Nitra had already undergone many changes during this fight, but most of them were about her body, energy, and abilities, as well as her relationship with Liang, who was even more of a monster than she had imagined.
However, this was the first time she had gone through a change that affected her mind and perception. As a Construct, she had always relied only on logic and calculation, her mind was fast enough for her to calculate all the movements and moves of her opponent.
She did not need to rely on instincts as others especially beasts did. Nitra like all Constructs, believed that they were above that, that with their intelligence there was no need for it.
Before she had encountered Liang, however, she had no reason to question that in any way. She could actually calculate all of her opponents' movements, even if there were hundreds of them.
Why did she need to rely on risky instincts if she could practically see the future?
Well, Liang had put her in a difficult and unusual situation, she had to either adapt like monsters do or die. Once, Liang's sword had already practically turned her into nothing, so now she wouldn't make the same mistake, definitely not twice in a row.
This made her rejoice as she had surpassed herself and was even able to block Liang's deadly attack. However, a smile appeared on her face as the next disaster was already approaching her.
In the past few minutes, she had completely forgotten that Liang was one of the best swordsmen in history. He could not only use his sword to unleash his incredible strength but also to cut through anything.
Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.
The Wind Blade was heading towards Nitra at a tremendous speed, quickly shortening the distance. The cold ground, covered in a layer of ash and thick ice, could withstand many attacks from the strongest of creatures, but Windblade passed through it with ease, splitting Zero Area in two.
At the last moment, Nitra turned her hull to the left, letting the wind blade pass through, it passed right in front of her eyes. However, she did take some damage as her left arm flew off to the side.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtNitra immediately reached for it, going to pull her arm back and repair the damage, but, not even a second later, the wind blade stopped.
The blade shattered into a multitude of random wind sweats that pounced on Nitra's arm like a pack of hungry piranhas, tearing it apart.
All Nitra could do was watch her hand turn to nothing.
'No... I won't be able to instantly repair the arm... Unlike Alucard, I definitely need time, even for a small limb like an arm I need at least ten seconds...' Nitra muttered internally while shivers ran through her body in waves.
Ten seconds was a rather short time span, many people believed it to be not much longer than a mere moment.
That was true, but not in a battle between two Transcendence Creatures, especially when one of them was the one who carried the Title - The Strongest One.
Anything could happen in ten seconds, and each of them could attack over a hundred times if they had the chance.
Whooooooooooooooooooosh.
A stream of wind lifted a layer of black ash along with particles of ice as a tall silhouette with muscles as strong as steel and a scarlet sword on his shoulder appeared behind Nitra.
"Hey, what was that? You definitely couldn't calculate my last attack, moreover, you reacted so quickly even though you didn't expect it..." Liang uttered, bringing his sword down on Nitra.
Without hesitation, Nitra turned around sharply, spinning like a whirlwind as the tip of her foot swept in front of Liang's face. Then she thrust her spear into the ground, creating an explosion of dark lightning.
The energy waves threw Liang aside. He could have easily regained his balance and landed on his feet, but at that moment his attention was focused on something else.
He was looking intently at Nitra, from whom an unusual one had begun to emanate. In fact, it was the most common aura that every creature possessed except Constructs, since they were partly mechanism and thought the same way.
"Heh, the mechanism started using instincts just like a real beast... Interesting..." Liang muttered, falling into the pile of ash that completely covered him, with only the tip of his sword sticking out.
He did nothing for a while, allowing Nitra to recover his arm.
'Agh...? What's going on? Is he up to some devious plan?" Nitra pondered, staring intently at the tip of Liang's sword. Her eyes quickly calculated the size of the pile of ashes as well as Liang's body, so she realized that he was still there and wouldn't be able to stealthily attack her.
"Wow, looks like we're not the only ones surprised..." Wain said, looking at the Guardians whose eyes were wide open, "Looks like they didn't expect Liang to miss his opportunity to suppress Nitra at all."
"Yeah... This is something no one could have predicted. Liang is actually acting weird..." Marlis muttered.
Whooooooooosh.
A stream of wind rushed out from the pile of ashes, releasing Liang who was already standing on his feet.
"Hey, I have a question for you." Liang asked with a sly smirk, "How about changing the objective of our battle?"
"Agh...?" Nitra's eyes widened in a confusion. All the time before, Liang had only threatened or taunted her, he had never once asked something like that.
"You know, meeting that immortal bastard has surprisingly managed to teach me something important." Liang grinned while pointing at Alucard.
Alucard didn't take offense at all. Perhaps he knew better than anyone that words didn't matter, what mattered was the emotions and intentions behind them and the expression on the face of the one who spoke. And then, Alucard was fine with that, and guessing what Liang was thinking, he got a wide grin with a mad glint in his eyes.
"What...? What are you talking about? Is there anything that can be taught to you?! You're a fucking monster that doesn't obey any laws or rules!" Nitra exclaimed, with a wave of her hand.
Even though their fight had stopped for a while and she had a short break, she wasn't happy about it at all. She realized how she needed to fight against Liang and even started to deal damage to him. After last night's attack, several burns appeared on Liang's body, emitting streams of black smoke.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmNitra didn't want their fight to change its direction again as then she might be at a disadvantage.
"Hahaha, you think Alucard didn't break any rules or laws? Have you forgotten that he can't be killed even if all the Progenitors attack at once?! Maybe you can seal him, but you can't kill him! I assure you, a person like him knows how to deal with boredom, but... that's not the point." Liang's face abruptly became serious and his gaze cold.
Liang let out a sigh, "Look, like you I wanted to fight on the side of the Arkans, although then I would challenge them, so technically I was never your ally, but that's not important. What matters is that this was my goal, to go alone against everyone!"
Liang glanced at his reflection in the sword and continued, "Alucard showed me that there was no point in my goal, or rather... I could accomplish even more in another way. In my case, he offered to become his friend."
Nitra flinched as she took a few steps back, she didn't even want to think about such a thing. The situation was getting crazier and crazier for her by the second. novelenglish.net . Firᴇ.net
"So... Your target also probably has another solution than becoming subordinate to the two Rulers of the Arkan World." Alucard uttered in a deep voice.
"Hm? What does that mean?" Nitra frowned, "Only if the worlds are under Arox's control can we Constructs reach incredible heights in our research and experimentation! We'll be able to do it dozens of times faster on peaceful lands!"
Liang remained silent for a while, he tapped his sword on his shoulder with a thoughtful gaze looking at the sun.
"Yeah, that sounds logical and if it's true then it's the truth, right?" Liang glanced at Nitra.
"Sure. The logic above all else. I'm definitely not wrong in my judgment." Nitra nodded with a serious look.
Liang sighed, "Then what do you say about this? In one fight, you became much stronger, uncovered the secret of your past Tree, learned about the amazing properties of the unique Spirit, and began to use your instincts instead of just calculations. Thus you discovered new areas and powers you didn't even know you had. This is definitely the truth as it happened."
Then, Liang stepped forward, "Now, answer me one question. I'll give you time to think. How many years approximately would it take to achieve what you accomplished in a single fight of less than an hour through experimentation?"
Nitra shuddered as a chill ran down her spine. Her mind was working at maximum capacity, piecing together all her knowledge and instances from this fight, making monstrous calculations.
"Hahaha! I'm bad at math, but even I know the answer!" Alucard exclaimed, as his voice echoed throughout Zero Area.
Alucard majestically raised his head and spread his arms out to the sides, proclaiming, "Eternity!"