Snippet #2159827

Despite the apparent impossibility of the endeavor, Anne defied Anya's conventional analysis by doing something that, by all rights, should have been impossible. Even though she halted her momentum by bracing for the jump, she somehow managed to instantly regain it despite the laws of motion that dictated that this shouldn't have been able to happen. On top of this, she somehow altered her trajectory in midair without overturning herself to do so, retaining her balance and seemingly performing a sort of second leap off of thin air to twist herself about and direct herself straight at Anya, even though she had no footing upon which to brace herself. Anya, however, whose agility was admittedly at the level of being called superhuman, remained unfazed by this, and made a mental note that the Patra's agility apparently exceeded the limitations of physics and reality, and resolved not to be fooled by this tactic a second time.

At this point, she still had the option to aim for a mutual kill, but Anya was firmly set in avoiding this until the last possible moment. No, she still had a chance to defend herself, so that was what she would do.

Throwing her weight to the side, Anya managed to move her vitals out of the way of the incoming stroke. And not a moment too soon, for in the next instant, the whirling spear struck down against her Lunar Blade as she raised it to protect herself, trying to turn the head of the spear away from herself as it connected, digging into her right side as the blade in her left, while keeping it from turning and cutting her in two, failed to withstand the impact and shattered. With a practiced hand, Anya flicked the fragmented but nonetheless sharp hilt of the sword at Anne's eye, hoping to partially blind her as a way of distracting her from the final blow she intended to deal. With her now-free left hand as well as her right, she braced the Solar Blade, and as Anne's momentum carried her past her target, her lance now pinned beneath Anya's right arm as it cut across her side - this protecting her from a slash through her body, as well as keeping her enemy from drawing back her weapon or even raising its haft to protect herself - she struck. Even with Anne's ability to redirect the course of her flight mid-air, this blow was at far too close a range. The two were within arm's reach of each other, and at this juncture, even if she launched herself away, she would have to abandon her weapon to do so, an act which would surely defeat her if she managed to escape at all. And, with her spear trapped thanks to the injury Anya had allowed herself to sustain, Anne would also be unable to turn away the empowered blade by that means either. While she might attempt to divert its course by shielding herself with her arms, doing so would surely result in complete dismemberment, a condition which would cause her to lose the fight regardless. Anya was sure of it, now. This was the ending. It had to be. She would eliminate her target with this one, overwhelming blow!

Opening her grimly set mouth, Anya spoke one word, her voice devoid of the tired disinterest it had held before, bearing now only manifest malice and a desire to kill. Then, she stabbed straight ahead with her now brilliantly glowing Solar Blade, leveling a blow beneath Anne's upraised arms that would rip apart all of her vitals in a single thrust.

"Amaterasu."

A flash of silvery light filled the arena, drowning out even the light of the sun floating at its center. Then, there was a tremendous roar, and the two airborne silhouettes were joined by a massive, wing-like blade running between them...