The loss of my sight put me on the backfoot. Once again, the battle's rhythm switched. I was on the defensive, attempting to block the raging strikes as they seemed to come from any and all directions.

Below, above, behind. There was no place where they did not appear from. The difficulty had been turned up, and once again, I was nearly helpless.

Only the muffled and suppressed movements of the wind allowed me to even block in the slightest. Each blow came much too close to hitting.

None of my blows were any were close to his body. Every punch of mine was followed by a strike against me. I prioritized the sword, but the staff stung as well. His fists were like meteors crashing down and battering my body.

Again my staff was smashed into my face. This time I was sent flying. My qi had begun to slow, and my reactions were falling short. My mind ached as the pressure from keeping up the wind analysis built up.

I rolled on the floor and narrowly escaped the dagger. My eyes locked on his form, but he simply sunk into the mist, and I was once again blind.

I could barely see my own hands in the mist. The eerie song that played through the silencing field was not helpful either. I jumped as I saw a shadow in the corner of my eye.

Yet no attack came.

This was what I truly hated about this ability. The moments of inaction were my mind was left to ponder my actions. Blowing away with the wind hadn't helped.

He simply stayed in the area where the fog was until it reformed completely. Going to the sky didn't mean he couldn't attack me.

Plus, it was guaranteed that the other one would stop all attempts at that. I jumped back as the sword sliced past me. Suddenly my back smashed into a wall.

The pain racked through my body, and I was nearly unable to dodge the follow-up strike. I staggered out of the way as I struggled to reorient myself. I could feel something clawing at my mind. It wasn't my abilities that were exhausting me so quickly. It was this godforsaken mist.

I summoned a vortex of wind and burst up towards the sky and suddenly changed directions towards the outside of the courtyard. There was a streak of red, and instantly, I found myself falling back to the ground. I only barely managed to cushion my fall before once again launching back into the air.

Again there was a streak of red, but this time I saw him. As the blade came at my throat, I moved to the side and grabbed him by the neck before jetting off into the sky.

The second assassin attempted to stop me, but I had already predicted his movement. His lunge at me was stopped by a swift kick to his family jewels.

The sudden stop and fall of the lizard told me my strike had landed true. The first one attempted to break free, but every time he aimed a blow at me, I let go before attacking him and temporarily disorienting him as I flew him up into the sky.

For several minutes the pattern continued as I dragged him further and further up.

The air grew thinner, and the winds colder.

Lizards weren't very fond of the cold.

With a final burst of speed, I launched through a cloud before allowing him to fall. Perhaps he expected to fall to the ground below, but he most definitely had not expected to slam into the cloud.

I had solidified the clouds with my qi. A feat that would usually be extremely draining, but my nature as the oracle made it a simple task. Any mist he summoned here would be promptly disrupted, and I didn't doubt that it was qi intensive.

"So you're the latest line of fools that the empires have sent to kill me?" There was no response from the lizard. Its movements told me that it understood, but clearly, it wasn't in a talkative mood.

Looks like I wouldn't be getting any information from a monologue.

"Bringing me up here was foolish." Its voice could only be described as guttural and reptilian. The subtle hint of a hiss made it slightly unnerving.

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"Oh, and why is that?" I raised my eyebrow.

Then suddenly, my ears were pierced by the most horrific scream known to man. I felt a slimy qi slip past my defenses and rush into my mind. It was only because my qi contained some of my predictive nature that I didn't simply die then and there.

His tail twitched in surprise, but he quickly followed up with another scream. This time my qi didn't need to move. His attack worked based on sound. So I simply removed the air and halted it.

I frowned as I felt the presence of the second assassin quickly approaching.

I lept out of the way of the sudden explosion of ice that pierced through the clouds. The distraction allowed the first assassin to land a solid blow into my stomach. I was nearly sent flying off the cloud, but I halted my descent.

I prepared to attack, but to my surprise, the ice burst into many pieces.

Every single one honed in on me.

I blasted them back with the wind, but they simply reoriented before coming back.

I couldn't predict the icicles all that well. They didn't have muscles or patterns that I could pick up on. Their trajectory was predictable, but any changes that would be made to them were not. The lizard didn't need to move to control them.

Once again, I was on the defensive, but this time my enemies were recuperating their strength. All the while, I was forced to evade and destroy the icicles. Every destroyed one only led to more and more shrapnels flying at me.

It seems that I really had to bring out all the weapons to win this.

I took in a deep breath before launching myself past the ice and directly at my two opponents. They were ready for my offensive, but they weren't prepared for the arms that emerged from the clouds. With their sudden lack of mobility, I was able to land two solid blows at them simultaneously.

They broke free from the cloud grip and rushed me. Ice was thrown, and daggers slashed at me, but all I evaded. The slightest attempt at creating a fog led to me destabilizing the cloud before pulling them back up with winds.

I had total field control, and they knew it.

What they didn't know was that the longer they fought, the closer they were to the inevitable.

Every move of theirs brought them only closer to their deaths. Every dodge and counter shortened the process. They would experience the very reason I had entombed myself.

Their attacks were still vicious, but the qi of the first assassin was beginning to wear out.

Given that he was the one who gave me the most difficulty, the tides changed once again. I was on the offensive, but none of my attacks aimed to kill. If they wanted to kill me so desperately, then they could be the test subject for my ability.

It was a combination of my precognition and the fruits of my slumber. An amalgamate of a title and a concept.

My entombment had not been for immortality or anything of that sort. Instead, it had been an experiment to see whether enlightenment could come from a deep meditation. My original goal had failed, but in exchange, I was struck by a divine epiphany.

I understood what it meant for something to be inevitable.No matter what paths are taken, it will happen.

To attack, to block, or to hide.

No matter if one fights with allies or without.

At their peak or at their lowest. With all the realms wealth or with nothing, not even their souls. It didn't matter.

Eventually, they would all fall. It had struck me, and a fragment of that concept had been granted to me.

A fragment that I had molded into my single deadliest weapon.

No matter how they attacked.

As long as I remained alive, their deaths were ....Inevitable.

I weaved out of the way of a blow and ducked as ice attempted to stab me. With a simple flick of my fist, I ripped off the arm of the first assassin.

With another simple move, I evaded the dagger of the second. My knee struck his chest, and his heart stopped for a second.

A second was all I needed.

My fist slammed into his neck. The sound of cracking bones was audible.

He couldn't move.

"Fighting me was your greatest mistake."

As I looked at the now one-handed lizard, instead of fear, I saw determination.

He simply grabbed his arm and reattached it. Like he was a doll with removable parts.

I felt the dark energy that emerged from his. Mist poured out of him, but instead of blanketing the area, he covered himself.

He did so continuously and pressurized it until it became something of a second skin. I was confused.

I could still very much see him and his future actions. What was he doing?

My question was answered as he roared. It was deep and unnatural, the sound of a madman. With a blast of speed, he rushed at me. I attempted to move back, but the movement of the wind alerted me to the ice behind me.

The other assassin was still aiding him in combat. I burst upwards in a vortex and was yanked back down to cloud by his tail. He rained in blow after blow, and but I still managed to evade. Even with the ice, I still was superior.

Even madness won't stop the inevitable.

Once again, I ripped off his arm. This time I kept going. His other arm followed before I tore him in half from the stomach.

He still lived, but he was useless. He had stilled. We both knew that this battle was over. The victor was clear.

I held him by the neck as I went to pick up my staff that had fallen sometime during the battle. I walked up to the second assassin before pulverizing his head. Only a faint whimper was heard before his death.

The other one was still alive.

"I must thank you for giving me this opportunity. I don't know when I would be given a chance to test out the power of a concept." There was no reply from the lizard. As expected.

I didn't like killing, and I hadn't enjoyed the battle, but I was grateful that I understood what I had crafted. It wasn't flashy, but it was efficient. Had I used it earlier in the battle, I wouldn't be so injured. But I hadn't been sure of its application.

Now I knew.

I glanced at the lizard, only to see the glee in his eyes.

"You talk too much." Its reply was curt yet smug. It made me uneasy.

"But I'll indulge you. My death might be inevitable, but so is yours."

I couldn't help the laugh that escaped my lips." And why might that be?"

"For someone called the oracle, you sure miss a lot of details. You are not a god. Yet you thought you could so easily counter powers granted by one."

"Yet, I did. You are here at death's door, and I stand above you. The clear victor of this battle."

The lizard began to laugh. "Girl, your ability might allow you to uncover things, but mine allows me to hide those same exact things." It continued to laugh at its spoke.

"What did you hide?" I could feel the fear in my heart.

"Like the fact that my poison has been tearing away at your qi since enclosed myself in the mist."

There was a silence.

"You lie." My voice came out only as a whisper.

He continued to laugh.

I felt my vision begin to blur.

I couldn't feel my body.

Why couldn't I feel my body?