CHAPTER 210: CHAPTER 210: ANIMA(PART 9)

"Come on, come on, COME ON!!! IS THAT ALL YOU’VE GOT?!" Exclaimed Kia with a wide smirk, toying with her opponent as she inflicted several shallow cuts across his body, deliberately holding back to avoid killing him right away, while easily deflecting and dodging his attacks.

"D-Damn, you b-...!" He yelled as he began to raise his right hand, lightning charged up, before crying out in pain as Kia swiftly whipped one of her blades up, slicing right through the middle of his hand, the lightning dissipating as she vertically dissected his middle finger and palm.

He stumbled back shakily as blood poured out of his injured hand and splattered across the floor, trembling in pain before stiffening as Kia shot straight towards him, raising his dagger up and unfurling a wild swipe of the blade at her head.

She swiftly ducked under it before her gaze darted across to the left slightly, narrowing her eyes. She reached out and grabbed her opponent’s wrist, tightening her grip before yanking him across powerfully, a startled yell ringing out before he gasped sharply in pain as a blast of pressurized water struck his back, fired by the other hooded figure.

"Shit...," He muttered, before the one Kia was fighting at close-range let out an enraged roar and swung his dagger down towards the side of her neck.

She rapidly whipped her arm across, a sharp clang ringing out as she struck the dagger right out of his hand with her blade, a deep cut across two of his fingers, before he flinched in fear as she met his gaze with a smirk.

"How disappointing, I was really hoping for more of a fight, that didn’t last long at all. Now, then...time for you to die!" She exclaimed, ducking as a water blast came shooting towards her, staying low and zipping forward as the blast whizzed over the top of her head, before veering across to her left as a lightning bolt came shooting towards her, evading it.

She sprinted in, slashing at the hooded figure’s wrist as he began to frantically take aim at her with another lightning bolt, a sharp cry of pain ringing out as the charged up Spell dissipated, before he stiffened as she slipped behind him and pressed her blade against the side of his neck.

"N-No, wait-...!"

"I won’t," She responded, before dragging her blade across and slitting his throat, a fountain of blood spraying out as choked gasps rang out.

A thud echoed out as the figure collapsed onto his knees and hit the floor, clutching his neck to try and stem the bleeding, but to no avail.

"Damn it...," Muttered the other one, flinching as Kia turned her attention to him.

"That’s one down. Let’s hope you put up a better fight than your friend did," She smirked, as she swung her blade across to get the blood off it.

Meanwhile...

"Damn it, hold still!"

Nero raced around the room as a barrage of fireballs came shooting towards him, right as his second opponent teleported in front of him and drove a spear towards him.

He easily deflected the thrust with his dagger, before firing out a rapid needle of dark energy towards the figure’s neck with a flick of his finger.

She just barely teleported out of the way in time, right as a roaring blast of flames came shooting towards Nero.

He sprinted across and leapt forward to evade it, the temperature in the room spiking sharply as the blast hit the barrier and erupted with a fiery burst, both Nero and the teleporting hooded figure starting to sweat.

Nero swiftly spun around as the Teleporter appeared behind him, swinging her spear across at his neck.

Her eyes widened as he suddenly grabbed her spear as it closed in on him, giving it a powerful tug to pull her towards him, while simultaneously driving his dagger towards her face.

She quickly let go of the spear in alarm and teleported back towards the Fire Mage, as Nero grabbed the blade of the spear and unleashed an intense, pressurized burst of dark energy, shattering the blade before tossing the handle away.

"Shit, he broke your weapon."

"We need to end this quickly, it’s getting way too hot in here, not to mention harder to breathe."

"Easier said than done, this guy’s tough. Maybe if I just blast out all the flames I can and overwhelm him-..."

"I cannot let him do that in this enclosed space, I must finish this. [Shroud]," Nero chanted in his head, a massive cloud of dark energy erupting around him and filling the room rapidly.

"What the...? Damn it, even my flames can’t light up this darkness, I’ve never met a Dark Mage who can create such a dense smokescreen, where is h-...?" Began the Fire Mage, before stiffening and trailing off as a stifled cry, followed by a thud, echoed out from his left, where the Teleporter had been standing.

He scrambled across to right in alarm, flames bursting out around him and swirling intensely as he looked around frantically, gritting his teeth and unleashing flaming shockwaves with pressurized bursts of concentrated flames, steadily blowing the dark mist away.

He grimaced as he spotted Nero, standing over the Teleporter, who was laying sprawled on the floor, a deep stab wound in the back of her neck, blood pouring out and forming a puddle around her head as she laid lifelessly against the tiles.

"No..."

’You will join her soon.’

Elsewhere in the hotel...

Lloyd ducked as a whip came zipping across towards his head, narrowly evading it before leaping away as a blast of wind came shooting towards him, striking the barrier as he evaded the attack.

"Hm, the one with the whip hasn’t used any Magic, and based on his Aura, he doesn’t have a lot of Mana. And the other one isn’t carrying a weapon, he’s only attacking with his Wind Magic...it’s hard to tell for sure under that cloak, but it looks like his build is about average. Seems he hasn’t mastered a Combat Template," Surmised Lloyd, evading another wind blast before the whip came zipping through the air towards him again.

He raised his right blade up, letting the whip hit it and wrap around it, before jerking his arm back to give the whip a sharp tug, pulling the Thrasher off-balance.

As the hooded figure stumbled forward, Lloyd shot forward as he shook the whip off his blade, the figure quickly pulling the whip back in alarm, before springing back as Lloyd closed in on him and slashed at his chest, inflicting a wide, shallow gash across the figure’s chest as he narrowly evaded a serious hit.

The figure then swiftly shuffled across to his left as the other one charged up a pressurized wind blast and fired it at Lloyd as soon as the Thrasher got out of the way.

Lloyd quickly crossed his arms in front of himself, grimacing as the blast struck his forearms, fracturing the bones upon impact as the Knight’s feet skidded back across the floor from the force of the blast.

He then ducked as the whip came zipping out towards his head, healing his fractured bones as he narrowly evaded the whip, which missed the top of his head by millimeters.

His eyes widened slightly before he quickly sprang off to his left as a piercing burst of wind came shooting towards him, cracks spreading out across the tiles as the attack slammed onto the floor.

A sharp crack rang out as the Thrasher swung his whip across again, Lloyd springing back and swinging one of his blades across as the whip closed in on him, striking the end of the whip and knocking it away, before quickly crossing his blades in front of himself as a rapid blast of wind roared towards him, a sharp clang ringing out as the blast collided against his blades, a few cracks spreading out across the left one upon impact.

He then quickly twisted his body across as the whip came swinging across towards his head, the end of the whip grazing the bridge of his nose and drawing out a trickle of blood, before he healed himself with a grimace as the Thrasher pulled the whip back.

"I’ll admit, you’re not half-bad, human. Seems you’re a Recovery Mage, which makes you a pain to deal with. But you’re clearly at a disadvantage here, it’s only a matter of time before we wear you down and finish you off," Declared the Wind Mage.

"Hate to admit it, but he’s right. They’re not much of a threat individually, but they’ve got some high level teamwork, they’re coordinating their attacks impressively well. I’ve been trying to incapacitate them so that I’ll be able to restrain them for questioning, but I can’t afford to keep holding back. I’ve got no choice but to kill them," Decided Lloyd, as he took a deep breath to compose himself.