*
With sheer strength, she parried the scythe with the back of her clenched fist. First blocking it from further digging into her neck, she could have evaded by simply moving a centimetre away, but she chose to stay still and swing it away with her arm.
With one swift motion, she utilises the newly materialised great sword's range and swings it. Inching too close, Ledaine blocks it with the scythe's handle like a staff. Ledaine didn't need {Cocytus} to get out of this predicament, one measly sliding of the great sword's edge and the handle might have been sliced along with Ledaine, but he promptly executed a manoeuvre with his scythe. The handle tipped onto the flat of the blade, carrying his entire body weight like a vaulting pole, and he swings his leg with that momentum.
Yggdrasil let's go of the sword with her left arm, and swings it at the encroaching kick, barely blocking it with a tough collision on her bones. She swings the great sword with her right arm from below, forcing Ledaine to somersault backwards into safety, while creating distance. The kick ruptured her left arm from the elbow downwards, perhaps magical beings were all glass cannons in this manner. The laws of magic favoured the attacking side so much, while defences rarely hold on in supernatural fights.
Outwardly, she bore no wounds, and the fractured arm healed near instantly. As an A grade, she could even survive a decapitation every once in a while.
"... You did improve. Bothersome, I've reached the peak of martial prowess. Refining you art only makes you harder to kill, not unkillable." (Ledaine)
"My martial arts isn't the only thing that has been tempered." (Yggdrasil)
Effortlessly, she lifted the great sword with her right hand. It looked almost weightless, but the amount of energy it packed could match a nuclear bomb. That much energy had been distributed just to reinforce and sharpen it, preventing it from breaking. When both parties could freely manipulate their magic to form weapons or reinforce body parts, victory came down to whoever was better at rationing their mana pool.
At the same time, using too little and the enemy might tear apart one's defences like paper and kill in that same strike. It was a high level balancing act, she wouldn't be surprised if Ledaine was even able to read her own mana pool. One low step, her body flashes forward to close the distance. Her arms speed up far beyond the speed of sound. Without the visual acuity of these two monsters, no one could hope to observe her movements. With the long edge of the great sword, she attacks a wide area with a powerful swing from below.
Ledaine hops over it to his right, spinning in mid air like a dance that connect to his scythe swing. This scythe wasn't formed from his magic, but it had been with him for a long time. It was an ancient magical weapon capable of being stored in another dimension, and withstanding powerful attacks. The scythe passed around the sword and headed straight for Yggdrasil's neck, to which she ducked and spun.
Copying Ledaine's move, she brought the great sword back to facing her opponent with a low swing. The scythe twists mid air and swings down, colliding with the great sword mid swing. The attack was stopped, but the reverberations numbed their wrists. Ledaine pressed both toned arms into the shaft, embedding the scythe into the ground and stopping the attack in its tracks. This wasn't enough reason to stop.
Yggdrasil slipped closer, letting go of her great sword. It dematerialised behind her as energy was redistributed to her fists.
"{Feed}. " (Yggdrasil)
Ledaine dodged the oncoming punches, storing his weapon once more. He swung his own fist, causing their arms to collide and cutting short both of their punches mid air. Having made Yggdrasil stagger, he regained his bearings and opens with feints. One, two, then he swings his other arm, sending Yggdrasil reeling in pain. Their arms intertwined in battle, and she couldn't observe what was happening with those feints blocking her view.
She steps back, catching the next attack with one arm to punch with the other in a head on collision. Before her counterattack could land, Ledaine slammed his leg into her waist and sent her flying. A feeling of weightlessness took hold for a moment before she summoned her great sword and executed a wide area attack. Like a reptile's tail, the weight helped her to balance the distribution of mass and land in a standing position.
Ledaine would have chained another punching attack had she not denied the advancement with her sword swing. This is fine too, resetting their stance, healing their wounds. All of it returns to nothing, nothing will be achieved. Words become meaningless, meaning becomes weight. Purpose is the blade that which is used to execute the enemy. Her great sword blazes with a black flame, her aura couldn't be helped but be channeled into the edges. They burn, they churn, they ravage.
In this state, Ledaine understood. His scythe would be consumed instantly. He needed to resist the opponent's magic with {Cocytus}, with it his magic wouldn't be consumed easily. In the end, this would only serve to stall the approaching finale. {Feed} consumes the enemy's magic, making it Yggdrasil's own. In a high level battle, it puts the opponent at a massive disadvantage. Fate manipulation might achieve a similar result, inducing himself to conserve energy with higher efficiency, while provoking enemies to be wasteful with carelessness. However it couldn't beat how direct {Feed} was.
The Invader finds himself at a loss, technic and experience might bridge the gap between them, but it won't change the fact that his magic would run out faster. Now Yggdrasil wants to quicken the pace by burning more magic and empowering her attacks, increasing the scale of their energy usage.
"Alright. Falling into your pace with brute force wasn't my style, never was. Before then it was simple with Eterna's authority, and the countless bodies I could throw at humanity.
Fundamentally, it was never the right approach. Your kind breed like rats, there was no situation where I could outnumber your forces, even if they weren't combatants.
Full power, {Cocytus}. It is the river of inevitable fate, causing its targets to wail for their own helplessness. The final destination for traitors. Just for you Lastia, this was the worst possible ending you could wish for. "
(Ledaine)
For reasons, Yggdrasil or 'Lastia' was recognised as a traitor, giving Ledaine's magic conceptual reinforcement. The cries begin to soar into the sky.