The Dream Shifter

Chapter 234

It took her a little by surprise that he no longer played defensive with her. The look in his eye definitely changed. She could easily see it as plain as the moon in the sky. He wanted to fight her and no longer cared about gender or any other difference. His wait ended.

The speed of his movements took her off balance. It felt like he became a blur. 'It's like before…' She remembered how fast he moved to protect her. Her eyes could not follow him then, so she assumed it was a trick in his field. Yet she saw him moving inhumanly fast. Her pause left her completely open. The only hope she had was a weak instinctive defense with her arm to block him. It was not enough.

Seiji's fist struck her armored left arm with enough force to knock her up into the air. She went careening through the night air as carelessly out of control as she sent him earlier. Her head went blank for the moments that the air scrapped over her face. Nerine slowly came back around not unconscious, just empty. It took her another few moments to remember her situation and the all too familiar situation. Around her, the weapons followed her, floating without any thought to their master.

She saw the damage to her weapon. Bent blades and twisted metal filled Seiji's strike. It survived.

Nerine swapped weapons and clawed at the air. She came to a slow stop. The new weapon attached past her shoulders and connected along her collarbone. Her metal sparked alive no longer with a glow, but electricity. Freely flowing bolts of electrons jumped across her forearm. The metal covering her fingers had a claw like appearance that dug into the air. She threw herself through the air back at Seiji. The streak of her through the sky became white lines from the trails of electricity.

Pleased that she was not finished and charging back for another round, Seiji prepared for her.

The first strike she made blew out bolts of electricity all around them seeking out a ground. Her armored fist slammed into Seiji's testing out his resistance to her force. It made the earth quake and break up around him to drive his feet into the ground. However, the moment she saw him holding against her she spun around and slammed her fist into the air. She threw herself through the air getting behind him to strike his back.

Seiji barely had the time to react and stumbled forward. His torn tunic ripped to shreds at the point of impact on his back. It built a hole with hanging course fabric. The hit did little to stun him and he quickly pulled around to return the favor. His fist was too late. Electricity ran up his arm in her wake numbing him slightly. She came up behind him again slamming another fist into him. Seiji staggered forward and fought with his body to respond.

Nerine felt like she finally had an advantage for the first time in the fight. She dealt him blows that damaged him and she kept out of his grasp. 'I can do this! I can beat him!' Excitement and confidence returned to Nerine with each success. She did not want to feel eager with her advantage, but she could not help a little smile.

She bounced around the air preparing a stronger attack to rally her position. Her arm came in behind him destined for a powerful hit. However, she came to a rough stop that nearly threw her arm out of her shoulder joint. Before she had time to recover, the wind rained down on her face as she sailed through the air. She scrapped the air to return control to her. 'What happened? He did it, didn't he?'

'It's all just an act. She just compensating, that serious mature speech of hers.'

On the ground, Seiji flexed his hand as he started to have feeling return to it. Once he finished, he looked up at Nerine. "You know a trick like that only works a couple of times. You have to make the first one count. You've been using it too much and became predictable." He grinned up at her looking no less worse than a little redness from minor bruising on his back.

'I see, I still have the speed to get around him…' She threw herself back into the fight. Taking advantage of the air maneuver, Nerine got herself around to the side of Seiji. She threw in her fist scoring a hit, but he did not budge. Her eyes drew in narrowed before widening a little in surprise. He threw up his arm in defense deflecting much of the force away from him.

Electricity sparked off his arm where he blocked her attack. He brought in his free arm to counterattack, but she was already out of his range. 'She's fast…' Another strike came at him, but he dodged it. She back off from him and worked around him again.

Each attempt she made felt as if she was losing ground. The advantage she had eroded before her hands. He was getting closer to her with each pass. 'Is he reading my moves?' Her next attack had his fist grazing over her arm. The force shook around her arm rattling down to her bone, while warping the metal. It reformed quickly, but left her a sign. 'I need something more…'

Nerine dodged around Seiji's punches narrowly keeping up with his increasing reflexes. She jumped around the air continuing to move without letting him stay on her for long. Her weapon kept getting dents and tears as he got closer. 'I've got to do something now…' Nerine pushed back and built up a charge towards Seiji being obvious to invite him into an exchange.

Seiji eagerly accepted her offer and clashed fist with fist against her. The two fists rattled and shook with shockwaves exploding off them. However, flames suddenly erupted from her arm and swallowed Seiji whole with no chance to react.

The Atlantean backed off waiting to see how much damage she dealt him. He surprised her when he brought up his hand and torn away the flames from his body. Her fire laid on the ground quickly burning through the tunic. Seiji lost his top to the flames and only came out with light burns that tanned his skin.

"I see you've got more tricks up your sleeve. Come on! I'm enjoying this!" He pounded his fists together. His well-toned body did not have extreme muscle development, as one might guess for his strength. Seiji held a fairly lean appearance, but had clear muscle definition. The fading flames lit up his body making him glow a little with the sweat that covered him. He slid down into a fighting stance ready continue.

Nerine got a clear look at him. She knew how much punishment she dealt him and yet he continued. 'He doesn't even look tired… I'm going to need my stronger ones…' Her weapon disappeared swapping out for one of the many that followed around her. The new weapon held a sleeker appearance and appearing more fluid than the others did. It only covered up to her upper arms. She clawed forward charging at him. Her left arm shot forward firing a large stream of water at him. It immediately froze up to incase him.

She jumped up running along the surface at him. As she closed in with him, the ice broke throwing her off balance. Seiji aimed for her, but she air punched away. Nerine appeared from underneath throwing out her fist. Stone grew out of her arm, another change. It raced away from her slamming into Seiji. He went flying into the air as the rocky column expanded up.

Blasting into the sky, Nerine followed him. She threw out flames, her weapon changing yet again. Seiji blocked the flames with his arms and put them out by throwing out his arms. He caught sight of her closing between him dealing with the attack. She caught a clean hit on him altering his direction back into the ground. His body sped into the earth crating and tossing up large chunks of earth. Nerine kept after him.

However, Seiji already recovered from the fall and had his fist coming out to meet her as he expected a frontal assault. She managed to take his punch with another weapon swap, but it warped severely rippling through the metal. The force finally went through her body and sent her flying away. Seiji jumped out of the deep crater. He dusted himself while waiting for her to land.

Once she recovered and came charging for him again, Seiji sped for her. His speed increased past what she became accustomed to dealing with. He got around her and barely had a chance to dodge his attack. His punch flew over her, but changed into a swing down once he extended fully. She blocked with her armored arms and slammed into the ground coughing up blood.