Crimson versus Sapphire – Ch 159
The entire pseudo meadow is bathed in crimson light in an instant. The chaotic whirlwinds and blankets of snowfall shudder before they dispel leaving an eerie, still silence. A silence only broken by a high-pitched ringing in my ears and the molten *thumps* of blood through my veins.
An icy coldness settles in my mind, its frigid depths more profound than any of the glacial attacks thrown my way during this fight. The beast inside no longer raging against self-imposed chains, but now firmly grasping the wheel in tandem with myself. Its blood lusted whispers morphing and shifting into instinct and drive. Into an almost perfect unison of soul, mind, body, and purpose.
Every moment, every breath that passes inches me closer to such a union. Every emotional hinderance - fear, hesitation, morality - fall by the wayside and are shunted from my newly enlightened state to be replaced with certainty. Every inhale and exhale thrumming the world around me in visible, trembling waves.
The certainty of power as I flex my hands to feel the incredible strength bulging through my muscles. Not to admire or gawk like would normally happen, but to clinically assess and gauge. Every movement, every coil and loosening of corded muscle hums in warm, eager glee. The thought that even mountains would crumble beneath a leveled punch a fact instead of a theory.
The certainty of will as I briefly peer into my soul space to see every facet of my being synchronized in perfect harmony. Orchestrated by a dead eyed soul avatar lined in red raising its hands over a scarlet tapestry streaming in starlight and shadowed by a vibrant blood moon.
The certainty of victory, as I return my focus onto the slightly haggard form of Akiko who stares at me in bewilderment and more than a generous dose of terror. A quick scan of the Qi rising around her with my spiritual sense indicating that the only reason she's still standing is because she has activated all of her Intents and possibly even bloodline just to counteract the pressure around her.
But even that isn't going to be enough as I let instinct take over after deactivating Luck. Wordlessly and with a neutral face, I disappear from my location with distorted, crackling air. The only indication that I am no longer there is the earth shattering explosion of force my footfalls make and the sudden implosion of wind as I lunge towards her. A hurricane twisting to life from the newly formed crater as she and I are now face to face. Those violet eyes that were wide before now dinner plates as she tries to respond.
The coated in ice katana swings towards me as I lash my hand forward, gripping the blade with my palm and stopping its movement wholesale. Only a faint trickle of blood coating its surface as I ignore the piddling damage prompt. I grab the arm holding the sword and then twist to bodily pull her off her feet. With a downward arc, I slam her into the earth that shakes the very foundation of the scenario.
Damage dealt 1,058,697!
A massive divot carved into creation that turns the pockmarked meadow into a wasteland. Walls of sunken dirt and stone exploding outward faster than the eye can blink until the only thing that remains of the arena is a gasping kitsune in the middle of a meteoric impact crater bathed in vermillion light.
"Enough." My voice echoes in the newly formed basin devoid of any emotion, the air rippling on every syllable. Body straddling over hers as I effortlessly rip the katana from her momentarily weakened grip. "This is over."
She looks back to me, crimson eyes now only half covered by a nearly sundered fox mask. Its splinters weakened and shredded from both our previous bouts and this cataclysmic new one. The fire of determination still alight as it shifts to something new.
"Over? *Cough*" She answers back with a hacking of blood, the corner of her lips partially visible from the mask's destruction arc upward into insanity. "My love, we are just getting started~."
From the ground, six tails lash out to me in whip like speed despite the overbearing pressure on them, coiling around my arms, torso, and legs. A momentary affair as I simply look at the bondage and flex forward, instantly freeing myself. But that slight pause was all she needed to slap a piece of paper on the ground, her hand obscuring the multitude of glyphs and runes on its surface.
Despite my newly gained strength, my instincts flare to life and I quickly jump back in retreat from whatever she just activated. Only to be met with a bubble of incalculable numbers of glowing symbols, glyphs, and swirls of power. All of them appearing in the air for only a hairs breadth of time before shooting into the downed form of Akiko, all of the visible wounds and fatigue on her person disappearing in an instant.
She stands, unbothered about the katana still on the rubble strewn ground while my mind and body issue caution. Not for hesitation or fear, but to assess whatever change she just performed as some of those glowing symbols begin to form on her skin. Seeing that both of us are more than proficient in inscriptions, I know that diving head first into an unknown situation involving them is dangerous. Even for the current me when prepared by someone like her.
"It has been a long while since I have had to go all out, Amelia~. No one on Mara can truly push me to my limit. Samantha could, at one point, but that was also due to her sun attribute being the perfect elemental counter to my ice. At least, before the gap between us widened to what it is now." She says sweetly as we stare each other down, pointed vulpine teeth beginning to poke past the madness of her smile.
"Let us see if you can change that~. [9 Tailed Ice Goddess Kitsune: True Divine Form]." As she utters the incantation, her entire body begins to glow in an icy blue light and grow.
For the first time since the Intent Domain washed over the arena, I frown. Bow and arrow inscribed to oblivion and back appearing in my hands before shooting out with the crack of thunder. The bolts whistling through the air faster than the eye can track, but still too late as one of those foreign symbols appears and creates a translucent shield directly in the path of the arrow.
As the glowing silver ammunition impacts the barrier, both explode in a shower of rock, Qi, and force that whips my glowing white hair behind me. The instant the silver band returns, I form another arrow and do the same only to be met by another shielding symbol. The downward pull on my lips tightens as I prepare to abandon the ranged effort and begin a more personal attempt against the now 30-foot towering glow of Akiko before I feel the Intent Domain beginning to be pushed back.
100 feet... 300... On and on the form glows and expands as I decide to back away further and further from the new presence. The process itself only taking a few seconds, but in the end a being rivaling the height of many of my old life's landmarks finally appears. An elegant, vulpine head with pointed ears and a long snout rising to what my mind deduces as close to or over 1,000 feet high, four skyscrapers coming to plant on the shattered earth with building sized, razor-sharp claws. Six massive tails that cause tornadoes with every twitch of movement tipped in ice. All coated in icy white fur holding swirls of teal as power radiates from her bestial form.
The space's hue now a perfect border between red and blue over the desolate landscape. Ice and snow instinctually coating one side in a perpetual blizzard while the other thrums, sapping away every color that isn't attuned to the crimson heartbeat.
"Come, my love." The gargantuan voice rumbles across the space, returned amethyst eyes now bearing star shaped pupils as they bear down upon me in glee. A frenetic burst of pressure rippling as her lips pull back into a manic smile filled with razor sharp teeth. "Show me your strength! [9 Tailed Ice Goddess Kitsune: Everlasting Winter]!"
Pillars of ice rocket out of the broken wasteland, knife sharp and jagged as they fan out from her paws and wash towards me. Roof tearing winds blast frigid air that shreds any remaining semblance of pseudo life in the space with their carried stones and shards of ice. Tornadoes do the same as they form under suddenly appearing inky black storm clouds which beginning raining down house sized hail that further devastate the land.
As the spikes begin to approach, I calmly walk forward. Wind whipping my hair around me my left foot slides forward a step and I summon the scythe. With a swing of the blade through the air silvery Qi begins to cling to my outline. Momentum pirouetting me thrice into a graceful yet powerful second step with upraised hands. Another twirl with the blade spinning like a top sees me to the final step as my palm lands directly to a newly forming spear of ice.
"[Cratering Palm of the Shining Moon]."
*KA-BOOM!!*
When I had tested this technique out before, I was much weaker. Even then, the resulting scar on the land was something that even made Sam hesitate. Now though? Now bedrock is flung aside and thrown to the air without care. A 45-degree cone of absolute erasure, ice shattering against ice as spines of slick frozen water now spear towards the mountainous form of Akiko whose changed eyes are once more wide.
She jumps away, the ground actually sinking even from where I am standing from the force put upon it and narrowly dodges the destructive wave that sees all her ice replaced by mine. The teal blue overcome by pure silver as she floats and observes in awe.
The air fractures behind me as I vault in pursuit, scythe returning to bow as another blindingly glowing arrow is loosed. Her massive fox head whips to the incoming danger, an immense hail stone veering off its natural path to sit between the projectile and herself.
The red deepens at another failed attempt as the arrow obliterates the near glacier, the explosion creating a veritable dust storm between us that is broken by a massive white tail hurtling towards my still approaching form.
Moments before impact, the curved metal of my preferred weapon reforms just in time for me to slice upwards and neutrally chant, "[Reap]."
Damage dealt 1,265,374!
A howl of pain coincides with a chunk of flesh dispersing into particles; however it isn't enough. The remaining mass of the tail hits me square in the chest, the momentum spiking me back to the desolate icy lands below with the explosion of a bomb.
742,894 damage taken!
As soon as the dust settles, the war being waged between blue and red dies. What was once a seemingly fair struggle now sees an island of sapphire amidst a sea of ruby. The hum and pulse of its angered beating coinciding with my own as my feet lift off the ground. Reality nearly ripping apart at the seams around blood-red waves of Qi that radiate off my hovering form as Akiko looks on stupefied.
"W... Wha-?"
One second, I am watching her from my floating position. The next I am at her snout, fist already balled and crashing against it.
Damage dealt 6,234,879!
Her body shoots toward the earth like mine had. I follow with tunneled red vision and a vicious sneer on my lips. The anger inside me alight with an ice-cold blue fire.
As she impacts, I am right there above her. Bow drawn and arrow already sent at point blank range at her stomach. It digs past the fur and into the flesh slightly before exploding in its assorted payload, ruining a sizeable portion of her fur and charring the skin.
Damage dealt 500,369!
As she writhes, I release the seemingly ineffective weapons back to their bands and launch downward with a voice pulsing with rage. "[Meteoric Lunar Impact]!"
My flight towards her is barred by a raised paw that simply becomes the new target instead. Glowing fist impacts the black, city block sized pads. The crunch of bone and shattered claw arriving at the same time as yet another wailful howl of pain.
Damage dealt 9,987,351!
I float backwards, tilting my upper body in the same direction as a tail narrowly misses me. Then again and again as a flurry of the still ice tipped appendages strike out like tower sized snakes. Their constant assault enough for Akiko to rise back to standing on a limp paw, frigid Qi coalescing in her mouth in a dull thrum before a beam of pure ice is shot out on a chant, "[Divine Form: Glacier Creating Breath]!"
My hand merely raises in front of me towards the encroaching blast of power, snarling words rippling out my response, "[Aegis of the Void]."
This time, however, instead of a towering that covers most of my body, a massive, stories tall plate of jagged void energy erupts to life in an ear rumbling hum of distorted air. My eyes almost fluttering closed from the sheer amount of Qi being sucked into sustaining it. The intensity of the red hue fading slightly before my teeth find my lip and bite down, the resulting trickle of blood returning the color in full as I stare down towards the attack with enraged determination.
The beam hits a moment later in a cacophonous crash, reality screeching in protest as multiple laws of physics rip apart in an instant. The force of the impact sends me flying backwards hundreds and hundreds of feet while I brace and fight against it. Body hurtling in a straight line from Akiko's still agape mouth as she fires off the beam. The whole world sandwiched between an erupting fan of blue against a sliver of black in a turbulent red sea.
The red, however, gets stronger and stronger as the clash continues. Gritted teeth near to the point of breaking, lava hot blood pulsing in ever rapid movements, anger welling and welling to crescendo. Each phenomenon only deepening the purity and strength of the space around me.
Eventually the vying struggle ceases. The last threads of ice washing helplessly against a cracked and faltering bulwark of void before it too disperses into fine particles. The sound of two heaving breaths echoing their exhaustion across the battlefield. One massive and spent, the other weary yet still determined.
I go to continue, the glacial bonfire of rage still roiling inside me as I fly forward and then... begin to fall.
Stamina has reached 0! Unconsciousness imminent!
The pressure and crimson coloration vanishes along with my void black skin, glowing white hair, and golden crown. Body limp as I feel my thoughts slipping away from me with lead heavy eyes. The last thing my sluggard mind recognizing being a soft, white tail that gently catches me amongst its fur.
I catch the suddenly plummeting Amelia gently with a tail, her weary and wounded body near instantly drifting to slumber as I let out a shaky breath and survey the destruction around us. If this had been Mara... I struggle to think how many continents would be remaining.
Between my [Everlasting Winter] and Amelia's sudden destructive power from her Intent Domain, I would wager not many. Frankly, I am surprised that the barrier to this space even held.
I gently release the hold on my Divine Form, power and strength ebbing out of me in a rush the few seconds the transformation takes to complete. As soon as it does, I stumble slightly and cough out a mouthful of blood.
Despite using a protective healing talisman, it wasn't nearly enough to recover from that foolish attempt to physically block one of Amelia's [Meteoric Lunar Impact] attacks. Nor enough to comfortably shrug off the... beating I received before my love passed into unconsciousness... Heavens, what a monster. To actually, truly, be a threat to my Divine Form this early...
As I contemplate, my tails still carry the sleeping visage of the utterly spent woman. Now using most of my frayed and ice burned tails instead of a singular one, but I march us through the aftermath all the same. Eventually, we arrive at the exit where I turn to take one last look at the carnage that was wrought.
A deep chasm of silver that dug to nearly the center of the simulated earth. Jagged and jutting spines of ice both blue and silver that crisscross amongst themselves. So many craters that even if the ring surrounding Mara were to fall, it would be hard pressed to emulate. Including the massive bowl where Amelia had first displayed her new strength against me.
The thought brings my weary eyes back to the woman in question. Her crimson hair matting to her usually cheerful face with sweat, blood, and grime. The same layer of after battle effects coating the rest of her clothes and skin. A dried dribble of blood here and there, including one I do not remember giving her on the lower lip. A calm, peaceful air about her so juxtaposed to the display from just a few minutes ago.
Still, even now the beauty both physical and residing below the surface makes my heart hum in bliss. The pureness of her soul and will to stand by her convictions, even against someone she loves, is as heartbreaking as it is warming.
A sigh escapes me as I softly move a few strands away from her slightly open mouth, careful not to disturb her rest, before I turn and exit the both of us from this space.