What caught Amaro off guard was not a sudden rise in Deka’s power, but a complete and utter elimination of it. The aura of magic he had been outputting vanished entirely, replaced a primal sense of dread.
Hairs stood up on the back of Amaro’s neck, a lump in his throat. Why did he feel afraid?
“Recuso.” Deka said, his voice reverberating through Amaro’s very being.
Amaro looked around. He was not the only one stunned. Everyone but Tadios were utterly stunned in fear. There was no spectacular display of power, or intimidating aura. There was nothing, and that’s exactly what gripped their hearts.
Tadios raised his guard, undaunted. When Deka launched off, he disturbed neither wind nor dirt, but he was fast.
Tadios was not the strongest Tibur for no reason, however. Amaro did not know what happened, but the moment Deka connected his strike, a metallic tone rang out. Tadios thrusted his palm out, but Deka redirected it to the sky.
FWOOOOM!
A plume of white hot fire crested above, forcing Amaro to snap from his daze and shield himself from the heat.
“Excellent! Truly excellent!” Deka shouted, “Let this be the first of many fights between the two of us. I Dekadimus Alveridan recognize you, Tadios Tibur among my most worthy of rivals! Now show me everything you have, leave nothing behind!”
Amaro had thought he stood on equal footing to Deka. He believed if he could not defeat him, then someone who kept up with their training like Anitus would have.
It simply was not true. Deka had been hiding this power, waiting for a worthy opponent to use it on. Amaro watched as the two of them traded blows. There were no crashing waves of energy, nor any shaking ground, but Amaro could feel the impact in his soul. It hit him harder than any wind or explosion could have. The earth may very well have been shattering in front of them anyway.
All of the energy that usually dispersed into their environment when they fought was now being put to its full use towards defeating his opponent. Amaro did not know what was happening, but he could feel it. It felt like Deka was attacking more than just what was physical between them. He was attacking everything at once with his strikes.
Another metallic hum rang out as Tadios landed that strange technique again. Everytime Deka pulled ahead, Tadios healed instantly off of a strike that should have ended him. He was hanging on by a thread, but it was that last thread that even Deka in all his power struggled to break.
He looked to the others, who had also stopped to watch the fight. There was no doubt about it. This was not a fight any of them could hope to enter.
“So this is the true difference between partially awakened and fully awakened Ux.” Anitus said, clenching his fist, “How frustrating. We never stood a chance of beating either of them from the start.” he turned to the Nephilim, “But we have our own opponents, don’t we? And it’s obvious by the drake you rode in on that you’re partially responsible for the assault that happened.”
The nephilim said nothing, instead summoning ice elementals to her side, and taking her stance.
Anitus grinned, “You should feel honored, girl. You get to fall in battle to a Xirxus. Let it be something you tell your grandchildren. That is, if you even live long enough.”
“No killing, brother.” Amaro said, “Or dismemberment,” He added.
“Excuse me if I happen to pluck a couple feathers,”
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The bat drake moved between them, its ears folded down as it snarled like a rabid dog. Anitus lobbed a fireball at it, forcing the thing to jump out of the way, “You’re all bark, I see.” he said, blasting a wide cone of flames over the drake until it was crying out. Water spawned above them, extinguishing the flames as the two ice elementals charged forward.
Amaro jumped in, slamming his fist into its block-shaped body. Chunks of ice skittered across the parched soil. These summons were durable, but they were slow. Anitus blasted one of their heads off with a focused explosion, leaving it to crumble at his feet. He rushed, leaving the Nephilim to back up and send a wave of water his way.
Anitus’s flames were too strong. He cut through the waves in a cloud of steam, looming over the nephilim before he realized that the steam had come alive to sear his skin.
Anitus lit himself on fire as the steam elemental attacked him. The air was getting dry, and soon enough that elemental had also fallen.
The bat drake lurched forward, latching onto Anitus’s leg. Amaro delivered a kick to its head to get it off, narrowly avoiding its snapping jaws. The bat drake was a powerful beast, but it was no match for their advanced magic.
Between the two of them, Anitus and Amaro managed to land the odd hit on the drake.
“Ezo!” The nephilim shouted, raising a wall of ice to deflect from their blasts.
Anitus crashed through it in an aggressive lunge, tackling the nephilim to the ground. Before the bat drake could pounce on him, Amaro sent it flying with the hardest kick he could muster, “Take her horns and be done with it, brother.”
“Get off! Get off!” The nephilim shouted, scrambling and biting like some sort of wild animal.
Anitus pinned her to the ground, grabbing one of her horns and snapping it off, “Gah! She fucking bit me!” Anitus hammered his fist down onto her, “Fucking dirty bitch!” He punched again and again and again.
Amaro’s attention was pulled back to the bat drake who now threatened to bite his nose off, struggling to get out of his grasp as he wrestled it to the ground. The bat drake’s strength overpowered his own, but Amaro made sure to run as much electricity through its body as he could to get it to stop moving.
As the drake tried to pull away, Amaro pushed forward, continuing his stream of electricity into its body. The beast scrambled and bit down on his shoulder. Amaro cried out, but he held onto it. He couldn’t let this thing get to his brother. He let out a yell, violet lightning pouring from his body. Those teeth dug deeper inside him, threatening to bite a chunk from his body. And then, its jaws slackened. The beast slumped its weight on top of him. He tossed it to the ground and turned to see Anitus in a seething rage as he beat the noxa bloody. Amaro panted, clutching his wound, “Brother, what are you- Stop.” He felt weak. No doubt the drakes’ saliva was contaminating his wound. Right along with all the magic he’d summoned to bring it down.
He looked over to Deka as he clashed one final time with Tadios. Deka connected with the final strike he needed, and Tadios was out on his feet. The prince of Itaro stood bloodied, bruised, and exhausted. His chest heaved as plumes of hot breath exited into the cold winter air. He clutched Tadios’s horn and snapped it off raising it in the air like a trophy as Tadios crumpled to the ground.
Amaro tried to get his attention. He had to get Deka to stop Anitus, “Deka…” He huffed, his voice hoarse. He watched as Anitus kept throwing punches. The Nephilim was not moving anymore, “Deka!” He couldn’t muster more than a whisper as he crawled toward Anitus, “Stop…him… Stop… it!”
He looked around for anyone. Deka could not hear him. In the distance, he saw that flash of bright red hair. Kaara was coming, followed closely by Vilka. They had been put through a lot, it seemed.
Amaro tried to raise his hand, but his muscles jolted out of his control. Was this what it felt like to injure his soul? His mind was fogged, static was buzzing in his ears like a swarm of hornets.
But something pierced that scrambled mess of noise. The crunch of snow sounded as someone walked towards them.
“When spears are shattered, and shields are broken,”
He heard those words as if they were being spoken directly into his ear. Amaro looked to the source, anger rising in his gut at who he saw. That same cloak. That same scarf covering his face. The one who had hurt Kaara.
“The greatest danger has yet to pass. From within the ranks of the chosen anticipate the traitor’s blade.”
His arms appeared from behind his cloak. Dagger and hatchet in hand. What was he planning to do? Amaro could not let him near Kaara again. Not near Anitus, or anyone else either.
“Greet it not with your broken tools, but with your open arms.”
The static consumed his mind. Anitus slumped over. Deka fell face first into the dirt. Kaara and Vilka crumpled to the ground. Amaro held on as long as he could. His fury keeping him conscious until his vision fractured, tunneled, and vanished. By the time Amaro woke up again, it was over.