Grim vs Lady III: Light

Everything before me seemed to be going by so fast and yet it didn't come to an end for god knows how long. I was so lost in there, it felt like I was the third person in their duel. Grim kept unleashing his pillars and Lady kept maneuvering through them to get close to him. For now, she hadn't succeeded in landing a blow. And although Grim looked like he was doing well, he hadn't had much success either.

Eventually, perhaps when they got tired playing cat and mouse, their fight came to a halt. It was a decisive moment. This break would determine their next move and perhaps the rest of the course of this battle. Lady was on the ground, catching her breath while looking up at Grim with a stern look in her eyes.

Grim was still floating midair, without attempting to hide his overwhelming aura. He was getting bored now, so he planned to take things to the next level in round two.

"Chopper-san", I asked, not having figured out some crucial things, "What is Lady's power right now?"

"You can't tell, you idiot? Weren't you paying attention?", he pointed towards Lady who was beginning to get into position.

I looked her way. What exactly was the opposite of 'decay' anyway? Or was she surpassing Grim's physical strength? That didn't make sense. I still hadn't grasped Lady's power completely. All I was sure of was that no matter her opponent, she'd always be 5% stronger. Which meant she'd always come out on the top.

"It would be pretty slow, wouldn't it?", I was thinking out loud, "In fact, all her battles must be really long."

"Not necessarily", replied Chopper, letting out a puff of smoke.

"Oi, quit it, you chimney!", Lubbock grumbled.

"She's finished up some matters in minutes. It really depends on her willingness to reach out to the core. The longer she drags it, the harder it gets. But I think she enjoys that", Chopper completely ignored Lubbock and went on.

"The core?", I asked.

"Yeah, the core of their magic, or strength, or whatever. No one uses their full potential from the get go, ya gotta warm up, don't ya? But if she reaches their core from the get go, ya know, before they do, then she needs about a minute. It makes sense, doesn't it?", Chopper flicked his cigarette, ashing it.

"I suppose", I answered.

"Well, ya don't need to use the brain that ya ain't got. Just watch", he decided the cigarette was too short, so he put it out and started working on a new one.

"Oi, I said quit it!", Lubbock yelled again.

"Tch, what a nag! Get a hold o' yerself, Lub'."

"I hate yer weird accent! Hide it back!", Lubbock retorted, picking up a bit of it.

Indeed, Chopper talked like a different person sometimes. I didn't mind it. In fact, far from it, I actually found it interesting. It was all too clear to me what his original was. Too bad, it only got out every so often.

Meanwhile, Sight had secured himself a chair, one of the ones from their tea party. I'm sure, if he wanted, he could have secured more than just one. But there he was, with only one chair. And he chose to be the one who sat on it while all hell was breaking loose outside the safety of his barrier. And he conjured up some strange looking food from his coat. I reckon it was a lizard on a stick, roasted and burned to the crisp. Or in his case, crisped to the burn. Now, as he chowed down on his snack which, by no means, did he find tasteful, we all stood by gawking at him.

"Man thinks he's watchin' a ball", Chopper murmured.

"Sight, why don't you spare the chair for a lady?", Lubbock proposed.

"Lady? She's out there, ain't she?", Sight was startled.

"I'm talking about Ms. Deli", Lubbock answered.

"Ah! Why? She alright?", he asked.

"She is. But she is a lady, isn't she?", Lubbock munched his words, being as patient as he could.

"Ah...but my old bones..."

"Lies! You aren't that old!"

"I'm plenty old. I'll be a sixty in ten years, that's a huge number, you fresh pickle."

"Why are you talking about your future age?! In that case, Ms. Deli will be...she will be...", then turning towards Deli, he asked, "How old will you be in ten years, Ms. Deli?"

By now Deli was already glaring at him with the most murderous look in her eyes. The question only popped up a dozen more nerves on her forehead. Realizing the discourtesy of his courtesy, Lubbock rolled into a ball and armadilloed his way into a corner.

"Anyways Chopper, what the hell is Lady doing down there?", Deli pointed, averting all of our eyes to Lady.

She was beginning to glow a weird glow. She stood up straight, taking the deepest breath in the history of all breaths. She flickered, once...twice, and then...disappeared.

My eyes searched for her throughout the battlefield but she was just...gone. I didn't exactly look to check if everyone else was vehemently searching for her just as I was.

"Where'd she-"

Just then, she reappeared right in front of Grim and dug right for his eyes. Grim moved, for the first time since the start, and evaded her attack. She didn't pull back. One after the other, she went in for an attack but each time Grim continued to parry her.

Realizing that he was at a disadvantage at close range, Grim pulled back and summoned a portal, into which he disappeared. Then the portal opened at the other end of the battlefield and he appeared out of it. He summoned many portals all around him. They were beginning to look more and more like black holes. But they were still, unmoving and for now, had no pressure.

Lady stayed where she was, scrutinizing her surroundings. Grim had shielded himself within an array of portals. What lay beyond them was unknown to her. She couldn't make a careless move yet.

Thats when the offensive returned to Grim. He was now trying to capture Lady within one of his portals. The cat and mouse chase began again. And it was the most Grim thing Grim could do. He was having a lot of fun, scaring Lady off from something that wasn't necessarily all that bad. But since she had no way of knowing, she struggled to avoid any contact. Uncertainty was what she was running from. That is why I said she was really cautious in her fight. Then again, I had never before witnessed her fighting this close by. Perhaps, she was always cautious in her battles, which would be ironic, because she's the last person that needs to be cautious.

In any case, her movements were swift, in that, I couldn't see her. I finally caught on to her trick.

"Ya see kid", Chopper smirked, going through his bazillionth cigarette, "To fight decay, she's become the one thing that doesn't decay."

Light. Lady had become 'light'.