Chapter 72: Factions IV
Despite the intense chaos all around them, the two birds of prey fought each other silently. No, it was more fair to say that they spoke with their swords. Each clash resulted in a flash of light within the smoke, fire and rain. And each clash resulted in the screeching cries of the two predators' talon swords.
Multiple bloodlines held a tradition where they made weaponry and armor out of the unique growths of their body.
Dragon kings and queens had armor made out of their ancestor’s scales, Relim the wolf girl, had daggers made out of her mother’s fangs. Gayle and the eagle-eyed girl, had swords made out of their own talons.
When one wore their own scales, fangs and talons, it was either because of two reasons. The first, because it was efficient to do so. Relim could tear people to pieces with just the fangs on her mouth and the claws on her hands, or she could create daggers and swords with unbelievable sharpness using those things instead.
The second reason, was to showcase the glory and expectation that they held. The best and brightest of the young generation were forced to battle with only the strength they personally held, or willingly made their own swords and armor to tell others how little they needed but themselves.
In Gayle’s case, her mother forced her to make her own talon sword.
“You may be talented enough to be passed down our ancestor’s swords, but because of that same talent and the path you especially chose, you must make your own sword.”
“You chose this path. Now pave it and make it yours. Fight for it with your own strength.”
In the eagle-eyed girl’s case however, her great pride that exceeded into arrogance caused her to deny her own ancestral swords, and make her own.
“I don’t need anyone else’s aid, my own ability is enough for me to make the world mine.”
“Why would I need the talons of those nameless, dead failures.”
“When my sword is passed down, all will know it as the personal sword of the seventh Queen of the Sky.”
Both were young talents destined for greater success, and now the two were facing off in a deadly dance of swords in the middle of a tumultuous battlefield. Bodies littered the ground that they walked on, so the two took to the skies to continue their battle.
Wings of pure energy attached themselves to the girl’s backs and they collided and separated over and over. Underneath them was a flood of water drowning thousands upon thousands of mundane humans, and hundreds of Novices and Adepts fighting against the tide to maul and dismember the water casters of Everrain. Above the two was a sky made out of fire, and multiple fiery stars manifested to form constellations of dragons and phoenixes. And above that sky, were endless gray clouds bringing on a flood of apocalyptic rain.
A figure burned brightly with wings made out of golden flames, and he battled against half the casters and warriors of Everrain who rode upon storm clouds controlled by the Rain Priestess. Gayle’s squad members continued to sprint through the Earthern Empire’s forces, sprinting and shifting through the moving mountains of rock and steel. What followed them were the elite Adept followers of the enemy force, activating their respective bloodlines to chase after them.
Chaos ensued, but each force did their best to neutralize the other.
CLANG!
Two talon swords clashed once again and separated. Gayle’s mutant leather beast armor suffered numerous cuts, burns, and even the piercing rain of the clouds above. The eagle-eyed girl’s black and white feathered armor suffered the same.
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The two winged figures circled each other like planets orbiting the sun. The eagle-eyed woman focused her eyes. Gayle’s hand was numb and trembling from their numerous clashes. It was to be expected. The eagle was known to be the most physically powerful of the bird of prey. It was already miraculous that the owl girl could last so long.
Each time they clashed, Gayle felt the immense physical force behind each hack of her sword. The eagle girl was so much faster and stronger, forcing the owl girl to be on the defensive for most of the duration of the fight. Yet, she was not to be underestimated. Where she lacked in physical ability she made up for in wisdom and talent.
Gayle’s sword techniques were prodigious, on par with a pure Adept who focused on the metaphysical source of the sword. And her unpredictable and weirdly profound movements made it feel as if the eagle girl was dancing to the rhythm of Gayle’s fighting rather than her own.
Every time the eagle eyed girl went in for the kill after blasting Gayle's sword aside, she had to immediately shift the momentum of her strike. She found that if she advanced any further, her sword could easily pierce the girl’s heart, but only in exchange for a sword to pierce her own neck. Trading a life for a life was not worth it.
So instead she continued in their deadly dance, and now after dozens and dozens of collisions the effects finally started to show. The owl eyed girl was trapped. If Gayle tried to fly away, she would be easily caught because the eagle's flight was faster. If she continued this dance, Gayle would drop her sword soon enough and her own sword would slash across Gayle’s neck.
The eagle girl smirked. Her movement of flight started to become more and more aggressive and she was no longer trying to open up Gayle’s guard for the chance of a kill. Instead she repeatedly forced the owl girl to block her powerful bashing strikes again and again. She didn’t need to precisely aim her slashes anymore, there was no need for strategic swordplay, she only needed to make her enemy feel the impact of her endless assault.
CLANG!
Both her hands felt numb, and it was about time that they would falter.
BANG!
The clash of swords this time resulted in a thunderous bang. Gayle did not drop her weapon but instead the heaven smashing strike sent the owl talon sword flying towards the battlefield below.
Gayle fluttered her wings and fell to the flying sword, but the eagle girl came after her in a graceful aerodynamic plummet, and two winged figures fell one after the other. One figure grasped for her sword as it fell just barely out of reach of her fingertips, and another grasped the sword in her hands as it inched further and further towards Gayle’s heart.
At the pace that they were going, once Gayle finally got a hold of her sword, another sword would have already gone right through her heart. The eagle girl’s sword pierced through her leather armor and as it punctured the glow of Gayle’s healthy skin drawing red blood, the two winged figures locked eyes with one another. The eagle girl had an expression of triumph and condescension, and she expected an expression of fear and defeat from the owl girl but that was not what she saw.
Instead she saw deep voids of pure black darkness within those eyes. Gayle’s face held neither rage nor joy. Not spite nor relief. Those eyes…were like the cold blooded gaze of a predator looking at food. There was no emotion. Simply a killer’s emotionless instinct.
A veil of darkness swept through the eagle’s eyes. The scene of a calm night appeared in the girl’s vision. Under the canopy of enormous trees, hung a glowing, luminescent full moon. Yet suddenly the night sky turned fiery red, and the moon started to burn and burn until it ignited into the sun.
The eagle girl snapped out of her illusion but it was all too late. What met her eyes this time were twin seas of flame, and in the middle of those seas of fire were two shining suns looking at her in disdain. Gayle’s talon sword was activated by her bloodline, and the sword made out of owl talons suddenly lit aflame like the Angel of Fire’s divine blade.
The eagle girl panicked, swinging her sword fearfully in an effort to distance herself away from the inevitable judgment. Yet her talon sword met the sword made out of talon and fire, and both her pride and her sword were snapped in half and melted by the blazing heat.
For once in her life the sharpness of the eagle girl’s eyes dimmed, and what replaced it was utter loss and defeat. The pride she had within herself became wounded, and eventually it shattered into pieces. The only thing left now was to wait for death. As the blazing sword of judgment approached her neck however, a flash of blue arc lightning appeared, and a graceful spear imbued with white hot lightning blocked the fiery talon sword.
The white haired male was supposed to slowly and thoroughly enjoy catching each member of Gayle’s party, but instead he had to shift his attention towards his second-in-command’s battle. He came not a moment too late from having his subordinate beheaded, with her neck burned and seared at the cutting point, but now he suffered a different problem. The fiery talon sword was not only matching his white lightning spear, but even slightly overwhelming it. This fact alone opened his eyes towards the strength and power behind the figure who held it.
BOOM!
The two separated from one another, but it was more like the white haired male had to retreat before his white hair was burned off. He landed towards the ground below and squashed a few individuals in the collateral, for the young man wasn’t part of a bloodline that had natural flight.
The intense battle resumed below despite the lightning that fell from the skies. Yet in the skies above, the golden draconic heir and the Priestess of Rain accompanied by her knights had stopped their battle to look at the powerful warriors below.
As if on cue, the draconic heir reappeared near Gayle’s side, and a storm cloud descended from the skies towards the white haired individual. The two were just as confused as the other, but they had no time to question what was happening. The forces of Agni and Everrain prepared for battle again, and the two individuals were pulled into the heat of their battle. The storm cloud gave the white haired male the ability of flight, and the draconic heir infused the flames on her talon sword to send it to sweltering temperatures of heat.
Without prior consent, the two were now recruited to fight in a heaven-shaking battle that would leave no survivors of the other side. Lightning welled up in the endless skies above, and the force of Everrain was relieved that they gave a helping hand to the Bluelight noble. The draconic heir in turn looked at the girl with suns in her eyes, and saw as she became more and more like a wrathful goddess of light rather than her previous dark feminine appearance.
There was no other choice. She wanted to hide this power but if she did not activate all of her bloodline here and now, the other choice was death. The growing power that rose before their eyes made them wonder if she was the illegitimate child of one of the Flame Kings.
As fire, water and lightning started to distort the natural balance of the elements, an eldritch element in the skies above the clouds started to descend…