As Akuro fought Moorza, Nerrik and Nezzra, he couldn't help but feel like he'd been there before. It was a strange sense of deja vu. As Nerrik ran at him, he waved his hand, a wave of black aura knocking the attacker aside. He didn't even look as he then continued to flick Nezzra's head, shattering her skull open and sending her body flying.
'I see.' Akuro thought as he studied the moon closely. The sky itself didn't look quite right. He had seen the stars many times, and those were not his stars. 'I've been played. Should've guessed.'
"What is it?" Mato asked.
'We are in a dream.' Akuro answered. But he couldn't pin point when exactly he'd been put into this spell. Or could he… he recalled when he had attempted to use his Dark Implosion on Moorza. The god then seemed to mirror his attack with a burst of silver light.. but that's not quite what happened. In reality, Akuro's attack was never canceled out, it had taken its full affect, creating the crater, but that silver light was not Moorza's attempt at a counter. It was him casting a dream spell on Akuro.
"Well." He said aloud as black aura rose out of the ground on all sides of him. "Now that I know what is going on. Time to break this little reality."
The giant dragon body of Moorza spiraled through the air towards Akuro, who simply glared at the dragon as a wave of pressure was sent at him, sending his snake-like body soaring through the air.
"Fuck off." Akuro hissed. "Damn fake. I was wondering why you became so weak."
Akuro raised his hand and his aura began to curl through the land itself and talons of shadow reached into the sky. Then tore the world asunder.
•
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•
Darius stood, eyes turned skyward, as Moorza, in the glory of his dragon form, absorbed all of the aura from Darius's attack. The dragon the drew its head back, bright silver light gathering into his chest before his jaws opened wide, revealing razor sharp teeth as a stream of silver aura was released from his mouth down to the earth. The attack ripped into the land, leaving deep gashes in the land, reshaping it and obliterating everything in its path. Darius dashed about, flashing in and out of vision, as he danced around the attack, avoiding it as the aura stream chased his phantom.
He thought of summoning a mirror and reflecting the attack, but he imagined that if he did Moorza would just absorb it again and repeat what was happening now. And Darius couldn't dodge around forever.
As soon as the aura stream faded out, Moorza running out of energy and closing his jaws as he breathed heavily, Darius kicked his foot into the ground, a mirror appearing in front of him, in which he stepped into it. The mirror acted like a portal and swallowed Darius's figure. When Moorza noticed Darius was gone, the dragon's head swiveled to and fro, scouring the land for Darius's new location, but as he did a mirror appeared above him and Darius's figure appeared coming through it, his foot slamming down on Moorza's snout as he was launched to the ground, Darius landing above him and crushing his skull against the earth.
Darius thought, for a moment, he had Moorza pinned, but then the body suddenly morphed back into human form and silver chains of light wrapped about Darius's body and pulled him down, pinning him to the ground as Moorza stood to his feet.
"I never expected that any of the other Deities could be so strong." Moorza growled. "This batch is quite impressive from what I've seen. But I would like to know… what was really your wish, boy? Because those are not the powers of Loki."
Darius struggled against the chains that held him to the scorched earth as Moorza walked toward him. He held his hand into the air and his silver chakram formed, the blade practically humming with energy. He twisted the weapon so the blade was parallel with Darius's body. As he was about to freeze, the air grew cold and heavy. It was like his lungs were being squeezed, the air being forced from them and making it impossible to breathe as if he were at a high altitude.
His eyes slowly turned to look beside him where the demonic figure of Akuro stood, his face so close to Moorza's that he could hear his breathing. Red eyes glared into Moorza's soul while wisps of black aura churned chaotically around Akuro's Aura Cloak, giving him a phantom-like appearance.
"How-" Moorza tried to speak, but he couldn't finish his sentence as his jaw locked up.
Akuro slowly drew back his hand, his fingers forming into a loose fist, obsidian-like scales reflecting the moonlight as his hand reared back before being released forward like a bullet or a piston. The air warped around Akuro's fist as it made contact with Moorza's head. A loud *CR-RACK-K* sound emitted as the god's head was completely obliterated, the skull shattered into little shards of bone while it's bloody contents were scattered through the air and his body flew hundreds of yards before crashing to the ground, bones shattering apart as they met the hard stone of the earth.
Darius stared at Akuro for a moment, in shock, trying to comprehend what had just transpired. He could feel the power emitting from Akuro, it was overwhelming and suffocating.
'How…' Darius thought, 'how is he still so much stronger than me?'
Akuro's crimson eyes slowly turned to Darius, boring into him from beneath the pitch black dragon mask.
For a long moment, neither of them moved and simply stood there, studying one another. Darius recalled when he had first met Akuro, when their auras had clashed as they tested one another's strength. Even then, Akuro was overwhelming. But compared to now, that was such minuscule power. Was this envy he felt? Or did Darius admire Akuro?
Akuro shifted, turning his body towards Darius, his horns shifting and gleaming under the starlight. For a moment Darius thought Akuro was going to kill him as his pressure caused gravity to fall away and rocks rose into the air. But then the aura and the scales around Akuro's hand receded as he extended his hand out to Darius.
"Good to see you didn't die after all." Akuro said, his voice cool and collected.
Darius lay there in awe for a moment as black aura wrapped about the chains and broke them apart, the silver aura fading away, swallowed by the shadows. Darius, hesitantly, reached out his hand and grasped Akuro's, letting him pull him to his feet. And there they stood, beneath the night sky.
"It's… good to be back." Darius spoke.
•
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•
Inari focused her aura into herself, imagining it like a circuit or a flowing path, through and through, repeating as it went through her body. As she did, slowly a pearl white Aura Cloak began to envelop her body. This one, she found, was different than her last. It was more solid, like real clothing and armor, but it was also still transparent and spectral to a degree, not complete.
Her Aura Cloak was similar to that of a kimono, but it also had delicate, thin plates of armor tied by gold string to her shoulders, lower arms and shins. A scarf was pulled around her neck and about her waist was tied a golden strip of cloth that was tied at the back. At her hip her short sword was tied, the edge hidden beneath its sheathe. A Japanese style fox mask, delicate and beautifully designed and detailed, was also tied to her face by gold string.
"Inari?" Came a voice then, snapping her out of her trance and awe. "What are you doing?"
It was Onoma. He stood behind her by the gates of Fort Arashi giving her a look of both concern and confusion. It also seemed to be a look of awe and curiosity.
Inari turned to him, placing her hand on the hilt of her sword.
"I'm going to join the fight." She announced, faking confidence in place of her fear. She was shaking and her heart was racing with adrenaline. She was scared.
"Look." Onoma spoke. "I wanna help too, but I don't think we can do much in this situation."
"Doesn't mean we can't try. And why aren't you out there? You are strong. I thought you were just as strong as Akuro? What happened to your confidence?"
Onoma's fists clenched. "Look. I thought I was strong. I can manipulate time itself, so you'd think that is enough to make me strong in it itself. But.." he looked down at his own hand, red aura shifting about in his palm like dancing flames. "My aura control is horrible. I can't even make an Aura Cloak without it falling apart." He looked up at Inari. "I envy you. All of you. I am not ready yet. I'm behind you all. I'm not strong enough.. not yet."
Inari didn't really know what to say. She used to despise Onoma, and now he was telling her he found himself weak. She could tell he wanted to help, but she could also see that, just like her, his hands were trembling. Not just that but she also realized she had never seen him use an Aura Cloak, meaning he wasn't lying. He really couldn't control his aura.
She sighed. "I understand. If I'm being honest I don't think I'm strong enough either. Akuro is on an whole nother level… but I'm still going. Because I don't want to be useless. I'm tired of sitting on the sidelines. So I'm going. You don't have to. You can stay here, but I'm going."
Suddenly an orb of pearl white light formed, floating in the air above Inari's shoulder. And then another formed, and another. Three orbs appeared then.
"What.. are those?"
"The tails of the Kitsune. The blessings of the Kitsune. First tail, strength, second tail, steel, third tail, healing." Inari spoke, then turned to face the direction Akuro and Darius were.
"You are really going then?" Onoma asked.
"I am."
"Fine. I wish you luck." Onoma turned away from her. Glanced back, then disappeared into Fort Arashi.
Another orb formed then, dancing about Inari's figure with the others.
"Fourth tail, blessing of speed."
Inari flashed, her body becoming static as an after image was left and the ground cracked as she exploded at unimaginable speed towards the battlefield.