Serpent, Lightning, And Moon

There was no time to breathe for the next fight. As soon as the monster was destroyed, all deals were off. And it meant that Kana was still free to continue with her plans — killing me, and herself with it.

However, she wasn’t the first to deliver a strike. Instead, from the shadows, Duna had already emerged, jumping at me with iron staff in hand. But his attack was too predictable — looking at his posture, there was only one direction that he could go.

And now, with my new weapon, I could block much more than before.

I didn’t even need to raise the bow. Instead, its underside was already its own sword, which meant that it was plenty sturdy to block and attack alike. Just with a simple tilt, I could already stop a strike from the underside with ease — exactly where the man was trying to aim for.

“Tch, you’re sharper than before,” Duna clicked his tongue in annoyance, trying his hardest to push his staff further. But my armor was also much sturdier than before as well, and so, my strength while transformed had significantly increased.

No matter how hard he tried, I wouldn’t budge an inch.

“Stronger too, right?” I taunted.

“More like more irritating.”

As the words came out of his mouth, from behind me, another shadow struck. It wasn’t Kana, however, but another one of Duna’s clones, this time aiming from above to try and hit me on the head.

“How predictable.”

Immediately, my other hand grabbed the upper hilt of the bow, and with a focused tear, ripped it into two swords again. With dual blades in my arms, I could block both strikes from the pesky man at once, and once again, Duna found himself at a stand-still.

But that wasn’t all to my counter attack. With the upper hand in strength, I spun my body as hard as I could, easily twisting the staffs away and striking the clones dead center in their torsos. My left blade swung down to rip through a clone’s armor, while my right arm thrusted to the side to pierce the heart of the other, ending both threats in one clean hit.

Naturally, Duna was still lurking in the shadows. His current strength wasn’t enough to threaten me now, but that fighting style was still plenty annoying. And not to mention…

A burning flash pierced the right side of my vision, giving me barely enough time to dodge sideways and only suffered from a scratch near my eyebrow. But before I could even catch my breath, another crackle had appeared on my left, forcing me to twist my body to dodge once more.

Kana’s right side was already limp, yet her left was brimming with energy in the most literal sense — I could see sparks visibly firing on her left, still holding dearly to that double-ended blade of hers.

“Why do you try so hard if you’re only gonna kill yourself anyway?” I tried to provoke her. With a clear mind and a fully functioning body, even if she might have overwhelmed me before, I still had the major advantage here.

However, that was just conventional thinking. And since I came to this world, conventional thinking was only a luxury at best.

True to my predictions, Kana was provoked. But her reaction was much more than I expected.

I didn’t even have time to react. In a blink of an eye, her sword was already inches away from my face. There was only one option left, to counter in a split second before it could reach me.

I swung my right-side sword, targeting her leg. It was a clean hit, with the sound of metal clashing confirming my choice. Due to how sudden the movement was, my power was lacking, and in turn there wasn’t enough meaningful damage done. However, it still caught my opponent by surprise in just a second, and it bought me enough time to tilt my head sideways from the initial sword stab — just barely, as my face once again was grazed, this time leaving a much deeper scar, almost to the point of ripping through my mask entirely.

Taking advantage of the miss, I struck her right side with my other blade. It was already limp, so her balancing was off — meaning that one good hit would topple her over. My prediction was correct, as a simple stab from the right side was enough to stagger Kana away, giving me time to hop backward, just a bit further from her range.

In terms of melee combat, I had underestimated her too much. With that speed, she was still able to catch me off-guard. So, I needed to play more to my advantage.

Stitching my two swords together into a bow again, I strung another arrow, firing it almost instantly. The water arrow once again took the shape of a raging serpent, furiously biting towards the unsuspecting warrior. But unlike the demon from before, this was still a rational, experienced human — Kana wasted no time to lodge her blade right into the serpent’s mouth, forcibly exploding it into water once more.

But my attack was never for damage. Repeatedly jumping backward, I kept firing quick, but rather weak arrows. Their use was to stall for time, each one that Kana destroyed was enough to slow her down for just a split second. And with each second bought that way, I could be just a bit further away, continuing to not let her press forth.

However, from the shadows, my other opponent had other plans in mind.

“You’re wide open!”

“Think again!”

This land of perpetual night and rain was a perfect battlefield for Duna, whose clones and fast movements meant that he could constantly try to ambush and hide back into the darkness. However, in this rather mild cold from the constant rain, my infrared vision became king — I could spot him and his clones lurking behind those rock formations a mile away.

Breaking my bow into swords again, I delivered two quick slashes towards the clones, destroying them each in one hit. Then, before the third could emerge from the leftmost rocky pillars, I merged my swords into a bow again and fired off a water arrow, shattering the rocks and the clone as well.

But I knew it wasn’t over yet. A fourth was still hiding on the ground, constantly shifting his positions to confuse his opponents. Still wielding my bow, I conjured up three more arrows and fired them all in a cone — the centermost one hit the clone dead in the heart, the left side flanked Kana’s approach with a timely hit, while the right side destroyed another rock formation, sending debris rolling down as I climbed an opposite pillar utilizing my now stronger claws.

For a sniper, getting to high ground would equate total victory. I was no trained sniper, but my infrared vision and superior range with my water bow meant that I still fit the description to a tee.

“Now, time to end this.”

Raising my bow up the sky, I arched my other arm downward. From the bow formed not just any arrow, but a giant towering pillar of water, made by absorbing almost all of the rain in the current area into one spot — enough to make this part of the nation experience its first clear sky since forever. The water tower spun around itself once more, curling and rolling into the most majestic, as well as the most devastating, whirlpool in the air that one could get the fortune to witness. The whirlpool then contracted itself, shrinking smaller by the second until it only remained a relatively thin (compared to its massive size) line, wiggling with its own life. From the top, a serpent’s head formed once more, and by the time it bore its fangs, it had already turned into the biggest creation I could muster for the moment — a water serpent whose head was nearly as big as a small island, while its body stretched over the highest mountains of this nation.

“Swallow the sky, Great Serpent! Asur—”

“It ends here, Vritra!”

Before I could finish my chant, Kana had already appeared in a flash of lightning, her blade ready to pierce my heart.

“Shit!...”

The serpent had already formed. It didn’t need the conduit that was my bow anymore. And so, I had enough, just barely enough, time to split it into swords once more. One could defend me against her vajra, and the other would be enough to pierce her heart.

I split my bow in just a fraction of a moment. One arm retracted back, while the other lunged forward. But at the same time, Kana’s body grew into a shining… no, blinding white.

It was the last trick of her sleeve. Her body electrified itself, making her a being of pure energy. No physical attack could harm her now.

Or so she thought. But she had forgotten one important thing.

“It’s been such a long time since you last saw your sister, and this is the face you made?... Punk.”

Her right half was still human. And finally, it was smiling a sane smile.

“Speak for yourself. Finally seeing your brother after two long years, and this is what you greet me with?”

I had to make the decision. Kana might be impervious to attacks, but she was still just one person vying for control in her own body. Which meant two things — one, Reiko could also intervene and “turn off” her lightning power.

And two… if I killed her right side, Kana would also die along with it.

As my sword lodged straight onto her right, her vajra also pierced through my left.