Chapter 39: The Battle of Volken: Part 3
Yami, Orphzus, Zack, Thomas
“They're both in pretty rough shape,” commented Thomas as he squinted in his attempt to get a better look at the battle high atop the stone battlement they all stood on.
“Thomas! Is he going to be ok!?” Zack asked desperately as the group lost sight of the two combatants.
“Probably, If Yami really needs to repair his body, he can do it when he wants, he probably just wants to place more pressure on Orphzus to make sure he doesn't get the upper hand,”
“Does that not consume a lot of Demonic Energy, both repairing the body and Devil Ignition?” Asked Maya.
“It does, but from what Yami has told me, that isn’t a problem for him. He told me he hasn’t had to worry about using too much in years,” the four acknowledged that both Yami and Orphzus most likely have even more Demonic Energy reserves than Maya has Mana, once again, separating the two from the standard power dynamic of the world, and placing them in a league of their own.
“We should move,” Thomas blurted abruptly as he turned for the stairs. “I think they’ve gone all the way to the castle, we still need to keep an eye on this,” he declared as he began his journey down the tower, with the other three following behind, Zack most eager, while Maya helped Jane down the steps again as to avoid a nasty fall.
“I did’nae think you could look any worse,” Yami threw out with a grin on his face as he met the king at the large overhang that proceeded the towering gates of Volken castle.
“You equally look like shit,” Orphzus replied as he got back to his feet, still with bits of skin hanging on by threads to his face, but still holding onto his menacing smile. Yami quickly summoned a silver sword directly in front of him, only a few inches away so the flawless ethereal blade could reflect his face back at him.
“Aye, fair enough, Let’s sort that oot,” said Yami with blood dripping all across his body, only his mocking grin was visible amidst all the blood he was painted in.
“DEVIL IGNITION!” Once again, both Fighters entered their respective Devil Ignition, with Yami using Mirage Blade and Orphzus using Nevan. Yami holds his fist close to his face before thrusting it out swiftly to his left with his palm open, while Orphzus follows suit and holds his right hand out to grab the air in a reverse grip motion. The fighter's wounds quickly seal up thanks to their large reserves of Demonic Energy that rapidly heal their bodies as they take on the form of devils.
Both fighters become enveloped in a black vortex that begins at their feet, once covered from head to toe, the vortex reverses its movement until it completely fades to reveal both fighters, taking on the Devils their Relics contain. Yami stands tall with his arm splayed out in a sleek, silver armor that completely covers his face and body with an alien design that would be impossible to smith by hand. Additionally, four silver swords emerge behind him and hover gently in a neat arrangement.
On the other side, Orphzus stood covered in white armor, similar to Yamis in that it covered him completely and sported a complex design, though, the pattern of the plates was different and there were even subtle pink glows emitting from underneath the plate of the armor. Furthermore, the king’s blade formed in the air rapidly as pink crystals phased into reality directly in front of him, with the handle of the sword pointed toward the sky. Though, instead of using the crystal-covered saber, he shockingly pulls another blade from the crystals to reveal a much thinner and contemporary silver blade.
The discarded crystals follow in tandem with Orphzus’s decision and quickly form into one mass that is about the size of a toddler, creating one large crystal body that loosely resembles an ellipse that is jagged, squared, and rough, and hovers by the king's side while it slowly rotates as it emits a prominent pink glow.
“They're doing it again?!” exclaimed Zack while he and three others ran across the bridge to get a closer look. The dominating aura of the Demonic Energy pushes itself through the bridge, just as if it were using the rows of towers like a wind tunnel.
“No, it's different this time. Yami’s using the Devil Ignition of Mirage blade, While Orphzus is using Nevan's Devil Ignition.” Explained Maya as her black dress swayed at her feet.
“Yeah, she’s right. With how strong they both are, I’m guessing whoever gets the first hit will win, They’ll get knocked out their Devil Ignition for sure.” Stated Thomas as he outpaced the others without realizing it.
“Both Yami and Orphzus engage in their otherworldly armored forms as the rumbles and screams of their Demonic transformations settle down. Yami sticks to fighting by hand to hand, with his four spectral swords following and mimicking every strike he does by acting as follow-up supporting attacks to apply more pressure on the king, delivering lighting quick punches which are joined by his four mirage blades copying the strike by thrusting autonomously.
The black-robed man, however, seems to be handling the onslaught fairly well, despite now needing to keep track of five targets. Having entered Devil Ignition, as well as drawing Nevan from its crystal scabbard, the king is protected fully by all of Yami’s efforts thanks to the crystals of Nevan which now have formed one impenetrable shield.
Yami attempts to mix up his attacks by changing his blades from pierces to slashes. However, the crystal shield is easily able to keep up by hovering in the air and zipping from one location to another to protect Orphzus. It resembles a bolt of lightning, breaking off in different directions from how fast and precise the crystal shield was capable of preforming with only small shards of the crystal being lost upon taking hits.
They pivot and evade one another with swift motions while the swords and shield follow the movements and intentions of Yami and Oprhzus respectively. Yami takes manual control of his ethereal blades and uses the four swords to surround the king, with the intention of impaling him in a crosslike pattern all at once, if done properly, his Crystal shield won't have enough time to zip to all four locations and thus, Yami can deliver a blow to Orphzus and knock him out of Devil Ignition.
Orphzus notices the blades deviating from their supporting attack patterns and manually takes control of the crystal shield in response, applying more demonic energy to it and increasing its effectiveness and speed, allowing the shield to successfully block all four strikes with an untraceable pattern.
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Additionally, all four blades shatter upon smashing into the crystal. despite being summoned from Yami’s Devil Ignition and boasting higher durability due to the larger demonic energy held within them, when placed in an arm wrestle against another source of demonic energy, the one with the higher output will trump the other, in this case. Orphzus stopping his movement to apply demonic energy manually to the shield increased it to a state above Yami’s blades, leaving the silver knight defenseless.
Shit…I messed up Yami admits to himself as he grimaces at his wide-open state. The subtle glowing armor shifts as Orphzus turns his head towards Yami. Despite not being able to see his face, Yami knew it was one of self-confidence, dripping with smugness.
“You're not very good at this, are you?” emanates from the armor in an overlapping distorted tone, vaguely reminiscent of Orphzus’s regular voice. Before Yami could retaliate, his white armored foe takes the initiative and leaps back high into the air, with the looming fortress of Volken contrasting against the white glow of the demonic form. As Orphzus leaps in the air, the crystal shield quickly breaks apart like glass shattered on the floor and returns to the form of smaller crystals to coat the blade of Nevan in its power once more. Then, after Orphzus reaches the apex of his height, the man quickly delivers a flurry of slashes to the air below him in the direction Yami resides. The slashes of the sword create slashes in space that travel all the way down to Yami and cover him from head to toe, overwhelming him, breaking his concentration, and once again, knocking him right out of Devil Ignition, leaving the man’s poise broken and skin torn with slashes.
Zack clenches his fist tightly as he watches the battle unfold, the long-distance slashes performed by Orphzus reminding him of The Dark Slayer didn't rest easy with him, not to mention the feeling of powerless in the fact he has to sit here and just watch. Damnit Yami… don't die. Prays Zack with his teeth grit as he stands with the members of Red Wings atop a tower closer to the castle.
Even while being knocked out of Devil Ignition, Yami is still able to keep on his feet. Additionally, the slashes left across from Nevan still remain shallow. Orphzus looks over Yami with a calculating eye as he notices this fact. So even while reeling from being forced out of Devil Ignition and enduring Nevan at maximum output. He can still keep the slices shallow…how troublesome. Oprhzus thoughts are soon interrupted.
“Even when I can’nae see your face, I can tell you’re thinking daft aboot how you can’nae cut into me deeply,” Yami throws out with a cheeky grin across his face as he looks directly at the king “It’s no complicated mate, Your just no what you use tae be…DEVIL IGNITION!”
Yami surprises everyone by entering Devil Ignition for the fourth time, even after being kicked out of Devil Ignition only moments before, this time, using Timekeeper's jade bubble to slow down Orphzus. As the green sphere expands from Yami, The glowing armored man stands against the approaching force confidently and takes a stance as if he were to draw a blade from his hip, in this case, Nevan.
Before Orphzus is overtaken by Timekeeper completely, he is able to begin slicing the bubble apart from the outside, with his slashes extending their reach in space and rippling around the sphere. This damages the bubble slightly, with a burst of green energy erupting from spots across the sphere, Though, not completely shattering it, as the bubble quickly swallows Orphzus, his slashes in space stop, and the events unfolding within remain a mystery to the audience of Red Wings. From the outside, the bubble only looks like a green ethereal sphere that emits no light, with whatever is happening within completely impossible to view from the outside.
“Did he get him!” Zack asks as he grabs onto the walls of the battlement to get a closer look, shifting his head to try and look around the sphere.
“It looks like as if he had, Should the bubble not have shattered completely if he fails?” enquires Maya
“Yeah, it looks like his plan worked. Still…I wish we could see what the hell is going on in there,” Thomas admits as he and Zack stand right against the wall in suspense. Suddenly the bubble of Timekeeper begins to face a relentless onslaught of slashes caused by Nevan from the outside.
“What!? How is Orphzus able to attack the bubble so fast?,” Asks Jane as all four of them peer over the battlement.
“Over that range, Timekeeper should still slow down Orphzus enough so Yami can finish him before he has time to do anything.” Maya states
“It might be due to the slashes he caused on the outside before he go swallowed by it. It must have weakened the effect of the bubble but not completely stopping it. Not to mention Orphzus is still in Devil Ignition, everything he does is a lot faster,” explained Thomas The slashes soon begin to intensify and spouts of green energy rapidly erupt from the sphere as it shakes violently.
“YAMI!” Zack cries out impulsively, yelling with worry in voice. Not long after, the bubble of Timekeeper shatters, exploding in a burst of green specs of energy that soon dissipate in the air. The bubble reveals both Yami and Orphzus, the former having looked unharmed but reeling from the shock of being knocked out of Devil Ignition, and the latter, now returned to human and sporting a large slash wound running from his abdomen, all the way to his shoulder. Both fighters, however, share the same confident smirk as they try to hold themselves up after the shock of losing Devil Ignition. With Orphzus’s grin resembling one of just narrowly escaping a really bad situation and expressing one's luck for surviving.
All four members of Red Wings marvel in awe at the reveal of the exchange.
“Damn, it looks like a stalemate,” Thomas states, frustrated that Yami wasn't able to finish him. “It looks as if Orphzus managed to break the Timekeeper bubble, but at the same time, Yami sliced him with a Mirage Blade which caused Orphzus to be knocked out of Devil Ignition from the lack of concentration,” explained Thomas
“H…how? How could that even have happened in such a short time?! ” Zack asked in disbelief. “It only felt like a few moments. How long were they both in Yami’s Timekeeper bubble?” Thomas folded his arms and lowered his head in frustrated thought.
“Honestly, I don’t know exactly…At least a few minutes, though,” The three of them looked shocked at Thomas's answer
“That’s so scary,” Admitted Jane, “It must feel weird in there,” she said as her gangly hands fidgeted with one another
“It looks as if Yami has gained the advantage, however,” Stated Maya.
“How’s that?” Asked Zack.
“Yami dealt a decent blow to Orphzus, enough to knock him out of Devil Ignition, Both of them won't be able to enter it again for a short time to repair themselves and Orphzus is worse off physically, He’s most likely going to need to act defensively, this might be Yami’s chance,” Thomas explained with more hopeful words.
As Thomas predicted, Once both fighters recover from their poise being broken, Yami dashes toward Orphzus to keep the pressure on him, delivering kicks and strikes which are narrowly avoided by the king as he evades back across the bridge. Yami then slings out two silver swords from the air that fly like arrows toward the white-haired man, forcing him to evade by leaping out of the way.
Yami then leaps towards the king, using his opponent's evasion of his Mirage Blades he baited out to his advantage and endeavors a roundhouse kick. Orphzus crosses his arms to block at the last second but is sent flying back, all while sporting a menacing smile. An ever reminder that Yami is still not pushing the king far enough. He’s stalling, that wound is too severe to leave untreated. All it would take is one more good strike and I could take him out now, he has to know that! Why isn’t he using his other Relic? It looked like a surefire win at the start of the fight. Can he only use it against other Devil Ignitions? Or is it fragile in someway and he knows I can counter it easily if he enters Devil Ignition when I’m not occupied? Damnit, I don’t know a thing about it, he could bring it out again and I wouldn't know how to counter it. As Yami hypnotized Orphzus's current plan, a drop of blood quickly ran down his cheek, stemming from his right eye. As an overwhelming, yet subtle demonic energy emanates from the king.