Heaven's Sword Online- Book One of the Alta Luna Saga

Episode 6: Final Limit

Tae-young raises her sword at Adriana. "Don't think that I'll go easy," she says, taking one step back.

Adriana gathers electricity around her as the sky roars. Lightning descends but Tae-young drops and rolls out of the way. The girl jumps to her feet and charges at my neighbor.

Adriana's hazel eyes glimmer as she casts another spell. Lightning rains down in all directions that Tae-young struggles to safely roll out of harms way. She winces as the electric energy flowing around them becomes too strong that one might as well quit dodging.

"Her HP has dropped to half," Rin says, eying an icon float over Tae-young. "Adriana might win this easily."

Tae-young raises her sword and points it directly at Adriana. She fades into a black mist and reappears behind her. Shadowy arms rise from the floor and form two pairs of hands.

My neighbor twirls around to face her and lets out an electric sphere. Tae-young hits the floor as electricity continues to dance around her. It wouldn't take much longer for her hit points to be depleted to zero.

"I seem to have underestimated you," Tae-young says as her shadows tighten around Adriana. "Well, no more!" A purple and black aura enveloped her blade completely as the floor underneath her cracked.

"She's about to activate her final limit," Lua says as her mouth drops. "How did she figure that out all of a sudden? She shouldn't have had knowledge on that..."

Hmm, what's with her tone? No one should know it, so why is she acting as if Tae-young were given insider secrets or something?

"She must've played as much as I have," Rin says, shrugging.

"What's her final limit?" I asked.

"Midnight's Embrace- Transcending Shadows. You'll about to see it's power for yourself so I won't give you the details."

I straighten up and watch as the sky around us grows pitch black and several seven-foot tall silver blades manifest around Tae-young. The shadow swordswoman raises her hand and unleashes the blades on Adriana.

"Adriana!" I yelled as I watched the swords strike her.

"Damn," Rin yells as his eyes widen. "Adriana's HP is already quickly depleting. She's lost this for sure. Wait..."

Alla leans back and smiles. "Seems that she isn't going to give up without a fight."

"She's activating her limit break, isn't she?" I ask, leaning forward and waiting with anticipation for what was to come. As if on cue, lasers of electric energy pierce through the shadows and light up the darkened sky. I shield my eyes with both my arms in preparation should her attack reach over here.

"So much power!" Lua yells as she hugs me tightly to avoid being blown away from the fierce wind. The sound of branches snapping behind me makes me hug her tightly for my own protection. Dust soon fills the air, causing all of us to cough erratically.

Slowly everything starts to calm down.

"Are we alive?" Rin asks.

"We're fine. Open your eyes," Alla says. I do as she says and see a black rose bud standing over an unconscious Adriana in a three meter deep crater with dust still settling down. Slowly the petals on the bud unravel until they reveal an unharmed Tae-young.

"No way!" Rin and I say.

"This was the embrace part of the final limit," Lua says as she lets go of me. Her face is bright red. "Let's not mention any of this."

"Uh sure," I say, looking away and trying not to think of anything. Especially not how cute she looks. Oh no! I just did it.

"You alright?" Lua asks, staring at me blankly.

I quickly nod. "Why wouldn't I be?" Standing up, I rush into the crater to help out Adriana. 

Tae-young dusts herself off and glances over at me. "I went too far."

I stare down at my clothes and notice that there are tears flowing down her eyes. Parts of Tae-young's clothes are charred by the lightning. She hadn't managed to guard completely.

"Yeah, you did. But so did she," I say, walking past her to pick up Adriana. My neighbor was covered in blood from her face to her legs. It's no wonder that Tae-young is crying. 

Lua warps in front of Adriana before I can reach her and covers her in the same glow that she used on me before.

"She'll be fine." She glanced around the crater around her. "I got to fix things up. Head back up. I'll meet you there." She warps away with Adriana.

I turn around and see Tae-young with her hands curled into fists. Despite Lua's words, her tears wouldn't stop. I smile and pat her in the back. "Cheer up. You heard Lua, she said that she'll be fine. You're going up against Rin as soon as things are fixed up. So take the time to rest." I wipe her tears away. "So, stop crying and smile."

She smiles a little and nods. "Right. I'll defeat Rin and then Alla..." She runs on ahead, leaving me behind in the eerie crater.

"Hey!" I yell. As I run after her, rock and dust comes tumbling down, preventing me from running normally. Making sure to have my hands on firm ground, I slowly claw my way up.

Tae-young turns around and holds out her hand to me as she firmly holds the ground with her free hand.

"Thanks." I take her hand and pull myself higher up.

"How long are you two going to take?" Rin calls out from afar. "Lua is done healing Adriana! She only needs to fix the place up.

Lua appears over Tae-young and me. "Come." She warps us over to the now uprooted Sakura tree. The stream that once was next to us is now but a series of tiny puddles containing debris from the bridge and Lua's tiny shrine. Ceramic tiles from the main house (which is otherwise unharmed) litter the now bald lawn.

"This seems like a lot to fix," I say.

The goddess snaps her fingers and things are as they once were, including our clothes. "Easy for a being of my caliber. Now, this time I'll put up a barrier around the field to prevent you from destroying the garden again, or even the entire complex."

Tae-young blushes. "Sorry."

Rin grabs her arm and pulls her toward the white arena where the crater once was. "Come on! Time to determine which of us will face off against Alla!"

"H-hey!" Tae-young yells.

"Good luck!" I yell, leaning back against the tree. I turn toward my right and see Adriana smiling. She signals good luck even though their eyes aren't directed at her.

"Adriana wishes you good luck too!" I yelled.

The two turn around, smile and wave as if to thank her for her well-wishes.