Love Against All Odds

Chapter 57 : Yukino Aguria

"Kill her!" As soon as these two words were spoken, two of the black-cloaked figures pulled their swords out, approaching the girl who was staring at them without blinking. 

        The girl seemed tired, but she didn't show any weakness. Her eyes showed a look of bravery and with a mixture of anger and hatred.

       Her lip crept into a smirk, "Open the gate of the snake charmer! Ophiuchus!"

       A humongous dark-colored snake started to coil the small house, unbeknownst to the dark guild members. The snake spirit seemed to be partly animal and partly mechanical in nature. Her body was covered in a series of massive dark scales. She had light pupil-less eyes, and a pair of massive fangs sprouting from the jaw. The lower jaw and tongue were metallic, with the tongue in the form of a massive blade with jagged edges. [Reminder : In my story, Ophiuchus is a female.]

"Celestial barrier!" a cerulean-colored semi-sphere appeared, enveloping her, preventing the attacks outside.

       As Ophiuchus continued to wrap tightly around the small shrine, the room was trembling, and the walls and the roof started to crack. The black figures started trembling because of the enormous magic pressure they felt. The bricks had fallen, resulting in the broken masonry of the house being scattered on the floor. It was the moment they found out that the area was engulfed by a giant dark creature.

       Before they could react, the snake ejected the poison from her mouth. The snake's head dived in, as the metallic blade-like tongue sliced them before biting. Soon, the whole area was covered with screams.

• • • • •

"Baby girl," the snake spirit, in her human form, called, as she walked towards her master after she had taken the key chain from a pile of broken table, "are you okay?" she broke the iron chains.

"Either they're overestimating themselves, or they're underestimating me," the celestial spirit mage smiled weakly, "they put my keys on the table but they didn't even seal my magic," It was lucky for her that she mastered up summoning her spirits without keys. She got up slowly as soon as she was freed from the chains.

"You can still walk, right?" Ophiuchus asked her, as she supported her master.

      Yukino nodded. 

"I'm sure you can still summon me," Ophiuchus asked, which earned the second nod from the young woman.

"Good, All I need is additional time to kill that traitor."

      They exited the broken area, only to find the familiar blond-haired woman standing in front of them. In her hand was a black sword, emitting violet-dark aura.

• • • • •

"Hello Lucelia-sama," Imitatia said, as she entered the battle field confidently. In her hand, was a large pinkish flower-shaped metal shield, with eight petals made of metal blades.

"Oh, sorry, my mistake, you're not Lucelia," she walked steadily, at the same time, she pulled a large sword with a rose motif, a spiked handguard and a large, wide blade. 

"SHUT UP, TRATIOR," Ophiuchus shouted, as she charged forward, launching in a powerful poison attack.

       Imitatia dodged the attack to the side swiftly, as she threw her flower shield, which rotated in rapid speed to hit the spirit. She deftly wielded her sword, launching a counterattack against the spirit.

      Imitatia had been Yukino's sparring partner in the training sessions, meaning that Ophiuchus was familiar to Imitatia's battlestyle. Thus, after exchanging three blows, Ophiuchus quickly discerned that this evil one was much stronger than Imitatia she used to duel. Her current opponent's swordsmanship was empowered by the darkness with a style focused on attacking the vital points.