Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Two: Light and Dark (Nineteen)
Three hundred meters… one hundred meters… twenty.
In the blink of an eye, the monster soaring through the sky was right in front of me. Dead smoke swirled and mingled, rushing past my eyes and diving toward the streets of the city below. The turquoise-white smoke kept seeping into the monster’s body, making it tremble.
“Grrrrraaaaaahhh—”
In my line of sight, the monster, almost entirely shrouded in dead smoke, suddenly made a U-turn mid-flight. Just as the wind rushed in, a chilling white gleam flashed before me, and in the next moment, its sharp claws were mere millimeters from my nose.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
Sparks flew from the flapping flame wings, creating a shower of embers that danced around us. The flames flickered, almost frozen in place as the dead smoke passed by. The tiny, dense particles of dust in the air were magnified. The enormous creature hadn’t fully turned yet, but its mesmerizing scarlet compound eyes had locked onto mine. A thick liquid shot out from its mouth, floating ahead in the air, less than a meter away.
In the next moment, intense black fire rapidly gathered in my palm, and I shut my eyes.
I tilted my head, twisted my body, and flipped around.
Time resumed flowing.
Clang—
The monster’s claws grazed my chest, leaving a not-so-deep scratch on my armor. At the same time, sparks erupted around me as I spun through the air. With a mighty flap of my left flame wing, I propelled my body right in front of the monster’s head, mere inches away.
With my right hand raised high, I aimed and slammed down toward its head.
Boom—!!
A tremendous explosion swallowed everything in sight. As the black flames billowed, the violent shockwave and recoil thrust me back several dozen meters. I spread my wings wide, fighting to stabilize myself in the air.
“Ha…”
A smile tugged at my lips as I cracked open my eyes just a bit.
Ahead, the explosion’s black flames had blown away dead and azure smoke within at least a five-meter radius. The monster took the full brunt of my attack directly to the head. Even if Chaotic Power didn’t inflict damage, the terrifying shock and impact greatly affected it. The creature wobbled in its flight, teetering for a moment, but it quickly regained stability.
…Still a long way to go.
I closed my eyes again and flapped my flame wings to charge forward once more.
At that moment, my body’s senses were heightened to an unprecedented level. The swirling dead smoke, the lingering echoes of the monster’s roar, the rapid flaps of butterfly wings making a whooshing sound, the black flames coiling around me, and the wind brushing against my cheek—all of it slowed down but became incredibly clear in my ears.
Iliush…
In the blink of an eye, I realized I was now above the monster. With my eyes tightly shut, I could only see darkness, but a faint red light pierced through my eyelids, subtly glowing from the dark.
Oh great, another illusion coming my way?
By now, I was crystal clear in my mind. Whenever I saw that monster release red light, I would definitely be trapped in an illusion.
As far as I knew, this red light was most often emitted from its eyes, or perhaps through those ravens and snakes that it conjured with Chaotic Power. Their eyes could also do the trick.
And then there was that earlier flash of red light that illuminated the sky like a special move.
Just these three methods, all requiring direct eye contact for someone to fall into a mirage. With this understanding, dodging was no longer a problem.
Clang!
In the next moment, armor covering my forehead extended down, shielding my eyes across my nose bridge.
In my sight, the light that had shone from the darkness disappeared completely. I raised both arms high, fingers together morphing into a blade, and suddenly swung down.
Slash.
Clang—Boom!
A sound like thunder echoed, mixed with the metallic noise of something hard being shattered. Fragments flew through the air, hitting my face and body like “ding ding ding ding!”
“Grrrrraaaaaahhh—”
The monster wailed.
Suddenly, a gale blasted from my left side.
Aha!
I didn’t flinch or dodge; instead, I curled my lips into a grin, extending my left arm to grab the wind’s direction.
Crack!
With a sound of bones cracking, a sharp pain shot through my elbow. But at the same time, I felt something long and solid under my palm.
It was a claw!
“Ha ha!”
I burst into laughter.
Gotcha, you!
Feeling the claw trying to pull away from my grip, I tightened my fist and reached out with my right hand as well. I held onto the monster’s claw tightly, and with a fierce flap of my flame wings, I twisted my waist, spinning like a top in the sky.
Accelerating faster and faster.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
“Grrrrraaaaaahhh—”
The monster’s furious roar blasted in my ears, accompanied by the roaring winds as something sharp pierced through my side.
Ouch!
In the next moment, I released my grip.
Whoosh—
The shrieking wind faded away. Two seconds later, a dull thud resonated from below.
Thud boom!
Ah, I tossed it down…
I hope it didn’t land on anyone.
My body plummeted quickly through the air.
Not that it was a big deal, but I really didn’t want that stupid woman from the Church calling me out. That would be such a drag.
I tilted my head and thought for a moment. My flame wings flapped again, adjusting my position mid-air, and I dove rapidly toward where the monster was falling.
Let’s just finish it off already.
Swish—
My left arm felt terribly itchy.
By the way, how far am I from the ground…
Boom!
Before I could ponder this serious question any further, my head suddenly smashed into something hard, shattering and breaking through to the next layer of solid material. The sound of crumbling stone filled my ears, and in a flash, I protected my head, only to hear the monster’s wail abruptly spike.
“Grrrrraaaah—”
Bam!
But in the next moment, I knocked it right back.
I didn’t know where exactly I hit it, but the impact was so fierce that if I hadn’t had the neck armor and helmet on, I might’ve broken my neck. Even still, I felt a bit dazed.
My nose was filled with a pungent smell, and I nearly bit my tongue with my teeth clashing. I could hear rocks and debris raining down from above, strongly inferred to be from me crashing into a building. The monster below was thrashing about, its sharp claws slicing through my armor and embedding into my right shoulder.
Ouch, ouch, ouch…
“That hurts a lot!”
Gripping onto the monster some place, I raised my right fist high and brought it down.
Boom!
“Stupid little girl.”
I lifted my right fist again and slammed down.
Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
After a few punches, something felt squishy and mushy beneath my hand—the monster’s struggles noticeably weakened.
I felt even happier.
“Iliush, still so lively, huh…”
In the next moment, I hooked my fingers into the edge of the ruined wound I’d made, stepping onto the monster’s body. With a flick of my waist, I surged upward and flung its immense bulk away.
Bang!
It crashed somewhere far away, producing a gigantic, muffled sound.
Thud.
With both feet on the ground, I stood tall and straight.
“Rebellious children have to be punished, you know… Ah! Right now, you probably don’t even remember that, do you?”
