Chapter 232: Almost there-

Now that the core was gone, I could use almost all of my powers. Meaning, I could coat my saber and sword with gamma and deal plenty of damage, predict her moves and even counter and potentially win. But I knew it wouldn't be that easy.

So instead of worrying about it, I took the initiative and launched my attack at Hyora. 

She dodged my swing from the left, but my right sword was still going straight but she blocked it with her fingernail. 

She'd stop talking and just focused on the battle. Her movements were rather abnormal and I couldn't predict them. And she almost didn't seem human anymore.

Her fangs were sticking out and her eyes were even redder even this close to me, even with this much radiation, she looked completely unharmed. And boy did she reek of blood.

Her body had changed color from snowy white to a darker shade of brown and her veins were bulging out. Her size had increased by almost two-fold. 

Yeah, she definitely didn't look human anymore. 

Making barriers as footing and also fighting was definitely not the best idea. 

Slash!

But she dodged and slashed me instead with her nails. And with Enira sleeping, my healing abilities were also limited. 

But I still tried to attack her, throw balls, switch weapons- nothing was working. She was fast, she was agile and more importantly, even if she took hits, she was recovering without a doubt.

This was not working.

"Need a hand, boy?" grandma screamed from down there, she was mostly done with her stuff. 

"NO thanks."

Yeah, I was losing, but that didn't mean I was done. 

I let out a breath and focused on another ball of plasma. 

***

"You don't learn," Hyora said in a cold voice and closed in- she'd warped. 

She didn't catch me off-guard but she was too fast for me to respond in time.

But my ball was almost ready.

She slashed me hard, created three distinct wounds on my chest- but I'd also slammed my ball on her chest.

We both threw up blood. But she threw up much more than me. 

"What the?" Hyora couldn't believe it. "I take that back." She warped three steps back.

The plasma ball hadn't exploded, rather it'd made her insides implode. It was full of contained gamma radiation. And neutrons accelerated to almost the speed of light packed quite a punch as they collided with the atoms of someone's body.

So yeah, that must have hurt.

Hyora took in a breath, and just swung her arms from far. Gusts of wind flew me by. It took me a second to realize that she was actually attacking me from far away. 

She'd underestimated me, but I'd underestimated her even more. 

Nicks and cuts appeared all over my body. Her long-range attacks weren't that effective, but it sure was numerous.

And I didn't have my healing. 'You better wake up you horny dragon!' She sure wasn't though.

Hyora kept on warping and trying to claw me with her nails. She was fast and my response time was getting slower and slower. I was losing and I was losing badly.

I had to do something now and fast before the rest of my stamina also got drained. Besides, I was already running on fumes anyway. 

I willed my saber to turn into a long sword and sheathed Gramps's sword again. 

I held my saber with two hands and focused on Hyora. The next time, she'd start attacking, I'd attack. But my timing had to be perfect, otherwise, it won't work.

She was too fast, so I had to predict at least halfway. I already understood her basic pattern, so the rest was up to luck.

I was complaining about the cold till now, but honestly, why couldn't it be a little colder?

I was sweating buckets for crying out loud!

Hyora disappeared, I closed my eyes. 

'From the left?'…'No... right?'…' No…'

Behind!

I used the long sword and reached, and just as she manifested, I dug my saber through her chest: the saber went straight through, burning her flesh. She also swung her nails but- just a centimeter away from my neck; she threw up quite a bit of blood. She couldn't reach me.

Before she tried to throw those gusts, I already unsheathed gramps sword and swept her head clean off! A rather clean sound- a soothing sound even.

Yes!

It happened in an instant through sheer instinct, but I'd chopped her head off!

Both her body and head fell on the floor and so did I: It was not a graceful fall. But I got up and inched closer to her head. 

***

Mom and rest also came by my side. 

Hyora wasn't dead, no. She was just maybe a bit incapacitated and her wounds were still healing. Her body was trying to find her head and maybe she would get up within a minute. But her healing capabilities had actually slowed down significantly. The small purple wound on her decapacitated head was still there.

"Good job: keep blasting her and let's see what happens!" 

Uncle sure was excited but he was still locked in with father. The rest of the people were done but those two were still going at it. Both were bleeding and barely standing on their feet but neither was backing out. 

But that was easier said than done. I'd been using my powers on full throttle for quite a while now. And I was kind of running dry. Like that last gamma ball had taken out almost half of my reserves with one shot. It had also lowered the life expectancy of everyone here by a year or two but that was a different matter. 

Anyway, I still focused on my hands and made another plasma ball- just a typical, baseball-sized one. I blasted Hyora with it and covered her with a barrier so we weren't getting any damage. 

So far, effective. And now the rest of her clothes were also gone- oops.