Alistair summoned his Battle Spheres, and streams of flamers met the reaching blood tendrils burning them away before they could reach him. Much to her frustration, he kept her at arm's length while continuously taunting her as he cut down tendrils and spikes of blood with Blaze Slash whenever his flame streams failed to ward off Marilny's attacks. His constant mocking and bloodcurdling presence clearly strained her.
"It's what you get for revealing too many of your cards; I still got more to play," Alistair mocked as he teleported out of a swarm of blood whips crashing down where he had stood.
"Oh, you think you are being cute?!" Marilyn growled as she lashed out again.
"Bitch I am adorable." Alistair retorted.
She fumed, much to Alistair's delight. He had all but breached her mental fortress and was now slowly crushing her spirit and impeding her rational thinking. For a moment, he considered summoning King to add pressure with air support but decided against it as she could potentially catch him and use him as a large blood bank before Alistair could store the wyvern again. Alistair's body had pretty much recovered, and he took the opportunity to analyze Marilyn and her energy signatures; all her energies were clearly concentrated in that core of hers, though mana was noticeably not fully integrated into it and permeated her body, unlike her life energy, which was directly tied to her blood. He also noticed the lack of Qi, though he supposed it was converted to life energy based on the sheer amount. It made him wonder what would happen if she were to cultivate, but his considerations were cut short as she suddenly stopped attacking, giving him a snarling smile.
"Well, I've got more cards to play, too," she said as Alistair sensed her mana depleting as she reached out to another plane he was unfamiliar with but quickly realized what she was doing.
Alistair rushed her as her magic reached for the plane of blood, pushing his Temporal Combat Reflexes to the limit and converting the stored kinetic energy into power. He brought down his poleaxe with a blazing slash activated continuously, which caused another chime to ring out as he cut into her body and blood core. Marilyn let out an unnatural screech, which hurt him as he carved into the core, burning away her life force. Though she returned the favor as lances of blood tried to penetrate his body. Most of them failed and had their kinetic energy robbed but some managed to overpower his defense and pierce his body and started to drain his blood. Before he could teleport away, a wave of blood crashed into him; for a moment, he felt like he was drowning as the blood tried to enter his body and restrain him, but it failed due to the Freedom of Movement enchantment, which allowed Alistair to free himself out of the attack.
He spat out the blood that had managed to enter his body, the taste of iron lingering in his mouth despite his numbing augmentation. He silently thanked Nuk, knowing that without his enchantment recommendation, he would have probably lost the fight right then and there. Marilyn looked even worse for wear, gripping a visible, burned-out gash from his empowered attack that revealed the swirling crimson core embedded in her sternum. This time, she failed to heal her body completely, her red, spite-filled eyes glaring at him as a large pool of summoned blood circled around her like a maelstrom. Alistair could tell she had burned through most of her mana to accomplish this while he had sacrificed a significant chunk of his own saved-up kinetic energy to wound her.
Alistair was content to let her nurse her wounds and waste time since his Bloodcurdling Presence ensured that he would continue to get ahead in the exchange as he let his Arcane Energy Manipulation skill circulate to increase his own [HP] by sacrificing some [Qi] to plug up the holes she had punched into him and check his new skill.
Skills: Tier: Name: Description: [Epic] Blazing Edge
Infusing the weapon with a miniscule amount of [Qi] or [MP], the blade is empowered and imbued with razor-sharpness. By expending a tiny portion of [MP], the user may cloak the weapon in flames and concentrate the concept of fire and burning along the edge, ensuring that every strike cauterizes wounds, impedes regeneration, and causes lingering fire damage. Additionally, the wielder has the option to increase the energy expenditure to further enhance the weapon's [Power]. The user may also reserve a small amount of his total [MP] or [Qi] to maintain a Blazing Edge that causes increased lingering damage against regenerating opponents and further impairs their ability to heal from wounds caused by Blazing Edge by a large degree.
Alistair was slightly surprised it had jumped two tiers, though he had been using the skill a lot lately, and his intent and praxis to burn and impair regenerating foes finally paid off. He inspected his poleaxe, almost mesmerized by the white glowing edge. He suspected that the ability to maintain the edge had pushed the skill over the threshold. Her lingering wound was a good sign that he could devastate her if he managed to get past the maelstrom of blood. Either way, he had already benefitted a lot from this fight, as a strong opponent like her allowed him to push his skills to the limit.
"That looks like it hurts. Are you sure you want to continue?" Alistair inquired with a sly smile, flexing his vicious mockery aspect.
She frowned before straightening herself. "You better kill me, Pig," She said with an icy voice.
Alistair felt like obliging her, bombarding her with explosive blasts. Tendrils of blood lashed out from the swirling maelstrom, intercepting each blast with violent precision. She rushed at him with reckless abandon as he tried hard to keep his distance and reduce her pool of blood by continuing to burn it away with his streams of fire and explosive blasts. He would try to keep weakening her position and only commit to full assaults when necessary. Her frustration mounted as he kept his distance, and her blood reserves continuously dwindled away.
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"Face me, you Coward!" Marilyn screamed.
Alistair pretended to check his wristwatch before looking back up. "Give me a few more minutes," He retorted.
Marilyn let out a frustrated, indignant roar, unleashing the full extent of her power. The remaining blood extended into a thorny web, aiming to corner and impale Alistair just as it had with Simon. Alistair's Battle Spheres orbited him, unleashing streams of fire that kept the attacks at bay. He knew all too well that once inside the body, Marilyn's blood tendrils could repurpose the victim's blood to impale them from within. His own body would be able to resist for a while due to its purity foundation, but if he failed to extricate himself like earlier, he would be done for. Simon had already fallen to this attack. Alistair cursed internally, struggling to maintain the pace as his energy reserves dwindled due to the lack of kinetic energy to repurpose. Fortunately, Marilyn was much worse off and was quite sure she was about to play the last of her tricks.
"Is this your last Hail Mary?" Alistair called out, teleporting next to her and pushing the last of his reserves to impale her with his poleaxe.
"Let me return the favor," he said but was drowned out by her screams as he burned out her core, pinning her to the ground by stomping his foot down on her shoulder and flexing his telekinesis skill for good measure, which had been a good call as she rapidly became incorporeal and retaliated. He sensed that she put almost every last ounce of life energy she had left into the attack as her blood tendrils powered through his telekinesis and managed to penetrate his defenses, impaling him and starting to violently attack him from the inside out. Alistair activated his Chrono Seizing Hand skill, extending time magic through the weapon to hold her core in place before she could fully turn incorporeal. As it finally cracked and vanished, he pulled on his own last energy reserves and, with a final push, decapitated her, ending the fight.
Drained and bleeding, Alistair fell to his knees, vomiting blood as almost all his augmented organs had been shredded by her last desperate attack. He lay there in a pool of crimson blood mixed with streaks of his own silver before finally being teleported out of the arena. His body was fully restored, and he stood up straight, inspecting himself for any remaining signs of his grievous wounds, but found they were gone again as if they had never been there.
A stream of messages arrived, though he ignored them as he closed his eyes and leaned against a wall, settling himself. He hated fighting vampires. While he enjoyed the fight itself, putting them down was far too gruesome for his taste. After a little while, he felt the resonance with Riseth and felt she was also in a desperate fight. Making his way to watch, he checked the new messages, most of which congratulated him on his victory. However, he noted that while he had received a title, it wasn't for winning his ladder. He had hoped he would receive the benefits of placing first on his ladder before he had to face the universe ladder, but no such luck, though his new title was nothing to scoff at either.
Titles: Tier: Name Effect: Origin: [Supreme] Vampire Slayer Grants a 10% bonus to [Power] and [Body] stats. Increased blood affinity and physical regeneration.
Acquired by slaying multiple high-tier vampires of similar or higher level in one-on-one combat.
Alistair let out a chuckle as he received another bonus for his regeneration and body stat. At this rate, he might not need to manually allocate any more points to his Body stat ever again. He had also shot up another two levels from his last encounter, though this was less surprising due to the difficulty of the fight and the associated records and title. As he teleported into the arena, he assigned his points before reading Nessyra's message. She and Riseth had both reached the top 10 of their own ladders. Nessyra had drawn the short end and faced the Demon Lord Varimas Merai, who apparently took it easy on her but easily defeated her.
He noticed her presence nearby and approached, stealing glances at Riseth's fight. She was facing off against a lamia with distinctive green and ivory skin adorned with long, dark green hair. However, what drew the most attention from the crowd was her lack of clothing. The top half of the lamia's body was shamelessly exposed, though this wasn't too unusual as quite a few civilizations refused to cover their modesty. What intrigued him more was her skill set, reminiscent of his own Battlesphere skill. Her orbs emitted poisonous gases and occasionally sprayed acid toward Riseth, who skillfully evaded the attacks and let them pass through her body. Unfortunately, as an observer, he couldn't gauge their energy reserves and strengths, but the lamia appeared to be far more wounded than Riseth, easing his concerns. He eventually spotted Nessyra and joined her. As she noticed his approach, she smiled and congratulated him, and they embraced in a quick hug, squishing Dexter, which she had been holding in her arms.
"How is she doing?" Alistair inquired as he petted Dexter, who gave him a pleading look.
"Salapheris is a capable mage, though I'd argue Riseth's last opponent was way stronger. I don't think she will lose," Nessyra said, somewhat unbothered, as they both turned to watch her fight.
Riseth let out a breath of relief. The tension she had sensed from Alistair had dissipated, indicating that he had likely won his bout. Knowing this bolstered her determination not to get overconfident so close to the end and risk losing. If she could land a Vortex Tear, the battle would be hers, but locking down the Lamia had proven challenging. Salapheris kept her at bay with disruptive poison clouds and acid sprays. At one point, the Lamia had managed to disrupt Riseth's ethereal form and almost doused her with acid if it wasn't for her Veil of Space skill redirecting the attack. Riseth had retaliated with her bladed whip, though Salapheris had slithered out of its restraint. She recognized the magic as the same one Alistair had enchanted on his armor. It was a thoroughly annoying enchantment to fight against, and she would see if Resni could not replicate the enchantment so she could get it on her own armor as well.
Riseth unleashed a barrage of explosive arcane bolts, which Salapheris deflected with her barrier. Riseth was tempted to summon Fluffy, who could easily devour the exhibitionist Lamia in one swift strike. However, she chose to keep that trump card close to her chest. As the tournament progressed and fewer participants remained in the Universe Ladder, more information was being gathered on the remaining fighters. She didn’t want her opponents to know all her tricks just yet.