Dump yard on the west was covered in darkness as night unveiled, because it was covered by tall peaks of dump all around it was hidden in most darkness.
Dark, silent and disgusting. At time like this when it became horrible place, Because with no resident in vicinity it was completely shrouded in eerie silence. Till there could be shallow distant screams, screeching here and there. As if those who died in this unfortunate place still belonged here, screaming their wrath and pain.
Unlike many other nights, It wasn't so dark tonight. Fire of explosion spread by gentle wind, Refreshed the cooling weather with tint of heat and orange.
large portion of the area was destroyed, incinerated as it was caught in blast. Surrounding were destroyed, nothing but rubbles and wreakage.
At certain distance stood two woman, Their body growing heavy with each second as exhaustion showed it's poisonous fangs. They both held sword in their hand, posture and eyes determined to throw oneself in battle for victory even when their body was covered in blood and sweat.
But they also had doubts, Doubts gave birth to fear of uncertain scenarios and even more uncertain outcomes, And they desperately fought to change those unappealing results but to their disappointment, It was still unclear as it was before.
Why?
Simple because they wanted the victory over madman, Now in any normal situation they would've won but then this wasn't one of those situation.
Simple because he didn't die even after getting stabbed in the heart.
Again, With ragged body of her Evelyn threw herself in battle, as they had done so far done. But her speed wasn't as rigorous as before, her steps were messy due to wound on her left thigh. It bled profusely as claw wound showed cleanly cut skin and muscle over ripped jeans.
But she endured the pain.
Almost simultaneously, Elizabeth joined in as well but a bit lagging behind.
While their original plan was for Evelyn to take him head-on and give Elizabeth chance to finish him off when madman failed to maintain his guard but it clearly wasn't enough.
With One leg injured Evelyn had lost the movement,power, agility and upper hand in the situation. Now tactics had changed a bit.
Elizabeth and Evelyn had to do this 2 on 1, And even then they were one step behind. Such was the strength of their adversary.
Evelyn swiftly faced his claws, as she twisted her waist to side, dodged his attack and swung her sword to deal damage, knowing full well he would predict and dodge it.
As he did, she leaped in closer to take advantage of slight window of opportunity and stabbed with full force, One leg flexed as if shifted weight of whole body unto her attack, even though that very leg was injured and caused her agony.
Madman eyes were never changing, Only anger in them. He didn't consider that he would die or feel pain, Instead he saw opportunity as Evelyn got closer. Though his eyes were hidden behind helm and protective transparent dragon scale, his lust for blood was almost palpable.
He seeked blood and Evelyn was playing risky game, jumping in so close with sole trust in Elizabeth's skills.
His eyes were glaring, even Evelyn could feel his gaze, Full of savage thirst. This also made her realise how stupid he would act once she gave him even a tiniest of opportunity and so he did, He was ready to dive in as sword would eventually pieces his sternum. Slipping out of his back and he didn't care, Both of his claws were ready to dig in evelyn's face, uncaring for pain.
But then his switch flipped again, If before he was ready to get stabbed then now he desperately wanted to avoid it. Such change was astronomical and abnormal.
Madman didn't look so mad now, his mocking laugh even through pain was momentarily gone as he chanted a spell in an instant. His words rushed the mana inside him, shaping it how spell intended and begane to affect surrounding mana as well. His influence over mana was large as well and he didn't hold back, just as sword was about to reach his chest, chant ended in resulting unfolding power.
Surrounding sparked with flames and within few meters of his radius instantly cought flames, he too inside of it. But fire didn't burn him, that was his own spell and he was inbound in it but everything else was a foreign body to incinerate.
Evelyn cought on to the scene but her momentum didn't allow her to retreat back, she knew at this distant flames were inescapable now. But she didn't care, She was dedicated to finish this once and for all.
She hoped that even within intense flames her sword would eventually pierce his chest, giving her chance to blow his head off with following strike, killing him but that too was much to ask for.
Why?, Because he wasn't so easy to kill. She carried moment of doubt, Doubt that she would not return alive and she would fail to kill him but then she had few breaths to wander in thoughts.
Her speed was insane as she saw spark igniting in slow motion, and their serial succession turning wild and wide as flames grew hotter and hotter, soon reaching her hand that thrusted the sword.
But then before it could reach her, Petals of snow also fell like snow rain soon turning fire much gentle, rain of snow petals instantly connected making a icy wall of defence against flames that were ever growing.
And with a burst, explosion of flames broke wide. Icy shield was thrown back along with Evelyn but then it did managed to protect Evelyn at last moment. It was mostly melted and soon turned water and then vapour.
Elizabeth was directly behind Evelyn, already at distance, adjusting her foothold for shock and incoming Evelyn. she called out for strength and cought Evelyn while managing to stay on her toes.
Evelyn Didn't gave herself time to think even when her head ringed due to explosion, She hurridly free herself and stood aside ready to battle again.
" He's flipped again." She said as she glanced at her sword, it looked worn out with cracks. Without any doubt she threw it away and brought a new one out of her space ring. All while her eyes never leaving madman.
Elizabeth nodded, She was accustomed to fighting various enemies so this was though bit unsual but was not out of ordinary.
" It seems you are the smart one, Care to talk." Evelyn laughed at madman, Everytime he flipped there was huge change.
Almost as if new personality took over his body, If before he was stupidly impulsive then now he was rational strategist.
" Obviously I am, That motherfucker cannot even cast a spell." Madman who wasn't mad spoke with arrogant smile, he cleared his head while shaking it few time as if voice in his head disturbed him greatly.
" Annoying pest." He muttered to himself as he relaxed his body, his helmet vanished to his will. Then He called out to surrounding mana and it followed as he commanded.
Mana drifted inside him like a river and within a span of narrow moment, whatever small wounds that were visible over and under his armour were gone. As if they weren't there to begin with.
But that also made him vulnerable to prying eyes, not that he cared. If one focused on him, they would immediately notice that he was an cyan rank cultivator. His authority over mana was one way to confirm it but not surest one, with mana vision that could be confirmed.
And most experienced cultivators could read their cultivation purely based on feel of other's mana density. Two women were such skilled ones.
Evelyn and elizabeth watched it in silence, his body was reaching his peak strength. He looked like someone who could not be killed.
Obviously such skill was a cheat and they had never encounter such enemy but getting panicked was not helping either.
Evelyn had pierced his heart but then he didn't die, instead he was enraged, so much so that getting close enough to deal any fatal attack became almost impossible without getting cought in his attacks.
But Evelyn was ready to bet on that as well, she hoped decapitating his head might do the job but then again, it wasn't so easy to achieve.
" Hmm, Talk huh?" Madman smiled in mirth as he walked closer to them.
" That's good, I desperately want someone to listen to my story." He said, His face smiling still as he walked closer and closer.
" No thanks, Last I checked we're still 2 to 1." Evelyn didn't bother to trust his words for a second.
" You were the one who wanted to talk in first place And as for 2 on 1, how's that working out so far?" Madman laughed, his muscles tensed as he felt the strength.
" That bitch of your other ego might not be most talkative bitch but then he did slip out few secrets." Evelyn held her sword upfront and Elizabeth stood behind, ready to spell.
" Liar, He doesn't know a thing about this place." Though madman kept his smile, he wasn't sure.
" Oh don't be so sure, He was kind enough to inform that this place no longer has any subjects, meaning it's mostly useless, empty and filthy." Listening to her, madaman didn't spoke for a second and then sighed with a defeated expression.
" Stupid motherfucking cunt." His voice deep in anger, jaw tightened as helmet of dragon armour manifested on his head.
His eyes burned in fury but then he controlled it, His eyes locked on Evelyn as he smiled much more lecherously this time behind the mask,
"So what?, do you think you can run away now that you no longer have anything useful here?"
He mocked, Crouching as his claws stretched out, ready to slice them apart.
Elizabeth and Evelyn both felt that, his power and his lust but again that wasn't something new.
More importantly they had fished out some information,
" Thanks bitch." said Evelyn with mocking smile, Realisation of what that meant made madman even more mad.
" So He didn't say anything, no he couldn't say anything because he didn't know anything." His eyes glared in anger, grip tightened in fist.
" Yes and now that we know there is nothing here, We can be on our way without risking our lives." Even though she said it with calm arrogance, she held her sword tight and steady. " And Don't worry my superior will deal with you and your fucking dogs."
She hurridly brought out a teleportation device out of her ring, as soon as it manifested in reality, it buzzed with wiring electrical sound, ready to be used.
Madman's eyes widened in desperation, he hurridly flew to their stand with a giant leap as brown wings manifested behind him, supporting his speed even more.
" NO YOU WON'T.." he roared, He wanted nothing but to rip them apart.
His claws were ready to slice Evelyn but she didn't look worried at all, Elizabeth who stood beside jumped in, she striked her sword with simultaneous force, nullifying madman's attack to zero, strength of his attack shook Elizabeth to core but she didn't bother with pain.
Her strength was almost on par with him, but she had never showed it and that was shocking,
" You were holding back!!"
He was momentarily surprised, But That didn't made him unwary. Elizabeth lauched fury of strikes but he met each with his own knowing full well that he was still stronger.
On surface it looked as they were both on equal footing but on very minor scaling, madman was slowing down.
He too felt that change, he couldn't move as freely as he wished and with no answer to such predicament, Elizabeth's swordstyle finally found a window of opportunity between his attacks.
Not wasting a single moment, she striked with utmost power and precision, her sword bringing mountain crushing force down to his helmet.
BANG....
And with a loud bang it clashed hard.
" Aaaagghhh...." A pained roar left his mouth.
" Ugh.." Elizabeth grunted in pain of recoil.
Helmet over his head was severely damaged as it showed web of cracks spreaded all over with one deep cut where sword had struck. Blood oozed out of cracks and fissures of scales but then helm wasn't completely destroyed either, it looked painful.
Madaman's vision blurred, head felt that shaking power and he failed to maintain steady steps. His ear ringed, thoughts failed and reason lost as he could not make sense of situation.
" Aagh.. It didn't break." Elizabeth grunted, she wasn't talking to herself, it was a signal to Evelyn who was already running toward them with no teleportation device in her hand, only sword.
While he was in agonizing pain unable to even think properly, he was nothing but sitting duck, and Evelyn was ready to snap that duck's head.
Elizabeth's hands shook violently, as if she had struck a boulder with mundane body musculature, her body jerked and head ached with amount of pain she recieved in return.
But groaning as she watched his head, there was linear deep cut in his helmet. He might not be be severely injured but he was in pain and he showed vulnerability, even though only for a moment.
Evelyn jumped in air, raising her sword high. Similar to how Elizabeth brought down the vertical power. But more than that her sword ignited with red flames. Flames that instantly lit the dark vicinity, intense heat made cold of night recede back.
And with all the strength, brought down that powerful attack on linear cut mark where he was already injured. Madman had no thoughts to comment, no will to resist, only pain to suffer.
Evelyn's sword broke though his rough scales, red flames burned those scaled but like an treacherous poison, It slipped in them. Ready to do the job.
Bangg ...
And combustion of flame rang softly.
This was much smaller explosion but it did the job much more cleverly, results were apparent.
Madman's head was blown to pieces, Few drops of blood oozed over her headless body while most was burning.
Evelyn had supported elizabeth with her limping body as they backed away to safe distance. They watched warily his headless body ready to fall but then they too doubted if he was really dead.
And after a good second it fell, relieving both women of their tightened breath.
Elizabeth didn't say anything, she didn't wanted to jinx it. Only now that her weakened arm relaxed as she let her body slump on ground with exhaustion. Even sword in her hand slid out.
Evelyn though completely exhausted and injured didn't sat down, her eyes showed wariness for something ominous as she gazed her broken, melted sword.
" What?" Asked Elizabeth, who didn't understand what that serious look meant.
But She didn't answer,
Suddenly numbers of presense started Surrounding them and they grew with each second, Each atleast green rank cultivator and even some blue rank joined. Just like before, cultivators dressed in black from top to bottom were ready to dive in dance of death. And to make it worse, As madman had said, they were hundreds in numbers.
Elizabeth sighed in disappointment as she shook her head,
" I see no reason to hold back." She said, picking up the sword that had left her hand and stood up. And as she postured herself for battle, Thousands of ice arrows formed around her, ready to fly away. Arrows exuded subtle cold aura yet it had no presense, almost imperceptible, but they were chilling and lethal.
" Then let's not." Evelyn brought out a new sword as red fire ignited on it, making steel shine with redness.
Flames didn't melt the sword yet it's power seemed destructive enough to incinerate everything with a touch.
And by the time they were ready, shadow enemies were already lunging at them from all sides.
Those of who were proficient in long range attacks were standing behind the rest of masked men, channeling their power with raised arms.
While some of them manifested flaming javelins, icy arrows, Rock daggers and wind sickles, rest of them remained steady. They were only dozens, but unlike hundreds of warriors who threw themself into battle without a second thought, mages waited for opportunity with raised spell in their hand.
They were smart, A wind user shouted
" NOW." and not instantly but an split second later, all those raised spell shot like flurry of arrows.
Their attack power may have been carried but they were in perfect sync,
Elizabeth and Evelyn couldn't take a breather, only few short second to recover little mana. And soon started their frontal confrontation with full force assault, unlike before they were running out of time and they weren't holding back.
While Evelyn's flaming sword cleaved a masked man in half, rest of his company were already burning in agony.
Without any presense, they just cought flames and died. As she danced with flaming sword, cutting through dozens of enemies, a foot long red flameling Arrows formed behind her with simultaneous speed and shot like a rocket.
It was aimed on back of enemy lines were mages stood, those who had just shot their attack were running back to line while new mages rose up to front, ready to add another flurry of spells.
But their first batch of attack had not even met their target when high intensity missile of flames tear through barrage of attacks and came directly at mages.
Barrage of attacks blasted, dissipated midair without ever getting close to their targets while swift flaming arrows that had reached mages burned fiecely with each moment and,
BOOOOMM..
With a sharp strike it incinerated whole rank of mages and unlucky warriors who were with them. Just like that and there were no mages, But there were still hundred of warriors to deal with and she didn't had enough mana to cast such spell again.
Elizabeth knew that, She too herself was low on mana but not as else severely as Evelyn who fought toe to toe with madman.
Her icy sword decapiated multiple target in one swift strike while her arrows killed anyone who was smart enough to gauge on her defence, afterall Fighting this unfair fight was bound to make her loose defence in multiple areas, that's where guarding arrows protected her and Evelyn.
Her arrows of ice pierced enemies skulls, freezing them till they broke and vanished in thin air, and only their headless body remained.
Fight was unfair but surprisingly straight forward, All they felt wary of was only their own depleted strength and mana, not the opponent. Their enemies had advantage but not by overwhelming margin and that was reassuring in it's own meaningful manner.
but despite that something felt off, Suddenly there was a silent movement behind Evelyn and she was too slow to react. Elizabeth who was at distance also felt alerted but by the time they reacted it was already too late,
Evelyn completely ignored the enemy before her who was about to slice his sickle to her torso and hurridly turned around,
A scaled figure stood behind Evelyn, sickle man and few those fighing close had a pick at Evelyn, but with their strength they only managed deep cuts on her body but nothing immediately dangerous.
" ugh..." Pained groan left her mouth as she felt agony of many cuts on her back,
But Scaled figure didn't care for that as he was already punching his way through Evelyn's sternum.
Crush...
Everyone watched bewildered when such out of expectations scenario took place, even Evelyn who had fought countless battles throughout her life, her eyes widened with the visage of headless figure crushing her sternum with ferocity.
Instinctively she grabbed his hand, pushing him away by all strength she could posses but failed,
Elizabeth was already running to her, with shallow rapid breaths, hoping she would reach in time but she was already late and sensing her approaching madman leaped back and dashed at her.
" Noo.." Evelyn shouted her heart out in fear but,
Another crushing blow was ready to be punched, this time for Elizabeth who was already running in his momentum. Elizabeth knew that she was being stupid by acting so reckless in midst of fight but she had no control, she had to run as fast as she could, to save Evelyn.
That's how desperate she was But than she wasn't fast enough, she couldn't outrun madman's punch, simultaneously every manifested arrows in her arsenal targeted at madman, some managed to pierce and froze while rest failed and bounced off.
So it completely failed to slow down his onslught attack, it shot through air like a cannon as he crushed her chest as well.
Madman was still headless, bones and flesh were already mending and regenerating at very slow but visible pace. And even though he had no face to smile, his posture looked mocking as he pulled his arm back in arrogance.
Another madman, this was masked. In the madness of fury of battle he didn't stop as he was about to attack already apprehended Evelyn but before he could, his head was crushed by air pressure as madman punched the air.
Just to make a point, so it did. Everybody backed away few steps hurridly as they feared madman for his madness.
" Hahaha ..Oh..I can speak now." By the time of few breaths, his mouth was regenerated for him to have a victory laugh.
" Hahahaha ....
He enjoyed it very much.
But both woman didn't share his enthusiasm, being on other end of situation wasn't so nice.
Evelyn looked at Elizabeth, her chest crushed and face already pale by lost blood. She didn't look good and that made her heart ache, even though her situation wasn't any better.
" I fear for what your mother would say to me." Evelyn spoke without humour.
" You're stupid, You should remember your loved one in moments like this." she should've died the moment her chest was crushed but cultivators were tenacious bunch.
Evelyn chuckled mirthless, but Elizabeth replied,
" Believe it or not, I've been at death's door more than once, I saw my parents, I saw my friends, I even saw you... Cough..." Each word spoken invoked agony, that made her cough up mouthful of blood.
" There's new face in this place is as well." She expected Evelyn to look surprised but she didn't, " I slept with someone and I think I love him."
And that was surprising, Evelyn couldn't answer
" Oh how touching..huhu.. I did pretty good work helping you open up your hearts out." Madman's newly formed nostrils flared in cheeky sarcasm.
Evelyn shot a sharp glare but Elizabeth didn't bother, rather she looked amused as she looked at Evelyn,
" All this lovesick talk and no crying in pain, How heartless." His humour didn't end there as he walked closer to Elizabeth,
" You can save yourself, Just kneel and accept me as your new lord." Though he eyed Elizabeth, he also glanced at Evelyn with lecherous intention, Hinting the obvious.
" Even by surprise if I really wanted to kill you I would have decapitated you, But I didn't." He grabbed elizabeth's face upclose,
" Instead I shoved a cyan rank mana core into your own cyan mana core." His words struck like thunder to both women.
Elizabeth's face visibly turned horried, while Evelyn watched as madman glanced at her and chuckled, ," Yes you as well."
Madman enjoyed their shocking expression and then slipped up a very understanding chuckle and spoke, " Now I know chances of survival in such high rank core merging is nill and Without those beast's blood, it's Zero."
Then He backed up few steps, bringing out a small vial filled with blood from his ring and smiled generously,
" Bend the knee and I can give you a chance to be reborn."
Elizabeth looked at Evelyn, moment of surprise faded as she showed a gentle smile again,
" Nobody can have me now that I've surrendered myself to him, I feel like I should give him everything." A moment where Eren smiled as he revealed his deepest sorrow resurface in elizabeth's memory and that ached even more than this silly wound.
But then she shook her head with defeated smile and looked at Evelyn,
" That should do it, right?" And just as her words ended, Unsual and absurdly large amount of mana started gathering around her.
Madman's smile faded in instant, even Evelyn was bewildered by such feat. But she expected this as well, because she too was ready to do the same.
" selfdestruction." Madman dashed away, uncaring as he sliced through his comrades in rush of panic, and his word caused even more chaos among masked men.
His path was crowded from everyside, even more disordered as more and more reinforcement was joining still.
His face changed visibly to anger, to frustration, then to fear as each second passed weighted heavy in his disturbed heart.
His eyes quivered as he searched for exit though found it unable to do so, and for a moment he even accepted that it was inescapable.
Meanwhile Evelyn gazed at her bloody hands and then to Elizabeth,
" You've grown up."
" You just noticed."
Evelyn could think of few remark to argue but she didn't, And soon everything was covered in brightness.