fell flat on the ground, bending her neck to go diagonally between each energy bolt.

Then an arrow of light pierced her leg, freezing her in place at that crucial moment.

Gray lowered her bow, her eyes blinking as her breaths quickened, wondering if she had actually landed the shot. She had just recovered earlier not long after the two had started fighting, and had gotten into position to fire shot if she could, enhancing her senses and reinforcing her eyes, hands and arms to fire a shot at the right moment. Her non-presence earlier had made Rider neglect to pay attention to her, resulting in her actions going unnoticed while she became engrossed in her fight with Assassin.

To her credit, Rider only flinched for a second or so, but that was all that was needed. Even as she resumed her actions, her feet slipping on the water and letting her fall faster, the bolts brushed past her head and neck, huge chunks of flesh and bone simply vaporized as the bolts ate through them easily.

Her body tumbled to the ground in a barely controlled manner, her hand pushing against the ground with such raw force that her body slammed into the ceiling before it fell down as she clumsily evaded the downwards smash from Secret-calibur once Assassin realized she wasn't dead.

She looked more like a zombie than a human at this point, her facial bone structure completely exposed, the blood and flesh around them charred into black coal from the heat of the projectiles. Part of her forehead was missing as well, and the gray matter could be seen pulsing under the fluorescent lights, a clear liquid leaking out of various newly opened orifices.

Still, she stood up, somewhat unsteadily as her knees bent at odd angles, her body sloppily assuming a combat stance.

"ASsrraShi-"

Before her ruined mouth could finish, she was gone.