Ch 29 – Thorny Rose

"So, it's my turn already," a soft chuckle can be heard from a dark hallway, and soft footsteps echo within the empty corridor.

As a flawless, pale white hand was illuminated by the rays of light that shone near the exit of the hallway, the source of the voice was seen by the crowd and loud cheers boomed.

An hourglass body with pale white skin, bloody red hair, rosy red lips, piercing green eyes, and wearing a green martial robe of the same color. One can see a rose with a thorny stem held gently by her hand, but weirdly enough, not one thorn poked her skin and created a shallow wound.

Walking with slow steps, she smiled at the crowd and they saw her pearly white teeth.

"Kyah! It's Thorny Rose!"

"Uwah, she's as beautiful as the rumors say!"

"I can't believe that Lo Clan has produced such a beauty, though it is strange that she is joining."

"Who cares, she's a Rank 3 expert, and a powerful one at that! Even if Lo Clan is a super clan, they can't stop the wishes of an elder!"

Hearing the murmurs and chit-chatting of the people all around the stage, the woman titled Thorny Rose couldn't help but have her smile widen, muttering with glee, "Just like that, have all of your attention placed on this flawless me!"

Thorny Rose is a Rank 3 expert of qi path, a renowned elder of Lo Clan, and was named Lo Ehuang.

She was widely known for her dangerous beauty like a thorny rose, a flower that one wishes to pick but fears being hurt by it.

Every fight of hers result in a bloody end, with bloody rose blooming everywhere in the vicinity. If one is not careful, they might just die out of blood loss from her unorthodox fighting style.

As her cheeks turned rosy from hearing the praises of her fans, she suddenly sensed the aura of another figure appear in the far distance, and turned her gaze towards the other end of the stage.

There, she saw a cloaked figure clad in darkness from head to toe slowly walk up the stairs onto the flat stage.

Tick, tack. Tick, tack.

His steps were brisk yet mellow, as if unperturbed by her presence and he was living in his own world.

"Oho? Your aura says that you're Rank 2?" Lo Ehuang raised her eyebrow, smiling faintly before continuing with a mocking voice, "I'm not like that savage demonic path Fie Ree. You're clearly hiding your true cultivation level."

"Hehehe, isn't that useless? Everyone here already knows that you're a Rank 3 expert, just like me. Although your Gu Worms are still a mystery other," Lo Ehuang said with a relaxed voice as if the win was already in the bag for her.

Ignoring her chattering, the cloaked figure—Locus, raised his arm, and space gathered around it to form a black blade. Grabbing it, his aura instantly turned sharp and fierce like an unsheathed sword.

"Oho, not the talkative one, are we? Well, I'll introduce myself first. My name is Lo Ehuang, the bloody rose of Lo Clan, at your service," smirking confidently, green-colored qi emits from her hand and forms a long green whip scattered with sharp thorns, just like the stem of a thorny rose.

Nodding his head slightly, the mysterious expert said with a distorted yet deep voice, "Locus."

"Locus, eh? What a strange name you have there," smiling lightly, her eyes widened with killing intent and she lashed her whip forward without any delay.

Crack!

The sound of wind breaking was heard as her whip charged forward like a ferocious snake ready to bite Locus.

Unbothered and calm, he raised his black blade and watched as the black whip coiled around it.

"Heh," Lo Ehuang grinned with malicious intent and tried to yank back her whip to pull Locus closer and have him be pierced by the thorns on her whip.

As she did so, she found herself lacking the necessary strength and watched as Locus simply remain standing in the same spot.

"Weak," Locus said coldly.

Reenacting her move, Locus pulled his hand fiercely and she found herself flying forward towards Locus' shimmering black sword.

As her eyes widened, she hurriedly used her experience and manifested multiple bloody rose petals within her hand and scattered them all around the area.

In the next instant, just as her body was about to be stabbed by the black blade, she disappeared and Locus saw his blade plunged and cut a rose petal into two.

Watching the green thorny whip that coiled around his blade disappear, he moved his gaze towards Lo Ehuang who appeared in the distance, and said coldly, "Party tricks."

'What do you mean party tricks! You do the same!' Lo Ehuang cursed under her breath and summoned another whip in her hand, crouching down slightly while preparing for any sudden attack that may appear from nowhere.

'This guy has the ability to teleport anywhere he wants unlike me who has to first place a rose petal somewhere before I can substitute with it. This means his ability to surprise attack is above mine!' Lo Ehuang felt her heart pound faster, but she remained composed and battle-ready.

Darting her eyes around the area, she suddenly felt the wind behind her move and a few rose petals flew up slightly into the air.

Without even thinking, she rolls in a random direction and watches as a black blade thrust forwards out of nowhere.

'Just as expected. This guy likes to teleport directly behind the enemy, but maybe he is doing this intentionally to let down our guards.' Lo Ehuang retaliated instantly and swung her whip toward Locus.

'Maybe he is conditioning us into believing that he would only appear behind us and, when the time is ripe, strike us from the left or right without us knowing!' Lo Ehuang's battle intelligence, forged from hundreds of battles throughout her lifetime, showed many possibilities as to what Locus may be planning.

While she was thinking, the disguised Kaleido—Locus, watches the painfully slow whip charging towards him and thought deeply, 'I see. In terms of normal combat, without having nigh-infinite primeval essence to use, it is better to conserve it and just dodge instead of teleporting away.'

'If I continue to teleport away every time I want to dodge, it would only arouse suspicion. I should only teleport if I have to, or use it to surprise attack while also dodging an attack to fork them just like in chess.' Kaleido swiftly developed his combat skills and moved slightly to the left, just barely dodging the whip that came his way.

'Got you now!' Lo Ehuang grinned fiercely and poured more qi into her Thorny Whip Qi Gu, and watched as the thorns around the whip expand and stretch outwards all of a sudden.

'Hehehe, only a fool wouldn't do research on their enemy. I would obviously know you can do that.' Kaleido grinned behind his mask.

Swinging his sword and ignoring the thorns that were about to pierce his shoulder and abdomen, a sword beam of space rushes forward towards Lo Ehuang, shocking her at this unexpected maneuver of her enemy.

Gritting her teeth, she switches her body's momentum and swiftly leaned her body to the left to dodge the black sword beam coming her way.

'Just like in chess, you just need to force the enemy into a fork!' Kaleido's grin widened as he abruptly appeared right in front of Lo Ehuang and pressed his sword forward fiercely.

Even if his enemy was a woman, he would still fight her without any reservation!

'This is a dog-eat-dog world, so I don't care if my enemy is a woman, trans, gay, or lesbian; as long as you stand in my way, I'll just need to eliminate you!' Kaleido's bloodlust erupted, and crimson miasma seemed to surround him and the surrounding area.

As if being swallowed by darkness, immense fear struck Lo Ehuang, and she hurriedly used another one of her Gu by pure instinct.

Rose Bloom Gu!

A bloody rose bloomed in front of her chest and was placed directly there to block Kaleido's blade.

'Hmph!' Kaleido snorted, and the speed of his blade increased.

Crack!

Like a shattered glass, Lo Ehuang saw the blade puncture through the bloody rose and pierce through her stomach.

Ignoring the intense pain, she swiftly disappears and a rose petal appeared where she was.

Turning his body around, Kaleido saw Lo Ehuang on the opposite sides of the stage with blood flowing down from her stomach to her plump thighs, her fair legs, the soles of her feet, and onto the ground below her.

Activating another Gu, a soft red glow bathed her wound, and she quickly healed it in no time.

But this caused her to be slightly surprised, that just like his fight with Fie Ree, Locus let her heal herself without disturbing her.

'Is this arrogance?' Lo Ehuang thought, and continued, 'Or is this the confidence of those who are strong?'

"Hmph," snorting, Lo Ehuang swiftly summoned another thorny whip, and stated fiercely, "Quite confident, are we? Then I'll show you why they call me Thorny Rose!"

Killer Move—Bloody Rose Whip!

A strange power suffused throughout her entire whip, and Kaleido watches as the blood around her arm and legs was absorbed by it.

From there, bloody roses bloomed all throughout the entire thorny whip, and her strength seemed to be enhanced by it along with the durability and power of the whip itself.

Boom!

A loud explosion erupts as the bloody whip covered in roses and thorns lashed forward like a fearsome serpent.

'My killer move allows me to absorb the blood of either myself or the enemy to create bloody roses on the whip, increasing my strength and the power of the whip itself. Not only that, but if I successfully plant a thorn on the enemy, it can bloom into a rose and continuously absorb the enemy's blood.' Lo Ehuang thought deeply, 'And if it succeeds, then it would only be a matter of attrition and distraction. With my flurry of attacks, they wouldn't be able to deal with the bloody rose growing on their body and slowly be knocked unconscious by blood loss.'

'But I'm dealing with someone who can teleport, so I must go beyond my limits and improvise!' Lo Ehuang smirks, and her body disappears all of the sudden along with the whip.

Swoosh, from the right side, Kaleido watched as a blooming rose appeared right in front of his vision at a dangerous speed.

Just seeing it caused Kaleido to know that if he was struck by the thorns and the whip, he would be faced with a certain degree of danger.

"You lack creativity," Locus, the disguised Kaleido, said softly and disappeared from the spot in a split second.

'What?!' Lo Ehuang widened her eyes and watched as her attack missed. 'How?! No one should have been able to dodge that! And he was even talking!'

As she rotated her body, she saw Locus standing ominously tens of steps away from her, and he said coldly, "Let me show you what true power is."

Killer Move—Displaced Slash!

With a swing of his blade, space seemed to be split in half and Lo Ehuang incredulously watched as a black line appeared from left to right that ran across her stomach.

Swoosh.

'An attack that is completely unavoidable, what absurd killer move is this!' Lo Ehuang thought as her eyes closed while blood erupted like a fountain from her stomach.

Seeing her body slump down onto the ground, Kaleido dismissed the black blade he was holding and turned around.

As he walked down the stage and disappeared from the view of the crowd, they finally regained their senses and erupted in loud cheers.

"Who is he?! How has he defeated two Rank 3 experts already!"

"He even beat Thorny Rose, an expert who is even stronger than Fie Ree!"

"Didn't you see his Killer Move?! He already showed two killer moves already!"

"He even only used two Gu up till this point, the one that creates his sword, and the other that allows him to teleport!"

"Even his reflexes and combat skills are impressive. Dodging that attack of hers and showing the ability to scheme while fighting, he must definitely be a hidden expert who secluded himself all this time!"

AN: This chapter has 2090 words.

Wowzers, this chapter's fight was pretty cool with all sorts of plans and intelligent fighting between two experts of combat.

But you know what's a Thorny Rose? I don't know. Anyways, life's bittersweet and now I'm gaslighting myself to have a crush on two other people I don't even know personally because the worst case is that I'm probably demiromantic so I probably won't have a new crush for a long time.

(January 30, 2023 – 431st day of writing)