My Blacksmith System: Transforming my Weapons into Beautiful Maidens
Chapter 53: Confrontation

Chapter 53: Confrontation

Yuki’s flames swirled around her body as shadow spikes began to attack her from all sides.

Her flames were fast and swift, making it easier for her to protect herself against the shadow attacks.

But she knew she was at a disadvantage. Being inside Echidna’s domain was bad enough, considering every single corner of the domain was made of shadows.

She could easily break out of the domain with her powers, but that would also mean getting Rashin involved. She was dead set on keeping him out of it.

Secondly, her powers were not at 100%—40% at best—since Rashin had already weakened her with his white aura cells.

In other words, Yuki was going to lose if the fight went on any longer.

Echidna could already tell. Both she and Yuki stood in a single spot, allowing their abilities to carry on the battle in their stead.

And still...

"What is this, Yuki?! Is this what you’ve reduced yourself to? You can’t even defend yourself against the likes of me? You’re the Fourth Hakia, for damn sake!"

Echidna yelled.

With her voice came a slash to Yuki’s cheek—one of the shadows had managed to slip past her defense.

"Fight back, dammit! Stop standing there like you’re weak or something!" Echidna yelled again.

As if responding to the threat, Yuki swiped her hand to the side, sending a rush of flames toward Echidna.

Echidna was quick to put up a shadow barrier in front of her to block the dark flames from harming her.

While she was able to protect herself, she lost sight of her target.

"It’s over, Echidna."

Echidna was shocked to see Yuki standing behind her, her hand resting on her head as flames danced around her wrist.

All it would take was for Yuki to transfer the flames to Echidna’s body, and it would all be over. She would burn to death and most likely have to wait another month before she could be brought back to life.

"The Yuki I know would have burned me already. The fact that you haven’t means one of two things. One, you don’t have any energy left to even conjure your flames. And two, you don’t have the guts to kill an old friend. So which is it, I wonder?" Echidna smiled, almost as if she could see right through Yuki.

Then again, Yuki wasn’t exactly the type to wear her emotions on her face—with the exception of Rashin, of course.

"If it’s to protect him, I will indeed burn you to death," Yuki finally spoke.

Clicking her tongue in anger, Echidna refuted, "You would kill one of your own for a human male?"

"Not a human male, but Rashin. And I do not wish to kill you either. All I want is for us to talk and maybe, if possible, get you to see the good in him so you’d stop trying to kill him," Yuki replied.

"That man killed some Hakias. He killed one of ours, and you still want to defend him? Are you all right in the head, Yuki?"

"And we are trying to take over their world, probably killing millions in the process. Is it wrong for a person to protect the ones he holds dear?"

"..."

Echidna lowered her head. "How foolish," she muttered. "I knew you were sympathetic, but this... this is just another level of idiocy."

She slightly turned her head. "If you stop me here, do you think the rest of the Hakias won’t finish what I started? How many of them do you think you can stop with this pathetic nature you’ve adopted?"

Yuki looked to the side. "I’m sure I’ll think of something."

"All right, that’s it. I’m done."

Just like that, Yuki felt multiple shadows stab her in the back, her eyes flaming up before she fell to her knees.

Blood dripped onto the ground and was immediately absorbed, leaving only dark patches as a reminder.

"Ahh, it pains my pretty heart to hurt you this way, Yuki. You’re just so stubborn, and it’s cute—very cute, extremely cute. Still, that man has to die. Forget being a threat, I’ll kill him for trying to kill you."

Echidna turned around, stretching her hand to the side for her umbrella to swiftly appear in her grasp.

"You just stay here while I go take care of that disgusting creature," she said as she dusted her dress.

"N... no..." Yuki could barely say a word. Every time she opened her mouth, blood poured to the ground.

Echidna glared a bit and then sighed.

"Seriously, a human male should be disgusting at this point. Anyway, you just wai—"

She paused, turning her head to the side as if she had just sensed something inside the domain with her.

At first, she thought someone had managed to slip right in, but it was impossible for anyone to access her domain from the outside, so she immediately dismissed the thought.

Until...

She noticed a small crack in front of her.

It started small and then gradually began to increase.

Before she could fully understand what was going on, Rashin stuck his hand into the hole and grabbed her by the neck.

"Got you."

Rashin used his strength to pull her out, completely shattering the domain she had created and forcing her back into the real world.

He tossed her to the side, her body crashing to the ground like a rag doll.

Yuki, on the other hand, was back to where she was, kneeling beside Eri while bleeding out.

Eri took charge, using her healing magic to fix her up.

Meanwhile, Rashin stood in the middle, his dagger in one hand as he watched Echidna stand to her feet.

Wearing the most disgusted expression ever seen, Echidna looked at Rashin, her face red with anger, steam practically radiating from her.

"How dare you?!!!" she screamed. "How dare you lay your filthy hands on me?! Are you some kind of idiot?! Huh?! How dare you touch someone so beautiful with your—"

BAM!

Rashin charged forward, landing a direct punch on her face that sent her crashing through the wall and landing outside the mansion.

He was sure he had bashed her face in with that punch.

If that was all it took for him to deal that much damage, Rashin knew he would win the battle.

Ready to charge outside and fight Echidna, he suddenly sensed another presence beside him.

[Auto Barrier: A skill that activates when an unexpected attack comes into play.]

His barrier protected him from the blade aimed directly at his neck.

And it was from a familiar figure—Rouga.

He had a sinister smile on his face, his eyes glowing.

Tak!

Rashin pushed back, giving himself space from his new opponent while occasionally looking to the side to make sure Echidna was not back on her feet.

"Would you look at you? You’ve grown so much. You have all the pillars trying to kill you, man. Should have stayed low-key, cocky bastard," Rouga said as he moved closer.

Eri, who was still healing Yuki, began to panic.

Taking on two Hakias? Rashin was strong, but not that strong.

Not like she could help him to begin with—most of the skills she had were one-hit wonders. When faced against someone with speed, she was basically useless.

All of a sudden, she focused real hard on healing Yuki. If she could heal her fast enough, maybe—just maybe—she would be able to fight alongside Rashin.

’This guy again... I thought I killed him last time. I could kill him again, but something tells me the girl should come first. I can’t risk her getting the upper hand,’ Rashin thought to himself, gripping his dagger even tighter as the white cell aura leaked from his body.

(Master, I wish you’d have more faith in us. We can battle this guy while you go and handle the girl.)

Satella spoke.

’I know. The issue here is, she is very strong. I doubt I can win in a one-on-one confrontation without you as my weapon,’ Rashin replied.

(It seems Master has forgotten—I can transfer bits of my abilities to other weapons. If you need me, I can just switch, same as Daki.)

"Alright then. I’ll leave this to you."

Instantly, both Daki and Satella appeared in front of Rashin, their bodies carrying the same aura he had.

"As you wish... Master," they said in unison.

Before Rashin charged forward, he looked at Eri and uttered, "Get yourself and Yuki to safety."

And with that, he was gone, jumping down from the hole in the building and landing on the ground.

As soon as he landed, he found Echidna standing at the side, waiting for him to come.

But it wasn’t just that—around her were four dead villagers, one of whom had his head ripped off, now gripped in Echidna’s hand.

"What took you so long? I was getting bored waiting for you. You really know nothing about how to treat a woman," she said with a smile before tossing the head to the side.

The injury Rashin was sure he had inflicted on her had completely vanished.