The darkness from Katrinâs coat traveled further across the ground, transforming into active shadows growing both on the cold sand and rising upwards like a frightening flame.
With every second of her Second Orderâs development, her aura intensified, while the darkness quickly condensed into individual clots hovering above the shadow furrows on the ground.
The Dormant Lord only shrugged nonchalantly as his energy came into motion. He wasnât going to watch his opponent prepare an attack unknown to him, he preferred to act first, everything should happen according to his will.
The plasma spear quickly formed in his hand, then the Dormant Lord took a step back and threw the spear directly at Katrin.
Whooooosh.
Powerful streams of wind blew aside by the spearâs tip, the sand rippled away in waves, revealing the gray earth hiding beneath the dense layer.
Katrinâs black eyes reflected the bright light, it grew larger with every beat of her heart, but she wasnât going to back down, her Second Order was ready.
One of the clots hovering above the long shadow shuddered as a scarlet line opened in the middle, revealing a wide crimson jaw with sharp red teeth.
In some ways, Katrinâs dark jaws were similar to Carnage Jaws, but they had no legs or eyes, just a round body of plague energy and a wide jaw with all of Katrinâs features.
Seeing the flying spear at its master, the dark jaw lunged forward, its shape trembling slightly as black blobs remained behind.
Thump.
Without hesitation, the dark jaw jumped directly under the spearâs strike, shattering its structure. Katrin did something similar when she threw a plague clot to defend the fortress. Discover exclusive content at NovelBin.CĂŽm
The plasma spear shuddered, exploding in a bright flash, but Katrin saw it enough times to no longer fear the menacing light.
Whooooosh.
With a swing of her sword, Katrin leaped forward, whizzing through the layer of light, cleaving it with her sword. A second before she activated one of her Nexus abilities, indicated by both her unstable energy and the crimson stream running down the blade of her weapon.
The Dormant Lord took a step back, directing his gaze to the dark jaws following Katrin. The Shadow furrows didnât disappear, nor did the dark jaws that would keep appearing as long as the shadows were active or Katrin didnât run out of energy.
At that moment, something changed in the Dormant Lordâs posture, showing a hint of a decent fight.
Katrin noticed it too, she didnât know what the Dormant Lord planned to do, but she wasnât going to back down.
Whoooooooosh.
Facing her mortal enemy, Katrin swung her sword, bringing the broad blade down right on the Dormant Lordâs shoulder.
At the last moment, the Dormant Lord shifted to the right, blocking the blade with his palm.
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
The crystal grid shuddered, but without the plague, Katrinâs sword could not pierce the Dormant Lordâs defenses.
However, it wasnât a failure, there was no disappointment visible in Katrinâs gaze, on the contrary, the corners of her lips went upwards in a satisfied smirk.
âYeah, I canât destroy your armor, if Adam were here, his needle would definitely be able to do it, but... my abilities arenât designed to break through armor, but something deeper and more complex.â
At the same moment, the crimson energy on her sword came into effect, quickly covering the small area around the slash.
The Dormant Lord tilted his head slightly, but soon something strange happened - he let go of his arm involuntarily as if in a few seconds his limb lost all its strength and he just couldnât hold his arm in place anymore.
Before the Dormant Lord could realize anything, the crimson energy returned to the black sword, filling it with the great power taken from the monster himself.
"Hah, how about that?"
With a satisfied look, Katrin performed a lightning slash, bringing down the crimson energy blade on the Dormant Lord.
The Dormant Lord wanted to cross his arms over his chest to defend himself, but only one of his arms obeyed, the exhaustion from Katrinâs Nexus still taking its toll on him.
Tremble. Tremble. Tremble.
The impact dragged the Dormant Lord several meters across the ground, a wide trail left in the sand by his feet.
In the aftermath, the crimson blade burst out in a crimson blast, consuming the proud monster. A second later, a multitude of the dark jaws came to the rescue and pounced on the Dormant Lord, wanting to tear him apart.
Flash.
The bright flash of shimmering light destroyed everything in an instant, none of the dark jaws survived and even Katrinâs coat shuddered trying not to burn under the light.
Slowly, the Dormant Lord rose up, while his aura quickly grew stronger and stronger, waves of energy swirling around him quickly condensing into his chest.
The vibrant light saturated with color came out of the Dormant Lordâs form, burning like an ethereal flame, preventing the darkness from reaching him.
Katrinâs mouth corners quivered, things got serious now.
"I see... Decided to go into your battle mode? Fine, Iâm not at my peak yet either."
Directing her gaze to her sword, Katrin put her hand to its wide blade a little above the hilt, as if she could grab onto something.
With a slight shiver, a fast-flowing darkness covered her sword as well as her hand, forming something inside. At the same time, sparse darkness came out from Katrin, as if copying the Dormant Lordâs battle mode, billowing in all directions like a wild mist.
Click.
Pulling her hand aside, Katrin drew another weapon from her sword - a second sword that was much smaller than the first, its size perfectly suited to fit into the wide blade of her first sword.
"Well, letâs see which of us is stronger and faster..."
With a low whisper, Katrin transformed into a ghost, with tremendous speed heading towards her opponent.
The Dormant Lord responded in kind, becoming a bright flash with no small amount of speed.
At the same time, the four One-Eyed Serpent Archers were watching the battle intently, waiting for their moment.