It was barely past sunrise. Not even enough time to get breakfast for herself, let alone her son.
But Auris was out there running through the wasteland, her surroundings a total blur.
She was waiting for her destination to crest over the horizon and couldn't afford to be a second later.
She was alone, and could only expect aid from one other person where she was going.
The situation would become dire fast, as was foretold. This day had blindsided her, an experience she was starting to feel pissed off in response to.
Where was she heading, you may ask?
Arc Hurricanos, her husband's home…the next target of the Ten Sages plans.
She couldn't guess who plotted this if it was Lilith, her father, or someone else acting on their own interests.
But Sarajin was off-world at the worst possible time and with his sanctuary, his home, under threat she couldn't even hide Zeno away for safekeeping.
She had turned to Gabriel in a desperate ploy to keep their son safe and had to trust that he would be more loyal to her as a friend than the other Sages as per his duty.
Compounding the issues was how her clairvoyance foretold another attack on Oreore and Pulsa Minoria simultaneously.
She had Atrax's help to get the message out to the others to stop the two-sided assault before it escalates, but could he be trusted to carry it out? He had to be…there was no other option.
"Where is it?!" She panicked. Palms sweating, head aching. There was a loss of concentration that she couldn't afford to have right now.
The city was almost in sight. She just needed her Aegis Dragoon Drive and a clear line to the edge…
Then her acute aura senses were triggered by an overwhelming spread of objects in the ground that were set off by the vibration of her footsteps.
She jumped back as the ground burst in a row a mile wide to release a thick cloud of dark green fumes.
"Poison…" Her eyes winced narrow and as she lost sight of the city in the sky, she turned to face her hunter approaching from behind.
A sharp, silvery sound emerged from the sleeves of Glade, master of his toxic craft. His eyes focused, cold and callous regarding his surroundings.
"He was right. You predicted this." He began to say, the implications of his tone leaving Auris unsure.
But she held her head high and glared her opposition down, "So you're finally involving yourself directly."
"Then I was right, this IS Lilith's doing."
Glade's expression stayed and he slid the tips of his Sickles out of his sleeves, focused solely on satiating his curiosity, "Someone is providing you information, or perhaps…Something else…"
He drowned himself out with uncertainty, but being even a step closer to the truth put Auris on edge. Her hand twitched and she drew and clasped her sword tight.
"You're not enough to hold me back."
"But I AM!" Screamed the one-eyed scorpion, flung through the toxins ready to strike.
Auris rolled her eyes and spun around, slashing Vermilion as she descended. The scorpion switched tactics and grabbed onto her blade before hitting the ground to force it out of her hand.
Auris then looked back and flipped away from Glade's sickle. His other one was tossed to intercept, but she called her sword and sliced it away.
Then she aimed her sights towards him and lunged through the air in an instant. He slipped backwards like a snake and spilled a viscous purple liquid from vials attached inside his sleeve.
Auris' landing splashed the liquid over her body, where it latched onto her robe and started pulling her down.
She pushed back against it and scowled through her fierce determination, "I get it. You're trying to keep me grounded."
Vermilion tried to jump her but she arched her brows and then backhanded her hard with her shield without looking.
She then glared at Glade and told him, "You should have brought more Sages."
"I will suffice." He replied, his pupils shrinking while he began to flail his sickles wide, spewing purple-blue mist from the blades.
Auris backed up slowly and held her breath, "They came prepared. Can't risk the possibility that they figured out a way around the Anti- Genesis Theorem."
Thus pushed her into Vermilion's range and allowed the scorpion a chance to go wild on her, assaulting her with a fiery dance of hard kicks and needle tosses.
Vermilion was just a weapon being pointed at her. Dealing with this trap Glade had set was where the majority of her brain power was working towards.
And in turn, she needed to piece together who could be responsible. And the future she saw had her answers…
"Colrez has split up his forces to attack Oreore and Pulsa Minoria. Adderbolt has been tasked to grab metals in Oreore, while Torren was sent to mess with the electrical output in Pulsa Minoria."
Her eyes widened with a muffled gasp. There was only one person left who could be responsible.
And she pained for Sarajin more than anyone. It had to be him. It was always going to be him…
She took one more look into the future to confirm her suspicions, and "Yes", the culprit behind this coordinated plot was none other than Nimus…
"...I have to break through…Sarajin can't be allowed to face him…!"
But with two Sages applying pressure even she lacked the confidence to avert the future she saw.
And without her aid, the only person who could hold the line…was Darnia.
Chapter -51: A Battle for the Blue Skies
At the highest point over the ground, the wise and patient Twinbeak stood upon the edge of its nest and looked out over the canvas of blue it called its domain.
It ruffled its tail feathers and sighed from both beaks, a breath as heavy as dense raincoats.
His company was the sole Darnia Stratos, still as stone at the base of the nest.
"Have you sensed it too, Darnia Stratos?"
The Titan turned its head around so the face with that voice pointed at him. The man was stone faced, the abnormal churn of the wind slowly chipping away and making him look a little green.
"Have you felt this before?" He was worried to ask.
"All the time…" They muttered, "But with such a baneful intensity as this? Only once…"
And Darnia's experience matched the Titan's, in spite of the vast gap in years between them.
…He feared the worst, "Does the Devil stir again?"
The Titan turned and hopped down to meet him on more even ground, "I wish that were the case…"
If not that foul beast who brought forth dread, then who?
It would be answered immediately, as a figure zoomed up the tower and bathed in the light of the sun, their wings composed of many blades, wrapped in crimson death.
"Heeeeeey you feathered cage master! MISS ME?!" The daredevil assailant boasted a cool head and a cocky tongue. A perfect description for Nimus of the Ten Sages…
He forced his presence before Twinbeak's second face and it remarked with a mix of fright and anger, "Y-You fiend…!"
Nimus floated upright and whipped his right hand out with a snap of his fingers, "Not a fan. Call me…the Sky Scourge!"
As the Titan spread its Wings he did the same, making sure each individual "feather" was being burned in its eyes.
A small bombardment separated off and zipped forward carried along heavy gales.
Darnia watched in horror as the blades ripped through Twinbeak's body effortlessly, showing him the beast's blue blood and forcing its shriek into his ears.
The blades then impaled the ground and whatever surrounded them sizzled the straw away to oblivion.
Darnia felt sick to his stomach looking at them, like he was staring at a world that shouldn't exist.
The hefty collapse of the panting Titan helped him focus. The beast spread its wings upon the ground in a limp manner and tried to keep looking up, its patient demeanor falling to the invitation of fear.
"What. Have. You. Done?!" They shouted.
Nomus stood there and cooked his scowl as dozens of birds started flying behind him in a panic, "Come ooooon, down already? I didn't think this would be that effective!"
He returned his blades to his side and swung his hand up, eyes full of contempt, "Guess this is what happens when a 'God' spends all their time looking down instead of up."
With a cluck of his tongue he squeezed his fist and muttered, "Time to bring you to the ground."
He pulled back with his lips puckered as a huge wave of fire was sent his way. He spread his blades like a fan to block it then kept them held out to keep Darnia from charging him with his scythe.
"Hey hey! I didn't see you, old man!" Nimus' cheeky tongue didn't get under Darnia's nerves because his presence had angered him enough.
The old man was able to push him a little ways away from the tower before breaking off, where he unleashed a mighty roar, "Get OUT!"
"Heh…" Nimus dug his heels into the air and hunched his head around his next few swings, "Just you?"
His silence said enough, and Nimus hung his head with genuine sadness, "Ah bummer, was hoping your cottonpuff would be here…"
He then rose up with a smirk and raised a foot to kick off Darnia's blade and fly back, leaving a flurry of his own blades to keep him company.
He then adjusted his goggles over his eyes and mumbled in a deeper tone, "Ah well, I took the appropriate measures…"
Darnia widened his eyes and paused his next swing, with Nimus clicking his tongue and chuckling, "That's right! The princess isn't gonna bail anyone out this time!"
He held his hand out and focused down on Darnia with his blades, "It's just you and me…"
He squeezed his hand and the blades collapsed in all directions but behind Darnia, who used the gap to escape.
Nimus had flown behind him before he could even blink and whispered, "So…try and make this a little fun, you ol' fogey!"
Too close…First came the blades to cut into Darnia's body and introduce him to the undesirable element held within.
Then Nimus whipped his leg around with such force his ankles snapped like he would his fingers.
When the foot impacted his gut, Darnia pointed his scythe at his foe's chest and unleashed a compact air blast to try and disorient him.
But when the recoil snapped off it was clear who got hit harder, as Nimus immediately pursued while Darnua struggled to regain control.
"T-That vile power…the Anti-Genesis Theorem…?! But…how…?!"
Brief exposure wasn't fatal, but his age would be a decisive factor in how long he could risk tangling with the blades.
Taking a moment to pay attention to Twinbeak's state helped him focus. There was too much at stake to worry over his own health.
Darnia gripped his scythe tightly and rose tall to meet his opponent. That lion's gaze of his was getting Nimus excited.
Darnia swung to raise a powerful gale capable of temporarily stalling his foe. Nimus jerked back upright and then stabbed his blades through with a flick of his finger.
Darnia widened his eyes and watched as the blades twisted in a spiral path to make predicting them difficult.
"He's smarter than he looks..."
He was out of luck using his elements to get them out of the way. Even the ethereal wind was kneeling to this antithetical power.
He wasn't as fast, nor with as good of reflexes as his son. His best option...was to be patient, and move only at the very last possible moment.
When he weaved forward through the blades he felt sick to his stomach but forced his gaze open wide on his enemy. Nimus whistled, sliding sideways to the right when Darnia slashed fire his way.
Darnia then pointed his scythe out and released a compressed air blast, forcing the man's blades to the front to shield him.
The peculiar composition of his scythe seemed to keep it from being affected by the Anti-Genesis Theorem, so he used its reach to hack away at the blades. They were the conductor of that cursed power, the Sage was making it clear he couldn't ward off elemental energy himself.
For such thin blades they weathered his attacks like the hardest gemstones, their defensive capability compounded by their wielder's aura.
Darnia took a deep breath and pulled away, Nimus raising his hand over the blades to command them to fly upward.
When Darnia tried to keep an eye on them he was blinded by them reflecting sunlight and it forced his eyes shut. The blades then came before him and from above. He suffered more cuts and was put on the defensive, wasting whatever precious seconds he had to figure out his opponent.
He was being toyed with and that was a bitter pill to swallow. This was the same way Ophelia had treated his efforts back then, but the wounds cut deeper thanks to how carefree this winged fiend acted.
But he held onto the one trait that could beat out most Sages: Experience born of age.
As the blades cut into his skin he closed his eyes tighter and focused. There, he heard the howl of the wind guiding the blades' path. Tainted, but still his familiar friend...
His eyes opened up and he gripped his scythe again, this time in one hand. He fired off a few air blasts from his palm to put some distance between him and Nimus, then he aimed for the space above the blades and sliced away with speed over power.
This caused the blades to lose all momentum and plummet down. Nimus' eyes sparked with intrigue while Darnia flashed a brief smirk. Nimus then did the same, and tucked his hands into his pockets.
"Weeeeell..." Nimus pulled the fallen blades back to his side, "So that's the weapon that's given short sting so much difficulty."
"I think I can see why..." He spread his wings but this time it cut into the air with a sharp, metallic sound, "Hey, old foggy! We've started to figure each other out, why don't we kick it up a bit?"
Darnia let out a gruff scoff and muttered, "You're not taking this seriously?"
"Oh. I. Am," He declared, his tone and expression shifting to match, "But I ain't about to waste my breath on someone who has been brainwashed by the Titans."
"So I'll boil it down to...I feel like putting in some effort today," He then whipped his hand out and shouted, "So you better start putting in some more, old foggy!"
More blades went flying but as Darnia armed his scythe, Nimus whipped his hand up and the old man found himself being blown upward.
He was stunned, there was more to the Sages' tricks than had been established.
Now his flight was being commanded on top of having to deal with cutting off the gale from the blades pursuing him.
Overwhelmed in seconds, Darnia resorted to using his swings to build up as much air as he could within the pockets and then aiming his weapon at Nimus directly.
One powerful blast of compressed air, capable of reducing a mountain to chunks, hit Nimus square in the gut and made him cough up.
Darnia then bolted towards the Sage and visualized an opening via a feather delicately falling in a black void, until it landed before Nimus' neck.
"Have to try!" Darnia took his swing with dedicated aim, and then felt the light being knocked out of his eyes as he briefly lost consciousness.
Nimus had planted his knee into his chest and wiggled it around, holding him there until he leaned into his face with a smile and whispered, "Pre-dict-able...!"
He pulled out and whipped the back of his hand hard against Darnia's cheek, immediately bruising it and then taunting him over it, "You're getting old, man! While I'm still young, and free as a bird!"
He then floated there, letting the gale at his back throw Darnia around in front of him.
"You're not my target. Just let me do my thing and I won't have to keep hurting you."
Darnia forced a series of fireballs over the gale to bombard the Sage, but he used his remaining blades as a shield and then launched some off to hit him back.
"Ghh...!" Darnia was starting to feel woozy from the numerous cuts, melting, boiling his blood and flesh.
He should breathe his last breath. Let the unknown take him away.
That was the talk of a quitter. That was the voice of a man who was only born of cowardice.
He thought of his wife. His son. His grandchild. The allies that have gathered around them. The hopes and dreams they whispered.
"I was stubborn. A fool. The reflection in the mirror was a projection of my deepest rooted fears."
His muscles tightened. His bones buckled against the bitter and grim power assaulting it.
"The days of my youth are long past me and wasted...! But I can still provide something with my life span, even if it's just one...more...SECOND!"
His body spited the hands of time and for a brief moment, he felt full of vigorous youth and swung his scythe against the mighty gale before him.
His weapon dragged against the wind and struggled to build up momentum. He roared like never before, so visceral in intensity that the whole village cast their gaze upon him in awe.
Even Nimus froze up with a stunned look and his lips puckered, wanting to let the attack go off out of respect.
And with every last bit of effort he could muster, Darnia's scythe burned up and overpowered the gale by swallowing it whole.
"ARID...HUUUUURRICANE!"
Darnia then assaulted the Sage with a powerful and searing hot gale that left the air burning red.
"Ghhh...!" Nimus held his arms up before his face and grit his teeth, "N-Not bad...!"
He then pulled his blades close together and stabbed them out extra wide to dispel the wind, leaving him with a mild sweat.
"But my heart...burns hotter...!"
The onslaught had been broken up, Darnia had been granted a moment to rest and catch his breath.
Nimus then slowly tucked his hands into his pockets and all the reddening on his skin faded out, leaving him fresh and like new.
"Soooo, what's your next trick?" He wondered sincerely.
Darnia arched his eyebrows...and smiled, "Now..."
"Karma comes calling."
A shadow dropped down behind Nimus and he spun around to see a figure shadowed by the sunlight's light with a sword raised high above their head.
Nimus swung his blades out like a spread wing and blocked the attack, the colliding forces grinding together with neither one refusing to bend to the other.
And as sparks flew it illuminated the figure to Nimus as none other than Sarajin. Cheerfully grinning from cheek-to-cheek the Sage shouted, "Hey! You finally made it!"
Sarajin had a couple bags under his eyes and teeth were tight in a scowl. He was focusing between the eerie, all-too familiar glow on the blades and the man who deserved all his hate.
Shifting between these intense, complex feelings gave Sarajin's sword a club-like brutality to his swings and after pulling back and attacking again he managed to dent a couple of the blades and force Nimus to retreat.
The Sage then casually backflipped over Darnia trying to swing his scythe at his back and landed on one foot, hunched forward with his blades spread out into wings.
Sarajin brandished his sword in one hand and slung ferocity without hesitation, "How dare you show your face around here again!"
"Heh heh, missed you too, cottonpuff!" Nimus said on purely friendly terms.
Darnia floated beside his son and murmured, "Sarajin, remain focused."
Sarajin bit his scowl and mumbled out the side of his mouth, "T-That energy coming off the blades...If he laid a hand on Auris I'll-!"
Nimus pulled his head back and shouted, "Whoooooa, I didn't lay a single hand on the princess. Nah, try your buddy, glasses."
Sarajin's eyes froze up with intense confusion and Nimus let out a quick scoff that left him breathless for a bit, "Whoa...! Wait, you seriously don't know?"
"Wow! And here I thought friends were supposed to be honest with each other."
Sarajin gripped his sword tighter and growled, "S-Shut up...! Like you're one to talk!"
Darnia forced his hand onto his shoulder and told him, "Don't listen to him, this is the only trick he has worth his salt."
Sarajin's gaze bolted down to the top of the tower where Twinbeak was resting its way through incredible pain, red mist oozing out of its many wounds.
He then bit his teeth down and saw Nimus was following the path of his gaze the whole time, where he then propped up a smirk and remarked, "Impressed? Told you I'd do it."
Now that the guest of honor had arrived Nimus had no qualms shouting his plans for all to hear, "I'm going to liberate this city from it's winged monster and give the people back the freedom they've been robbed of!"
He then clicked his tongue and smiled, "Of course, you're going to try and stop me, aren't you?"
Sarajin's eyes cast a depraved vacancy towards the man as he grumbled, "The only monster here is you...!"
"Heh," Nimus spread his fingertips over the top of his head and mumbled, "Now that takes me back..."
He then flicked his hand aside to snap his fingers and wiggle the blades around before settling on pointing them at father and son, "Hope you've gotten strong like I told you to, cottonpuff! Cause I'm going all-out...just this once!"
While they still had this moment together, Darnia looked towards his son and stared deep into his eyes to quell some of that dangerous fire within, "We can beat him. Don't lose yourself to your anger, son."
"Ghh...!" Sarajin briefly cast his hate towards his dad and then squeezed his eyes shut, pained with guilt. He then took a deep breath and tried to focus.
"...Did you figure anything out?" He murmured.
"Yes, I think his Drive allows him to control the speed and direction of the wind...perhaps far better than any of us can."
Sarajin's gaze got tender as he took closer looks over his dad's body, "Dad, you're wounded, don't push yourself anymore."
"I wish to offer my support," Darnia stayed resolute, "This is my home too. I won't let him have his way with it!"
"O-Okay..." Sarajin held his sword in both hands and focused on the enemy before him, "But bail out if it gets too tough, please. Mom..."
"I don't intend to die here," Darnia grabbed hold of his scythe and glared at the Sage, "But it seems this fool DOES."
"As if...!" Nimus scoffed, and swung his arm out, "I'm going to keep going forever! I'm as endless as the sky!"
He then tucked his hands into his pockets while father and son braced themselves for a desperate battle near and personal to them...
Next Time: We Are Finally Free