Chapter 214: Totemic Maiden’s Rage
[Twisting Gale Thrust!]
[Fluttering Night Dance!]
*BANG! BANG!*
*FWOOSH!*
Sieger thrusted his rapier forward, firing off two twisting gale spears that had almost pierced through Zhen Yue, but the latter had used a mysterious movement art that allowed her to float like an owl in the moonlight1 and deftly avoided the incoming attacks. The two shots of pressurized wind, left sizable holes in the tiles behind her.
“Gotta admit, I always thought the architecture of your clans’s home was rather silly,” Sieger said as he readied his rapier once more, “all these low walls, these unusually flat roof tops and weirdly open hallways. Turns out they make excellent battlegrounds.”
“Why thank you. I’ll be sure to the send architect your compliments, when I give them your fucking head,” Zhen Yue threatened in a surprisingly eloquent voice. Sieger didn’t notice it, but the silvery tattoos that were covering Zhen Yue’s body were slowly becoming more and more defined as the battle went on.
Earlier in the night, Zhen Yue and Sieger had separated from Nepherage’s and Gregory’s duel, and had move onto the rooftop of the Zhen Clan estate. One would assume that an open space like this would put the rapier wielding Sieger at a disadvantage, but that turned out to be the opposite case.
Sieger’s formula was known as [Gale Slinging Duelist], an Aeroqi formula that specialized in creating long range projectiles out of air via compressing it with aether, rather it makes it easier to do so when using arts related to such actions. If one were to use their hands while cultivating this formula, the resulting blasts of air would be blunt like a cannon ball. However, if the formula is used in conjunction with a weapon, the projectiles take up characteristics similar to the weapon.
“I think I know the answer to this already, but if you surrender now I-.”
“FUCK OFF!,” Zhen Yue shouted before Sieger could finish talking. At this point, Zhen Yue’s tattoos were glowing with the same intensity as the moon above her.
“Fair enough,” Sieger said as he began to charge up aether from a big attack.
[Bluster Ball!]
Up until now, Sieger had been firing off essentially small, spear-like blasts of air that would leave decently sized holes wherever they impacted, or leave superficial cuts on Zhen Yue as she kept dodging them. Now, Sieger was changing tactics.
A visible giant ball of wind and dust fired off of Sieger’s sword like a cannonball and raced towards Zhen Yue’s position. As it flew, the tiles that the ball of air flew over were pulverized into fine powders and scattered, adding onto the visual appearance of the ball of air and making it clear that this particular art wasn’t a bluff…visually at least.
‘Alright you fucking bitch, it won’t matter if you dodge left, right or up or even if you manage to block that obvious atrack. I’ll be ready to pierce a hole in your chest regardless,’ Sieger mused as he began compressing a smaller yet even deadlier ball of air at the tip of his rapier. If Zhen Yue attempted to dodge, he would blast her with the ball of air. If she attempted to block, he would just use that opportunity to rush in an stab her in the heart, making sure to leave a little ball of air in there as he did. In his mind, she was absolutely fucked.
Zhen Yue for her part did not proceed to move out of the way or even attempt to block it, instead, she closed her eyes and performed a rapid set of hand seals.
‘I really need to thank Zhen Liu’s master for this gift later,’ Zhen Yue thought to herself as she performed the handseals. When the last one was done, the tattoos on her legs, forehead, shoulders and hands, each depicting a rabbit, an owl, a jaguar and a pangolin respectively, all started glowing a very distinctive blue color that not even Sieger could ignore.
“What the f-?”
[Lunar Assault: Enigmatic Pack]
FWOOM!
In the blink of an eye, Zhen Yue had suddenly turned from one person into three slightly distorted clones, each with one of the four totemic tattoos plainly obvious on their bodies and features representative of the animal they represented.
To Sieger’s left, one of the Zhen Yues had a glowing owl tattoo on her forehead and pair of owl wings growing out of her back, her eyes focused on him as a pair of wicked talons grew from her hands.
To the right, a version of Zhen Yue with powerful jaguar limbs was leaping towards the ground and using it as a springboard to pounce for his throat, obvious by the snarling massive teeth she now had.
From above, Zhen Yue looked surprisingly rabbit-like complete with ears, and a pair of powerful legs coming down to land a kick on his chest that would surely cause his ribcage to cave in.
Sieger was surprised at this sudden turn of events, but this wasn’t the first time he had to fight outnumbered before.
“Fucking bitch! It doesn’t matter how many of you there are, I’ll pierce you all just the same!,” Sieger shouted in rage.
The Zhen Yue jaguar was the first to reach Sieger, prompting him to use a corporeal art to thrust forward and stab her in her open jaw. When the blade made contact, the Zhen Yue jaguar suddenly poofed into a pile of stardust.
“An energy clone? But they all feel like they ahve her presence! Then which one is the real-fuck!”
Before Sieger could finish asking, Zhen Yue rabbit came in from above and attempted to smash his head open with a descending axe kick. The man managed to narrowly avoid it, causing the kick to land on the tiles and causing the tiles to explode.
“Then you’re the real one! [Sirocco Rush]!,” Sieger exclaimed as he accelerated forward and stabbed Zhen Yue rabbit in the head…only for her to pop into dust as well.
With Sieger overextended, Zhen Yue owl took this opportunity to swoop in front below and slash her claws upward, leaving a nasty gash from his stomach upward. The deed done, she flew upward and attempted to go in for another dive, this time her claws bunched together like a blade.
“Bitch! [Needle Gale]!,” Sieger shouted as he fired off a quick spear of air at the diving Zhen Yue owl, square between her eyes. The owl girl disappeared without so much as a pop once the attack hit.
‘Three fucking clones and none of them were real?!,’ Sieger thought in disbelief, ‘then where the fuck did she-‘?
“Hurk?!”
Before he could finish his thought, a vicious looking scaled covered claw had pierced him from behind, holding bits of his internal organs and spine in it’s grasp. The glowing tattoo of a pangolin could be seen in the palm of the claw.
Sieger turned around to see the real Zhen Yue being the source of the claw.
“H-how…did you..”
“From below,” Zhen Yue simply stated, “your attack made it very easy for me to drop through the roof and use the ‘stupid’ hallway to sneak up behind you from below.”
With her explaination done, she leaned in closer to Sieger’s ear.
“I’m not a big fan of sneak attacks, but I made an exception for you.”
“You fucking-HRK!”
Before he could say anything further, Zhen Yue used some aether to cause the scales on her new arm to stand on end as she pulled her arm out.
The wound was clean going in…violent going out.
“One down…I should go check on Zhen Liu’s puppet.”
Disregarding the corpse of the man who had blackmailed her, Zhen Yue went on her way.
‘An all-rounder formula with a basis on mastering forms and arts in relation to the “totemic beasts”: Jaguar, Rabbit, Pangolin and owl
