Chapter 197: In Complete Disadvantage Yet Still Fighting
~SLASH~
"STOP RUNNING AWAY," Akira was forcefully following Stark wherever he went.
'Fucking hell…' Stark was also at completely disadvantage since… well… you can't really stop a silver katana in full power with your bare hands, now can you?
Stark's clone almost seemed to struggle, and although the smile on its face never disappeared, it couldn't get a single hit on Kokoro who easily managed to avoid his punches or used her [Glitch Barrier] to tank his projectiles.
"PRACTICAL PREDICTION," it also seemed like she could predict the clone's next actions as her eyes switched color, some sort of technological zoom appearing in them when she used that skill.
They didn't want to use [Double Assault], [Dodge Control] or [Heaven's Wrath] for the simple reason there was no saying what their opponents could pull, and wasting such precious skills which they could only use once in this battle was terrible.
~FLAP~
[Judicator's Wings] flapped in the opposite direction when Akira juked Stark by making him go to the right then slashing in that same place, saving him.
"LUNAR STRIKE!" Akira jumped in the air, placing his katana downward as he aimed at Stark, the moon behind him growing in size in exchange for an increase in power as he swung down.
"Crimson Spears," unbothered, Stark summoned three spears and sent them all at the moon, making it easier to aim at it since it grew in size.
~BAM, BAM, BAM~
"-77183! -74829! -76491!" all three hit.
But…
~FWISH~
Akira was now falling back, his katana glowing so intensely it was impossible to see the blade without being blinded.
And so he swung it at Stark.
~SLASH… BOOOOOOOM~
[Lunar Strike] concentrated the power of the moon into a giant attack, and right after that attack, an explosion would occur.
And so it did: right as Akira's sword's edge touched the ground between him and Stark, a massive explosion occurred, sending both of them flying.
"-1271!" this attack actually harmed Akira himself, but since it was his own, it didn't do much damage.
"Got him, Kokoro, just get rid of that thing and we're good!" Akira shouted while looking back at the girl, who was still actively fighting the clone, somehow unable to hit it as it avoided everything.
They were in a stalemate: none of them able to hit one another, even though Kokoro should have the complete advantage against one clone that was weaker than the original and was one shot.
Meanwhile…
'Fucking hell…' Stark placed his arms in front of his face to shield himself from the silver smoke of the explosion.
[The Purgatory Shadow took the hit in your place!]
[Invincible Dodge] wouldn't work as the explosion was too close and big for him to roll away, but his ring saved him as otherwise he would have had to use [Dodge Control] or a revive.
A massive shadow form came out of the ring the moment the katana hit the ground to shield him, thus he received the knock back but no damage.
"AURA SMASH… MERGE…" Stark was getting tired, so he focused his aura around his fist, and it was so much more powerful than before, strands of golden and holy aura visible as it was powering up the fist.
Akira didn't think Stark could survive this as he didn't dodge, so he just waited for Kokoro to finish her fight.
But… after ten seconds…
~FWISH… BOOOOOM~
He sent the crimson fist, now 1.5 bigger than Akira in terms of size, flying toward him as he didn't expect anything.
It came out of the smoke like a lightning bolt, leaving a powerful trail of crimson aura that seemed to be able to destroy everything in its way .
"…!" for the second time since this battle started, Akira was taken aback by another attack.
Didn't he learn that overconfidence was bad? And that when battling against Stark, there would ALWAYS be surprises?
~FWISH~
Akira turned his head right as the crimson fist was only a meter away from reaching him, his eyes widening as he saw the giant attack in front of his face.
But… he wouldn't fall for it twice.
"SHADOW STEP," he vanished into thin air, leaving a dark smoke behind, then reappearing a few meters away, sweating a bit.
[Shadow Step] was a very hard skill to use, and even he didn't control it well enough, which is why it took so much energy for him to cast it.
"Nice try, but that fist won't attack me or anyone!" Akira proudly shouted as he got ready to go on another attack spree.
But… Stark just smiled as he kept observing the punch go straight, not even paying attention to Akira.
"Target Manipulation…" Stark calmly mumbled as he pulled his right arm forward, his palm facing Kokoro, a thin crimson aura now appearing not only around him, but also Kokoro's figure as he had set her as the target of the manipulation.
'Focus…' he mumbled to himself over and over as he closed his eyes and breath in and out.
Kokoro was busy fighting off the clone, who was like a parasite, not dying yet not doing any damage either, slowly but surely taking her stamina away while his just never seemed to deplete.
And so once the clone noticed what Stark wanted to do, it just smiled and focused as well.
"AURA SMASH, CRIMSON SPEARS," it summoned everything in its arsenal, then sent it all at Kokoro at the same time.
"GLITCH BARRIER!" she placed it in front of her, thus receiving no damage.
But at this very moment… the crimson fist that Stark sent was behind her.
"…?" she turned around just like Akira, to see that the attack was heading straight at her, her expression full of horror.
~FLY~
She surrounded herself with the aura of her tablet to begin floating and avoiding the attack.
But… it was too late.
"GET BACK DOWN, DUMBASS," Stark pointed downward with the hand that had been facing Kokoro, and suddenly, her entire body was taken over by his aura, resulting in her going down instead of up to dodge the attack.
And so what had to happen happened.
~BOOOOOOOM~
The explosion and attack was so powerful even Sora probably heard it from the other side of the sublevel.
"-38372!" the damage was phenomenal as well, taking most of Kokoro's life as she was sent flying backward, the knock back of the attack almost knocking her out cold.
"SHIT!" Akira knew he couldn't allow his companion (even though it was only temporary) to die like this since it would basically become a 1v2, and he really didn't want to use up his items yet, even though he had five.
Kokoro could die later for all he cared, but now he needed to her to hold off the other enemy.
"Ouch…" for the first time, Kokoro spoke, her mind feeling hazy as the explosion hit her straight on, her eyes almost closing.
"DOMI-CHAIN RESTRAIN!" in addition to that, Stark's clone took advantage of that to send the crimson chain toward the girl, attaching it around her while she was still in midair, then slamming her to the ground with it.
"-1239!" low damage, but now Kokoro's arms and legs were bound by the chain, meaning she couldn't do much anymore.
And so just like that… the situation became really bad for Kokoro and Akira, who truly thought they would easily win against Stark.