"Senior, I need your fruits to increase my strength to defeat the enveloper of the world!"
Aria said with her cute little mouth. The Soma tree was extremely stingy by heart, and it couldn't help but feel pain after hearing her request. But seeing the determined expression of the little fellow it reluctantly agreed. The branches shook and one by one the fruits fell.
Each of the Soma fruit had the shape of an orange, with a thin yellow skin similar to a mango. It had a juicy flesh and was extremely fragrant, and eating it would immediately raise the longevity of a person.
The kid quickly grabbed the fruits and chomped them down. One, Two, Three … The fruits kept disappearing, and the Soma tree couldn't help but twitch in sorrow. As Aria consumed the fruits, her body grew at a tremendous rate, as if time was moving forward.
After twenty fruits, Aria had the appearance of a ten year old kid…
After forty fruits, Aria looked like a fifteen year old kid, starting to mature….
After sixty fruits, Aria's body had completely developed, and looked like an eighteen year old woman…
She finally stopped after the eighty-first fruits, when her body had started to be surrounded by rainbow light.
The Soma tree looked at its empty branches, and couldn't help but weep in sorrow. He looked at the dark sky and cursed Vritra; after all, this affair started because of him! Of course, he didn't dare to curse loudly, as it feared that it would provoke the monster, resulting in its death.
***
Meanwhile, outside the garden…
Vritra opened his eyes and felt that the time was right. He'd just finished a part of his plans, and now he had to destroy the plant life in this place. As long as he was careful and didn't provoke the Creators of the World, his Father and Mothers, he wouldn't have any problems.
He started to move towards the garden but stopped as he saw the army walk out. The army was a motley bunch and had no formation. The only signs of order that could be seen were the division of the army into three groups. The first group consisted of the Crystal Titans, and was led by North Cloud who rode the Cloud Thunder Horse. The second group was the Sura, with the males led by One, and females by Violet. The last group was formed by the beasts, and consisted of Garuda, the three fire born birds, the Kun Peng, the Yaksha couple, and Aria with the White Winged Elephant, who was now named Rain Cloud.
Vritra saw this motley bunch and snickered. Smoke rose from his body and formed identical clones of him. Ten, Fifty, Hundred, Two Hundred… The numbers kept increasing as they reached a thousand in number.
The motley bunch was shocked, and everywhere their eyes went they could only see their enemy! Aria knew the importance of morale and didn't give much time to the motley bunch to think much as she shouted from the top of her mount.
"Charge!"
Under Aria's grand momentum, the motley bunch shouted and sprinted forward, eager to hack into the ugly clones. Vritra crossed his arms near his chest and watched his clones make contact and engage with his fellow brothers and sisters. Blood spilled and clouds of dark smoke dispersed into nothingness. Battle intents appeared all over the place, clashing and colliding with each other.
The Sura and Crystal Titans deserve to be the children of the Creators. Each of their movements were filled with force, and when the stomped the ground it created loud tremors. The clones were a notch weaker than them and couldn't engage these mighty beings for a long period of time. However, as they were simply a manifestation they didn't have the fear of death, and would not hesitate to exchange a deadly blow for another one. Thus, many of the Sura and the Crystal Titans found themselves getting wounded in exchange for just a cloud of dark smoke.
The most vigorous was the army at the front-most which was led by Aria. The Yaksha were the vanguards of the group, and using their mighty bodies they had no problems forcefully creating a path on the battlefield. The three trouble-making birds were the short range damage dealers, who threw their explosive flames all over the place. The clones were not resistant to fire unlike the main body, and immediately blew up on coming into contact with the mighty flames.
After these two were the Kun Peng and the White Winged Elephant, who was now named Rain Cloud. These two had water attributes and used them to create AOE attacks. The Kun Peng was a mighty creature, with endless strength of a whale and endless speed of an eagle. Each of its attack was very forceful, with endless weight behind it. The ground trembled whenever it made a move, yet the enemy clones could not even catch it with their eyes. It appeared in one place, only to disappear instantly, before appearing somewhere else. Massive clouds of smoke appeared wherever it went, and created a trail, which was a proof of its might. Garuda protected the rear of the group, guarding against the bunch which dared to have any nasty ideas.
Rain Cloud, on the other hand, simply flew in the air and trumpeted majestically, and the wind and clouds heeded its command. The sky was forced to create clouds, which turned into a dark, ink blue color. Lightning cackled in them, and the smoke which covered the sky tore open bringing forth light once again.
Vritra furrowed his brows as he stared at Rain Cloud with his eyes which were as piercing as the midday sun. Was this a coincidence? The Wind and Cloud, the one who commands the Wind and Cloud, and the one who rules over the Commander of Wind and Cloud…
Was this really a coincidence? The Will of his Creators?
Rain fell all over the battlefield, and the clones suddenly became a notch weaker, and the motley bunch found some room for breath. Vritra flew high up in the air, getting ready for the final battle. Aria followed suit and patted Rain Cloud, urging him to fly higher while holding onto her spear.
The two stared at each other for a while, intending to memorize each other's faces. In one way, they perhaps felt unwilling as they asked themselves-
Is this the Will of their Creators?
Vritra shook his hands lightly, transforming them into dragon-like claws. The claws were extremely sharp and smoke was expelled from its tips. At the same time Aria lifted her spear and lightning suddenly flew from four directions from the clouds, and became absorbed into it. The spear seemed to be transformed as lightning occasionally swam over its surface. It was really a cool weapon!
With their weapons ready, it was time for the final battle!