The Broken Halo

Chapter 828 - 827: Martial Spirit vs Martial Demon

Akaza landed first.

His heels carved two shallow trails through the road before he stopped. Several metres away, the Grey Pike captain struck the ground with her spear to halt herself.

Neither remained still.

Akaza pushed forward.

The woman twisted her spear and met him halfway. Its silver point passed beneath his fist, changed direction, and rose toward his throat.

Akaza tilted his head.

The blade missed him by an inch.

His elbow descended toward the shaft, but the woman released one hand, allowed the weapon to dip beneath his strike, then drove her palm into his chest.

Aether exploded.

BAM!

Akaza slid backward, his feet never leaving the ground.

A faint smile appeared on his face.

She was stronger than him.

Not merely because she was C-rank. Her movements were refined. Every step supported the next attack and left her prepared to defend.

She was a true martial artist unlike many demons he had fought in the past.

The captain raised her spear.

Pale-white Aether gathered behind her and formed the figure of a woman nearly four metres tall.

Segmented armour covered the Martial Spirit. A long cloth flowed from its shoulders, and a smooth mask marked by one vertical line hid its face. A white spear rested in its hands.

The captain moved first.

She thrust at Akaza’s stomach.

He stepped aside, but the Martial Spirit attacked before her spear had fully withdrawn. Its weapon swept toward the exact position he had entered.

Akaza raised one arm.

Bang!

The sweep sent him through a nearby tree and rock. Before the stones could fall, a dark-grey ripple spread through them.

The rubble stopped in the air.

Akaza stepped between the floating rocks and kicked once.

A compressed gravitational shockwave tore through them.

The stones shot toward the captain, causing her to narrow her eyes.

Without hesitation, she acted.

Her spear blurred. Every piece shattered before reaching her, while the Martial Spirit appeared above Akaza and drove its weapon downward.

Akaza moved.

BOOM!

The spear split the road open.

He appeared beside the captain and struck her ribs. She blocked with the shaft, but gravity gathered around his knuckles at impact.

BANG!

Metal bent, and the woman flew several metres and coughed blood, but the Spirit did not retreat with her.

It remained before Akaza.

Its masked face turned toward the black tattoos covering his chest and arms.

Something in the Martial Spirit began to slowly change as it stared at Akaza’s and his tattoos.

The pale Aether around its body became violent. Its hands tightened around its spear, and an emotion entered the pressure surrounding it.

Disgust

The Spirit attacked alone.

Five thrusts came from five directions. Akaza avoided four. The fifth tore through the side of his abdomen.

He grabbed the spearhead before it could withdraw.

The Spirit pulled.

Akaza’s fingers bled, but he refused to release it.

Its white eyes brightened, and hatred followed its disgust for Akaza.

Akaza stared into those eyes, and an answering anger rose within him.

”So that’s it.”

The Martial Spirit despised him.

Not because of anything he had done during this battle.

It hated what he was.

A Martial Demon.

The realisation did not frighten Akaza. Instead, it filled him with superiority and disgust of his own.

”A remnant hiding behind a human,” he said. ”And you dare look at me like that?”

The Spirit’s pressure erupted, and the captain returned at the same moment.

”A demon pretending to understand martial arts.”

The moment she said these words with unveiled disgust and anger, she thrust her spear toward his heart.

Akaza released the Spirit’s weapon and twisted away, but the silver point still pierced his shoulder.

The woman drove her knee into his stomach, then struck his jaw with the lower end of her spear.

The Spirit continued every movement she began, and her knee created distance.

Its foot prevented Akaza from regaining balance.

The female captain’s spear knocked his head upward, and the spirit’s white blade descended toward his neck.

Akaza forced gravity into the space above him, causing the spear to slow down for a fraction of a second.

He leaned aside, and the blade carved through his shoulder instead of his neck.

The captain pulled back, breathing heavily but maintaining her stance.

Akaza understood her Blessing after their confrontation.

The Martial Spirit did not simply copy her.

It completed her.

Every movement the woman began created a second movement from the Spirit. A blocked thrust became its sweep. Her retreat became its advance. Every opening she forced Akaza to enter became the place its spear was waiting.

Two martial artists.

One rhythm.

Worse, the Spirit’s hatred made it more active against him than it would have been against another opponent.

Farther down the road, Simon watched without surprise.

He had known Martial Spirits hated Martial Demons, and Martial Demons instinctively hated Martial Spirits. That was another reason he had chosen this opponent for Akaza.

The root of the hatred they had for one another was complicated, yet could be described into two words... Martial Path.

Martial Spirits and Martial Demons walked down the Martial Path.

Akaza slammed one foot down.

A distorted dark-grey sphere spread across ten metres.

Ohm!

The road groaned.

The captain’s body sank slightly, but Akaza’s expression darkened because he could feel Earth’s resistance when he tried manipulating the gravity around him to this extent.

His gravity did not spread smoothly. The field flickered at its edges, and maintaining the pressure consumed far more demonic energy.

The captain and her Spirit lowered their stances together.

Then they charged.

Silver and white spears filled the field.

Akaza met them head-on.

His fists struck the shafts. His elbows diverted spearheads. He reduced his weight to escape one attack, restored it before landing, and increased the gravity around his leg as he kicked.

The captain blocked, and her forearm armour shattered.

The Spirit pierced Akaza’s thigh.

He trapped its spear beneath his arm and headbutted the captain, cracking the armour over her forehead.

She answered with three thrusts.

One cut his cheek.

One pierced his side.

The last missed as Akaza twisted and hammered his fist into her stomach.

Both stumbled apart.

Blood ran from the captain’s lips, but more covered Akaza’s body.

Yet neither looked away.

The captain inhaled, and the Martial Spirit rose behind her. Its long cloth spread like wings, while both spears aligned until the white one appeared to be the shadow of the silver.

Akaza felt the pressure gathering around their points, and he could not help but smile.

The Spirit’s hatred had become so intense that the air and space around the spear trembled.

That hatred made it dangerous, but it also made it impatient.

Akaza weakened the gravity around his body and rushed forward.

The captain thrust, and so did the Spirit.

The two spearheads occupied every path before him.

Akaza deliberately left his right side open.

The Spirit reacted first.

Its white spear abandoned the perfect rhythm and shot toward the tattoos over his ribs, desperate to pierce the body it hated.

The captain’s eyes widened.

For the first time, their movements separated.

Akaza caught the white shaft beneath his arm.

The spearhead tore through his side but stopped before reaching anything vital.

He grinned through the pain.

”You’re in her way.”

Ohm!

Gravity vanished.

Broken stone, blood, and weapons rose from the road.

The captain lost her footing. The Martial Spirit pulled in the opposite direction, still trying to free its spear.

Their shared rhythm broke.

Akaza released the Spirit, restored gravity, and concentrated it around the captain’s silver spear.

The weapon crashed downward, and her arms followed.

Akaza entered the opening, then his knee struck her stomach, and his elbow landed against her temple.

Bam! Bam!

Before the Spirit could turn, Akaza placed his palm against the centre of the captain’s chest.

Every trace of gravity within the field gathered there.

BANG!

The silver armour over her chest collapsed.

Thud!

The captain struck the ground on both knees, and her spear fell from numb fingers.

Clang!

Behind her, the Martial Spirit raised its weapon one last time, but cracks spread across its mask and long cloth. Its hateful white eyes remained fixed on Akaza until its body scattered into pale fragments.

Akaza stood before the defeated woman.

Blood flowed from his shoulder, thigh, and side. His breathing was heavy, and cuts were all over his face.

Even so, his back remained straight.

The captain tried to rise, but her legs refused to obey.

Akaza looked down at her with a calm, cold, and prideful expression.