Akari's eyes blazed brighter, the blue flames within her sockets roaring with a celestial fury as she locked her gaze onto me. The moment our eyes met, I felt it a sickening, visceral heat. It wasn't just my skin burning; it was my soul, as if her very stare was a divine eraser intended to strike my existence from the records of time.
I tightened my trembling grip on Esta, holding the katana with both hands. I leveled the tip at her heart, my knuckles white. My gaze flickered briefly to the jagged rubble behind her. Liora lay there, motionless, buried beneath shattered obsidian and cooling magma. She was unconscious one variable removed from this lethal equation.
Akari stepped forward, the air around her distorting from the sheer heat. Then, she vanished.
She reappeared instantly in my blind spot, charging with a scream of pure desperation. I spun, raising my blade just in time to catch her strike.
CLANG!
The kinetic force was like being hit by a falling mountain. I was sent hurtling backward. I spread my remaining wing instinctively, the single black limb beating frantically to steady my flight. My feet slammed into the scorched earth, digging deep furrows into the stone as I flipped and skidded to a violent halt.
"This isn't going to be easy…" I wheezed, the metallic taste of blood coating my tongue.
I barely had a second to draw breath. She was already there again. Our blades collided midair, a supernova of sparks exploding between us as we locked into a struggle of raw strength.
"How dare you hurt my dear sister!" Akari roared, her voice a jagged edge of grief and wrath.
Her sword became a blur of lethal crimson left, right, a downward cleave, a lightning-fast thrust each strike calculated to end me. I blocked them all, though my arms screamed in agony, the vibration of each hit rattling my teeth. She was accelerating, her movements becoming a flickering strobe light of violence.
Keeping up with her was pure torture. If it weren't for the sentient instincts of Esta, I would have been carved into ribbons minutes ago.
"Wow… your strength is on another level," I grunted between slashes, my lungs burning.
She didn't respond. She only intensified the onslaught. Her blade ignited with a blinding brilliance, and with a devastating upward swing, she launched me into the air.
I struggled to regain my footing in the sky, my single wing beating desperately. Below me, Akari's entire silhouette was swallowed by a towering pillar of fire.
She vanished upward then reappeared above me.
A massive, spectral fist forged from pure inferno emerged from the flames and smashed into my sternum. I was driven back into the ground like a fallen star.
BOOOOOOM!
The earth shattered beneath the impact. Akari followed the strike down, crashing onto my chest with a follow-up punch that carved a massive, steaming crater into the battlefield.
I lay in the center of the wreckage broken, helpless lood pouring from my nose and mouth as my nerves screamed in a cacophony of pain.
"H-Holy shit…" I muttered, my voice a pathetic tremor. I gritted my teeth, fighting the darkness encroaching on my vision.
"Absolute Flames," Akari whispered.
Her body fused completely with the fire, turning into a being of pure, white-hot plasma. She slammed down again, her fists raining blows onto my face over and over. My skin burned, then went numb, the heat cauterizing my wounds even as she inflicted them. Every strike forced my head deeper into the pulverized rock. I couldn't feel half of my face anymore.
Still I grinned. I forced my head up, my vision swimming, to look directly into her empty, burning eyes.
"You truly are the strongest," I coughed, a spray of dark blood hitting her flaming armor. "But I am not dying in a hole like this!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.
"Cursed Blood: Void Creation!"
Thick, oily black smoke erupted from the blade, forcing Akari to leap back. The smoke thickened by the second, swirling into a vortex that began to forge a weary, humanoid shape.
I sat up, clutching my side, as the blood pooling on the floor began to flow upward drawn into the figure. The smoke solidified, turning from a ghostly gray to a healthy, vibrant demonic hue.
The man took a long, deep breath, his chest expanding as he surveyed the chaos.
"Finally... the sweet breath of a battlefield."
He had long, silken white hair that cascaded like a frozen river over his shoulders. He turned toward me, his eyes two abyssal pits so black they seemed to consume the light around them.
"Ohhh... so you are the one who summoned me," he said, drifting closer. He bent down, extending a hand with a graceful elegance. I took it, and he hoisted me up with effortless power.
"Hmmm," he sighed heavily, looking at the devastation. "Well, you know the risks of summoning me to this plane."
"Somewhat," I managed to say, my breath coming in shallow hitches.
"Well, might I have the honor of your name?" he asked with a light, enigmatic smile.
"I'm Justin voidborn Khoas," I responded.
"Nice to meet you, my Lord." He let go of my hand, placing his right hand over his heart and the other behind his back in a perfect, courtly bow. "I am Akido."
"Well... nice to meet you," I said, before coughing up a fresh wave of blood.
"It seems the toll has been taken. This is the end for your physical form today, my Lord.
See you on the other side," he said, his voice echoing. "But before you lose consciousness, let me show you the true power you possess."
He flew upward, gently placing me down near Himori. She immediately rushed over, holding my shoulders to keep me upright, eventually letting my head rest against her lap.
"Why help me?" I whispered, my voice fading.
Across the crater, Yuri stared down at me with a cold, murderous intent that felt even more frigid than the ice she wielded.
"Because you are my Master's brother," Himori whispered, her voice trembling as tears flowed down her face and onto my skin. "I will take care of you in her absence."
Master? The realization hit me. Kiyomi had trained Himori. It explained the raw emotion she had shown before the bond between student and teacher transcending the war between races.
"I would like to make a deal with you," she said, her grip tightening on my shoulders.
"Sure," I replied with a faint, bloody grin.
"Promise me that we will see Kiyomi together when we get out of here," she said, her voice breaking. "And promise me... promise me you won't die here!"
I found it strange to see her cry so much for a demon she had just met, yet I knew it wasn't for me it was for the woman who lived through me.
"No promises," I wheezed, more blood leaking from the corner of my mouth.
Up in the sky, Akido raised his arms. "Dark Magic: Beams of Chaos!"
Multiple magic circles flared into existence across the burning sky, raining down endless lances of dark energy. Akari blurred through the air, dodging the beams with frantic speed, her body charging with mana as she flew up to land a strike. Akido didn't even draw a weapon; he blocked her blazing sword with a single, casual finger. With a disdainful flick, he kicked her downward, sending the First Strongest crashing into the dirt.
"Girl, you are not much of a match for me. Just stay down," he said with a chilling, vacant stare.
Akari gritted her teeth, her pride wounded, and flew back up. They exchanged a flurry of blows that lit up the darkening sky like a macabre firework display.
As I watched, my skin grew paler. I felt a deep, biting cold settling into my bones. Himori felt it too, looking down at me with mounting panic.
"Looks like I am out of time. It was fun sparring with you; I hope we can do it again sometime," Akido said, bowing mockingly toward Akari. "Dark Magic that descends into Chaos, cleanse this world with your destruction: Chaos Beams!"
He summoned a small, concentrated orb of pure void. It floated slowly toward Akari, who stared at it, paralyzed by the sheer gravitational pull of its mana. The ball sucked in the surrounding light and heat before detonating. The whole battlefield shook to its foundations. Everything went white the color, the sound, and my consciousness all vanished into the light.