Rain continued to fall, washing blood into thin red streams along the cracked pavement as Anisa and Cailo clashed in the open street.
Cailo moved like a experienced fighter..
His two blades flowed in constant motion, one never striking without the other already preparing the next angle.
He pressed forward relentlessly, forcing Anisa backward step by step, denying her time to breathe, to think,
Every slash carried aggression and intent to kill, it is easy to see that his efficiency honed through years of killing.
Anisa met him head-on.
Steel rang against steel as her dagger intercepted one strike, then another.
Sparks flashed between them.
She twisted her wrist, redirecting a blade away from her throat, then ducked under a horizontal sweep that would have split her skull in half.
He's fast.
Faster than her.
And stronger.
"He has greater power and speed than myself,"
Anisa realized.
"Most likely more experienced too."
Yet she smiled.
Not because she was winning but because she was alive and she was learning a lot.
It was truly the case, the fact that fighting their life on the line was too different from fighting in the arena was there.
Cailo noticed it.
The smile.
It annoyed him.
He feinted high, then cut low, forcing Anisa to jump back.
She landed awkwardly on the slick ground.
That was all he needed.
His left blade slipped past her guard and sliced into her side.
Pain bloomed instantly, sharp and burning, as blood soaked into her clothes.
Anisa hissed and twisted away, but she didn't retreat.
Instead, she stepped in.
Cailo's eyes widened for a fraction of a second.
Her dagger flashed.
She dragged the blade across his left abdomen in a brutal counter, opening a shallow cut.
Not enough to cripple him but enough to draw blood.
Cailo staggered back, one hand instinctively pressing against the wound.
Warm blood seeped between his fingers.
"You are a wild woman…"
Anisa straightened, ignoring the pain.
She looked at him the way a hunter looked at prey that didn't yet know it was already caught.
"You talk too much," she replied coolly.
She raised her hand and pointed at him.
Cailo frowned.
Too late.
I marked you, Anisa thought.
The mark was invisible in the most cases,
It clung to Cailo's abdomen where her blade had cut him, sinking into his Nen like a parasite.
It was subtle by design expanding with every second he fought her.
Cailo didn't feel it.
He rolled his shoulders once, testing his wound, then exhaled slowly.
His expression shifted to focus.
His eyes closed for a brief moment as his Nen surged outward.
The air changed.
Anisa felt it immediately.
Cailo's blades didn't grow physically larger, but the aura surrounding them exploded outward.
What had once been a tight, controlled coating expanded into elongated, blade-shaped projections of Nen, extending nearly three meters past the steel itself.
The rain parted around the aura, sizzling faintly as droplets were repelled.
Deadly range.
If the physical blade was one meter, the Nen edge now tripled it an invisible guillotine capable of cutting her down before she even entered striking distance.
Cailo opened his eyes.
"I don't need to touch you anymore," he said calmly. "Just be within reach."
Anisa swallowed.
"I need to be careful… his range increased a lot".
She shifted her stance, widening it slightly, lowering her center of gravity.
Charging recklessly now would be suicide.
Blocking directly would drain her too fast.
Dodging forever wasn't an option either he would eventually corner her.
She needed time.
And she needed him to keep fighting.
Cailo attacked again.
A sweeping slash tore through the air, the Nen blade slicing through a parked car behind her as if it were paper.
Metal screamed as the vehicle split cleanly in two.
The power behind of the nen blade that coming from the physical blades were surprising to see at least.
Such an attack would cut down a nen user in two, if the nen user in the question is not prepared for it.
This reality, made Anisa think that there must be a condition for him to fulfill to have such a powerful aura blade that coming from those blades and to increase range.
She did not know the condition but she believed it is more than likely that it is a condition that can be fulfilled in a battle rather than just mind games.
Anisa barely escaped, rolling across the pavement as the ground where she'd stood cracked open. She sprang back to her feet, revolver barking once.
Cailo twisted aside, the bullet grazing his shoulder harmlessly.
"Too slow," he said.
But Anisa noticed it.
The mark pulsed.
Every time Cailo poured more Nen into his blades, the invisible seal on his abdomen drank deeper, expanding, embedding itself further into his aura flow.
Good, Anisa thought. Keep pushing yourself.
She wiped rain and blood from her face and smiled again this time sharper.
"Come on," she muttered under her breath. "Show me how far you can go."