Chapter 70: My Trick
Boom!
A sound thundered through the forest, shock waves spreading. Shadow was knocked back through a row of trees. She broke through all of them, flipped, and then landed on the ground, skidding back and swinging her arm at the same time, unleashing a wind blade a few meters long that cut through the air.
Ken sidestepped and parried the attack, his hands numb from the impact, but a smile still on his face. "Hahahah, you’re pretty relentless," he said before kicking the ground and lunging forward at top speed.
"Vortex Slash!" Ken roared, planting his feet into the ground, spinning, and slashing. Shadow moved back fast, planted her hands on the ground, and shouted, "Wind Wall!" A high wall of wind gathered and blocked the attack, the shockwave ripping through the trees.
"You call out your moves like a mage when you are not," she said as she got to her feet, turning her blade into a forward grip.
"Yes, because it’s cool," Ken said and attacked again. She dodged, rolled, and then at close range lifted her hands. "Wind Bullet!" she cast. The compressed wind shot right at him. He moved his sword to block but was knocked back by the attack.
"It doesn’t matter what you do, old man, you’ll die here," she said, then leaped into the air, flipping and using an overhead kick. Ken blocked the kick but was pushed back. The moment her feet touched the ground, she lunged forward, going for the opening, but then she noticed his muscles tense up like before, and her warning bells rang.
She kicked the ground hard and came to a stop just before he thrust his sword with the same speed as the slash he had done before. This time, she managed to get out of range before the attack hit.
"Hmmm, seems like you’re learning my fighting style," Ken said.
"And you know nothing of mine," she replied and attacked again. Clang! Clang! Clang! Their blades collided, both parties holding equal ground, with Ken being slightly stronger in attacks.
Knowing there was no way her direct attacks would work on someone like Ken, she decided to put some distance between them fast, a few meters, enough to stay out of his effective range and take action.
She pointed her hand at him. "Since close combat does barely anything, I’ll handle this with magic," she said before beginning an onslaught of spells. She began casting heavy blasts of compressed wind that could rip a tree into bits. Her casting speed was incredibly fast; the words left her mouth faster than Ken had ever seen before.
Ken lunged forward, using his senses. He dodged the first, second, and third attacks, but the speed was too much. He was forced to block the fourth and was knocked back hard. He slammed into the ground, rolled, and got on his feet, and the moment he stood up, another attack slammed into his chest, throwing him back at incredible speed.
His body crashed through three trees before hitting the ground hard. "Arghhh!" he groaned in pain as he slowly got back on his feet. His clothes were ripped, and underneath, his skin was heavily bruised from the attack.
"Most people would have a hole in them from that attack," Shadow said, walking in his direction.
"Hahahaha, don’t underestimate the muscles I’ve toned for over three decades nonstop," Ken said, his face full of pride.
"It’ll be fun to rip through them," she replied. Using her wind magic, she flew up into the air.
"Now that’s not fair," Ken said, but she didn’t care and immediately started attacking from above with the same spell. They ripped through the air toward him. Ken began retreating as fast as he could, dodging the attacks.
"Don’t think you’re the only one with tricks up your sleeve," he said and then chucked his sword so hard at her that she dodged it easily, then looked down at him with a mocking expression that said it all: Is that the best you can do?
But Ken smiled. "Wait for it," he muttered under his breath. The sword spun in the air and headed back toward her at crazy speed. Just before it hit her, she raised her hand and caught the sword by the handle.
"Really? That’s your secret technique? This overused trick?" she asked, her voice dripping with mockery. But Ken still had a smile on his face. "Now," he said, and suddenly the sword became immensely heavy, so heavy that she couldn’t lift it. It instantly yanked her down to the ground.
"The difference with my sword," Ken said as she plummeted, "is that only I can lift it. The sword isn’t as normal as it seems."
When she was close to the ground, he was already there. He stretched out, grabbed her by the neck, seized his sword, and then proceeded to run her through tree after tree headfirst.
He slammed her face into the ground and dragged it along for a few meters before slamming her again so hard that she bounced. Then he spun around and slashed with his full strength, his sword hit right in her abdomen and dug deep.
Her body blasted backward, slamming into a few more trees before coming to a stop in a broken state. She looked dead, black blood oozing from her body.
"That was actually a tough battle," Ken said, walking in her direction. Suddenly, he heard a sound behind him. He looked back and saw a small three eyed raven that flew away immediately after. When he looked back at Shadow, she was gone, all that was left was a black puddle of blood.
Ken walked up to the blood and bent down. "Tsk, seems she got away," he muttered, then got up. As he walked away, he unknowingly got some of her blood on his trousers. It seeped through a tear and onto his skin, sinking in and leaving a small dark mark.