Darkness engulfed Alexa. The bespectacled woman disappeared instantly.
"Return her now, or you'll regret it," Klaus stated. His voice was calm, but a threat was present in every word he uttered.
The mysterious woman giggled. "You'll have to go through my corpse first if you want her back."
Klaus furrowed his brow.
Silence fell upon the dark alley. Klaus and the woman in the gray hoodie stood facing each other. The atmosphere was heavy, as if the world itself held its breath in anticipation of an inevitable battle.
The black-haired woman extended her hand, summoning the hidden power of darkness within her. A low rumble accompanied the dance of darkness that emerged from her palm. Black shadows appeared from every corner, forming giant hands. In an instant, the moonlight that had previously illuminated them turned into a grim darkness, as if following the will of the mysterious woman.
"Let's see if you can still talk big now."
In the blink of an eye, the hand-shaped shadows surrounded Klaus, constricting his movements. Klaus tightly gripped his metal sphere, focusing his concentration on the impending attack. He hurled his metal sphere towards the mysterious woman. However, the darkness seemed to understand the language of the wind itself, altering the trajectory of the attack with finesse, causing it to strike a suddenly erected wall of inky blackness before the woman.
Those metal spheres vanished.
Smiling arrogantly, the mysterious woman dared Klaus to fight her.
"I'll show you something better," she said.
She conjured dark balls the size of human heads, and in an instant, they shot towards Klaus at high speeds.
He reacted with quick reflexes, moving swiftly to dodge the incoming attacks. However, the mysterious woman created the dark balls relentlessly. They continued to chase Klaus without pause, posing a constant threat. He leaped, ducked, and rolled on the floor, but the attacks still hit with deadly force.
"Fu fu fu! Dance like a circus seal," the mysterious woman taunted.
In this tense moment, Klaus decided to stop evading. Taking out one remaining metal sphere from his coat sleeve, he channeled mana into it. As Klaus threw it towards his opponent, a dazzling light radiated from the metal sphere, engulfing all the dark balls in white.
Opening her eyes wide, the mysterious woman was surprised that Klaus still had a metal sphere. She quickly called upon the darkness around her, creating a black wall to block the light-infused metal sphere.
Thud!
A resounding collision echoed as the two opposing objects struck each other. However, the black wall absorbed the light from the metal sphere. Not long after, his remaining weapon was also swallowed by the darkness.
"That surprise attack was quite something. But it's not enough to beat me. I'll give you a little lesson."
Klaus squinted as the mysterious woman summoned more darkness around her. The air hummed in his ears, and the darkness swirled above the shadows.
"Get ready."
Waves of darkness erupted from her outstretched hands, spreading through the air like a shadowy tsunami. The force of the attack sent ripples into the ground, threatening to engulf Klaus. However, he remained calm and focused as his eyes tracked the approaching attack.
As the wave of darkness drew closer, Klaus moved with startling agility. His body flowed like water, avoiding the approaching shadows with remarkable movements. The woman was dumbfounded as she watched Klaus twist, turn, and leap, barely touching the edges of the encroaching wave. Her brow furrowed in frustration, a realization dawning upon her—this man was unlike any opponent she had ever faced before.
"Eat this!"
The woman clenched her fists, summoning dark energy into her hands. She stretched her hands forward, and a multitude of dark tendrils shot towards Klaus like vipers seeking their prey. The tendrils moved in an odd, fluid manner, aiming to entrap Klaus in their grip. But once again, his movements proved unpredictable.
Klaus sidestepped the tendrils with lightning-fast reflexes, his footwork impeccable. He dodged and weaved between the approaching vipers-like shadows, avoiding their grasp by mere inches. The woman's eyes widened in disbelief. Not a single one of those attacks hit Klaus.
Squeezing her hand, the woman summoned the essence of darkness into her other hand, causing it to crackle with energy. With a victorious smile, she released dark bolts, each attack seeking distance to close in on Klaus. The alley was illuminated with bursts of dark energy as the bolts crackled through the air.
Klaus responded with astonishing movements.He anticipated the trajectory of each bolt, slipping between the gaps with the grace of a seasoned acrobat. His body seemed to dance with the dark lightning, every move calculated to perfection. Frustration began to well up within her.
"No way! How can he always evade all my attacks!"
Realizing that long-range attacks were ineffective against Klaus, she changed her approach. With a battle cry that echoed like a canyon, she charged forward, her hands clenched as darkness energy surrounded her fists.
However, as she lunged, Klaus remained in place.
Thud!
The air vibrated as the impact filled the entire alley. Klaus held back the woman's finishing blow with his bare hands. Naturally, the woman widened her eyes in astonishment.
"No fucking way," she muttered.
Klaus grinned. "What's the matter? Surprised, huh?"
Gritting her teeth, the mysterious woman was provoked by his taunt. She accumulated more darkness energy in her hands. Then, she launched a rapid flurry of punches.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Of course, Klaus didn't stay idle when faced with the back-to-back punches. Dodging and parrying, he deflected every incoming blow. His movement became a complex whirl, sidesteps turning into quick pivots.
"Now, it's my turn!" Klaus said.
He met her with measured and fierce counterattacks, his punches swift and accurate. Every time his fist met empty air, Klaus had already moved further ahead, ready to retaliate.
The tide of battle shifted. The woman found herself cornered. Instead of launching attacks, she had to defend against his barrage of punches. Her confidence turned into frustration as irritation took over her mind. She finally realized that Klaus was dead serious with his words.
Bam! Bam!
"Arrrrgh!"
The mysterious woman grunted in pain as his punch broke her ribs. For the first time, the dark energy she prided herself on failed to protect her.
"Damn it!" she groaned through clenched teeth.
Klaus's relentless assault had pushed the mysterious woman to her limit. She panted, her movements slowed, and the darkness shrouding her body receded.
In a desperate last attempt, she gathered the remnants of her mana and unleashed a massive wave of darkness, sweeping the alley with a force that seemed to devour everything in its path.
"Eat this!" she cried out.
The darkness attack was immense and swift. Klaus had no time to dodge, and in an instant, he was engulfed in a sea of shadows.
Thud!
The impact reverberated within the alley.
After expending a large amount of mana, the mysterious woman dropped to her knees. Her breath was ragged, and cold sweat streamed down her face. Though exhausted, a grin spread across her face. She couldn't hide the euphoria in her chest after successfully defeating Klaus.
"Hehehe. No matter how strong you are, if you're stuck in my [Dark Force], you can't get out unless I say so. Even if you're a Top-Class Awakener."
She laughed loudly, breaking the silence in the dark alley. However, she didn't know that Klaus surpassed even a Top-Class Awakener.
Suddenly, a tense energy filled the air. Darkness oozed out from the shadows. Naturally, the mysterious woman twisted her face in confusion. It wasn't she who was controlling them.
As she tried to make sense of what was happening, a man emerged from the shadows. In his hands was a bespectacled woman, unconscious. Their appearance left the woman gaping in astonishment.
"How is this possible?"
Hovering in the air, Klaus grinned as he saw his enemy was dumbfounded.
"How can you get out of the [Dark Force]? No one's ever managed to do it," the mysterious woman exclaimed in disbelief.
Then, her face turned pale. Her body trembled in fear. Her animal instincts screamed at her to flee, as if a greater predator stood before her. However, Klaus's aura froze her in place.
Darkness crept over her hands and feet. She floated in the air as shadows lifted her. Naturally, she struggled to control them, but they refused to obey her.
"Impossible... my power... what's wrong with my power...." She was panicking.
Klaus chuckled. "You may own the [Dark Force], but I rule it. You are a man, whereas I am a god, your god."
The mysterious woman swallowed hard.
"Now, let's see your face."
Darkness in the form of hands unveiled the gray hood that covered her head. The shadow concealing her face vanished, revealing her appearance. Her skin was dark like milk chocolate, and her eyes were yellow like falling leaves.
As Klaus saw her face, his intention to torture the person who kidnapped his friend vanished.
