Xavier distanced himself from the woman, his eyes still on hers. He transitioned into a combat pose, with bruises and cuts all over every part of his body. His curly dark hair was now slick with dust from rolling on the ground. He was breathing hard, his chest rising up and down.
He had already begun analysing her with rapid speed. Hus' system wasn't going to do it for him. And this woman was different from the monsters he had encountered.
'OK,' he thought. 'She's fast, experienced, and agile on her feet, which is bad for me. I guess she's had years of training. And she has that sonic scream ability that she can execute at any time without warning. And the worst of all, she's naked and totally unfazed about it which she's using to her advantage....somehow '
He watched as she walked towards him, his feet moving backwards as she moved.
'Either I escape now or try to kill her. But she's not giving me any weakness."
"You know." He mused. "I didn't expect'll see a woman who's fighting a guy while being naked. Totally defeats the imagination. "
The woman scoffed and, in an instant, was already in front of Xavier. She swung her blade downwards, right at his shoulder.
Alarmed, Xavier raised his left hand to block her strike, then with his right, drove his fist to her guts. The woman quickly used her blade to block the gauntlet and to absorb the blow, but the force was too strong, making her skid backwards.
'These gauntlets are impressive.' She thought."My blade is shaking from the force. I need to end this fight soon.'
Xavier charged.
He swung a gauntleted fist toward her ribs—fast, precise, brutal.
She bent backward unnaturally, letting the punch pass inches from her skin. Her hair whipped through the air as she spun, slashing with her blade. Xavier blocked with his forearm, sparks flying as metal met metal.
She moved like smoke.
He followed with a second strike, then a third—left hook, spinning elbow, rising knee—but she danced through them all, her body bending in impossible angles, her feet barely touching the ground.
Then she struck.
Her blade flashed, slicing across his shoulder. Xavier grunted, blood blooming across his cloak. She followed with a kick to his chest sending him stumbling back.
'Shit'
Before he could recover, she was on him.
She slashed again—his thigh, his side, his arm. Each cut was shallow but precise, designed to bleed him, to wear him down. Xavier swung wildly, but she ducked, twisted, and drove her knee into his gut.
He doubled over.
She grabbed his head and slammed it into the wall.
Stone splintered. Xavier dropped to one knee, dazed, blood trickling from his brow.
She stepped back, blade raised, eyes glowing brighter.
Xavier, his head throbbing
She raised her blade.
The runes along the corridor flickered violently as a surge of energy gathered around her. Her body shimmered with a faint aura—pale blue and violet—like moonlight trapped in motion. The blade in her hand began to glow, veins of mana threading through the metal, pulsing like a living thing.
The air thickened.
The blade vibrated, humming with power.
Then she moved.
Fast.
She slashed horizontally, the blade cutting through the air with a shriek of energy. A trail of mana followed the arc, leaving a glowing scar in the air behind it.
But Xavier was ready.
He dropped low, rolling across the floor just as the blade passed inches above his head. Sparks flew from the stone where the mana-infused edge grazed it, carving a deep groove into the wall.
He came up in a crouch, gauntlets flaring, eyes locked on her.
She smiled.
"You're quicker than I expected," she said, voice calm, blade still glowing.
Xavier wiped blood from his mouth, fists clenched.
"Shut up."
She tilted her head, her glowing white eyes narrowing.
"You're still fighting?" she said, voice like velvet stretched over broken glass. "You should've surrendered. You were never meant to resist."
Xavier didn't answer.
He lunged.
Lightning surged around him as he launched forward, fist drawn back, the gauntlets flaring with one last burst of fury. The air warped around his arm, the runes blazing as he aimed for her chest with a finishing blow.
But she moved like a whisper.
Her body twisted with unnatural grace, slipping past his strike as if gravity itself bent to her will. His punch slammed into the wall behind her, blasting stone into shards—but she was already behind him.
Before he could turn, her hand pressed against his back.
His eyes widened in shock. He knew what was coming immediately.
Then came the scream.
A sonic eruption tore through the corridor, not just loud but violent, like a thousand blades slicing through the air. The walls buckled. The floor cracked. The runes shattered in a cascade of sparks. Xavier was ripped from his footing, hurled backward like a broken doll.
He hit the wall with a sickening crunch.
His vision exploded into white.
Then black.
His ears rang with a piercing whine, drowning out everything. His limbs went numb. His breath caught in his throat. The world spun, twisted, collapsed inward. He tried to move, to speak, to summon the gauntlets again—but his body betrayed him.
The woman approached slowly, her bare feet silent on the fractured stone.
She knelt beside him, her blade now dim, her eyes still glowing.
"You should've listened," she whispered. "Now you'll be repurposed."
Xavier's gaze flickered, his consciousness slipping.
The last thing he saw was her smile.
The last thing he felt was the cold.
And as darkness swallowed him whole, one thought echoed in his fading mind:
"I'm screwed."