After gripping the iron rod in her hand, everything before her eyes slowed down.
The cat-girl's posture was no longer eerie; her movement trajectory became clearly visible, and the manic smile on her face froze.
As if in a visual rehearsal, a shadow separated from the opponent's body, drifting out and raising its weapon high!
Simply by observing the short sword in the opponent's left hand and the direction of the rotation in her shoulders, waist, and wrists, Xu Xiaoyou predicted the attack that would be launched within the next second.
'She will hack at my left shoulder.'
This thought surfaced in Xu Xiaoyou's mind.
Clang!
【Your understanding of sword arts is deepening.】
【sword maiden Resonance · Mind's Eye (Basic) 570/10000】
Seeing that the blonde girl who had been fleeing miserably just moments ago had suddenly changed into a different person after grabbing the iron rod, even managing to block her attack, a flash of surprise crossed the cat-girl's eyes.
With their weapons locked, her gaze became incredibly excited. She increased the force in her hands, pressing Xu Xiaoyou back:
"I couldn't tell, dear, but you're actually quite capable!"
'She will swing that spiked club horizontally, aimed below my neck.'
Seeing this, Xu Xiaoyou suddenly ducked. The club, whistling as it swung, passed just millimeters above her head.
'She'll take the chance to strike downward, this time at the left shoulder!'
Stepping back with her left foot, she controlled her center of gravity and rotated her shoulders. A surge of power flowed into her wrist, finally converging on the iron rod in her hand.
This time, she did not dodge. A point of light appeared on the cat-girl's silhouette in her vision.
That was the flaw revealed by the Mind's Eye Blade!
She suddenly stepped forward, concentrating all her strength into a single point, and the iron rod in her hand slashed out an arc like a crescent moon!
Clang!
The shock in the cat-girl's eyes was impossible to hide. Looking at her weapon being parried away and the girl's face rapidly approaching in her vision, she couldn't understand why the girl had undergone such a heaven-turning transformation in such a short time.
Before holding that iron rod, the opponent had been like a novice who knew nothing of close-combat techniques, but now she was like a professional fixer proficient in the foundations of sword arts.
Could the opponent have a combat class?
Just as this thought surfaced in the cat-girl's mind, Xu Xiaoyou's next offensive had already reached her eyes.
Clang!
The short sword in the cat-girl's hand was held vertically at a strange angle beside her face, just barely parrying the girl's slash.
Sparks flew from the weapons. She leaned close to the girl's face, her fanatical eyes seemingly trying to engrave the girl deep into her heart, as if trying to see through her completely:
"You're really making me more and more excited!"
"Dear, I'm going to get serious now."
In an instant, the cat-girl's skin twitched all over. A purple light glowed on her body, and her pupils suddenly narrowed into slits. An eerie purple glint flashed through them, like a venomous snake rearing its body, suppressing its breath to wait for an opening, ready to strike at a prey's vital spot at any moment.
Xu Xiaoyou still appeared calm and composed on the outside, but her heart was already in turmoil.
In her eyes, three afterimages suddenly split from the cat-girl's body, rushing out and attacking her from three completely different angles.
First the calf, then the chest, and finally the neck—a blow that would be fatal!
'Is she going to land three attacks simultaneously in the next moment!?'
Was she using some kind of deceptive trick to interfere with her judgment?
No...
The opponent had activated the cat-girl racial talent, entering a state of 'Phantom Grace.' Her speed was so fast that Xu Xiaoyou couldn't predict it!
Defending against those few attacks earlier had seemed calm and effortless, but in truth, only she knew how much mental energy it had cost. In that state of held breath and focused mind, she needed to concentrate her entire attention on the opponent's body, even the slightest movement. Those three clashes that occurred in the blink of an eye had already left her nearly exhausted.
Anya was sprinting toward her, but she still needed to dodge this final attack before Anya could reach her position!
Her head was spinning, her vision was blurred, and the side effects of mental exhaustion had already appeared. At this rate, there was no way she could block this attack.
She had to think of a way to dodge it!
Suddenly, she recalled the scene in the junkyard when she faced those three fixers.
She remembered the feeling of activating those three skill cards.
Fireball Bombardment... she couldn't condense fire elements; there was no possibility of activating it.
Bleeding Frenzy? Her mind had been a mess back then; she had almost forgotten how she caught up to the pig-faced woman and killed her.
Besides, that skill card seemed to have a prerequisite; the target needed to be in a state of 'heavy bleeding.'
That only left Back Alley Thrust!
Standing before the cliff of death, with an abyss right in front of her where one step forward would lead to being smashed to pieces—it was precisely at times like these that she became more calm and focused, her potential stimulated to the maximum.
She closed her eyes, recalling the insights from when she used Back Alley Thrust. From the footwork to the minute sways of her body, every physical movement and every detail from that moment sprouted in her mind like bamboo shoots after a rain. At this moment, she was like someone in a giant, finely engraved maze, racing from the complex outer paths toward the very center.
It wouldn't work...
She still couldn't replicate Back Alley Thrust. The opponent's agility attribute was far higher than hers. She couldn't force a replica of an offensive-oriented skill card against such a massive gap.
In that case, she could only...
Change her way of thinking!
Xu Xiaoyou opened her eyes. An ethereal, transparent skill card manifested in her hand. The gorgeous golden patterns on the back lit up and transformed into light that merged into her body.
【You have condensed the skill card: Scatter and Bolt!】
"Scatter and Bolt!"
She shouted in a low voice. The next moment, her figure rapidly shifted backward, splitting into several shadows like dandelions scattering in the wind. This caused the cat-girl to instantly lose her target, leaving her frozen in place.
"Eh?" The cat-girl tilted her head slightly.
What had the girl just done? Even she hadn't been able to see the movement clearly.
As expected!
As long as she applied the strange rhythmic footwork of Back Alley Thrust entirely to evasion, it would produce a completely different effect!
She had won the gamble again!
Anya finally arrived at that moment, her eyes crimson. She clashed with the cat-girl several times in quick succession, her claws swinging wildly, actually shredding the cat-girl's spiked club into countless pieces.
Even facing sharp blades, Anya didn't retreat a single step. Instead, she gritted her teeth, intending to trade injuries and even lives.
"Are you a mad dog?"
The cat-girl clicked her tongue inwardly. She was intimidated by the little girl's suicidal fighting style. She was suppressed and forced back step by step, unable to get even half a step closer to the blonde girl.
Until the sound of sirens wailing nearby reached them. Only then did the cat-girl leap backward onto the bridge platform above the 3D projection of the sule joy drink. She crouched down, licking the pads of her claws:
"Fine, you win. Even if those guards are useless, they're quite a nuisance when they swarm like cockroaches."
A gunshot rang out, and a bullet grazed her cheek.
"So you want to kill me that badly..." The cat-girl wiped the blood from her face with her fingertip. Looking down at the girl who was aiming a gun at her with a cold expression, her gaze was fanatically suppressed. "Little darling, I'm liking you more and more."
"Dear, you must make sure not to scratch that face of yours. I'm really looking forward to the day we become one~"
The cat-girl stood up and gave Anya, who was looking at her with killing intent, a cold glance:
"Hmph, I always wondered why cats hate dogs so much."
After saying that, she made several leaps and disappeared into the forest of steel and concrete that made up the city.
Rate on N.U.
