39 Deadlock

[Skill Root- Horn of the Moon God!]

From the knuckle of the hand that was blocked by Sylphy's own, a black horn grew and impaled straight through her palm. She seemed oblivious to the pain as she looked at her wound in surprise.

[Skill Variant- Kinetic Darkness!]

The Dark Mana within my body entered through her hand and seemed to lockdown the entirety of her physique using the kinetic energy I was previously unable to find after creating my Skill Roots. The special properties of the Dark Attribute showed itself at this moment as it was almost like her body was frozen in space due to the shadows in the vicinity becoming chains from within which ensnared her.

Blood nevertheless flowed out from her impaled palm as a black energy of the Dark Attribute restricted her movements and locked away her mobility. However, even though my Dark Mana was able to invade her flesh... her mind seemed untainted as her eyes retained their clarity.

I stopped using my Chainsaw Edge to damage her weapon and observed how motionless her body was as I was forcing her fingers to let go of my hand. The control I had over this ability allowed me to have some level of control of her internal restraints.

I moved away from her body and stepped back, the deadlock we were in was broken in that exact instant since she wasn't able to move. This powerless visage caused me let down my guard a little. I could help but unconsciously sigh in relief but also was kept my cautiousness due to her eyes. It was almost like they were teasing me despite not having moved an inch...

Even though my ability has completely overpowered her, why is it that I feel so restless? Looking at her hand that was healing at a rate visible to the human eye, I once again felt that she was a humanoid monster with unfathomable power.

There was absolutely no doubt about this!

Even though she was put in such a difficult situation since she had technically already been captured by my Skill, her gaze seemed unmoved. A crackling sound could be heard as she broke out from the restraints I put on her body without warning!

The ordinary sword she previously held by its blade twisted in the air before she bent her arms.

[Sword Art- Heaven Severing!]

A sharpened aura of her strange Mana converged on her blade's edge and cut towards my body while slicing through the air. Space and time seemed to be irrelevant in front of her sword's supremacy!

It wasn't that my mind wasn't able to react... With thenCognitive Drive Support Skill I had secretly already used to boost my mental functions, I noticed her attack long before she actually moved by looking at even the smallest movements of her muscles.

However, for some reason my body couldn't actually keep up with my thoughts. Damn it! A chill ran down my spine as I focused on my Weightless Breath Support Skill and focused the majority of my mental functions to bring my speed to its limits!

The ordinary sword in Sylphy's hand inched closer and closer to my chest as I also activated Chainsaw Edge Main Extension to its fullest potential to block her attack...! The sword in my hand was an extremely dense creation formed on Sun Mana, if even it couldn't stop her blade then there was probably nothing on this planet that could.

The sound of iron smashing together could be heard as I was sent flying from where I stood. The knife Anna gifted me shattered to pieces as a result of me using it to defend her ultimate attack alongside my Heavenly Sword. Phew... It's a good thing that Anna's gift was able to save my life at such a crucial moment... but I feel really regretful for breaking it so easily because of how I was told to care for it.

I put the shattered knife back into its holster within my clothes and looked at Sylphy who was charging at me by making use of the time I was unable to use my speed in mid air. Time was slowed down in my perception so I could easily tell how she was making use of the fact that I didn't know how to fly.

Do you actually think you can capture me again like last time? Not going to happen!

[Main Skill- Abyssal Knife]

A black knife of Dark Mana formed inside my hand before I threw it towards her. With her superior aerial speed in combat, my magical knife wasn't even able to scratch her cheek, but a sly smile curved onto my lips as I saw the knife that was passing by her.

She seemed momentarily stunned after seeing my placid expression and hurriedly placed her sword to block behind her by listening to overwhelming high battle instincts. It was at that moment that my body disappeared and reappeared behind her, the white sword in my hand glowed brightly as I stabbed towards her spine with pinpoint precision.

[Main Extension- Drill Thrust]

The second kind of extension on my 'Halo of the Sun God' Skill Root's Main Skill I thought of on the spot clashed with her sword but this time managed to make a small dent on the blade's spine. I wasn't exactly happy about the results since I had been aiming to finish our battle off with this sudden ambush. It's scary how she was able to react to attack that had been thrown from her blind spot using her instincts alone. I could only accept right of this moment that her instincts were way better than mine... Even 'I' couldn't have blocked that attack!

Although I had the most pride in the paranoia and instincts I inherited from my past incarnation, I wasn't blind enough to not accept the facts placed in front me... My own instincts relied on grasping information around me that would otherwise be ignored and compiling them into logical reasonable conclusions and theorisations which could prove useful. However, the instincts of the monster in front of me purely came from acting solely on her sixth sense through force of impulsive. If I had to say which was superior, the one that HAD to come out on top would be having an innate sixth sense.

Just like what happened right now, someone with her kind of instinct would be able to react to things instantly even though it shouldn't have been logically possible for her to do so. How am I supposed to break through that? It's not like my will was in any way weakened, but it was necessary for me to find a way to bypass her great sixth senses...!

Moving on, we decided to make some distance from each other once again. I could see a serious expression appear on her face as she looked at the black knife of Dark Mana that once again formed on top of my palm by being summoned again.

"A teleportation skill...?" She muttered while looking at Abyssal Knife in my hand. It's not like I didn't understand her sentiment... A magical ability like teleportation wasn't that rare among high-ranking members of the kingdom. It's just a combat-oriented Skill Root with teleportation abilities were probably impossible to form under normal circumstances...

I didn't answer her confused since doing so would be stupid. Why would I allow an enemy of mine to understand my abilities? Am I some third-rate protagonist of an action series that absolutely HAS TO tell the truth? It's better to end this quick!

The teleportation ability of my Abyssal Knife also had a cool down of a few seconds so her not attacking out of caution is actually favourable to me though. I might as well use this pause to recuperate and form a plan to get through her defences.

From what I can tell: Her physique was now stronger and hadn't been enhanced through the use of preforming Aura Manifestation, so what would happen if she could use Aura Clad? It is just like that time in the past when she captured me...

Hah... I was too full of myself before and underestimated her due to the fact that I'd grown stronger, but now I've remembered that I'm not the only one who had grown in these five years.

Compared to the past, her physical strength and sword skills have improved dramatically. I don't know what her limit will be in the future but it seems like I can't hold anything back anymore out of fear towards revealing all the cards I held.

She's scary... Not just because she's strong but due to the fact that she's so much of an anomaly when it came to the variety of her abilities like myself. I knew I was only BARELY able to predict what she could do with my instincts since I didn't know what cards she was keeping hidden under-wraps.

I knew I shouldn't show my hand before my opponent showed their own. The danger in revealing all my abilities could allow her to come up with a way to counter me if she survived this life or death match. It was only unfortunate that I could only go all in to kill her with all the strength I have.

I'm unable to understand how she arrived in this world nor why she reincarnated into the same area as I did. Was this some sort of plan she made before her birth? Why isn't she just killing me instead?

There seems to be some underlying motive behind her actions besides trying to steal my magical energy that I'm currently unable to comprehend. I'll need to gather information about her someone later...

"Why do you want to increase your strength so badly? Even though there's so much hatred in your eyes, you'd rather manipulate me rather than killing me. What is your goal?" I took the opportunity I made to straightforwardly ask her. With the Heavenly Sword in one hand and Abyssal Knife in the other, it would be weird if she didn't take this opportunity to think of another plan of action.

She paused for a moment at my words and the sinister smile on her face vanished. Her face became expressionless once more, yet even though it was the same as it was when she was trying to trick me, there was a massive difference in her appearance.

She no longer had the bright eyes she had when the Young Miss introduced her to me... instead there was just a bottomless abyss in her eyes that were filled with unfathomable melancholy.

"You wouldn't understand my reasons even if I told you~" She replied with a stunning smile which contrasted to her lifeless eyes. To think she would be more incomprehensible to me than Enigma....!

"There's no way I'll have hope in understanding you if you don't even give me a chance." It may sound like flowery words but the there's no one who can deny that communication is the first step needed for people to understand the heart of others.

"You think you can empathise with me?" She tilted her head curiously.

"I don't know about that. Maybe the reason will make me feel pity for you at least. It will depend on how I feel after listening to your circumstances. Though don't expect me to suddenly want to make a contract with you after hearing it." I said seriously while looking into those terribly cold eyes head-on. Do eyes like those even belong to a human being?

I didn't know what were her reasons for wanting to steal my magical power could be... but why is it that I feel like I wouldn't ever have the ability be able to comprehend her strong emotions?

"Since you insist, I'll give you another chance. Make sure you keep your ears open this time..." She sat down from where she stood while stabbing her metal sword into the ground. It looked like she was very confident in being able to fight me one-on-one.

"Isn't it sad that only the talented have the right to achieve their goals?"