ACCR Chapter 13 It Starts

A gust of wind ruffled my free falling hair. It was particularly powerful in this chilly night because of the excitement within the air attuned spiritual energy. The perp had agitated it in his joy. After all, there was no point in using that much power to take care of a mere Spirit Gathering deliveryman when you were in the Core Formation stage.

There was no evidence linking the perp to anyone else, yet his, or hers, was everywhere. Though, the particular spiritual energy signature hadn't been recorded before, thereby, failing to link anyone to the crime.

"Madam... Do you see anything that could allow us to identify the criminal?"

"I am the same as you. The suspect is a Core Formation cultivator, a phsycopathic killer, or someone who wanted to make a particular statement."

I had taken a circle around the crime scene, in other words, the vehicle. And I had even managed to catch a glimpse of Lily Toba. The woman hadn't been able to stomach the scene.

Two arms, ripped from the shoulder blades, had been placed on the road, right at the front two corners of the truck, each. And it had been the same done to the legs towards the back. The torso had been placed atop the cargo hold, with the head resting upon the top of the driver's cabin, all arranged like a human with their back to the ground, gazing skyward. Blood had been splattered all over the vehicle too.

'Zeus... This wasn't how that man would choose to go about capturing that woman. There was another player in this, but who?'

"I am here to capture the perpetrator. And I will be done before the week ends. Of that, you can be sure of."

Leaving behind that assurance, I raced away, towards the target, Ms. Toba."

-----

A slight breeze played upon my bangs, weaving through the individual strands of hair like playful little spirits as I simply sat there, upon the grass growing upon the hill, enjoying the quiet peace of the night.

'Enjoy' was a strong word though. I wasn't in the right mood. I raised my hand, covered in grey, part of the body hugging suit that I was currently clad in. It was an outfit specifically made for combat, one that could resist wear and tear, provided attacks didn't reach the level of a Nascent Soul.

It had been a long time since I had last donned this attire, not since those times when I had been competing in the arenas. Sadly, I hadn't been able to rank within any places with rewards. And that was what was gnawing on my mind, considering that I was about to participate in a battle.

That was why I was in a lotus pose, trying to bring a sense of calm into my mind, but it was failing. Most of my brain power was focused on the stimulation around me, like the ebb of the spiritual energy particles in the air around me, the sound of the grass as the wind threaded through it, the smell of everything within a kilometer around me. All this and more was being fed into my brain in order to be able to capture any signs of an ambush.

Ultimately, I gave up, opening my eyes and tilting my head such that I could get a glimpse of the stars up above. Just beneath my skin though, energy was racing through my channels, with the macro and micro vibrating minutely in anticipation of the coming confrontation.

Thorough preparations had been made, but I still had my doubts. After all, I didn't have enough information about the opponent-no, maybe opponents...?

I had left Mawar and the clan members behind. The death of that driver had given me a warning. That whoever this person, Zeus, or someone else, had sent, wasn't going to care about collateral damage.

I had also contacted that man, Mumaso Reed. And the conversation we had had had been the one to reassure me in this action I was about to take.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

'Maybe I should get to know him better after surviving this.'

That thought was hurriedly discarded with a shake of my head. Now wasn't the time to indulge in pointless fantasies.

My divine sense was scanning everything around me within a radius of a kilometer with such meticulousness that even a simple bug was scanned over multiple times to make certain that there was no anomaly about it.

Then I saw it even before it had entered the range of my divine sense. It was a trail of glowing green that was being left behind by a figure moving at such speed that the sound barrier was being broken multiple times, though, not even the sonic booms were being allowed to spread outwards. My opponent, the perpetrator, had arrived.

Even from afar, I could still capture that unruly bundle of light green hair, where every strand almost wanted to go in its own direction, though all that hair was generally falling behind their back. It was glowing, just like those green eyes that were the only thing piercing through the storm of spiritual energy coating the person, preventing me from picking out any of their other features.

Though that made me aware of how much control the person had on their spiritual energy, to the point where they could even prevent soundwaves from leaving their vicinity.

Within mere seconds, she was below me on the hill, just a kilometer away from me, like she knew exactly where my divine sense had stopped.

That unsettled me. Unless you first entered the sensory range, or released your very own divine sense, there were no other methods to sense that boundary. No-there was another method... But would I really be that unlucky? I tightened my palm around the solid manifestation of my spiritual energy, a rod.

Those long lashes were the first things to enter my vision when the storm of spiritual energy dissipated, with the second being her tongue, which licked those lips like a hungry Predator. The body suit she was clad in was a full black that appeared to be devouring all light that touched it.

"How long has passed since you last fought a battle? Mmmmm? I can see it, smell it and feel it. The stench of fear is overwhelming even from here. Come on! People at our levels can't lack resolve and the will to push through!"

"Could it have been because of the way I had killed that weakling? Maybe I should have issued the challenge in a subtle way? Maybe then, there wouldn't have been fear in the your eyes."

She was yapping away while I was trying to find the timing to attack. But I couldn't spot any weakness from her.

She was right about the fear though. It was the one thing that was making me hesitate from making a move.

"Is this a game to you? Who really sent you after me?" I asked, all my senses sharpened. My eyes in particular were not leaving the woman. She was dangerous. Very very dangerous!

"A game?... Sweety, games are for children. Those little things that need to be looked after by the adults. What I want from you is simple. A satisfying battle. And if you manage to win through some sort of luck, I will divulge my employer. What do you say?"

"Why aren't you moving? Could it be that you are quaking in your boots. Ah! Is it fear? Your instincts are probably transmitting this message, 'she's a Predator. You are merely prey.' Is that why you are frozen?"

An emotion, one I really didn't want to take centre stage burst out of its confines, moving my body, such that by the time I regained awareness, my wide sweep with the dazzling silver rod, filled with my spiritual energy, had been evaded by the woman, who was looking down at me from above, inverted in such a way that her face was just a few meters away from mine.

The curses I should have uttered were swallowed back down before I activated a spiritual shroud around myself, before triggering its outward explosion, hurling supercharged silvery shrapnel in every direction.

'A wind attribute user. That means that I can never be faster than her. I will have to be reactive to her attacks. So, she will have the initiative. But, I can dish out more damage than her. Since I can't see any solid constructs, she must be someone with a gaseous spiritual energy attribute. Natural phenomena related to wind itself might be in her grasp. I will have to watch out for vortexes and the like....'

Such thoughts flitted through me as she regained herself, somewhere further from me, then lunged, her speed not surprising me at all.

Attacks, mostly physical in nature were exchanged between us, with her coming out on top. She was a martial arts master, coupled with her supercharged battle instincts, it was a struggle to cope with her attacks. Her attacks were also relentlessly ferocious, to the point that it was hard to get any breathing room.

With another burst of energy from my powers, I forcefully pushed her back by giving her only the choice of defence.

"Steel attributed, solid constructs. A great fighting form, but a lack of experience."

I fought that grimace that threatened to show up on my facial features. How long had we been in battle? Just a little bit over a minute. Long range sensors should have picked up the disturbance by now, with the Federation preparing to deploy a task force.

The woman circled me, with I making sure that my front was always facing her. I couldn't afford to lose sight of her. Divine sense was miraculous, but we humans had a profound love for our very own sight.

"Caution is a valuable trait. Yet, it won't bring victory to you. If you want to win, you will have to throw that caution to wind?"

"Atleast I won't be making any mistakes."

Gusts of wind picked up around the woman, driven by her light green spiritual energy to encircle each of her hands up to the elbows. Her legs weren't left out, also having mini tornadoes circling them, reaching the knees.

She was about to get serious. A silvery sheen interspersed itself over my combat armor, weaving itself into being from thousands of steel wires.

Without even blinking, the woman abruptly vanished from my sight, with my divine sense picking up her form just behind me, as if she had teleported! She had been holding out on me!

Within the micro-second, my armor was thickened on the predicted impact point of her kick as I prepared myself to endure the attack. Why endure? Because my reaction speed wouldn't be faster than hers!

When it connected, the armor rippled in tandem, absorbing and dispersing the force of the blow, yet, I was still hurled away by over a kilometer, feeling a dull pain at the point of impact.

But I didn't have time for dawdling as she was trailing me. So, with a thought, thousands of needles materialized around me, each long enough to match the length of my palm, which stopped her from taking rash action for a couple of microseconds, after which, she simply punched out, with the mini tornado surrounding her hand growing into a large one, lunging for me like a snake.

'Think Lily! Think! What would be the best way to hold off this woman? Winning is out of the question as she has prodigious battle instincts!'

A large metallic rectangular piece of steel was conjured before me and shot forward to clash with the tornado, also serving the purpose of obscuring her vision. I also added some of my divine sense to it, giving it the ability to somehow influence her very own, such that there was some error to the information she could perceive.