The clash was fierce and both of them showed no mercy with their attacks.
Yoke moved like liquid shadow, her long robe flaring as she ducked beneath Neil's wide arc. Her fist struck upward—a brutal, precise crack to his left rib—followed by a twist of her heel that brought her elbow crashing into the side of his neck.
Neil followed up with a quick block to the heel kick but Scarlet followed up from behind to deliver a swift roundhouse to his other rib causing him stagger sideways.
She gave him no time to counter.
Before he could recover, she spun low, her leg sweeping his feet out from under him in one smooth, circular motion. He hit the ground hard, breath ripped from his lungs, and barely managed to roll aside as her boot slammed down, splitting stone where his skull had been.
Neil lunged up backflipping away to distance himself before her as he spat a mouthful of blood on the ground and gave her a menacing look.
Both their Nux were still climbing and were now at their peaks. They gave no sense of backing down and would be willing to do everything to kill each other.
And so, the battle resumed….
Yoke rushed once more to keep the pressure up. Neil backtracked but the quick Yoke snatched and locked his wrist with her deceptively long fingers. With a slight twist—too gentle, too confident—she broke his wrist.
He grunted. She didn't flinch.
Her other hand drove into his gut, a crushing palm strike that sent him flying away and just then the undead Scarlet followed up with her long tendrils which sought to obliterate him but Neil would counter by creating more Azure Runes around him just barely blocking them to give him a quick breather.
Blood smeared her knuckles.
"Where is that confidence you had earlier? "
"It seems that power earlier has its limits too.", she said in a low yet confident tone.
Yoke narrowed her eyes. "You cannot win"
"Who are you to decide that …," Neil said.
Almost there….
He gasped, and stood up very slowly—only to have her crash into him again, knee first, driving into his sternum with surgical precision. Neil blocked once more but he could not take the weight of the attack and thus he fell to his backwards rolling a few meters away from her.
Scarlet shrieked and lunged forward, her speed impossibly fast—and Neil instinctively quickly rolled away but he did not leave unscathed. He felt as if something was missing and when he looked at his left arm, he saw… nothing.
He grunted but didn't make any facial expressions of pain. He could see his arm lying where he just dodged but it decayed and vanished into thin air.
Almost there…
"Hmm… You … are waiting for something aren't you?", she said with a smile but was alert.
Neil was breathing heavy whilst on the ground and he quickly stopped the bleeding using some Azure runes specific to healing. It took him a moment to get back up. He was inwardly surprised that she noticed something was up but that wouldn't mean she would be able to stop It so he kept a nonchalant expression look at her with his intense gaze.
"Then I'll have to kill you now", she said with a crazed smile.
She raised both hands, and infused more of her Nux into Scarlet who underwent an even more terrifying and demonic form. Large skeletal protrusions were visible across her body and her frame grew larger. She looked more and more like a chimera. This did not sit well with him.
The now transformed Scarlet opened its maw and began absorbing everything within the vicinity.
Neil could feel his Nux slowly waning. It was being extracted from his body.
"That Rune Law will suit me quite well.", she said in utter confidence.
Neil just stood there with his head down. For the first time in his life, he felt death.
It seems I'm paying for my arrogance but I won't let it happen again.
"This battle is over ….", she smiled and could see Neil struggling.
She blitzed towards him and just when she was about to deliver the final blow….
"I see now," Neil's voice echoed in the vicinity causing her eyes to widen in disbelief.
What is this feeling…. She felt something change around him.
He shouldn't have Nux anymore. With the absorption and my Law in play he should cowering in despair but what is this….
She immediately stopped and leaped away as Neil murmured under his breath with his eyes glowing with an intense Azure.
An intense explosion of Azure symbols spawned everywhere etching themselves into the ground, and spiraling around him.
He closed his eyes. Space trembled.
"You are right, this battle is over.", His voice was deep and commanding yet nonchalant and detached.
The Azure hue faded and the transparent ether dawned once more.
"JUST DIE", Scarlet's absorption intensity increased two whilst at the same time Yoke followed up by activating her Aspect Execution again, Death is Life. This time she concentrated her entire Law into a single point accumulating even Necro Nux which she then launched at Neil seeking to obliterate him.
In those moments Neil's intense gaze landed on them and …
"Aspect Execution: Chrono-Spatial Dominion"
Time fractured.
The battlefield froze. Everything was still. Both Yoke and Scarlet could not move but they were not aware of anything.
"Let's deal with you first", he said out loud as he walked towards the Monster Scarlet.
When Neil was face to face with Scarlet, he simply pointed a finger at her and the ground beneath Scarlet distorted and collapsed into a microscopic dot with an intense gravitational pull before exploding outward.
She was dragged into it, annihilating it in a single instance.
But a backlash was evident as blood trickled from his mouth.
"Even just creating a small size like that takes a lot of work", he sighed in frustration.
Neil moved graceful walking towards Yoke. He stood face to face with her but she couldn't move or do anything.
"You are very strong … If you had faced anyone else you easily would've won. The fact that you made me use my Aspect Execution is worthy of praise but this is over now",
Neil said as the space around him expanded. His hand gripped her face and a violet pulse enacted and in mere seconds Yoke began to wither away, aging rapidly.
His wounds started to close at an unnatural pace but his lost arm did not regenerate. The death-corruptive Nux around Scarlet dimmed and her Law died away suppressed by the overwhelming presence of his Law.
When time resumed Yoke just fell to her knees with her eyes wide open. She felt weak, her Nux was depleted, she had no stamina and she felt her cognitive functions slow to almost a halt.
"What … did… you…. do?", she asked in a very slow manner.
Neil said nothing as Yoke looked at her hands. She saw her skin had aged; her pale skin was now ashen gray.
"How…. did….", she asked.
Neil remained silent.
Yoke tried to use her Nux to propel Scarlet to attack but she felt nothing. Scarlet's existence became non-existent which surprised her even more.
"Time… You…. How....", she asked again.
"You do not need to know", he looked at her with a cold look.
"So…. You … were hiding…. Something this …. Powerful", she said.
Neil raised his left hand and conjured an Azure Rune which transformed into a blade.
"What…. a …. Rat.", she said and immediately just after her head rolled to the ground.
Neil stood there for a moment and looked at her corpse. He was thinking of everything that happened in this battle. He was surprised someone like her, someone with a Law pertaining to Death could exist because these types of Laws were rare but that didn't matter now because the spoils of war were right in front of him.
"Well… lets take her Law fragment shall we.", he kneeled next to the corpse and placed his hand on her stomach whilst his eyes closed.
He infused a little bit of his Nux and penetrated her Ethereal Aspect and there he came to a murky and lonely place. His consciousness was like a light in the darkness.
He looked up and saw her Law Fragment: Necromancy. It was in the shape of a greyish dark gem with a runic symbol inside.
"It seems she was knowledgeable about Runes but let's take it away first", he reached out with his hand and the gem floated to his hand and his consciousness absorbed it.
He then woke up to reality and could feel his own Death Law increasing in strength. He could also feel his Nux slightly change a bit.
So this what Necromancy feels like , huh?
He took a moment to gaze at the corpse once again. She taught him something and that was he should never be arrogant or let his guard down. There were many freaks just like him in this world but that didn't damper his spirits but instead made him excited for the future. He couldn't wait.
I'm not far away now. The Corporal Aspect will be a huge jump in power for me. I can't wait.
He then vanished from the area and went into Ernest's direction. He was anticipating their victory but he was sure to be in one hell of a surprise