The Alchemist of Krydon

Chapter Twenty Five - The Maiden of Flames

If I were my ordinary self I may stand a chance, however the gap between us in terms of skill is enormous; it's painfully obvious, she has nine tails and I only have one.

"Are you ready, dear? If you're not going to make the first move then I will."

"I-I'm ready!"

Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, there's nothing around us that'd be of use. No place to hide or run to, so that means I just have to rush head on!

"Hm, a straight forward attack."

Reaching for her waist, she steps to the side as I soon feel a striking pain against my abdomen as the impact sent me flying a few meters away.

"Reiguma!!"

With my name being called, my mind was blank for a moment as I appear to be lying against the floor. With the sharp taste of blood in my mouth I try lifting myself up, however the pain made it difficult. The more I repeat the more it hurts as I felt extremely powerless.

"Giving up already? We've only just started."

She speaks up a suggestions however this isn't enough for me to give up. With one arm against my abdomen, I eventually stand with ragged breaths. The pain is agonizing, but to back down just from this would hurt even more.

"No... I'm not done yet."

Spitting out blood, I take deep breaths as the pain starts to slowly subside, however I couldn't wait on it. The deity rushes towards me as I had little time to think of anything else, with the use of her claws and legs I had to dodge or block each blow.

But I have no time to think, another wrong move and I know that'd be the end.

...

How much time has elapsed since the beginning of this battle? A few hours? No, perhaps only a few minutes. I've lost track of everything, I haven't landed a single hit yet and I'm already worn out. Scathes along my skin followed by bruises, at this point my mind's drawing a blank.

However, I know she's giving me handicap. Because I know if she placed everything she had in this battle I wouldn't last a minute.

"You're more capable than I thought, however!"

Pulling her strength into one blow, I manage to block it with both my hands however the impact sent a shock through one of my arm as I clutch it with the other. I haven't felt anything like this at all, not even during my first fight with that giant living rock... Nor the fight I had against Lilly.

Putting distance between us, she summons numerous spheres of fire around her. It's almost beautiful, with the way they hover beside her.

"Enchanted are we? Hm... It appears that when you lose the strength to fight so too do you forfeit your mind."

Alluring... Despite the heat from the lava, it's almost as though my body is a blaze. The beat of my heart increases as I couldn't let my eyes off her.

"In the end... You're nothing but a fake."

As she sends the spheres of fire towards me, I feel as though time itself has slowed down for a bit. Maybe it's because I'm slowly losing it, but something about this doesn't seem right.

Why am I here, why am I fighting and why does it feel as though I've lost something extremely important to me?

"Reiguma, what are you doing!?"

In a distant a voice cries out as I soon realised the danger I was in, I push myself off the ground and run as much as I could before tumbling over. What came next was loud crashes as smoke covered the air. Catching my breath, small craters are soon visible from where I once was, if that voice didn't call out to me, if Kiro didn't warn me...