Chapter 262: Reflection against Time

?Sia’s eyes widened as I sidestepped her slash and kicked at her side, launching her backwards.

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?If what I had figured out about her new ability was correct, then it was that she had probably seen me making that move, but didn’t find in a possible future, but realized she wouldn’t be able to escape it.

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?Sia skidded to a stop, staring at me with what I reckon was a surprised gaze. After what felt like a short staring contest, we both simultaneously exploded forward.

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?Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

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?Our swords clashed in a series of unending sparks, each one sending a force so intense that the very world around us quaked. ℯ

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?We clashed once more, sending a powerful shockwave sweeping outwards in an cataclysmic wave, before separating . ℯℓ.

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?[Severing jet wheel]

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?A multitude of scarlet slashes appeared everywhere in front of Anastasia, her movements swift and deadly. Thousands of lethal slashes were unleashed in the blink of an eye, streaks of scarlet sparks filling her front.

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?’This technique looks a lot different than it did last time.’ I thought. For starters, it was mainly blue before, tinted with a scarlet hue, but now it was only scarlet, and I could tell it was significantly more deadly.

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?The thousands of slashes swept past me. Unlike before where I had to utilize mirage steps to dodge or tank some, this time I just let all pass through me, before retaliating in quick succession.

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?[Summer Blaze]

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?My sword turned crimson, giving off an intense heat as I swung at the redhead. A massive crimson arc covering tens of meters left my sword and shot towards Sia.

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?Sia who had probably already seen the attack coming from mikes away, shot into the sky like a rocket. But she was grossly underestimating what I could do.

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?[Summer Blaze]

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?I swung once, then again, then again, until hundreds of crimson arcs were streaking towards Sia.

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?Sia’s eyes narrowed, as the world slowed down around her, before the effect spread outwards, enveloping even my crimson slashes.

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?Sia’s form floated mid air, as if even gravity itself was frozen.

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?[Stillwater severance]

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?The world itself split apart as Sia swung her sword, including but not limited to the hundreds of slashes I sent her way.

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?The ground split apart in a perfect line, and so did the clouds in the sky. I instantly slipped back into the mirror dimension. I could tell that were that attack should touch me, it wouldn’t be pretty.

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?After the remnant destruction calmed down, Sia softly landed on the ground, before instantly vanishing.

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?I deftly turned on my feet, swiftly bringing my sword before my chest.

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?Clang!

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?A sonorous sound echoed as our sword clashed, sending sparks flying in the air. Without hesitation, I initiated the third art.

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?[Fall]

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?The air collapsed in on itself, creating a vaccumof extreme pressure, blasting Sia away, and devastating the rest of the battlefield.

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?Spiderweb cracks appeared on the ground the moment I took a step forward, creating a sonic boom.

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?A thunderclap detonated across the atmosphere as I turned into a silver streak and appeared next to the still flying Anastasia who looked like she was unconscious.

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?The supposed ’unconscious redhead however, suddenly righted herself mid air and slashed towards my head.

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?[Stillwater severance]

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?I barely managed to dodge the sword by a hair’s breadth which continued to split everything behind me.

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?While I was distracted, a high kick swept up and connected with my chest.

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?Bang!

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?I skidded a few dozen meters backwards.

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?"I see now, so that’s how it is." I muttered, now fixing my gaze at her. This girl actually had her eyes closed. I didn’t know how she figured out I could see through her eyes, but she definitely did.

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?"But isn’t closing your eyes a little bit too extreme? How are you supposed to fight now?" I asked in slight amusement and slight seriousness.

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?"While I’m honored by your blatant fishing for information, I feel somewhat compelled to tell you." Sia replied.

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?"At first it looked like you always knew where I would attack from so I thought you could also gaze into time, but then I realized, that wasn’t the case." she said. "By keeping track of your eyes, I came to understand that you could see through my eyes or any reflection to boot."

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?"And the logical solution you could come up with was to close your eyes? Well, I do not blame you, you were stuck with those idiots the whole time I was gone." I shrugged.

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?"It doesn’t matter if I close my eyes or not, I can sense everything in my temporal field even better than I can see with my eyes. Nit to mention..." she paused. "I can see every blink, every action, and every breath you would take even before you do."

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?"So, it’s not yet certain who is at a disadvantage." She said before instantly sidestepping to the side as my reflection appeared behind her, his sword now piercing through the space her heart had been before.

?She swiftly transitioned into a horizontal sweep, and separated the reflections head from his body. He shattered into motes of light soon after.

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?’So she wasn’t joking. ’ I thought. This precognition of hers was quite frankly, absurd. Though that probably sounded like a joke coming from me, my abilities were arguably more absurd than hers.

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?My vision tunneled as I appeared before Sia in what looked like teleportation from an outside perspective.

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?Sia reacted, meeting me blow for blow. Though I knew I was slowed down considerably, there was no way I could tell that since Sia had closed her eyes.

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?Mire importantly, even with her eyes closed, she never faltered. In fact she seemed to become even more efficient than she was when her eyes were open.

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?I reckon that was because I could anticipate her every move.

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?[Flowing jet wheel]

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?[Blizzard vale]

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?Our swords collided against the other’s, her an extreme cutting power, and mine an intense chilling blizzard.

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?The world exploded in while as countless fragments and shards of ice materialized into existence, only for it to be grind to dust by the relentless power of Sia’s attack.

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?The ground fractured, hollowing out as it tried to take us with it. Luckily, the explosion of ice pushed us far away from the center of destruction.

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?My hand felt a bit too cold, signs of frost bite already visible, but a short rush of concentrated aether was enough to deal with it.

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?My mouth curled upwards as I caught sight of Sia, but it soon curled downwards as I was assaulted by a seizing migraine.

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?The reason I had smiled was because I had caught sight of Sia through the millions of ice fragments scattered everywhere around the battlefield.

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?The problem however, was that the input was too much for my brain to handle. My brain simply wasn’t wired to handle millions of sight, I hadn’t reached that level, not yet at least, so I quickly shut down my mirror sight.

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?That brief disruption however was more than enough for Sia to get close to me, her sword already inches away from my chest.

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?On instinct, I threw myself to the side, but still couldn’t escape having the sword pierce through my side.

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?"Tsk." I clicked my tongue from the agony the sword just inflicted on me and kicked towards the perpetrator, but she already flickered backwards.

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?I immediately placed an arm to my side, trying to keep the blood from flowing, before a reflection appeared behind me and merged with me.

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?Almost immediately, blood stopped flowing, and the flesh knitted back together in less than a second.

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?My aura exploded outward, as a torrential pressure emanated from my being, before I vanished from my spot.

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?I appeared behind Sia, while she herself stood frozen. The next moment, my leg kicked from behind her.

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?Sia finally reacted at that moment, turning with arms crossed. My shin connected with her forearm with a sickening crush, before the redhead’s entire body shifted to the side, as if momentarily suspended in mid air, before getting launched a few dozen meters away.

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?Sia skidded on the ground for a while, before she started her body, and got back on her feet, her expression somewhat lighthearted with a smile tugging at her lips.

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?For some reason, even with her eyes closed, that smile was a sight to behold. She looked like one of those otherworldly seers, all it would take was a blindfold to complete the look.

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?"Very well, Damon," Sia spoke breaking me out of my fantasy. "I thought I wouldn’t need to go all out against you, but my mind has certainly been changed."

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?"Well, I aim to impress." I smiled.

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?Sia’s aura then suddenly changed, the scarlet aura shrouding her body erupted with even more frenzy.

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For a while it looked like nothing was happening, but then I noticed something. The particles of debris that had been flying in the air had seemingly frozen in place. Even the subtle wind that blew Sia’s red hair ever so slightly seemed to have stopped in place.

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?But my enhanced eyes caught everything, it wasn’t that everything had stopped in place, instead, they just moved so slowly that they seemed to have stopped in place.

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?"I see, so that’s how it is." I muttered in realization.

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