By The Skin Of Her Teeth

On Sky's side of the field, more people were relentlessly killed before he came to a standstill, watching the last group that tried to attack them go limp as their muscles were killed off by his slashes. Sky watched from the circle that encapsulated him toward the rest of the soldiers, slowly cowering away from his location.

From the cluster of soldiers came Ultima, clad with her red hair swaying by her hips tied in a thick braid, along with a brown bo staff for combative purposes. Nobody knew the capabilities of Ultima's weapon, not even those who were by her side she arrived on Earth.

"Back, now. I'll finish this loser off," Ultima claimed. She swung the bo staff widely and with such power that it struck the ground, digging dirt up and shooting it up toward the sky. Sky watched her movements with an annoyed glare on his face, scanning her body from her black shoes to her thigh-high socks, her blue shorts, and her white coat and shirt over her body.

"You piss me off," Sky shot off, bouncing back and forth with his two sabers covered in viscous amounts of blood.

"Big shocker, I piss an Asterio off. Your unclean bloodline ends with you, Sky," Ultima told him. She ended the talk, running at him while twirling her bo staff.

Sky closely observed each movement, realizing on the third spin that they were calculated moves, gathering momentum for the strike she would make in an attempt to throw him back and scare him. However, now that Sky figured out her strategy preemptively, he wouldn't be affected by her bluff and could prepare accordingly for it.

Ultima rose up above him, twirling her body in unison with the staff, and slamming it down on Sky's shoulder. He caught it, cracking the ground underneath him, and leaving Ultima shocked in surprise from his retaliation.

While Sky held onto the bo staff, he tilted a saber upward and swung toward Ultima. She was quick to dodge and retreat while retracting the staff and reclaiming herself after the surprise of not throwing Sky back with the gathered momentum.

"Huh, you aren't stupid after all... I have to give you credit, Asteri--"

Before Ultima could finish egging Sky on, he swung widely right at her head. Ultima was quick to dodge, sinking her body into the ground while watching the blood from her own soldiers drip onto her face. The shockwave of wind that came, pushing her hair back caused her eyes to widen as she moved her body back even more. She dodged a few more strikes and slid on the floor while watching Sky lift his body up once more.

"How are you not drained... you just finished fighting Quake... there must be something I'm mi--"

Again, before Ultima could finish, Sky slashed at her clothing, ripping a hole in the middle of her shirt and barely missing her skin. With Ultima understanding that Sky wasn't there to talk, she slid on the ground backward, pulling her bo staff apart to split into two pieces while focusing her gaze forward.

"Alright, now I'm tired of you," She muttered. The two ran at each other, colliding weaponry together with the counterpart to each of their weapons, and creating sparks with each. Ultima's weapon mistakenly considered to be made of wood was made from Mahina Metal in The Sanctuary, a place she originated from when she first awoke, similar to Sky.

As Ultima swung the staffs in her hands around, gathering more and more momentum while moving forward, Sky threw his saber toward her and activated the Gaze of Wrath to freeze her in place. Ultima took the gaze head-on and suffered from paralysis as the Saber moved closer to her face. She was stuck, believing that she lost.

By the length of the hairs on her eyebrow, the tip of the saber was deflected by a gust of wind strong enough to knock over a building. Even Ultima was surprised by the last-second save, but not as much as Sky was. He tilted his head with a straight face and golden eyes, peering at Khalil, who had Ellie on his back, his associate Scovia, and his brother Harry by his side.

"I believe you forgot about your friend, Sky Asterio," Khalil said, setting Ellie down and cracking his knuckles while standing in front of Ultima.

"Move," Sky demanded, walking closer to forcibly remove Khalil if need be. The look of Wrath within his eyes was captivating Khalil, almost scaring him out of his robe.

"I can't let you hurt a fellow World Leader so long as I breathe," Khalil demanded. He held out his left hand, forcing the bladeless katana out of Alexia's sheathe and into his right hand. Khalil had a sour face, yet still held a shroud of confidence around his body and in the air around him.

"I can change that before you blink again," Sky confidently said, conflicting with Khalil's already cocky personality.

"I already called the others. Raiden, Netsu, Acchi, and Chikyu. You stand no chance against the six of us, and your defeat will be more than certain," Khalil told Sky again, realizing Sky had vanished into a gust of smoke around the battlefield from Khalil's deflection.

From the smoke that Sky vanished into, he launched several illusions of himself in various directions, all looming around the center of the battlefield to surprise Khalil.

Once Khalil caught the sight of one illusion and slashed at him, Sky kicked him in the back with a quick kick. The force of the kick was enhanced by the speed, which he copied from the capability of Avie.

"Damn!" Khalil shouted out. His body flipped around after he suffered the hit from the kick, landing on the floor and swinging the bladeless katana at the attacker who kicked him. To his surprise, the attacker vanished into smoke, which left Khalil even more confused than before. There were only four illusions left that Khalil had to deal with in a unique way, leaving him smiling in anticipation.

Khalil threw his katana in the air and clapped his rough hands together, emitting a shockwave so intense around the area that it dug the grass up from the ground and sprawled it all around in the air. The illusions were immediately taken out, leaving the real Sky standing unfazed from the attack Khalil threw at him.