Chapter 1242: Aekari

"Aekari, have you watched enough?" Shiro called out coldly.

When she was about to open the barrier to help out Madison, she could sense a pair of eyes locking on to her. Now that she had attained balance, her senses had been enhanced.

Even if they were to hide between the fabric of reality, she could sense them.

The familiar gaze and energy she could feel caused her blood to boil but she had to deal with Zeus first. Once she cleared that issue, she'll deal with Aekari.

Now that Zeus was no longer an issue, her focus was on her old enemy.

"Your senses are just as impressive as ever." Aekari muttered while stepping through the cracks of space. Looking at Shiro with a complicated gaze, he wasn't sure what to say to her.

Now that the restrictions have been lifted, it wasn't hard for him to arrive in his original body. But therein lies the issue.

She could hurt him somehow when he wasn't in his original body. Now that he was here, the odds of death were pretty much guaranteed. But he had to talk to her. He had to do this.

"Hah, it's not hard to sense the gaze of a filthy backstabbing piece of sh*t." Shiro narrowed her eyes before dashing towards Aekari.

Unable to hold herself back, she conjured both Vinri and Iriel as both creation and destruction energy roared from deep within. Her new core pumping out an obscene amount of mana that seemed to overshadow everything.

Everyone who was still conscious could feel the mana on their skin. They didn't even need to send out their senses.

Feeling death grip his neck, Aekari widened his eyes in shock. He didn't think she would've gained a new form of energy, one that contradicted everything in this world.

Swiping his hand down, a cage of light appeared as he wanted to jump back into the portal. He wanted to fight in more favourable terms if he could.

"Where the f*ck do you think you're going sh*t head!" Shiro shouted out as she activated Iriel's second ability.

Effect 2: The enemy is locked in the same realm as you and they cannot escape by any means. No one can interfere (even First Born) as you will be locked in a 1 on 1 duel. You will siphon 20% of their stats during the duel.

Duration: 5 minutes

For the next 5 minutes, Aekari cannot leave. If he wanted to live, he had to survive the five minutes of a murderous Shiro.

Feeling the strength drain from his body, Aekari gritted his teeth. She could not be reasoned with.

"Stubborn like always!" He squeezed out while summoning his own blade to try to counter Shiro's attack. But the moment he parried, he felt like he was slammed in the face by an unstoppable force.

His body was slammed against the ground as his blade was shattered upon impact.

Quickly jumping back on his feet, Aekari looked up and saw two blades flying towards him.

Understanding that he could not parry these attacks, he could only try his best to deflect them.

Summoning a spear, he slammed the spearhead into the first sword before ducking and hitting the second sword with the pommel.

Feeling a tingle on the back of his neck, he quickly turned around and saw that Shiro was now behind him with the sword in hand.

'Sh*t!' Cursing in his mind, Aekari snapped his finger and a mote of light appeared between them. Exploding in a blinding flash, he quickly teleported away from Shiro and tried to regain his breath.

He didn't know what kind of power she had obtained, but he felt that even the smallest scratch from the white sword radiating the unfamiliar energy could spell trouble for him.

"When did you become so proficient in running. I recall you being quite the annoying motherf*cker when it came to chasing down people." Shiro taunted coldly as she connected both swords by the pommel with a single chain.

Spinning the blades with one hand, nanobots converged in her other hand and formed a hand cannon.

Twisting her body, she increased the speed of the blades before launching them at Aekari once more.

Aiming her hand cannon at the same time, she fired off several bullets, cutting off his escape route.

Widening his eyes at the barrage of bullets and the spinning blade threatening to cleave him in half, Aekari gritted his teeth and activated one of his skills.

Stomping his foot down, a tier 8 mana circle erupted from beneath him as several golden barrier appeared in front of him.

This was one of his strongest defence skills that he could only use a few times per day. Even with Shiro's strength, he should be able to block a few attacks.

However, before he could even finish his thoughts, he watched as the bullets shredded through the barrier like it was nothing.

"The f*ck?!" He shouted out in surprise. Before he could jump out of the way, the bullet was already in front of him. Gritting his teeth, he wanted to deflect the bullet when Shiro suddenly traded places with the bullet.

*CRACK!

A sudden force collided with his jaw as he could feel his vision blur momentarily.

Grabbing the spinning blades that she had thrown earlier, Shiro cleaved Vinri towards him with increased momentum.

Unable to dodge this, Aekari could only use up one of his life saving skills.

Watching the sword tear through his body, Shiro understood that this was probably a clone.

Standing still, she narrowed her eyes since Aekari had disappeared.

However, he was still in the area due to Iriel's skill.

Closing her eyes, Shiro placed her hand against the floor as circuits exploded out and dug into the ground.

"Found you." Shiro muttered. Etching out several runes in the air in front of her, the skies darkened as several stars flickered with a shimmering light.

A tier 8 magic circle appeared in the sky as a barrage of astral light shot down towards Aekari.

Breaking out of his stealth, Aekari could only take a deep breath and focused his gaze.

If he wanted to talk with her, he could only do so if they manage to fight to a stand still. Even with his lingering wounds, this was no time to hold back.

Clasping his hands together, radiant energy erupted from him as he summoned forth his domain.

Since he could not leave this realm, he could only bring his domain out and merge it temporarily with reality so that he retains the bonus.

The toll of a bell could be heard as large pillars pulled apart the land. Marble floor tiles and white archways could be seen as golden decorations surrounded the area. From statues of beautiful women to the white and gold palace, Aekari stood in the centre. His eyes now burning with radiant energy as golden wings appeared behind him. A golden barrier appeared around the holy city as it warded off the barrage of attacks.

"Finally mustered up the courage to fight now have you?" Shiro narrowed her eyes.

"Knowing you, only force will suffice." Aekari sighed as he swung his hands down.

In a single blink, swords filled the sky and shot towards Shiro with blistering speed.

"That's more like it!" Shiro shouted out as she dashed forward. Twisting her body, each swing of her swords would destroy an incoming attack as she jumped up.

An array of tier 8 magic circles appeared around her causing nanobots to swarm before forming two rail cannons.

*BANG!!!

Just the force of the shots caused the land to crack apart as a torrent of wind pushed everyone back who was still watching.

The border of Iriel's skill shuddered as it was strained under Shiro's attacks but stood strong.

Slamming her hand down while mid air, Shiro strained her new core as both creation and destruction energy gathered in the rail cannons.

Recognising the danger, Aekari activated his berserk skills to increase his defensive capabilities along with a life saving skill as back up.

With a single flash of light, his vision was blinded by the light of the rail cannons.

As though a nuclear bomb had been set off, a giant cloud of dust exploded upwards while destruction energy could be seen flickering from within.

Hovering in the air, Shiro narrowed her eyes at the domain that was now crumbling apart but Aekari was still alive. She had to admit that his tenacity had surprised her greatly as he was even more tenacious than Zeus who just panicked when brute force didn't work.

He didn't even force her to bring out her blades while Aekari had survived a full five minute barrage.

Panting heavily, Aekari's body was regenerating thanks to his life saving skills but he could feel some sort of corruption within his energy. He knew that it was probably Shiro's doing but didn't know how to dispel the corruption. None of his healing spells had worked on it thus far and he could only hope that she was willing to talk now.

But considering the killing intent that was still burning in her eyes, he knew it was far from over.

'I can only put my life on the line.' He smiled bitterly.