Rael was beginning to get tired of Zelha's perseverance, as he sent her flying back for the fourth time, but this time with both arms and legs destroyed. He quickly spun around to parry a strike aimed at his back, as Calypso, tried to catch him off guard. Shocking her as he returned a few strikes of his own. Then, caught her in a feint and disarmed her, while wrapping up the combo with a kick emitting a beam of lava from his soles. He looked up above him, seeing her sister had switched into first gear while creating a flaming hot purple star.
"Violet Inferno!" She yelled as she threw the burning attack down, pushing it, with all of her might.
Rael's expression had not changed. He looked even more annoyed, as black and purple veins streamed across his body, letting off a dark aura and levelling his vicinity. Then he crouched down, sheathing his sword, as the miniature star got closer.
Lightning had started to strike down, all around him, then surged towards his blade. Each breath he took, was followed by mist and vapour, as the temperature in the air cooled down rapidly.
"Roaring Cold." He whispered as he launched himself through the star and froze it completely, then passed by her to slice up the princess's core, with one swift move. Her body crashed down in two, breaking the silence with a large thud.
The king landed and shook the blood off of his sword, wondering where Calypso had gone, when the Hashins, with Roku leading them, dropped down and surrounded him. He had to laugh. "All this for me?"
The General looked around as he and the others gathered their energy and switched into third gear. "Where is your brother?"
Rael stared at him for a few seconds, then shrugged. "Who knows? He's not one, to be in one place for too long."
One of the Hashins spoke up. "I sense both Atlas and Mado, heading for Akio."
Roku nodded. "We only need half of us, to take him out."
The Hashin agreed, as four of them jumped into the sky, and headed off to assist Akio. The remaining four and Roku, still had Rael surrounded.
Rael spoke up, as he disliked tense silences. "So what now?"
On cue, each of the Hashins dropped down to their knees and punched the ground, as Roku jumped up into the sky. While raising a massive boulder up above him, then combusting it into a molten magma-meteorite.
The Hashin yelled in unison as they poured iko within a domain below. "Terra Arts, Chamber of Silence."
Rael wondered what they were up to, only managing to unsheath his sword, just as a pitfall appeared right below him. Dropping him dozens of meters down, with large amounts of dirt pushing him further below and into a small dark chamber, deep underground.
The General had finished pouring in as much of his energy into the attack he was creating. Once it was finally ready, he dropped it down into the pitfall, half-filled, as the Hashin made way for it. Helping it pass through the ground, without losing speed and reinforcing it with their own iko.
"Terra Arts, Magma Fall!" Rael heard Roku yell, as the hole reopened once more, this time with a blinding light, allowing the General's attack to touch down and devastate the world around them.
The Hashin jumped up as the ground below them imploded, rippling earthquakes throughout the continent and raising tides. A second explosion, made them recoil, as this time, a massive replica of Rael rose out of the ground trying to swallow them whole.
It whizzed past, nearly missing them, as they got out of the way, in the nick of time. Their relief simmered out once they noticed that it was shared with one less member, seeing as his hand was sticking out of the corner of its teeth and burning up.
One of them screamed losing their cool, and launched volleys, erratically at the giant replica. The clone responded by, unsheathing its large sword, and slicing the air, that they were standing on, as they pulled away at the last second.
"Don't lose your head! Remember who we are facing. This is Rael, the Ruthless One! Make no mistakes!" Roku's words, fell on deaf ears, as the the replica, batted one more Hashin into oblivion.
Rael rose out of the ground, with a sinister smile. His hair had come undone, sprawling all over his face. Yet he spread his arms out wide, yelling out to the General and the Hashin. "So you've heard of me, have you? Then you've already made the first mistake. You should have run while you could." He unsheathed his sword and assumed a stance as the giant clone copied him. "That's what I always tell my brother, they have to learn the hard way." He glanced at his clone, then at the remaining Hashin. "Kill them."
The clone charged at them, as he personally went for Roku, teleporting behind him and taking him kilometres away before he could react. The moment he registered what had just happened, he spun around, parrying Rael's stab, then continued an onslaught of strikes to try and overwhelm him.
However, Rael broke each of his combos with ease, being a master swordsman himself. It felt good, to cross swords with another great swordsman again. He was starting to lose himself in it, as he sliced deep into the General's left shoulder.
Who grimaced bearing the pain, then jumped back, while pulling together rocks and magma to cauterize and bandage the wound. Ash began to block out the sky.
"How long has it been Roku? 80? Maybe 100 years we've known each other and this is the first time, we've crossed swords!" Rael's eyes glimmered with glee. "I'm sorry I missed your prime, but is this level, all you are capable of now?"
The General, grunted as he braced himself ready to continue. Suddenly, he felt an insurge of iko, as the planet assisted him and replenished his energy. He felt the same happening for the Hashin.
'This must be Akio's doing.' He smiled, showing teeth. "That may be so, but my goal here is different and I didn't come, without help. The Elder has our back."
Rael shook his head. "I'll be heading there myself soon. If Mado can't take care of him... I'll do it myself."
"That's not going to happen." A Hashin spoke up, as he dropped down beside Roku. The General glanced over at him, noticing that the man was trembling.
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"What happened?" He asked.
The Hashin shook his head.
"He killed her." He heard him say. He took in what he meant, then silently nodded back. The Hashin stepped forward. "Please let me go see her."
For the first time in a long while, Roku struggled with finding any words to say. Anything to stop him, but he knew that there was no way of convincing a man with such conviction. "He will go after Akio if we don't stop him here. I believe in you, General."
Roku found it hard, to fight back tears as he blurted out, "2-!"
Two was once his nephew, but since he swore an oath, they no longer had family relations. So the soldier continued acting on his duties. "Forbidden Art, Rabï's Code."
Pebbles, rocks and streams of lava followed the direction of his hands clasping onto Rael's body, as much as the king willed it to stop. Two used up the iko, granted to him by Akio and Rennaya, eating away at his life force, as he pulled more than he was able to.
In less than a second, the sound of bones breaking and snapping filled the air as Rael teleported out of his chokehold, with his right arm and half of his shoulder missing.
Two looked back at his uncle, as his eyes went bloodshot red. Roku could only watch as his nephew, burst into a large puddle of blood, as a side effect of the technique. He cried out loud, along with Rael, screaming from the pain. Then, they both looked at each other, drawing their swords and lunged with new resolve.
Over at Akio's location...
The Elder felt his patience had paid off, seeing Atlas, pop out of thin air before him. However, to his surprise, Mado appeared as well a few seconds behind.
"Akio! What do you think you're doing?!" Atlas yelled, with his veins nearly popping out of his head.
The Elder smiled, as his eyes shifted between both of his guests. "Take a guess?"
Mado was a little bit curious about Atlas' anger. "Atlas, what has you in this mood? With the three of us here, this is a battle of a lifetime!"
Atlas turned towards the king, making him quickly change his gleeful expression. "I'm sure you can feel a tremendous amount of energy below us moving unnaturally, although you don't have the affinity. That lunatic has begun halting this world's core, and is planning to cause an implosion from within, by using a forbidden art, tied to his heart."
Mado squinted at Akio. "Ahh, now I get you."
Atlas shook his head. "No Mado, as a king, I'm sure you're aware yourself, of the Star Eaters and the ones that traverse the universe."
Mado paused, glancing back at Akio. "I'm aware... they are all conquerors. What of them?"
Atlas, turned back towards Akio, bracing himself. "I've forbidden my children or anyone in the empire, from completly destroying any planets. For one reason, it calls them, like a light beacon. He'll ruin, everything I've been working on."
Mado, understood, the danger they were in, almost immediately, pointing his sword, at Akio. "Makes sense, we have similar stories and nursery rhymes all mentioning the same thing. 'If you cause an imbalance in the world, the sky eaters will take you.'... I guess they were true."
The Emperor nodded. "We don't stand a chance against them, as we are now. We must stop him before he destroys this planet." He looked back at the king once more. "Truce?"
Mado nodded, warily. On cue, they both gathered energy, matching each other, as Mado shifted into the fourth and Atlas into the second gear.
The Elder, stroked his beard, as he accelerated the planet's destruction. "Hmm, I never thought I would see you two working together, but I guess, at my age, there are still, things that shock me. I appreciate the birthday present though. I only wish I could have shared it with my son. However you've made sure, he's no longer with us."
He looked up at the sky. "Ahh, 485 years. I've been blessed."
The pair without hesitation, charged him, as two titanium golems rose out of the ground, breaking their swords, with fists of magma. Then, knocked them both back.
"You're going to need to put your backs into it, otherwise in 5 minutes, you can kiss this planet goodbye," Akio taunted, laughing out loud.
Mado was starting to get angry. "Don't screw with us! Do all of you Azurians have a death wish? I received reports of your ships, crashing into ours on purpose, when they've lost." He spat out, his next words in disgust. "What type of king, orders his soldiers to die like that."
Akio frowned, stopping the golems from marching towards them. "Do not, insult their conviction. I took a ship on my own here, I was surprised to see many others following me."
A tear slid down his cheek, as he thought of all of his people sacrificing themselves in space. Although Commander Ba'jin, had come up with the plan of saving the allies on short notice, he knew the Commander would have it all under control.
"What they are doing, is a testament to their faith & loyalty to Azuria and its people. To show them that we cannot be defeated even in death, we will pass the baton onwards, to those that will one day lead the future." Akio assumed a stance and crossed his arms over each other, in front of him, facing his palms forward, as he spoke. "Terra Arts, Holy Swords: Gryphon & Calibur."
Two, gem-encrusted swords, flew into his palms from beneath the earth. One with a black obsidian colour, the other a light white, both with magma coursing along the edges, rapidly. He swung the swords back, carving away his surroundings with sheer force.
"Now, what are you waiting for?" He spoke out loud, provoking them once more.
There was silence, as the two sovereigns, simmered in his words. Then Atlas spontaneously remade their swords, with other metal substitutes as they both yelled in unison. "You're delusional!"
Then leaped at him, with frightening speed. Both struck and stabbed at him with the utmost ferocity, trying to bring the old man down. However, to their dismay, the Elder had started to push them back, separating the two, and knocking them off of their feet, before they could even react.
Mado raised his palm, towards Akio, as he went for Atlas. "Flames of Darkness, Barrage!"
Multiple bursts of black fire manifested in front of his palms and jetted towards the Elder, causing him to jump back, as he returned back wave slices of burning hot lava, setting off the rest in the air.
"Weak." The Elder commented as he raised his right sword, to intercept, the emperor flanking him from behind.
"Stop this, you senile old man! I will forgive you and let you and your people go. I swear it." The emperor begged the Elder, desperately.
However, Akio shook his head. "No, your vows mean nothing, to me. You must suffer, for the things you've done in your life."
He, flung him back through, several hills, dazing him, whiile Mado tried to make a move, by teleporting behind him. With ease, the Elder blocked the surprise attack and disarmed him. "I have no qualms with you, however, if you choose to stand in my way..."
Akio slammed both of his swords down, sticking them up in the dirt. Then got into a quick stance and thrusted his right palm forward with two fingers and his thumb sticking out, into the king's chest. Sending Mado flying in Atlas's direction, all while moving faster than the king could've perceived.
Mado woku up disoriented and struggled to get up. His body felt like it weighed a ton. 'What was that?' He thought as he forced himself to sit up, coughing up a course load of blood.
Suddenly an immense outburst of energy, emanated from his left, almost reaching Akio's level. Mado's jaw fell open, as he saw Atlas in third gear, floating out of his crash site, full of anger.
"I've used this form too much today. I'm almost near my reserves." He heard him say, with ragged breaths.
'How?' Mado thought, as he tried to get up from his knees. 'How am I the weakest one here?'
His legs were trembling, struggling to hold himself up. 'One strike has me like this.' He felt his chest, a little more concave than it used to be.
"I am the king! I've triumphed over everyone that has stood before me!" He yelled to himself, trying to shake off his fear. He began to gather energy, as he watched Akio appear above them, almost in a blur, with a spiralling massive sphere of condensed lava, still increasing by the second.
"None of you will be leaving this planet," Akio said, pointed the sphere down at them.
The king looked up at certain death. He knew not even Atlas, would be able to contain all that was about to be thrown at them. However, at that moment, a realization struck him, as he noticed what he lacked and the others did not.
"No, you're not weak." He spoke to himself. "How can you complain, Mado, when you haven't even put your life on the line!"
He shook off his doubts, as he and switched back into fourth gear, but didn't stop there. He reached further into the darkness, diving himself into it. "It's time for me to risk it all!" He yelled out, as a grayish skull with war art, painted in blood, manifested over his head.
Then he let out a deafening roar.