Chapter 17: Mei Mei

I watch as the woman slowly starts to approach me. When I read about Mei Mei, it did say she was brutal and precise in her combat. But she's on another level compared to my current strength. 

I dash back waving my hand in a single swift motion hurling a web of string towards her. Mei Mei watches the string approach her before swinging her axe splitting the web of string in two. She's the first person to slice my cursed weapon. And she's doing it so effortlessly. 

I crouch down creating a pillar of stone. The pillar propels towards her. I watch as her face grows bored as she slams her axe down splitting the pillar in two.

"It's the same old, same old. Do you have any other tricks up your sleeve? "

She says to me. I stare at her as she slowly approaches me. She takes one more step until her body vanishes. I feel my eyes widen in shock as a shadow is cast over me. I glance to my left and see Mei Mei standing next to me with my web of string cut behind her. 

I raise my arms into a cross while watching her axe swing towards me. I bend my knees waiting for the impact until she abruptly feints her attack. I stare at the axe confused until a dull pain engulfs my side as my body is launched through the air. 

I slam back first on the ground coming to a grinding halt. I glance to my side and see a small bloody hole. She must have feinted her attack and hit me with one of her crows. 

I wish I knew how her cursed technique worked. I gingerly stood back up. Looking forward, I stare forward but I don't see Mei Mei. Before I can react she appears next to me throwing a kick. The kick slams into my mask rocking my head to the side. 

I raise my guard blocking another kick. My wooden sandals skid across the grass from the force of the kick. I reach down forming a massive wall of dirt. I watch as the wall is sliced in two by Mei Mei's axe. I stare at the axe until it suddenly gets caught in the dirt. That axe should have easily cut through- 

Before I could finish my train of thought, a sharp pain engulfed my jaw as my vision blurred. My body is sent crashing through the wall as I bounce off the ground before crashing into a sturdy oak tree. I look forward and see Mei Mei with her foot high in the air. She must have kicked me in the jaw. 

" That was an amateur mistake. Blocking your vision against an opponent that far outspeeds you is foolish. "

She says to me, I push off the tree behind me standing back up. I notice a dead body next to me. It was some woman I killed. I grab her shoulder enlarging her spine before yanking it out. Mei Mei looked at me slightly surprised before she smirked and talked.

" Looks like you still have some new moves left in you, but if you tell me where Geto is, I'll stop fighting you and we'll both be on our merry way. " 

I don't respond instead pointing the spine towards Mei Mei. I enlarged the spine making it five feet long. I grabbed the spine in the middle before spreading my feet apart, tossing the spine at her like a javelin.

She smirks at the spine approaching her before she leans her head to the left casually dodging the spine. She stares at me cockily until her eyes widen noticing a string. Before throwing the spine I wrapped string around one of the vertebrates. My cursed energy flows through the string and back into the spine morphing its shape. The spine turns into a scythe as I yank my fist back.

Mei Mei dashes to the right as the tip of the bony scythe grazes across her face creating a massive cut under her left eye. I catch the scythe before I start spinning the scythe in my palm.

" Looks like the real battle is finally getting started. "

She says to me with a grin on her face. The bright fireflies above us shine in unison illuminating the dark forest. We lock eyes as our footsteps echo out rhythmically. We slowly approach each other as a gust of wind blows Mei Mei's hair wildly. We are about to lunge at each other until the black barrier above us suddenly fades catching both of us off guard. 

We both look up into the sky until I feel my phone vibrate in my cloak's pocket. I reach into my cloak and pull out my phone. It's a message from Geto. The thirty minutes are up. A smirk appears on my face as I dash back into the dense forest. 

Mei Mei stares at me confused as I flee through the forest. There's no reason to fight Mei Mei anymore. Looks like our battle has come to an anticlimactic conclusion. I jump from tree branch to tree branch until in a matter of minutes I exit the forest and start calmly walking past the Zenin Residence.

It pains me to admit this. But if I had engaged in another skirmish with that woman I would have probably died. My body is at its complete limits. I reach up and rub my hand across my mask. I feel several cracks on the mask.

When she slammed her leg into my jaw, it must have cracked my mask. I doubt I'm going to take any more requests from Geto anytime soon. That mission wasn't worth the money. I think to myself exhaling loudly...