Blitz barely got up on her feet ae Fim crashed onto the ground beside her, blowing dust and rocks from the impact. The cloud of dust being instantly blown away as something else landed not far from the two, spreading flames around the crash site. Fim got back to her feet and stood beside Blitz, prepared to strike together at their opponent.
"You still have a chance, surrender and we will spare your life, simply being faster than us won't guarantee your victory." Blitz warned as she plucked a feather from her wings.
Kesshō placed her right arm on the handle of her katana, still thinking, but not of the offer. Her pupils were back to being rounder, in their usual heart shape, knowing she needed to allow more light to enter so she could scan the entire area easily. She still wondered whether to kill the two or spare them, contemplating whether they were simply bossy or truly bad people. It seemed tempting to consider the option of killing them due to the continued trouble they may cause for Kurai, but they didn't seem to have done anything extremely evil thus far.
On not receiving a response Blitz sighed and tossed the feather in front of her with a flick of her hand. The feather shot towards Kesshō like an arrow and collided with her forehead before bouncing off, startling her. Just as it bounced off flames burst out of the feather forming a tornado of flames, encasing Kesshō inside of it. Blitz smirked as Fim stepped ahead to check on Kesshō's condition.
"Your flames are too cold," Kesshō sighed in Blitz's ear.
Blitz swung her arm towards the voice while turning around as fast as she could. Kesshō stepped forward before Blitz's arm could make contact, pressing her palm against Blitz's face Kesshō slammed her into her head into the ground, raising the rest of her body into the air like a lever.
Fim failed to react for a moment but forced herself to act as Kesshō slammed Blitz into the ground. Stepping forward Fim grabbed the handle of her sword, prepared to strike. In tandem, Kesshō stepped forwards as she grabbed Blitz's legs and slammed her into Fim. Fim chose to halt her attack instead of harming her ally, removing her sword from between Blitz and herself, staggering backwards as Blitz slammed into her.
Kesshō waited for the two to regroup and reconsider, not planning on killing them so far. A stream of blood flowed by the side of Blitz's mouth from the injuries, her nose also bleeding, having been broken by the impact. Fim seemed unharmed but her morale just about died, having recognised very well just how greatly they underestimated their opponent.
Blitz grunted as she plucked off a handful of feathers, about fifteen, from both her wings and raised both her hands to the sky, closing her eyes and chanting a phoenixal spell in her mind. She spread both her hands before clapping them in front of her, sending a shockwave of destructive crimson red flames. Kesshō looked on, unamused by the small display, more than willing to keep standing and take the hit head on.
The flames burst with great force on making contact with her, small explosive projectiles flying around the area as the ground shook from the impact. Flames engulfed the entire, which happens to be close to a grassland in appearance, just outside the town, turning it into a charred wasteland. The flames slowly started to die down, revealing more and more destruction and a small crater where Kesshō stood, still unamused and unscathed.
"Strong for your ranking." Kesshō reassured as she plucked a feather from her own wing. "Unfortunately, Crimson Phoenixes can only do so little."
Kesshō raised the feather held by two of her fingers into the air before bringing it down and flinging it towards the two. The feather at first shot forward like a dart before bursting into a giant wave of blue-pink flames, dwarfing Blitz's last attack. Blitz and Fim looked in terror as the wave washed over them, though they barely felt anything as it did.
The two opened their eyes a few moments after the wave passed, shocked to see that they were unharmed, and even more shocked on seeing that the charred wasteland returned to the lush grassland it used to be, in a better condition than before even. They looked back and forth between things, confused of what to think of the attack.
"Flames of Rejuvenation." Kesshō informed as she rolled her eyes.
Kesshō tilted her head as a sword arced towards her head, dodging the sword and stepping to the side, eyeing Fim, who still remained invisible. Fim became visible as her apparition disappeared, though she continued her attack relentlessly. Fim curved her sword and struck towards Kesshō, again missing as Kesshō bent her body backwards and spun on her feet.
Kesshō raised her right arm in front of her chest, blocking the kick from Blitz who lunged at her with the help of her wings. Blitz clicked her tongue as Kesshō blocked her surprise attack effortlessly. Turning her body and using her free leg Blitz kicked at Kesshō's head. Kesshō tilted her head and dodged the kick, pushing Blitz's chest with her right arm to disrupt the attack.
As Blitz landed on the ground, slightly off balance, Fim charged at Kesshō, slashing horizontally at her head, but Kesshō bent her body forward and ducked under the attack. Seeing the opportunity Blitz allowed herself to fall off balance to be able to land a kick at Kesshō's head.
As Blitz kicked at Kesshō's head Kesshō drew her body back and tilted it towards Fim as she stepped closer to her. Wrapping her arms around Fim, Kesshō grabbed her tightly and placed herself behind Fim, lifting her into the air and allowing herself to fall backwards as she slammed Fim's head into the earth, using the momentum to roll over Fim's body and get back on her feet.
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Blitz dashed at Kesshō, jumping over Fim's body and kicking towards Kesshō's chest, a front kick. Kesshō raised her right arm to block it, but Blitz withdrew her leg, lightly tapping Kesshō's arm before her leg folded back in and shot out with more force towards Kesshō's head. Kesshō raised her right hand higher and slammed it into Blitz's leg from the side, knocking her leg to the side.
Blitz landed barely a step away Kesshō and spun on her leg to kick at the back of her head. Kesshō ducked under the roundhouse kick and turned around, standing right in front of Blitz as she again faced her. Kesshō grabbed Blitz by the neck, knocking her off balance with a slight leg sweep and slamming her into the ground as blue-pink lines shot through her arm, dust blowing as Blitz's head dug into the earth.
Kesshō stood back up, blowing a small puff of flames to get rid of the excess heat from her body and cool down. As Kesshō stood there cooling herself down before returning, thinking the battle to be over, Fim found the opportunity to come up from behind and slash at her with her sword. Fim aimed precisely at the neck and performed a seemingly precise slash, but.
"It didn't cut..." Fim gasped, her grip loosening on the sword.
"Your sword skills are not good enough." Kesshō informed with a shrug as she glanced at Fim out of the corner of her eye.
"Then... What was the need to do this much... You already knew we couldn't even harm you..." Fim mumbled, panic taking over her.
"Asserting dominance, I suppose. Isn't that why you two attempted to fight me for no apparent reason?" Kesshō replied with a tilt of her head.
Fim fell to her knees. "We were ordered to capture you and bring you back... We didn't know... We didn't think..." Fim muttered. "You can't be stronger than world guardians..."
"Are they strong?" Kesshō inquired.
"Stronger than me and Blitz combined," Fim answered. "We are the weakest two under master's direct command, and so we were ordered to bring you back, thinking bothering the others will be a waste," Fim explained. "The others are all stronger than most world guardians."
Kesshō bent down slightly to get on eye level with Fim. "Then send your strongest next time if you are not sure of your opponent's strength." Kesshō suggested with a smile before getting back up and walking away. "You are a phoenix and vampire, no way you could only do so much," She sighed.
As Kesshō approached the town her ears twitched. She jumped back on impulse as an arrow crashed where she would have been if she continued, leaving a crater large enough to fit a horse inside, not very deep but wide. Kesshō turned around slowly, glaring at the two from the corner of her eyes.
"You are right," Blitz chuckled.
"That was not all we could do." Fim smiled as she grabbed a hilt that protruded from the ground near her feet.
Fim pulled the sword out as she got back on her feet, revealing an all black blade with blood dripping from it every couple seconds, seemingly out of nowhere as it did not belong to Fim. Blitz, on the other hand, carried a red-orange flaming bow with a string seemingly made from flames.
Kesshō turned completely towards them. "Do you really wish to fight?" She inquired.
"We will follow our master's orders." Both answered in unison, startling Kesshō as the two smiled at each other.
Kesshō allowed a smile to creep onto her face as she prepared to again face the two. "Very well then, which weapon should I use? Excluding a sword or a bow," she questioned.
Fim and Blitz glanced between each other and Kesshō, not understanding if she asked them or simply spoke to herself. Kesshō's head tilt confirmed she questioned them, and the two stared at each other. Fim shrugged, gesturing to go along with it.
Blitz thought for a moment before answering. "Use a scythe maybe, I am guessing you are not good with those two weapons."
"A good choice, but your guess is incorrect." Kesshō answered as she held her right arm out. "Those are the two weapons I am confident I won't lose while using to anyone currently in this world." She informed before coughing a bit, a thin stream of blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.
Shaking her head she focused on her scythe. A pole extended from inside her sleeve, her hand closing around half of it as she spun it around in her arm, a blade forming at one end as she planted it into the ground, cracking the earth and shocking Blitz and Fim, both from the weird formation of the scythe out of nowhere, and what she said earlier.
The scythe in her hand consisted of a black metal rod, two serpent-like dragons wounding around it, the ridges in their spines glowing pink and blue. One end of the rod consisted of a small rectangular club, a blue-pink glow visible in its lines. The metal blade of the scythe glowed pink-blue, constantly flowing into one another.
Blitz shot an arrow towards Kesshō, aiming for her head. Swinging the scythe Kesshō hit the arrow's metal head with the scythe's blade and parried it straight down. The arrow struck the ground and lay stuck there for a moment before lighting up into flames and burning out. The flames slowly turned brighter before exploding, pushing Kesshō back and forming a smokescreen.
Fim used the opportunity and charged at Kesshō before jumping forwards, aiming to stab her with her sword. Kesshō parried the blade to the side with the scythe's blade and struck Fim on her lower jaw with the opposite end of the rod, knocking a tooth out and flooring her.
Blitz shot many more arrows at Kesshō which were deflected by Kesshō by spinning the scythe in her hands rapidly and moving around to dodge the few that got past. Hitting the last arrow towards Fim, just getting up, landing a hit on her back, Kesshō planted the blade of her scythe in the ground.
Blitz prepared to recharge her energy for another rapid fire barrage of arrows while Fim distracted Kesshō, shocked to see Fim fall back to the ground struck with the arrow. When Blitz returned her attention to Kesshō she only caught a glimpse of her before she disappeared from her spot, appearing right beside Blitz.
Blitz turned herself to dodge the incoming attack, putting her enchanted bow in the way to block the attack. The scythe with its blade sliced through the bow, breaking it in two and creating an opening as Blitz's arms flew apart. Stepping further in Kesshō spun her scythe around again and brought the bladed part upwards for the finishing blow.
Blitz failed to react, too shocked by the loss of her bow, being struck on her lower jaw by the blunt end of the blade, sending her flying up before she landed on her head and shoulders, lying in a heap and grunting in pain as she coughed blood. As Blitz lay on the ground Kesshō dragged Fim to her and laid them next to each other.
Both were fully conscious but too badly wounded to attempt to continue. Kesshō realised that and did not attack them, not treating them either, knowing they won't die so easily from so little and heal fairly soon. She simply waited for Kurai, leaving what to do with the pair to him, unless the two chose to leave before he arrived, in which case she would simply return to Kurai herself after confirming they left.