Fluent Transition

Even though his explosions barely managed to break through to the spinning spheres, he kept going, his output still increasing. The heat of the explosions had even reached me by now.

I erected an ice shield around me using the water flowing below, hoping that I could reinforce it faster than she could break it. I could feel the temperature around me rapidly descending, while my body heat stabilized.

The deepest wounds had finally healed now, leaving only superficial scratching on my skin.

My plan actually worked in the beginning, funneling the ice below me directly into the icesheet above me. The extreme cold around me kept the floor frozen, floating on the water.

That’s when my small world suddenly shattered.

The entire sphere was catapulted into the air by an immediate shift in water pressure below me, freezing the sphere high above ground. All I could do now to stop my impending doom was once again freezing the air around me.

I quickly inhaled all the air I could, preparing me for the lack thereof soon to come. The only way to stop her from using the liquid air I would inevitably produce was by cooling down to absolute zero, where even air would freeze solid.

With that goal in mind, I got to work by gradually decreasing the temperature around me as much as I could. I had to act fast, before she could use the liquified air against me again.

I pushed as far as I could, my view slowly beginning to shift between the endless snow and the actual world.

Just a bit more, I can feel it. Just don’t lose control.

I began hearing the voice of my parents again, over and over. They were telling me that I was their world, over and over. I was in the snowscape again, their voices constantly ringing in my ears. I stumbled about in search for them. If I could find them once, then I’d surely be able to do it again.

I dug through the snow, slowly uncovering someone’s face. A shiver separate to the already mounting cold had set in. I saw myself lying before me, not my parents.

I regained consciousness shortly after. I was still unharmed so far. Had I done it? I almost gasped for air, before stopping myself. That would surely kill me.

A protective layer of ice had formed around my skin again. The ground below me was still far further than before.

The barrier I had erected slowly crumbled, but the water she shot at me immediately froze, reaching barely any further.

Even the small droplets of liquified air whizzing around me didn’t hit, instead freezing in place and falling down in my immediate vicinity.

I just walked toward her, the air below my feet turning into my path towards her. Not even gravity seemed to affect my right now.

Is this it? The peak of my power? Have I already reached it?

My vision slowly became blurry, as a few of Ōhara’s sparks flew through the vacuum I had created.

Not long now, and I’ll pass out from the lack of air. How much time has passed by now? Is Takako ready to open that window of opportunity now? If I approach the girl now, she’d just turn into a block of ice and die, without something heating her up from the inside.

Every single minute movement I made cracked the film of ice around my body, immediately freezing back from the temperature.

A few more seconds, maximum. Then I’ll faint, or lose control. Both is bad right now. Please tell me you’re ready, Takako. There’s nothing more I can do.

I already felt my body falling, when something caught my fall. The entire ground below me had risen to my height, draining any water that was nearby. We were floating in the air.

I immediately let go of maintaining the cold around me, and my eardrums almost shattered as air came flooding back in.

“The fact that the entire ground was drained of any water accelerated my connection tremendously, so you should be thankful for that girl. Now, do what you must.”

The five giant spheres of water fused into one large snake as I approached.

With no threat from water coming out of nowhere, I could finally focus on reaching her.

The Snake grazed me multiple times, always freezing before it managed to do actual damage.

There wasn’t much time, hearing the masses of water slowly ascending toward us.

I started running toward the bloody sphere she kept herself safe in, but the water snake pushed me back immediately. The small parts of it I froze were immediately flushed by new water to break the ice.

It slithered around me, ascending even higher into the sky directly afterwards. Once there, it made one final, desperate attempt at stopping me. It swallowed the other sphere the girl was in, racing toward the ground.

With no other choice left, I followed it, jumping off the edge of the floating platform, into the massive pool of water rapidly approaching below.

I was immediately pierced throughout my entire body as I entered, but I did not give in. I continued swimming after the snake, clinging onto life with a single thread.

My hand had almost reached through the red sphere, only a small push left and I could touch her.

But my body couldn’t keep up. My hand twitched, wasting the one opportunity I had to end this with minimal casualties.

Until, out of nowhere, a large explosion set off right behind me, accelerating me just enough to actually reach her. I managed to tap her with one of my fingers for a single second.

I lost consciousness, unsure of whether I had just died or not, only to awaken on the surface of a mass of water that couldn’t seem to stop, feeling the urge to be dragged into it entirely.