Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Chapter 223 - Gladdened To Entertain. Part 1

Hal's exclamation was one of Elation as the attack had knocked Arya away from under the Pentagram and the tendrils that had been holding her legs afloat were no longer attached to said legs but were still upright.

However, the attack had not truly injured Arya and right before Hal's eyes, the tendrils wound together and formed a Board that floated in mid-air.

Arya leaped on top of it and with it, she flew to Hal's height where his wings were keeping him airborne.

Arya joined her hands together and began to cast another spell with which was complete in a second in the form of another mini pentagram that blasted Hal with Blood Energy.

It surrounded Hal and attacked him but it might as well have been caressing him for all the effect it had before Hal summoned Executioner and slashed down to separate and move out of the midst of the Blood Energy.

But he did not stop there and sent an attack of Devil Energy to Arya.

She summoned her Armament as well -which Hal was a little surprised to see it was a gigantic red scythe- and divided it as well.

"What is with you ladies and large weapons?" Hal shook his head as he was referring to Emily's War hammer.

He had meant for it to be rhetorical but Arya still replied, albeit snidely,

"We know what it is like to fight in wars. We formed these weapons with our minds set on slaughter." She said.

Hal looked down at Emily who shrugged to show that Arya was right.

She had formed a war hammer because it was her family's signature weapon and it had become their signature weapon because they had slaughter in mind.

Arya suddenly noticed that the Devil attack she had separated did not dissipate but were still on either side of her as though waiting for something.

She whirled around with her scythe and cut the two halves again but they only separated and remained floating there.

She divided those ones again when she noticed she was not actually cutting them, they were just separating before she could.

She was right.

As a Mid-World Devil, Hal's control over Devil energy was no longer unstable and he could manipulate them into any shape he wished, which were something Arya discovered as all floating eight fog of Devil Energy formed into terrifying-looking curved Daggers that, under Hal's careful control whirled about Arya and cut her up before dissipating.

Arya's eyes widened from shock that they had managed to penetrate her skin which should not have been possible.

She looked at Hal again and this time, she did not consider his transformation as some attempt at pseudo-Demonification, 

"What are you?" She asked.

Hal smiled, 

"You already said it once, have you forgotten? I'm the Devil" 

With that, Hal vanished and even though Arya could see his path quite clearly, he was so much faster than he should have been with his cultivation base that she only managed to twist away and catch his strike with Executioner on her Arm as opposed to her back which he had been targeting.

Quickly, she controlled her oval board of tendrils to move her back and it was so fast it left afterimages and was a speed Hal did not have any hope of following.

While Hal was smiling, he was actually quite worried and trying his very best to be cautious as his plan was not completely in effect yet, 

'At least it's working' he thought.

'Press her harder' Grimoire advised and Hal nodded mentally as he flew towards Arya who slashed with her scythe to strike Hal but he managed to avoid it at the last second and even though she was quite quick with the large weapon, Hal still succeeded in slamming the flat of Executioner into her stomach.

*Bang*

"Ack" Arya groaned while still working to stomach the pain (No pun intended).

She was right that the scythe was good for slaughter, however, for a close combat one-on-one battle, weapons with flexibility are preferred and while Executioner was not that flexible either, it was still better than the scythe which was larger than it.

That said, Hal was only still taking advantage of Arya's adjustment time which would be over soon.

And sure enough,

He was flying in for another strike when Arya swung and he made to dodge but she simply slid the handle of the scythe so that she was soon grabbing the part of the weapon just before the curved blade and struck him in the face with the long handle.

*Bang*

*Puchi*

The hit smacked him away and he won't bled before he smacked right into the ground, 

*Bangg!!*

He sat up only to see Arya's scythe already descending to skewer him to the ground.

He rolled over to avoid it before smacking the scythe blade with Executioner and knocking it away.

After which he took flight again and slashed another attack at her. An attack Arya deflected with a frown on her face, a frown that quickly morphed into a look of rage and with it, her green eyes turned crimson.

"So you're finally ready to be serious?" Hal asked while holding Executioner by his side.

His words coupled with his actions showed he was well aware that Arya had not been performing at her best and Everyone on the scene including Frank who was now by his sister's side, felt he should have taken advantage.

And if he couldn't take advantage when she was not serious, what hope did he have in beating her when she was.

It was true, Arya's attention had been on the Pentagram and her urge to get there and absorb what was rightfully hers. Hal had been taking advantage of those lapses in attention to land successful strikes, however, he did not have even a slimmer of hope of defeating her even then.

She was much too powerful.

Emily would have a much better chance at it.

Then again, as he had told the Ladies, this was just a distraction.

Arya couldn't care less why Hal wanted her to be serious but she would make sure she gutted him. 

His handsome face be damned!

Hal grinned as he noticed Arya's resolution and gripped Executioner tighter as she vanished from his sights and appeared right in front of him to strike.

It was a show of confidence in her strength and abilities that she did not attack from behind.

Hal slammed Executioner against her scythe and the force knocked him back just as he wished so as to gain some separation but Arya was already behind him and slashing at him.

He twisted but she still cut through his ribcage.

He was just too slow.

Hal groaned and flew backward.

Arya had not only struck him, but she had also poisoned the wound the same way she had poisoned her attack to Emily which Hal had deflected.

Just like back then, Hal's Bloodline reared up, devoured the poison and began to refine it just like it did the other one.

After the poison had been devoured, Regeneration kicked in and his slashed ribcage healed up.

Arya frowned but simply flew forward on her tendril-board to finish the job and she and Hal continued to spar until Hal raised his left hand and claws extended from it as he slashed her midsection.