While this was supposed to get released next monday, I felt the last 2 chapters could be seen as Lackluster, that, and I was excited to move on to what we got next.So here were are,)
Tides Of Protomis XLIX
Agni’s Power-The Divine Flame!
Agni continued staring down upon the martial artist, his expression, and his body language alike, relaxed, dismissive. And, though he said nothing, his arched brows made it clear that he did not appreciate this treatment. Either way, that simply meant he would have to show that he wasn’t to be taken lightly. Liang slid his left foot forward, as the azure glare around him intensified. He could not afford to lose here. As such, he prepared himself, and made his intent clear with a statement.
“Agni the False God… I will end you.”
Though one would expect for the man to be enraged, he remained strangely calm at the jab, as he spoke once more.
“False god, hm?”
Agni stood up from his throne. Something shortly followed by a white blaze burning around him once more. The air began to weave as a result of the pure heat. The feeling of the heat, and the feeling on his spine, denoting an uptick in Protomis. He decidedly created distance between them, leaping back. Something followed by a staring match beginning between them. As both prepared to make their strike first… At the least, until the sound of rushing winds filled their ears. And both of the two turned their attention away from the other, to an interloper who descended from a hole in the roof, Bijan. He soon flew to Liang’s side, where he made his landing.
“Alright- I’m here!!” Bijan yelled.
Liang shot a glare at him as he did so.
“Did I not ask you to watch Cuifen?”
Bijan glanced over at his ally.
“Do you really think you can handle someone on that level by yourself? He’s got to be a high-tier at the least from what I'm sensing.”
Liang went silent for some time, before, begrudgingly, accepting this fact in his head.
“Fine then. But if Cuifen is caught in the crossfire- I won’t forgive you… Don’t forget what I’m here for.”
Apparently the girl wasn’t wrong, though that was to be expected, she’d known him for a lot longer than he had.
“Yeah, I got you. But let’s focus on taking this one down for n-”
Before long, Bijan was violently cut off. As Agni appeared in front of him, before either’s senses even registered him. Something followed by a left hook smashing into Bijan’s cheek, sending him out of the walls of the building and destroying them on his way out. But his flight did not stop there, demolishing the fortress’ palisades as he flew through them. Only stopping as he crashed into one of the region’s many rock hills. Liang’s eyes shot to the hole Lafeyah left, and back to Agni. Saying nothing as he jumped forward, Twisting his body backwards, and lashing out as he got closer, sending a high kick at the side of his neck.
But the Marquis was quick, catching the foot before it even got close to its intended target, almost effortlessly, at that. He returned the favor with a spin kick that slammed into Liang’s chest, before he barreled off in the same direction. However, Liang, unlike him, swiftly took the initiative in stopping himself, mid-air. Now, he floated above the various ridges, his senses focused upon the fortress in the distance. His ally, located in the crater below, looked up at Liang. To him, it seemed like his luck in the battle wasn’t any better. The boy got to his feet, dusting the rock off of his outfit, as he levitate, meeting Liang’s height. Now, both of the two kept their focus on the base.
With good reason, Before they even got a chance to speak, a white blaze streaked across the sky. Ridding them of any chance to create a strategy. They both knew who it was immediately, Agni. Especially as he began his assault, a ring of heat around him expanding rapidly, followed by the ground below them being vaporized. Not only the plant life, but the earth, and stones alike. Something both fighters could tell would have a negative impact on themselves. Bijan swiftly flew backward, trying to escape his range. While Liang’s Azure barrier of qi Intensified. Even so, his eyes widened, as he felt it waver a bit flickering in and out. Allowing for tinges of the flame to find their way in. He tsked, as he began to strengthen it once more, successfully keeping the flames away from his body. Though, even with this, their attacker’s demeanor seemed unchanged. The two re-grouped, landing, and glancing at each other.
“That heat… If my barrier hadn’t stopped that- I'd surely be in a much tougher spot, this one is no joke.” Liang mumbled.
“It would be pointless to form the Verdant Emperor now- that heat would definitely take it out quickly… I’m not even sure I could use the Verdant Overlord against him.”
Agni, disregarding the two’s words, sped forward once again, throwing his arm forward, and placing his grip around Bijan’s neck. His target’s eyes widened as he took note. And no sooner did he tighten his grip, before flinging him further into the air, with a smirk coming onto his face.
“It’s about time to show you just how outmatched you are!”
Now, he continued his attack, Flashing behind Bijan, before he launched a knee into his back , Knocking him into Liang’s direction. Before, in the same fashion, he appeared in his path, Knocking him in the opposite direction. What came after, was a storm of blows. Agni continued to flash around, hitting his opponent again, and again. And with each and every strike, the youth found himself knocked back and forth, as if he were a volleyball. Now, the damage was beginning to pile up. For a moment, the strikes stopped falling, and Bijan was left with some brief solace. But before he could get out of range, Agni appeared once again. Clasping his fists together, he raised them above head, before he brought them down upon Lafeyah, sending him crashing into the ground below, and creating a crater underneath.
“Lafeyah!!!”
This was not ideal, not in the very least. He couldn’t allow this to continue any longer. He needed to think of something, and he needed to do so quickly... Something that he did not get to do. Just as he’d appeared behind Bijan, Agni appeared directly behind Liang, ready to strike.
“Danm!”
“You should worry about yourself first… It’d be a shame if you died before saving that sister of yours.”
However, Liang was not ready to be hit that easily, he pivoted, sending a kick at the man’s side. However, Agni weaved out of the way, and flashed around Liang, appearing behind once more. Before, he grasped the back of his skull. Liang tsked, as he twisted his body, sending a kick at his side once more, an attempt to force him to release him. Even so, it was ineffective... Agni began a rapid descent keeping his grip onto the martial artist's skull, and driving his face into the ground. The earth giving way and rupturing around them from the force of the impact... For a few moments, Agni continued to hold Liang’s face into the dirt. Eventually, however, he did let go, and began levitating, Looking down upon the two fighters as they got to their feet, raising his chin at them. A sign of how lightly he viewed this battle, viewed them.
“Both of you shall fall, and so shall the Ardamites. Nobody will defeat me!”
Agni’s smirk turned into a grin, as he began to cackle, loudly at that. The two fighters looked upon this display with their expressions unchanged. All the while, Lanzengan and Cuifen stood within the base, watching the battle through a camera feed, displayed by one of the many remaining terminals. What Cuifen saw, it worried her, without a doubt. She’d just seen her brother for the first time in years. For him to go against someone of this caliber, and to possibly die in the process… Such a thought displeased her, no doubt, but it wasn’t a result she could deny was possible.
In such a situation, there was little she could do, not with how she’d been weakened. She could only have faith in her brother’s abilities, something that she’d done for years now, and that she would continue to do.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Part B
Unbeknownst to any of those there, another force was beginning to approach. The hum of plasma jets resounded just above the plains and rolling hills. The source being a small transport ship with a black, angular frame. Though it did not fly over the site of the battle, they could have very well been getting closer. In the small cabin that lied in the ship, well-lit by the white bulbs. But the ship was not what was of note, rather, it was one of its passengers. Sitting on what little seating there was, was a tan-skinned, older man. He looked to be in his late 40s, with the angular shape of his face, and the numerous marks covering it. On top of his head, was spiky auburn hair that went down to the middle of his back, below his broad, toned shoulders. The same color as a thick beard, that connected with a mustache on his lip. He sat there in silence, with his eyes closed. At the least, until one of his subordinates, donning the Kaemerge’s armor, entered the cabin. Something the man's senses picked up almost instantly.
His eyes parted as he revealed his yellow orbs. That, much like the rest of him, whether it be demeanor or appearance, showed authority.
“My lord-- We’ll be at the Lhasa fortress soon- It seems as if Agni is already active.”
As the womanly voice spoke, the man nodded, folding his arms over his chest.
“ Good, That traitor shall be eliminated- in the name of Ardam… Enter cruising speed, we will put down this rebellion quickly.” He ordered a deadly edge in his tone.
The words did not go unnoticed, elsewhere in the ship, the crew’s quarters, the kaemerge’s troops, donned in their armor, seemingly listened in. One of the troops winced at the man’s response.
“Something tells me things are about to get bloody… I’d never want to be the one who makes him mad…”
“Yeah. It’s always the nice ones you gotta worry about. The former Marquis better be glad his Excellency didn’t just send in the Sentinels to do a clean up operation. They’d have somehow made it worse…”
As the ship began to close in on the site of the battle, the three involved in it continued regardless. Liang clutched his bloodied arm, breathing heavily, and biting back any pain from his Injuries. Bijan, kneeling behind him doing the very same. It was going badly, no doubt, but they had to continue onward, there was no telling what would happen, even if they actually managed to escape. With this in mind, Liang released his grip on his arm. Followed by the light of his Qi swirling around him once more.
Soon enough, morphing, and re-taking its previous shape of a dragon’s head. However, there was a difference this time around it, as it flew toward his opponent, a tail, or at the least, a fraction of it, had formed around him, the origin of the attack. As if, it had become closer to completion. He balled his fist as he extended his arm, and leaped forward. His fist, and the dragon’s head hit the opponent square in the chest... However, Agni looked upon the attack with a dismissive grin. Not even making an attempt to move out of the way. Letting the attack hit him. And unlike the two’s other attacks, he actually found himself being pushed back, even if just a bit… However, the attack was fruitless.
“Impressive, But not enough.”
Agni grasped the arm, redirecting the punch, and letting Liang stumble behind him. The Martial artist quickly regained his balance, and spun, trying to land a kick on the man’s ribs. But, this attempt was interrupted by a fist smashing into his jaw, and his legs shoved back by his opponent’s hand, stopping the motion of the kick. Something followed by him utilizing the grasped arm to lift the boy off the ground, and throwing him back down. Liang soon bounced off the ground, pulverizing it under him. Liang swiftly flipped forward, planting both of his fleet into the soil, as he skidded back.
He was not finished yet, opting to fly back at his opponent, launching a flurry of kicks across the man’s body. However, he was simply met by the man weaving around his strikes without effort. At range, Bijan took note of this, launching off volleys of spines at Agni. All the while, Liang moved back, flinging shurikens from between his fingers. Only for the combined volley to hit air, his speed simply too great.
“Close range, Long Range, Nothing is working, the gap between us is simply too large. this man is a troublesome one.”
Liang took flight, going above Agni’s head, and landing to Bijan’s side. The latter glanced at him afterward. landing.
“We need a plan of action… We can’t do anything to him like this…” Bijan stated.
Liang nodded in agreement. Even he could take note of this fact. Had they not gone together, there was a high chance they would have already been dead.
“Right you are-- What I suggest doing is-”
He cut himself off, grunted in surprise, as his eyes darted to his right, with Bijan doing the same. A certain feeling began to run through their spines. One that seemed to overtake some of their senses... The downright oppressive feeling was denoting a new threat.
“This power!” Liang yelled.
Bijan shook his head.
“Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse… This guy, he’s at a level near Minoru Ito.”
Both of them went silent with this... This didn’t go unnoticed by Cuifen, who’s eyes widened as the feeling panged within her.
“Somebody new Is entering the fray, and they’re no weakling…” Cuifen mumbled.
Kasiro began to tap his foot.
“But if that’s the case, who could it be?”
While those four didn’t know the answer to that question... It was something that a certain man knew, not only did his eyes widen as his eyes darted in the same direction. It seemed that his entire demeanor changed, what was once an arrogant man, claiming to be a god of all things, seemed to feel fear. He seemingly became jittery at the appearance of this unknown.
“Dammit, NOW?!”
Soon enough, descending from the clouds, was the very same transport aircraft. flew over an area filled to the brim with crater after crater, from the combat that took place. The same man who appeared on the craft came out of a door that opened on the side, jumping out as he homed in on his target. Something followed by stark white blades, resembling those of a scythe, came out of his wrists, breaking through the skin.
Agni took notice and attempted to move out of the way. However, before he had the chance to move the inch, the man had moved past him. The previously clean blades, now stained red. Despite the fact that he’d seemingly just rushed past him. What truly happened became clear as Agni began to fall out of the sky, deep cuts covering his entire body, with blood gushing from the many wounds. However, it was clear that was not the full effects of the attack, as, moments later, the corpse broke up into chunks. Liang parted his lips as he choked out a single word.
“That’s- ”
“The Third Apostle, Najeem Al Moussa!!! We need to get out of here before he notices us!”
Now, Bijan and Liang began a dash away from the third, a swift attempt at an escape. Najeem looked down upon this, but, regardless, took no action against them. Soon, the craft he arrived on came to his side, as he levitated back inside. As he planted his feet onto the ground, he began to walk through the hallway that would lead to the cabin. Soon greeted by the same soldier who came to him before.
“Do you not plan to go after them?” She questioned.
“Going after small-fry like that would do nothing but waste our time… If they can not defeat Agni- they for sure won’t even get past the Imperial Guard… We have more pressing matters in Visagon. What is the status of that high-tier running the country?”
“Malati Ahuja, sir?”
“The very same…”
Mahati was certainly one the Kaemerge had their eyes on. Though Visagon hadn’t participated in the third world war, they certainly had volunteer groups and PMCs for their citizens to join. The Prime Minister of Visagon was one of those soldiers, who’d made a name for themselves by destroying an entire fleet by themselves, in a battle around Jupiter, and they’d certainly grown since then. It was for that reason that the Apostle had decided this was not to be left to any troops Below him.
Their conversation concerning the head of state carried on as the ship made its way above the lands, continuing toward their original operation... The two glanced at each other, with a single thought reverberating through their heads, one that continued, even as they made their way back to the base. As the two arrived, They found that Lanzengan’s HAU stood outside of the walls. The two stopped in front of it. The hatch opened within a few seconds, With Cuifen rushing toward the two, and Lanzengan staying seated.
“Brother- are you alright?”
“I’m fine… We have more important things to worry about. That man, he completely outmatched us, and the fact that the Third defeated him effortlessly, we aren’t at all ready for the capital…”
Bijan nodded in agreement.
“One thing is for sure- we need to start training… I’m going to call the Tides- and see what they’re doing. They might’ve contained the situation in Tokyo…”
“Perhaps they have, but I’d hope not…” Lazengan commented, as he arched his brows… Something that was met with, less than-pleased expressions from the Liang and Bijan. However, even so, he made no attempt to retract his statement, in fact, he decided to double down.
“I’m not a fan of those “4 Tides'', nor how they do things. Either way, I will take my leave.”
Lanzengan soon closed the hatch to his cockpit, as he activated his thrusters, the grass waving as he did so. At least, until he levitated above. He took one last look at the three as he rotated his seat and display alike. Before he flew, following the transport ship. Eager to be reconnected with the rest of the forces. It was something they ignored, after all, the three of them had since expected for that to take place. Bijan reached into his pocket, pulling out his holo-phone, and tapping the side, with the display coming out. Liang turned to Cuifen as he did so.
“I don’t exactly have anyone to leave you in the care of… And I don't want you in the epicenter of the battle. “
“I understand, I’m not exactly at full capacity anymore, it’s not something I’m happy about.”
As she made her statement, Liang was silent for some moments, as he delved into his thoughts... After all these years of fighting for the Kaemerge, the thought of that disease the damned so much, Velox Mortem, it never did leave his head... Even so, he’d never come up with a way to get rid of that thought, to make his sister safe. Nothing came to his head. Until, an idea finally came to his mind.
“How could I have been so blind… I’ve been looking for a cure. The answer has been under my nose this whole time.”
He had his talents, that much he knew. But he could develop more, and he would do so. Especially with what was at stake. He put his hand on Cuifen’s shoulder. Causing the shorter girl to look up at him.
“Mark my words, Cuifen- I will find a cure somehow, and fix that. However, it will be pointless if the Kaemerge still exists…” Liang stated. Something that made the smile on Cuifen’s face grow.
“Alright…”
Soon after, Bijan walked up to the two, tapping Liang’s shoulder, as what soon appeared on screen was Arctaius, Alarick, Liang, And Kazimir. All sitting on a couch in an unfamiliar room. Arctaius, scooted forward on the couch, and slouched over. The first one to part his lips in speech.
“Well, it looks like you didn’t have too much luck either. We managed to push them out, but we became like this as a result. That aside, Bijan told us everything... And we’ve decided where we’ll be training.”
Alarick nodded.
“Yahatari Island… It’s about 400 Miles East of Kyushu...It’s large, but it's uninhabited- so we won’t be causing destruction with our training… As for your sister, we could just have the Federation government protect her for now, Corde has some connections.”
As Alarick finished, Liang glanced at his sister once more.
“It looks like this is gonna be cut short-- that isn’t exactly my preferred course of action, but...There’s not much choice otherwise… “
“Cuifen, you’re fine with this- right?” asked Liang.
“I wouldn’t want to be a burden… As much as I’d like to help- there isn’t much for me to do if there are guys stronger than that one running around the capital...I’ll accept it, just this once.” Cuifen responded.
“If that’s the case, then...I suppose it’s settled, Me and Lafeyah will be coming to join you all.”
A certain monk leaned forward as he spoke.
“Good- We’ll be going in three days…”
Soon, both sides hung up. With the call over, Arctaius began to tap through his holo-phone’s display, and opened his messages, taking note of a new message within. He tapped it, as his eyes moved across.
“Taius, got your number from that Rhuskov guy. Me and Junko are gonna start training, Keep us posted!”
A smile, even if slight, came onto Arctaius’ face as he began to tap the screen, texting his old friend back.
“I will. It’s good to be on the same side again.”
He pressed send, turning the holo-phone off, as he placed it on the table. He certainly did feel good about Valerie no longer being an enemy. After all, as far as he knew, she was his only surviving friend from Roanoke, Save for curt, However. He would eventually inform Kurt that their old friend had survived. But for now, his thoughts drifted to a different subject. The reason why they were the only three left in the first place.
“This is it- then… I get to pay that so-called empire back for what they did.” Arctaius stated.
“No… WE will get back at them” Alarick corrected.
“Right…” Zhao agreed.
“It looks like this will come to an end soon… We may be in the final stretch, but we can’t get soft just yet. We got work to do.” Kazimir stated, gaining nods of agreement from his allies.
To Be Continued