"Everyone, be careful…" Asher mumbled to the others in a low voice, making them realize sothing must be off for him to warn them like this.
The mont the world resud its natural rhythm, Anna didn't hesitate. She lunged forward again, her body a blur, her feet barely touching the ground as she shot towards Hellbringer and his cult mbers, her movents sharp, fluid, and deadly. But this ti, sothing was different.
Asher, Rebecca, and the others all braced themselves for the onslaught, their eyes narrowing with determination. But as Anna moved, they watched, stunned, as every attack they tried to land seed to miss by re inches.
Asher swung his ring blade with precision, but Anna was already gone before the blade even reached its mark. Grace released another volley of vermillion flas, only for Anna to twist and slip through them as if the flas weren't even there.
Each strike, each spell, each move the cult made, Anna countered it with an eerie perfection. She didn't just dodge or block; she seed to know what they were going to do before they even made the move. It was as if she was predicting their every action in real-ti, responding before they even had the chance to execute their attacks.
Asher's mind raced. Is this what Rebecca ant? The thought hit him with sudden clarity. Her ability to predict moves before they happen...
The realization struck him like a lightning bolt, and his frown deepened. It wasn't just speed that Anna had mastered—it was her Mindforce, her ability to read and understand their intentions before they could act. Her every move was calculated, as though she had seen the future and knew exactly how to counter them.
Was this the true power of an Unseen?
But his flas suddenly died out as flesh and skin began to rapidly grow back on his body, "No, fuck!" Asher grunted in frustration as he ran out of mana and realized Anna must have purposefully given him multiple chances to attack her to make him waste his mana. He underestimated the danger of her mindforce abilities.
Anna felt relieved to see that Hellbringer had run out of mana, but she had to keep fighting the others.
As she fought, she was already formulating her strategy. She had fought against many, but this group... This group was different. They were obviously stronger than her when together, more skilled, and working as a coordinated team.
She knew she couldn't take them down head-on. Not yet. She had to break their formation first.
Her eyes flicked briefly to the two healers behind the Huntress. They were the weakest links, the easiest targets in this battle. Take one down, and the rest will falter.
With a burst of speed, she darted towards one of them, her eyes locked onto the healer. Yui gasped in fear upon seeing the Thundering Reaper aiming to attack her.
But before she could strike, Grace's sharp, panicked voice cut through the air.
"No!"
Grace, her body already straining from the earlier attacks, surged forward with what little strength she had left, positioning herself between Anna and Yui. Her silver staff swung down, flas erupting from the vermillion crystal as she attempted to force Anna back.
Anna's frustration flared. She had to end this quickly; she had to take down the Huntress before she could fully intervene.
"Engh!" With a grunt, she retaliated, moving in a blur of speed and power. She struck with a force that was beyond human, her fist connecting with Grace's staff and shattering it.
The silver staff snapped in two, the vermillion crystal shattering into sparks of light that flickered and died.
Grace staggered back, coughing blood, but Anna didn't give her a mont to recover and was ready for a follow-up attack.
Just monts before, Rebecca, who was panting in exhaustion, had her eyes widened upon seeing Grace about to get attacked by Anna and pointed her staff towards Anna, "Don't you dare!" Rebecca lashed out as a beam of blood-red ice shot towards Anna, consuming whatever mana she had left.
Anna's other hand shot out, claws gleaming with dark yellow lightning, aid directly at the Huntress' chest. It would have been a fatal blow.
But before Anna could strike, she found herself getting slowed down by a layer of blood-red ice.
Rebecca smirked but frowned the next mont as she saw it only managed to slow down that bitch for just a second before her lightning vaporized the ice.
Grace stared at Anna's eyes, glowing within her helt as she braced for the inevitable, seeing Anna's hand continue its original trajectory.
"Aunty Grace!" Emiko's voice rang out, filled with desperation.
In that instant, ti seed to slow. Anna's eyes narrowed as she saw the path her attack would take. The surge of dark yellow lightning crackled from her hand, but just before it could make contact with Grace, Emiko's fragile body appeared in the way.
She montarily hesitated, as this wasn't the path she wanted to take. But there was no ti to waver, and she could not afford to divert when the new path would lead to the sa outco.
*Sshhk!*
The sound of the crackling lightning was deafening as Anna's hand pierced through Emiko's chest. The impact was so brutal that the air around them seed to hold its breath, the tension thick and suffocating. "Unh…" A horrible, strained gasp left Emiko's lips as Anna's hand drove into her, dark yellow lightning flickering through her veins, killing her from the inside.
The world fell into an eerie, suffocating silence.
Grace, Rebecca, Asher and Yui had their eyes widened in shock and horror upon seeing such a heart-clenching sight.
Anna looked at this girl using herself as a shield to protect the Huntress.
She had expected such a scenario, but experiencing it like this wasn't the sa.
But what shook her for a mont was feeling the girl's hands tightly gripping her arm.
Despite the blood trickling from her lips and her breath weakening, the girl's eyes never wavered. They were full of a hardened, determined resolve. Her fingers tightened around Anna's arm, a silent plea conveyed with every shaky movent.
Anna's heart twisted in her chest as she looked down at the girl, the light slowly fading from her eyes. But what really unsettled her was the defiance in the girl's gaze. Even with her hand buried deep within the girl's chest, the girl was still trying to protect the Huntress. With a sharp gasp, Anna withdrew her bloodied hand from the girl's chest, stumbling back, sowhat unsettled by what had just happened.
Emiko's eyes fluttered, the light dimming with each passing second. Her body, once filled with the strength of her will, now fell limp. She collapsed into Grace's arms, and for a mont, the battlefield stilled, as if the world was holding its breath.
"EMIKO!!!" Yui cried out in horror, her voice breaking as she rushed towards Emiko and fell to her knees.
Her hands trembled as she cupped Emiko's face, her touch gentle, like soone trying to wake her loved one from a nightmare. Yui's black eyes, filled with tears, glowed faintly as she imdiately began to use her healing powers. A radiant green light engulfed Emiko's body, the magic working frantically to nd the damage.
But no matter how much power Yui poured into her, the gaping wound in Emiko's chest remained, unhealed and fatal.
"Emiko, p-please… please wake up..." Yui sobbed, her voice thick with desperate, panicked emotion. She refused to give up, her hands moving faster, pushing more magic, more hope into Emiko's broken body.
But the wound engulfed in dark energy refused to heal.
Grace, pale and trembling, held Yui's hand, her grip weak but insistent as she gently lowered Yui's hands from Emiko's body.
Her voice, fragile and broken, was barely a whisper, but it cut through the chaos like a blade,"She is gone, my child…" "No! No!" Yui's sobs grew louder, her entire body wracked with grief. "She can't go... Not by leaving us behind...!"
The sight of her cradling the girl's lifeless form, her sobs echoing through the battlefield, struck Anna like a physical blow. The anguish, the heartbreak, the way she held onto the girl she had lost—reminded Anna of sothing she didn't want to be reminded of.
Anna's chest tightened as the image of Mira's lifeless body flooded her mind. The pain she felt when she held her lifeless body like this girl.
Her hand, still bloodied, fell to her side as she stared down at the life she had taken.
She had taken so many lives to the point she thought she had gotten numb to the pain and guilt.
Yet little did she know that it was not really true. It was as if all those feelings she had suppressed just ca flooding back.
Her heart clenched, the guilt and regret threatening to drown her. But there was no turning back now.
Asher stood rooted to the spot, his gaze locked on Emiko's lifeless body. His jaw was clenched so tightly that his teeth ground together, his knuckles white from the sheer force of his fists.
Slowly, he turned his gaze towards Anna, his expression darkening with a quiet, terrifying rage.
"You…" His voice was low, filled with a guttural anger, but it was steady. "You will pay for this."
Anna's attention snapped back to Hellbringer, realizing she couldn't stop now after coming this far and that Cila's life was hanging in the balance.
Her figure blurred again, the dark yellow lightning crackling as she dashed forward, her movents faster than the blink of an eye.
She appeared in front of him, her grip seizing his collar in a single, swift motion. She looked into his eyes, her voice cold as ice as she spoke, "I am sorry. But this ends now."
"No," Asher growled, his cold smile never faltering, "It ends for you. Did you forget the warning I gave you?"
*Booom!*
Before Anna could react, she heard it—a sharp, ear-piercing sound, like air being torn apart. A deafening sonic boom followed, and the ground trembled beneath her feet. The very air itself seed to split as a figure descended from the sky, landing with the force of a thunderclap. His white cape billowed in the darkened night, his golden armor gleaming as he ca to a halt in front of her.
Anna's eyes widened in shock as she looked at him. The realization hit her like a wave. Arthur?
Arthur's face was set in a grim, tense expression as he faced her, his voice filled with unwavering authority, "Let him go right now." Arthur was filled with worry upon seeing Ash in the Thundering Reaper's clutches, making him wonder how he ended up facing her and why the Coven of the Damned cult mbers were here.
Why was the Huntress with Yui and Emiko? Those two were Alia and Rachel's friends.
But upon closer look, what shocked him was seeing Emiko's corpse being hugged by Yui.
Did the Thundering Reaper kill Emiko?? It made him clench his fists as he realized another life was lost because he was too late…again!
Anna's heart skipped a beat as she looked at—Arthur—standing between her and Hellbringer, the man she had just been about to take off with.
The weight of the situation hit her like a ton of bricks. No… She had not expected him to arrive here, not like this.
She had only a mont to process his words before her body betrayed her. Her hands, trembling, lost their strength, and she unconsciously released Hellbringer's collar. Her figure blurred again, turning into a streak of dark yellow lightning as she disappeared into the night, leaving nothing but the aftermath of destruction in her wake.
"Quick, Arthur!" Asher's voice rang out, his words filled with urgency and anger, "Go after her, and don't let her escape this ti! Rember what I taught you."
Arthur didn't hesitate. With a clenched jaw, he shot into the sky, faster than a bolt of lightning, chasing after Anna with every ounce of his strength. This ti, he swore to himself to not let her escape.
Asher's gaze returned to the lifeless body of Emiko. His chest tightened, a pain far deeper than any physical wound blooming in his heart. He had seen death countless tis, but this... this—this hit him in a different way.
The wound in Emiko's chest was mirrored in his own heart, a chasm of loss he didn't see coming.
He stood there for a long mont, staring at the girl who had given everything for them, her lifeless form a haunting reminder of what was lost.
And with that, the battlefield fell silent again, save for the distant roar of Anna's escape.
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