It hadn't been too far from where the two fought but the sound of a loud crash echoed through the forest scaring off some animals.
A lilac eyed boy turned his head towards the direction of the sound.
"That's...where Riven went…Something must have happened, I've gotta help him!" he grit his teeth as he faced his opponent. "But I can't do anything to shake her off, and time's running out fast. Damnit!"
Yet despite his predicament, he took a deep breath to keep himself calm.
"No, I need to focus on one thing at a time…that means dealing with her first!"
He charged at the blonde girl in front of him, dashing from side to side to throw her off.
"Nice tactics." Harumi commented as her eyes traced the blur moving in front of her, waiting for the perfect time to strike.
When Azrael got in range, she clenched her fist, as it slowly crystallized forming a glove of ice and with all her might she swung into her opponent's side.
The blow was a heavy hit that sent a wave of pain though Azrael's body and pushed him to the side.
"Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!!" he winced as he repositioned himself, gritting his teeth to endure the pain but he still managed to pull a half smile. "You hit hard for a girl."
"And you talk too much for a ghost…I thought you lot were the quiet type." she replied as the frost round her fist began to dissolve.
The boy chuckled as he shook his head. "True, but some of us prefer to be a bit different."
Harumi slide her foot out and another rush of ice covered the floor heading towards the Poltergeist but he simply leapt in the air.
"Nice try but that attack of yours doesn't work in mid-air, right?" he observed as he landed on a branch, taking the opportunity to recover from the earlier blow as it slowed his movements a little.
"Correct but it can spread across various surfaces." she smirked as the ice went up the tree and towards Azrael once again.
"You have got to be freaking kidding me!" he cursed as he jumped of the branch to avoid it, before his feet even landed on the floor Harumi had readied a kick as frost covered her shin.
"Crap! I can't get hit!"
The moment his feet landed on the ground, he leaned his entire body backwards as the attack brushed past his face and pushed himself up using his hands.
"You are a menace." Azrael stated giving his signature smirk.
"You are an annoying problem." Harumi gave a snarky reply as she went for a few punches but the other dodged them one after the other.
"Come on, just a little more." Azrael sidestepped a fist as he waited for the perfect moment.
He kept on playing defense only striking when necessary to avoid suspicion.
"What the heck are you planning Azrael?" she thought as she started putting two and two together to see that the other was clearly plotting a plan.
"He's attacking but he's heavily defensive right now, which can only mean he's planning something.
"Could it be a trap? He's making me think I'm at the advantage and keep attacking him, leading me to exactly where he wants me to be.
"And since he can secrete that ectoplasm anytime on anything, who knows where that trap could be laid out!"
The Nymph stopped in her attack and leapt back to gain some distance.
"You smarter than I gave you credit for." she said in an acknowledging tone.
"She's figured me out!"Azrael internally panicked "This girl is really frustrating to deal with."
"You're pretty quiet now, so I must be right huh? So where's this trap of yours?"
The grey-haired teen sighed. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Harumi tsked. "Do you think I'm stupid or something? You were obviously trying to trick me into blindly attacking you."
Azrael tilted his head. "Trap? Oh! You thought I was trying to trap you?" he chuckled. "Sorry but that wasn't my plan."
"It…Isn't" the blonde's face was one of visible confusion.
"Yep." the Poltergeist grinned "I just wanted to lure you into a denser area so I can have more room to evade and dodge, eventually tiring you out."
Harumi look around to see that indeed the trees in this area were more clustered and numerous but things didn't add up, it was too confusing.
Too absurd.
"That's…What…" she stammered was flabbergasted by the sheer simplicity of her opponent's plan. "That was your plan!?"
Azrael frowned slightly. "What? It's a pretty good one if I do say so myself."
Harumi slapped her forehead. "That's the kind of plan I expected someone like Riven to come up with."
The other barked out a laugh.
"Pfft. You're not wrong there…maybe it's because we've gotten close…his brain cells must have been passed down to me" he joked even pointing to his head and making funny faces.
Harumi gaped. "No, don't tell me this guy is that dumb. He looked like a real threat a moment ago…unless…that was all just luck!
"But it couldn't be. No way. This guy was a serious problem earlier, just because he's acting this was doesn't mean he's that stupid.
"And I've wasted too much time dealing with him, and I need to focus on the main game. Though, I've stopped him from claiming zones, I'm doing the same to myself as well."
She narrowed her eyes her opponent in front of her, who was still acting all silly and childish.
"I suggest if you're playing games you'd better stop." she advised as she bent her knees, ready to attack again.
In that moment, the ghost dropped his antics and scratched the back of his head.
"Ah man, you are one tough person to fool." He sighed.
"So you were just acting after all, so what's your real plan then?" the blonde replied "Thank the Heavens, he's not a complete idiot."
"It's quite simple…" Azrael replied bringing his hands forward. "It was your first guess."
He snapped his fingers, and in that instant a torrent of small rocks shot out from different direction.
"This attack again!" she shifted her weight ready to dodge the attack but…
The rocks didn't aim for her but instead around her, landing closely to each other stacking higher and higher, leaving no gaps. And before the Nymph could react she was enclosed in pyramid of stone.
The ghost smirked as he straightened his composure. "That should keep you occupied for the time being."
Harumi scoffed. "Yeah right, like some pebble cage is going to hold me."
She dialed back a frozen fist and swung it with all her might, the impact resounding through the walls of her stone prison.
The blow, however, was only enough to crack the wall.
"That's not going to work." Azrael said from the outside of the structure. "You see, those rocks are tightly interlocked in a way that it's similar to a wall of concrete."
Harumi sighed, putting her hands down. "I see, you played me, didn't you."
A cheeky laugh was heard from the outside. "Maybe so, maybe not…Anyways I'm gonna be leaving now, don't miss me too much."
"Excuse me?"
Azrael crouched down and leapt into the air, trying to get as far away as possible because he knew that his opponent's cell wouldn't hold her for too long.
Though his movements were relatively slow due to the damage he had received to his side earlier.
"Damnit it's really had to move now. How can a girl even hit that hard?!"
Dashing through the trees he spotted an unmarked flag that was driven into a tree.
"I've gotta see what's going on with Riven…buut we still have a game to win right?"
He smiled to himself as he stopped and brought out a marker and popped out the cover.