Chapter 41: Ryūkotsusei (Part II)

"Are you done talking? Let's get started! Just because you woke me up doesn't mean I'll go easy on you.

After sleeping for hundreds of years, I'm starving! You'll have to serve as my meal!"

With that, the Ryūkotsusei detached a giant rock, about ten meters wide, from the cliffside and hurled it at Yae Sakura.

Zanshin!

As she watched the boulder hurtling towards her, Yae Sakura quickly entered a state of heightened awareness. Everything around her slowed down considerably.

Slash!

In an instant, she drew her spiritual blade, sending a massive crescent-shaped sword glare hurtling toward the rock, which sliced directly through it.

The moment the rock split open, she locked onto the Ryūkotsusei...

Shuryu Slash!

She appeared right above its head in a flash. The Ryūkotsusei had an ugly human face on its dragon head; despite being a mighty dragon monster, this face made it seem far less intimidating.

When Yae Sakura materialized atop the Ryūkotsusei's head, she swiftly thrust her spiritual blade, Sakurazanmai, straight into that grotesque visage.

-

Not good...

Before Yae Sakura could stab her sword in, a cloud of black smoke suddenly spewed from the face of that monstrous dragon head.

-

At that moment, countless pink sword slashes erupted from Yae Sakura's body, relentlessly striking at the Ryūkotsusei's dragon head.

The killing intent erupted!

I managed to push aside some of the black smoke, and my spiritual blade finally reached its face.

Just as it pierced about a foot deep, an intense force exploded from the Ryūkotsusei. Yae was instantly thrown dozens of meters away and began plummeting towards the ground.

Yae fell hundreds of feet like a massive stone crashing down, splitting the earth open...

"Seems I'm fine..." she muttered.

She grabbed her spiritual blade and got up. Despite falling from hundreds of feet in the air, apart from feeling slightly off-balance, she was unharmed...

It made sense; even Kiana, a B-rank Valkyrie, could survive such falls without issue. And Yae was an SSS-rank Valkyrie—far stronger than that.

Although, there was also the White Comet battle-suit, another B-rank Kiana Valkyrie who could transform into the Knight Moonlight battle-suit...

"You wretch! How dare you harm me! I'll make you pay with your life!" The face on the Ryūkotsusei seethed with anger, blood streaming down its cheeks...

Spiritual blades deal 100% extra damage against non-human creatures. Even though Yae only managed to stab about a foot deep, it caused immense pain to the Ryūkotsusei.

The creature opened its hideous maw, gathering terrifying demonic energy within. As it expelled this power, shimmering light screens formed around it, instantly compressing the energy to just one-hundredth of its original size.

The white mass of demonic energy was squeezed into a sparkling dot, causing ripples in the surrounding space.

Whoosh!

With a deafening sound, the compressed ball of energy shot towards Yae Sakura like a bullet, traveling at least at supersonic speed.

But to Yae Sakura, who maintained a state of constant alertness, it seemed just average.

Despite the powerful attack, she didn't dodge. Instead, she drew another blade—the Void Blade.

As soon as she unsheathed the Void Blade, she activated Ouroboros.

Entering Ouroboros' realm, the attack instantly slowed down. With her left hand wielding the Void Blade, Yae Sakura directly struck the sphere of concentrated demonic energy gathered by the Ryukotsusei.

In plain sight, the void blade devoured the sphere of demonic energy.

"What...?" The Ryukotsusei froze, watching its own attack being swallowed by Yae Sakura's strange katana.

"Here you go back!"

Yae Sakura swung the Void blade again, sending the Ryukotsusei's attack right back at it. The massive creature couldn't evade in time and took a direct hit along with the mountainside above it.

Like a nuclear explosion, a huge mushroom cloud rose, blasting countless rocks and debris skyward.

After the dust settled, the huge valley... had turned into thousands of giant pits...

The Ryūkotsusei lay inside one of them, looking pretty beat up but still alive.

"Is that all you've got as a big monster? It doesn't match your appearance!"

Yae Sakura, with her spiritual blade in one hand and nothing in the other, leaped onto a surviving high ground and looked at the Ryūkotsusei in the pit...

"You half-demon, you're strong! But don't get cocky—this isn't my full power. After being sealed for hundreds of years, I'm only at about ten percent of my strength. Do you dare face me again once I've fully recovered?"

"What do you think?"

Wait for it to recover?

Don't be ridiculous!

Even though she was confident she could easily defeat it even in its prime, Yae Sakura didn't want to risk letting a dragon regain its wings.

The Ryūkotsusei wasn't some random monster; after being sealed for so long, once it was free...

It would be a disaster for humans.

Of course, these were just excuses. The real reason was that Yae Sakura wanted to kill it now and get her crystals. As for the main quest of defeating fifteen great monsters, well, she'd already won against the Ryūkotsusei.

"I see... But if you want to kill my kind, you'll need far more than that."

The Ryūkotsusei began to heal rapidly, fully recovering in just a few seconds.

It soared into the air once more, opening its massive jaws...

Countless balls of demonic energy shot towards Yae Sakura like a hailstorm.

But facing these attacks, Yae Sakura only needed to swing her twin blades. The balls of energy couldn't get anywhere near her.

Suddenly, another huge white sphere appeared before Yae Sakura with a flash, filled with electric sparks.

"The same trick won't work on me twice."

These energy attacks only served to strengthen her Void Blade.

Yae Sakura struck the sphere with her blade, absorbing it instantly. Holding the Void Blade, she could feel it was now brimming with power.

Glancing at the Ryūkotsusei writhing among the dark clouds above, she launched another Shuryu Slash...

Appearing directly on the Ryūkotsusei's body again, Yae Sakura slashed down with the Void Blade, cutting through its steel-like flesh and leaving a gaping wound.

"Damn you!" With a pained roar, the Ryūkotsusei's enormous claws swiped at the "ant" on its body.

"Sometimes bigger isn't always better, right?" Yae Sakura taunted the Ryūkotsusei as it lunged at her with its claws.

Zanshin!

Time slowed down around her. Just as the claws were about to grab her...

Yae Sakura dodged in a flash.

Sword Stream Slash!

A burst of sword energy slashed towards the dragon's claw, but it was too hard for the attack to do much damage.

Looking at the dragon bone spirit's head, Yae Sakura charged again. But this time, the dragon seemed to have noticed her plan and blasted her away with force once more.

The moment Yae Sakura was pushed aside, she used her ultimate technique:

"Crimson...Naraka!"

[Author Note PS: I've realized my battle scenes really suck! (ω*)]

(TL Note: Its ok author, I think you did a fine job :) )