Chapter 21: Yuichi Vs Alma

The time for the duel is close, I slowly walk into the park that Alma designated as the venue. The park is vacant of people, apart from one, who is swinging gently back and forth on the swing. The challenge letter mentioned that there would be no interruptions, so I'm guessing she erected some sort of barrier to keep civilians away.

"Just you?" The tanned skin girl asks as she continues to swing back and forth on the swing.

"I'm not so cruel as to have my fiancé fight an old friend," I say with a bitter smile before changing the subject, "Is Shiori-sempai going to be okay?"

"Thanks to you, her life is not in danger. However, her injuries will take a long time to heal." Alma explains, "For saving my friend's life, you have my sincere gratitude, Yuichi Shiro." Alma jumps off of the swing and walks over to me, Gungnir-Mjölnir is in her hand. "However, this and that, are two very different matters. For as long as you exist, Anomalies will continue being drawn into the living world. I cannot allow any more tragedies to occur."

"Alicia told me what happened between the two of you." I admit, "Surely you must realise she didn't want that to happen any more than you did. Why must you treat her like this? Even I can tell that Alicia still considers you her friend. How can you continue to hate someone like that!?"

"When I was a child, I did indeed bear a grudge against Alicia. However, that has long since passed, what I hate now isn't Alicia, but her type of existence. Reapers create Human Anomalies, and throw them back into the living world. Reapers and Anomalies are the enemies of the church. At the end of the day, this is a war, we Slayers versus them. For as long as I hold this Gungnir-Mjölnir, I shall purify all impurities!" Alma explains.

"What a stupid reason." I state coldly as I manifest my silver sword. I had activated Silver Manifestation before entering the park. "I shall pull that stupid reason right from under you!"

Alma spins her Soul Slayer in a circle and points the hammer segment at me. "It's a shame, Yuichi Shiro. If you were a regular human, I feel we could've been friends." Alma states before charging towards me with her Soul Slayer, I can see the electricity discharging through it. I also run towards her, swiftly closing the distance between us.

Alma swings the hammer horizontally towards me. I swiftly jump back and avoid it. Alma, in mid swing with Gungnir-Mjölnir, spins her Soul Slayer around in her hand to the spear segment. Lightning quickly surrounds Gungnir-Mjölnir's spearhead, creating an extended spearhead made of lightning several metres long.

Crap! The hammer was just a feint. I quickly create a wall of silver to intercept the lightning spear.

BZZTTT! - I see the intense lightning run through the silver wall. I'd have been in serious trouble if that lightning did hit me. Alma's Soul Slayer is truly scary. I breakdown and reshape the silver wall. I make the silver take the forms of several javelins.

"GOOO!" I scream as I launch the javelins at Alma, who simply swings her lightning spear. Suddenly my javelins are forced back and pierce the ground before disappearing.

"What the hell did she do just now!?" I ask myself, she never hit the javelins, nor was it a shock wave. Alma dashes towards me once more whilst I'm in a state of shock. "Damn! I have no time to think about this!" First things first, I need to counter her long reach.

I quickly manifest more silver and have it surround my sword. Now in my hands, is a silver sword that rivals the length of Alma's Gungnir-Mjölnir with the lightning spear included. Thanks to my Silver manifestation ability, I can manipulate the silver I create. By using this aspect, I take the weight off of the silver by levitating it slightly with my mind. I'm just going to use my hands to help direct the trajectory of my colossal silver blade.

"It's meaningless!" Alma states as she charges with her lightning spear, Gungnir-Mjölnir. I swing my huge silver sword down overhead, Alma positions her lightning spear ready to stop my attack. Just before my sword collides with her electricity, knowing full well she's planning on running the electricity through my silver sword into me, I have my silver sword shatter off at the hilt.

"WHAT!?" Alma shouts in shock. The silver heading towards her is no longer in contact with me, so running electricity through it will accomplish nothing. Plus, lightning isn't tangible, you won't be able to block my silver with it.

I quickly have the broken blade of silver that is falling towards Alma reshape itself just like the wall from before. She would just dodge the falling blade in its current state, so I need to manipulate this chance whilst her guard's down.

"Silver Rain!" I call out the attack name that I make up on the spot, as the huge shrapnel's of silver shoot down at Alma.

Alma jumps around acrobatically, dodging all of my random attacks at a hairs breathe. I quickly manipulate the hilt I'm still holding into the shape of a knife. I throw it at Alma, who is too busy dodging my 'Silver Rain' to notice.

"ARGHHHH!" She screams as my silver knife pierces through her unsuspecting arm. I must admit, that was a bit dirty of me, but she's not the kind of opponent I can take lightly.

Bang! Bang! Bang! - My 'Silver Rain' continues raining down onto Alma. My view's obstructed by a huge cloud of dust covering the area from the many impacts with the ground. I hope Alma didn't die in that last attack. I look on in worry as the dust slowly clears, silently praying that Alma is safe.

BOOOM!

"URGGHHHHHH!" I scream in agony and fall onto my knees. The sky just suddenly flashed, and the next thing I know, I'm in severe pain.

Cough! Cough! - Blood and blue steam pour out of my mouth and body respectively. The dust clears in the distance revealing Alma with the hammer segment of her Soul Slayer wedged into the ground. Blood is pouring out of her arm where my knife stabbed her, and her clothes are ripped in several places. So, she called down a lightning bolt whilst she was dodging my Silver Rain. Both her skills and tenaciousness are impressive.

Cough Cough! - Damn, of course. That lightning is a soul slaying technique, making it highly effective against me. I slowly struggle myself back onto my staggering feet as I wipe the blood from my mouth.

"You're a pretty tough guy aren't you?" Alma says in surprise.

"Right back at you." I answer defiantly.

"HM!" She grunts, "However, since my lightning hit you, I'm at the complete advantage." She proudly proclaims.

"Stop acting like you're fine, my last attack still left one hell of a mark on you!" I shout back.

Alma, ignores her wounded arm, and walks to a tree. She stabs the spear segment into it before turning back around to face me. What's she planning? "I wasn't referring to the damage aspect, although, even there, I think I'm still in the lead." She states. I hate to admit it, but she's right. Her attack is affecting me a lot worse than mine is against her.

"Tell me Yuichi Shiro, do you know about the poles on a magnet?" Alma randomly asks. Poles? Is she referring to the north and south poles? "My last attack with the Mjölnir part of my Soul Slayer did more than give your soul intensive damage through it's lightning. It gave your body a huge south pole charge." She states, "Now, if I were to give this tree a north pole charge with the Gungnir part of my Soul Slayer. What do you think would happen?" Alma asks, a smile leaking out onto her face.

Oh god, no! I recall back to my physics lessons, and the relationship between the north and south poles on a magnet.

"FUCK!" I scream, as Alma runs a current into the tree.

My body begins to be pulled forward like there's an invisible rope attached to my waist that is being pulled. I quickly manifest my silver and have it wrap around my ankles before anchoring the silver deep into the ground.

"URGHH!" The pulling force on my body is so painful it feels like I'm being ripped in two.

"The north and south poles are unable to be kept apart, Yuichi Shiro." Oh, please, don't tell me. "If you refuse to go to the tree, then the tree will..." The huge tree begins to uproot itself from the ground, freeing itself. "Go to you."

"CRAPPP!" I scream, as the huge bark of wood flies towards me at high velocity. I quickly unanchor myself from the ground, but keep the silver wrapped around my ankles. I manipulate the silver to levitate upwards along with me, dodging the high speed incoming tree.

"Shit! It's coming after me!" I did consider this happening, but it's scary to actually see. Hm. Wait, if this tree follows me, then...

I jump high into the air over Alma's head, placing her between me and the tree.

"Do you take for a fool!?" She asks coldly. Just as the tree is about to hit Alma she somersaults over it, spinning her Soul Slayer she swings the spear segment towards the tree, mid-jump. Almost like the tree was a golf ball being hit by a club.

"WHAT! Isn't it going faster than before!?" Just what on earth did she do?

I once again dodge the incoming tree.

"Don't you know, Yuichi Shiro? When the two same poles on a magnet touch, what happens?"

"They repel!" I reply back in realisation. This new information solves several mysteries. The reason my silver lances were deflected was because she gave them a pole charge, she then used the same pole to deflect them. The reason behind the tree speeding up is because she used the same pole with her Soul Slayer repelling it towards me, making there not one, but two forces acting on it.

Her Soul Slayer's ability is even more terrifying than I first thought. I dodge the tree for the umpteenth time.

"You're really annoying ME!" I scream as I manifest and manipulate my silver I send an innumerable amount of silver stakes into the bark of the tree. The silver conducts the lightning out of the tree, making it lose its magnetic charge and fall to the ground.

"Very clever," Alma praises, "However, if your silver conducts the charge in the tree..." Before Alma can finish all the silver within the tree flies towards me, the same pole charge running through them. However, this is my silver, not a tree. Before any of the silver can hit me, it dissipates.

"I created that silver, having it disappear is all too easy." I explain proudly.

"But your body still has a south pole charge." Alma states as she spins Gungnir-Mjölnir around in a circle. Swinging the Spear end in an arc, a stream of lightning discharges out of her Soul Slayer and heads towards me. Using the silver attached to my ankles to help speed me up, I dive to one side, dodging the lightning, but then...The lightning swiftly changes direction, I quickly figure out the reason, and create a wall of silver to protect myself from the lightning

BZZT! - The sparks from the wall screech. I quickly have the wall disappear before it starts homing in on me from the pole charge in the lightning.

"So, you can have your lightning home in on me thanks to the south pole charge!?" I analyse.

"That's correct." Alma admits.

I quickly get onto my feet and hold out my hand, I create an ice ball and shoot it at Alma, who quickly dodges and swings her spear again, creating more lightning from the tip. "Distance combat isn't going to help me out against this girl." I say quietly to myself as I erect another silver wall to protect me from the lightning whilst continuing to run and close the distance. I create a silver sword in my hand in preparation to slash at Alma, who simply spins around her Soul Slayer to the hammer segment. Before I can get in striking distance she swings the hammer horizontally and my body is forced backwards by some invisible force.

"She repelled me by using the same pole." I analyse to myself. However, I've now confirmed my suspicions. Alma spins her Soul Slayer back to the spear segment and launches a stream of lightning. I jump into the air, the lightning follows, I create another silver wall to defend me and then have it disappear. Whilst in mid-air, I quickly create two blocks of ice at my feet, now I have some foot holes I can use. I kick off with all my remaining strength, the lightning strike I took before, and all the running around, is starting to take its toll on me. I need to finish this now!

Alma spins Gungnir-Mjölnir around to the hammer segment. Like before, she seems intent on repelling me. "DON'T YOU LEARN!? YOU CAN'T GET NEAR ME!" She shouts, her voice is full of exhaustion, the blood loss and constant manoeuvres must have tired her out as well. A drawn out battle isn't good for either of us.

Alma swings her hammer, I create a silver wall behind me to brace myself against the repulsion force.

"WHAT!?" Alma shouts in shock. The reason isn't because of the wall. A huge silver projectile is flying towards her at high speed. The same silver I kept using to guard from her lightning strikes.

"You didn't release your manifestation!?" Alma realises as my attack approaches. I noticed the weakness to her Soul Slayer. It truly is very similar to a magnet. When she repels attacks, she always uses the same end of her Soul Slayer she used to give it a pole charge. That's why every time she repelled me, she used the hammer end rather than the spear. The hammer segment has a south pole charge, meaning it will repel other things that have a south pole charge, in this case me. However, the silver walls I used to defend myself, were hit with lightning from the spear end, giving them a north pole charge. Because she's using the hammerhead to try and repel me, who is the same south pole. I released and recombined all the silver fragments that were stuck to my body due to the north pole charge they received. It is now being attracted to Alma's south pole side, the hammer end of her Soul Slayer. Her weakness is that she can only use one of her Soul Slayers poles at once.

Alma quickly turns Gungnir-Mjölnir around to the spearhead segment, she intends to reflect the silver back at me. However, you've now switched to the north pole side of your Soul Slayer, and considering I'm still south pole charged. I kick off the silver wall with all my might to increase the momentum and the pull of the attraction. As the silver mass I launched at Alma is pushed back at me, before it collides with me, this time, I truly do dissipate the silver. The silver that previously attached to my body still had soul destroying electricity running through it, due to my immense pain I barely noticed it though. But there's no point in causing myself needless harm.

"WHAT!" Alma shouts in shock as the silver she thought would most likely have finished me off disappears. I told you, having it disappear is all too easy.

The momentum of the attracting force plus my own pushing force makes me fly down like a bullet. Suddenly, just before I'm pulled into being impaled by the spearhead, I rotate my body at high speed with help from the silver on my ankles, narrowly missing the spear by inches. Before Alma can spin her Soul Slayer back around.

"KAPOWWW!" I shout as I swing my fist directly into her face using the attracting force as an additional power up. Aren't you honoured Alma? To 'attract' the one and only Yuichi Shiro.

"URGGGGGGHHHH~~~!" The huge sudden force smashes her body into the ground, and sends it skidding along the floor.

Alma attempts to try and get back up to her feet but, "URGH...My body...won't move." She states whilst gritting her teeth. Well, isn't that one of the most typical cliché lines?

I slowly walk over and pick up her fallen Soul Slayer.

"Finish me off." She says in resignation whilst closing her eyes.

Finish you? Quit joking around. I promised Alicia I'd finish this in a way that would make everyone happy.

"Before, you stated that the church is at war with the Reapers and Anomalies, right?" I ask in confirmation.

"What of it?" Alma asks weakly. I guess I'll take that as a confirmation.

"Alma Ivana! Today, as of this moment, you are hereby my prisoner of war! You have no right to refuse!" I proclaim.

This girl, ever since I met her, I've had my suspicions, and just before this fight, I was able to confirm them. Her hatred towards Reapers and Anomalies, I get the feeling it's more of an obligatory hatred with her being a Slayer. She said so herself, she had long since forgiven Alicia, she just hated her type of existence.

If her hatred is rooted in an 'obligation', then I just have to remove it.

"What!?" Alma questions with what little strength she has left.

I then recall something else she said, "For as long as I hold this Gungnir-Mjölnir I shall purify all impurities!"

"Until further notice, I'll be confiscating this." I declare as I wave her Soul Slayer around. I then walk over and place my hand on her neck, I believe this is the right pressure point. "For now, sleep." I order.

"Urgh!" With a good squeeze, Alma slowly closes her eyes.

"Jeez, whether it be you, or Alicia, you just can't be honest, can you?" I say to the unconscious girl as I take out my phone and call a certain someone. "Hello, Father. I was wondering if you could do me a big favour." I quickly give my request to my father-in-law and hang up.

"Well, no point staying here. I get the feeling I'm going to have a lot to answer for. Time to face the music." I say in half resignation as I gently pick Alma off the ground and place her carefully over my shoulder.

I clap my hands together as I chant, "Our destination is Alicia's human world residence, connect." A magic circle appears beneath my feet. This is one of the Reaper spells I've learned from Kuro-san's blueprints, it's really useful.

My mind starts to feel a familiar sensation, I slowly close my eyes to embrace the following loss of consciousness. This feeling confirms to me that the battle is indeed over.