Ashtar's attack destroyed the surroundings as it shot toward Noire like the arrival of doomsday.
This wasn't an attack that could be blocked by clumsy spells. It was also not small enough to easily dodge.
Noire was forced to take out the dagger that she had kept hidden.
Swoosh!
A dark red light shot out from Noire's finger. This light, which she named Absolute Line, collided with Ashtar's arrow.
Gong!
A huge explosion occurred.
Gusts of wind, stronger than any sandstorm, swept through the area without mercy.
A cloud of dust filled the surroundings, making it impossible to tell one direction from the other.
Ashtar was stunned by the fact that his arrow was blocked. He couldn't understand what had just happened, he wondered if that dagger was a Gift, that must be the case if not a normal weapon, and no matter how high its grade couldn't accomplish what this dagger did.
For the first time since the beginning of the fight, Ashtar decided not to continue underestimating this strange woman.
"Stop exaggerating," Noire shouted.
"What…?"
"I know what you're showing isn't your true strength." She added and Ashtar soon burst into laughter.
''Kukuku! You're right, neither did you fight seriously. Let's fight for real this time.'' He declared after laughing to his heart's content.
Then his figure disappeared.
Noire furrowed her eyebrows.
'Space-time skill.'
She didn't run away.
Ashtar range of movement was much shorter than that of those she had faced, who could also use space-time skills.
He simply increased the distance between them.
'Was he trying to improve his situation?' She wondered.
Noire felt a strong force from behind her.
And as soon as she looked back, whatever it was had already come very close to her.
'Fast…'
Noire forcibly twisted her body. But she was unable to completely avoid it.
Crunch.
It was different from before. Her barrier shattered like glass, and she felt a hot pain in her left arm.
Well, it wasn't right to say that she had been hit. It would be better to say that it had passed her. The problem was that in that instant, her entire arm had been broken, bent grotesquely, and covered in blood.
'Both the speed and power have increased significantly. It's on a completely different level compared to before.'
It was obvious that the distance between them had increased, but the speed and strength of the projectiles had increased even more.
Was its acceleration? She couldn't be sure.
'Although, it came from behind…'
She couldn't conclude that Ashtar would still be there. After all, he could use space-time movement. It wouldn't be difficult for him to go around her in all directions.
Shooting to kill from a distance.
No wonder he hadn't used this method from the start. Such a method was far from head-to-head combat.
Ashtar's arrow could remodel a mountain, and the speed they traveled at completely exceeded human perception.
By the time they noticed, the arrow would already be right in front of them.
Crack crack crack!
Once again, an arrow was fired. Even the dunes cried out as their bodies were scratched.
Just as he was about to pull the bowstring again, he noticed something strange.
'…?'
Suddenly, he could no longer sense Noire. To be precise, her mana had disappeared.
Pulling on the bowstring, Ashtar frowned.
'What's going on?'
The lingering mana aura, which he could sense even with his eyes closed, had suddenly vanished without warning. Almost like it had evaporated.
It was an incomprehensible phenomenon, but that wasn't all.
Boom!
A lightning bolt suddenly struck the ground in the distance.
Then another one followed without any warning, coming straight for him.
He tried to twist his body away, but the beam still brushed past his right arm.
The pain was so severe that the hairs on his body stood on end.
"!!!"
Ashtar raised his eyes to look in the direction whence the light had been emitted from. The mana, which had made a brief appearance at that time, had disappeared mysteriously once again.
Instead, the sound of thunder grew louder.
When Ashtar grits his teeth, a beam of light came from the opposite direction.
This time, he couldn't avoid it. His left thigh was pierced through cleanly.
"Kuk…!"
He almost collapsed.
If it was made by normal means, a hole like this would have regenerated in a second. However, the power used to make the hole was the power he had never heard of.
This force, which could tear apart space itself, was preventing his cells from joining together.
Reduced healing power. It wasn't just this. Even before he revealed his true power, he had gained many large and small injuries.
As a result, his entire body was crying out in pain.
Pain.
He might have been able to handle it better in the past, but as it was now, he was slowly losing his cool facing this absurd situation.
In addition, the method his opponent was using now was the same method that Ashtar had been using before. Making life-threatening attacks while hiding in the distance.
Was she using the same method just to mess with him?
After thinking that, he couldn't be cool-headed.
Swoosh!
He used space-time movement.
Ashtar had moved several kilometers from his previous location.
Shortly after, he sucked in a cold breath. A beam of dark purple light appeared in front of him.
"…!"
He ducked.
Luckily, he could avoid it this time. But he didn't feel relieved. On the contrary, his head wasn't working properly because of his increased anger.
'How is he finding me?'
Swoosh! Poof! Poof!
More purple light followed piercing through his limbs and stomach, and an intense feeling of pain followed, shaking his brain.
Ashtar gasped for air and stumbled on his feet, the world seemed to spin around him. Sweat was pouring from his forehead, his hands were clammy and trembling and his teeth were gritted. It'd probably take a simple and obvious decision to either give up or keep going at this point, but that decision just didn't seem to come.
His head felt eerily light, everything seemed to spin around them in a blur of motion and his legs could barely carry him. However, there wasn't much they could do as his cells refused to heal themselves faster, he soon discovered that his body seemed to be refusing his orders, he couldn't harness power anymore, and his connection with mana seemed to have been cut off.
He was helpless, he couldn't move. Ashtar felt chills all over as even his very soul trembled at this moment. He truly fucked up, it was a trap since the beginning and he had never been the hunter but nothing but the prey.
It was at that moment, Noire reappeared and her broken arm was completely fine. She was smiling as she looked at the frozen Ashtar.
''Let's start, shall we? I have enough fun already.'' Noire declared while grinning.
"!"
A chill crawled up Ashtar's spine as he realized what she meant.
He tried to move his body but it failed.
Suddenly, Noire disappeared and the next thing Ashtar felt was a hand penetrating his chest and holding his heart.
Ashtar's eyes became bloodshot and he saw death embracing him.
'It hurts! It hurts so much! Please, make it stop, it hurts so much! I... I can't make it stop! There's too much blood and it hurts so much, please make it stop.
I cannot give in. I may be down on my knees, but I cannot give in. No further. No more. But my entire body tells me to lie down and rest for a while. I guess I am pretty tired.
There must be something I can do. Anything. I want to live, I need to live. Come on, come on, I can't die like this. How can I get out of this mess? There must be a way out, there has to be.
I can't breathe, I can't breathe. Everything is so heavy, I can't breathe. I must lay down, yes, I'll just lay down. Much better, at least now I can breathe. A little anyway. That's fine, help will be here soon, I'll just lay here and wait. At least this way I'll spare my energy.
This is the end of the line for me, isn't it? Yes, I will die soon.
I'm getting colder, uncomfortably cold. My body is shivering uncontrollably, I wish I could make it stop. A warm bed would be amazing right now, or anything warm. It's so cold.'
Slowly but surely Ashtar was dying but suddenly he was jolted awake by a sneer.
''Who gave you the right to die? I haven't even started yet and you what? Get back here.''
Ashtar's body trembled and even his soul. Looking into those emotionless eyes that looks at him as if he was a bug he couldn't help shivering as those are the same eyes Lord Thanos used to look at him.
''P.. Please... I.."
''Nope let's continue, death won't be easy for the like of you, even if you spill everything.'' Noire grinned before void stepped and they both disappeared from the desert.
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