Chapter 102: Surpassing Limits.
Andrea relished the opportunity. She immediately lowered her stance and positioned her blade straight at the Divine Priest, her eyes fixed on the opening Yuri had created.
Like an arrow released from a bow, she shot forward.
The distance between them disappeared in an instant. The Divine Priest saw her coming and instinctively raised one hand to block, but Andrea’s blade was already moving too fast. The enchanted sword cut straight through his scales and pierced into his chest.
Blood exploded from the Divine Priest’s mouth.
Andrea didn’t stop.
She drove forward with the full force of her momentum, pushing the blade deeper into his body as Yuri’s black katana remained buried inside him from above. For a brief moment, the Divine Priest stood trapped between the two blades, his enormous body trembling from the combined impact.
His eyes widened.
The two women had attacked from completely different directions, yet their timing had been almost perfect.
Yuri’s eyes flashed first as she realized she couldn’t remain upside down any longer. She had already lost the momentum from her descent, and gravity was beginning to pull her away from the Priest’s body.
She twisted her waist and pulled her blade free.
The Divine Priest’s body lurched from the sudden movement, but before he could reach for Yuri, Andrea’s blade twisted inside his chest.
The Priest’s claws shot towards her.
Andrea immediately released one hand from her sword and caught his wrist before the claws could reach her face, her boots sunk into the snow as she struggled against his strength.
The Divine Priest roared directly into her face.
Andrea’s expression didn’t change.
She drove her forehead into his nose.
The Priest’s head snapped backwards, giving Andrea the opening she needed. She ripped her blade sideways before tearing it free from his chest, opening a deep wound across his torso.
Blood poured down his blue scales.
Yuri landed several meters away, her boots touching the snow lightly as she immediately turned back towards the Priest.
The Divine Priest staggered backwards, one hand clutching the massive wound in his chest. His breathing had become rough and uneven, yet the blue scales around the injury were already beginning to twitch.
The flesh beneath them was moving on its own. The Priest stared down at his own blood with disbelief.
His body had survived everything they had thrown at him so far, but now both women had managed to pierce his defenses at almost the same time.
His expression slowly twisted into rage.
"You..."
The word came out as little more than a growl.
He suddenly slammed both hands against the ground.
The air exploded.
A violent burst of freezing wind erupted from beneath him, sending snow flying in every direction. Andrea immediately braced herself while Yuri disappeared into the storm, her body flashing away before the blast could catch her.
The Divine Priest used the moment to pull himself upright.
The wounds in his chest were still bleeding, but his scales were already beginning to crawl over the damaged flesh.
Andrea narrowed her eyes.
"His healing is incredibly quick."
Yuri appeared beside her.
"I don’t think these runes have much of an effect on him. A normal Eidolon would be writhing in pain after being cut by you."
Yuri suddenly grabbed Andrea and bolted to the side.
A cold wind tornado tore through the spot where they had been standing, ripping through the snow and scattering chunks of ice into the air. Andrea glanced back as they landed, watching the Divine Priest through the swirling snow.
His wound was already closing.
The torn flesh gradually pulled itself together, the blood slowing before the wound sealed completely. The blue scales surrounding the injury glistened beneath the sunlight like pale gemstones, their surfaces remaining completely intact despite the damage they had just endured.
Andrea’s eyes narrowed further.
The Priest slowly straightened his body.
The wound that had nearly split his chest open moments ago was already nothing more than a faint mark beneath the scales.
He smirked coldly.
"Your struggles are amusing. I even admire your willingness to keep fighting as you face the might of a Divine Priest..." He sighed, almost in pity. "Allow me to show you a fraction of the power I have gained."
The moment he stopped talking, faint runic markings began to manifest across the Divine Priest’s scales. One after another, they spread across his body before the wind around him suddenly exploded into a pillar of dark, swirling snow.
Yuri struggled to keep her footing as the wind tore across the battlefield, her clothes whipping violently against her body while snow and ice were dragged into the swirling mass.
The storm rotated around the Divine Priest like a massive tornado, with him standing completely still at its centre, almost as if he were the eye of the storm itself.
Despite the unbearable wind, his voice still carried clearly through it.
"Witness true power. This is the might of the storm... If you lowly creatures submit and worship my—"
Schnnnk.
Andrea’s blade suddenly carved across his neck.
The Divine Priest’s speech stopped instantly.
A deep red line appeared across his scales as blood began to seep from the wound. His eyes widened, his expression frozen in genuine disbelief as Andrea stood beside him.
The swirling storm continued raging around them. Andrea looked at the wound on his neck before calmly meeting his eyes.
"So what if you heal? I will simply cut your head off. Let’s see if you can grow back a new one."
The Divine Priest roared aggressively and punched down at Andrea, but she met him blow for blow. Every time their fists and blades collided, the tornado itself seemed to vibrate from the force of their attacks, the swirling snow around them shaking violently with each impact.
As they fought, Yuri finally managed to push through the powerful wind. She appeared in the middle of the battle, her katana flashing like a streak of light as she struck the Divine Priest from different angles.
Her attacks couldn’t do much more than annoy him.
Yuri flashed away and landed some distance from the battle, raising her blade as she stared at the faint marks left across the Divine Priest’s scales. Her eyes lowered towards the runes carved around the edge of her katana. They were supposed to enhance the sharpness of the blade, yet the Divine Priest’s scales continued to ignore them.
Yuri understood the problem, it wasn’t the blade, it was her.
She simply lacked the raw power necessary to make the weapon’s enhanced sharpness meaningful against an opponent like this.
"I need to move faster."
Her voice was quiet enough that only she could hear it.
When she raised her head, she saw Andrea and the Divine Priest flashing through the storm, their movements producing dozens of afterimages as they exchanged blows. Yuri could follow every one of them clearly.
That proved that she was faster.
But speed alone wasn’t enough. Andrea possessed the overwhelming physical strength needed to damage the Divine Priest’s defenses, while Yuri could only leave faint marks across his scales.
Yuri took a deep breath and activated her Dormant Ability, Impulse.
The ability could be used in many ways. Though she mainly uses it to stun her opponents, or to increase her own mobility.
Stunning the Divine Priest wasn’t an option. His scales would simply protect him from the effects. That left her with motility.
She was already moving faster than she normally could. She was faster now than she had been when they fought in the ruined city of humanity, and the current version of herself could definitely do more to help Damien than the Yuri who had fought there.
But then another thought entered her mind. Why was she still struggling to help Andrea? Yuri’s expression hardened.
She was angry. This time, she was genuinely angry.
Instead of releasing the lightning and using it to propel herself forward, Yuri kept Impulse active and began forcing more and more lightning through her body. She pushed the ability beyond what her body was comfortable handling, channeling as much electricity as she possibly could.
"Argggg!"
Blood suddenly spurted from her mouth.
The lightning coursing through her muscles began damaging her own tissue, her body struggling to contain the power she was forcing through it. Her main restriction had always been the limits of her physical body.
In that way, she and Damien were similar.
The difference was that Damien always seemed to have some ridiculous plan hidden away whenever he was cornered. Yuri didn’t have that. All she could do was keep fighting, and if that was what she was good at, then so be it. She would fight until she dropped dead.
The lightning around Yuri intensified.
Andrea was about to clash with the Divine Priest once again when she suddenly felt something strange.
Her blade was being pulled in another direction.
She immediately broke away from the Divine Priest and shot backwards, turning towards the source of the disturbance.
Andrea’s expression changed immediately.