664 10/11 2:51 (Autumn, Day, Midrar)
Mark breathed in deeply a couple of times, his Vital Energy slowly healing his damaged body as he did his best to recover as much as possible in the time that the magmatic boulder bought him, his eyes scanning it for any trace of his hated enemy.
He knew that this was far from enough to bring her down and similarly he knew very well that the by now cooled magma would be unable to hold her for long, the air and the absence of Fire-Attribute Mana having cooled it down soon after having covered the Lunarian, creating a rocky formation around her to at least slow her down some.
"Thank you, Grug." The Human murmured to himself quietly, well aware that the previous boulder was heated up and then sent flying thanks to the Half-Dwarf's Innate Skill, "Volcanic Strenght", before being redirected with a much greater accuracy thanks to Rose's own "Magic Eyes of Psychic Might".
After all he had long since discarded his past impulsive desire to be the one that would personally kill her and found no fault in accepting help from his friends, especially once he thought back to the failure of the Timeline between his second and third Regression, the one where he was actually closest to in killing her and in which he made the terrible mistake of discarding everything out of a desperate pride for power alone.
Mark concentrated back on searching for any traces of his enemy, static electricity slowly accumulating in the air around them, building up to grant the two of them an easier time when it comes to launching future attacks.
His eyes focused on the boulder as his Aura merged with his clothes, now being supported by them as a way to lower the strain that it would cause him, especially considering how Joules was not currently assisting him in controlling his Aura but was instead focused on maintaining the electricity without spending Mana for it by using their Authority as a Roaring Spirit.
He did not let his guard down at all, well aware that this would be far from enough to bring the Lunarian down.
Yet even so he was taken by surprise when the ground directly beneath his feet erupted at once, a pair of hands, one pale and one covered in a thin layer of Black Blood, grabbed his ankles at once before Luna pulled herself up in a kick right to the Human's face.
As Mark flew upwards, twisting in mid-air to both bleed off the force of the impact and turn towards his opponent, crossing his arms before himself to block the punch that Luna launched at his chest.
The Human fell back down, bending his knees to absorb the shock of the landing, not bothering to look towards the Lunarian but instead immediately jumping forward, dodging the stomp of the white-haired one falling from the sky, with a somersault fully turning towards his enemy, natural electricity accumulating around his body before exploding forward.
Luna looked casually at the incoming lightning bolt, understanding the nature of the attack at once and forgoing using her "Counterspell" to counter it and instead decided on using the Fire-Attribute, an Attribute naturally kindred with the concept of consumption.
Red hot lightning-shaped flames created a connection between her gold and bronze ring before being absorbed within her scaled one, her Aura accumulating and condensing before erupting as her "Elemental Roar" in a long line of Ardent Lightning, the ground beneath the beam and her feet being immediately charred by the continuously rising temperature of her Skill.
As the two lightnings met in between their two, an explosion erupting at once, a burst of gold and crimson ripping apart the area in the middle, thunder falling back down from their collision point to rain down on and carving deep fissures all around the ground.
The crimson lightning showed off the reason she chose it over the other Composite Attributes of Lighting-Attribute itself that she had access to, the Ardent Lightning slowly consuming more of the golden one and in so doing creating long, even if short-lived, branches that passed through the golden one, necessitating being washed away by even more electricity from the Human's and Spirit's efforts.
As Mark channeled more and more of his Mana in his attack, he understood at once that this clash between the two was doomed to his inevitable loss as, even without considering the fact that Luna could recover and output more power, faster, more precisely and at an higher concentration than himself.
Even without considering such factors, Joules could feel and then transmit him that their electricity was slowly being converted into even more of Luna's Ardent Lightning, forcing them to waste ever more of his Mana to fight this continuous process; in other words his loss was assured and following that so was his next move.
Mark, aware that more and more of his gold lightning was transforming into the hungry scarlet one of his opponent including a small branch that was way too close for comfort, released an immediate and violent burst of Lightning-Attribute Mana to gain a temporary advantage, adverting Joules before activating his Unique Skill.
The World became grey, the clashing thunders dulling into different shades of black and white under the Human's timeless gaze as he once again entered the realm for him and him alone.
The blonde moved quickly, using the sudden increase in the volume of electricity that he sent out to mask his sudden assence and to force the white-haired one to meet the increase in his attack's strenght with her own efforts, well aware that she would never retreat if the only one at risk was herself.
Mark moved at full power towards the Lunarian, aiming on attacking her from behind while she was distracted, only to bounce back from what seemed to be nothing at all, his eyes straining and finally seeing long string of Black Blood in his way, forming a rough cage around the Lunarian to safeguard against his time stop.
He sighed again, shutting off his Unique Skill to conserve as much time as possible.
Immediately his previous actions applied, the previous burst of lightning catching the Lunarian's attention and causing her to simply intensify the rush of her Ardent Lightning to overwhelm that sudden increase in the power of his attack, her eyes moving immediately to meet the Human's very own thanks to the strings of Black Blood that he broke during his passage in his stopped World.
Mark dropped left, dodging the sharpened wind blade that would have cut him in half vertically otherwise, the Air-Attribute Spell having been instead made with a Composite Attribute between the Air- and Earth-Attributes and in so doing demonstrating a much higher stability, instrumental in creating the long fissure that extended from Luna all the way to his previous location, grass, dirt and rocks being severed at once as if nothing.
As he made to attack again, he found that the Lunarian vanished from his sight before feeling something pick him up and forcefully throw him away from his previous location, something that thanks to his vast experience with it, he was able to recognize as Rose's own telekinetic ability, leading him not to fight her in it at all.
And almost as if to demonstrate the reason behind his sudden movement, the currently pink-clad Human watched as a clawed hand suddently thrusted in the place where he was just thrown away from, Luna's own hand having almost ripped his heart from his chest.
He scowled, understanding that she used his own distraction to activate "Presence Suppression" and almost killed him right then and there, his life having been saved by Rose's impromptu intervention, rising his Aura fully to shut off her Magic Eyes before the incoming "Counterspell" activated by Luna could impact her with its backlash.
Mark's arms blurred forward, deflecting away from himself the clawed hands of the Lunarian, noting how this last one only half-paying attention to him, her eyes calculating various variables while blatantly allowing him to see her inattention to him, intent on provocating him greatly.
Thing that almost succeded if not for Joules calming down their Contractor, the time walker breathing in deeply a couple of times before releasing a wave of Lightning-Attribute Mana to force the vampiric one back, buying himself a single second, the last second needed for him to activate his Unique Skill.
At the same instant as Mark activated it, Luna cut her own wrist, her blood raining down in crystal-like patterns in the air, the World stopping in an instant around the Regressor, his eyes narrowed in displeasure at his Unique Skill being predicted to this point, moving his gaze to the sharp clusters surrounding him.
In the same way that walking in an hot flame was deadly for him so was walking in a sharp point.
He clicked his tongue, his eyes turning back to the Lunarian and watching with a scowl the taunting curve of her lips, stepping forward only for his blue orbs to widen greatly, his body stuck in place.
Yet even with him trying his hardest to seek the strings binding him in place, causing him to waste a whole extra second before he ended the Time Stop, freeing himself and then being forced to release a second wave of lightning to destroy the clumps that were flying towards him.
Mark stepped forward only to feel something stab in his chest, his blood flowing around what felt like a spear impaled in his stomach, his legs trembled before he forced himself to stand, his hands rising in bewilderment before closing around what should have been nothing at all but was instead a physical object, an object that from its sensation he was able to recognize as a mass of solid Black Blood.
His eyes opened wide before he clenched his hands firmly, shattering the spear and feeling the blood returning to a liquid form and its original black color, his eyes meeting his opponent's very own smug bright red orbs, standing up fully to watch as the Black Blood, almost as if wanting to taunt him, repeatedly shifted color, becoming eventually completely invisible.
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