Akiyon POV
My opponent's aura completely changed from what it was a minute ago, ten lines were on his forehead now.
"Great Ark Art: Swamp-Man!" This was the real reason I covered the field with water, so that my golem of vines would be at its advantage. It's head began forming beneath the water lily I stood on and grew as more vines crawled to form its 16 foot body. This growth finally stopped when I was 16 feet above the ground on the head of the beast of vines and mud.
Kira just stood there as if unimpressed by what mounted in front of him, Swamp-Man roared loudly. His voice cleared the surrounding atmosphere of that dust that was making it hard for me to think. His roar carried on as he not only directed it in Kira's direction but every direction. I sure somebody heard us or Swamp-Man, even with the sandman doing bad joo-joo in the distance.
Our eyes connected in the far distance, his caramel skin was lighter than my own but he is definitely Terrain. I scouted the other two Terrains, one in the west of my vision and the other, a woman to my east. Orgiv said any Terrain not on my side is a Terrain I must kill, when it comes down to a fight. No traitor is allowed to live especially if they are against me, the Guardian of the river that nourishes the people of Terra.
Swamp-Man gallanted forward as if he were a gorilla running towards something, with his left he punched Kira. The hook caused a powerful shockwave throughout the area, My eyes searched for the metal lady. She also looked unimpressed by my golem as she took one step forward but immediately returned to her position with her arms crossed. I turned my attention to where Swamp-Man punched because of the surge of chi there. Chi pushed back his fist and then a sharp attack of pure silverish blue chi energy flowed from from Kira's attack
"Chi Slash." the warrior whispered beneath the fist of my golem and a burst of energy cut the entire length of Swamp-Man's arm in half. Kira quickly followed with another cut, this one heading directly for me. I flicked my water lily vertically and it shielded me from the attack. The one half of Swamp-Man's arm fell slowly into the water, steam erupted from the burnt edges cooling down. The vines began moving towards the main body and Swamp-Man arm was as good as new, thanks to the movement of greenery.
Energy flew in every direction, causing serious damage to my golem, it is as if Swamp-Man is at a disadvantage against Kira's style of fighting. His body was constantly regenerating but that won't be much help if he can't fight back. Anrumba in his water lily form protected me from the onslaught of attacks that didn't stop. It was as if he wasn't afraid to run out of chi, brute force won't win in this fight, this is bad for Swamp-Man.
"Rusted creo: Rust Pit!!"
Kira shouted at the top of his lungs. Immediately spikes of rusted iron appeared from beneath me, piercing my golem and forcing Anrumba to completely envelop me. Kira's onslaught of his chi attack never stopped, what is this power that Titen's people use?
It's something I have never seen before nor heard of from Ogriv, but at least Swamp-Man was able to alert some people. I could feel multiple other chi's heading our way, I need to end my fight with Kira as soon as possible. Kira at the moment has the advantage right now, he's immobilised my golem, completely piercing his body holding him in place. I too would be in a similar situation if it weren't for the water lily protecting me. Anrumba began consorting into a bud as the attacks kept impacting it, he was absorbing the chi and giving it to me. My opponent didn't take notice of this as his attacks persisted, until they did not.
"Hahaha!" The man's laughter was something my bud couldn't protect me from, it was disgusting and vulgar. Something I wouldn't want to hear on a night like this, but I have to end this so that I can go help Titen. "You can't hide from me kid!"
I peeked through an opening created for me by Anrumba in his bud form, it seemed Kira was focusing large amounts of his chi. Swamp-Man grunts from his struggle to recover and free himself from the pit of metal spikes. Kira clasped together his scythes and lifted them above his head and swung it down.
"Chi Wave!" He shouted as he lowered both his arms and released a massive amount of chi.
I simply closed the opening of the bud and waited for his attack to cause it's damage. The chi struck my encompass as if lightning falling from the heavens, the sound of the strike was blaring. I could tell Swamp-Man and the water I brought forth had disappeared instantly. I fell to the ground and the protection of Anrumba unravelled and it is still unrivalled. I simply stepped off the flower unharmed and really energised, I looked around the crater of heat and destruction. I called for Anrumba and he shifted to his spear form for my requirements and moved fluidly into my hand. The air was hot and in my surroundings was nothing but steam and molten iron spikes or puddles.
"Who said I was hiding? I was just waiting for you to use your full power and it seems you've finally done so." I pointed to my forehead indicating his forehead.
"Oh yeah, it seems I went overboard and released my Nota…. See I'm only a second Dais Venalicium, because I became a Venalicium just nine months ago." He said as he pointed to his forehead with his thumb. "Do you see these shapes kid? The first one is a decagon. If someone has a complete decagon on their head they are what we call Dekas. If they have a nine sided shape inside the deca then they at dais two, these individuals are called Nonas. Basically kid the more shapes on the head the higher the likelihood of your death."
"I understand now, so what is Titen then?... What is his dais?"
"Last I heard he was a Nona but it has been four years now, I pray he wins against the boss man."
"So you can kill him yourself."
"Hahaha don't bother yourself, you'll be dead. Luckily for you kid I'm not a complete Nona, I can only use 17°. I'm two steps from becoming a Nona, I think you could change that. I initially thought if I killed you early I would go take Titen from the boss man, no matter. I will eventually skin the Terragon for whatever knowledge he knows about his family's power. I'll become a Trian, no! A Tetrakai like him."
"What's that? Like who?"
"Since you are going to die, I'll grace you with this last bit of information. It's the pinnacle of a Venalicium, 102° nota. Not even one of the Terragons have unlocked that much power, yet three have. They can topple nations by themselves." His face turned gently as if he was thinking back to something. The gods blessed you by making me your final opponent, a Tetrakai would have been a nightmare…. Rust Creo: Oxide Skin."
His body became covered by his chi which changed in rusted iron, each piece pressing harder and harder on his body. The pieces formed armour around his body, each piece pressed hard to another piece.
"You right today is someone's last fight but it won't be mine, Great Ark Art: Periderm." Great Ark bark grew on my skin until I was fully covered by the grey material. "Let's end this!"
I charged at him as he did the same, Anrumba in my hand shifted to his leaf sword form so I swung at his head. Kira dodged the first and parried the second directed to his left leg. He returned his own attacks, forcing me to attack and defend at the same time. Him having two weapons gives him the leeway to defend and attack at the same time, I'm forced to block and then strike. I have to strike him hard enough so he is forced to use both arms to deflect or else I'll be on the defensive.
Our speed matches, no he is faster now, I'm just able to react in time because of my senses. He ran his scythe across my helmet of wood and my grass sword left it's sharp marks on the iron. Our fight was grass scratching iron and iron scratching wood, my senses telling me where my opponent would strike next. To him I'm sure my inexperience is my tell, because he reads all attacks and exploits whatever opening he can find.
"Great Ark Art: Spinescent." I chanted and thorns appeared from the surface of my armour. "What? Afraid to be cut yourself." I said as he backed away from me.
"What are you talking about? I love thorns, I just wanted to clearly see how fantastic you look." He lunged forward.
"Anrumba, Truespine." I said to my grass sword and it transformed into a green javelin, with sharp edges like thorns. I swung it directly to his face and swung it again in the opposite direction as I took a step closer. Both swings were dodged by Kira as I stopped him in his tracks, we just simply stared at each other.
"Rust Creo: Rod." He joined the bottom parts of his spirit weapons with a rusted iron rod. He broke the rod in half when both scythes were in position, he increased his range to match me.
He was the first to attack with a downward swing as he leapt forward, I dodge by turning and swinging my weapon. They simply clashed as he blocked me, a sweep kick followed that dropped me to the ground. I tightened my grip on my javelin and swung it at his feet, he was ready to skewer as he jumped in the air. I dodged the attack by rolling behind him, it grazed my helmet. I quickly stood and directed my weapon for his left eye. He swatted my attack away but I spun around and attacked with the other half of Anrumba.
Blow after blow I could feel my opponent grow stronger as if he was learning from me. I see what's special about him now, he is a weapon's specialist. The only time he flinched was when I used Spinescent, a weapon that must be unusual to him. He must first understand a weapon and the way its wielder uses it and each strike exposes the fighter's secrets and he learns those secrets to counter properly again. Come to think about it, the only time I landed a good hit was with that punch to his sternum. I know how to beat him now.
"Great Ark Art: Pyrophyte Protea." A bud emerged from the ground and blossomed into a flower. A cone-like head or cluster of individual, long, tubular flowers kind of flower. The beauty of nature burst into flames immediately as it dries, my armour began to crumble into pieces and fell to the ground. The flames of the flower consumed the wooden armour and moved to engulf my body. I was embraced by the orange green flames and its heat. My opponent only stared at me at the sight in front of him. The metal armour mask which had a line shaped like a smile crept into a manic grin as I appeared from the flames in my new form. "Do you know what fire is to mother nature? Her wrath and love, are you prepared to face either?"
"This is what I came for, my chi resonating to your mystic power!" He took a bow before me and slowly lifted his head whilst his back was still bent. "Allow me to introduce myself, Dais Two Sear Venalicium of Disaster Child. This fight has finally begun."
"What are you talking about? It ends now."
"That is the beginning kid, the end." He ripped the faceplate of his armour, revealing his face which upon further investigation was actually handsome. His eyes looked at peace for some reason while looking at the plate and then he threw the iron to the ground. "When two fighters have nothing to hold back that's the beginning to me, this is your strongest."
"I still see potential in you, you're a Nona. Aren't you? Show me the power of a Venalicium!"
"Of course Lord Koba, hahaaa!" He screamed as his chi increased in power, the agony of the tattoos appearing on his chest must be really serious. "This is a Nona child!" He shouted as he indeed unlocked the power of a dais two.
I saw two shapes etched onto his forehead, the first was a decagon. Inside the first shape was the second, the nine sided nonagon. A complete one instead of the one that had seven sides to it like before. He is at 19 degrees now, and his chi is not something I've ever experienced before in my life. His bloodlust took over the air and was the only thing I felt, it was violent, too violent to bear.
"Thank you kid, your death will bring fortune to this warrior's soul! If I still have one?"
"Come at me then." I said as I held the stance I was taught by my master and focused all the flames that encompassed my body to one point, my palms. My spirit weapon, if it were normal, would crumble under the heat but this is Anrumba. My friend in war.
My opponent charged forward with such great speed, he blurred and disappeared from my vision. The next moment my senses went into overdrive, telling my body to move before my mind could think. I dodged a slash to my throat and countered with a kick to his face. My kick connected but with only an after imagine, my senses heighten me to focus on what's behind me. Kira swung his long scythes for my neck again and again as I backed away. Retreating from the barrage was no easy task, the precision of my attacker was just as deadly as in the beginning of our fight.
I leapt forward and launched the javelin at him when he over extended one of his slashes and as he tried to dodge and directed his iron rod to my head. With the heat my hands were generating I melted and broke the rod at the moment my hand connected with it. This did not slow down my opponent's onslaught as he continued to try to slash me with his scythe that was held by half of the rod I'd broken. Both his hands held rods with scythes at their ends, the right rod went for the feet while the left went to my neck. I dodged by jumping in between the two attacks and evading with a mid air horizontal flip.
The second my feet made contact with the ground I crouched and loaded my fist with even greater heat. My first punch landed on his right ribs and then my second connected with his sternum. I was able to crack the armour protecting his ribs then followed with a second blow to his sternum which pierced his armour and chest. With my extremely hot hand in his sternum, I could feel his heartbeat weakening with every beat until I felt it stop completely incinerated his heart.
I killed him I thought to myself, emotions flooded me after I realised I had killed a man for the first time in my life. His blade fell to the ground and his legs shook under the weight of his body, without control and life, his body would hit the ground.
MOVE….!
My senses shouted at me when I thought my fight with Kira was over, he slashed at my torso. Leaving me with a vertical gash that couldn't help but bleed, luckily I was able to move back when I could. Otherwise I would have died just right now, my opponent with a hole in his chest smiled at me deviously. He licked the blood on his scythe, my blood. The wound inflicted on me began healing and it healed faster when I called Anrumba to my hand.
"It seems I'm not the only one who has a tough time dying."
"Hehehe! Those are some scary senses."
"What just happened? I burned your heart and you still don't want to die."
"Don't you know? We venalicium can only die one way, didn't the Creed tell you."
What is he talking about, they can only die one way and what way is that? Since he has been honest with me throughout the fight, let me just ask.
"Kira, how does one kill you?"
"I thought you would never ask." He pulled at the iron covering his chest where I caused a giant opening, the iron tugged like fabric as his command. What was revealed to me was a glowing tiny scar just above his heart. "Most of the inaugurations were not given the option to choose where they would like to be skewered, you must die to become a venalicium. I chose for my aorta to be pierced and bled out slowly until life left me. Why? You may ask, so that I could have my time in a fight. There is nothing more daunting than an enemy that just wants to rush the battle all because they know where one's weakness is."
"I now know."
"You fight better in urgency, I could tell that about you just by watching you."
He started fixing his armour even covering the hole showcasing the healing of his wound. Blue light emitted from his body healing, blue dust recreated his flesh and healed the damage I created. I didn't think he would actually answer, but to think that is the only way to kill him. More rusted iron was creod to protect his chest from another attempt, he picked up one of his fallen long scythe and pointed it to me.
"I'm no genius kid but your fire consumes large amounts of chi for its great heat."
"It does, which is why I keep it for last in battle."
"I thought I told you, this fight is only beginning."
"And I thought I told you, this is the end."
I could feel him, begging to help me in this fight. It seems he is the one that wants to kill him, ever since I threw him to the ground he was crying. From begging to crying now you're screaming at me, I can take him. "Fine I'll let you help, his aorta is his weakness nothing more. Do you hear me, Anrumba? Destroy it!"
The javelin on the ground turned into a giant cactus, and proceeded to spill out lava. Immediately the cactus melted under the intense heat of the molten and liquidated into a hot pit emitting fire and steam.
"Anrumba, to me!"
The hot liquid rushed to my body and covered me, everything went black after that. I awoke to nothing but destruction and pain, it was as if I was as if I was hit with a bombardment of attacks. My vision was blurry but I noticed a familiar presence standing over me, did he finally arrive.
Well brother, that was an impressive fire if I had ever seen one. Alas brother it was nothing against an Elemento." Katon said cheerfully, as his clothes were torn and dirty.
Elemento? I was fighting Kira, but I couldn't say anything, my body felt dehydrated. The more I moved the more pain I felt, but I still tried to stand.
"Don't move warrior, I will protect you from now on, you must focus on recovering. So you can fight me in that monstrous form later on!" Katon grinned.
"Are you insane, get out of my way!" The steel lady shouted at Katon. "That kid must die before he does more damage!"
"How many times must I tell you, you're my opponent." Katon said to her in an angry tone I didn't think I would ever hear from him.
"I have to go and help Titen."
Katon just pointed to the left, directing my attention to a familiar chi. It was Kira, on his forehead his two shapes now had additional lines internally. By my count he is now at 21 degrees because two lines appeared within the nonagon, but what really took me off was his body. His skin was blacker than charcoal with pieces of iron melted on to it, the smell of burning flesh took over the atmosphere. With his new power you would expect him to be the most powerful on the battlefield, but he was weaker than before. His body was not at all regenerating, it must have been Anrumba's fire or he is doing it himself. The burnt figure must have stopped regeneration when his legs were complete and he could walk, there were studs where his toes should have been. As weak as I was I could never fight him as such a powerful venalicium, but our conclusion must be set.
"Fall back Kinamuri, you need time to heal!"
He ignored his ally and kept walking to me, behind me I could feel the heavy presence of the divinus. I looked back at him, standing and staring at me as if he was more interested in the conclusion than me.
"Do you need help, Guardian? The power of an Elemento is exhausting."
I simply shook my head to decline the offer from the divine boy, and returned my attention to Kira.
"Don't underestimate my brother, isn't that right!? I will also deal with my own opponent swiftly."
"Don't make me laugh, I'm the strongest Venalicium here." The metal lady said.
I began walking towards Kira as he was to me, with one arm holding his scythe in its original form.
"Let's end this kid." The man said while pointing at me with his only arm, the elementium weapon was unharmed and hot.
"Thank you Kira for being my first foe, you've taught me a lot. Please allow me to show you mercy, you can atone for your sins and help the Creed."
"I thought with ... .how much we clashed… .you would know my soul by now, others may have nobler reasons in this war…. I do not, I'm just here to kill or be killed… .The bossman's orders, I wouldn't follow any other order and he knew this. This war demands blood if you wish to end it… mercy is a luxury of peace, now call Anrumba to your side."
I did as I was told, Ogriv told me that in this war there would be those that would rather die than surrender. I knew since the moment we clashed that this man was one of them, that's why I never held back. In my hand Anrumba was in his original form, he felt tired and so did I.
"I need only a knife, my old friend." I said to my staff and it transformed into its long knife form.
I charged at Kira with my knife and slashed at his torso, which he dodged and returned his own attack. I held the forearm after the over extended attack and directed my knife to his chest. He headbutted me, sending me stumbling back until I fell on my butt, I stood as quickly as I fell. I held my stance, one leg in front of the other, my knife in my left hand and my right palm facing my opponent and crouched a tiny bit.
No words from us, just pants for air, I launched forward to him again. Kira swiped his blade horizontally downwards, I allowed the blade to pierce my shoulder. The cut was deep and painful, but I fought the pain and held the arm fixed. Kira tugged at his blade and when his strength failed he attempted to kick me in my stomach. I jumped to raise my knee in front of his kick at the same time my other leg kicked the back of the other leg. He crumpled to the ground and I pulled the arm with a blade out of my shoulder, our eyes met. Quickly mine turned to the scar where all the blue circles glowing started from, my knife pierced the glowing wound.
I drove the knife downwards to ensure I would also pierce his heart as well. Making his death as painless as possible, something I'm sure he's never done for someone else.
"Thank you for the warrior's end."
He said as his strength began leaving his body, his face though unrecognisable was surely at peace. His repaired eye began to close and the sound of his heart was silent, hopefully for real this time. I could in the distance hear the clashing of chi everywhere but the dead man in my arms, made me feel we were alone. His peace lived on for only as long as I could stay conscious but that was becoming too much of a task.
Katon quickly carried my slump body and fled with it to the divinus, I was accepted gently by the masculine Luxian boy with black hair.
"Take care of him, Felix."
"Who said you could boss me around, a noble giving orders to the crown prince of Lux is preposterous."
"So you don't want to fight him after me?"
"I never said that, and who said you'll fight him after you? I'm the one holding him, so he belongs to me."
"Hahaha! A character as always, let me deal with the steel bitch and then I'll deal with you." He was so proud that I noticed his jewellery chiming as I sunk into sleep deeper and deeper.
"I'll be waiting."
"Thank you….Katon." I said before blacking out.