To Fly the Soaring Tides

Chapter 277 - 270 - Blood Ocean

Spending time with Emma was always a pleasant afternoon, and the girl was eager to learn. Cira had fun imparting her wisdom, and by the time the bell tolled to mark the end of this class's session, Emma was able to cut clean through a stump as thick as her neck almost every try, though the effort put forth was evident by the sweat running down her forehead.

"Keep it up and you'll be chopping heads in no time." Cira saw her off with a warm smile.

"Right…" The schoolgirl replied, "Well, I'll see you later, then… Thanks, again!"

Emma stared curiously at Nina as Cira walked away. The little nymph had taken a great interest in spatial sorcery, which came as no surprise as it was a spatially attuned existence. She held a leaf in one hand and wiggled the other toward it with faint concentration on her face. The leaf shook, but Nina couldn't sever it in two yet. Space and the aether were like empty air to a creature like Nina, so manipulating them in specific ways would take time.

Thus, Cira left her in Emma's care for now.

"I suppose I should crush this now." Cira held a bloody crimson bead in her hand, a slight wince growing on her face as she applied more pressure. The moment it cracked she expected to be bathed in blood, but to her horror, the reality was far more in line with her expectations than she anticipated.

In an instant, the classroom disappeared. Cira was plunged into a vast expanse of blood with a splash, barely catching herself before becoming fully submerged.

"Lilith…" Cira peered in every direction and there was no sign of her. Just an endless sea of blood. While less macabre than Breeze Haven's field of theoretical corpses, this was far more unpleasant. At a glance, Cira could tell all this blood was real without a doubt. It still held the echoes of life untainted by death. "What is this?"

Cira looked up at the abyssal black sky and a dreadful giggle echoed through this bloody world, causing a chill to run up her spine.

"Do you like it?" Sometimes her laughter grew closer, and sometimes it was far. This uncomfortable moment seemed to stretch on.

"No." Cira flatly replied, "I do not—"

The sea gurgled and a thin, bloody spike rose blindingly fast. Cira barely dodged, twisting her body and pushing away from the surface. Her heart trembled as she realized that's exactly where it was aimed. Not a trace of malice in the air, and Cira was almost ran through just like that. This was not the first time in recent days that her barrier had failed her either.

Between the shock, shortcomings, and absolute lack of mental preparedness, a seed of panic grew. Cira didn't even have time to ponder as a blanket of pressure bore down on her from overhead, almost as if the abyss above was condensing on her. She tried to fight it, but this worldly pressure seemed to stifle the willpower keeping her afloat.

Cira watched helplessly as her useless shields all cracked and fell away. Another slash came from below and she noticed the bloody sea was approaching fast. An attempt to reveal her orichalcum staff to block the attack proved utterly fruitless.

She was cut off entirely. Not just from Breeze Haven, but even that cloudy space inside her soul she had been storing the extravagant Paradise Pendant and various staves in lately.

"Impossible—" Cira cut herself off with a sharp scream as a bloody slash cleaved her outstretched hand off.

Just what is this place? A pocket realm full of blood? Absurd.

She was forced to take this fight seriously no matter the other's intentions. That much was clear now. Cira swallowed the pain and clenched her remaining fist as she struggled to heal the other. Even though she had the other half of her hand and the cut was surgically clean, it took all of her might to start reconnecting it.

She had to dodge again as another spike rose from the sea. She was ready this time and pushed herself out of the way, but two more were waiting for her. Cira withdrew a heavy sword from a pouch at her waist and held it up to block. This was a blade tempered with enchantments by her crew back on Acher to prepare for her vestigial nectar acquisition, but it shattered instantly against the bloody spikes.

Cira frantically twisted away, but the hand she just healed was impaled as her shoulder got sliced open. She let out a cry and desperately pushed away from the sky, but it felt heavier than ever and there was only more bloody blades to meet her up there.

She cried out in pain as the same hand was cut clean off again. Blood seeped through her robes as a large wound was opened on her chest as well. Any lower and she would have been holding her intestines in.

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She shivered at the thought. This had all happened in a handful of seconds since Cira crushed the bead. At first, she thought this was some sick form of training, but that last flurry was life-threatening. Cira's spells were only growing weaker as the pressure built, and her confidence shrank. Her will was all but extinguished in the face of this hopeless situation.

Lilith only laughed, having not even shown herself yet, "There is no place for holy magic here." The wounds Cira was desperately trying to heal all gradually lost their golden shimmer and blood poured out unbidden. Now spikes and slashes came constantly. It was everything Cira could do to dodge half of them.

"Y-you." Cira started to feel dizzy from all the blood loss. She was basically out of moves, and her opponent had brought her to this state so simply. It was astonishing. She hadn't felt like this in a very long time if ever.

Cira found herself enraged in the face of this treatment. She held no true enmity with this woman no matter how unpleasant she was, but this was going too far regardless of intent. Cira was covered in cuts and holes at this point, bleeding like a pig and barely clinging to her last shred of consciousness.

She had to do something. Anything to turn this situation around. Inspiration, or maybe instinct kicked in and she turned into water, instantly reforming into a slightly smaller version of herself without wounds.

This is… not the best solution.

There was still a phantom pain that throbbed in her soul, but for the most part she had regained complete faculties over her body and recovered. Not only was she smaller, but she felt a noticeable drop in her own vitality.

This method was imperfect, and it filled Cira with dread to watch her blood fall into the ocean and disappear. As if that piece of her was lost forever, claimed by this world of Lilith's dominion.

More blades and spikes of shimmering blood came at Cira, but she manipulated her undinely form to open up or dodge according to each attack. Not a single one hit her. This was almost a wind in her sail, but the surrounding laughter unnervingly grew louder.

"A cute trick." She let out one last chuckle before the atmosphere over the blood ocean grew cold. "But it will not help you here of all places."

Countless needles of shimmering blood formed around Cira like the whole world had turned into her iron maiden. They closed in mercilessly without hesitation and all Cira could muster was to go all liquid. There was no way to weave through them all, and the rest simply burned holes through her.

The pain was severe enough to shake her focus, and she reformed after breaking through the bloody prison, noticeably smaller than before. She was missing a lot of herself, having been whittled away through this short battle.

But even then, she didn't have time to rest. All the needles swiftly turned around and started following her in a swarm. Cira tried flying away, but at this point the pressure was pulling her further down no matter what she tried. The needles pestered her incessantly, poking holes through her arms and legs as she furled forward, but it was a losing game. At most she was forming a downward arc.

The bloody storm of needles quickly caught up and took shape to form a massive arrow bearing down on her as Cira plummeted toward the sea.

That was it. All of what Cira previous thought were her best life-saving tricks were shattered just like that. There was only one thing left Cira could pull out of her hat.

Just as the towering arrow met her at the surface, Cira let out a roar, "Enough!" An explosion of dark smoke burst out, leaving an empty pocket in the sea of blood and blunting the tip of the arrow. The ominous smoke flowed out and began to cover the surrounding sea. Cira floated in the middle, a gnarled staff of dull wood in her hands.

The Auld Sprig seemed to mimic her fury in this moment as myriad color flames danced along the blackened ocean of blood. The fire sparked and leapt up into the sky. Like solar flares, rainbow streams of flame rose before flowing into Cira's body as her form quickly regained its original size and state. Her remaining wounds were swallowed in the all-colored fire and quickly closed up.

Meanwhile, Cira could feel her aura swelling with mana consumed by her cursed smoke. She was eating away at the endless blood sea, throwing limits to the wind. Somehow even the dull Auld Sprig seemed to flare with a dark brilliance.

In that moment, finally pushing into the depths of her cursed power after all these years, Cira felt a touch of comprehension strike her. The dark smoke submitted this bloody world to her will, to remain or be destroyed on a whim, while the ever-changing flames forged her will into the world. This was how she alleviated the pressure surrounding her and reclaimed her blood from Lilith's domain in one go. Like a cycle of creation and destruction, she was freed from one pitiable fate to burn another one into existence.

The myriad flames all converged before Cira and started to eat away at the world that trapped her. "Now show yourself, before I destroy this place."

Cira could see pinholes of light coming through from the outside world and suddenly a tear in space opened up. Lilith stepped through in a pristine white set of robes, piercing Cira with her gaze.

"My, how terrifying." She glanced around with an impressed look on her face before her expression changed drastically, "But I can't have you doing any more damage to my Vast Sanguine."

The crushing weight from above came back in full force if not doubled, seeming to originate from Lilith's cold eyes. Cira watched in disbelief as the Auld Sprig simply faded away. All her smoke and myriad flames were snuffed out in the blink of an eye.

At this point Cira realized she was horrified of this woman. The primordial demon Connie had also possessed the ability to counter everything of Cira's, but this complete trampling was downright demoralizing.

It was getting harder to breath as Cira stared up at her in futility. All she could muster was one word.

"Why?"

Lilith's laughter was usually lighthearted and aloof, but now it was frigid and full of bloodlust. It echoed through this world as Cira sank helplessly into the resplendent ocean of blood.

"Isn't it obvious by now? Roman has been far too soft on you." Lilith's words reverberated through the sea and Cira only sunk deeper. "And aren't you were leaving soon? You really forced my hand, dear."