Horrus continuously swung his ridiculously long bone blade at me. His only weapon that was capable of piercing through my spectral cloak despite being supposedly indestructible. Not even Tom's arrows were strong enough to pierce through my cloak; although I was not willing to test his powered shot that was capable of piercing through tree trunks or rocks like paper.
Both Lily and I dodged his swings. Lily was much nimble than me so she had no trouble avoiding and getting some hits in. Me, on the other hand, was doing my best to avoid his flames and blade. He knew full well that Lily was barely able to do any damage to him aside from using Fa Jin Zhòu which takes a long time to restore. Innate explosive power takes time to recover within the body and I was certain that Lily had used all of it with that one powerful strike of hers earlier.
Horrus knew that preventing me from getting close is what he needed to do. Let his flames do the job in roasting me from a distance while sustaining no further damage to himself. A smart tactic but I am not going to sit back and let that happen. He retracted his blade and extended it in an attempt to stab me again. I turned my body to the side and spun my body, bringing both of my blades to slam his blade into the ground. Inazuma powered by Lightning Charge, Tengu-kaze enveloped by blue flames and Dark Slash combo for the both of them for maximum attack power.
CRACK!!
I was geniunely surprised when his bone blade snapped in half. I was fully expecting it to sink deep into the ground to throw him off, but to actually snapped it; Horrus should be sweating bricks right about now. His face says it all with that speechless opened mouth of his.
Dawn was approaching closer but I can still make use of the darkness around us. I quickly casted Conceal and ran towards him. Hopefully with all the sudden unexpected events, Horrus would be thrown off and miss his opportunity to search me using smell.
"W— where did he go?!" he shouted to himself.
He tried to kick Lily aside once more but she was not about to fall for the same trick again. She grabbed Horus's leg and with both fully powered flame gauntlets, she slammed both of them on Horrus's right knee on two opposite ends. I swore I heard something cracked before Horrus swung his broken bone blade diagonally at Lily, slicing through her cloak, armour and flesh. He proceeded to flame Lily with his left hand, seemingly decided that Lily is no longer worth the trouble in keeping her alive.
A swift flexible blade swung through the air and pierced through Horrus's left primary eye. Rose seemed to have a knack for weak-points and certainly did not waste the opportunity provided by Lily when Horrus's mobility is hampered after breaking his knee. And neither will I.
Horrus stopped flaming Lily after his eye was stabbed. It would seemed that his regeneration had slowed down or is being hampered by something. Is it due to my blue flames constantly damaging him that he cannot regenerate quickly? Either way, after a quick glance to ensure that Lily was still wriggling under her cloak, I appeared behind Horrus and casted Fear, hoping that it might have some effect on him when it is empowered by Bloodlust.
Horrus swung his left arm behind in an attempt to flame me but I was no longer there. Rose with her proper timing, casted whatever spell she had to buff me in speed, strength and defence. I reappeared in front of him when I was midway swinging both of my blades at him, I spun myself for further momentum to strengthen my attacks.
I hit home, feeling the weight from my blades as it made contact with Horrus’s body. What is the outcome from my attack? Did it work?
Massive pain erupted from my body. I was too focused on my attacks that I failed to realised that Horrus had the same idea. He spun his body to the front after missing his attack and sliced me diagonally with his broken bone blade. From my right ribs to my left eye, I was bleeding profusely from that backhanded attack Fuck, this hurts like shit. I was already low on blood but this is just pushing me over the edge. With one eye down, I tried my best to see whether I had wounded Horrus as badly as me.
Two large diagonal cuts were visible on his chest and most importantly, he was bleeding profusely too. I was uncertain whether I sliced through his bones but that injury on him was a fair trade for losing my left eye. Horrus roared angrily as he was not having it and approached me to finish the job. It would seemed that he had healed his knee by now. I was struggling to keep myself from losing consciousness due to the extend of my wounds when I noticed two figures standing in front of me.
“Zen, take this and heal yourself. We’ll buy you some time,” said Rose as she handed me her healing gel.
Rose was injured on one of her sides judging by the blood stain on her signature white guild’s clothing. Lily on the other hand had burns all over her visible skin and a sealed wounds that Horrus inflicted on her earlier. I— should use the healing gel to staunch my wound before I bleed to death. Oh lord, why is my visions getting so blurry now? I— must— heal myself!
Quickly removing the cap of the tube, I simply applied the gel on where I felt the most intense pain. I cared not whether dirts were mixed into my wounds as it was simply do or die now. With one remaining eye, I could barely see the extend of my wounds as I simply spread the gel on myself. Of course I could not seal the wound on my eye. I will never be able to recover the damage from my left eye unless Stein is somehow capable of making a bionic eye. The feeling of relief was brief but intense pain throughout my body still present. Must— push through the pain to help them.
“Why is it so difficult for you three to die? You defied all odds when other humans would had been burned alive by now. Especially YOU, Zen Hawthorn! Why won’t you just die?!” he roared as he fought with Lily and Rose.
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Beats me. I was wondering the same as to why am I not dead yet despite everything that had happened thus far. I’m not some main character in some story with plot armours. I just narrate the things that are happening around me to make my life more interesting. A forced habit after years of talking to yourself.
But Horrus is right. I must stand. I need to defy all odds and kill this Vessel. Byakko, why don’t you have any strong attack like Inazuma with its Twin K Thunderbolt. Aren’t you a legendary weapon?
“Damn it boi, you are asking at the wrong time. I need full concentration to maintain this blue flame of yours!” he scolded me through my mind.
What’s the point of maintaining this when what I need right now is the total destruction of Horrus. I can barely even stand straight now and is about to kick the bucket real soon. I even lost my left eye! I wish to see Horrus dead before I head to the afterlife.
“Fine, you’ll probably get one shot at this judging by the remaining blue flames, so pay attention. Wind has always been my strongest power, so you can technically create tornadoes or twisters in your vicinity. But I doubt that is what you’re looking for; so what you need is an extremely strong wind pressure. For that, you need to condense the strength of a hurricane into a single point. I’ll recommend you start with twisters first,” he spoke through my mind.
Why twister? Is tornado actually stronger than twister? Aren't they literally the same thing? Run me through the difference as I'm confused.
"Sigh, you ask for the weirdest things at the wrong time. Fine, I'll give you the short version. There are 5 categories to a hurricane. It starts with whirlwind, twister, tornado, cyclone and maelstrom. Since this is the first time you're using this power, I would suggest that you start with category 2 first. Hey, pay attention!" he shouted.
Sorry, I just thought of something. I just realised if I were to combine both you and Kirin's powers, I can actually create thunderstorms or a cumulonimbus for large devastating effects. Why don't you two work together?
"Careful what you wish for, boy. Your parents had the same idea and— let's just say some landscapes and a small village was levelled to the ground. You do not want to follow what they did. Hey, what's gotten you all freaked out?" he asked.
I just remembered someone warning me that before. Someone really important but I just can't remember who it is.
"Do recall that you are at death's door. Focus on the important things at present. I'll guide you on how to use it," he reminded me.
I allowed Byakko to guide my hands. Both my hands gripped Tengu-kaze tightly and lifted it up to the right side of my face, simulating the Kasumi no kamae stance. Uh— is it safe for me to have an eventual flaming twister right next to my face?
Strong winds began gathering around the blade while my shaky legs struggled to keep myself upright. I was genuinely sweating buckets, worrying that a twister would spin out of control just inches away from my face. I am so glad the blade is on my right side instead of my left as I can barely see anything with my left eye now. But all was safe as Byakko skilfully controlled the miniature vortex surrounding the blade mixing with the blue flames that he stole.
So, what do we call this attack? I am sure you have a name for it, right? Even Kirin thought of his attack before showing me how to do it.
“I don’t know. Just call it ‘Twisty son of a bitch’. We don’t exactly have a lot of time to think here,” he sighed.
Fine. Twisty S.O.B. it is. I can get on board with that.
I kept my remaining eye up ahead on the fight before me. Rose was suffering the most as her skins were starting to melt from the intensity of the blue flames. Without much protection from anything, she is exposed to the direct heat. My wife will never look the same after this fight. Lily had a small chunk of her hair burnt off along with some second degree burns on her shoulder. That was probably where Horrus was flaming her earlier when she used her cloak to try and negate the flame damage. Both of them must be struggling to fight against Horrus even though he himself was badly wounded. Is it just me, or is Horrus’s body steaming?
“Why won’t you both just die?!” roared Horrus as he fought against those two.
“Stand back you two! You’ve done enough!” I shouted at both of them.
They obliged and leapt back to where I was standing. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air and it was intoxicating. Will any of us make it out alive if we managed to defeat him? I just hope both of them will live to tell the tale. Me, on the other hand, would be considered lucky if I am able to embrace them after this is over.
“How infuriating. The death reaper is literally looming over your shoulders yet you all refuses to follow him,” he spat.
“Aren’t you on the same boat? Your wounds no longer heal itself and your flames are out of control. Why don’t you do us a favour and visit your maker instead,” I smirked.
“Nonsense, I am the Vessel for the God Of Destruction. He will never allow me to die,” he laughed.
“Tell that to Baku who got strangled to death by a teddy bear. I bet his “God” is extremely happy about that alright,” I chuckled.
“You lie! Gods would never allow their Vessels to die! It’s unforgivable!” he roared.
“Feel free to test it to out. I have no reason to lie. When was the last time your talked to Baku? You think I would know his exact name if I didn't fought him?” I questioned him.
His face turned sour with a concerned expression. He probably saw the truth in my eye. Tengu-kaze was rattling on my grip, signalling that it is ready to strike. I do not know what will happen when I swing this but Byakko seems confident that we can destroy him. I really hope so as this will be my last attempt at killing him.
Horrus’s hands started shaking; is he afraid or in denial? Nevertheless, he struck out and charged at me full speed. Both Lily and Rose leapt away from where I was to give me space. It’s now or never, I only have precious seconds to release this attack on him. Dear body, please stand firm!
I swung Tengu-kaze diagonally downwards. The muscles on my forearms were screaming as I was not expecting the swing to be so heavy. But— why is everything so quiet? What happened to Horrus?
As I looked ahead, Horrus had completely stopped dead in his tracks seemingly bracing for something. Why did he stopped though? There was absolutely no signs that the attack even did anything. Was the attack a failure?
Seemingly out of nowhere, a huge diagonal gaping wound erupted on Horrus’s body from the left shoulder to his right side. It was so deep that I could literally see his bones from the wound but it still did not sliced through. It was then some mini vortex covered with blue flames swirled around the wound, generating screeching sounds that causes me to grit my teeth and cover my ears. It lasted a couple of seconds and a huge explosion erupted from where Horrus was standing, sending a wave of dust and smoke into the air.
W— what the hell just happened? I had never seen such an attack before. Is this the true power of Tengu-kaze? Compressing powerful winds and focusing it on a single point? Destructive and dangerous is what I would label this attack.
As the dust settled, what remained was Horrus gripping the wound tightly with his claws. Is he— trying to prevent his body from slipping off? Ugh, I guess that’s one way to hold your body together.
“H— how can this be? *cough. I— am a Vessel. I can— not die,” he started coughing blood.
His blue flames were dying off. Is it finally over? Can I drop backwards and lie in peace? I was seeing double despite having only one eye as my body struggled to maintain consciousness.
Horrus tried to move forward but his dismembered body was only pinned in place because of his claws. I was surprised that he could even move when he was already sliced apart. His eyes widen when blue flames suddenly erupted from within his body, seemingly engulfing him entirely with it.
“N— NO! I am not done! I have a duty, my ambition is not yet fulfilled!!” he roared as the blue flames began to burn his body to cinders.
“Ladies,” I trailed off.
“Yes?” both Rose and Lily responded to me.
“Sorry, I meant, lay these foolish ambitions to rest, Horrus. Your time is done,” I started coughing blood myself.
“No, it is not done, until you are dead,” he spat.
I genuinely had not anticipated that Horrus would use the bottom half of his body to leaped his top half dismembered body at me. I commend his tenacity in wanting me dead. His devotion to his Cosmic Being certainly noble.