Chapter 1994: Pa.s.sion
Seeing how powerful his daughter had become, Han couldn"t help feeling an iota of pride. At the same time, however, her similarities with Yurin, combined with the strange state she had entered, left him feeling helpless. It was like she was a G.o.ddess of War fused with some kind of feral beast, and, though he found her golden hair rather beautiful, the vicious look in her eyes left him feeling concerned, not for his safety, but for her future.
Evading an explosive thrust that caused a ma.s.sive channel to form in the ruined remains of the Palace of Swords, Han attempted to stab his Needle into the connecting point between Yuri"s left shoulder and arm. In response, she, once again, attempted to grasp his Needle with her bare hand, but, despite her ever-increasing speed, it was far from enough to pressure him. He wasn"t known as the "G.o.d of Wind" without reason, and, ever since becoming a Ranker, people within the Tower had taken to calling him "Twin-Nosed Sailfish", a sobriquet derived from the fastest of all s.h.i.+nheuh.
Annoyed by the fact that Han had evaded yet another one of her attacks, the b.l.o.o.d.y red ki around Yuri"s body became even more violent as she shouted, "You slippery little pipsqueak! Fine! Let"s see you evade this...!"
Punctuating her words, Yuri aimed the Black March towards Han before extending her blade nearly a kilometer in an instant. This was easily avoided by the youthful-looking man, but, before he could say anything to try and subdue Yuri"s anger, the muscles of her right arm flexed with such intensity that the sleeve of her blouse violently erupted. Then, without bothering to retract the Black March"s blade, she began a flurry of slashes that forcibly sliced everything in its wake, ground included.
Though some might believe it would be easier to evade from a distance, Han knew that the tip of the Black March was actually moving much faster than the length near its hilt. He could even sense a number of ma.s.sive explosions occurring in the distance, the result of the Black March moving at faster than light speeds through dense s.h.i.+nsu.
Worried that Yuri might ruin her body in an attempt to secure a pyrrhic victory, Han rushed forward with such speed that he appeared to teleport behind her. His intent was to stab through both of her rotator cuffs, but, as if to remind him of its existence, he was sent spinning as Yuri"s tail greeted him with a smack to the face.
Taking advantage of the moment when her opponent was stunned, Yuri strained the muscles of her back and arm in order to twist around with extreme speed. This caused the Spirit of the Black March to cry out, "You f.u.c.king b.i.t.c.h...!", but, without paying her any mind, Yuri"s attack caused a black void to appear between the ground and sky. The speed of her rotation had been very near the speed of light, so, with the Black March being completely rigid, her tip was moving several times faster.
With a force exceeding two-billion-kilotons, Yuri"s attack generated an explosion so immense that the entirety of the 100th Floor seemed to tremble in response. This was further exacerbated by the s.h.i.+nsu in the atmosphere, and, were it not for the fact they had formed their encirclement several thousand kilometers away, most of the vessels belonging to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 6th Army Corps would have disabled or destroyed with a single attack.
Unfortunately, despite appearing relatively unscathed, the slight bend in the Black March showed that Yuri had pushed the sapient Needle far beyond its limits. As a result, the black aura emanating from the blade immediately fizzled out as the Spirit"s voice, sounding somewhat teary, stated, "I"m never igniting for you again, you stupid, smelly, monkey...!"
Smiling wryly in response, Yuri was about to apologize, but, due to the spatial rupturing generated by her own attack, her organs were in a mess. The moment she tried to open her mouth to speak, a large volume of blood surged from her throat, and, despite her best efforts to keep it down, a scary amount ended up erupting from her mouth and nose.
Appearing immediately after this, Han, without a scratch on him, worriedly stated, "If you don"t stop this soon, you"re going to destroy your body. The Sage Dragon Emperor might be able to heal you, but-"
Without waiting for him to finish, Yuri surprised Han by opening her mouth and generating a laser-like beam of energy more than five meters across. When it faded away, Han, shrouded in an aura of pale green energy, asked, "Do you resent the Ari Family to this extent? I understand your childhood wasn"t the most pleasant. However, that was the direct result of you choosing to become a Princess of Jahad. Are you going to allow the behavior of a jealous few to dictate the rest of your life...?"
Furrowing her brows in response to Han"s words, Yuri took the time to return the Green April and Black March to her Reel Inventory before answering, "You talk too much, chibi. I"m not doing this to prove anything. At the very least, I"m not trying to prove anything to you. I just want to fight strong opponents. Now, hold still so I can punch that pretty little face of yours."
Charging forward the moment she finished speaking, a reddish-black aura appeared around Yuri"s fist as she shouted, "Ha Yuri Style Special Skill - Abyss Sphere...!"
Making use of her inordinately rare s.h.i.+nsu Quality, Yuri instinctually melded both s.h.i.+nsu and Ki to produce a bubble filled with a mysterious substance infused with the laws of s.p.a.ce and destruction. This caused the hairs on the back of Han"s neck to stand on end, instantly suppressing his desire to let her land, at the very least, one solid punch against him. Instead, he evaded seriously for the first time since the battle began, a cold sweat breaking out across his body as he observed the scene in front of him.
Clicking her tongue, Yuri, now appearing with vibrant red hair and a blood-red aura, looked toward Han and said, "First Ureko, and now you...how annoying..."
Coming to his senses in response to Yuri"s grumbling, Han s.h.i.+fted his gaze from her spiky red hair to the visible coat covering her neck, arms, and legs. He also noticed that her tail had become much longer, but, more than anything else, it was her aura that stood out most of all. She had become an entire order of magnitude stronger, and, though she wasn"t doing anything to control it, the s.h.i.+nsu in the sky had turned crimson.
Noticing Han"s gaze, a glower developed across Yuri"s face as she raised her left hand and growled, "Sorry, buddy, but I"m already taken."
Without affording Han the opportunity to correct the misunderstanding, a crimson blast of energy erupted from Yuri"s palm. It was only around the speed of light, but, due to the highly compressed energy contained within, it generated a gravitational pull similar to a small planet. While this might not sound like a lot, a distant satellite such as the Moon was able to influence the tidal forces of the entire Earth. Thus, the moment Yuri released her attack, the surroundings began to violently rupture as mountain-sized pieces of debris attempted to achieve equilibrium between the two gravitational forces.
Though he was able to evade each of the monstrous beams of energy with room to spare, Han"s expression paled as he witnessed the devastation caused by his daughter"s attacks. He disdained violence and destruction to such an extent that he had split off from his original Family in order to produce one that did everything in its power to prevent it. Thus, even though Yuri was his daughter, he couldn"t help feeling distressed by the fact she was releasing her energy without any regard for the people who called the 100th Floor home.
Gritting his teeth, a resolute gleam appeared in Han"s eyes as the fairy-like wings on his back split to form six distinct pairs. At the same time, tiny antlers erupted from his forehead as his larger than average ears suddenly extended to form points.
Noticing Han"s change, Yuri"s scowl immediately turned into an excited smile. Unfortunately, before she could comment on the man"s rather girlish appearance, a sudden and intense pressure crushed her body from all directions. It was like all the s.h.i.+nsu of the Floor had come to bear on her, forcing her into a fetal position as Han charged forward to reluctantly exclaim, "Han Style Secret Technique - Sidhe"s Judgment...!" (A/N: Sidhe are the name of Fairy Folk, children of the G.o.ddess Danu, in Irish Lore. They are closely a.s.sociated with the Sylph, Spirits of Wind.)
Though he would have rather ended things without severely injuring his own child, Han understood that Yuri, much like her mother, would never simply stand down. Thus, with an extremely apologetic expression on his face, he buried both of his Needles into her body, skillfully avoiding her organs in order to flood her body with s.h.i.+nsu. This would allow him to expel the Ki from her body, but, more importantly, it would force her into a deep slumber that could only be broken once he, or someone else, ousted his s.h.i.+nsu from her body.
Unfortunately, while he had taken into consideration Yuri"s durability, Han had no way of knowing what kind of artifacts and equipment Vahn had gifted her. The moment he attempted to spread his s.h.i.+nsu through her body, it was like the entire world had frozen over as a phenomenon functionally identical to Reverse Flow Control prevented him from so much as blinking. This caused the pressure on Yuri"s to immediately dissipate, and, though she still had two Needles sticking out from her ribs, that didn"t stop her from smas.h.i.+ng her fist into his face with enough force to vaporize a mountain...
With their Immortality Contract providing a form of "permanence", effectively preventing their state from changing, Han should have been able to tank Yuri"s attack without any serious trouble. To his surprise, however, a phenomenal amount of pain radiating from his cheek, neck, and several other regions of his body as he impacted the ground like a meteor. He couldn"t quite discern what it was, but, for a brief moment, it was like his contract had been negated by a mysterious, extremely pure, form of energy. As a result, one of his molars had been knocked loose, and, though he wasn"t too worse for wear, a ma.s.sive bruise had appeared on his left cheek by the time he emerged from the crater caused by his sudden and instantaneous introduction to the ground...
Surprised by the efficacy of her own attack, a bewildered expression appeared on Yuri"s face as she gawked at her bloodied fist. It had been centuries since she last injured her fist with a punch, but, what made this situation even stranger was the fact she hadn"t actually gathered that much Ki into the attack. Her intention was to force Han away in order to remove his Needles from her body, but, in spite of this, her attack had resulted in both of them sustaining injuries...
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Understanding what had happened, Vahn"s expression turned awkward as he desperately resisted the urge to smack his own forehead. The truth of the matter was that his Source Energy, which had acc.u.mulated during their previous foray in the bedroom, was still coursing through Yuri"s body. She wasn"t even able to sense this on her own, but, thanks to his desire to see her successfully slug Han in the face, the remnant energy had reacted to support her. This was beyond even his expectations, as, prior to this moment, he had never witnessed one of his lovers going all out in a fight preceded by a pa.s.sionate session of lovemaking...
(A/N: Alternate t.i.tles: "Yuri would fit well into JoJo"s Bizarre Adventure...","Sneaky Super Saiyan 4","I believe this is what some might refer to as a "pro-gamer" move xD...")