Arthur sneered, stepping back half a pace. He raised both hands, pulling dark chi from deep within his chest. The reddish-white energy swirled around his gaunt arms like liquid fire, and from the pool of his own blood still dripping from his right palm, he manifested three thick, whip-like tendrils of hardened blood, laced with dark metal, blood and metal fused into hybrid weaponry.
The blood-whips lashed out, cutting through the air with a high-pitched whistle.
Lucy didn't stop her charge. She channeled her lightning into her own skin, activating her bloodline's full physical enhancement. Her speed doubled. She ducked under the first whip, the sharp edge cutting a few strands of her hair, slipped inside the arc of the second, and brought Valor down to sever the third.
The axe cleaved through the blood-whip, but the moment the blade made contact, the spilled blood on the axe head didn't splatter, it adhered.
Arthur's face twisted into a vicious, mocking sneer.
