Everyone was carefully watching the fight that was about to happen in front of them. Their hands were tense as they were preparing to rush in at any moment. A lot of them had already decided that if the fight looked to be going one way, then they would have no choice, to jump in.
Hopefully, they would be so overwhelmed that they wouldn't have time to get rid of Sam. Still, they at least hoped that Layla would be enough to defeat the humanoid Dalki leader in front of them.
"Is she strong?" Ruby, who had come along on this trip, asked. She had hardly done any fighting so far, but there were a lot of those that had this same thought, they had seen Layla fight but during the fight she had used nothing but her arrows. Sure it was stronger than them but enough to send her out instead of the others?
"I think she has a good chance." Ivy answered. "A long time ago, our sister told us that she had a fight with the very girl that is fighting now. I know that isn't our sister out there, but if she has her D.N.A, I have no doubt that this humanoid Dalki will be strong.
"Although our sister had defeated that girl, she told us that she was one of the most amazing people she had ever fought against. Helen even admitted that she had the feeling that one day, Layla might be able to surpass her."
Although it was nice hearing those words, Vincent thought otherwise. This wasn't just Helen, no, it was some type of Super Helen mixed in with a Demon tier beast. Sure, Layla had significantly gotten stronger in a short amount of time, but without a doubt Dalki Helen was stronger than her human counterpart.
'We don't even know how many spikes she has on her back… the ones we have seen so far had been four spikes. Can Layla defeat something stronger than a four spike on her own?' Vincent worried about that possibility, especially since Layla's forte so far had been supporting her allies over going in alone.
What's more, from the reports they had received the New Gen Dalki with four spikes were clearly stronger than their more beast-like brethren, though fortunately not as strong as five spike Dalki leader yet.
The next second, while having his thoughts, Vincent's eyes widened as Dalki Helen prepared to get into battle, twisting her body side to side.
"Someone, please tell me that I'm just bad at counting." Dennis pleaded, but the others saw the same thing.
All of them there could clearly see that the humanoid Dalki with Helen's appearance had a total of five spikes.
"This isn't good… if all the New Gen Dalki are stronger than the old version, then she might surpass the Dalki leaders!" Vincent shouted. "We have to get her out, otherwise she'll die!!!"
No matter how strong Layla might be, it would be suicide to have her solo someone like One Horn, Green Horn or Slicer… much less, if Dalki Helen actually surpassed them!
'Sam was right, we have to get rid of the Dragon before they can create more of these monsters, but now without Quinn I'm afraid that we might not make it out of this one alive.'
Just then, Vincent shuffled forward, yet the strange vine-like structure that still held Sam hostage tightened its grip, and they all could hear the sound of his muffled screams.
"Are you trying to back out of our deal?" Helen Dalki questioned them, annoyed. "Even if you lose, I'll allow you to get off this planet. However, you've made your choice. Just pray this girl can entertain me for a while!"
'She doesn't seem to regard us as a threat, yet she's still keeping an eye on us. She's right, the only thing we can hope for, is that Layla is somehow able to do a good enough job to get her full attention. Then, once we've saved Sam, we can try to back her up. Until then, we're just going to have to wait for Quinn to be done with whatever he's doing.'
Standing there, the fight looked like it was about to start. Layla placed her bow on her back and instead drew out her black sword. It didn't take long for her to gather her negative emotions, because there were plenty of negative emotions to take from herself due to the form the Dalki before her had.
It didn't take long for her body to start to change. The others hadn't seen Layla take this form in front of them, but the horns started to appear on her head, her fangs widened, and her eyes started to glow red as she took on the True Hannya form.
"I'm glad that it's you I'm fighting. I don't know why, but I can feel my blood boiling when I see you before me. Keep going, I wish to go all out against you!" Helen shouted, and stomped her foot onto the ground.
A few seconds later, Layla could feel the earth rumbling underneath her. She soon started to move from the spot where another strange root came bursting from the ground. Just like the one that had captured Sam, it too had Dalki parts.
After shooting out, they didn't stop, instead they began chasing her. Jumping, Layla dodged a few of them, and landed on top of the trunk of another, but soon after another one of the roots came through the ground underneath her.
Layla could see the end of the root resembled something similar to that of a Dalki hand. Seeing this, she swung her sword with as much force as possible but was unable to cut the strange root.
'These scales are actually as hard as a Dalki's. The sword doesn't allow me to use Qi, without it, I might never be able to cut this thing.'
She continued to skid across the top, and started to focus the first stage of Qi into her arms, giving her more strength but even then it seemed too much. As a last ditch effort, opening her mouth, flames spread onto the roots.
The flames were large, and covered the entire area, and the next second, out from the other end, Layla was seen heading straight towards Helen, with five arrows hovering around her and spinning. Blue flames had also covered her hands, giving her another buff in power.
All five of the arrows were aimed towards Helen, and were spiralling in different directions, trying to go towards her. Layla was showing no fear as she ran ahead. Thrusting her sword at the same time, as the arrows came in for the attack, she was planning to get in a clear strike.
'Her body isn't covered in scales like the rest, this has to be her weakness!' She thought as she thrusted it forward. The arrows went towards the back, but before they could reach Dalki Helen's roots sprung from behind it as well, grabbing the arrows midair.
As for the front, Helen had stopped the attack with her bare hand.
"This sword is a good sword… I can't even break it using my strength, but it's a shame." Helen sighed. "I was looking forward to a good fight… Is this really the best you got?"
A strong kick was directed at Layla, hitting her in the stomach Layla refused to let go but Helen felt something strange and released, it caused Layla's body to suddenly slide across the floor. Placing her sword in the ground and using her abilities, she soon stopped herself. It was a strong kick that had come from Dalki Helen, who thought that it would be enough to kill the female human, but Layla looked strangely unhurt.
She didn't seem injured, nor was there so much as blood coming from her mouth. She had used the second stage to block the attack, but that was it. Meanwhile, where the others were, Ivy had collapsed and fallen to the floor out of nowhere. It looked like her stomach had been completely destroyed… worst of all, she was dead.
Vincent turned, wondering what was going on, and he couldn't quite believe it.
'Layla… when did she use the Spiritual Link?'
It was a skill of the Hannya, to create a link with another and all damage that would be done to her, would be redirected to another. At first, Layla thought that the skill could only be used one way, where she would take the damage to the other person.
But she had realised something, she wasn't quite sure, but she had feelings while in this form, she could have it go the other way. She was hoping to use it on Helen Dalki, but there seemed to be a condition.
The receiving person needed to be willing to accept the backlash. Layla, beforehand, had informed the sisters that this might be something she needed to do. Both of them had agreed, and the two of them now had a Spiritual Link with Layla. They would take on the damage that she was meant to take.
What none of them had expected was that a single hit from Dalki Helen would kill one of them on the spot.
'NOOOOO!!!! I'm so sorry, Ivy… I NEVER INTENDED for this to happen… I planned to heal you with my green fire… I hope you'll be able to forgive me, Peach… First Helen, and now you've lost Ivy because of me. I-I… I've already gone too far. I-I have to finish this fight.' Layla strengthened her determination as she cancelled the Spiritual Link, unwilling to be responsible for another death.
Fuelled by anger, Layla summoned countless black balls. These were the floating balls of the Spiritual Chains. However, she had a feeling that it wouldn't be enough. At best, it might be able to hold Helen for a few seconds, even before she could move.
"It looks like you have some tricks up your sleeve." Dalki Helen let out a smile, as she got ready to charge her opponent. "I guess this fight might actually entertain me, after all. Now, try not to die too quickly!"
"I know I've lost against you last time, Helen… but I promise you I'll win this time." Layla stated, as she focused and a bright light was starting to form inside her.
"I know I'm weak, and that most of my power is not my own. This form I got because of Quinn, the large Qi reserve I got from my mother, and now… I even had one of your sisters pay the price of her life, while I was the one fighting you…
"However, I learnt that borrowing powers from others is my power, and I'll do whatever it takes to beat you!!!"
Layla was summoning out her soul weapon.
*****
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