Surrounded by many differentiations of the Captain of Red Bandana Pirates, Skadi couldn't help but feel immense pressure.
Someone of the same level as her, perhaps even higher, is standing right in front, behind, and beside her. With the power of a Zeal correlating to blood, she stood on both ends of her feet as she noticed her screen crawl.
Battling was no option now, her powers were sealed and her main weapon seemed nowhere to be found!
Thus, she decided to flee.
Propelling herself upward, Skadi casted blades of wind to subdue the many bodies of Falkone. However, it seemed to have been futile as the bodies kept regenerating and growing in number.
She was vastly outmanned and outpowered. Yet, this distraction was all she needed..
Skadi flew towards the direction of the towering wall of flesh, utilizing the winds to carry her body through immense speeds.
At the same time, she casted blades of winds to cut down the Falkones that remained chasing her. She mainly either aimed for the head or the feet, whichever fitted the situation at the time.
Falkone, whose demeanor seemed calm and collected, declared that it was useless for her to run.
"It is futile to flee, Zephyr! Remember that we are in a replica of your Soul.. Although it may not be the original, its edges remain boundless!"
Another body belonging to a woman then spoke out in a shrill tone, "Efforts of such will only deplete your Zeal."
Skadi did not falter.
Instead, she flew even faster towards the wall of flesh.
Extending her left arm forward, she created a cover made out of wind in front of her. She utilized this to reduce the friction on her body, accelerating her speed even further.
With this, she was leagues ahead of the bodies of Falkone.
Now reaching a few dozen meters away from the wall of flesh, Skadi activated her Gale Eyes.
With her vision enhanced, she scanned any potential openings from the wall of flesh. She saw red eyes with blackened pupils, mounds of human hands, gallons of blood flowing within its surface, and much more vulgar objects.
Within seconds, she was at meters length with the wall of flesh. Skadi clasped her hands and opened it a centimeter wide to form a prison-like symbol - the fingers serving as the bars of a prison cell.
She gathered the winds around the inside of her hands, compressing them to its utmost limit. Heat began to emanate from inside, charring the surface of her hands.
Skadi endured this though, gathering more winds inside.
After 20 seconds, it was ready to be released!
She opened her hands to attack but a single inch-wide tendril shot up from the ground and wrapped around her right leg.
This distraction caused her to fail releasing the compressed winds. Struggling to keep afloat, she let go of her clasped hands and made a cutting gesture in the air.
Instantly, the tendril cleanly split in half, falling to the ground and turning back into liquid form.
This split second of distraction was heavy on Skadi! The winds told her that the bodies of Falkone were only meters away from her!
"Urgh! Damnation!", she cursed out loud, filled with a tone of frustration.
Skadi flew upwards and caught the compressed winds, forming a prison-like symbol with her hands once more.
Without concentrating further, she released the winds towards the wall of flesh!
Fwoop!
The winds were pushed aside, it was as if a heavy gale had just washed the entire area!
The compressed wind immediately shot towards the wall of flesh. A second later, a loud high-pitched whistle resounded!
A large 2-meter wide hole imploded within the wall of flesh!
Skadi's eyes glimmered in hope!
And yet.. hope was all but short-lived.
Before she could even enter through the 2-meter wide hole.. it had already reconnected itself!
As if the tissues inside sought to find each other, it only took a second for it to heal!
Skadi clicked her tongue then faced toward the bodies of Falkone.
Surprisingly, her mind seemed to have been muddied, as if it had slowed down due to the lack of something..
Her brain began to stagnate, her thought process seeming slower than before!
Finally, Falkone's bodies had made their way towards Skadi. One body in particular spoke out:
"See.. We told you, it's futile. Stay put and accept your fate, perhaps it'll even be painless. I can't make any promises though.."
Skadi clenched her teeth, "Shut your mouth, wretch."
She made a slashing motion and sent a blade of wind towards that body's neck!
In an instant, its head disconnected from its body and fell down the bloodied grass.
The other bodies moved quickly, casting tendrils of blood upwards to capture Skadi and kill her.
But Skadi was not complacent, she was a master of the winds after all!
She manuevered around, switching directions immediately and spinning around in the air to swerve around the tendrils.
Of course, she did not dismiss her offensive moves. While moving in the air, she casted blades of wind to damage Falkone's bodies!
With her Gale Eyes, she could do it more precisely, more efficiently, and more effectively!
In spite of that, Falkone would get up and rebuild his body, turning into an endless onslaught to deplete Skadi's Zeal!
It was a battle of attrition!
She flew upwards, dodged the tendrils, cut Falkone's heads, and repeated this action for 3 minutes!
If an ordinary person were to gaze upon this sight, they would be enamored by the sheer scale of speed and precision!
As time went by, Skadi got slower and her thinking became sluggish!
Time did not grace her presence, rather, it diminished her capabilities.
Her eyes seemed to have become heavier, looking as if she was losing consciousness by the second.
Skadi was losing!
Yet, she pushed through, searching for any advantages to utilize!
That was until a single thread of blood finally caught on to her right ankle. With sheer force, it pulled her down, crushing the red ground beneath it!
She fell down face first, her teeth crushed with one another and blood swelled up in her throat.
Then, she threw up blood.
A lot of it.
Seeming like it would never end!
Gazing up, she saw the legion of Falkone's walking slowly towards her.
Skadi's vision blurred but she still remained resolute. She squinted her eyes to focus and gazed upon the bodies of Falkone.
And there.. she saw it.
A simple action yet a significant one to the likes of her!
None of the bodies were breathing - their diaphragms never raised nor were nostril sucked winds inside.
Skadi utilized her Zeal and enhanced her thinking. Time slowed down but her mind raced rapidly!
She thought about the reason for their breathless behavior and the reason for her sudden urge to lose consciousness.
She came up with 11 deductions yet only chose the most reasonable one!
In all simplicity, this pace.. had no winds!
Or rather, it only had a limited amount, an amount that she deduced to have been a residual.
"Falkone's words are misleading! This is not the replica of my Soul, it is not of the Metaphysical Realm.."
Her eyes expanded.
"I.. I am still in the Physical Realm!"
"This is but a mere illusion that utilized Metaphysical Zeal and Elemental Zeal - a world that abducted its target and replicated their innate Soul. Yet, it is imperfect, it could not even be considered a replica of the Soul. That is because of the fact that it belonged to the Physical Realm, not the Metaphysical Realm! If that is the case, then that wall, the skies, and the sea of blood in the horizon are the edges of this place!"
"It is but a mere prison.. A lie! A corporeal illusion! The reason that Falkone and his bodies remain standing must be due to some self-sufficient ability! It is only natural that blood needs air to survive, without that they could never be alive."
"Yet.. Falkone found a way! This is revolutionary, something that keeps blood self-sustained and stronger is a mystery to be peeked upon!"
Then.. her perspective went back to normal. Her mind no longer raced rapidly.
Skadi gained a newfound insight that changed the way of her vision completely.
She slowly stood up, her body aching with pain. Skadi retained a calm demeanour and gazed at the Falkone in the middle of the horde.
"Liar.."
She made a cutting gesture, cutting that Falkone's throat. It was shallow and did not pierce all the way through.
Yet, that body kept walking and continued to pace towards her.
It confirmed Skadi's deduction.
"You.. you don't breathe, do you?"
Falkone's bodies looked perplexed, but in a second, their whole body language changed.
The air was filled with bloodlust.
Falkone shot towards her with a speed as fast as a bullet, all of their fingers shaped as claws and aimed to pierce her heart.
Within a fraction of a second, they closed in on Skadi and struck through her chest.
However!
They were too late!
Skadi gathered every wind in the bloodied fields, turning incorporeal in the process and becoming as pure as wind itself.
All of Falkone's blood-red claws struck upon one another as they phased through Skadi's ghostly body.
Skadi floated up.
All of them bared their fangs at her!
The ground shook and blood came out from below, all of Falkone's bodies turned liquid and seemed to have formed into a pool of dark-red blood.
As they were sucked into the ground, the blood rose up and chased after Skadi!
It formed into an obscene coagulated tissue of eyes, fingers, hair, skin, muscles, and many other organs such as intestines and brain matter.. Blood seeped out from its pores, and a mouth formed a top of it. The mouth had ragged teeth, broken apart and bleeding vigorously.
All eyes focused on Skadi's incorporeal self, all hands aimed towards the top, all hair stood up and flowed, all muscles tensed up, and the other organs trickled up the coagulated tissue.
But this large, filthy, and vile.. thing was not much for Skadi's speed.
It only took her seconds to reach the flesh clouds!
She didn't take her time to attack them and went around to go beyond the sky!
Skadi aimed for the crimson moon!
She made it beyond the flesh clouds that rained down blood.
She flew upwards, not stopping until she had reached the crimson moon.
Skadi went as fast as a typhoon!
Until.. she sensed a blockage. Something invisible was in the way.
"It seems I have reached the limit."
Turning physical once more, she looked down, staring at Falkone's rotten state with disdain.
"Falkone.. I must tell you something."
The amalgamation of flesh, organs, and blood could only reply with a distant scream - an agonizing and ear-tearing scream.
"NOOOOOOOO!!"
"You.. whoever's behind you, whatever they may be called, they would never be a match for the Sun!"
Skadi pierced through her illusory heart, reaching deep within the pockets of her Soul. A green luminescence shone down the bloodied landscape, covering the entire place with its radiance.
Then, Skadi looked as if she had taken something inside - a charm with a green gem, formed with the symbol of the sun.
She raised her hand and prepared to crush the charm..
"Begone! Foul Dreadspawn!"
She compressed her hand into a fist and aimed to crack the green sun!
However!
The sky shattered like glass and fell down to the flesh clouds.
Water came from beyond, raining down upon Skadi.
It washed off the blood in her body, cleansing her spirit completely!
Then.. Skadi smiled and stared above, bathing in the graceful rain far away.
"It seems that I do not have to use this after all.."
She reached inside her once more and stored the green sun inside her heart.
Skadi gazed down at Falkone's disfigured body, "You are lucky.."
She extended her right arm upward, as if calling something to her.
Falkone did not waste any time though.
They flew upwards to Skadi, bodies upon bodies layered upon one another just to get a leverage and climb above. Hands raced upon one another, grasping upon skin and organ matter just to reach above.
And then they were only a hair's length away.
All eyes focused on Skadi. Then, all eyes focused on a particular gun with a cannon-sized barrel.
Inside that very barrel, sparks of green lightning cracked and moved.
A fingertip reached upwards and touched Skadi's heel.
It was only a mere touch. A gentle and bloodlusted touch.
And with it, lightning smote down the red fields of Skadi's replicated Soul.
With the rain, came the lightning that commanded the skies.
The lightning itself looked as if it came from the insides of a red dome. However, in all actuality, it came from the body of one individual.
An individual whose hair glowed golden and whose body layered with particles of green aura.
She flew above the amalgamation of flesh, blood, and tissues, holding a single gun in her hand.
Then, she parted her fair lips and gave a warning.
A single word that struck fear into the skin of the amalgamation.
"Observe."