System vs Rebirth
chapter-988

*Clang!*

*Bam!*

The clash between two users who unleashed their True Spirit Body was much more destructive.

With a single of Anna's swings, she released a powerful red lightning that shattered the ground and broke trees apart. On the other hand, the red lightning continued refusing to move toward Laufey as if he were some sort of god.

"It's impossible. Your lightning won't be able to reach me." Laufey shouted while waving his blood sword.

Anna struck this sword while releasing a bit of her lightning. However, Laufey used his power to deflect the sword while utilizing his blood power to redirect the lightning.

At the same time, a giant scythe formed from the blood of the demons, flying toward them.

"!!!" Anna hurriedly ducked when she saw the scythe swing. The blood felt like it was expanding and cutting down all the trees in their surroundings.

After that, Laufey kicked Anna, which was blocked by her sword. However, Laufey released a surge of blood, which amplified the power of his kick, launching Anna into the air.

Anna kept observing Laufey's ability.

'He could summon that powerful scythe with the right amount of blood… But why did he kick me away from the demons? Wasn't he going to use the blood as his weapon? Or was it because there was a limit of blood he could control?'

Anna believed that her thoughts were on the right track. It seemed that Laufey had the limit. For example, her body contained a lot of blood. If Laufey controlled it, she wouldn't be able to do anything.

Of course, she noticed the spiritual energy used to control the scythe, showing that if Laufey tried to control the blood in her body, she could somehow resist it with her own spiritual energy.

'If he has the limit, then does this mean we can overpower him?' Anna thought. She used 'we' to imply that the original soul would play a big role in this.

'He is trying to control the blood on the blade. The Blood Rune and the Conductor Rune will definitely not be effective against him.' The original Anna assessed.

'How about we use it as a distraction before overpowering him in another way?'

'That sounds good. Let's try it.'

As soon as they reached an agreement, Anna moved forward while raising her blade. The rune was still active, but Anna actually poured more energy into the sword to make Laufey think that she had just reactivated the rune.

"!!!" Laufey utilized his power to control the blood on Anna's sword, trying to move the sword. In addition, he also struck the blade with his blood sword to make it easier.

To his surprise, Anna hit the ground with her sword. In normal cases, this kind of attack wouldn't really work. But because Laufey had used a portion of his energy to deflect the sword, Anna could actually release her ability to the ground.

The original Anna amplified that power through the second Spirit Mind and Spirit Heart, forming a lightning dragon that was bigger than normal.

The lightning dragon shattered the ground and blasted the rocks, turning the area into a crater. After that, it bounced on the ground and turned to Laufey.

*Roar!*

The thunderous roar resounded across the battlefield as the dragon opened its mouth, trying to swallow Laufey.

Laufey used his power to redirect this blood lightning dragon, but to his surprise, his control failed.

'Overloaded?' Laufey couldn't help but widen his eyes. As much as he wanted to know the reason for it, he hurriedly ordered the scythe to come in front of him and change its shape to that of an umbrella.

The dragon ended up crashing into it as the lightning tried to shatter the umbrella.

It was Anna's turn to be surprised because the lightning actually failed to destroy the umbrella. Instead, it made the umbrella a bit stronger.

'Is he using the blood from the lightning dragon to recover the umbrella?' Anna frowned.

'Yeah. I think that's the situation. He should be maintaining about 80% control over the blood so that he can react if there is an overload. In the previous case, he is probably using another 10% to recover the umbrella by controlling our blood lightning dragon.'

Anna seemed to have realized that Laufey might be an opponent much more powerful than she originally thought. The elemental advantage he had over her was the one forcing her to the corner.

It seemed that her choice in using the True Spirit Body was a mistake. After all, because of the True Spirit Body, she couldn't use her normal lightning.

It would be impossible to defeat Laufey in a normal scenario. What she needed was a gap that she could exploit and use another ability that wasn't related to her blood lightning.

The original Anna spoke again, 'I will bait him to use that power. You find a way to utilize the rune.'

'Got it.' Anna approached Laufey again, but this time she was more careful.

"Hahaha. You won't be able to defeat me!" Laufey laughed, realizing that even her surprise attack didn't work on him. The umbrella returned to the scythe form and flew toward Anna.

Anna struck this scythe with her power, but as expected, the blood lightning was the one letting the scythe recover its power. If this continued, she would lose all her energy while Laufey remained unscathed.

The original Anna saw this as an insult.

'If you think you can withstand the power of the blood lightning, then try it!' The original Anna roared as she utilized the control of her energy to the fullest.

Just like the first time Anna and the original Anna met, the latter had a more powerful control over the element. And that control was reflected on how violent the lightning could be.

Suddenly, the red lightning sparked in all directions, hitting the spikes from all directions.

"!!!" Laufey widened his eyes in surprise. He tried to control the blood lightning, but the latter was simply rampaging as if it had no will anymore.

Laufey simply didn't know what it meant to be a berserker. The original Anna made the lightning berserk so that it would crush the blood scythe.

"Not good." Laufey waved his hand, utilizing a hundred percent of his power to control the berserk lightning to replenish the blood.

'Now!' The original Anna shouted.

Anna's eyes flashed as she formed the Meteor Rune.

Laufey was completely taken aback by the Meteor Rune. He hurriedly recalled the scythe, but it was too late. The chunk of spiritual energy hit Laufey's directly, engulfing everything in that explosion.

*Boom!*

"Hu…" Anna took a deep breath before noticing that the scythe actually dropped to the ground as the blood ended up splashing on the ground. "Did I kill him?"

Anna looked in Laufey's direction, having a hard time seeing through the cloud of dust.

However, a shadow seemed to be moving from within, alerting Anna's instincts.

Anna hurriedly raised her blade and barely blocked a blood arrow. It was at this time that she saw Laufey's entire body covered with an armor made of blood. Just like how he summoned his blood sword, he decided to let go of the scythe and use his own blood to protect himself.

'It's not enough?' Anna gulped down.

Laufey glared at Anna. He never thought that Anna had managed to corner him to the point where he had to unleash this ability. This was the last line of his defense. More importantly, he had an elemental advantage over her.

If it were normal lightning instead of blood lightning, he would probably lose against her.

"Ardagan Family… Why… Why did he always get the good stuff? His son is very talented. Even his fiancee is the most talented in the kingdom. Why?" Laufey gritted his teeth as he couldn't help but recall how he came to hate the Ardagan Family so much.

…

30 years ago.

Laufey was just a street kid. He was sitting in a dark alley while burying his face on his knees, crying. The hunger was so unbearable that he was about to collapse.

"Mhmm? There is someone here."

Laufey couldn't help but raise his head, following the direction of the voice. It was there that he saw a black-haired kid. His age didn't seem to be much different from his.

"Do you want to eat?" The guy asked, only his face was coming out behind the wall as if he were scared to show himself. After that question, his hand came out with a piece of bread.

Laufey's drool came out of his mouth as he instinctively approached the bread. The kid smiled and extended his hand so that Laufey could take the bread.

When his head was about to come out of the small alley, he noticed another kid with ragged clothing coming toward him. He recognized this kid because he came from the same area.

Instead of grabbing the bread, Laufey actually pushed the kid to alert him about the incoming kid who was trying to steal his money.

"Ah!" The kid fell down on his butt while looking innocent. "If you don't like the bread, you don't have to push me. If you don't want me to pity you, then just say so. And the bread has fallen to the ground."

Laufey simply grabbed the bread while pointing at the thief.

"Oh?!" The kid seemed to understand what he was implying. "But I don't have any more money to spend, so even if he steals from me, he won't get anything."

The territory was actually very poor in the past, so it wouldn't be weird that even if someone dressed nicely, they wouldn't have enough money. In fact, everyone was just trying to survive here.

"You are a good guy, aren't you? And it seems that you are very knowledgeable about the people in this area. Do you want to follow me? I am Luke! I want to make this city brighter than anything in the world."

Laufey was only stunned at that time, but this was the beginning of his relationship with the man called Luke Ardagan.