Shinki; Rumia and Elly flew above the Forest of Magic; not too far from Alice's house. Shinki formed a barrier around a large area, and spoke.
"I'll repair any damage you two cause. Go wild! Rumia has to get completely exhausted!" Shinki said. "That and I don't wanna get bored."
"Don't go easy on me." Elly said. "I may look delicate; but you you don't fight seriously; I may end up killing you by accident."
"Hah; big talk." Rumia retorted. "I should be the one saying that to you; Miss 'Three or Four times stronger'."
Suddenly; Rumia saw a flash of metal; and pure instinct made her dodge; narrowly avoiding the slash from the scythe; which had extended far larger than usual. Even so; Rumia's arm has a small cut.
'She's fast! And I can't regenerate unless I get into the tree cover.' Rumia thought to herself; before launching three spheres of Dark Energy; which rammed into three stone squares that formed in their paths; exploding no-where near Elly.
The Shinigami did not waste a moment; and rushed thought the smoke; her scythe back into it's normal size; before swinging it so she had to block the shaft with her arm; lest it smash into her head.
At this range; Rumia got a glimpse into Elly's eyes. Her face shadowed by her hat. Her eyes were filled with intent to kill. Rumia recalled the feel Komachi gave off; and was not surprised that Elly had the same intimidation.
Then; Elly pulled her scythe back. Rumia realized a moment too late to dodge; that Elly's prior swing made it so her scythe was positioned directly behind her. Rumia formed her Dark Energy Wings; and morphed the energy into a barrier; before flowing some of her Chi into it; forming a wall of energy which stopped Elly pulling her scythe through Rumia.
"Not bad!" Elly said, still pulling her scythe back; slowly cutting through the barrier.
"Yeah? You're so fixated on attack..." Rumia said; raising her leg "That you don't have a weapon to defend yourself!"
Rumia swung her leg at Elly's side with a Chi-infused kick. Elly formed three tiles in the path of the kick; but Rumia's foot easily powered through them, and slammed into the Shinigami; knocking her; and her scythe; away a significantly lesser distance than Rumia would have liked.
'I guess those tiles made my kick lose quite a bit of momentum... but I can't let up the pressure; that had to hurt her!' Rumia thought; before she sent out a net of darkness; surrounding Elly like a fishnet would, before she sent Dark Energy through the darkness; the lines of shadow sparking with blue energy. Rumia then moved the lines of the net to her left hand; before she started gathering energy in her right.
"Ah; so you mean to box me in while you charge up." Elly remarked, before she grinned; as her scythe extended out of the 'net' and then; curved around. "But you forget that my scythe can change shape freely!"
Elly swung the scythe; shaped in a way she could do so within the 'net' but still hit Rumia, but Rumia was a steal ahead; as the shadow tendrils; carrying the dark energy; unfurled from the net and wrapped around Elly's scythe; binding it; causing it to crackle with dark energy was the stored energy discharged into the weapon; causing it to return back to it's normal size; almost as if it felt pain.
'Oh yeah; the wood of the scythe is part youkai itself. I guess that makes sense.' Rumia thought; as she flew towards Elly; fist ready.
Elly remained calm; as the tendrils binding her scythe became slack as Rumia closed in, and she swung it to intercept. Rumia couldn't stop in time; so she instead adjusted her position. Her fist hit Elly's face; albeit; less hard than she would like; while Elly's scythe cut into her midsection; and across her other arm; rather deep.
The Shinigami spiraled backwards from the hit; and Rumia turned towards the forest, feeling agony.
'Damnit; if I couldn't regenerate this would be a mortal wound from the blood loss.' Rumia thought as she flew towards the tree of the forest; into the shade. As soon as she entered the cover; she felt her pain easing; and her wounds healing. However, she also felt fatigue set in as her midsection healed. The larger the wound, the more energy regeneration would take, and this wound was pretty large. Luckily it seemed her blow had disoriented Elly long enough that she had no idea where she retreated to.
But it didn't take her long to figure out a way to find out; as she started to randomly spray the smallest; most basic of danmaku pellets around. It was clear she wasn't very good at danmaku; but it was enough to give her a rough idea of where Rumia was; as her barrage kept getting more and more focused around her location; until she stopped; wrapping her scythe around her three times; and twisting her body. It looked rather uncomfortable.
Then she spun; as the scythe-un-raveled and changed shape; before she threw it towards Rumia.
'I've heard of throwing your sword but this is stupid!' Rumia thought; as she watched the scythe cut into the treeline not far from her; before it came back out again; like a boomerang; and flew back to Elly; it's shape changing as it flew to keep it on the right path. The Shinigami caught the scythe and wrapped it around herself again.
Rumia tenderly moved her left hand. It could move again; unlike when it was just cut. Her midsection did not pain her anymore either. She waited to Elly to throw her scythe a second time; this time even nearer; and for it to return, before she flew out of the treeline up towards Elly.
"Oh; you seek to attack me while I'm wrapped up like this? Not a bad choice... except it won't work! Blender!" she said; before she started to spin around rapidly; the scythe-blade stopping Rumia from attacking her, before it suddenly started to extend; Rumia just getting out of range; before Elly stopped; holding her scythe like normal again.
Yet despite not being directly hit; Rumia felt a small cut in her leg.
"How do you like it? The power behind my scythe and me working together in harmony. I don't have fancy spellcard names like the rest of you here. I ain't one for spellcards. But my strongest attacks still have names. The throwing attack was the 'Harvester'."
"Are these by any chance related to apples..." Rumia asked flatly.
"Apple Harvester; Apple Blender... yeah!" Elly said happily.
"You are as bad as Mystia and shiny objects. No; you're worse..." Rumia replied; sighing, before she took a different stance. "Well; it seems like you're fighting in your element. Well; I'm strongest fighting outside of it."
"What do you mean? One is strongest when they enjoy the battle. Not when they are holding back due to dislike." Elly said.
"Except this style has far more potential than my normal fighting. I like to just punch someone and be done with it. But you're durable. You already took one of my best blows to your face. So I'll just have to fight how I don't like."
Rumia raised a hand; and sent up a cloud of darkness; which blocked out the sun; putting everything into the shade.
"You see; I figured out a while ago that while I can't use my own darkness to use some of my other abilities; I can use my darkness to create more natural shadow. Of course; maintaining the cloud of darkness in front of the sun takes effort; so I can't use my full physical power. But it's a fair trade off."
Rumia vanished; and appeared at Elly's side; a finger extended and glowing faintly with Chi.
"For the speed." she said; and before Elly could react; she jabbed her finger into a pressure point in Elly's shoulder; carefully releasing her Chi; as Futo taught her. The hand released the scythe; and the arm hang limp.
"Scary..." Elly said; as Rumia vanished into the shadow again, before she made for the area not obscured by the cloud of darkness above them.
But in the shadow; Rumia was far faster; appearing in front of Elly; two orbs of light; a concentrated laser; one in each hand.
"Unnatural Shadow: Total Eclipse!" Rumia said; before she moved with Shadow-Speed; and drove one of the orbs into Elly's midsection before she could react; sending Elly flying in an arc; like a circle; the laser working like a jet; leaving a white trail in the shadow. Rumia flew around the opposite direction; leaving a trail as well; before she drove the other one into Elly's back.
The result was what looked like the corona of the Sun during a total eclipse; made with lasers; Elly caught at the bottom between them. The lasers faded slowly; and Elly fell to the ground, as the dark cloud faded.
"I still need to work on the danmaku version of that one." Rumia muttered to herself; breathing deeply. Keeping the shadow up at an intensity to block the sun over such a large area was not easy; specially while also using attacks of that nature. Coupled with the healing and the fight in general; and she was feeling worn out.
But Shinki said 'completely exhausted'.
Which meant if Elly really was defeated Shinki would probobly have to step in.
Suddenly; Elly came out of the trees; and her scythe began to form loops behind her; expanding at first; before contracting; to make some sort of sphere of coils. The shape of the sphere; to no surprise; was a giant apple.
"You're tough..." Rumia said.
Elly had little more than some bruises and scratches, as she grinned. "I live with Yuuka Kazami. Of course I'm tough. Do you know what I have to put up with? Nah; you probobly wouldn't want to. Anyway; I'm getting a little worn out myself; so I'm going to end this here."
Shinki suddenly grinned.
"Well well. That's certainly some power. But if Rumia couldn't survive an attack like this; she probobly wouldn't survive the infusion of my energy anyway."
"Well that bodes well." Rumia said.
Elly then swang her arm holding the scythe forward; as the 'apple' quickly worked akin to a spring of sorts; before the coils started heading in front of Elly. "Apple Peeler!" she cried.
This was not an attack that could be stopped. It clearly had too much force and momentum behind it. But there was a glaring weakness; the scythe only traveled around the outside of the large area; so Rumia flew through it.
It was too late when she saw her mistake; and saw the trees caught in the attack being ripped apart.
The cut from before was the wind. The sheer force of the scythe cutting through the air caused the air to react violently enough it too was like a blade. And this was like a giant vaccum of that slicing air. It was an attack of a deceptive nature; while at first glance it looked like of of brute force. The scythe finished it's coils; and everything went dark; the scythe itself closing out the light as Rumia was in agony; getting sliced apart by the air.
But the darkness that set in first was unconsciousness.
Shinki picked up Rumia; before restoring the trees damaged by Elly. She knew Rumia was exhausted. She hadn't healed fully in the shade; she had no more energy.
Elly grunted; and swayed to the side a little.
"Do you want me to patch you up?" Shinki asked. "You took a few good blows. Your arm is still having motor issues; and you have internal bruising from her last attack. Not to mention a possible minor concussion from when she punched you in the face."
"No. I heal quickly myself; and I've been through far worse anyway. Yuuka and all that." Elly grunted. "Although... she did surprise me. I heard Yuuka say she was about as strong as the Gensokyo cutting. Either the Gensokyo cutting is closer in power to the real Yuuka that she expected; I'm weaker than I was led to believe; or Rumia has surpassed the cutting."
"What stops it being a combination of the three?" Shinki asked. "There are a myriad of factors. Besides; I could tell you were holding back. You only started to form shockwaves with your weapon towards the end of the fight; when you were injured. That last attack would have probobly killed her outright if your arm wasn't hurt; reducing your swing's power. Overconfidence is also a factor."
"You speak as if forming shockwaves with a weapon is something you've seen before." Elly said.
"Oh yes. Pretty much every bladed weapon can do so if the user is competent and strong enough. You've never heard of a 'swordwave'?" Shinki asked; before she flew off; carrying Rumia.
Elly asked one last question however.
"What kind of weapon do you think you'll make?"
Shinki stopped; turned; and grinned.
"A weapon suitable for an angel or a demon; and a weapon that suits one who fights like her."
Author Notes:
Probobly the last time I'll have to do an update before the 27th at the absolute earliest.
I've decided I will split a sub-story that was originally the final act of Arc 6 into it's own full-fledged arc; making there be 9 in total. The other content there will be new content not in the RP based around developing characters more.