Kat readied herself, bending her knees slightly and flaring her wings out. Her tail flicked from side to side, keeping its movements erratic but still ready to strike out at any time. Kat watched as Xiao stared back at Kat, his eyes darkening. "I suppose you still have some fight left in you then" Xiao sighed.
*Can I afford to keep him talking? I think I have to. He is more reliant on pills clearly, but what I need is time. I don't look to be flagging at all, but once I fall it will hit me like a tonne of bricks. The problem with keeping him talking is… he might do something stupid if he has more time to think.* "Well, I'm doing alright for now. Depends how many times you are going to get back up, pop a pill and pretend you're back to full power" said Kat hoping to sound the right mix of condescending, worried for her opponent's health, with a touch of honour and trash talk. Basically, she was talking nonsense, and was honestly amazed she was able to say 'I'm doing alright now'
*Is it because I am doing… 'alright' for a certain definition of alright, in this one very specific moment? In a more all-encompassing look I am not alright. I am rather glad this whole 'not lying' thing is actually a lot nicer to me than it has any right to be.*
"Ah, a shame, I guess this is it then" said Xiao, sounding somewhat defeated.
Kat had a single moment of hope that the fight would actually be over, when instead Xiao took out one more pill. This one was the size of her eye, and looked like it would be horrific to swallow. "I suppose I likely won't survive either way. I'll go out on my own terms then"
Kat's eyes widened in horror and she sped forward. She knew it wasn't going to be enough, she was too far, and all he had to do was let it enter his mouth but she had to try anyway. Sprinting forward with everything she had, Kat shot across the ground, parts of the pathway cracking under her charge.
Xiao saw this and didn't panic, he simply through the pill straight into his mouth. Kat jumped, propelling herself the last few metres to try and get to Xiao, aiming for his throat, fists blazing, anything she could to prevent him from swallowing the pill. But it was too late. As soon as it entered his mouth, it was too late.
Kat's charge was halted, great waves of energy sloughed off Xiao, throwing Kat backwards. When she tried to stand up, the pressure only increased. Gritting her teeth and angling her face just enough so that she could watch what was happening, Kat couldn't believe her eyes.
Xiao stood now, at least two feet taller. His muscles bulged, and pressed against his now tight robes. His eyes glowed, a burning red as they met Kat's own, and his qi… it was something else. Where it was once a blazing fire that protected him… now it looked like its own beast. Reaching up, double Xiao's extended height, it formed around him, like a second skin. It had a vaguely humanoid shape, but it didn't match up to Xiao's.
"One more round then. For everything" said Xiao, but his voice was no longer his own. It was a little like when Kat spoke with a demonicly charged voice box. However, in this case, Xiao sounded like a roaring fire. Each syllable cracked and popped as he spoke, and Kat wondered if she could only understand him because of her translation power.
Xiao rushed to Kat's side, easily as fast as Kat just a moment ago, and yet now she was still ground into the dirt. *Shit. Come on dammit.* Xiao kicked Kat in the side and she went flying. Smashing through the warehouse that contained bags and bags of rice. They split open just from the force of Kat's travel, and when she met the back wall of bags, she slammed right through it and the wall behind them.
Kat was slowed drastically, rolling and bouncing a few times, as she came to stop in the training field, realising that she hadn't even noticed the fence shattering. She was surprised to find that, the pain wasn't all that bad. She could feel her muscles knitting themselves back together, and the bones in her wings setting themselves back into place. She could feel that her bones had actually held up the best. Nothing was cracked or chipped, merely… misplaced in a number of instances.
Kat groaned and faced the warehouse Xiao had kicked her through waiting for him to reveal himself once again. He took his sweet time. His footsteps echoed as he walked through the shattered remains before letting his eyes fall on a collapsed Kat who was getting pulled back together by her regeneration. "Well, well, still standing… well, I suppose your legs are still out of commission, but your eyes haven't given up. I'm afraid I can't have that" said Xiao sprinting towards her.
Kat checked the damage and found herself still in poor shape. She looked mostly together at this point, but she could tell her muscles and skin was still not in fighting condition. Her skin was still closing over and spitting out splinters, while her muscles still need to knit themselves back together and pull the bones into position.
Xiao had already reached her though, and he grabbed onto her horns and yanked her to her feet. Kat didn't even check her reserves. At this point, she had to pay whatever it cost. Kat let her fire explode out of her. Purple flames roared to life and leapt onto Xiao. He jumped back and away, allowing Kat to drop back to the ground, but her flames hadn't given up.
All of her energy had left her, but that energy was now happily contained within her flames. It licked and pulled and BURNED Xiao as he tried to brush it off. Seeing that fail, he ripped his robes, throwing them off, but the fire simply left it. The robes were not the one they needed to hurt. Xiao grit as the flames bit into his qi, draining it faster and faster by the second, even as the flames themselves, dimmed.
Xiao took a knee, with a grunt, his qi flickering and fighting the best it could. Kat's flames were burning down, but the ground around him was now coated in ice. Xiao breathed in, trying to steady himself, focusing on his qi and trying to fight back against the ruthless assault he was under.
Seconds passed by, and all Kat could do was watch. Her vision was blurry and her body wasn't responding to her at all. Even her tail had for once, fallen completely silent. The only thing she could properly make out was the burning form of the man she was just fighting, as it sat immobile just in front of her.
Seconds turned to minutes, and Kat very quickly lost track of time, as her mind started to be pulled into its meditation, but as soon as the pond appeared Kat was always jarred straight out of it again. If Kat was in the right mind, she would be concerned that her breathing had stopped at this point, but her body didn't need air at the moment. It was working desperately with her remaining energy to fix the damage done to it, and the system had yet to consider this a serious injury.
Kat found some amusement in that. *Half dead, unable to move, can't see properly anymore, no idea how much time is passing, and yet I'm still not in danger of dying. You'd pull me out if that was the case right system?*
User Kat is correct. However, D.E.M.O.N.S request User Kat ask no more questions. It costs almost nothing to send messages to D.E.M.O.N.S but even that small amount is necessary at the moment.
Kat would smile if her mouth was responding to her. *Good to know you care.* Kat let herself relax further distorting her perception of time.
Soon, or at least Kat hoped it was, her vision cleared up. But what she saw was not a good sight. Xiao was stumbling to his feet. His sword was being used as a cane to bring himself up. He was covered in a thin layer of ice, but his qi was still around. He took one step towards Kat, and she felt her stomach drop.
*Guess that's the end for this run.* Then a glowing gold sword shot out of Xiao's chest. Kat's jaw dropped as Xiao collapsed forward, to reveal Xiang's body standing behind him. And yet, Kat saw nothing of Xiang in the body standing there.. His eyes glowed a piercing gold, and even Kat couldn't see the pupils. *What?*