Lunging towards me the old man strikes, my body which sends the rotational energy inside of me. But I counter with a kick sending him right into the wall, then I follow up my attack by creating giant ice spikes infused with spirit energy.
Following him through the wall, I say, “Has your lower back given out yet?”
“Don’t mock what will one day happen to you.” With his legs he does a sweeping kick around himself which causes chunks of the wall and my ice to fly up towards his head, then with another spin kick the chunks get sent flying my way.
Dodging out of the way, I see the chunks break the ice behind me; it seems he passed on the rotational energy to all those chunks he kicked. I continue to dodge while flipping back and forth to build up rotational energy.
Then when I see an opening, I instantly infuse my legs with spirit energy and snow boost towards the old man, when I reach him, I slam my fist right in his stomach and send all my rotational energy into him. This causes him to fly far back into the wall.
Regaining my footing, I say, “I think if I alter my stance a bit I can better flow the rotational energy through my body.”
Suddenly I hear a laugh, which is followed by the old man saying, “You really are a fast learner Orb, but if you think this is all rotational energy can do, you’re sorely mistaken.”
In front of me behind the smoke from his impact into the wall, I see an incredibly buff tall man. As he walks forward out of the smoke, I see that the old man is taller than Cyrus, and has muscle mass that puts even wonderbeasts to shame.
As I stare at him in awe, he says, “Rotational energy can revitalize the body allowing even an old man like me to function, and when you push that to its limit it brings the body to a state even greater than what was possible in its peak.”
All my instincts start to act up, so I enter a defensive position, but as I blink I see the old man in front of me with his fist about to crash into my stomach. So, I move both my arms in front of my stomach to shield it, but then I am hit with a kick right in the temple which sends me flying to my left and through multiple walls.
Wobbly, I stand up as blood drips from my head and back, “Crap, I almost died.”
Φ “Was that attack too much for you, I can slow it down if you’re young body can keep up.” But in response to my taunts, Orb just stares at me with a creepy smile, “What’s so funny?”
Hopping from side to side with both of his arms up, Orb says, “I just can’t wait to learn how to do something cool like that, so stop wasting my time old man and come attack me so I can take that technique.”
Feeling my blood pumping, I say, “You really are worth using this form for!” Instantly I lunge towards him, but the moment I do he lunges towards me using snow to propel himself.
When we meet in the middle I punch with my right fist, but he dodges it and hits me in the bottom left of my stomach while we are still in motion. So, I knee him with my left leg while still in motion, but he grabs it and manoeuvres his body behind me, and in that moment he strikes the back of my right leg brings me to my knees. Then right after that, he spins his body towards my right side and then knees me in my right temple.
“That’s that,” Orb says, thinking he knocked me out. So, I grab his leg and start to slam him against the floor.
“In this state, there is a constant rotation moving throughout my body, so any weak rotation like yours that’s come into contact with it just makes me stronger.”
I continue to slam him against the floor, but then with his left foot he hits me in my chin which shakes me for a moment, and in that moment he uses his right knee to hit the soft spot of my arm breaking my grip. Then as he lands, he uses his right heel to hit me vertically in my chin once again, then turning around he punches me directly in the face using his legacy.
Instinctively, I hit him with the back of my right fist at full force which sends Orb through a window and outside directly to another section of the palace.
Regaining my senses, I look outside the window to see that Orb is landing directly on the outside of another section of the palace and has frozen his feet to it so he can stand vertically on the outside of the building.
I lunge towards him and he lunges towards me mid-air, and when we meet he tries to punch me but I grab his arm, and as we fall I punch him, knee him, and headbutt him to pile on the damage, and after a rather fierce headbutt I can see his consciousness fading. So mid-air I spin him vigorously, then send the rotational energy into him I throw Orb right towards the edge of the roof.
As I land on the floor Orb hits the edge of the roof and ends up stuck there. With all the energy I can muster I lunge towards him on the crater he has made for himself at the edge of the roof and knock him directly onto the roof.
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But even though he was almost unconscious Orb still lands on his feet, and as he lands, he looks directly at me. Orb isn’t smiling anymore but that vicious gaze he fully focused on me, his gaze is just like a predator completely locked on its prey, but also not. It is much more fierce, more obsessive, and a lot kinder, it is like he is not only watching my every move but understanding the intent behind them, his eyes are trying to understand my soul, and it is overwhelming like the feeling of being hugged by you’re parents as a child, but nevertheless it feels creepy.
I lunge towards him, and he just stands there waiting. When my fist is about to crash down on where he is standing, he hops out of the way backwards, so I continue my assault punching him as fast as I can.
But time and time again he dodges right before I can strike him almost as if he is reading my mind. To change the situation, the next time my fist hits the ground I send rotational energy into the debris and throw it at Orb.
Orb skilfully maneuverers his way through it while approaching me. He is finally moving forward instead of backing away, so I use this opportunity to strike him yet again.
As my fist comes close to his face he elegantly dodges and strikes me with his right heel against my left kneecap, then as I try to hit him again, he moves perfectly in sync with my body and dodges while striking me again. I continue to try to hit him while moving my body around, but he continues to strike me while dodging.
The way his body is moving it is almost as if he is rotating around my body, he is so in sync with all my movements that I can barely differentiate him from the wind blowing against my body. He continues to strike me effortlessly as I try to fight back, and after hitting me directly in the face he puts both of his arms in front of my stomach and then creates a huge amount of ice, sending me flying backwards.
Backing the ice on my stomach I lunge forward while saying, “You really are the best!!!!”
In response to this Orb also lunges forward, and when we meet while still in motion Orb hits me downwards while I uppercut him towards the sky. Orb blows send me through the roof down to one of the lower floors, while my blow sends Orb directly into the sky.
Seeing Orb in the sky I see he has made snow around his left foot that is constantly spinning. I don’t know what he is up to but I need to finish this now.
With all the force I can muster I jump upwards to strike Orb as he falls down, and when we meet, I let out a full-force punch against him. Right before my attack hits Orb minutely dodges my attack and slams his left foot right into my neck which sends me all the way back through the hole to an even lower floor than the one, I was on before.
Φ Falling out of the sky I create snow to shield myself as I fall, then when I land on the roof, I jump down the hole the old man fell through, and when I reach the ground I see his body withered. So I run over to him and say, “No, No, No, NO!”
With a weak voice he says, “This wasn’t you, using that technique has an immense blowback when I push myself too much.”
“But because of me, you’re dyi-.”
“I knew this would be the outcome of fighting at full force so don’t blame anyone but me, and I even got to see something cool. That last blow you used your snow to build up rotational energy even while stationary, which allowed you to overcome my own.”
As he starts to cough, I say, “We need to find a doctor.”
“Listen here young one. The words you said to my king were full of sugar and kindness, it truly sounds like a wonderful ideal. Yet, I don’t know whether that ideal will be good for my king or not, so I fought you here with all my might and in all honesty out of a selfish desire to not be outdone.
And when we fought you intentionally missed all my vital spots even though striking anyone of them would have secured your victory, you’re simply too kind. But you are also strong, so please I ask of to stare at the ideal that has brought such a kind but strong person like you here with my king.”
Holding his hand, I hold back the tears and sadness in my eyes and say, “I promise I will.” Letting go of his hand I run away at full speed, as I hear his heartbeat stop.
Φ As my heart stops with my last breath I say, “Hey Kamish, did I do a good job protecting you’re little brother?”
-Break-
Φ Sloppily I swing my sword leaking darkness directly at the demon, saying, “UNDO WHAT YOU DID TO MY SISTER!!!!”
Dodging my swings, he hits me with his right heel against my chin and says, “You need to listen brother.” His attacks send a weird shockwave throughout my body which causes me to feel lots of pain.
“I WON’T LISTEN TO A MANIPULATOR LIKE YOU!!”
“You’re a fool,” he says as he continues to dodge my swings. While dodging he continues to strike me with the weird attacks and says, “Listen here brother in law, when Pari first arrived here her soul was pitch black and closed off due to a certain parasite in her life, and now she is finally happy so if you cared about here you would leave her alone forever.”
Striking me in my stomach I fall to the ground and vomit. As I try to regain myself, I say, “She is my family, she has always been there for me and has stayed with me even when others left. WE WILL ALWAYS BE TOGETHER, WE BELONG TOGETHER, SHE IS MINE!!!”
Rushing towards him I swing my sword directly at him, but he hits my wrist which loosens my grip, then as my sword falls from my hand then placing his legacy right in front of me he releases the chains to strike me at close range ripping through my scales and sending me backwards.
Wrapping his chains around my body, enraged he says, “Family doesn’t have to love you, there is no law that dictates such a thing. So, every act of kindness Pari has done for you was out of her own free will.”
His chain starts to rapidly retract right into his arm which pulls me towards him incredibly fast. “SO IF YOU KEEP ABUSING THAT KINDNESS LIKE IT IS A RIGHT, EVENTUALLY YOU WILL BREAK THE PEOPLE THAT YOU LOVE THE MOST!!!”
When my body reaches him, he slams me with an intense punch right in my face sending me flying backwards. “And when you reach that point there will be no going back on the sins you have committed.”
Laying on the floor I am unable to get myself back up, so all I can do is cry as I truly accept all the words that have been said to me, “Pari, sister, mother hates me.”
“Hey, Cyrus get up.”
Looking over me I see Orb’s facing down against me.