Shocking surprise 

'Think, Kiyu' she rushed herself, trying to find a way out of this hopeless situation. Her only luck was that Xianzhu had appeared alone and with no other guards. So maybe Kiyu distracted him while Laki and Zhèngyi escaped.

"Zhèngyi, grab Laki and get out of here!" she shouted, dropping her gaze from Xianzhu. "Xianzhu is mine," she added.

"Hmph!" Xianzhu smiled after Kiyu presented her intentions. "Good, so be it!" he exclaimed, looking to the other two of the group. "Get out of here. Today is your lucky day."

His eyes turned back to Kiyu, and he drew the sword he always carried. Kiyu had assumed that Xianzhu was skilled in swordplay, but now she had experienced firsthand that he was also a Spiritformer.

'But then why is he drawing his sword?' To her, it made little sense because after all, he had far stronger powers within him. So why resort to a conventional weapon?

But instead of thinking about it, she had to prepare herself for the next attack of the city's regent, who had again gathered a lot of fire in his other hand. As with the attack before, he had formed a large sphere and thrown it in Kiyu's direction.

'Again? She had prepared to jump and had dodged the bullet, which was moving towards her at a rapid speed. This time, however, Xianzhu had not intended to hit her with fire. Kiyu looked up in shock after she landed, where she saw Xianzhu already above her, lunging at her with his sword.

"Shit!", she screamed and raised her arms, which she hardened to resist the blade. With a clang, her opponent's sword bounced off her arms and she performed a few leaps backwards.

"Interesting," Xianzhu replied, glancing at his blade and her arm. It seemed like he was understanding more and more of Kiyu's abilities with each attack.

'This is not good!' If it continued like this, he would have realized the true nature of her spiritual ability within a few more swings. This put her at a distinct disadvantage, for although she could harden her body, Xianzhu's attacks had another effect on her: a searing heat that took her body with it, even if it would protect against the actual impact of his attacks.

So not only were the burns harmful to her, no, she also had to worry about her body not overheating as part of her fight. But at least by now Laki and Zhèngyi had escaped.

No other guards came out of the mansion either. The fire inside had spread because Kiyu had knocked out most of the people who were in the immediate vicinity. It wasn't until the fire had already spread that others became aware and focused on putting out this force of nature.

< We have to escape him, > interjected Cheryu, who had also noticed what kind of opponent they were facing. His spiritual power alone surpassed theirs, but In addition, he also used a conventional weapon with which he could attack her without having to waste energy.

Kiyu, however, could only rely on her spiritual energy for defending herself against her opponent's forces and his weapons. It would exhaust faster her than Xianzhu, and even if they were both without energy, he still had his sword and fighting skills to rely on.

Once again the young man grinned, his long black hair blown to the side by the rising wind. He was perhaps younger than Siwang Mao, but unlike her, he had doubtless been more interested in fighting instead of resting on a few skills and striding through the world with them. "Have you realized why you won't be able to win?" hinted Xianzhu.

"Don't you think it's a little too early for that?", Kiyu smiled back at him, now breathing much heavier. "The fight isn't over yet!" Before Xianzhu could prepare the next attack, Kiyu instead now readied herself and crouched down.

"Well, well, so you're planning to fight back in the end?" said Xianzhu, also getting back into a fighting stance.

'As if!' She might take part in a fight for a few minutes, but in the end she was inferior to her opponent. She had realized this herself, especially when even Cheryu called out to flee. Instead of sprinting towards Xianzhu, she used her strength and made a great leap away from the city agent's mansion.

Using all her strength, she fled into the park and headed toward Zhèngyi's and Toras secret hideout. Just a quick glance over her shoulder, she saw her opponent had no intention of letting go.

'What the!' Xianzhu might not have been able to strengthen his body to build up speed like Kiyu, but he didn't need to as it seemed. Instead, he ran after her and jumped in between, amplifying his jumps using fire from his hands.

It would be difficult for him to catch up with her, but she couldn't also get rid of him. Kiyu had to avoid her opponent finding the entrance to the secret hiding place. Whatever she did, she could not put Laki and Zhèngyi in danger again.

"Shall we now push this to the bitter end? Cat and mouse?", Xianzhu shouted after her, making bigger and bigger jumps that turned back into races with no unnecessary movements. That he would make a mistake in the chase, a distraction or a wrong move, was unlikely.

'Why is he so good?' The mere fact that he was a Spiritformer was scary and surprising enough, but unlike the fight with Siwang, Kiyu just felt helpless here. Besides, she could not suppress the pain caused by the burns forever.

She had no choice but to head towards the hiding place, even if it carried some risk. 'I hope Zhèngyi is still there.'

She would have felt safer with Toras at her side, but now she was the strongest of her small group. If she didn't lead them, who would?

"Get it over with already, girl. You don't stand a chance!" Out of the blue, Xianzhu had thrown another fireball, which was large enough to envelop Kiyu, in her direction, but without losing much speed.

"As if!" 'If I have to, I'll fight to the death!' If it wasn't possible for her to escape her death, she would at least decide how she would react to her fate. But there was still one chance....

'I'm afraid it's all or nothing, buddy' she spoke to Cheryu inside her. If these were to be her last moments, at least she would not die alone. Not having time for thoughts of Laki pained her, but it would all become irrelevant sooner than she thought, anyway.

She positioned herself over the entrance to the secret hiding place, which hid in the grounds of the park. Toras and Zhèngyi used the hideout, but it was once part of a smuggling route and they had taken precautions to hide their entrances well.

What the opening looked like from the outside, Kiyu could not say, because she had never seen how they operated the mechanism. Zhèngyi could let her in from the inside, provided he was still at the entrance?

When she was straight above the opening, she stopped and turned to face her opponent. Xianzhu, realizing that Kiyu no longer intended to run away, also stopped and looked around. "Nice place to die."

"The dead don't care where you scatter their ashes," Kiyu commented, without fear or anger in her voice. "Let's finish it. In one go," she suggested, looking into her opponent's eyes.

"An all-out attack then?" he returned in amazement "To see which is more likely to fail, your body or my fire?" he inquired again, which Kiyu acknowledged with a simple nod.

"Very well," Xianzhu smiled and put his sword back. "Then prepare for your end," he called out, gathering a sizeable amount of fire in both of his hands. She could not compare his previous attacks to the power he was accumulating at that moment. Even Kiyu, who had not yet gained as much combat experience as her opponent, noticed that.

'Laki.... Cheryu..... Zhèngyi... and Toras' Kiyu also took advantage of what might have been her last remaining minutes, reminiscing about some of the beautiful moments with her friends as she prepared her body for her opponent's attack. No matter what happened, her body could not give in to the incredible heat.

"Are you ready?" called Xianzhu over, having gathered a massive mass of fire in front of him. Kiyu attributed the fact that he himself didn't have to deal with the problems of heat to his abilities.

"Go for it!" she shouted at the top of her voice, crossing her arms in front of her face.

The fireball, which was half a dozen meters in diameter, hurtled toward Kiyu at full speed and slammed into her within moments.

"Aaaargh!" She felt the heat that ran through her body, causing everything inside her to glow as the massive wave of fire enveloped her, which also was the reason she could no longer even see her opponent. With each passing moment, she felt her body give way more and more.

Her spiritual energy would not last too much longer.... When she lost the ground under her feet.