Fuming, Eva stood stock still with her arms bent from the strain of tense muscles against bone. At least for as far as bone and muscles went before turning to liquid blood.
The hunter’s corrupted arm extended after her once again. She didn’t wince as it grasped around her, squeezing her tight. Neither did she care if it were drawing her into the hunter or pushing her far away. The moment the fingers clasped around her torso, Eva sprung into motion.
Her limbs of blood whipped around, losing their human shape as their ends turned to sharp spears of crystal. The sharp spears did as sharp spears were wont to do and pierced straight into the limb. They twisted, drilling into the arm as deep as they could go.
The hand tried to release Eva as it drew back to the hunter. Its fingers splayed out wide. With Eva connected to her arms and legs, she stayed pressed up against the hand.
Eva stopped her drills of blood. She was getting closer to the hunter and had no doubts that a sword would be waiting for her if she did not get off.
However, she wasn’t done yet. The four spears split apart into a hundred needle-thin strands. Each strand burrowed through the arm. Some took the path of least resistance and swam straight through existing veins of blood, blocking the entire vein as they moved. Others pressed through dense muscle. They didn’t make it as far up the arm as the vein needles did, but as the arm compressed down, they still ended up burrowing further than they should have.
Eva cut her arms and legs off at the skin of the arm, almost falling to the ground out of the open hands until she blinked forwards. She returned to existence behind the hunter once again. It was the point safest from the sword.
Not, however, safest from the shards of ice that the hunter filled the air with the second she disappeared. She didn’t fling them at Eva. They simply hung in the air.
One shard wound up in Eva’s stomach. A thin slit right through her stomach lining, leaking into the rest of her chest. A few other tiny blades caused other lacerations. Nothing life threatening. At least, nothing in her brain. For everything else, Eva merely redirected some of her own blood to patch up her injuries.
As she did so, she snapped her newly formed fingers together.
A muffled thump came from the hunter’s arm. Veins burst, sending violet blood everywhere; like a series of gopher tunnels blown up by ignited gas with strips of flesh replacing the dirt. Smoke started to leak from across the entire arm, all the way up to just before the eyeball at the shoulder. The veins were only evidence of superficial wounds, however.
The real damage was inside.
A few tendrils of Eva’s blood had wrapped around the bone. Though much thicker and… stretchier than even a thigh bone, it didn’t hold up to her blood magic. She had concentrated a decent amount of blood right around the elbow in the hopes of completely blowing off the lower half of her arm as well.
Unfortunately, it looked like she would have to settle for it hanging limp at the hunter’s side.
The screaming hunter, Eva realized as she took a few steps backwards. Just enough to dodge a swing of the sword. The swing crashed hard into the ground, lacking the modicum of elegance and control that the hunter had displayed so far. It hit so hard that the blade’s tip actually snapped.
The hunter dropped the rest of the sword. In a momentary flash, a thin rapier appeared in her already thrusting hand.
Eva’s step back took her just barely out of range. It still scraped against her bare chest, but not enough to puncture her skin.
Cold ice jutted off the tip of the blade before Eva could take another step. The ice pressed into her chest, driving straight through her lung and heart before reaching the other side.
The hunter put on a victorious grin, even laughing. “Come back again. I dare you.”
Eva grasped at the rapier with her hands, leaving a trail of slime-like blood as she staggered back, gasping. Something that only had the hunter laughing harder.
Behind the hunter, Catherine and Srey both moved forwards at the sight of Eva being stabbed. Eva wasn’t sure what they were going to do. They hadn’t done anything so far. But they hardly mattered anymore either.
Looking down, Eva watched as the spike of ice came out of her chest. The nearly transparent crystal had its entire tip stained black. Blood sprayed from the hole, splattering against the ground.
She watched it fall with a wide grin on her face.
Eva snapped her fingers. The blood coating the icicle and the slimy blood—just thick enough to avoid triggering the freezing aura—exploded. Metal and ice went flying, cutting off the hunter’s maniacal laughter.
