God Hachiman wasted no time at all.
Asqa barely mended her barrier when he lifted his hand again and with a pulse of power, he unleashed another attack. This time he unleashed a wave of flaming shock force shaped like a crescent slash that exploding outward from his sword.
The strike crashed into her already-weakened barrier and blew her backward through the air. Her boots scraped sparks against a floating stone as she skidded back, barely maintaining balance.
The heat of the flame bit into her armor and for a moment Asqa felt her heart clench. Not just from the pain but from the terrifying clarity of her situation.
This wasn’t like Tsukuyomi.
She had killed Tsukuyomi only because Clyde had already worn the Moon God down, fractured him from the inside. She had struck at the moment of weakness, delivered the curses that futher weaken him and deliver a final blow to a god who was already dying.
But the situation right now was different.
This was a direct confrontation. A one-on-one duel against a Celestial who stood at full strength. Hachiman was the embodiment of martial discipline and divine war, his power honed over eons. There was no weakness in his movements and hesitation when he is attacking. His blade carried the will of a thousand battles he had experiencing.
Asqa’s breath caught for a moment as the weight of it all pressed down on her.
"I’m really fighting him alone."
But she gritted her teeth.
She couldn’t afford doubt now, not when the sky was already breaking apart above her and Clyde was fighting a wind god with everything he had.
She also had the power now. The power that she claimed and earned after the grinding killing thousands of monsters in a Ruin. The essence of the Ancient One pulsed more strongly than before in her veins.
And she would use it.
Asqa extended her free hand. The air warped around her. Black mist began to rise from her skin like smoke.
It flowed faster then wrapping around her arms and back. Her aura darkened. Her white robes dimmed beneath the shroud. The mist coiled into wing-like shapes.
Then her eyes burned black like twin voids but also glowing faintly with that strange silver brilliance. The same light Clyde have in his eyes after absorbing the Ancient One’s soul.
For the first time, Hachiman narrowed his gaze.
Asqa raised her wand that now already engulfed in coiling dark fire.
She didn’t speak and only pointed at Hachiman. A moment later she let the power surge.
A lance of dark fire that burning with impossible heat shot forward. It wasn’t just fire, it was laced with ancient corruption.
The attack ripped through the air toward the god of war.
Hachiman raised his katana with both hands, channeling his magic power into it. He met the blast head-on and the collision flared with thunder and black sparks.
The Celestial steel cut into the fire but didn’t dispel it completely. The force of it pushed him back.
His heels scraped across the air platform. The wind around him shifted.
He looked up at her again and for the first time since arriving, there was no forward motion in his stance.
Asqa lowered her wand slightly. Her chest rose and fell but her face showed only grim determination.
Hachiman growled low in his throat.
He had fought monsters, fellow higher beings, and spirits twisted by rage and madness but never something quite like her.
That face... so human. A young mortal woman, even beautiful in the quiet grace of her features. But when she fought, she became something else.
Her attacks carried a fury born from something unknown. Her power laced with an ancient corruption even he couldn’t yet identify. It wasn’t Archangel magic. It wasn’t Demon or Celestial magic either. It was... other thing... and that made it dangerous.
If not for her becoming this anomaly... he might have taken her as a personal handmaiden in his domain.
But that thought vanished like ash.
He steadied his stance and Celestial magic power rolled through his body like a wave.
The fire in his blood surged and with a war cry, Hachiman lunged forward agai. His sword gleaming with solar flame. The distance between them vanished in a blink.
But Asqa was ready for that after witnessing his speed.
With a flick of her wand she unleashed a curse – the [Lunacyst Brand ] skill — a shimmering sigil of volet light that shot forward across the air.
The moment it neared him Hachiman’s eyes flared. He slashed through the sigil with his katana, splitting the cursed symbol in two.
Howeever, It didn’t got destroyed.
The Brand scattered but instead of dissipating, it clung. Not to his body but to the blade. Etching itself in corruption along the steel’s edge, almost invisible unless looked at closely. Hachiman didn’t notice that.
He keep charging through the mist.
Asqa’s eyes narrowed. She raised her hand and channeled another skill.
In the span of a heartbeat five massive orbs of fire and black mist ignited around her — each ten meters wide and burning fiercely. The mist coiled and screamed around the fireballs.
Then she pointed and the five dark fireballs launched forward in a single synchronized burst, spiraling toward Hachiman like meteors falling.
The god of war growled and swept his blade in a wide arc. His energy surged in defense and braced himself.
The first fireball struck him.
The explosion rocked the sky, followed by a second and a third.
The concussive blasts carved flaming scars into the air. The battlefield trembled beneath their fury.
From the smoke and storm of black fire, Hachiman burst out. His armor scorched but intact. But his momentum slowed. His eyes burned and his blade crackled faintly.
Asqa floated higher, her body glowing with corrupted aura, her mist-wings outstretched behind her.
After that Asqa launched another five fireballs again. Hachiman widened his eyes seeing that she can spawn that fireballs that strong and big like they were nothing.
Not just that, Asqa also launched thousands of greeen venomous arrows.