The deluge of lasers continued, seemingly never coming to an end. The worst was the absence of regularity keeping Edward on his toes. Droplets of sweat were visible on his forehead as the stress was getting to him. I was confident at the start, but if this goes on, I’m not sure I will be able to hold. He was forced to teleport as three lasers crossed through his previous position while four more of them were attempting to seal his paths of escape, not aiming where he was but where he would be instead.

How much energy does she have? How long does she intend to shoot lasers at me? He somersaulted to avoid a laser passing below him. Where is even her real body? If this doesn’t stop, I will have no choice but to kill her directly. With the mist thinning I should be able to see where she is hiding.

Edward felt the pressure rise, and his eyes darted over the battlefield, but he saw no signs of Thana. At this point the ground was half turned to lava, so many lasers had been shot at the area that it was affected on a global scale.

Suddenly everything accelerated. Twenty lasers shot at Edward in a fast staccato, he didn’t have the time to think and could only rely on his reflexes teleporting several times in a row as he sensed the heat of the lasers on his skin. What?! Was she hiding her power for all this time?

The lasers stopped, and Edward realized that he had been forced to teleport several hundred meters in the air to avoid the swift rafale of attacks. Although he had narrowly avoided all the shots he was struck with a foreboding feeling as he stood in midair. That was when portals opened all around him, forming a perfect sphere with no escape. He was high enough in the air that laser portals could open below him while keeping a distance of more than two hundred meters.

That bitch! She was waiting for this moment! She tested my capabilities while hiding her true abilities and pushed me exactly where she wanted! She knows I can teleport up to a hundred meters, and manifested her portals just out of reach. This is a perfect coup de grâce.

Luckily, she wasn’t the only one to hide her power.

The lasers charged and fired, a seamless barrage of energy trapping Edward from all sides, there was no escape. Before the wall of energy closed on him, Edward used his long-range teleportation, teleporting five kilometers away. Behind him, hundreds of lasers collided in a single focal point resulting in a massive explosion.

Even with his back turned to it Edward was almost blinded by the resulting flash of light. The next instant a wave of heat passed him and pushed him even further. Being five kilometers away, he was already on the periphery of what had been Pescara, the capital of the empire. Any vegetation that managed to survive until now erupted into flames from the surge in temperature. There was no mushroom cloud as there was no dust, the explosion happening three hundred meters in the air, yet the effects were felt for kilometers around.

Edward gritted his teeth, at this distance, he almost didn’t suffer any damage, but this had been a close call. If he had been in the middle of the explosion, he would have been dead for sure.

This…Without Leyla’s bombs, I wouldn’t be able to produce such an explosion on my own unless I decided to self-detonate or detonate a clone with most of my energy. No matter how powerful she is this is something that must have cost her. This was too close to my liking.

The way those lasers have accelerated all of a sudden. It makes me think of my own acceleration. And considering that a drastic increase in speed seems to be a regular power for any powerful individual, this is probably something similar. Until now, she has revealed the ability to produce devouring mist, summon monsters and lasers, and drastically increase her speed. That’s a total of four powers, the equivalent of someone at the nightmare rank. She may be more powerful than me, but the fact that she hasn’t managed to kill me yet means that she is in the same league. She shouldn’t have any more powers.

Edward grinned. In the end, it seems you have shown all of your tricks, and I’m still alive.

He turned around, and the scene in front of him came out straight from hell. Pescara was nothing more than a crater of half-melted lava, while any vegetation on the outskirts was burning. Even from this far away he could sense the heat coming from the crater radiating through the air.

Well, this is something. High-level fights sure leave considerable collateral damage behind.

As he entered the battlefield once again, forming aura steps and stepping above the crater with the lava under him, Thana faced him, not hiding anymore.

“You sure are difficult to kill,” she told him. “It’s the first time anyone survived my lasers.”

“All the pleasure is mine,” Edward answered without missing a beat.

They eyed each other for a second, Thana was overlooking him being two meters tall, but they both knew that size didn’t matter that much, only the amount of energy one had and the ways to use and unleash it were important.

With her body made of mist, I have no way to know if it’s her real body or not. But at the same time, I can’t afford not to go all out. I know she can increase her speed, and at close range, the danger is too great. If this is her real body and she used her acceleration while I keep mine in reserve I could die.

Edward had taken his decision. Hiding trump cards was good, but sometimes you had to strike first unless you perished without revealing your might. “Rèng khwāmrĕw!”, he used his acceleration.

The fight began in earnest where one false move could spell your death. In the slow, almost suspended time, the lava below them seemed frozen, its flow so slow that it appeared halted. Edward condensed his aura as much as he could and slashed at Thana while keeping his guard, fully expecting a trap. But it seemed she had enough and this was indeed her real body, her form flashed with light coming from the inside and she accelerated to match Edward’s speed, parrying his blade.

I knew she had an acceleration power! There was no other way for her to set up this many lasers in such a small amount of time otherwise.

After a few exchanges where both combatants were keeping parts of their force in reserve, and none were able to gain the advantage Thana used her powers once again. Even while she was swinging her blade at Edward a laser appeared from below him blocking his path of retreat. Edward teleported behind Thana instead, ready to impale her. She turned into mist for a brief instant, evading his blade and rematerializing a meter away.

Just like the Regal wolves, except I doubt a blast of aura will be enough to destabilize her form. Luckily, I have better options now.

A faint layer of darkness formed around his body, protecting him from the mist if Thana tried to use it against him, and more importantly it had its own devouring power that he could unleash on her.

He dashed at Thana, blades first, a laser appeared on his way. he teleported past it, swinging his right sword vertically while punching at her heart with his left sword. Thana sidestepped to the left. Edward formed an aura step and jumped, altering his trajectory to match Thana’s movement. She parried both swords with energy blades of her own. Four more arms sprouted from Edward’s back stabbing at her while both her arms were busy stopping Edward’s initial attacks. She took a step back, a giant snail materializing from her mist between her and him, blocking Edward’s attacks that barely managed to pierce through the snail's thick shell.

Edward ignored the snail that in their subjective time was slowly falling to his doom with the pool of lava below them. He teleported past the monster. Four lasers were ready and blasted at him as he appeared, he teleported as soon as he could but the lasers still hit him for a quarter of a second. The darkness protecting him had been obliterated and even the aura protecting him had sustained some damage.

Edward summoned five clones, while in his domain they could use his powers and they teleported around Thana, surrounding her from all sides. Thana retaliated by opening laser portals. The fight became hard to follow as several things happened at the same time, lasers firing everywhere as Edward and his clones teleported all over the place. Both combatants had to manage several tasks simultaneously, something that Edward had grown more and more used to.

As his clones were teleporting haphazardly all over the battlefield their next teleportation brought them all right next to Thana, their blades already mid-swing. Meanwhile, Edward’s real body stayed behind just in case Thana had a countermeasure in place.

Thana turned into a devouring mist, blades swinging uselessly through her form. However, her mist was unable to affect the clones since they were protected by a layer of darkness. Do you think I’ll let you use the same trick again and again? You may be superior in destructive power, but I’m better than you in a close fight. Edward’s lips crept slightly upward as his clones expanded their veil of darkness covering both them and Thana’s mist within.

The roles were reversed with Thana’s mist trapped inside the darkness, unable to escape as the darkness was constricting around her from all sides. However, things were far from over as even with the mist surrounded, the darkness had trouble penetrating it and could only slowly erode it one layer at a time. The same scorpion-tailed lizard she had summoned before appeared within the mist she had turned into, swinging globs of energy at the darkness that exploded on contact, shaking both the mist and the darkness. This was sufficient to create an opening through the darkness, and the mist used it, dashing through and reforming Thana’s body on the other side. She lost no time to open laser portals to obliterate both the darkness and the monsters she had summoned. However, Edward’s clones simply teleported out of the way. Thana was immaculate not a single injury visible on her form, but the pupils within her single eyes were flashing with fury.

Has her size decreased?

Yes! Edward laughed out loud. She may seem fine, but her body was made from the mist. Edward’s attack had targeted her directly while all that her retaliation achieved was to dispel Edward’s darkness which he could summon back at his leisure. He had come back victorious from this exchange.

Edward dashed forward and Thana did the same, seemingly enraged. Multiple lasers shot at Edward and his clones which teleported constantly to avoid them. Before they could find an opening to ambush her again, Thana summoned more monsters to help her. A dozen Manticores took shape, supporting her against Edward’s clones.

Manticores may have been difficult opponents in the past, but now that his clones could use his powers as well, they weren’t a match. Edward clones teleported right next to the Manticores, preferring direct attack knowing how tough Manticore's bodies were. Before the Manticores could retaliate his clones were already somewhere else, and the powerful energy blades they fired hit only empty air. Once one of the monsters fell, his clones summoned a veil of darkness to harvest their energy and prevent it from returning to Thana.

However, this did manage to buy her some time. Edward could have summoned more clones but he didn’t want to split his focus too much. His real body was the most important while defeating a Manticore or losing a clone was of little importance, and he didn’t have any more healing syringes, one severe injury could reverse the course of battle.

Even without the assistance of Edward’s clones, Thana had trouble to fend him off. Edward was teleporting all over the place and his six arms meant it was hard for her to block and counter his strikes. Only her lasers were helping her keep him at bay.

Thana was spending more energy than Edward, and having already used a large quantity of it at the start of the fight to trap him within her lasers, she couldn’t afford to keep this output for long. She faltered for half a second and Edward appeared above her head ready to cleave her into two. She dissolved into mist to avoid the hit, but Edward was ready. Darkness erupted from his body once more trapping Thana within.

Once again, she summoned lizards to create a way out but Edward threw a gaggle of aura grenades. They exploded within the mist sending aura blades everywhere. This didn’t do any damage to the mist itself only disorganizing it slightly, but the monsters within were torn to shred. Edward’s clones joined him one after the other after having dispatched their respective Manticores. Trapped in the darkness Thana’s senses couldn’t reach outside and she was unable to summon monsters apart from her own mist body.

In desperation, she fired lasers from within her own mist. The lasers tore both through the mist and the darkness, and she was already on her way out when Edward summoned more darkness to block her. At the start of the fight, he had restricted the darkness within his domain where he had perfect control, but he could extend past it, it only cost him more energy. Even though it was a significant cost, he went all out encompassing several kilometers and the whole battlefield within the darkness.

Thana had barely managed to escape the first darkness layer only to find herself trapped once more. She had stopped creating mist because her lasers had a bad synergy with it, but she knew that she was no match for Edward in close combat. She threw him an angry look and materialized as much mist as she could, filling the space entrapped within the darkness before dissolving into mist as well.

Edward and his clones roamed the mist preventing her from summoning more of those lizards that could damage his darkness shroud. Unable to summon monsters and reluctant to condense her real body knowing it would only end in defeat, she once again fired several lasers from the mist periphery. The lasers pierced through the darkness, however, it was so thick that the holes had closed before the mist could escape.

Slowly but surely, the darkness ate at the mist as Edward and his clones destabilized it, helping the darkness offensive. As the mist slowly reduced in size, constricted by the darkness, Thana went broke and materialized her real body again. Knowing Edward could teleport she didn’t even try to escape through the darkness as it would be a detrimental fighting ground, instead, she rushed at him hoping to kill him while he was still within her mist.

But with six arms and his teleportation, she was no par for Edward. He parried all of her strikes and his own pummeled her. As the darkness crept closer, Thana couldn’t turn to mist anymore to avoid his attacks and had to let the aura protecting her take the hits. She snarled in anger unable to believe her life was coming to an end after having dominated her world and terrorized others for so many years.

She blocked a strike but many others fell on her, her armor having to endure the damage. Edward's relentless strikes were too much for her to stop. Her eyes widened in disbelief as Edward pierced through her armor, and she could only watch with incredulity as a sword came out of her body. Edward didn’t stop there, not wanting to give any chance to such a dangerous monster and his next strike beheaded her. As the aura protecting her disappeared, tendrils formed from his body and he tore Thana to shred absorbing every ounce of her blood essence.