strong ranged punches

 As the first attack faded, I lifted my fist and delivered a punch with each of my arms, backing up every blow with Far Slayer. Just as the technique from which I’d invented it, Far Slayer allowed me to deliver a melee attack at range. But thanks to the energy I put into it and the now-negligible charge time, the results were…a bit more impressive.

Indigo flew into the air, a series of trenches being gouged into the ground all around her as if carved into the ground by a giant’s hands. Tearing her away from the ground also meant tearing her from the shadows upon it, and though they tried to catch her, each blow had tossed her farther and faster. Once she was soaring over the area formerly known as Vale’s skyline, the shadows on the ground quivered and faded away.

“Kuh,” I heard her grunt, the sound from the initial impact reaching me at last. In the air, I saw her grit her teeth and cross her arms over her chest, forming shadows on the top of her vest even as others squirmed from every nook and cranny. Under her hat, from beneath her shirt and vest alike, from wherever there was the slightest shadow, they slithered out like vicious snakes and rose into the air as living blades.

I smiled. I’d figured she’d have a counter to such an obvious tactic and had suspected the layers she wore to be a part of it, but…I guess there was no simple way to separate her from her weapons. It was just as well, I suppose, or else this wouldn’t be any fun. My main goal, to keep her from diving into her shadow and hiding, might still be effective besides.

I guess there’s only one way to find out.

The ground shattered for a good distance all around me as I Lunged into the sky fast enough to set the air ablaze again. The shadows around Indigo twitched, with blades of shadow thickening around her arms and back. The former weaved themselves into a pair of blades that rose from the back of her hands, but the latter…first they crafted a skeleton of dark bone, before covering it with layers of shadow-flesh, forming a wide pair of wings that spread to slow Indigo flight. After a moment, they flapped experimentally, gaps that were only visible because of my enhanced eyesight opening and closing carefully. In moments, Indigo’s fall changed into something more controlled and then into something just a hairs breadth from flight. As I closed in, she turned towards me, expression calm and controlled, and swung her swords.