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If it was just a competition of flight, I was definitely stronger than Mo Ning. While we were preparing for this war, I made sure to practise whenever I could squeeze out time. Even though that resulted in me being laughed at by Mo Na multiple times, my flying ability had improved leaps and bounds. Even difficult aerial maneuvers were now easy for me. That was why I could easily lead her around in a goose chase. If I wanted to dive, she had no choice but to dive. If I wanted to ascend, she had no choice but to do so in a burst of flames.

If my hunch was correct, each time she launched herself off those fiery bursts, she had to use up her mana; it wouldn’t make sense otherwise. In contrast, my ability to fly did use up some physical strength as well as mana, but those were miniscule compared to hers.

In other words, I could just drag this fight out into a battle of endurance. While that might not be the most glorious of victories, it was still a win.

As Mo Ning continued launching herself off those fiery bursts, she had to dodge an array of lashes from my Darkness Whip and my Mana Feathers. She tried multiple times to speed up, but I always maintained a decisive edge over her. Furthermore, my ranged attacks were more varied than hers -she only had those flame breaths to spit at me.

Because I was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to survive some of my deadlier spells, I hadn’t used any Nether Flames yet. My new and improved Vengeful Soul which I learnt from Mo Na was out of the picture as well.

Still, even without this auto-pursuit skill that was Vengeful Soul, I had other tricks up my sleeves, like my Bone Spears.

Ever since we stepped into Purgatory, I hadn’t used any of my Undead spells, because my talents in that field weren’t up to par. Well, it was worse than Mo Na’s anyway. Of course, there were other reasons as well… like the fact that whenever I cast those spells, the effects were less than desirable…

However, in this situation where I wasn’t trying to injure my opponent, they were perfect for hindering Mo Ning.

That was why when I lashed at her and fired off my Mana Feathers, I threw out my Bone Spears as well. My Bone Spears were considered both physical and magical spells at the same time, and her red shield seemed to only be effective against magical damage seeing as she made sure to dodge all of my spears.

With my vast pool of mana, I could easily throw out a hail of such low level spells. Faced with such a massive force, even Mo Ning didn’t dare face them head-on. Thanks to that, our distance was maintained at a comfortable twenty meters apart.

Twenty meters was a distance that was neither too far apart, nor was it too close. In order for Mo Ning to cover this distance, she definitely needed more than one second.

This game of tag continued for several minutes before Mo Ning finally realised that she would exhaust herself to death before it ended. That was when she gave up entirely on dodging my Bone Spears, instead charging right at me. I furiously tossed more Bone Spears at her, yet her next action shocked me.

Just as a single Bone Spear was about to hit her, she suddenly boosted herself upwards in a fiery burst. She then used that Bone Spear as a launching pad to dodge even more Bone Spears. I would have never expected a horse to be capable of such… deft maneuvers had I not seen this firsthand. From where I was flying, I could only watch as she steadily closed the gap using the Bone Spears which were supposed to hinder her.

‘What the heck was that? Movement Skills, like those martial arts movies? Horse Taking Off Like Swallows? No… more like Horse Steps On Spears…’

I was furiously backpedalling with my wings while maintaining a close eye on Mo Ning. Thanks to that, I could watch in excruciating detail as her silhouette got ever bigger by the second. I knew she wasn’t happy about the fight so far, so a furious counterattack was about to happen next. Her mouth opened up slightly and turned in my direction. In all likelihood, she was gathering up mana for an attack.

‘Flames? Well, even if she spits out more flames, it doesn’t matter. I’m more agile than her and I have plenty of space to dodge in the air.’

‘But in that case, did she just go through all that trouble just to launch another plain old flame breath?’

A second later, I realised that I had underestimated her once more.

Her throat began to tremble, and just as I thought another stream of flame was about to burst forth, she instead let forth a terrible screech. That sound was like countless fingernails scratching against a blackboard. Like a vengeful ghost repeatedly haunting one’s head. Basically, it was a really, really uncomfortable sound.

‘Just what is she planning? Screech and then what? Why is nothing happening? No flames. Nothing. Perhaps a mistake…’

That thought barely lasted a second before I felt my body being sliced apart by what felt like miniature knives. These weren’t ordinary knives, however. They were formless knives that were both thin and sharp. My face ended up with countless cut marks and my hair wasn’t spared either as strands after strands of purple hair fell from the air. At the same time, my wings had suffered serious injuries and nearly stopped flapping. My whole body froze up for a second, then plummeted.

However, that only lasted a second before I performed a body flip and regained control. By the time I finished this maneuver, Mo Ning had just galloped past me, grazing my shoulders in the process… and it wasn’t just a light graze either…

There was no time to celebrate, however. Managing to dodge that charge was pure luck; there was no telling I would be so lucky next time. Thankfully, she wasn’t very agile in the air. Thanks to my good luck, her charge ended up missing its target and she couldn’t change direction in time. In order for her to turn around, she needed time as well. Time that I could use to regain my posture.

Once I managed to recover, I immediately distanced myself from her again.

Even though I had suffered some cuts just now, my wounds weren’t wide enough for the blood even to spurt out. The moment the cut was formed, it was already beginning to heal automatically. Not even a single drop of blood managed to fall to the ground in that short exchange.

Self-regeneration was a trait of Devils, and this trait was taken to its utmost limits in my body.

It was only until I managed to widen our gap to a comfortable distance that I finally had time to consider what had just happened. As I continued flying away, the scene of her opening her mouth to attack continually played out in my mind. She first opened her mouth then gathered some energy within it for some time before launching those knives. That attack had not only sliced my face apart, it had also wounded my neck, thighs, chest and waist. The self-made armor I had on was starting to look a lot less protective as well.

‘So what the heck was that? It was most likely an attack that made use of sound waves… Hold on, I remember now! Sinmosa once told me about a certain ability the Purgatory Warhorses had that was called Resonant Edge… Resonant Edge… I get it now. That was the Resonant Edge!

‘I was too careless just now in thinking that she only had that one ranged attack, and that I could win just by maintaining the distance between us. So that was just me making an @ss of myself… Well. Since I can’t win just by staying away from her, then I will just… keep staying away from her…

Shameless Self-promotion

If you liked my work translating Devil’s Evolution Catalog, feel free to check out Song of Adolescence. Also, every comment is appreciated even though I might not reply. I do read them.