Layla, for a while now, had been trying to rely less on the sword after what happened with her battle against Mundus. For one, the sword's power wasn't her own but borrowed power. However, the real reason was due to how close it was last time to taking her own life. She had done well increasing the use of her telekinesis along with her Hannya self. The only issue was, against Pine, he could absorb the energy of her attacks. It looked like it was the same for any attack that had Qi in it as well. Essentially, she was going against an opponent where only the sword could really have any effect. With the level of opponent she was now going up against, she couldn't just test her skills; she needed to use them to the best of her capability. "Layla, are you sure about this!" the sword shouted in her head, panicked and worried. The sword was able to not only see what was happening to her, but being attached to her, it could feel it as well. "I warned you the last time when you drew this much power from me, your body can't handle it. You barely managed to come out with your life the last time." There was another worry the sword had. The more she was using his power, the less she seemed to be resistant to it consuming her as well. He could tell by the colour of her eye. This took a lot longer to affect her last time, and now it was instant. "What are you doing standing there!" Russ shouted. "Attack!" Pine didn't care for this new look, and without hesitation, rushed in. He knew the sword could block his energy blasts, so he didn't care to use it. Reaching out, he went to almost grab the sword. At the right moment, Layla without fear had shifted, moving her feet and position, so she was facing straight towards the Dalki's chest. She had avoided the hand, but now the whole body of Pine was about to crash into Layla. However, when shifting in, she lifted her sword to strike upward and carried on moving with a spin and managed to duck under Pine's arm. Green blood splattered from the cut in the air, and Russ moved in his Penswi body quickly out of the way. "Our first hit!" Russ was pleased. He had no idea what this new form was, but one thing he was happy about was that she seemed like a completely different person. A master swordsman who had jumped levels. "I need to do my part and keep up as well!" There was one thing that Russ was doing that he never used to do before with having these constant fights, and that was mixing in abilities and races' traits. Before, he relied too much on having an unlimited supply of MC. If it was the past version of him, he would simply just summon those that he found useful. In this case, he now used the most useful parts for himself. "The legs of the Penswi and the arms of the Dalki!" Russ screamed in his mind as he ran as fast as he could, almost burning the ground beneath him. Pine turned around, the large scar could be seen across his chest with blood dripping down. He was ready to confront the ones that had hurt him, but was a bit too slow when Russ was already in the air, pulling back his fist. "ARGHH!" Russ screamed, slamming his fist square in the Dalki's face. The speed and power had created a supersonic punch that, when it hit, produced a wave of power. Pine bent his knees, taking in the hit. He gritted his teeth and pushed back as much as he could with his head, but the hit was a lot harder than he thought, and he had something else to worry about because Layla was already swinging the black sword at its side, aiming right toward his neck. Desperately, Pine reached out to the sword and pinched his fingers on the edge. He could feel the sword cutting into the palm of his hand, but he did manage to stop it before it could do serious harm. Seeing how Pine had grabbed onto the sword, Layla pulled it out toward her, making a larger and deeper cut on his hand, and lifted it above her head, swinging it down attempting to slice him in half. Once again though, the sword had just hit the ground. Layla had stopped it before it sliced into the floor. Pine had managed to move back in time. "You were faster than me," Pine said. "But it looks like my blood flow is helping me out a bit. Thank you!" Pine swung his arm, and Russ noticed something weird. Layla, her arm was shaking, and the veins around her neck were pulsating. The darkness that had surrounded one eye was creeping into the second eye. Grabbing her and rushing her off to the side, Russ had gotten there in time. "What are you doing? Why would you just stand there?" Russ complained. When he put her down, her body was still shaking. Layla had placed her non-shaking hand on her hand wielding the sword in an attempt to stop it. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚 "Just a little longer… please… my body," Layla mumbled. "Is she dying?" Russ thought. "It would make sense. How could someone as weak as her manage to become so strong? Wait, but if she dies like this, it's not my fault, right? I can't do anything to save her anyway. If she does die, doesn't that mean I'll be free?" Russ wasn't the only one who had noticed Layla acting strangely, which was why Pine once again had called in the help of the others, raising his hands. The bystanders started to use their abilities, allowing him to absorb their powers once again. "Let's see you try to block this!" Pine shouted, throwing his hands forward, and a large beam of energy coming out with them. It was coming toward the two, and Layla still didn't look like she was in a state she could move. Russ turned around, looking at the beam of energy, and his body was starting to change once more. "Even if I do want you to die, this guy is seriously pissing me off!" Russ said as he threw his hands forward as well. The energy blast hit him, but instead of burning his hands off or the blast chucking him back in the air, the energy was going into the palm of his hands. It continued until the entire blast had disappeared. "Whatever you can do, I can do as well!" Russ threw both his hands forward, and just like Pine, a large blast of energy had come out. Pine had never expected this. So far, no skills like this were used, but then again, he had never gone up against an opponent like Russ. According to a particular celestial, if Russ had unlimited MC cells, he was, in a way, everyone's worst enemy. The blast had hit Pine in the body before he could lift his hands. The power was limited to only his hands. As the energy blast hit him, he raised his hands, hugging the large amount of energy and started to absorb it, but some damage had already been done. In the middle of getting rid of the energy, though, he could see a glimpse of someone in the air above. "Die!!!" Layla screamed. This was their chance. She saw it, and in her head, she was going to move her body no matter what. From above, she swung the sword down, aimed right at Pine's head. The energy blast from Russ had just been fully absorbed, at least what was left of it from shooting toward each other, but if Pine lifted his hands up, they would just be sliced off, and moving his legs would be slow as well. That's when he let out a small amount of energy from his hands, allowing his body to be weightless, he moved back slightly. The sword went down, slicing through the top of his horn. Landing on the ground in front of Layla, she could see it, the single horn or spike, whatever it was, lying on the ground. "I... I failed," Layla said, knowing she could no longer harness the power of the sword. If she pushed it any further, she would be killed. Pine looked up, green blood running from the top of his head, down his face, and onto his shoulders, and there was a smile. "Yes... Yes, you did." ****** ***** For updates for MVS and future works please remember to follow me on my social media below. Instagram: Jksmanga P.a.t.r.e.o.n jksmanga Discord: discord.gg/jksmanga When news of MVS, MWS or any other series comes out, you will be able to see it there first, and you can reach out to me. If I'm not too busy, I reply back.