I spat blood and got back up and glared at Leo.
Leonhart was floating above, gloating with open arms; he was thoroughly enjoying this exhibition match, far more than the crowd around us.
Bullets were bouncing off the walls and the ground, inching closer while a sea of flames was starting to melt the ground below us.
The flickering flames got more intense, forming a ring around me as I took some time to regain my balance and my breath.
Just as I was about to take off, a large snake made of flames emerged from the wall of flames surrounding me; its entire head was taller than me.
At that moment I unleashed my transformation, turned into an angelic being, and immediately felt a new wave of strength surging through me.
I used the power of the blade to shift my body to my right, evading the snake with ease, and then I began to gather light in the palm of my hand.
Then the angel began to take control and shoot light all around me.
Huh? Why did he suddenly go crazy?
When I checked, I saw many smaller snakes, emerging from underground, dead at my feet, beheaded; some of them had their fangs still sunk into my calves.
I could see a bright crimson color spreading through my veins.
Using poison? Do you really need it? Was it absolutely necessary when you're that much stronger than me?
I lowered my palm and channeled the light into it, and then a blast of light came out of it, extinguishing the flame snakes.
Why are you fighting your cousin? What's happening? How come we didn't know anything about this?
The angel asked, still half asleep.
He was lazily rubbing his eyes, hanging down from my head.
He was woken up by the commotion and probably by the feeling of being drained of his energy.
I'll explain everything later; just provide support!
From underground the giant snake emerged once more; its body was already trying to coil around me to smother me in its flames.
I used his power to create many blades of light and cut off the snake's head, along with the rest of its body, to set myself free.
I tried to move forward, but just then I realized I was once again surrounded by those stray bullets, so I made a few walls of light to block them.
They bounced off the light wall, then bounced again and watched as they ricocheted across the entire arena, waiting for another moment to strike.
It was a constant assault, with no time to breathe, and the fiery poison was starting to eat away at my reserves of energy.
Fine! Let's see if you can keep up with this!
From the corner of my eye I saw that sneaky, elusive lion; he had managed to get behind me and was once again about to bite my head off.
I'll leave defending us up to you; feel free to use as much as you need. I'll take care of him.
Using the powers of the weapons, I accelerated forward, launching a frontal assault on Leo.
He was seemingly taken aback by my decision; he was caught off guard while attempting to assemble yet another being made of pure flames.
Lilith was off his hands as he was in the middle of gathering flames in his hands; victory was a few inches away, yet as the bastard sword was inches away from his throat, it was deflected.
Lilith, the sentient sword, used the ability copied from the sword I was holding to move her large body, deflecting my attack.
I tried to spin around the weapon but was blocked once more, so I accelerated further, pushing my body to its utmost limits, but ultimately failed to land a single attack.
I get it now; there's no need to continue further. I've already depleted about half of my total energy, yet I'm nowhere near close to victory. At this point, it's more than clear that speed alone won't make it.
What I needed was overwhelming power, something that could punch through that stupidly high defense of his, and very few weapons had that kind of power.
I began making more walls and more spears and used those to cut, block, and parry any incoming attack.
There were a total of around a couple hundred spears made out of light, constantly cutting through the flames, dealing with the lion, deflecting the bullets, and protecting me, yet I was still being overwhelmed.
I bet you're ecstatic, desperately waiting for me to pull out something new… aiming to further boost the power of Lilith!
I thought as I put away the swords back into the dimensional pouch.
Forget about piercing; let's see just how much you can endure!
Leo was a frightening opponent to face; his calm, unreadable face made fighting him a nightmare.
He would keep the distance, alternating between large and powerful attacks using his flames and incredibly precise strikes using the ability of his sword, always trying to catch me off guard when a bullet was flying by.
A chilling feeling was slowly seeping in; I was being led by him; I wasn't anywhere near his level.
"Watch out!" He yelled.
Next, I saw a giant wall of flames approach me at breakneck speed.
I instinctively shot a ray of light to create an opening in the wall of flame so that I could pass through.
From the corner of my eye, I saw a small glimpse of his blade, aimed directly towards my head, swung at me at a frightening speed.
Shit!
The angel was able to take over and block it using a wall, but then I saw the blade emit a faint glow.
A massive shockwave hit me, sending me back to the ground.
I made a wall in front of me to block the sword, only for that same weapon to disappear right in front of my eyes. The angel took over and managed to barely block it in time before an attack landed on my side.
Then a strange force began to press me and sent me back to the ground.
I used the ray of light to clear the ground off of the flames.
I kept making light objects; some I sent flying towards Leo, and the others were used to block and deflect his many fire attacks.
He then appeared before me and swung his sword at me.
In response, I created a wall in between us, and he disappeared. He began appearing and disappearing all around me, swinging his sword.
Slowly I was getting overwhelmed; usually the light constructs are extremely durable, but cracks were appearing on them after every clash, and he could break them in only three clashes, which was further draining my energy reserves.
I took out another pouch full of coins and ingested them all.
Power came back, overflowing in my body.
Let's try something a bit different now.
As I was about to summon the next weapon, a shockwave emitted by the sword suddenly launched me away from the many weapons floating around me to protect me.
I saw a large tsunami wave made solely out of flames; a wave over thirty meters tall came crashing down on me.
I summoned many walls to block it.
The angel activated the halo on me, further enhancing my perception.
Thank you.
I then summoned two different weapons; the first was named Scorpion, and the second was called Zenith.
Scorpion was composed of a handful of blades coated in venom, connected by some really thin strings to some rings that appeared in my hand; Zenith, on the other hand, was a colorful bastard sword.
As I began to feed those weapons with demonic energy, I saw Lilith shed a part of her body; the fragments shed turned into other blades, each activating a different ability.
No way you also made her inherit that ability.
When the bullets were shot, I used Scorpion to deflect them all, yet they changed their trajectory and returned, homing in on me.
I shouldn't have gifted that weapon to my uncle!
I summoned yet another artifact, this time a bracelet; this swapped both my position and his.
Leo's lion stepped forth, absorbing that huge wall, growing larger and fiercer.
"Fine then!"
One of the fragmented shards of Lilith cast a large net over us, the other began emitting a green smoke, and the last one was turning the floor beneath us into a mirror.
Behind!
I quickly turned around, swinging Zenith at full speed, clashing with Lilith.
Zenith's ability activated, unleashing a sharp shockwave that finally landed; it managed to pass through the many layers of flames and land on Leo's body, sending him flying away.
Then the angel took over to create large pillars that impaled the massive lion behind me; it had closed the gap without making a single sound and was moments away from ripping my head off my body.
I quickly began overcharging the weapon with all the excess energy stored in my body. This made the weapon begin to glow; the glow simply kept changing colors over time.
I saw all the flames return to Leo, converging on his sword. He too was mimicking my next attack.
You're being too arrogant if you think you can somehow beat me in an equal exchange of blows.
We raised our swords over our heads and unleashed our attacks; my ranged slash attack obliterated his and pierced through all of his flames.
I channeled everything I had into that attack, putting my heart and soul into it. I didn't know if it was enough, so I silently prayed for a miracle.
The attacker, however, wasn't able to slash through the defensive suit I made for him.
"Wow, I didn't expect it to be so powerful," Leo commented.
Then both swords began glowing.
Both of us were using the same ability, but among the two, my attack was far superior; thanks to my family trait, the shockwave was easily able to overpower Leo.
I saw his expression change for a split second as he looked worried for his own well-being before he was flung to the other side of the arena.
The barrier of the arena was barely able to withstand such an attack; clear cracks had been formed, and the public also looked worried.
Leo was on his knees, watching over the large hole left by the attack, an attack that split the arena in half.
He was still holding a smug grin.
He was clearly left in a state of shock; he was trembling all over, barely able to stand, but he had yet to truly go down.
You freak!
"The fuck are you doing?" The angel yelled at me as he kept draining my poor reserves left in order to deal with the bullets.
"Don't just stand there! End the duel!" The angel shouted.
I was going out of breath, my ears were no longer working, and I was feeling my heart pounding out of my chest with a sense of thrill never felt before.
I took a step forward and almost fell to the ground; my knees almost gave in.
Somehow I was able to walk all the way to Leo, point my sword at his neck, and declare my victory.
This victory left a sour taste in my mouth. Had Leo decided to actually put in more effort and not decided to match my attack, he would've won. Even if he lost that clash, he didn't need to stand and take the attack head on.
I raised my sword to declare my victory, then I headed over to him to help him get back up.