We were getting ready to face Raven when Elyra contacted us. She gave us specific information about the situation. "Can you hear me? I want to let you know that I have evacuated the entire building and I have also sent out an alert that should evacuate the area where you are located. The police should be on alert in case of damage. Good luck, stay focused. Your opponent is stronger than you, but if you work together, victory is not impossible."
After that, Elyra ended the discussion to leave us alone. Raven Rei is a master of the elemental aetherium of fire. On our side, we were beginners, but with our training, we had mastered abilities that could put him in difficulty.
"Go!" Together, Nazomi, Kael, and Nozomi advanced toward Raven. The two threw themselves at Raven to put him in difficulty with hand-to-hand combat. In this area, Kael and Nozomi are clearly the most talented. What's more, they make a very good duo. The two were the strong point during this fight.
Despite Kael and Nozomi landing a series of punches and kicks on Raven, he still managed to resist them, even though they had a two-on-one advantage. Suddenly, Raven grabbed Nozomi's hand and threw her at Kael, who was charging at him. But just as Raven was about to charge at them again to finish them off, he was hit by a spell in the back that brought him to his knees.
It was Aria, who had been standing back. With her hands, she formed luminous circles that allowed her to manifest the original form of aetherium through spells. She cornered her opponent with beams of energy to prevent him from moving.
While Raven protected himself from Aria's spells with his fire, he was caught off guard by a blow to the stomach from Shinrei. Distracted by Aria's attacks, Raven didn't see Shinrei preparing a speed boost, which allowed him to cover the distance between them in record time to deliver the kick to the stomach that sent Raven flying backwards.
Nozomi, who was right behind him, grabbed his foot and sent him flying into the air. Kael ran to jump, but Harris created a gust of wind that allowed Keal to propel himself high into the air as well.
Raven regained his senses and, seeing Kael charging straight at him, prepared a fire attack. A destructive blast of fire. Kael couldn't dodge it, took the full force of the attack, and crashed to the ground. Raven, still in the air, launched multiple fire projectiles to corner us.
Thanks to Aria's spell and Harris's condensed wind projectiles, which they threw at the fireballs falling from the sky toward us, we managed to protect ourselves, but Aria and Harris couldn't hold out forever.
"Shinrei! Try to wait for him and distract his attention." I asked Shinrei. He pushed off my hands and I propelled him into the air. Thanks to his speed, he was able to move through the air and dodge Raven's attacks.
Once within Raven's reach, Shinrei prepared to strike, but Raven ducked, dodging Shinrei's charge. But those few moments when he dodged Shinrei forced him to stop his repeated attacks, which gave Kael time to counterattack. He got up and braced himself on the ground. Using his elemental aetherium of strength, he condensed it in his feet, which allowed him to propel himself in a straight line extremely quickly towards Raven.
Unfortunately, Raven saw his attack coming and dodged it by jumping over him. But on the roof of the building, a scarlet green glow emerged from Nozomi's hands. It was the manifestation of her elemental aetherium, which came from her elemental core. She condensed this power in her hands before releasing it, sending a beam straight at Raven. Unable to dodge Nozomi's beam, Raven performed a whirlwind of fire to counter her attack. The two attacks collided, and neither gained the upper hand.
While Raven was focused on Nozomi's attack, he didn't notice that behind him, higher up in the air, Kael and Shinrei, whom he had dodged, had not said their last words.
Kael pushed off Shinrei's feet. Foot against foot, this gave Kael a solid base to once again condense his power into his legs. Once ready, he lunged at Raven, who was distracted by Nozomi. He didn't see what was happening behind him and couldn't do anything to stop Kael's charge. He rushed forward at full power and with all his strength. He spun around 360 degrees and struck Raven with a powerful kick.
Raven was thrown to the ground, which even pierced the floor, sending Raven down several stories. "Stay on your guard, this attack won't be enough to defeat him," Kael said to everyone so they wouldn't let their guard down. He was right, because a second later Raven emerged from the same hole he had made when he fell. With rage evident on his face, he launched flamethrowers all around him. Annoyed by us, he was clearly fed up and wanted to burn us to a crisp.
We dodged his flamethrowers as best we could and got behind Harris, who created a sphere of air to protect us from the fire. With all the fire in front of us, we couldn't see what Raven was doing, but neither could he. Aria took advantage of Raven's inability to see what she was doing to prepare a counterattack. She formed a circle and placed it on the ground. A large circle appeared under Raven's feet, and tentacles of aetherium emerged from it, grabbing her arms and immobilizing her.
The flamethrower stopped, and Nozomi, Kael, and Shinrei ran straight at Raven without hesitation as soon as a gap opened up. But with the heat emanating from his body, he freed himself from the tentacles that held him prisoner. A hand-to-hand fight then began between our three heroes and Raven. Despite their numerical superiority, Raven's experience prevailed and he had no trouble controlling all three at once. However, despite the fact that he was not particularly struggling, our three heroes, returning to the charge each time, did not lose hope. Faced with his brother's determination, Harris also threw himself into the battle to help his brothers.
Raven, facing the four who kept coming back without giving him a moment's rest, began to tire and fall under the multiple blows he was taking. This only served to anger Raven. Finding himself in difficulty against amateurs, he decided to give it everything he had. Flames spread all around Raven and, inexplicably, those same flames tore apart, burning and sweeping away everything around us, including us.
The four of us found ourselves on the ground, exhausted and overwhelmed with pain. Raven's attack had left burns on our bodies, but also broken limbs and ribs. But in all this chaos, Aria remained in the background, taking advantage of the time her brothers had bought her to prepare to launch her attack. She created a giant circle the size of her waist, where aetherium condensed in the center of the circle, forming a lightning bolt in a pink crystal shining brightly.
"I'm putting all my strength into this final attack! Try to take this!" said Aria, and with all her might, she launched the attack on Raven. She had put all her remaining strength into this attack. Overcome by fatigue and lack of energy, she fainted.
However, Raven quickly conjured up flames to protect himself. The force of Aria's attack was so violent that one would have thought it would have been enough to defeat him, but despite being on his knees, covered in wounds and in a pitiful state, he was still not defeated.
"I must admit, I really felt that one," " he said with a laugh. "Unfortunately for you, fate is not on your side. You must complain, my poor thing, that fate has put you in my path."
Aria was unconscious on the ground, and the rest of us were also on the ground, unable to fight, not knowing what to do in the face of this enemy's superiority. But one of us got up despite the pain. Shinrei was the only one able to get up, deciding to continue fighting.
"It's not over, we haven't given up yet. Come on, Raven!" The enemy threw a flamethrower at him, but Shinrei easily dodged it thanks to his speed, which allowed him to move easily. Shinrei used his speed to run in all directions, preventing Raven from locating and hitting him. Against Shinrei's speed, Raven couldn't hit him, while Shinrei waited for the right moment to attack him from behind.
But Raven, who quickly understood the situation, surrounded himself with flames to protect himself. Shinrei was unable to pass through his flames at that moment. So, I drew on my last reserves of strength to get up and attempt a breakthrough that would open a gap for Shinrei. I waited until his field of vision was no longer focused on me to attack him from behind. But unfortunately, Raven was expecting it, and the moment I slipped behind him, he pinned me to the ground, immobilizing me with his foot on top of me. Shinrei thought an opening had opened up, but it was just a trap set by Raven to lure him in. Raven grabbed Shinrei's face with one hand, and Shinrei could no longer move or escape.
"Finally, I've got you. Aren't you tired of running around like this?" he asked Shinrei. Using the heat emanating from his hands, Raven produced an explosion from the palm of his hand that was holding Shinrei's head. Shinrei fainted, unconscious after the explosion, and Raven threw his body to the ground without mercy.
"Shinrei! Raven, how dare you!" I said with rage. Pounding my fist on the ground, gathering all my determination, I got up despite Raven's foot on me. He finally removed his foot, and as soon as I was standing, I tried to punch him. However, Raven jumped over me and followed up with a 360-degree spin, followed by a kick ignited by his most fiery fire. His attack sent me crashing through the floor, and I fell dozens of stories.
"Well, it looks like it's over," Raven said to Kael. "Weren't you the one who said you would defeat me? Given the situation, I must conclude that I have won. Earlier, you were against my way of seeing things, and I am also against yours. It's like that every time, no matter your nation, your race, your origins. The only way to impose your vision is to defeat the other vision. You understand, don't you? Here, I am the strongest, so my vision has won. Unfortunately, you will understand this too late, and that will cause your downfall and that of your family."
Raven fired one last flamethrower at Kael, wanting to end his life. Kael stood motionless, unable to do anything. But a figure appeared in front of him. It was Harris, who had gotten up to save his brother, placing himself between Kael and Raven's attack. Drawing on his last reserves of strength, he fired a burst to counter Raven's fire. Unfortunately, Raven's fire was much more powerful, and he gained ground. It was only a matter of time before Harris gave in, but even in this situation, he did not give up.
Kael, seeing his brother's courage and admiring his determination, got up as well. "Yes, you are all right. It's not over, anything is still possible. Harris, hold on a few more seconds." Kael then concentrated all his strength in one final attack. He gathered his energy in his right hand; the aura he deployed caused fine particles of aetherium to spurt out. A complete layer of aetherium now covered his right hand, which could be seen.
He thought back to a conversation he had had with Elyra during their training. "Kael, your elemental aetherium will give you extraordinary strength. Never lose faith in your own power: it will be able to surpass many forms of magic."
"My strength! Nothing can stand in its way. It will surpass your flames, Raven!"
Kael punched the air, and a shockwave of dazzling power burst forth. The wave swept away all of Raven's flames in its path and rushed straight at him. The impact caused an explosion, and a cloud of smoke spread all around.
When the smoke finally cleared, Raven's silhouette could be seen, surrounded by blue flames. He had managed to protect himself as best he could, even though he was far from unscathed.
"I knew you heroes would never give up. There's nothing more stubborn than you."
He advanced toward Kael and Harris, both of whom were collapsed on the ground and almost out of strength.
Kael, seeing that his attack had not defeated him, searched for a solution... but found none. "Is... is it really over?"
As Raven advanced, a crack formed beneath his feet. From this crack emerged Nozomi. He stood facing Raven, enveloped in an emerald green glow, a vibrant and almost unreal energy.
Kael, surprised and unable to comprehend what he was seeing, whispered, "Nozomi?"