{ * magnet met ice [clash ] * invisible strike 2}
Sai fell back, skidding across the ground. The sheer force of the unexpected blow knocked the wind out of him, leaving him gasping for air for a moment.
He scrambled to his feet, struggling to process what had just happened.
"My sword!" Sai suddenly remembered.
The impact had sent his blade flying, and it now lay several feet away at the base of a tree.
"Kuro!"
As Sai reached out his hand toward the sword, the blade vibrated intensely. It began to glow with a fierce light and flew back into his hand with incredible speed.
The sword was intact, and Sai was unharmed.
But...
He felt a sudden movement behind him.
Without wasting a second, Sai gripped Kuro tightly and swung it with all his might as he spun around.
[CLANG!!!!]
Kuro collided with another weapon, and a blinding burst of light exploded between them. The force of the impact sent both Sai and his attacker skidding back in opposite directions.
"Ugh,"
Sai muttered, getting up and bracing his sword for another move.
As the blinding light faded, he finally saw his opponent.
Standing before him was a girl. Her eyes left him stunned they were deep and mysterious, like a starlit night sky. Her hair, despite the lack of wind, rested softly on her shoulders, partially tied back in a neat braid. Her skin had a pale, ethereal glow that seemed to cut through the murky darkness of the forest.
Sai froze for a moment in pure shock. He couldn't believe a girl like this was here, in the middle of this cursed forest.
However, her face held no kindness; it was etched with a cold, focused rage.
She slowly reached behind her and drew her own sword. It was the most beautiful blade anyone had ever seen exquisitely crafted, with a grace that could captivate anyone who looked at it.
As her grip tightened on the hilt, the energy within the blade ignited. A dark yet brilliant emerald green light flowed through the sharp edges, pulsing through the veins of the sword like a living heart.
Suddenly, Sai snapped back to reality. He realized that the atmosphere around them had changed drastically.
A thick, black mist began to swirl around them.
Sai was confused; he couldn't understand why this girl was attacking him.
Suddenly, a streak of dark green light sliced through the darkness, racing along the ground toward him. Sai reacted instinctively, diving to one side just in time.
In that split second, a realization hit him he had seen this girl somewhere before. But he didn't have the luxury of time to think about it now. If he lost focus for even a moment, she would take his life.
Scrambling up from the ground, Sai shouted into the mist.
"Stop this right now! If you don't, you're going to lose your life, and I won't be held responsible!"
There was no reply.
However, something else happened. The mist began to part, and she stepped forward slowly. It was then that he could see her clearly for the first time.
Her hair was a blend of pale white and soft green, and her eyes looked like green rain falling through a starlit night.
As she moved closer, Sai looked her straight in the eye and asked,
"Who are you?"
There was no trace of fear in his voice or on his face. At this moment, all he cared about was using his power to strike and win. Even if it was this girl standing before him, it didn't matter to Sai.
But Sai had another rule: he never harmed anyone without a reason. That was just the way he was.
He stood his ground, baffled as to why this girl was targeting him. However, she had attacked him without provocation, and he wasn't about to just sit back and take it anymore.
Without wasting another second, she lunged at him, her speed blurring as she moved in for the strike.
She swung her sword directly at his throat with lethal precision, but Sai reacted with lightning reflexes. He brought Kuro up, effortlessly parrying the blow and stepping aside to break her momentum.
The sound of their blades clashing rang through the silent forest once more.
That was when Sai noticed something bizarre: he couldn't bring anything containing iron near her sword. It was as if her blade was pulling and absorbing the metal toward it.
To test this, Sai quickly pulled a small iron piece from his gear and threw it toward her.
[CLASH!]
With a single, effortless strike, her blade sliced the iron into two pieces before it even got close.
Seeing that sent a jolt of shock through him, but beyond that, he realized something even more significant...
"This is..."
Sai stood in shock, feeling as if he had encountered this power somewhere before. The girl lunged at him again with her sword.
"Enough... dodging won't help anymore. I tried to go easy on you, but you..."
"Nether Kuro Defence 1 > Zero Fang!!!"
Sai prepared to use a sub-division defense technique, often used for immediate protection or a counter-attack.
As he activated the stage, his hands grew incredibly cold colder and harder than those of any normal human. He gripped Kuro tightly with those frozen hands. The energy of the frost particles within him surged into the blade.
Holding the sword downward, the energy flowed from his heart directly into the core of Kuro. It all happened in the blink of an eye; the girl standing opposite him hadn't expected it at all.
[Swoosh!!!!!!!!!]
Before she could even comprehend what was happening, a force slammed into her as if she had been struck by an invisible hammer, sending her flying through the air.
"Ahh!"
She quickly leaped back to her feet, but he wasn't in front of her anymore. She looked around frantically. Sai was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly!!!!
[Swoosh]
Once again, a mysterious force sent her crashing to the ground. This time, her rage boiled over. She then noticed something a thin layer of frost was clinging to her body.
Yes... his first attack had been nearly invisible. The technique he used strikes the enemy like a phantom, something entirely unique. Because of his extreme speed, it appeared to the enemy as if he had vanished.
She realized what was happening. When his next attack came toward her, she reacted instantly.
She spun her sword at high speed in a circle around her and slammed it into the ground.
{Escape Shard Veil}
The moment the sword pierced the earth, a thin green smoke rose up, swirling around her at high velocity and racing toward the direction from which Sai was attacking.
The Shard Escape from the girl collided with Sai's Zero Fang defense.
The two forces clashed. The Shard struck the metallic particles within the Fang, causing a deviation in the Nether Ice energy, which shattered Sai's Fang.
["VRRRRMM"]!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A massive vibration shook the ground, making the metals within the earth tremble, followed by a thunderous sound.
"Haru..."
Inside the cave, Jinso, who was still examining the wall carvings, heard the sound. Not just him, but the other two heard it as well.
What was that...?" he asked, looking toward the exit.
"Sai!!!!"
Only then did they remember Sai, who had gone outside. They hadn't noticed that he hadn't returned.
"This is dangerous... we have to save him!"
Jinso jumped up. But Haru stopped him.
"Jinso, you stay here and find out what this is. I'll go check on him."
Haru drew his sword. The moment his hand touched Soulrend, its energy surged, awakening for battle. Izuma nodded in agreement. Haru dashed outside at full speed.