Blood leaked out of Varian's mouth, his face pale and dents forming on his body.
As if hammers were slamming on him, his body began to bend inward. The gravity caught up and was attacking him again.
But he no longer paid it any heed and twisted his sword.
Isadora gritted her death but didn't even grunt at the heart-twisting pain. She touched the sword tip piercing out of her heart and caressed the blood freezing on its blade.
Her body began to shiver instinctively as the cold devoured her. The warm blood froze, the beating heart began to slow and her tremendous strength sapped.
"It's b…een a long time," Her voice grew weak.
A layer of thin ice began to form over her skin. Her glowing red eyes grew considerably dim. The arrogance she always exuded seem to shrink.
Varian gritted his teeth, bearing the barrage of the desperate gravity strikes.
For an outsider, it would look as if wind formed hammers and was striking Varian continuously.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Drops of blood, fragments of flesh and blood were splattered around him. Even though Isadora looked weak and defeated, she wasn't defeated. Yet.
If he let go before she fainted, she'd win. If he didn't, he would.
With that mindset, Varian held on.
Blood began to leak out of his eyes and nose as the nightmares in his mind also intensified.
Slowly but surely, he began to lose sense of what was real and what was an illusion. As a result, he entrusted his body to do the right thing than his mind.
Working purely on instinct, defending against the gravity attacks, Varian continued freezing the woman.
It's not that he didn't want to knock her out right away but he couldn't.
He couldn't get too close to her without risking a gravity explosion, which might blow off half his body. He couldn't use his Binder powers when her own path was two ranks higher. Nor could he use Famine energy on her when he's using it all up just to keep up his regeneration.
"It's funny, isn't it?" Isadora's weak voice quietened even further but the corner of her lips curled up. "You're not the only one with swords."
A thick sword of darkness pierced through Varian's back and stabbed his heart, causing him to cough out blood.
Then, another.
And another.
Another.
Varian used his sliver powers and body defense to weaken as many attacks as he could. His armor artifact played a key role and decreased at least half of the damage caused by these attacks.
But the end result was still him turning into hedgehog with swords sticking out of him.
It didn't end there. These swords liquified and turned into a sinister black liquid that tried to drill into his body and end him with tremendous pain.
The sliver powers overworked to help dispel the darkness but it just kept coming.
Despite gaining a hit on her, Varian was also pushed into a critical situation. Either she'd be frozen first or he'd be destroyed by this darkness.
A battle of endurance.
Isadora's situation seemed relatively worse.
After five minutes, the last drop of blood in her body froze and all movements of her power stopped.
Varian checked her condition with his Binder and sighed in relief after noticing she had indeed 'fainted'.
He slumped onto the ground and looked at the sky with a tired expression.
Looking at Sarah's silhouette in the distance, he muttered. But her hearing was strong enough to understand.
"Sarah, we have to take her out and—"
"Watch out!"
A pale hand dug punched through his chest and blasted out of his back.
Varian's eyes widened in horror as Isadora glared down at him.
"Y-You…"
Varian suddenly realized what he overlooked.
He believed she fainted after verifying with his soul power. But she's a rank 6, compared to his pre-fusion rank 4 or post-fusion rank 5.
She must've faked fainting a second before she might actually have. And when he lowered his guard, she struck.
"Mistakes happen, but some cost life." She smirked and flames of darkness blasted out from her palm, right into Varian's body. Like a witch burned, Varian was engulfed in black flames.
Blood curling screams rang out of his throat for a moment before he stopped making any sound.
Isadora raised her hand to channel her gravity and soul powers but the man in front of her disappeared.
In the far distance, a white light blasted out the flames of darkness and a Varian whose body was badly burnt and mutilated appeared.
His gaze at Isadora was now filled with vigilance. Staring at her for any moves, Varian waited for his injuries to heal.
Unlike normal injuries, these left traces of darkness deep inside. So, even his Famine power boosted by the armor was struggling to show any significant results.
But he had no choice.
'Sarah is already out of range. As long as I can avoid the fight, heal myself back and drag her into a battle of endurance, I can win.'
Varian had confidence in lasting longer.
"Not bad," Isadora pointed a finger at her body and darkness engulfed the ice.
Even though her body continued to shiver from the lasting effects and might not recover until ten full minutes, Isadora showed no panic.
With a flick of her fingers, a shockwave of gravity and three swords of darkness reached for him. Going even faster than them was the spell of nightmares.
Varian didn't even think and teleported. Far away from her attacks but close enough to observe her.
Like Isadora worried about leaving Varian alive, Varian worried about letting her leave. If she did, he might never be able to find Sia and Enigma ever again.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
"Waiting it out and beating me in a battle of endurance," Isadora clicked her tongue and her red eyes suddenly glowed silver.
An ominous premonition struck Varian but before he could react, a hand was placed on his shoulder. A silver card floated behind her, distorting the space around it and its owner.
Varian's senses screamed as he noticed the card.
He had been treating her as someone different from Sia and Enigma. So, he paid the price.
This was the card that enabled Enigma to teleport when she wasn't a space awakener, use stealth to get away from Xanders and the Military and perhaps it had other uses he didn't know about.
"Give up already."
The flames of darkness engulfed him once again.
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