Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
August 12, x790.
"Come on, isn't this far enough yet?" Ur asked in an irritated tone.
Instead of responding, the one Ur pursued, Kisame, only smirked. Ever since he had created distance from Ur while bouncing off the ice shards from Ur's [Ice-Make: Geyser] and riding the waters created from his [Exploding Water Colliding Wave Jutsu], he had been enjoying the frustration he could see on her face.
"Fine." Ur said with a huff as she stopped the ice platform she was using to glide across the water's surface. "I've decided that we're far enough away."
A moment later, Ur took a step forward on the ice platform. Then, she slowly lowered herself to one knee. Meanwhile, Kisame, who had been smirking triumphantly at her, looked on in confusion when he saw the actions she was taking.
"[Absolute Zero]." Ur chanted while dipping the tips of the fingers on her right hand into the water.
*Freeze!*
*Splash!*
At the same time, Ur flared her magic power to its limit, the sheer amount surprising Kisame. Then, in the next instant, all the water froze over in an instant.
Luckily for Kisame, because his instincts were honed to a razor's edge, he acted quickly. A split-second after Ur flared her magic power, he pulled his sword off his back and slammed it onto the surface of the water with all his might.
As a result, the reaction force from such a powerful blow sent Kisame flying straight up into the air while simultaneously causing the water to splash up nearly ten feet.
Yet, before Kisame could do anything else, all the water in his field of vision was frozen over. Not only that, however, a bone-chilling cold seeped into his body, the low temperature even overpowering the temperature resistance wizards gained by circulating their magic power through their bodies.
"What in the hell?" Kisame asked while in midair while speeding up the circulation of his magic power to the limit of what his body could handle. "Who just freezes over a small sea's worth of water in an instant."
"Come on, try to keep up." Ur replied playfully. "I do. Weren't you watching?"
Hearing Ur's response, Kisame's eyebrows started to twitch as he turned towards Ur to retort. However, the words got caught in his throat when he saw she was once against standing with her hands in her casting gesture.
"[Ice-Make: Rose Garden]." Ur chanted as she slammed her hands down on the frozen body of water.
*Shatter!*
In the next instant, half a dozen roses made of ice surged up from the ice directly below Kisame. As they grew, the stems elongated. All the while, sharp thorns grew from the stems as they tried to ensnare the rogue Hidden Mist Shinobi.
"Hmph!" Kisame snorted while watching the ice roses approach.
*Shatter!* *Shatter!* *Shatter!* *Shatter!* *Shatter!*
Kisame then started swinging his sword at high speed. With each blow he landed on the ice roses, they shattered into ice dust.
"Damn that sword." Ur groaned as she watched her spell be destroyed with ease. "I really hate fighting people with magic power absorption."
Ur's irritation was understandable. In normal circumstances, no matter how powerful Kisame's swordsmanship was, he would have no chance of shattering Ur's [Rose Garden] spell. Especially when the roses were created from the ice made from her [Absolute Zero] spell.
Yet, with Samehada's ability to drain the magic power infused into he ice, doing so was not much of an issue. Though, continuously swinging his sword in such cold weather was taking its toll on Kisame's stamina and magic power reserves.
Eventually, Kisame managed to land on the ice. Though, his landing was far from graceful. However, because of all his strikes that landed on the ice roses, his speed was slowed enough that he did not sustain any injuries upon landing.
*Crack!*
The fact that he drove Samehada into the ice when he landed helped, as well.
"Fine, I guess fighting with magic isn't gonna end this any time soon." Ur said as she reached down to her thighs and unraveled a pair of thin, long whips. "I guess it's time to see how well we work together. Now, [Freeze Everything from the Earth to the Sky, Artemisia]."
As Ur chanted her release command, her magic power skyrocketed. At the same time, the whips in her hands transformed from normal looking black whips into a pair of long ice-blue whips with what appeared to be rose thorns protruding from them.
"Just how many of those strange weapons do these people have?" Kisame asked as he watched Ur's [Soul Armament] Unsealing.
However, before he could ponder on the relationship between the swords he saw Sun and Kagura wield during the Grand Magic Games and the whips in Ur's hands, Ur dashed forward, her speed much higher than anything he had seen from her up to this point.
Taking his hands off Samehada's hilt, Kisame ran through a series of hand signs while Ur approached. Then, as he made his last hand sign, he slammed his hand down on the space just behind Samehada's blade.
"[Water-Style: Five Feeding Sharks]." Kisame chanted.
Normally, the fact that all the water from his [Exploding Water Colliding Wave] had been frozen would make casting a Jutsu like this impossible. However, with Samehada's ability to absorb the magic power in the ice, a small pool of water was created around it. AS a result, despite the fact that the water was freezing cold and left a bit of frostbite on Kisame's hands when he touched it, the Jutsu's casting was unaffected.
In the next moment, all the water that had been melted surged up around Kisame and Samehada. Then, it rushed towards Ur before separating and taking the form of five Great White Armored Sharks.
"That's not gonna work." Ur muttered as she continued rushing forward.
*Shatter!* *Shatter!* *Shatter!* *Shatter!* *Shatter!*
Not long later, Ur was in range of the approaching water sharks. She then swung the whip in her left hand, freezing the first of the five sharks. Then, with a quick flick, she brought the same whip back and smashed the frozen construct in to shards.
And with both of her hands blurring into motion, the other four sharks were taken care of just as quickly. Even so, Ur was forced to slow down slightly while dealing with Kisame's Jutsu.
Meanwhile, Kisame gripped Samehada's hilt. Then, he used it's other ability, the ability to pass some of the magic power it absorbed onto its wielder. However, that was not all. The magic power transferred also had a healing effect. Meaning, the several cuts and bruises Kisame received from dealing with Ur's previous attacks, as well as the frostbite on his hands quickly healed, leaving him in the same condition as when the fight started, minus the tears in his cloud patterned cloak.
"Great, he heals, too." Ur groaned once again. "Maybe I should have let the girls fight him. Fighting the puppet-guy would have been much easier."
Despite her grumbling, Ur did not slow down. And she eventually reached a range where her whips would be affective against the greatsword wielder.
*Clang!*
Flicking the whip in her right hand, its tip was sent flying straight at Kisame's chest. However, with little movement, Kisame used the flat of Samehada's blade to block it. Kisame then slightly turned his blade before pushing the straightened whip to the side.
However, Ur was not so easily countered. With another flick of her wrist, the whip moved before wrapping around Samehada's strange, scale-like blade.
"You're underestimating me." Kisame said in the calmest tone he could muster.
Then, using his immense physical strength, Kisame yanked his blade across his body. As a result, Ur, with er whip still wrapped around Samehada's blade, was forcefully pulled towards Kisame.
Then, while Ur hurdled towards him, Kisame stopped his swing before swinging Samehada back on the same path. And if Ur did not do anything, Samehada would shred her abdomen to pieces of blood and gore.
With little time to react, Ur did not have the time to make a witty remark. Instead, she flicked her left wrist causing the whip in that hand to dart downwards.
*Smack!*
In the blink of an eye, the whip slapped against the ice. Then, with another flick of Ur's wrist, combined with the rebound force from hitting the ice, the whip shot up even faster.
*Clang!*
Finally, before Kisame's blade could tear into Ur, the whip struck it from below. As a result, Samehada's blade was force upwards, the blade missing Ur by mere inches. Because of that, both Kisame's arms and Ur's right arm were forced upwards, as well.
Unfortunately for Kisame, Ur still had a weapon in her left hand. So, with another quick flick of her left wrist, Ur redirected the tip of Artemisia's left whip towards Kisame's chest.
Meanwhile, Kisame's eyes widened in surprise at just how fast Ur turned the situation around. Even so, his years spent in life and death battles caused him to react quickly.
Yanking his hands down with all his might, putting a serious amount of stress on his shoulders, elbows, and wrists, Kisame was able to get his hilt down to intercept Ur's knockout blow just in time.
Even so, that was within Ur's calculation, evidenced by the fact that she flicked her left wrist once again just before the tip of her whip struck the hilt in the space between Kisame's hands.
"Damn it.' Kisame muttered as he watched in frustration as the whip curled around Samehada's hilt.
"I think it's time we got rid of this nuisance." Ur said as she landed right in front of Kisame.
In the next instant, Ur threw a powerful kick at the rogue shinobi, which Kisame raised his knee to block.
"Urgh!" Kisame grunted in pain, having not expected Ur's kick to be so heavy.
Yet, Kisame managed to hold his ground, not being forced back across the ice.
Unfortunately, whether he was forced back or not, Ur's next move was already decided.
"Ahh~~~~!" Ur roared as she pushed off with her one foot planted on the ground while the one pushed against Kisame's knee simultaneously.
At the same time, Ur, with both of her whips wrapped around Samehada, pulled back with both of her arms with all her might while spinning her body. Then, to Kisame's horror, Samehada was ripped from his hands before Ur flicked her wrists once again and sent the almost sentient greatsword flying off into the distance.
Unfortunately, with Kisame losing his weapon, that more or less marked the end of the fight. And although he was skilled in hand-to-hand combat, with Ur's boosts granted by Artemisia's release, the fact that Kisame could no longer absorb the magic power in her spells, and the cold of the environment, Kisame could not stand up to Ur's onslaught for long.
In the end, Kisame was beaten, battered, and bruised with is limbs frozen together, barely conscious.
"Damn… sitting behind a desk for so long has really made me rusty." Ur muttered while looking down at Kisame. She then shook her head and looked around at the frozen wasteland she created only a couple of miles outside of Magnolia. "*Sigh* And as soon as I come back, I destroy a huge part of magnolia's countryside."
A moment later, she shrugged off the guilt.
"Oh well, Master Mavis can deal with that." Ur said with a smile. "As for the ice, I'll get Romeo and Natsu to deal with it. Natsu likes burning things and Romeo is practicing [Fire God Slayer Magic] so, this will be good for him. And if he gets tired, he can even eat Natsu's fire to replenish himself."
Nodding in satisfaction at her brilliant idea, Ur resealed Artemisia, returning the whips to a pair of normal black leather whips. Then, she flicked her wrists, causing one of the whips to wrap around her thigh while the other wrapped around the ice surrounding Kisame's legs. Then, after making sure the prisoner was secure, she started walking back to magnolia, dragging Kisame along behind her.
However, Ur deliberately did not touch Samehada to try and recover it. Instead, she left it stuck in the ice, not caring if it absorbed its magic power. If it did, it would make the clean up that much easier. On top of that, she had heard that Samehada chose its own wielder, and if someone it did not approve of tried to touch it, it would act to remove their hand from its hilt.
*Sneeze!*
Meanwhile, Mavis, who was monitoring as many of the ongoing battles as she could from her office through the use of [Magic Power Detection], suddenly sneezed, causing Irene to raise an eyebrow in surprise.
"You're not getting sick, are you?" Irene asked as she slowly scooted away from Mavis' desk. "Because as a dragon for four hundred years, I never once got sick. And I don't want to catch your cold now that I'm human."
"No, no, I'm not getting sick." Mavis said while waving her hand dismissively. "But I get the feeling that something annoying is coming my way soon."
"Yeah, I can understand that." Irene replied with an understanding nod. "You're definitely gonna see some complaints from the Magic Council after today. Especially when they see the patch of frozen land a couple miles out. It looks like Ur really cut loose now that she's no longer stuck behind that desk."
Hearing what Irene said, combined with the amused smile the redhead was wearing, caused a tick mark to form on Mavis' forehead.
"It hasn't even been a whole month yet." Mavis said as she covered her face with her hands. "And she's right back to her old ways. This is probably even worse than what she did to the Worth Woodsea."
"Oh, I checked that out a year, or so, ago." Irene said in an impressed tone. "You know, most of that part of the woods is still frozen. And she's a lot stronger than she was back then. I bet this one will last even longer."
"Ugh~~~~!"
*Bang!*
In response, Mavis could only groan while letting her head fall to her desk.
"I'm gonna take all her points away for this." Mavis said, her voice slightly distorted with her face pressed against the desk.