Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 261: Arc 4, Act II, - 106: Distraction and Attrition
"Kickbolt!" Jotou got low and swept the floor, lightning formed around her left leg, spinning her like a top across the dirt as Rain leapt over the blonde and landed on the other side.
In the same sweep, Jotou spun back up. Rain lunged. "SWIsh-SPArK!" Lightning jumped and arced across the steel onto the water-based blade.
"CHFF!" His fingers however were too quick, dissipating the blade in an instant before it evaporated only for another to form in its place within his grasp. "SWISH!"
Jotou dodged back- "FWOOSH!" But instead she was pushed forward by a jet of water that emerged from behind her, pushing her into his strike.
The blonde swivelled and spun, managing to dodge. "Slish!" "Gh!" she grunted to what could have been a more grievous injury to her left eye. The water cut right under past her sideburns and poked her nose.
Sanguine fluid leaked as she continued her spin, the air stinging her cheek and causing her eye to wince. "Sploosh!" Rain deflected with an arm raised and a column of water in an instant before he struck forth!
"Shoulder-Charge!" continuing her momentum she shrunk her form and—"Fizz, BZZZ! PANG!"—she forced herself through the simple shield of water Rain manifested, blasting into a fizzle of lightning into Rain.
His feet skidded across the ground, stopping himself with a hand to the floor. Not even a moment of recovery was needed; a fountain of water burst underneath him and sent him into the air.
The water followed the ends of his heels, coiling up like a bulky whip as he flipped in the air and sent the hose of water smashing down.
Jotou rolled out of the way. "SPLASH!" The earth cracked at the impact, the water seeping in and evaporating before Rain landed back. He raised his arms, creating a dozen daggers in a big halo above and flung all of them forth!
"Zap!" Jotou readied her blade to the incoming attack and slashed diagonally across. "PSSS!" several of the watery manifestations sizzled out into vapour. "Sck!" Except one that went past her shoulder, marking a slash across her enchanted armour.
He came in running, water around his ankles before he lifted off the ground into an incoming wave he surfed with a blade. The paranoiac thought-
She leapt forward. "FWOOSH!" A jet of water emerged from behind her, but she got out of the way and into the incoming wave. She dropped to the floor all the way onto her back and went under the wave.
Rain slashed down, extending the tip of his blade to an absurd length. "Ha!" from the ground the blonde cut the blade with sparks and she touched the wave crashing down, "Zap!"
Loosely and sparsely the electricity travelled across the water, evaporating the liquid more so than going across. Even so, all she needed was the spell to connect-
The water splashed over her and Rain leapt off the wave, landing aside. The blood off her face was washed away, her hair drenched as she rolled to swiftly get back up.
However, water swirled under her feet- "FWOOSH!" It jetted her up into a pillar of her own, encasing her within. Her eyes opened and bits of water entered her nose; she quickly held her breath and tried not to cough.
Her heartbeat ran, a sudden shock of drowning overwhelming her mind. ’Spark!!!’ The lighting off her blade and wrists trailed up her arms, her hair arced in electricity and flickers of yellow coalesced up from her feet.
The water around her boiled and bubbled; lighting formed around her shoulder and feet like a shield and she shoulder-charged out of the pillar—"SPFZZ!"—before gasping for air.
Rain watched from below, forming a long scythe from where he stood. With both hands on the handle he swung it towards the escaped blonde like he had aimed for a baseball.
At the mercy of gravity Jotou quickly impaled her blade into the pillar of collapsing water. The water sizzled, slowing down her descent somewhat. "Fwish!" The scythe missed the target, swinging a bit too low.
The blonde coasted and circled downwards till the water splashed and she remained unharmed, landing on the tips of her toes.
Her eyes sparked and so did every inch of her form, from her hair to her boots; she was a beacon of web-like lightning under the darkened clouds.
Every droplet of water vaporized into steam around her as she glared to the Rainstorm Slasher, "You think you can get rid of me that easily? I find your attempt pathetic," she derided.
Rain formed a second sword in his other hand, "You surely cannot believe nothing will defeat you. What makes you so special?"
With a smirk she said, "I’m not. I just feel special. Call it a flaw of mine if you will. My ego’s been battered and bruised over years and yet I’m still standing~ What pride do you have that makes you think you have any chance here?" she threw her hands out.
Rain made no reply, opting instead to dash forward with both blades pivoted to her, his visor not letting the sight of her go.
Meanwhile, outside of the ring, "My lady!" Feyan yelled up one of the pillars, the soldiers being sectioned off and commanded to the sides.
The soldiers arranged themselves around the ring, aiming their rifles towards it; some prepared grenades. From their perspective, a little lightning sparked from what they could tell while surges of water emerged from the top.
The four trapped up the pillars could spectate the entire fight from a distance. Daiyu glanced down, with the sharp formation of water still beneath her neck, "Feyan! Figured out a way to get us out of here!? I can’t control shit!"
"I doubt your magic works princess, but Detective Namora stated everyone to stand ready and not take action for now!"
"Meko got out and talked to Jotou!" Asobi replied.
"Asobi, can you like, make something to boil the water out, get us out of here!?" Daiyu glanced to her right.
"I lost my wand!" Asobi tried to wriggle her fingers, but they were trapped in the pillar. "I can’t really put on a show, but," Asobi fluttered her lashes and stuck her tongue out, casting using both of them.
Illusions of butterflies fluttered off of her face and spiralled down like dying flies—some tried to fly up only to fly in a circle like a plane without a wing.
Asobi winced an eye, controlling one butterfly to at least keep its flight. With her tongue she directed the butterfly towards the knife at Daiyu’s throat.
The butterfly of light sat on it... Daiyu waited...
...It flapped its wings idly. "Is it working!?" Asobi queried.
"No!"
"Ugh," the illusion disappeared. "I’m trying to make them real," Asobi’s head was trapped, all her limbs stiff, "But it’s too hard. Oh, wait!" Asobi casted light upon herself, going over her clothes and into the water.
Soon, there was just an Asobi-sized gap in the pillar. "It worked!" the invisible voice yelled... still from the pillar.
Daiyu half-closed her right eye, "Any bright ideas Feyan!?" she went back to Plan A.
"Uh, I am not quite sure, the constructs," Feyan formed claws into the pillar, not even able to poke through it, "seem very potent..."
Arabella stared to the wet sand too far down for her to lift into the air. Hotaru glanced to the three to her left with one other below, "If Fumeko got out and talked to Jotou, I’m sure they have a plan! Just follow it for now Feyan!"
"It’s a hostage situation wolfy!" Fumeko appeared out of a dissipating shadow. She yelled up, "He wants Jotou alive! If he wins, he’s taking Jotou!
We’re bargaining chips so he hasn’t killed us yet! Jotou’s trying to stall him. I’m sure if Jotou wins, Rain isn’t gonna take it lightly and might just kill you!"
"So what do we do!? We can’t escape! The pillars are too strong, can you break through them Meko!?" the invisible voice questioned. "Your tiny arms might break! Be careful!"
Fumeko’s eyes glazed over, "I figured something out and want to test the theory, but you’re getting out last you twit!"
"Aww..."
"Fumeko, are you sure!?" Hotaru peered down. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
The brunette sighed, "A hundred percent; as long as Jotou has him occupied and his attention away from here. Feyan, could you stand under her in case?"
"Of course," Feyan rushed under Hotaru’s pillar.
Fumeko stood behind the pillar... "Okay." She peered up to many of their belongings and items within the tent floating within the construct. "Okay," she placed her hands to the smooth sides.
"Spider Walk," Fumeko closed her eyes and hoped. She could do it, she could do it. Shadows trailed down her fingers into her palms forming such tiny little hooks across, like the thorns of a rose.
The same shadows trailed the underside of her shoes. She opened one eye... then both in a bit of shock. This had never happened before...
A dark purplish miasma coated her palms lightly. She stuck one hand to the pillar; while it did not poke through, she could feel the spell attaching itself...
Her other hand met the water and she looked up. She moved the hand higher, planting her foot onto the side. One by one, each limb she moved up and soon none were touching the ground.
With her semi-damp dark brown strands cascading down, she turned around to glance at the ground a couple of metres below her. A grin formed and she continued her ascension.
"Wolfy."
"Fumeko!?" Hotaru could not turn her head; her eyes bubbled. "Are you?"
"Spider walking? Hehe, I knew I could do it," she held herself right behind the redhead. "Okay, hold onto the pillar tightly."
"Tighter than this...?"
"Don’t complain if you fall," Fumeko released one hand from the pillar. Not an inch of her seemed to go down. Fumeko reached for her dagger, pulling out the glossy magenta blade.
The info from the Maleficos Ordinate was that the dagger eats away at anything it comes into contact with... The red line in her head connected to when Jotou tried to interrogate that soldier using her dagger after Dread was defeated...
Said by its creator to pierce through even the hearts of gods. Then it must mean, "This thing can cut through magic," with that in mind she stabbed the dagger into the pillar.
The dagger pierced through with ease, tiny glitter-like particles shredding away the mana. Carefully she shifted her hand, carving one of Hotaru’s trapped arms out.
Hotaru gasped, one arm coming loose while she hanged on her shoulder. "Tightly, got it," she grappled onto the pillar, pushing her back into it.
Her throat came closer to the sharp bit. Fumeko went forth and sliced off the watery blade at her throat. Hotaru sighed, "You couldn’t’ve tried your dagger down there before coming up here?"
"Well..." Fumeko continued carving. "I had another plan if this didn’t work," she gave a nervous chuckle. "You can heal a cut off limb, right...?"
"...No." Hotaru pondered, watching the blonde fight and keep Rain occupied. Lightning flew not too far; water gushed into fountains and formed into sharp weapons every other second. "Maybe."
"How is it a maybe?" Fumeko asked.
"I’d need the severed limb to reattach it and that’s assuming it hasn’t been severed for too long," the back of Hotaru’s head came loose. She flickered her ears back and forth, "And that’s assuming you don’t die from the pain and blood loss first..."
Chunks of the pillar were missing from the middle. The water was wet in between and yet it stayed up like a marble column. Half of Fumeko’s head went into the solid-liquid cylinder, her hair falling and getting soaked again in the middle.
She cut out and around till she barely reached Hotaru’s body. Hotaru’s back was freed, allowing her wet tail to move again. "Be glad this worked then," Fumeko muttered.
"Hey, could you hurry it up over there!? Jotou ain’t doing too well!" Daiyu shouted over.
"Yeah, yeah! This is real easy over here, give me a sec!" Fumeko sassed.
