Narrator's POV
Jingliu was not exactly in a good situation.
"Why doesn't he leave?!"
She had already spent close to 10 minutes trying to lose the white-haired boy, but he always managed to catch up to her and attack her.
She wasn't in a life-threatening situation, but it was only a matter of time before she grew tired and the Mara fully took control of her, and her focus being forced into defending herself against his attacks wasn't exactly helping her either.
Her heels barely touched the ground before a magic circle formed underneath her, Jingliu immediately moved as soon as she could to avoid the pillar of fire that almost engulfed her, but she didn't even have a chance to breath before turning around, slicing some ethereal swords that flew at her from her back and then rose her sword using the flat side of it to block a lightning strike.
Ace immediately closed the distance behind her and threw a quick slash, Jingliu managed to turn to him and block the attack, giving a few steps back to dodge another cuts from the Katana.
"I can't risk getting more wounds from that weapon" her red eyes narrowed looking at the thin barrier of black smoke around the Katana's blade. "Looks like whatever wound that blade gives cannot be healed normally"
Ace Chevalier Jumped up high and threw 3 quick fireballs at Jingliu, the woman held her sword and easily slashed the magic attacks with her blade but then immediately had to duck avoiding another flying sword, seeing him fall to the ground, Jingliu lunged at him to attack him, but with a hand gesture, time stopped again.
"He's not letting me take an offensive approach, forcing me to stay defensive makes me fight at his own rhythm" she internally frowned as she saw the white-haired boy.
One big fireball was immediately launched at her, stopping inches away from her, behind her, 3 ethereal swords formed ready to fly at her, beneath her, a magic circle formed and a lightning started to fall down towards, then, with another hand gesture, Ace became completely invisible.
Jingliu grunted and used all the movement she had during stopped time to give a few steps to the side, slashing the fireball before it moved she was going to try and avoid the lightning as well, but giving another step, Ace made himself visible right in front of her, throwing a stab with his Katana, the white-haired woman raised her sword to block it, but as time started to flow, Ace's weapon went right through her own.
"An illusion!"
Time flowed again and the swords and lightning moved, the slashed fireball exploded generating a pretty big burst of fire, Jingliu jumped up and out of the fire, she had dodged the lightning, but one of the ethereal swords had made a cut on her shoulder, though that specific cut was already healing.
Jingliu looked up and saw Ace throwing a downward cut at her, she blocked it with her sword and both of them fell down to the ground, 2 magic circles formed behind Ace, and as two fireballs shot out of them going directly down at both of them, Jingliu put a hand on the ground and Ice spikes came out to try and stab Ace, some of them managing to make a few cuts on him forcing him to jump back, then the Ice spikes twisted and covered her from the fire, letting the spheres explode but not damage her.
"It's not even worth wasting extra energy to try to damage him"
Following those thoughts, she looked at Ace, his eyes momentarily flashing green as the wounds immediately reverted back in time, completely healing his body and clothes.
"I thought he could only stop time, but he can even reverse it to ignore any kind of wound I deal to him...whatever energy source he's using to fuel those abilities, does it ever run out?"
Ace raised his Katana, but Jingliu immediately threw an upwards cut, launching a wave of ice at him, the white-haired boy was ready to slice the ice in half but before he did, the wave of ice split in two ways that moved around him and grew quickly around him, effectively trapping him in a sphere made of Ice.
Jingliu looked at the sphere and breathed out with some tiredness as the blindfold returned to cover her red eyes, she then immediately turned around and jumped high to reach a roof, starting to get away.
"Even if it's just for a second, I need to lose him, I can't continue fighting if my Mara gets worse"
With a single slash, the Ice sphere got split open, the ice broke around Ace and he frowned lightly as he stared at Jingliu escaping.
Then, his left hand tightened around the handle of his katana, and the right hand pointed forwards, with a slow breath, some black smoke started to focus on his palm.
" O' goddess of death, give your Avatar your precious chimes of death " Ace started to chant in a low tone of voice. " Ringthem once andallow me to feel the life of those around me so I may end them "
The smoke condensed and changed shape, forming what seemed to be a staff with three small chimes on it, and with a quick movement, he waved the staff, letting the first chime ring with an echo.
Ace's silver eyes momentarily closed, focusing on the echo of the chime that he just made ring, and like if the echo marked every single soul in the area, he sensed one getting away from the place.
"You're doing a decent job, Ace"
"I said shut up, Turzina" Ace spoke up. "I'm not here for you"
He gave one step forward, his right hand now holding the staff while his left hand held his weapon, his silver eyes moved to the side, staring at the ice that remained of the sphere that had trapped him, seeing his own reflection, or rather, seeing the reflection of Ryan in the Ice.
"I'm here for him..."
....
Jingliu's heels touched the ground of an alley and she let out a breathe as she drove a hand to her head, she felt like if her brain was pounding and her eyes were getting dizzy even through the blindfold.
"I need to calm down my Mara, I have to return to Luocha"
She pulled out her phone, but before she turned it on, she saw on the reflection of the screen how a ball of fire was flying directly at her.
She immediately turned around with her sword in her hand and barely had time to block the attack.
"He found me?!"
She jumped up and back to dodge the streak of white and black that almost slashed her, she frowned as Ace looked up at her from the alley, the staff in his right hand aimed directly at her and a lightning flew straight at Jingliu.
She bent her torso backwards mid-air managing to dodge the attack, and due to that she was able to see the ethereal katanas flying down at her, but she looked down for just a second, seeing the young man jump up to stab her with his Katana, Jingliu turned around mid-air and blocked Ace's Katana with her sword, letting the ethereal swords go through her torso from behind.
She could heal those wounds, but not the ones made by the smoke covered Katana, she pushed Ace down, forcing him back down onto the ground and immediately slashed the air, letting various Ice slashes be launched directly down at him.
Jingliu saw her attacks connect and raise a dust of cold smoke, her heels touched the roof of a building and she looked around until she started to run and jump from roof to roof.
"Am I really unable to lose him? How did he even find me? No matter..."
Jingliu jumped high and got down, standing on the middle of the street, where civilians and some scattered cloud knights could see her.
"This might be dangerous, but I doubt he'd throw such strong attacks in a place filled with civilia—"
Her thoughts were immediately cut off as a volley of fireballs reached her causing explosion after explosion that obviously startled the civilians and cloud knights, and while the civilians ran, the cloud knights held their weapons and got closer.
Ace landed on the ground, his right hand waving the staff forming various magic circles at his sides flung another set of fireballs directly at Jungliu.
Various Ice cuts flew through the air intercepting the projectiles, Jingliu jumped high and started to throw more Ice cuts at Ace, who waved the staff again, magic circles appeared in the air and blocked the attacks.
"Both of you! Lay down your weapons!"
Jingliu frowned lightly, the nearby Cloudknights were getting close, which meant that it'd be possible that Jing Yuan would know of the situation and arrive.
Ace simply raised the staff before hitting the ground with it, a large magic circle formed beneath his feet, expanding more and more until it reached all the nearby soldiers and Jingliu, the white-haired woman immediately decided to jump away of the range just as Ice had started to grow around the soldiers.
The Cloudknights tried to free themselves, but the magic Ice quickly covered them completely, freezing their bodies entirely, and with another wave of the staff, a strong gust of wind pushed them away and broke the ice, leaving the Cloudknights completely unconscious.
"I thought that Civilians being nearby would at least diminish his attacks a little, but is he really going to keep going that same way?" The woman thought to herself with a frown.
"You told Him to take this seriously, didn't you?" Ace asked towards Jingliu.
Followed by that same question, Ace raised the staff again, his body starting to hover and soon fly over the floor, the magic circles formed along his forearm, slowly, the three circles mended into one, and said magic circle flew up to the sky, before stopping at some distance above the buildings.
"Don't worry, I will " Ace's voice darkened at those last words.
The magic circle stopped rising, and soon it started to expand and grow, covering more of the air, and then, a warm shadow loomed over the white-haired woman and a single drop of sweat dripped down her forehead.
"Hey...are you serious? I thought that stopping time was already too much...does he plan to level this entire zone?"
Jingliu grabbed her Ice longsword with both hands, letting out a small breath as she prepared herself to deflect the incoming attack.
The massive meteor that had come out of the Magic Circle was now making its way down, directly and specifically towards Jingliu, the former sword champion held her weapon tight and gave a step forward.
Before the mild cracking of lightning stopped her.
In a sudden flash of lightning and golden shine, the Lightning Lord materialized in the air, its halberd already mid swing directly towards the meteor.
Instead of slicing or crushing the massive meteor, the strength of the attack at the point of contact started to completely vaporize it, the lightning crackling and shredding through the entire attack until absolutely nothing but dust remained of the meteor.
Ace barely got to react, looking to the side just as a purple lightning hit him straight slamming him into the side of a building.
Jing Yuan narrowed his eyes, the lightning crackling around him as his right hand held Ace's throat forcing him against the building, Jingliu saw this from the distance and let out a small breath.
"Listen, I don't know who you are, but you—" Jing Yuan immediately cut himself off.
Ace threw an upwards kick while still being held by the General, Jing Yuan tilted his head backwards to dodge the attack but then he saw a fireball going straight down at him, so he quickly moved away to dodge the attack, but when he saw his hand, again, Ace wasn't there anymore.
"That person..." Jing Yuan turned around. "Is that the young white-haired man that was with the Express?"
Ace was already lunging at Jingliu yet again, the white-haired woman raised her sword blocking Ace's Katana but then he thrusted the staff forward letting a burst of fire hit the woman point blank pushing her away.
Ace looked behind him, Jing Yuan had already closed the distance and wss just inches away from hitting him with the blunt side of his halberd, but just before the weapon connected, Ace completely dissapeared for the second time.
"He did it again..." The General narrowed his eyes.
Hearing an explosion, he saw how both Jingliu and Ace were still fighting.
"How is he doing it? It's not speed...I feel like if he was...I see, that's why I didn't feel him get out of my grip at all, my hand simply...moved" Jing Yuan narrowed his eyes. "Time..."
Ace threw 3 fireballs at Jingliu and followed it with a wave of the staff, making ice spikes came out of the floor and fly straight at her, the white-haired woman gave a few steps back as she destroyed the attacks with her sword, two copies of Ace came out from behind the attacks and both of them threw a stab directly at her throat.
"One of these is an illusion..." Jingliu raised her sword and did her best to block both.
But the two copies went through her like a ghost, and from behind, she received a lightning arrow that exploded on her back, she grunted but still turned around and blocked Ace's Katana, she saw Jing Yuan approaching with another attack.
Ace's eyes glowed green, time stopped yet again, but instead of Jing Yuan completely stopping his movement, he gave one step forward and behind him emerged the Lightning Lord and immediately attacked down with its massive halberd.
Ace and Jingliu were forced to move away with a jumped, the Halberd struck the ground, the lightning reaching Ace, pushing him away and through the wall of a building.
Time flowed again, and Jingliu's heels touched the ground, she let out a small breath and smiled faintly as Jing Yuan approached with a frown.
"My Disciple, it's good to see you again" the white-haired woman spoke first.
"What mess did you get yourself in, Master?" He asked with a frown.
"Nothing too serious, but please, hold him off while I escape, he's relentless, you see"
As if it was to prove her point, Jingliu had to swipe her sword upwards, slashing a fireball.
Ace came out from the hole Jing Yuan threw him through, his silver eyes moving from Jingliu towards the General of the Luofu.
"Turzina, Second chime" He thought to himself.
"How do you ask things, Ace?"
"NOW!!" Ace screamed in his mind as he waved the staff in front of him, letting the second chime ring. " O' Goddess of death, Ring your chimes a second time, and open your door for me so I may hold your power "
"You're overstepping your boundaries, Ace, I did not give you permiss for that"the voice of the Goddess sounded clearly annoyed.
The birthmark underneath Ace's left eye started to glow, some black smoke coming out of it, Ace's skin started to lose color, turning gray as his silver eyes darkened out, he waved the staff upwards, and various magic circles appeared on the sky, starting to rain fireballs on both Jingliu and Jing Yuan.
The sword champion and the general started to dodge as best theh could, Ace moved in between the rain of fire, weaving through his own attacks until he reached Jingliu and threw a stab the woman blocked it barely it, but was immediately hit by a falling fireball that caught both her and Ace, Jing Yuan, looked up, seeing the magic circles that shot the fireballs and he jumped high, summoning the Lightning Lord, he threw a single swipe completely destroying all the magic circles.
"Young man...what did my master do?" He narrowed his eyes and looked down.
Ace and Jingliu kept fighting on their own, Jingliu was trying to escape, meanwhile, Ace didn't even seem to care about the General's presence, he was solely focused on killing the white-haired woman.
Jing Yuan moved down and slammed down with his halberd, catching Jingliu's sword and Ace's katana, forcing both of them against the floor.
"That's enough, both of you" The General spoke.
And immediately, Ace raised the staff aiming it directly at Jing Yuan, a burst of fire came out but the General was quick enough to dodge the attack and go low sweeping Ace's legs making him loose balance, then he kicked him on the chest sending him away, and Jing Yuan turned around, surrounding his weapon with lightning striking down at Jingliu forcing the woman to block the attack.
"You should be more careful, Jing Yuan, that young man better not have you as his next target" the woman warned her Disciple.
"What did you do to him, Master?" He asked with a frown.
"Being honest, I am not totally sure"
Before they could continue their conversation, a magic circle formed underneath both of them, Jingliu already knew a lightning would fall, and the General moved away out of pure instinct.
As the lightning fell, one of Jing Yuan's legs started to be anchored to the ground with ice that had started to grow on his leg, he frowned and quickly swiped at the Ice destroying it.
Jing Yuan fred himself and turned around, seeing Ace throwing a side slash directly at him, the General didn't move, instead, he moved his halberd to the side, stopping a fireball that was thrown at him, also letting Ace's attack go through him like a ghost.
"He's not attacking me seriously, all his attention is going to my Master" Jing Yuan thought. "He's simply stalling me so I don't get in the way"
Jingliu looked up, Jing Yuan did the same, and both the General and the Swordmaster saw three copies of Ace floating on the air, the three raised their staves high into the sky and this made three huge magic circles form on the sky, and soon, from those magic circles, three different meteors started to fall.
"Two of those might be fake" Jingliu thought, and the General seemed to think something similar.
Jing Yuan narrowed his eyes, and behind him appeared the Lightning Lord, Jingliu let out a small breath and removed the blindfold of her face, tightly gripping her sword as it grew ice to make it sharper and broader.
Jingliu moved first, throwing slash after slash, letting the ice attacks fly up towards the leftmost meteor, the attacks went right through it and soon dissapeared.
Fake.
The Lightning Lord moved next, throwing a side slash with the giant golden halberd to the middle Meteor and the attack went right through.
Another Fake.
The Lightning Lord followed the motion of the attack, aiming to hit and destroy the third meteor, but instead, the halberd went right through.
"All of those were fake?"
Time immediately stopped, Jing Yuan could move, slowly turning around, he saw Ace managing to get close enough to him and put his hand on his chest, forming a magic circle right on his chest.
Jing Yuan's body immediately felt heavier and heavier, the sudden change in gravity pushing him down and forcing him on one knee against the floor.
"Did he just add gravity to my body?" The General let out a small grunt.
"This is quite enough already, Young Man..."
Jingliu looked...a little mad now.
The woman made an upwards slash, launching an attack at Ace who raised his Katana to block it but the strength behind the Ice Slash still pushed him back, the white-haired boy turned around to see Jingliu already behind him mid swing, he gave a step back and got ready to stop time, the sword still reached him, causing a cut across his chest, time completely stopped yet again, but Jingliu didn't back off or wait, she moved through the time stop, giving a single step forward and thrusting her sword.
Ace couldn't get away in time, and Jingliu's blade completely gent through his chest, the woman raised his body with the sword and slammed him down, pinning Ace's body against the floor with the sword as a pin, she pulled the sword out, letting the surrounding ice still imbedded in him, though it soon extended to try and keep him in the place.
Time flowed again, clearly not stopping for long due to Ace loosing focus due to being stabbed through the chest, the white-haired woman immediately turned around and ran as the blindfold formed again on her face, not even bothering to turn around, he would free himself, she knew that much.
Which is why she had to get far enough for him to NOT find her when he gets free of the Ice, Jing Yuan was still immobilized but the gravity forced on him seemed to be wearing off slowly, so the General wouldn't follow her soon enough.
She jumped up to the roof of a building, she hadn't heard the boy struggle against the Ice, which was something she definitely found weird, but then...
The ringing of a chime made the Sword Champion immediately stop her movement as a single drop of blood dripped down her nose.
" O' Goddess of Death...Ring your chimes a third time "
Jingliu turned around as fast as she could.
Then a skeleton hand tightly grabbed her head, Jingliu could barely see it, the sudden burst of shadows that had seemingly formed out of nowhere in front of her, she could see the skeleton hand gripping her head, the other one raised high and aimed directly at her chest, a pair of hollow eye sockets belonging to s skull were looking straight at her.
It was a complete corpse covered in shadows.
" And let me bring Death "
Ace aimed the skeleton hand directly at Jingliu's chest, but just as he lunged it forward to tear her hart out, a single bolt of blue lightning fell directly on him, the impact of the lightning throwing Jingliu away, causing a hole on the roof and slamming Ace down through every single floor of the building beneath until the lightning dissapeared.
"I don't need a rebellious child throwing a tantrum"
The white-haired woman immediately stood up and looked up, for a moment, she was able to see Turzina, who let out a small huff before dissapearing in shadows.
"That woman again...the one who told me and Luocha about the boy..."
She really wanted to run away, but she still brushed the small drop of blood off her face and walked close to the hole in the ceiling, and looking down, she let out a heavy sigh of relief.
Ace was slammed against the ground quite a few floors beneath, completely unconscious apparently, as he didn't move an inch, the staff and katana he held in his hands slowly turned to dark smoke and dissapeared.
"Master"
Jingliu looked forward and saw Jing Yuan arriving at the roof, clearly ready to take her in.
"I'll be leaving, Jing Yuan" she openly spoke.
"You think you can just leave, Master?" He asked with a small frown.
"I think you have something more important to deal with than me, Jing Yuan" she gestured her hand to the hole on the roof.
The general looked down the hole and saw the completely unconscious white-haired boy, he let out a small sigh and looked at his Master again.
"I'll just leave, and hide for s while, but if he wakes up, what makes you think he won't tear through the Luofu looking for me? I believe it'll be more wise if you remain close to him"
Jingliu didn't even wait for her disciple's confirmation, she simply turned around and left the place, soon dissapearing in the distance, Jing Yuan couldn't help himself and sighed deeply, one hand going to his face before he jumped down the hole, staring at the unconscious boy.
"You better have a good explanation Young Man..."
★ ★ ★:
A/N: I don't know if I should laugh, cry or scream at the fact that it took me almost an entire month to sit down and write this entire chapter in like 2 hours.
I had to cut it short as well, cause it was getting too long and I could've gone even longer, but then the length would've been unnecessary.
Anyways, hope you all enjoyed