Inari had three minutes left. She was running out of time. Moorza watched as she motioned her hand in a downward motion, the ball of white flames hissing like a viper as it was sent descending down on the god.
For a moment, it almost looked like the attack would hit its mark, but then the hissing increased the flames began to shrink down at a fast rate.
'There it is!' Inari thought, vanishing. She reappeared beside Moorza, swinging upwards with her sword to strike his Soul Orb, which was exposed now, absorbing the white sun. As she drew close, Moorza quickly bashed his elbow into her jaw, knocking her back, before he attempted to skewer her with a sword, but she vanished again before he could.
Then a cold sense of dread ran over Moorza. He spun, seeing a mirror appear on the other side of him while another appeared above him. Akuro dashed at him from one side while Darius appeared from above, descending like a hawk.
"Don't forget about us!" Darius announced, his hand reaching for the Soul Orb, to which Moorza danced aside, letting the remaining flames fly at Darius who simply rose a mirror and reflected them back at Moorza. To avoid the flames, Moorza had to use his orb again, and as he did black aura shot up from the earth, surrounding him before sinking inwards.
Ivy-like vines of black aura, curling and coiling, reached in towards Moorza's Soul Orb, but he simply stood, the aura being absorbed as it made contact. Aura attacks had no affect on the orb, only physical attacks could work. And that's when Akuro leapt out from within his own shadows, appearing point blank before Moorza, his scythe's blade swinging in a wide arc, the edge drawing near the orb. As it came closer, time seemed to slow as Akuro's eyes were locked into his target and the God Slayer's blade sang, whistling through the air.
Akuro felt that this was it. It was checkmate. They had won, there was no way Moorza could avoid this attack, right? The tip of the blade was already less than an inch away from the Soul Orb's smooth surface. But then the ground suddenly jutted upwards, causing Akuro's legs to buckle and for his trajectory to be knocked off course. The edge of the scythe was knocked upward and barely skimmed across the crystal clear, smooth surface of the Orb's top.
A moment later all of the black aura was violently sucked into the orb and then shifted to Moorza's body, the orb sinking into his chest before he spun on his heel, rearing back his fist before vaulting it into Akuro's face, his scaled knuckles crashing against Akuro's jaw, shattering it and then sending his body back before four chakrams flew through the air, descending from the sky and embedding themselves into Akuro's chest, pinning him to the ground before it exploded upwards, launching him into the air.
With a powerful rush of his wings, Moorza sprung skyward and flew towards Akuro, talons outstretched and a blade in his other hand, but as he drew close and Akuro met the apex of his rise before beginning to descend, Inari flashed into sight, Moorza flying straight, face first, into her sword, the blade embedding itself in the god's skull before Inari kicked Moorza down, where he crashed to the earth. She then vanished and reappeared below, where she caught Akuro in her arms, his weight bringing her to her knees as she could feel her aura being pulled into him. She had to quickly set him down to avoid all of her aura being absorbed.
Akuro sat up, shaking his head as his wounds healed. As he rose to his feet, the chains nailed to his arms jangled as he moved.
"Thanks.." Akuro said. He felt awkward and uncomfortable saying that, especially after assuming she was too weak to be of any help.
"Yeah. Don't mention it, just stop leaving me out." Inari said. "I'm strong too, you know."
"Yeah.." Akuro said with an awkward grunt, putting a hand on the back of his head. "Sorry about that."
"Did Akuro Zaizen, the Omnipotent Death and the king of hell, just apologize?" Inari mocked. "I am shocked."
Akuro rolled his eyes. Then a shimmering mirror flashed into sight on Akuro's other side, from it stepped out Darius.
"Yo. Inari. Been a while, how've you been? Good? Me? I've been great. Just dealing with this annoying fuck." He joked, nodding at Moorza, who was now getting back to his feet.
"Fuck." Akuro cursed. "I was so damn close.. my blade skimmed his Soul Orb! I was so damn close.."
"It's fine." Inari said. "We can just try again." She held up her sword, her aura beginning to dance as white flames engulfed the orbs in a line. It was like she had a scarf of white flames about her.
"I'll use my mirrors so we can get a direct hit with your flames. Then I'll send Akuro in when he uses his orb. I'll try and get Akuro as close as possible, that way he can point blank hit it without a chance of failure." Darius spoke.
Akuro nodded, summoning his God Slayer. Inari leaned forward, holding her blade at her side in one hand while the other was held up, ready to strike or block.
"Ready?" Darius asked.
"Let's do it!" Inari said.