The Conquerors Path

Time came to a grinding halt as I watched Nyla thrash onto the floor, her eyes lighting up, those X-shaped pupils gaining a certain glow as red-colored energy burst from within her. Just as those X lights lit up, I felt a hit on my body, my insides churning as if hit by a truck.

'So that's what they do.'

Holding back the pain, I now understood in-depth the functions of her eyes. Those eerie eyes seemed to inflict the same pain on her opponent's back to them. Those X shapes were the markers that allowed her to return all the pain. The good thing here was that she could only return the pain, but that only existed for now. Once she unlocked everything, she would even be able to return the injuries too.

"That's some special punch you got there," I spoke.

"And that's one hell of a punch you got," Nyla replied as she caught her stomach. Her monstrous vampire healing quickly got her better. Her back straight, she looked at me with a smile as she spoke.

"So, why don't you hit me harder?"

"Never took you for a masochist," I replied with a smirk as I once again appeared in front of her and punched her face, sending her flying again. The X mark lit up in her eyes again, but this time no pain filled my body.

"A mark is easy to remove for me," I replied as I looked at the surprised eyes of Nyla. She didn't even get a chance to reply as I arrived in front of her and punched her stomach once again, letting her fly across the room, her scream filling the air as she flew.

"For an archer, that's one hell of a punch!"

As she said so, the gauntlets in her eyes lit up, and her battle dress started to shine as the runes within her dress activated. Small black tendrils of lightning appeared all around her. Her vampire wings, razor-sharp, flapped as she lightly floated above the ground. Once again, I moved and appeared in front of her with a punch, which she easily reacted to as my fist met hers.

Trying!

A soundwave blast took place as our fists met. Her powered-up fist met mine, and it came out as a draw. Yet I didn't even get a chance to react as black lightning flashed from her dress to me, hitting me as I flashed across the room. The sound of thunder revealed itself again as hundreds of lightning flashed towards my body.

Time seemed to slow down for me as I saw those black lightings moving to hit me from all directions. My gaze then met Nyla's, who kept powering these lightnings towards me. The controlled lightning left her body while the sharp talons of her wings spread out. All around the ground, spikes of blood bloomed, and the moment I touched the ground, they would be ready to pierce me.

Not just that, the black lightning gathered around Nyla as they formed spikes at her gauntlet, giving them a dangerous feel. Not just that, the black lightning is also coursing through her wings, ready to give her an almost lightning-like speed in a single burst. Her body stayed tense, and I knew that the moment I dodged the lighting and the spikes, Nyla would appear in front of me with her gauntlets aiming for my face.

'Well then, let's have fun...'

With such thoughts, the ice of the frozen loss burst out from within me, forming a powerful protection of ice that took the brunt of all the lightning with perfection. As it did so, I fell to the ground. Just as I was doing so, the Flame of Revenge burst out from me, covering me all around. The blood spears were completely burned out.

Just as my legs touched the ground and I blinked my eyes, Nyla was upon me. Time once again seemingly slowed down for me as Nyla's fist moved toward my face and the reverberated sound of thunder filled the entire room. I could see the black lightning flashing, her wings spread out as those spiked gauntlets moved toward my face.

'Now that will be painful.'

I thought as I looked at the spiked-up gauntlet. And since she wasn't showing any mercy, it ain't my place to show any mercy back.

<Austin Style: Full Nova Burst>Within milliseconds, both the powers of fire and ice clicked within my body. The resisting natures of theirs created powerful friction and power as they once did, which quickly channeled into my body and burst out. Within the outer mind, my body lit up in a hue of red and blue as Nyla's fist inched closer, but they didn't hit their mark as a missile-like blast came out from my body, directly hitting Nyla. But at the last moment, her instincts kicked in as she used her wings to cover herself, the great blast of ice and fire pushing forth as Nyla once again flew across the room.

A difference this time was that a burst of flame and ice covered her body. Her legs reached the ground as her wings fell from immense pain filling her body. My body, still filled with a certain hue, moved as I placed my right foot forward. And just as I did, a great blast of ice moved forward toward Nyla, ready to freeze her.

There she stood in front of me, swaying around as my ice moved at breakneck speed to confine her. Yet at the last moment, a frenzy of power erupted from her as blood covered her entire back.

<Royal Blood: Wave Of Covering>Thick red blood swarmed forth from her, meeting my ice. The normal form of ice affecting water didn't take place as I felt a certain resistance from my ice, seemingly as if they were suffering. The liquid density and power of the blood I was facing were tougher than my ice was expecting. But I didn't fret as I pushed more power into my ice, which soon covered over the blood, turning it into ice and soon taking over Nyla.

The fight was over, or that's what someone else would have thought. As a small spatial covering took place right behind my back, with a speed hard for anyone to stop, Nyla appeared on my back, her left fist punching forward, fully expecting me not to react. But once again, sadly for her, I did react as I side-stepped from my position and punched back.

Our fists met once again, as my hand broke through those lightning spikes of her gauntlets, her hand losing strength as she was pushed back. Her body losing strength, but she didn't take the fall as the very same attack of hers seemed to be a distraction. Her right fist wiped forward as a potent layer of pure power came towards me. Even with my level, I felt a light sense of danger from it.

Just as I was about to intercept that fist, it paused in mid-air, all the power within it draining. My eyes narrowed, and a tingling sensation filled my back. I didn't even get a chance to move as a small spatial opening appeared right in the back of my neck. A pure lightning made up of black and red hit my neck without me even getting a chance to move.

A triumphant smile filled Nyla's face as she spoke.

"I got you..."

With that, she lost consciousness and fell to the ground, one last small sound of thunder filling the place as the room regained its tranquility.

'That was close.'

I thought as I looked at Nyla lying flat on the ground. Truly, that last attack embodied every power of hers, factoring in an attack capable of great devastation. In fact, that it was more than enough to give a serious injury to an Origin level 10 if he or she is caught off guard.

Even I, with my incredible level of toughness, would suffer. As that attack embodied the black lightning at its purest, while she added a layer of her own royal blood while infusing it with a mysterious energy and then contacting it using some special function of her battle dress to increase its penetration and power.

Lucky for me in battle, I always keep a layer of destruction energy wrapped around me. It's a small layer, barely enough to be caught by the eye, but in case of an attack I didn't see coming, it will directly contend against that attack, and I will be easily able to increase the concentration of the destruction energy around me.

Thus her attack that embodied everything she had was frankly quite useless. But even then, she did catch me off guard, and for that, it's her win. For if it was anyone else, they would surely be taken down by that attack of hers.

'I have to say, you surely are one hell of a monster.'

As I thought so, I sat on the ground, my back leaning against the wall as I took Nyla and placed her head on my lap, giving her a comfortable position. I took out an apple and started to eat it, enjoying this small peace for a moment.