Keep Your Bones For Yourself!

* Dennis Lloyd - Alien Topic Remix *

***

The dark grim reaper was eyeing her in... suspicion? 'Does it think I'm still hiding something?' Raven thought to herself. Not that she wasn't.

But truth be told, she wasn't so eager to attack it again. Most of the injuries on its body were no more. Even her previous punch were she had put almost all of what she's gotten at the time into Advanced Mana Manipulation, in order to push her mana inside of its core and cause mana poisoning, has been a complete failure.

The grim reaper's core was so strong that Raven couldn't even reach it, even though it was weakened. 'Maybe because the mana core is like its soul, I should've added some means of reaching the soul and not just a random mana attack? But mana should reach the mana core... Kayla! help please.'

[When you input your mana into a foreign body, what would usually happen is one of two cases.

[ Your mana causing mana poisoning.

[The body being able to withstand or overcome the mana poisoning.

[Think of it as blood poisoning in humans. There are four types of blood: A, B, AB, O. Whereas AB can take on or accept any other blood type, A and B would get blood poisoning if they don't receive blood of the same type.

[The only exception to that rule is blood type O that can give every other type, and can't accept anything but itself.

[If you ignore the exceptions for now, mana poisoning and blood poisoning are quite similar.]

'Ah... makes sense, thanks for the bio lesson! Kinda excited to have you in class when we leave this sh*thole. I like your almost human tone by the way. Is it because of the souls? Did you get another upgrade?'

[Thank you, let me know if you require further help. And not necessarily the souls, but your rank up. I haven't received an upgrade, rather new... knowledge became available.]

'I see I see. Ok then let's thinking of a safe way to deal with that pile of bones.'

She wanted to try her skill Soul Predation and see if that can help access its directly soul. But if it was as strong as its scythe then it's a lost cause. She didn't want any more soul corruption.

Plus, with Kayla's explanation, it didn't seem like it mattered much.

'Except maybe if that skill could add 'poison to the mana'? Like mixing to types of blood and injecting them into a body that can't accept them.' Raven mused. 'And I'm assuming the more mana I could get in, the more the effect of the poisoning would be... but that's a dilemma for another day.'

Her best next option was simply stall for time and distract the dark grim reaper enough for Camilla to hit it with one of her spells.

Seeing how she was gazing at it, the grim reaper's red gems in its eye sockets pulsed with hatred.

'Oi, dude be hatin' me, huh.' Raven thought warily as an unintentional smile crept into her face.

If the grim reaper had veins, at least two would have popped spraying blood everywhere.

"Joey, I'll be coming with you. Plan is to create an opening for Camilla to strike."

"Wait you said-"

"Sorry Maya," Raven cut the complaining Maya off, as she kissed her forehead quickly, "If I don't fight we could have casualties, and I'd like to avoid that."

"But-"

"No buts, here they come!" she yelled as the reaper appeared in front of her face slashing at her with its dagger-like-fingers.

BOOOOM!!

Raven had but a split second to react, but with her supersonic movements, it wasn't an issue. Or so she thought.

Even though she's blocked the strike with the golden great sword in her right, the strength of the dark grim reaper was so overwhelming that she was sent flying a couple of meters in the air.

BOOOM!!

However, just to be safe from a follow up slash, she's struck at the crazes pile of bones with her left sword as she soared up high.

'Damn why is he stronger now? I get that he's probably recovered, but heck I've ranked up!' Raven complained in her mind, yet she was so thankful the idiot didn't mind her group and only attacked her.

'Kayla, feel free to step in, honey!' Raven was grasping at straws since she was clearly going to loose a fair fight between herself and her opponent.

[Your best course of action would be to use Ruler's Domain.

[Ruler's Domain (Tier 2) - Level 2: Spend mana to construct a domain around yourself. Inside your domain, your enemies lose focus and become sluggish while at the same time they become more vulnerable to any of your skills. You on the other hand, gain heightened senses and become able to read and expect your enemies' movements. Effectiveness of skill depends on both the mana consumed and the resistance of the targets, as wella s their strength and numbers.]

Raven widened her eyes in realization. 'Thanks Kayla, you're awesome! If I pair Ruler's Domain with my two other skills: Vampiric Touch and Holy Touch... I'd be OP!

'Ruler's Domain restricts the target's movements as well as gives me the chance to predict their next, while Vampiric and Holy Touch would steal its vitality and add it into mine. I might have to use Advanced Mana Manipulation like last time to 'touch' it with mana, rather than an actual touch.

'Hm, that's gonna be challenging, am I to to the challenge though?' she allowed a sadistic grin to escape her mouth.

[A friendly reminder that your task is to create an opening for Camilla only, also, you've asked Joey to join you-]

"Err, true... JOEY!" she called out to Joey as she evaded another midair slash from her rather persistent peruer. "Keep the others safe! I'll take care of this idiot!" she yelled to Joey and the rest to hear.

Joey hesitated for a second before nodding to himself. If he's determined on following the princess, and for that he needs her trust. What other way is there than protect her beloved ones?

"Fuu~" calming herself down with a deep breath, Raven activated her desired skills.

Ruler's Domain was a skill that required building or assigning a domain. For that domain to be constantly moving would mean much more mana cost.

Unfortunately for Raven, that was her only option. Staying static in a fight against a higher rank was a death wish.

Activating and maintaining four skills, with two if them being tier 2 skills, was not at all easy. But she managed to pull it off.

Noticing how her enemy's movements seemed rather slow and predictable, she knew she's succeeded.

With every ounce of mana the dark grim reaper attained inside her domain, Raven would take a toll. Making it more furious.

The reaper had left centuries, and it's been its first time being toyed with by a lower ranker.

However, that couldn't be farther away from the truth. Raven was struggling to keep up with it, even though she could in theory predict its movements and take a small portion of its mana, she was still too weak in comparison.

One wrong move and she'd be dead. One wrong counter or block and a dagger like bone would penetrate too deep into her flesh, forfeiting her life.

*HUFF* *HUFF*

She breathed loudly as she started to get tired. Camilla even though was still busy with the monster horde, had kept an eye on their flight. But even then, she's found absolutely no weak points to exploit.

'Damn it I can't keep this up!' Raven thought to herself as she was already too deep into the fight to back down. And even if she did, the dark reaper would just chase after her group.

"Alright, plan B it is!" she said with a small smile on her face.