The ragged man manifested a golden sword in his hand.
His face reflected through it.
"I really need to wash up…"
Unexpectedly, he drove his sword to the ground, picking up dirt and throwing it straight at her eyes.
"Ahhh! My eyes!" She screamed, desperately trying to remove the dirt.
The man, taking advantage of the situation, lunges at her with full force.
"Take this!"
His sword was inches away from connecting with her, but unanticipatedly, the sword changed trajectories.
Now aiming for the ground, turns out the man lost his balance due to his injured form.
The girl has just successfully removed the dirt from her eyes, and, shocked, she backstepped.
She pointed her sword at him, its tip gleaming with violet energy.
Suddenly.
Beams came out of it, heading straight for him.
The man wasn't going down that easily.
"You're not beating me that easily!"
He tightly clutched his sword with his remaining arm and started twirling it around; a golden shield materialized in front of him, protecting him.
SCHRRRZKKK!
The beams collided with it. Forming a massive runaway aura that spiraled out of control, tearing up the ground with wild arcs.
Most of the beams were being deflected, but a small percentage were able to crack the shield slightly.
The man coughed up blood, barely able to keep on. So he made a wise decision.
"I never tried it, but I've seen other dual aura and mana users use it before."
Red aura covered his golden sword, his golden mana, and the red aura merged, forming a unique color called rose gold.
The shield had finally cracked, unable to keep deflecting the beams.
"Crap! Such bad timing for the shield to break in!"
On the other side, the girl didn't even shed a single drop of sweat. This was nothing but a game for her.
Anger rose in him, seeing his enemy's power.
RING!
[SYSTEM]
-The Skill [Counter Flow] Has Been Unlocked.
"Will this new skill I got be able to help me out of this situation?" He wondered, his palm tightening around his sword.
He lunged at her, confident with the appearance of this new skill.
Their swords collided, sparks of fire flew everywhere, and even some houses caught fire.
Both had similar skills. [Counter Flow (Lv 1)] - [Aura Counter-Attack (Lvl 8)]
But the girl's skill was way more polished than his. And because of that, he was losing.
His robe was getting cut to shreds. It served no purpose, so that's why he decided to let go of it.
He wore only worn-out pants that barely covered him.
His whole body was wrapped in bandages, and old injuries were reopening.
"I don't think I'll be able to survive this fight. Damn you, reapers!" He thought to himself, anger shaping his actions.
SLASH!
One precise swing tore his bandages open, carving a deep wound.
"Fuck, I have no choice but to do this." He whispered, and his sword dissipated.
"Haaaaaaa!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.
But surprisingly, his golden mana began replacing his missing arm; it was as if he had never lost his arm.
DING!
[System]
-Mana Is Critically Low 6/45
"Haaa-hahhh." He let out a sigh, sweat dripping off his body.
He scanned his surroundings, looking for any spare sword, but he found none, so he chose the second-best choice, running.
He started sprinting in the opposite direction, trying to find a blacksmith from whom he could borrow a sword.
The girl's face showed confusion, but still, she decided to follow him.
Her agility far outperformed his, making her almost twice his speed, enabling her to catch up at an inhuman speed.
The man already knew this, making a sharp turn towards a dark alley, he jumped onto one of the walls, then another, and another, till he reached the roof.
With a single jump, the girl was able to reach the roof.
He was desperately searching for any sword.
Until he had seen one particular knight running around naked, strapped with a black colored sword. "Yes! I found one!" He mumbled, excitement filling him from top to bottom.
Jumping off the roof, he performed a flip to lessen the impact.
With a lunge, he had tackled the man.
The girl was seconds away from reaching him.
But fortunately, he had already stolen the sword and stood up to fight.
The girl charged, their swords clashed once again, but the man's form didn't falter this time.
His golden arm was already doing its job.
SMACK!
With his spare arm, he had punched her straight in the gut, incapacitating her for a moment.
He lifted the sword in the air, then pushed it down as if he were forging a sword.
In a split second, she had dodged it, and worse, she counterattacked him, injuring him inches away from his neck.
He dropped down and swept her off her feet, lifting his leg, performing an axe kick, which was blocked by her sword.
She stepped back, charging up an aura slash that was quickly dodged by the man with a backflip. Cutting off strands of his hair in the process.
He had countered with an aura slash of his own. That was blocked by her with nothing but her raw strength.
"Wha-? How is that possible?" He wondered, gasping for breath.
The girl was full of energy. Even posing mid-fight.
Suddenly, her eyes flashed violet.
"Let's end this." She muttered, her eyes gleaming like a shining star
Out of nowhere
Her sword started floating above her, accompanied by many other swords, but strangely, they started changing forms into a laser-like shape.
Beams drilled the ground like spikes hiding in the dirt.
She performed an elegant dance, surrounded by her own violet aura.
Then she offered her hand to the man, leaving him bewildered by her gesture.
But that was nothing but a joke. She flicked her hand at him, and a beam came out of the ground just below him, but he managed to dodge it successfully.
But that wasn't all; hundreds, if maybe thousands, of beams followed it.
All are aiming to eliminate him with a single shot.
The man had done everything he could think of to avoid them. Obviously, some managed to slip past his defense, heavily injuring him in the process.
The girl slipped past him, still performing her elegant dance, as if she were mocking him, and she winked at him.
A beam came out of her hand, aiming for his head, but was blocked with a quickly manifested golden shield; it broke instantly.
He wasn't going to stand around and keep dodging, so he did what any person would have done.
He charged at her. The girl's expression first showed shock, then mischief.
She ducked down as a beam came right behind her. He blocked it with his golden hand, sacrificing it.
"There goes 90% of my mana…" He thought to himself, eyes twitching with anger.