Tactician's Resolution

Yuki focused his mist around him, deflecting away the attacks of the Demon Lord. It still held up, for now. ‘I’m in over my head again…making me fight supernatural and superhuman opponents… My body’s going to hate me again after this…’ Yuki caught himself wishing to fight someone like Eudokia or Demosthenes rather than Anemura. This was never the sort of battle he was meant for. He could make it completely meaningless with ease, but that went against his own personal code.

‘My abilities have increased, but not nearly to the extent that they should have. It must mean that his powers are still weakening my performance.’ However, now that she fully understood how Yuki worked, she knew that he would have been killed by her almost instantly. The curious weakness that existed for him made him at least an interesting enemy for her.

She still planned to kill him in the end, nothing changed about that. Yet she could find herself enjoying the fight more. It had been too long since she had something that felt like a challenge. The strongest of the humans in the past barely presented much work for her. They mostly just toyed around with them to keep things more interesting. A real threat had never presented itself to them until now. ‘These humans are so different. I can see why Lord Hokuren is interested in them so…’

Chapter 451 – Tactician’s Resolution

‘Fighting a giant serpent dragon the size of a mountain…I’m going to need to get to her head somehow…’ The plan hadn’t changed, but with her ability to use light to distort what he saw put the goal out of his reach. ‘If I can’t trust my eyes…’

Yuki looked up to the sky, noticing a strange movement out of Anumera’s body. “Oh hell!” he exclaimed, seeing her body coming down quickly. It parted the clouds from the force and built up pressure to him. He flew out of the way only to get hit with the tail.

Sent flying back, Yuki lost control of his powers for a moment with most of the mist disappearing. The hit stunned, leaving him with no control over his movement “Dammit!” Yuki managed to gain back his concentration, but still kept flying through the air leaving the Capital far behind with the Demon Lord giving chase.

With each movement of the demon’s body the earth crumbled and tore apart. Even just slithering around the weight was enough to reshape the land. If it hadn’t been Yuki’s Field all of nature and life would have been killed instantly as well.

His flight came more under his control letting him see clearly the demon chasing him. Witnessing the effortless destruction that she made just following him made it clear why they maintained their human forms. Their bodies were too great for this world to survive. And he could tell that she was even being careful about her movements to minimize the damage and it still caused so much. If she wanted she could have equaled the destructive force of the amplified eruption he caused.

“The land’s going to be completely remade from these battles…” Yuki dodged quickly to the side to get out of the way of the charging dragon. Coils of its body crushed and threw up earth as it came to rest. The area around them looked unfamiliar, but he could no longer see the Capital. They had left the rest of those fighting far behind. “I guess now we can’t get in the way of the others.”

“No more holding back.”

“Right…” Sweat dripped down his face hearing the demon speak. It came as both a statement and an order. Something that more than terrified Yuki. She wanted to fight without regard for their surroundings. ‘As though I was holding back…I guess with my powers I am technically…but I can’t survive outside of my Field…’

His body was racked by the power of the demon from before, which started to slow him down. It was only because of the mist and him in the air that the tail didn’t immediately kill him. Enough of it was dampened that it only winded him. ‘I can’t be getting hit like that anymore…she’s going for the kill…’

Increasing the density of his mist, he prepared for their final round. The Demon Lord had no more plans on keeping any reserves in their fight. Yuki accepted that reality with the uncertainty mounting in his body. He had no idea if he could win with such a scenario placed before him.

The opening attack from the demon came as countless beams of light. They converged on Yuki with his mist managing to keep them back. However, it kept him still so that the body could drop down on him. Mist alone wasn’t enough to keep him protected. The weight of the body smashed through along with the force given it breaking the defense Yuki managed.

Timing it just right, he clung onto the body rather than resisting it. His mist did enough to slow it down so that his body could handle the force and he only felt the Gs from the speed rather than the weight. “This one’s real!” He had his mist to wrap around the body just to keep himself from falling off.

Once things settled down enough, he took hold with his mist to run along the spine. The demon tried to shake him off, but he held fast with his mist. Taking more direct attacks, beams started to fire at him forcing him to use his mist to protect himself while moving. It wasn’t enough to slow him down or take him off.

Failing that, she moved her long body around to scrap him off her back. He anticipated that she would make such a move and dodged around to avoid it. Another attempt to knock him off failed as well. Then she began using more complex strategies. Feints came at him with illusions she created. He could no longer be certain of which was real until it was too late. Dodging everything was the only option that he left.

However, the rate of attacks increased for him. There were too many things for him to evade, something would catch him. In the middle of a dodge, part of the real body clipped him. It wasn’t enough to take him out, but grazing past him made his hold slip on the body. Only his mist managed to save him and keep his hold of the main body.

Yuki dangled in the air, focusing on his concentration to keep from plummeting and losing his progress. ‘I need to keep a hold! I can’t waste anymore time…my body’s not going to hold out much longer…’ The mist kept clung into the flesh of the demon stretched down around his arm as he started to right himself. He drew closer with the mist compressing to pull him.

Once more on the back of the demon, he latched himself on for an anchor. Sliding down a little on the back, the mist stretched out keeping taunt. With enough length rolled out, he narrowed his eyes and snapped the mist launching himself along the spine quickly. Wind clouded his eyes as he tried to keep focused on the path of the body while remaining close.

It managed to get him into range without any further attacks by the demon. Any attempts were too slow to catch up. He grabbed a hold of the base of a pair of her wings. Her demon form had more than a few sets, so losing one would not do a lot. But he had a place to start.

Cloaking himself deeply in the mist, he let it become a further extension of his body needing the strength it would provide him. Fashioned into claws that let him dig in, he gripped the wings letting his mist penetrate through the flesh and eat away at every cell within. Yuki tightened his hold more, letting it crunch on the bone hollowed out by his mist. Fully crushing the base of the wings, they broke free from her body with a surprisingly deep roar of pain from the demon. ‘She felt that!’

“Damn you! You won’t escape me!”

Yuki climbed over and started running along the back with the claws dug into the body to keep his grip. She increased the attacks on him, but the modification to the mist gave him better maneuverability than he had before. The traction and speed allowed him to evade her body slams. He just had to adjust to running upside down and not falling as he body expected. It threw him off a little, but focus kept it from slowing him down.

Frantically running and flying about, Yuki and Anumera battled a progressively escalating war of counters. Little forward movement was made by either of them. Yuki might have been making a good run on the back of the demon, but he remained still out of reach of his target. Attacks by the demon only continued to increase, slowing him down. She made a great push back even despite her being unable to kill him yet.

Amidst his running his foot slipped off balance just enough that he couldn’t avoid a beam which hit him directly. The mist blocked it, but it hit him with force that knocked him off her back. He fell backwards through the air with her already lining up multiple new shots. Yuki gritted his teeth together, seeing the attacks’ light glowing with their signal.

Moving the mist in thick around him, his body disappeared fully from sight. The density of the mist became such that it looked nearly solid. “That won’t be enough to protect you this time!” Each of the beams fired together, but not at him and rather at a single point. All the converging beams gathered, building into a single massive point. The size of the point grew larger than the sphere of mist that surrounded Yuki. She went for the kill this time.

Over in an instant, traveling at the speed of light, everything was engulfed in the bright beam. Nothing remained to be seen of the mist. The size was far more than could be deflected or negated. Yuki had nothing that his powers could do to save him from it. Once enough of the light dissipated away, she could no longer see anything that remained of Yuki. However, she remained on the lookout for Yuki. She wasn’t certain with his powers that it was over.

A page also remained of the chapter still, so naturally it cannot be finished yet. There is a pattern to follow.

Yuki watched from his hidden position out of Anumera’s sights. He could breathe for a moment, but it wouldn’t last for long. ‘She’s smart, she won’t assume it’s over like that.’ The whole thing was planned out from the moment that he fell. A singular moment where she felt that she had complete control of the situation was what he wanted without her thinking that he gave it to her, despite that being the case.

He knew with her illusion ability that she would try to be more subtle with its deployment to catch him in a trap. As expected, she used it to slowly offset him away from the body until the difference was enough that he wouldn’t connect correctly. With that, she could strike and corner him as he wanted. Then with the mist completely obscuring him as a sign of defense, he could slip out of it into the shadows with her eyes on that target.

Now that he had the advantage of surprise, he needed to take it. His hand shook more than it had a minute ago. ‘It’s getting worse. Even if I win I don’t know if I’ll survive this…’ The way his body quickly started to decline he wasn’t going to make it much longer for any sort of fighting. He needed to end it quickly. This was his one chance to do that.

Yuki remained in the shadows as she searched for him. He needed her head; it was the only place that he could be certain to kill her instantly. It remained his one target. ‘I’m going to need a focused moment…’

The Demon Lord kept a watchful eye on everything especially in the places that he would be the most likely to be hidden. If he was still alive he would be in the shadows trying to plan out a new move. She could see that still being a viable option for him.

Finally in the corner of her eye, she saw a glint of his mist that was barely even a spec. She would have missed it otherwise if she wasn’t seeing how irregular it was to have been there. Her next attack immediately charged up and fired upon him without any warning. “Got him…unless it’s another feint…” Paranoia was a difficult thing to fight against someone like Yuki.

Shimmering out of the air immediately in front of her stood Yuki with his hand extended. “It was…” His mist flew out, penetrating through her skull with ease. However at the same time, he saw a flash of light appear just behind her out of his sights. His eyes widened in surprise as she had one last attack still planned. “…can’t dodge—“

As his mist finished destroying her brain the white beam took off Yuki’s left arm knocking him off balance. He bit through the pain as he fell backwards with the demon’s body losing the control it had. “Damn…”