A Certain Unexplainable Dragon Slayer

Blazing Flame

Kaori landed effortlessly on the rocks below the cliff. The cool water washed over her feet but she ignored it, preferring to focus on the two boats getting closer to the shore. Her well trained eyes saw several people on both boats. There were 5 masked individuals and one unmasked individual on each boat. One of the two not wearing a mask was female with bright red hair. The other one was an older male with grey hair slicked back and a monocle. Both of them were focusing on a single spot where blue threads of light were emerging from the surface of the water. Something warned her that those two would not be easy to deal with. Not wasting any more time, she dashed gracefully across the surface of the ocean toward the nearest boat where the woman was. Her footsteps barely made any impact on the surface.

She was 50 feet away from the first boat when the woman turned her head and looked directly at Kaori. When Kaori was spotted, the women broke into a wide smile. Several jets of flames erupted from her hands toward Kaori. She sidestepped the initial flames, feeling the intense heat on her skin, but when the flames hit the water, steam erupted all around her obscuring her vision and threatening to cook her alive. Thanks to all the strengthening magic she uses, it would take more than that to stop her. She swung her blade and a thin blade of blue energy left her sword in a straight line parting the steam and continuing forward, slicing the first boat in half. She heard several panic shouts but ignored them. There was still one more boat to take out, but before she could get closer to it, another jet of flame rushed toward her and she was forced to jump back ten feet to avoid it. Another cloud of steam was formed obstructing her view again.

"Wow," a mocking female voice echoed through the steam. "Who would have thought, a legendary saint would be at this out of the way spot." Kaori said nothing and just watched as the red haired women strutted through the steam on the water. She was able to walk on water just as well as Kaori. The women's eyes were blood red and the smile on her face would send shivers down most people's spines. "He will be pleased if I destroy you here." Fire appeared and circled around her like a snake but did not leave her side. "I would draw this out but I can't let my guard down around a saint. Suffer under the weight of your sins and learn your place before my wrath."

Kaori wasn't sure what the woman was going to do, so she held her blade out in front of her in a defensive position. She did not expect the intense pain that suddenly wracked her body and almost made her drop her sword, but her training to never let the sword go until she died, kept it in her hand. Her eyes blurred and she almost lost her concentration to continue to stand on the water. The pain did not stop, if anything it continued to grow. She felt as if every part of her body was being burned alive. She tried to focus on the women in front of her and she immediately jumped back another 10 feet to avoid another flame jet. The woman was laughing at her pain and she couldn't concentrate enough to fight and stand on the water simultaneously. She had to draw the women back to land. She might have a chance if she could focus purely on offense. The pain was getting worse and she used every bit of her concentration to ignore as much of it as possible. She turned and ran back to the shore as fast as she could, but kept her guard up in case the women tried to attack when her back was turned.

"I didn't realize saints were cowards," the woman laughed, mocking her again. Fire erupted behind her like wings and she flew a couple inches above the surface of the water after Kaori. When they got to the cliff, Kaori ran vertically up the cliff and disappeared over the top. The women flew over it and landed on the precipice as Kaori faced her about 30 feet away. "Finally you stand and fight like a warrior. I will enjoy roasting you alive. Though I am surprised you are still standing but judging from the look in your eyes, the curse is putting a toll on your body."

Kaori didn't want to admit it but the woman was right. The pain was increasing and she had a hard time concentrating and everything kept getting blurry if she let her guard down for even a moment. This was preventing her from using several of her abilities. Her best chance was to try to find an opening and strike with her speed. Even though she didn't show it, Kaori was worried. The woman standing in front of her was obviously a professional. There were no obvious openings while the fire circled around her. The women raised her hands and several fire orbs appeared in front of her then flew at Kaori. Using her speed, she was able to just avoid them, but her reaction speed was significantly delayed due to the pain. When the balls of fire hit the ground or nearby trees, they made ten foot diameter explosions. As the dust cleared Kaori was on one knee, she was barely standing from the pain and had several burn marks from the explosion. While her speed was still far above a normal human, she was unable to dodge all of the fire explosions the women created.