Unexpected Twist

Shura's black mist form entered through one of the many windows of the castle. He was now inside of the massive flying structure.

Shura poured all of his power into becoming one with the darkness and void in order to make himself invisible to the woman.

Shura remained still and put all his effort and attention into remaining invisible and inert. It was only after a long time that he was certain that the woman couldn't find him and proceeded to relax a bit.

What was he to do now? He couldn't fight against her in a head on battle, that was suicide. Just withstanding a single attack was enough to cause serious injuries to his body. Even now his body was still under accelerated healing and he wasn't at full strength yet. He'd need to use his head to beat her, and that was all he needed to do.

Shura decided that he'd explore this place first. Maybe there was something here that could help him. He didn't want to give up and do nothing.

Shura explored the place one room at a time. One long hallway led to another, then another. A room also led to another room. There wasn't anything in the hallways or the rooms. Shura wandered about for a long time without being able to find anything. It was also good that he wasn't found out by the woman. Shura had to be careful wherever he went, he was nervous. He never knew when the woman would pop out and attack him. Shura remained very cautious and vigilant as he continued to explore.

Finally Shura found something different. He was now in a room, the room was small, and dark. Only the light from outside illuminated small area of the room. But at the end of the room was a large sphere of fire floating in the air. The room was small, but he couldn't feel any heat at all even though he was very close to it. Shura walked toward this sphere of fire. He felt drawn toward it in mysterious ways. It was the only thing interesting he had seen since he arrived here too.

He reached out to touch it. His hand entered the fire, but it was not hot, only warm. His hand did not burn.

Something in the fire entered his hand and then traveled up his arm and into his brain. Shura saw a vision of three people fighting with their swords in the snow. They were all cultivators and every attack of theirs was imbued with great power. In the end the weakest fighter was able to triumph over his opponents by letting them weaken each other and finishing off the tired victor.

At another place not far away a child was crawling on the snowy ground towards a large black tower. At the top of the very tall tower was a large ball of flame.

The vision then promptly ended. Although he didn't know what the vision meant, it did give him an idea on how to deal with his problem. Although he might not be able to defeat the red-haired woman in a contest of strength and overall might, it didn't mean that he couldn't kill her through subtler means.

It would be nice if there was still someone left to fight her beside himself, but things weren't always easy, and this situation was one such time.

The ball of fire then projected a map of the entire structure onto the wall of the room. There were two dots within it. Shura was able to immediately recognize where he was. He assumed that the other one must be the woman. It was good that he knew where she was now.

He had been searching through the place for a long time and all he had found was this mysterious ball of fire. Unless he killed red-haired woman, she would kill him. There was nothing else to it. Only with the other's death would they be able to obtain what they wanted.

Shura decided that he'd assassinate the red-haired woman. It would be sudden, subtle, and unforeseeable. That way she wouldn't be able to use her superior strength to her advantage. Now that he knew where she was, Shura immediately headed for her location.

While traveling toward the woman's location Shura was focusing to the best of his ability to make himself as invisible and undetectable as possible by utilizing the power of darkness and void that was now inherent to his body, soul, and weapon. The fact that the woman wasn't able to find him after catching up to him when they entered the flying structure meant that Shura's stealth was somewhat functional.

Shura walked up to the woman. There were no responses from her as Shura neared her. Regardless of how confident he was or what the result would be, Shura had no choice but to jump into danger.

Shura slowly approached behind the woman, he was only a dozen or so steps away from her. Shura's blade erupted with activity. It instantly shot through the space and headed for the woman's neck. Not even an instant had passed before the blade was infinitely close. The blade moved like it was unaffected by air resistance.

The woman immediately moved. She suddenly appeared a few meters away. Her sword materialized in her hand she instantly counterattacked at Shura.

The situation was now very similar to the one before when Shura confronted the woman for the first time. If he were to take on this attack with his own blade, he would receive massive injuries.

It was at this moment that Shura decided that he would go all-out. He could see no other way. As long as he was still breathing after the woman was dead, it could be considered his victory. Everything would be fine as long as he obtained the Supreme Truesoul. Any and all wound could be healed. Shura was willing to put everything on the line to defeat this woman.

"Aaaaaaah!" Shura yelled and met the woman's strike with his blade. A great shockwave shot out from where the two weapons touched. No pain or injuries registered in Shura's mind as he continued to attack the woman constantly and without rest. As long as he killed the woman, he was willing to be half-dead or even die! Only such a resolve would allow him to break this ridiculous stalement and obtain victory.

"Die!" Shura said as he attacked the woman over and over from many different directions. His movement was fast and the speed of his blade was faster than lightning, but the woman was able to precisely keep up with it. It was infuriating! Such a difficult opponent vexed Shura.

"Why won't you die? Do you want me to die instead?!" Shura screamed.

The two exchanged a flurry of strikes. Shura didn't know about the woman, but he knew that he was losing out gradually. His hand became numb and his vision blurry. The energies within his body was chaotic and turbulent. Shura gritted his teeth and held on and continued another dozen of blows with the women. Shura could feel himself becoming slower after each blow, but he couldn't detect any similar changes with the woman.

Shura decided to go on a final offensive and attack. The woman's heavy strike immediately pushed him back and also left him wide open.

Even though Shura's latest attack left him wide open for an attack, but he didn't care. The red-haired woman seized the chance and attacked him with her sword. Her movement was instantaneous and filled with power. Shura didn't care about dodging at all and attacked the woman within the instant that she was preoccupied with landing her attack on him. He used up all of the energy in his body to the point where he was dry and unleashed his strongest attack with everything he had. He didn't care what happened to him afterward, as long as his opponent was eliminated, it would be worth it.

Shura didn't feel anything as his left arm was separated from his body, his focus was only one his blade, the blade that had pierced the woman's heart with great difficulty.

Although one was dead and the other lost an arm, Shura couldn't really say it was uneven. The blade was infused with the woman's superior inner energy. That energy was currently wrecking havoc within his body. The new injury compounded the old one and the damage his body sustained in order to force out that last attack. Shura felt like he was going to die. The pain was so unbearable he really did think that he wanted to die too. To say that he was three-fourth dead wasn't an exaggeration. Shura let go of his blade fell to the ground.

Shura waited on the ground for something to happen, but nothing happened. But then something really happened.

Shura felt an absence in his mind, like something that was there had disappeared. He immediately looked at the the red-haired woman on the ground. One of her fingers twitched.

'Oh my god, what the hell!' Shura screamed in his mind.

So the reason that nothing happened was that there was still someone left he had to defeat. Actually he wasn't even sure about how the whole thing worked and the rules involved. But this didn't change the fact that the red-haired woman got up, and the wound on her chest was healing at a visible rate.

Arya wasn't with him anymore, and he was certain that he had killed the red-haired woman... Did she leave and possessed the red-haired woman's body? But then how was she able to heal the body? Shura would not think of it anymore, he couldn't unravel it no matter how much his head hurt.

The situation was very clear. He was on the ground, near death, and Arya had just possessed a new body that was fully healed and had perfect combat strength. Death was near for Shura. Or was it just defeat? Was there a death, a defeat? Was there even a life?