2224 - You hurt me, and I come back to you, and again, you hurt me, hmm.
Tanuya stared at Robin with wide, bewildered eyes, eyes filled with hesitation and a hint of fear… staring as blood dripped from deep wounds on her face and neck, seven wounds, all deep enough to touch and graze the bone.
She had exchanged several attacks with the Candidate, no… with Robin Burton.
Each time, it ended with two certainties.
The first was that his body weakened further, even after he fully recovered his energy, his body staggered, and his eyes became harder to open. At this moment, for instance, he seemed to use only half his strength just to stand upright.
She could sense that he was trying to use the Master Law of Creation to heal himself, but alas, the exhaustion from using five Master Laws for over ten consecutive minutes was bringing him closer to his demise.
As for the second certainty… it was that the exchanges ended with her defeat, her retreat, and her injury.
In the last exchange alone, Robin Burton managed to toy with her face using a scalpel that combined Creation and Spacetime!!
“Is this what you meant by dying satisfied because you did everything in your power?” Tanuya raised her head slightly, no longer able to assess the person standing before her. “Have these minor injuries satisfied your ego?”
“…Of course not.” Robin forced a small, weary smile. “I’ll be satisfied when I cut off one of your limbs… or maybe just two.”
“I see your exhaustion has reached your head.” Tanuya felt insulted, then pointed at herself. “The Transcendents polished the bones of this body to perfection, making me an Executioner above the heads of all creatures. Perhaps, just perhaps, my soul might be affected and I might die, or receive a blow that impacts my internal organs and tears them apart—you might have noticed this by now… but cut off one of my limbs? Impossible.” She then chuckled. “That would be an insult to the Transcendents.”
“Those… Transcendents… Did they create the Master Laws?” Robin asked with hesitation and fear of the answer.
“No,” Tanuya raised her head slightly, “but they are the best who used them.”
“Oh… so they are also creatures, that’s reassuring.” Robin showed a half-smile.
“Don’t compare yourself to them, you vagabond.” Tanuya displayed an angry expression. “Creatures, you say? You truly are just a worm who does not understand reality!”
"You hit me... It seems we're starting to get to know each other. This is astonishing." Robin chuckled weakly. "Truly, I don't like understanding a reality that doesn't please me—I change it."
*Zing*
Tanuya waved her scepter. "I want to see how you'll change your fate."
All the injuries on her face and body had already healed, then
*Whoosh*
She advanced toward Robin at a speed that seemed like teleportation.
*Grind*
The Gear of Determinism began to rotate, producing the sound of impact against the broken tooth, then threads emerged from it toward the Symbol of Creation and Spacetime, and above it, golden Patterns extended, translated into a comprehensible language:
<Her speed slows down.>
"Hmph!" Tanuya sped up even more when she read that sentence, wanting to see exactly what would stop her!!
*Thud*
"Huh?" Tanuya felt an impact. The extremely sharp tip of her scepter's tooth accidentally struck one of the focal points of the spacetime waves that had been released during their first exchange. That collision disrupted her balance and slowed her advance!!
Then
*Humm*
The Ouroboros Symbol began drawing power from Robin and created a massive spear, pointed at the front and slightly wider at the back, resembling a stake—one several times larger than Tanuya herself.
Before the Stake was fully formed, Robin snapped his fingers lightly, tossing an Adult Space Beast crystal onto its pointed tip. Indeed, the Law of Creation continued constructing the Stake, completely encasing the crystal within the sharpened blade.
Then
*Thump*
The Net Cube expanded slightly, and the Stake vanished.
"Oh no!" Tanuya gathered all her strength to move left. If that crystal entered her body and exploded, it would cause her horrific injuries!
*Ssssssh*
Tanuya managed to evade the intended trajectory, but the Stake still grazed part of her Armor, along with the skin of her waist and a large chunk of flesh, before flying off!
"Ughh!!" Tanuya clutched her waist and retreated again, then lifted her head to glare at Robin with hatred, "You despicable human!!"
*Pffft*
At that moment, Robin spat out a massive amount of blood.
As for his body, which now looked like skin stretched over bone, that blood seemed to carry the very last drops coursing through his veins.
Yet somehow, he managed to lift his head again and straighten his back, then wiped the blood from his face and mouth. "Didn't I tell you? You won't touch me unless I allow it." Then he forced a pitiful little smile, "The question is, do you think I... will allow you?"
Then he took out a white cleaver from his spatial ring, a planetary-grade fifth-level equipment, one of the many treasures the Shadow Swords had brought him to use as he pleased.
He gently tossed it upward.
*Clang*
The Scale took another crystal and refilled Robin's spiritual domain and life artery.
Then
*Whoosh*
The Symbol of Creation began to activate, wrapping the cleaver in golden light and another layer of extremely sharp steel, forcibly raising the cleaver's power.
"...?" Tanuya, busy healing herself, furrowed her brows at the sight. "A cleaver? Are you planning to fight me at close range?" Then she laughed, "Or will you use Spacetime to throw it at me like you did that thing earlier?"
"Rant all you want." Robin spoke weakly, "This cleaver will end the fight." Then he lifted his head slightly, "The next exchange will be the end of the battle."
"Can you even do anything in that state of yours?" Tanuya removed her hand from her waist, then began circling Robin from a very long distance at a relatively slow pace, "It's a miracle you're still talking, you human."
"That's why I'm saying I'll finish you off this time. Are you slow on the uptake?" Robin bared a grin through his teeth caked with dried blood. "Come on, try to take my life—the life of a Shell Breaker, the life of one destined to change the existence of every breathing thing... Go ahead, kill me... if you have what it takes."
"...?" Tanuya paused, furrowing her brows in bewilderment. "Such arrogant words—I've never even heard a Transcendent speak like that." Then she began to tighten her grip on her pointed Scepter. "Come on, wound me again and die, you arrogant wretch!"
Swoosh.