Isamu POV
Titen and I began increasing our chis and released more of our notas, little much was known about each other's final stage. The last I heard was that he was a Nona but that was at least four years ago. Even for a child that was truly impressive, just like how Kira also became a Nona in just nine months. I received my chi nota two years before he was taken and it took me five years to be at dais four, I wasn't even a full Hepta. His grandfather though allowed me though to become his Childs last year and gave me the ability to raise the dead.
I miss the benefits of the chi nota, it increased my stamina, my reaction time but most importantly my chi pool. Without my increased chi pool I could never summon the dead but since I inaugurated prematurely I can't be reckless with who I summon. Unlike the regent I can't rely on the chi from the Perdita blade to fuel my summons, I have to use my own chi.
The tattoos on my head increased in number from ten to sixteen, this power is more than enough to summon a warrior.
"Necron fallen warrior!"
After chanting the sand to my right moulded itself into the form of a woman, the creation became intricate. My aunt's face was beautiful and round, she would have been blessed with youthful beauty if she had reached her twenties. I thought as I saw the illusion of necromancy take hold, she looked alive except for her pitch black eyes. Unfortunately the Terragons cut her down at the tender age of nineteen. She wasn't that tall even for most women; her four foot five height was homunculus, but her ferocity was bigger than many.
My summoning opened her eyes and took one good look at Titen, her memories flowed to me and some of mine to her. I could see the play dates she had with the princess her cousin and the times she use to crush on Titen's father with her. She looked back at me, surely realising whose son stood before us, her sadness couldn't be hidden.
The disappointment in me couldn't be hidden as well, her memories of her and the princess planning play dates with me and the heir to come flooded me. I quickly rebuttal her memories with the day of her death, how that monster slayed her in that shift dungeon. The hardships the Mamushippo house had to go through and the suffering of the people. Without a future the tyranny of the Terragons would die out, was my defence. I'm sorry auntie but I have chosen revenge, nor you or father may tell me otherwise. "You're dead."
"Well what are you waiting for?" He asked and proceeded to point his sword at my reanimated aunt. "Sick her on me!"
"Gladly!" I turned towards her. "Kill him, my dead warrior. Aiko Mamushippo!"
"Copper Creo: Medicago." She chanted.
Her chi in the atmosphere transformed into physical copper armour plates, covering her Creed warrior uniform. The armour covered her entire body but left out her palladium, yes she was a Creed. A member of the Bronze Badgers, my father's squad of 5 while they were still alive.
I would hear great tales about them while they were in the Creed from the shinobi in our family. My father, the Capitaneus Pilum was his Elementa name and his Legatus Daniel of house Foley in Lux. My aunt was also a member of the squad. From what I heard she had to go through hell just to join it.
The armour encompassing her arms and legs began to grow in length, she was now taller and beefy as the copper expanded. The small woman though still small was inside armour that made her taller and more muscular,was now taller than even me. Her slim armour made her have a similar stature as Kira, as he was tall and skinny. Inside the suit she was hidden behind her face piece, she cracked her neck audibly.
Titen just stood there as my aunt came to life and was now expelling some of her chi, it was vigorous. Titen rushed at her with his increased speed, but Aiko pulled back her elongated arm and punched the ground. Sand and earth was pushed back by her immense strength, Titen jumped to evade the woman-made land erosion.
He appeared next to me and swung his sword right for my neck which I evaded, ignoring the dead warrior beside me. His left eye was cut and bleeding, but the wound quickly healed. The boy swung hard at my neck again but I evaded and moved out of my aunt's way. She punched at Titen but he quickly moved out the way, and struck at her armour in several places within a second. The sword did nothing to the copper except scratch it, Aiko swatted at him but was dodged quickly. The force of her hand pushed and destroyed the direction Titen dodged out of, visibly shocking him. He was kicked in the face while he was on the ground, sending him back a distance from us.
He recovered quickly from the kick and began using his increased speed to run around us, the more he circled the faster he got. He leapt from one direction and attacked Aiko hard with a kick that knocked her back a little. I simply stepped back and watched as my aunt attempted to catch him, though I knew his increased speed would help him escape doom. I also knew that in the face of sheer power, no amount of speed will matter. She clasped together both her hands and sent him flying with a shockwave, causing him to crash and destroy the boulder he landed on. There was no running away from that even with your chi speed, brute strength was my Aunts blessing.
"Ahhh!" Titen yelled from the pain from his back, he quickly got up and held his sword properly. Titen began to increase his nota by one degree, he was now in the Octa dais.
"Copper Creo: Cyanococcus." Aiko chanted.
A beehive with four pendulums on all four cardinals began forming from chi flowing out her body. The process of watching energy transform in solid metal was unworldly. We were given chi by the gods for the main purpose to entertain them, we are the gladiators of their design. The world is their coliseum, and the Perditas are their toys. I guess the fall of the demigods wasn't enough to satisfy their amusement, now we are next. This war will kill us all and leave the Terragons to walk on the ashes with their immortal bodies.
The pendulums began swinging in a side to side motion. Titen rushed forward with his increased speed. As he got closer to her I could see him losing his footing. That is what Cyanococcus does to one, it induces a state of vertigo, Aiko walks up to him slowly.
"Copper Creo: Secale." A sword shaped like wheat formed in her hand and she stopped moving forward. I could feel her rage, the rage of trying to kill her nephew. Her rage was quickly replaced with sadness as her emotions flooded me, I could see just how close she was with the late princess.
"Yes he is her son, but he is also the son of the man that wiped out our clan!" I took one step closer and strengthened my will over hers. "The man that killed you and my father, Mamushippos fight for Mamushippos!"
"Is he not one of…. One of us?" My aunt asked as she fought my will and turned back to me with a smile. "End this Mamushippo."
"I am planning too." I closed my eyes and focused on her consciousness, I took hers away completely turning her into a mindless puppet. My bidding was simply to kill the incapacitated boy on the ground, and the puppet raised her sword and swung at Titen's head. His headless body held his sword leftwards when he was on his knees.
His head flew to the left and rolled on the sand, I charged forward to deliver the finishing blow to his scar on his chest. As I got closer I noticed something in the air, tiny orbs and they were everywhere around me. I walked into his trap as the tiny orbs began cracking into shards, the pieces flew everywhere and covered the area me and my aunt were in.
"Copper Creo: Allium."
Giant copper plating appeared beneath me and then enveloped me, I quickly released my aunt from life. She turned into sand and from the outside of this dome of copper she created for me, my ears were swamped with the sound of metal clashing. The shards couldn't penetrate the layers of copper plates but damage was beginning to be visible from the inside. The dents grew in number and the explosions ceased, so I raised my aunt from death again.
She opened the cocoon that she gave me and I walked out of it. Pieces of metal were everywhere and the destruction caused by them. Titen stood in front of me grinning as he was adjusting his neck.
"Why are you smiling? That trick of yours didn't work." He pointed to his deltoid, and only now did I notice that I was injured in my deltoid. "As if this is enough to kill me."
"So is your aunt, summon him. Your father."
"He would kill you too easily, I want you to suffer a little more after the stunt you pulled just now."
"East Dance, Alloy Manipulation Art: Tetraodontidae!" He pointed his sword to the left of his body, what a weird way for him to chant and fight. I'd heard that the way evolved affinitors fight is quite unique and complicated, so far he has used his 'West Dance'. Where he points to his right and ends up covering his whole body with different alloys that provide him with different techniques.
After chanting many orbs of metal appeared in the air around us instantly, forcing me to fall back as one after the other exploded. Unlike the destructive nature of his previous attack, this artem sprouted spikes. The orbs changed into needle thin spikes that could easily impale, scar or kill someone. The mines floated in the air as I dodged and cartwheeled my way around their inevitable transform from orbs to hollow spheres protruding needles. As the spheres fell to the ground they reminded me of puffer sharks, the way they look normal one moment then bloated another. Aunt Aiko had creod a shield for herself, usitatissimum was the name of the creo.
"East Dance, Alloy Manipulation Art: Colobopsis." He chanted as he ran towards my aunt, Metal orbs formed in the air. The orbs floated everywhere in Titen's area, I was also caught in the radius of the artemers. The orbs exploded into pieces forcing me to retreat backwards, luckily my aunt's shield held for her. It protected her from the projectiles but that was never Titen's intentions.
He had created distance between me and my reanimation, forcing a one on one with my aunt. His sword clashed with hers, the unique shape of Secale gave her the advantage. Each clash, each parry caused sparks to fly, I made my way to my aunt's side. Titen was forced to block both of our attacks, I made sure to not give him any openings. Aunt Aiko's strength behind her attacks was evidently bothering him, as his face winced from blocking her sword. Even with the increased strength and durability provided by the chi blade, his augmented muscles are nothing to hers and her armour. He was knocked backwards in the face by her shield when he blocked my sword.
I jumped behind him and aimed my sword at his head, he simply stopped me with one hand. His hand was covered by a glove of elementium, his spirit weapon I guess. He held my family heirloom firmly while still parrying my aunt, I nudged hard at my sword. Sparks flew as my blade was drawn from the elementium glove, how useless of a spirit weapon. He rotated himself to punch at my aunt's shield and also strike at me with his sword. He rotated again and again to defend with his glove at my side, and strike with his sword.
He's quite well trained, he is constantly changing his form and adapting to my aunt's strength and sword. He has improved drastically in fighting, I can see why Master Ryden is said to have the power to shift the tide of this war. Titen never fought this well in all my time of knowing him, it now seems that he is fighting more like his father. His motion of attacking with his sword and blocking with his glove carried on until he was able to cartwheel away from us.
His forehead Tattoo increased in changes, from 20° to 25° as four new lines formed the bottom half of an octagon. His power was nothing to scoff at, I too increased my nota to that of a full Nona. My aunt's output increased, she threw her copper sword to the ground and handed me her shield usitatissimum.
"Copper Creo:"
"West Dance," Titen said as he pointed his sword in the right direction of his body.
"Solanaceae!" She chanted creating a dome of copper entrapping all of us, the dimensions of this dome were large.
In it my senses were clearer, I could sense multiple chi's around us, some were headed close to this area Spade said he could hide. The hypnosis power of his, is still a mystery to everyone who's experienced it. It is no wonder he is the Terragon's collector of whispers and secrets, he could walk into a room full of enemies and not be recognized.
Others he can trap in a dream of some sort and others could be his sleepwalkers subjected to a blissful memory or nightmare. In that kind of state, enemies could be friends and friends could be foe. Who's to say I'm not under his spell right now, the last time I didn't know until it was undone.
"Alloy Manipulation Art: Hachiman." Titen chanted and his body was covered by a grey shiny metal, inside this dark environment he brought light. His black sword was covered by the alloy, until it formed a Dai-katana (longsword). For some reason I could hear the galloping of horses yet there were none around.
"Copper Creo: Pastinaca."
A whip grew from my aunt's arm, the whip had other extensions sprouting all along the whip. It was looking at a plant root, one main root and smaller roots extending from the main body.
Titen couldn't be ignored, his aura was something that I've never felt. Whenever he used his west dance it felt like I wasn't dealing with a human being anymore. He held his sword horizontally and proceeded to place two fingers on its edge. More of the metal that covered the black blade flowed to the bottom of the red handle of the blade. His long sword kept its appearance but now it also looks a lot more like a longbow. Titen pulled back his hand from the edge and an arrow began to be creod, how!? He is an artemer, how is he making something with complicated shapes? A faint line of pure chi could be seen forming as the makeshift bow's string. He aimed at me with my shield. Aunt Aiko immediately ran towards him and I had the feeling that she knew what this was.
"No! Fall behind a shield, don't attack!" I shouted but was unheard for some reason, my control over her drastically weakened. Titen began imbue chi in his arrow, lots of it.
"Loose Yanata!" Titen screamed at the top of his lungs and the arrow flew in the air. I hid my head behind the shield after witnessing this, the impact was imminent. The shield felt like it was barely holding together and the arrow felt like nothing as I struggled to hold back its force. The arrow managed to push me back but it's force was quickly dulled.
I'm not sure but I felt the arrow turn to dust until I saw the last remnants disintegrate as they floated above my shield. My shield also began cracking until one half of the shield fell to the ground, I threw the remainder away. To my right was the creo Secale, I went to pick it up slowly, still staggered by what just happened. He destroyed a creo of a Elementiss warrior, twice.
I looked at the blade. It had a weird form for a weapon, the handle was thin then the metal formed into a rectangular shape. The leaf is divided at the ligule into a cylindrical sheath and the flat blade. With it I charged at Titen with both swords in my hands to fight him with Aiko who just healed her creod.
Titen fought off her first whip barrage with just his one hand, then swung the long blade at her neck. He was dodged, both of their weapons were mid and long range capable. With both swords in my hands, I looked at the shield to see the shield that I lost. That was a creo of a veteran warrior and somehow Aiko knew that the shield wouldn't hold against it. I'm not even worried about how Aiko disobeyed me, I may be the better sword but he has the better affinity.
I've been underestimating him throughout this entire battle and he knew this. If there is a west and east, then there must be south and a north. Why hasn't he used that same attack that created that crater, is his north and south far stronger than his other dances. Spade said he pointed behind him, that must be the south dance. Aiko looked like she was struggling with the long blade, so I called her to my side. She fell back to my side with quickness, and faced her.
"Sink us." I said to her, And she began to move back a little bit from me.
Titen came charging at us and I did the same, our metal clashed when we impacted. We exchanged blows, me and my two swords and him with the long blade.
"Copper Creo: Great place." My aunt chanted as she directed both her hands to the ground.
Titen knocked out one of the seeds inside the copper pods of my aunt's creo, immediately as the seed hit the ground it exploded. Forcing me and Titen to move away from the mine, Titen was not dismayed by the danger. He directed his sword at the seeds in my aunt's creo and succeeded before I could react.
"Are you insane?" I said as multiple seeds fell to the ground and he interlocked my arm with his armpit. I could only watch as the seeds turned into bombs, each explosion lagging only a little bit after the other. My body was flung a distance, my entire right side was bloodied and burned off. My arm was the first to start healing then my leg, the bruised flesh on my torso could wait as I focused on my appendages. I turned to Titen who was unharmed somehow and heading straight for my aunt.
Too little too late, as the ground began cracking and quaking. The cracks and quaking prevented him from running properly, the ground beneath us collapsed and we fell deeper into the ground. The dome sank with us and the soil excavated out of the dome. This process of sinking and soil excavating out the dome stopped when we reached our destination. The solid floor of raw copper ore in the soil, concentrated into one area. The ground beneath me was solid rough copper and the dome fitted perfectly around the flooring.
"You're trapped!" I said as Titen as he stood from the ground and surveyed his surroundings.
"It seems I am, what's the next phase of your trap?"
"Show him." I said to my reanimation while my body was still healing.
"Sting Apiums." My aunt recited, calling forth her spirit beasts. Six bees made from copper and elementium appeared from the ground. I sheath my sword and cracked my knuckles as the bees flew to encircle the Terragon
"Embroid Misuyas." I summoned my own spirit materialisation from my own soul. For others an animal or mythical creature or object would be brought forth. For me six long sewing needles, I made a fist and three needles protruded from all my interdigits.
Titen observed his surroundings like a tourist, his chi glow was the only thing that lit the area, he was surrounded and trapped. The stingers from the six giant copper bees were more than enough to kill a man twice his size, not even he could survive that much copper poison. The moment they pierce his body the bees will break their own stingers off. The body won't be able to do anything but accept the poison as the copper melts into the bloodstream.
"I wonder how you'll get out of this?" I questioned the kid just standing nonchalantly, that pissed me off even more. That bastard, how dare he look down on me, holding back his south and north artems. "You'll die before showing me your other dances!"
"I doubt that, don't worry….It's not me who is trapped."
"Cocky as always." I took one step forward and the hovering bees got closer and closer with every step I took. I ran towards Titen as did my aunt, the bees got closer and closer with every step I took. The bees proceeded to attack with their stingers pointed at him. He evaded those that he could but used his sword to deflect the some stingers directed to him. My aunt arrived first and attacked with her whip, she too was evaded and kicked backwards in the torso. She managed to block the strength of Titen as his nota was constantly increasing to adjust to the challenges.
26°, 27°, 28°. He was in the Hepta dais, my arrival was blocked with longsword as he swung it for my neck. I fell back and quickly recovered and drew closer, Titen released his artemer. For some reason forgoing his skin of alloy and protection, then he proceeded to release a large amount of his chi. The power was able to push me and my aunt back a little, the bees went back farther distance. There, it was a full Hepta standing right before me, the four shapes glowed brightly on his forehead. The arena was full of his energy, I could only sense him, thus I increased my nota by three lines.
"34°" He exhaled.
"22°" I reiterated myself as well.
"Alloy Manipulation Art: Alloy Fission." He said as he looked at his sword, which began vibrating vigorously. The black blade began to glow into a bright yellow then it changed into orange-red. The weapon burst into flames, flames of orange-red hue. The dome lit up by the torching blade, what the fuck was I looking at. How is a metal affinity producing fire? How is he using fire like him?
For a second I saw him, his father when he too covered his blade in blue flames. As he struck at the bees with his sword that was on fire. The blade cut carefully through the parts made of copper and not elementium.
Not many things can destroy elementium once it's been materialised. Even natural elementium is harder than steel, only elementium crystals are still malleable. That's because elementium is chi within its solid form and while it's in its crystal state blacksmiths forge with it. His black sword is made from elementium, though it would not break it also would not cut against pure elementium. The pieces of the bees were scattered in all directions, aunt Aiko simply dematerialised her spirit beasts and materialised them whole again.
"East Dance Coda, Salamander Heart." An orb of molten red hot metal on one side and cool metal on the other appeared at the tip of his sword facing leftwards.
"What's this?" His chanting has completely changed, and that thing, I don't even if I can call it an artem or creo, it's shape was simple but it was detailed on the cool side. The flaming sword was placed behind him as he knelt down and lowered his head. One knee touched the ground while the other faced me, the floating orb went behind him.
"This is called Naufragii, a lost art of taking pieces from one other artemer to form something new."
"Your master taught you this?"
"He did, but he isn't as good as me at it." A ring of fire appeared around him, creating distance between him and the rest of us. The bees flew to him with their stingers pointed at him, but were warded off by the hot flaming wall.
"South Dance, Alloy Manipulation Art: Salamandra President!" The floating orb at the tip of my sword absorbed its flames, and fell to the ground. Its density cracked and the raw copper surface. Aunt Aiko began running towards me, I couldn't command her to do anything at all. She ran to me and hugged me deeply before she chanted.
"Copper Creo: Allium Har-vestau."
The floor of copper beneath us began breaking apart and piece by piece I was being encased again. I saw Titen swing his sword as the stingers were trapped by his fire and heat. A bright light was the last thing I saw and the heat of his build up was the last thing I feltfrom the outside. The copper pieces and copper from my chi were converting quickly into a protective sphere, it was extremely cold and isolating in here.
My protection was hit hard by something in front of it, and sheer force pushed the sphere backwards with me inside. Heat and an explosive force was all that was going through in that moment and then the sphere began cracking. How? I thought Har-vestau with its hundred layers of well creod compacted raw copper would hold. The condensed material is stronger than the best steel walls. The strongest protection creo in the Mamushippo history, wasn't even able to hold itself together. I felt my aunt draining more and more of my chi, to protect me from whatever attack that was eating away at her creo.
Atlas her protection was done fighting whatever this attack is, I didn't even see the orb when it shattered my shielding. I managed to protect myself by turning my skin to copper sand beforehand, or so I thought. The shield fell apart and the destruction finally reached me and went through me. I couldn't even react when the orb destroyed and burned the right side of my augmented body. What followed next was fire and brightness, the force of the attack caused a massive explosion when it hit the ground. I blacked out only for a moment, when I came too I realised that Titen had destroyed my aunt. Once a reanimation is destroyed there's no bringing them back. Her Allium couldn't protect her let alone her copper armour that encompassed her entire body from that attack.
I saw melted sand crumbling, the remains of my aunt were turning to glass and scorched sand. I stood from the ground I was laid out on by the artem, there he was in front of me. His clothes were tathered, his nagajuban was completely eviscerated and his ponytail was undone. He looked tired and in pain, I too was just as exhausted. Releasing such an attack should be tiresome, but surviving it is another story. His own attack nearly killed him in the process of trying to destroy me.
All of my aunt's creos were destroyed and melted into the ground, I'm not even sure how I survived. My clothes were also in pieces, Titen seemed to recover and ripped the remainder of his top off. The shirt was thrown to the ground and he began walking closer to me. I removed my shirt as well, revealing my twenty two X mark tattoos on my torso. His blue circular tattoos were more in number, thirty five to match the sides on his forehead shapes. He's a Hexa, the stage I never reached myself as a chi venalicium.
We were standing in a giant crater, the copper dome was in pieces and melting in some parts. The sinkhole that my aunt made was nothing but a part of his destruction now. I was able to catch a glimpse of every chi in our vicinity. Titen's friend was emitting a lot of monstrous chi and Spade was expending himself against what felt like an Arc.
Hayake and Vanity were heading towards Spade and the chi signal of Andoku was with another Arc. Kira was close to the monstrous chi of that other evolved afinitor, then it disappeared. What appeared was a tower of fire reaching as high as it could and a really audible explosion. The roars of the beast couldn't even be silenced by the destruction it was causing. I felt it get nearer to us and heard a loud thump, the sound of wet thunder was all I heard afterwards.
"Uptop!" Titen shouted.
We both forgot about each other and retreated to the same side of our crater. The beast landed and nothing but dark orange flames swallowed the area it landed on. A true monster was in front of us, its body was made from charcoal and veins of magma and fire.
"Huahhh!!!!" The monster roared.
"Akiyon!!" Titen shouted. "Get yourself under control!"
"Is this your idea, of an idea?" I asked the long haired brunette beside me.
"You think I would let loose a monster that could clearly kill me as well. I didn't know he could do this."
"Well your friend is looking at us like we're meat or something, and guess what!"
"What?"
"He might just cook us to find out if we are tasty enough.
"I thought you'd prepared for death."
"Not to be cooked, there is no preparation for that."
"True, a truce till the monster is dealt with."
"Need to ask." It's not like I would fight him and the beast at the same time.
An explosion happened behind us as well, it was the Arc fighting Spade. I refocused on the battle in front of me, the chi this beast was emitting was greater than my own and Titen's. We turned to each other and without saying a word we knew, we had to fight the beast together. Behind us I could feel Spade using his power and a tornado appeared close to us in seconds. The beast noticed this as well and refocused on us, I hopefully wish it's not moving on instinct. Attacking the closest chis.
The environment froze when it appeared on Spade's highground, a chi that not even the beast was willing to ignore for us. Titen rushed at the beast without a care of the real monster that just appeared on Spade's front. I turned to see his dust tornado destroyed in an instance by blue flames, there is no mistaking it. I thought as a new figure appeared to interrupt Spade.
The new arrival used an artemer of fire and in that instance I lost track of Spade's quickly rising chi. It was as if a forest fire was extinguished by a tsunami in a instance. This was the power of an Elemento Warrior, the heat emitting by this figure was scorching. To my surprise even with the distance the heat was welcoming, it was as if peace fueled the fire. The fire elemento Kai-Zetan Wu had arrived on this battlefield, Spade was right I would've been captured in Maximiliano by a figure like him in seconds. I could feel his presence breathing down my neck as if he were close.
The monster didn't even look at Titen as it slapped him away and I watched as his body engulfed in flames was sent flying. For a Hexa to be pushed back so easily, being distracted was a mistake. I shouldn't have taken my eyes off the beast, for now it was in front of me, I turned to face it. It moves quickly. It just held me and screamed at my face and the last thing I saw was its mouth opened wide and the fire breathed.