Blood spilled out of the side of Mira's head as she lost an ear. However, because of that, she could break out of the spatial lock and jump back. She stared coldly at Aryan with eyes full of malice, but she was equally as confused. She didn't know what had happened or how he had attacked her. The Guardian didn't seem intent on answering her either.
Aryan lifted an eyebrow, "Oh? You actually dodged that?" He wasn't trying to mock her, as he was genuinely surprised. Few can block his attack, but that number drops to zero against those weaker than him.
"Well, I suppose it's not too surprising when I think about it. You're my fated nemesis. How could you be weak?" Aryan nodded, his expression returning to normal.
Since this man seemed to have more secrets about him than she initially thought, Mira decided to get serious.
*Vwooom!*
Coating her body with Martial Intent and her weapon with Scythe Intent, she swung her scythe at the man's neck. Seeing her scythe coming at him, Aryan just smirked.
"You'll have to try a bit harder if you want to hit me, Mira." He said, then disappeared from his position and reappeared behind her.
"Aren't you a little too slow?" He pointed his finger at the back of Mira's head. However, Mira's senses aren't normal. The instant he appeared behind her, she knew he was there, and now that she wasn't locked down, she easily dodged his attack.
*Tssshhhh*
*BOOM!*
Whatever shot out of Aryan's finger drilled into the ground, then exploded, causing the ground to shake. Mira glanced at the hole in bewilderment as she still didn't know how he was attacking her.
'Does he have a unique affinity, or is this part of his bloodline? Maybe it's like the Guardian said, and his soul is unique.' Mira thought. There were many possibilities, but Mira couldn't conclude the correct answer.
She just shrugged it off and put it in the back of his mind as she has to live to figure it out.
'Both his movement speed and attacks are fast. It also seems like barriers or walls can block his attacks. Lastly, he has something that can allow him to entrap me.' Mira thought. Her intuition told her that she and Aryan were similar in strength, but he was overwhelmingly faster than her. Though, she figured that her body was probably stronger than his.
'If I can just dodge his attacks and clip him with one big hit, he's done for.'
Now that she had a game plan, she could prepare adequately. The only thing that made her sigh was that she didn't have an excellent Movement Technique that could keep up with his speed. She had the Chaos Body Martial Art, but that didn't increase her speed.
'Hmm~ Maybe I can incorporate the martial art into an actual Movement Technique.'
"Are you done thinking?" Aryan's calm voice woke Mira up from her stupor. He stood a few meters away from Mira, staring at her with a faint smile as he twirled his long, perfect silver hair.
"It seems you've finished your planning." He clapped while the corners of his mouth rose, "Now, please make this interesting for me! I'd be severely disappointed if you died too quickly!"
'I'll wipe that arrogant smirk off your face, you bastard.' Mira scowled and used her Chaos Body Martial Art to sprint at him. Her feet shifted in all sorts of directions, making it seem like she was running in a zig-zag pattern when in fact, she just ran straight at him. While doing this, she ran Qi through her meridians, trying to find the best meridian pathway to increase her speed and give off the illusion that her trajectory couldn't be tracked.
Aryan narrowed his eyes, but a smile of amusement never left his face. 'Interesting.' He licked his lips in delight.
'I've never seen a movement technique like that. Although it seems crude and slow, the way she moves is unpredictable and ever-changing.'
A glimmer of excitement shone in his eyes for the first time since meeting Mira. Even when he saw her naked body, he appreciated her beauty at most, but it wasn't enough to excite him. He saw and slept with beautiful women every day. It'd take a lot more than some average-sized tits to arouse him.
The nails on his hands extended into claws, and while still only using one finger, he tapped the air lightly, causing the space around them to tremble. In his view, a large dome formed unseen to Mira, entrapped them.
"Now, let's dance!"
Tapping his finger in the air a few more times, he created a dozen clear orbs and tossed them randomly inside the barrier.
Mira had no idea what he was doing, but she could sense a disturbance in the space around them. She wasn't locked in place like before, but everything felt different than before.
'He must've done something.' She concluded and became more vigilant. Her instincts told her that she shouldn't move around carelessly.
Thus, she used her [Death Dominion] and [Reaper] Techniques to try and counter whatever he did. Black goo shot out of her body and corrupted the earth, air, and Qi, sucking in all the energy like a sponge. Her body became slightly transparent and was covered in a black robe.
Standing from afar, Mira began launching attack after attack at Aryan. Thanks to her techniques, the length of her scythe reached the end of her domain. She didn't want to move around carelessly as she didn't know what Aryan did and felt danger from all around her.
Aryan clicked his tongue in annoyance. He hoped she would fall for his trap and slowly kill herself, but he didn't think her intuition and senses would be so sharp. Covering himself in Qi, he disappeared from his position and reappeared right before Mira, swiping his claws at her as if he was trying to rip open space. Little did Mira know, that's what he was trying to do.
She sensed danger and used her Chaos Body Martial Art to move out of the way, but-
*BOOOOOM!*
-she ended up running into one of the invisible spheres, taking a chunk out of her back.
Aryan's eyes shone with victory and pride as he figured she would be out of commission after taking a blast of that magnitude head-on. He turned to Mira, hoping to see her kneeling on the ground half-dead, but what he didn't expect was a black blade to appear before his eyes.
*Puchi!*
The blade sliced cleanly through his wrist without obstruction, removing it from his arm.
*Splat!*
His eyes unconsciously lowered to the stub at the end of his arm and then to the appendage that had landed on the ground. Pain and anger emerged in his mind as his breathing became ragged.
However, before he could blow up, another black light shone out of the corner of his eyes. He attempted to dodge, but he couldn't get far as he pressed up against a giant ice wall.
*Shing!*
*Puchi!*
Blood spurted from his head as the black blade cut through his ear.
"That's what you get for taking my ear, you bastard." Mira's cold and murderous voice made him shiver, waking him up from his daze. He didn't notice it before, but now that he was paying a bit more attention, he realized that her killing intent was terrifying.
That's when he realized that the rumors about Mira he heard from the Sect Master of the Yin-Yang Sect weren't exaggerated. If anything, they didn't serve her justice.
'What the hell?! Where had this monster been hiding, and how did nobody know about her until now?!' He panicked a little, but the pain in his arm and ear replaced the fear and panic he felt with rage!
Turning to Mira, he growled, "You… bitch! You dare to sully my perfect body with that filth?!?" His eyes turned bloodshot the more he thought about it. Small dragon wings sprouted out of his back, and he grew in height by another half a meter.
"This was only business at first, but you…" He pointed at her with his other hand, "You made it personal!" His transformation finished as small scales covered his neck, legs, hand, and arms. Lastly, a small pointed tail popped out of his back and coiled around him.
While staring at Mira, he reached down to pick up his hand and ear. Since it was a clean cut, he should be able to reattach after this battle, but when his hand hit the ground, he grabbed nothing but dirt.
"What?" He glanced down and realized that his hand and ear were gone! His head shot back at Mira, and that's when he noticed that her ear had regrown.
"You… You…" Small horns sprouted on his head as he stared at Mira with hatred evident in his eyes, "I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"
*BOOOOOM!*
