Chapter 238: The Crimson Phoenix

Underneath the reddish sky, running on the cracked, dry ground that had various purple flowers ran two figures, dashing like 2 blurs. 

Moby leading the way, he did not look back even once to face Emilia, although he always kept his guard up against sneak attacks. Many thoughts ran through his mind, disregarding all the unimportant ones clouding his thoughts and focusing on what was now truly important… 

He had tried to do some research on Emilia before the fight, in order to gauge her strength and fighting style, yet, to his surprise, he had found absolutely nothing of use, nothing but what her main weapon was, being a rapier and her ability being fire which did not serve much help to him… 

The only thing that he could assume about her was that her skills and styles are similar to Abby, but that was just him grasping at straws trying to make an educated guess...

He did manage to find a few videos of her fighting in tournaments and such back when she was a first-year student, but even then it did not serve any help at all, all of the videos showing her defeating her opponents with ease, swatting them like a fly in 1 or 2 hits with no remorse at all. 

On the other hand, now Moby had his fights posted from when he fought at the Griffith mansion, which was not entirely a bad thing since he concealed most of his moves and trump cards. Yet, he was also sure that Abby told her everything she knew about him, yet at the same time, he had a lot hidden from her such as sin-mode's power to absorb emotions. He could still play to her knowledge and catch her off guard, as he had a plan brewing and forming in his mind, making a smile form under his serious poker face.

"Here is good enough!" 

Moby spoke in a calm voice, halting his movements immediately with a simple step, turning around to face his opponent who had also stopped her movements. 

Stalling for time was the last thing he wanted to do, he had no time to waste while his friends were busy fighting a few kilometres away so he only ran for a few minutes. 

"Hmmmm… So this is what you chose for your grave… very flowery indeed…" 

Her voice was ominous yet calm with a hint of malice, the emotions on her face, unlike anything he had seen from any human before as she examined the abundant amount of purple flowers in the area along with the two rainbow-shaped rocks above them directly adjacent to each other.

"Enough of your empty words, let's see you put them to action…" Moby taunted her, tightly grasping his katana, with a smile on his face.

"Heh… I'll have you know that you brought this onto yourself… Your pain could have been far more peaceful if you had just kept your mouth shut,"

The fiery aura around Emilia exploded once more, the smell of burnt rocks and the sound of crackling and raging flames filling the air, her eyes that had already turned into deadly, fiery slits, now were even more serious yet amused, staring straight at his very core, her hand firmly holding the hilt of her rapier. 

"Well then! Come at me! Or do you want me to start instead!?" She yelled once more, sweat running down from Moby's face from the immense heat and power exuding from her, the ground shaking and turning black in the face of her crimson flames that devoured all. 

Moby once again stood firm in his place, unmoving in the face of such great power. He could not risk being careless, he knew that she entertained no games. 

He had to go seriously, full strength from the start. This was no anime where the main character could afford to go easy on his opponent to gauge their strength before transforming, he would no doubt be dead if he was stupid enough to try that.

He had to go all out and go straight for the jugular to take her out when she least expected it… 

Suddenly, Moby closed his eyes, a deadly, ominous aura of black, blue, and red surrounding him from every angle, flowing and ravaging his body. The ground underneath his feet began to crack and shake with an immense earthquake, making the ground swallow many of the purple flowers underneath his feet that was slowly sinking into a crater, shadowy lines beginning to ravage his entire body, his previously green eyes now glowing a complex purple with viper-like shape, red pupils in his eyes as he felt wings and horns beginning to form and sprout from his back and head respectively, his arms crossed in the form of an X as he aura of death and despair began ravaging all around the air with a cold, raging killing intent, his aura now clashing head to head with that of Emilia's. 

"What do you think you're doing!? Do you really think that I'm gonna let you do that right in front of my face!?" 

She seemed annoyed and disrespected at what Moby was trying to attempt, an intense ball of fire forming around her open left arm as she shot a burst of crimson flames from it, flames that looked straight out of the blazing core of the sun, far stronger and deeper than he ever remembered Abby's flames being. 

Instinctively, Moby erected a wall of purple ice, infusing it with as much energy as he could which managed to just barely stop Emilia's attack that was far stronger than he ever expected, using up a large chunk of his mana, the steam from the clash being blown away from the strong wind. 

Yet, before it all cleared away, Moby thrust his arms that were previously crossed in an X wide open, using a technique that he had been mentally practicing in his head yet had never tried in battle before. 

'Dark Blizzard!' 

Out of his entire body emerged a burst of purple cold that ate everything in its path, the ground now consumed by a thick sheet of ice, purple ice pillars growing from them, a cold wind breeze flowing around the entire area blowing small shards of purple snow and ice in all directions clouding vision and slightly poking at the skin, the previous dry orange desert now turned into a complete purple tundra of ice in almost a blink of an eye. 

With a visible vein popping out of her forehead, her crimson aura surrounding her and protecting her from the elements, now only Moby's shadowy figure in her sights, her feet planted on dried rocks with a twitching smile on her face, she once again lifted her hands with a crimson flame, grasping it into a fist. 

"Useless! Do you really think such a small snowball can do anything against me and my royal crimson phoenix flames? Pathetic!"

With a simple swipe of her hand, crimson flames flying everywhere, everything in its path was completely destroyed, evaporated into nothing now but simple mist that blocked vision and enveloped the entire battlefield in a thick fog which was not a big deal as in her opinion, she now removed his environmental advantaged with her superior, higher than average vision, she could still make him out in the aftermath of the thick cloud of purple mist surrounding her. 

She didn't think it was a bad plan, he bought time for his transformation and gave himself the vision and environmental advantage with water floating all around them. However, he underestimated her power and overlooked many vital details about her that would lead to his eventual doom…

Suddenly, her grin grew wider, now covering her entire face from ear to ear, the look of an absolute devil on her face. 

In the distance, she managed to spot a clear shadowy outline of a man in the mist, his horns standing tall as it seemed like he was trying to be slick, sneaking around to circle behind her who was clearly visible from her fiery aura that put a big target on her head, the sight of his almost cute, futile attempts made her not help but find everything amusing, her laughter filling the air, a mixture of hatred in her voice. 

"HAHAHAHA!! I FOUND YOU YOU LITTLE RAT!" 

Without a second of hesitation, holding onto the hilt of her sheathed sword, she covered her feet with fire and boosted herself straight at the clear yet shadowy figure ahead of her at her top speed, reaching him in what only felt like a split second, leaving a large crater in the wake of her first step.

The still shadowy figure in front of her stopped what he was doing as he began quaking in fear, his plans completely foiled and flipped on his heads, clear fear and despair in his actions.

Unsheathing her rapier in one swift motion with a demonic visage, she slashed straight at his stomach, making sure not to hit any vitals yet making sure to bring him to the brink of death… 

"NOW PERISH AND SUBMIT TO YOUR NEW MASTER!"

With a simple yet lightning-quick slash of her fiery rapier, she cut through Moby's armour like it was simply not even there, the sensation feeling more like slashing at air than slashing at a piece of magical armour which only made clear the power difference between him and her in her eyes, her opponent now knelt down at the ground grasping his wound as she looked at him with a victorious, smug, overbearing smile through the thick, purple mist.

"Hah! How pitiful! You? The future demon lord? Don't get too cocky! That was way too easy! You thought that-------"

Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, a deep, slashing sound was heard entering her ears, making her eyes grow wide, first, the sound of metal clashing against metal which was then followed up by the sound of tear flesh and a clank… 

"H-huh…" 

She muttered, coughing up a small mouthful of blood on her red gauntlets, as she looked down only to see a black and purple blade stabbed straight through deep in her human heart, the immense pain only now registering in her previously numb mind as she coughed up even more blood that before, her eyes growing tired and weary in disbelief, the figure of Moby still clearly right in front of her… Nothing made sense in her mind...

"H-how did this…" 

She muttered to herself, not even getting to finish her own question as the wind blew away the mist in her path, revealing it for her… 

The figure of Moby that was in front of her being nothing more than a human-shaped figure of him made with dim, compact purple energy and nothing more, the slash mark clearly showing on its body before it faded away into nothingness like it never even existed…

"How tragic it is… The overconfident crimson Pheonix falls and meets its tragic end… only you won't be returning from the ashes…"