Chapter -50: Those Who Decide Strength
Without any further phase, Nimus launched his blades through the air, sending them zipping down like angry bees.
Darnia flew behind his son and relied on the speed of his slices to repel the blades, opening them up for him to reap the gale keeping them moving.
Once the path was open Sarajin charged Nimus and tried to land some slashes, but the wily Sage slipped around with quick bursts of speed.
Sarajin sparked electricity from the blade and fired off an uncontrolled series of branches. Nimus was hit, and briefly stunned.
Sarajin went in for the strike but with a smirk, Nimus used his blades to overwhelm the sword and drag it out of his way.
He then whipped his leg into Sarajin's neck, causing him to gasp up saliva.
That was followed up with a gale to push them apart, and blades sent in pursuit.
Sarajin swung his sword around to fend them off, with his dad firing a compressed blast to slow down the rest.
"Ghhh…!" Sarajin bit his teeth and trembled at Nimus' continued presence here.
He was still wearing that smile, that damned carefree smile.
With his opponents preoccupied he turned to the Titan and attempted to give him a few more of his blades, "Here's a gift!"
Darnia flew down and managed to slow them down some by pulling stones off the tower to get in their path.
Then he got in the way and used his scythe to remove the gale.
Nimus clicked his tongue and fingers simultaneously and then thrust his pointer finger up high.
More blades flew off and hid in the sun's light before diving Darnia at full force.
Sarajin attacked Nimus at this moment, forcing him to duck and lose a few hairs.
He then leaned back and released his flight, letting gravity pull him closer to the city. Sarajin was about to wind up a large flame slice, but now he couldn't.
Nimus smirked and flicked his pointers out, guiding his blades to single in on Sarajin and keep him distracted.
He then used a mighty gale off his back to propel towards Sarajin, where he caught him unawares with a knee to the hip.
He then used a gale to slip away from his stiff retaliating slice.
He then proceeded to pelt Sarajin with a series of swift kicks, blades interspersed in to keep him on edge.
And of course, he wouldn't do this without also putting his hands in his pockets to taunt him.
The last kick was intercepted by vines wrapped tight around the calf, courtesy of Darnia.
Sarajin then took this opportunity to charge in and lay his fist out against Nimus' face, digging those knuckles in hard until the resulting snap of him being launched sounded like it broke both their bones.
A little blood leaked out of Nimus' nose but he wiped it on his sleeve and smiled.
"Not bad!"
Father and son attacked in tandem, but missed their mark by a hair as Nimus rose high up in front of the sunlight to obscure his presence.
The glint of metal off his blades signaled their descent, spread out to form the perimeter of a ring.
But their master hung back, waiting for the blades to close in and spin rapidly around the duo.
The two stood, backs pressed against each other, taking a chance to think of their next move.
"His body doesn't contain the Theorem." Darnia deduced.
"But the blades do, that's the problem. And he's too slippery." Sarajin said.
"No, that works to our advantage…"
"Hey! Keep your eyes open, not your mouths!" At that proclamation Nimus dragged the blades in closer and they flew over them.
Nimus himself shot down, carried by an intense gale, and proceeded to grab Darnia atop his head and force the momentum into his body to send him crashing into the city below.
Panic and cries of worry erupted from the folk as Darnia was left struggling to get back up.
Sarajin growled in frustration and started swinging wildly at Nimus, who evaded him every step while holding the top of his head.
Once the Sage found an opening he clocked Sarajin in the gut with his shoulder. Then, he collected a gale into a sphere and whipped his hand away, leaving the gale to burst free and sent Sarajin hurtling around in the air.
Sarajin uses his own wind to wrench control back and then uses the sudden stall in movement to build-up a powerful slash of raw power.
This forced Nimus' blades to the front to shield him, and Sarajin flew in and out repeatedly trying to break them.
Nimus wiggled his goggles and moved the blades when appropriate.
He knew it. Sarajin knew it. There was no way he could keep up a prolonged assault in the presence of the Anti-Genesis Theorem.
But his sense be damned, he was driven to breakthrough, provoked by the flashes of happy memories they once shared. Memories HE ruined.
Sarajin eventually locked his sword against the tangled wall of blades and ground the metal filings off, igniting a flurry of sparks that illuminated the deep hate in his eyes to Nimus.
And Nimus paused, his smile briefly wavering.
Keeping his mind preoccupied, and open to a certain scythe blade drawn before the front of his neck.
The guillotine was pulled and Nimus ducked back. Air was still reaped from his breath and he broke into a mild sweat while looking upside-down at Darnia.
"Sheeeesh, go lay with the daisies already old man!"
Nimus broke off half his blades to slash at Darnia like a spread wing and the man twirled his scythe with reduced effectiveness.
His attempts to deflect the blades only caused their path to divert towards grazing his shoulders and thighs.
Nimus swung his foot into the center of the scythe, left a gale orb in place, then kicked back higher into the air.
Then the orb burst, creating an opposing force to lock the scythe in place. And as it happened it opened a gap to let Nimus dive kick his face.
But then Sarajin barreled in and tackled Nimus out of the way, then shoved off and whipped his sword out of the sheath to assail Nimus with a flurry of wind cuts.
Nimus eventually got his blades to shield him, launching a few forward sneakily to scrape his skin.
Sarajin felt sick to his stomach, like a beast was biting it and flailing it about.
This was the most he's ever been exposed to the Theorem. Auris had wanted to get him used to it, but he had always declined out of respect for her mental state.
Idiot…! Why didn't he think this would happen? She probably saw this coming too…
The world was getting better. There was less violence, more productivity.
But HE couldn't leave well enough alone, could he?!
Sarajin looked at him, teeth clasped in bitterness.
Sarajin looked at him, crying at the memories of the times they sat around and ate sandwiches together.
Sarajin charged him with his heart caging a scream and smashed his sword towards his head, being repulsed by his blades every strike.
Nimus waited until his blades were forced against his body, then used a mighty gale to shove them out together, knocking Sarajin's sword over his head.
Then the Sage used his gales to empower a series of whipping kicks against Sarajin's gut, the hurricane split by him dragging all his blades overhead to combine into a feather shape.
"C'mon cotton puff I know you're tougher than this!" As he swung the blades down he froze midway at the sight of a blazing flash coming from his side.
Darnia hit him hard with a bird shaped stone effigy set on fire and managed to make him tumble away.
During which Darnia checked on his son and helped him float upright, "Hang in there, son."
Sarajin was hunched over and panting, sounding a tiny bit feral, "C-Can't let him win…!"
"Settle down!" Darnia growled forcefully through his teeth, then was quick to tell him off, "Give him what he wants and he wins! We can beat him. Stay focused!"
"Ha…ha…ha…!" The tired bloodlust in Sarajin's eyes began to dampen out, leaving him morose and mouthing an apology.
His dad then smiled, and began to arch his brows, "Now…"
They faced Nimus recovering from that blow looking barely any worse for the wear.
"He suffers no adverse effects from being near the Anti-Genesis Theorem…" Darnia deduced, "Which means his blades…"
Sarajin widened his eyes and whispered, "I know what you're thinking."
Darnia propped his scythe up next to him and put his fist against his chest, "Good. Then buy me time. I still have enough strength to make this work."
Sarajin held his sword in both hands and flew at Nimus while he was still dizzy.
Not committing to any long-term attacks, he breezed on by and made a quick slice for the Sage's hip, but was countered by his blades coming to his rescue.
He still kept moving and flipped around, flying overhead and then slashing straight down, locking his sword against his blades.
Nimus whistled, "Niiiice sword, when did you get this?"
Sarajin became numb to his voice and clenched his sword down harder. Nimus clicked his tongue twice and shook his head, "C'moooon, I'm trying to have a decent conversation here...!"
He followed this up with a forceful kick beneath his blades. Sarajin was getting wise to his tricks though and broke a hand off to grab him by the ankles and pull him out into the open, where he attempted to slash him again.
The blades intercepted, being pushed down inches from Nimus' body. The Sage split his guard right after repelling off a blunt force gale.
He had no fear of ramming into Sarajin's blade because his aura bubbled the front of his body and thus let him control the momentum of where they were flying.
Higher and higher they went until Nimus was satisfied and used two quick bursts of wind to shove himself over Sarajin, where he gave him the blunt impact of his heel on his back for his patience.
Sarajin went hurtling towards the tower below but used the wind to steady himself and turned around, right as Nimus dove into him, slashing out with the tips of his bladed wings.
Said move blew him back and allowed him to safely resume his bombardment of individual blades.
Sarajin focused them down one by one, timing the swing of his blade down to the millisecond if need be, and when he saw an opening he twisted his body sideways and slid his arm down into his pocket.
He swung his blade up in one hand and then used the Gaia Temporis to freeze time and slip behind Nimus, immediately taking a swing when he got out.
But Nimus managed to turn around and get the remainder of his blades to hold the line, reinforcing them with aura just to be safe.
He grit his teeth and exerted a couple grunts, "N-Not bad...! Still got some tricks up your sleeve huh?"
"Now what about your old man..." When Nimus' eyes were shown moving away, Sarajin grunted and shoved the sword harder against his blades, then dragged stone off the tower to drive into the Sage on both sides.
Nimus slipped backwards and slid upright, tucking his hands into his pockets with an intrigued smirk growing.
He then leaned his upper body back while flicking his hand out of pocket. The blades all pointed at Sarajin and flew at him in waves of six.
Sarajin darted around in the air but a few managed to snag him in the arms, making it harder to keep a hold on his blade.
He had faith in his dad's plan but it was definitely taking longer than he expected to make it work...
But while the blades were being diverted from their owner's side, Sarajin took this chance to bombard him with alternating blasts of pressurized water and super hot fireballs.
The steam formed did a great job of fogging up Nimus' goggles but he showed no worry and kept going about his business as normal.
Once he ran out of blades to command he threw his body into the fray and struck at Sarajin with a series of hard kicks and flips to stall for time until he could recall his blades back.
Sarajin managed to repel him with a hard slash and while watching the blades gather back at their master's side, he realized he could now feel some of them...
Yes, indeed, there were now more blades surrounding Nimus' back than ever before.
But Sarajin felt more inclined to smile than the stress of the moment had allowed so far. He charged the Sage again and forced him to guard with his blades. Then he retreated and struck back, a few times until he was absolutely certain that he had his opponent's full attention.
Because if he took the time to look behind him, he'd notice that some of the blades stayed in the air, and without the others there to unify the light, they projected a warmer, more fiery glow...
Those blades began to tremble and make a rattling noise, but at first Nimus thought nothing of it. Until a few seconds later, when they were beginning to crack from the heat...Where it was then too little, too late.
The moment his body showed movement the planted blades burst open and assaulted his body with burning shrapnel that would stick into his skin and clothes and stay there.
And this was now up to Sarajin.
See, the steam had a bigger purpose...To form a cloud over Nimus' body that could conduct electricity.
And as the roar of thunder billowed overhead, Nimus was forced to divide his blades up to stop both Sarajin and Darnia from attacking him in tandem.
But he then clicked his tongue and wagged his hand at them both to bid them farewell, as now that they were fighting his blades, he could dive down freely with just two of them by his side and attack Twinbeak.
...His freedom wasn't as great as he valued.
Because he was carrying on him a series of conductors which, had they been any less in number, would have led to this plan's failure.
His eyes widened and he turned around to meet the flash bang from the singular cloud that heralded his screw up, and the lightning that fell magnetized to him and hit hard.
The electricity filled his body until a bright explosion went off and all his blades started dropping like flies.
Father and son remained on guard as the smoke started to clear and there were no signs of Nimus to be found.
They were flying over a gap in the city so it was possible he had been sent hurtling towards the surface...
"No, this isn't over..." Sarajin murmured.
"And you'd be right!" Nimus shouted, launching up behind them both with a lot of smoke sizzling out of his body and his wings spread behind his back.
They turned around and saw him taking a moment to wipe the grime off his goggles, "That was pretty cool. Not going to lie."
Once he put them back over his eyes he tucked one hand into his pockets and rolled the other around by his hip, "But like I told you, I'm serious this time."
Sarajin had his sword sheathed while Darnia held his arm out and muttered, "Wait. Something doesn't feel right..."
Nimus then ruffled his smirk around a little while remarking, "Hmmm, you don't think I'm telling the truth don't you? Look, I may seem like a carefree slacker, but when my heart's into something, I commit."
"Take my blades for example. Handcrafted all thirty of them by myself. Exact size, exact shape on every one. Yeeeeep, can't ask for more reliable companions while flying through the sky."
Darnia's eyebrows twitched and he began mumbling numbers to himself, with Nimus doing the same in a more outright blunt and carefree tone, "One, two, three..."
Darnia's eyes widened and he muttered "No...!" with dread before making a sharp turn to face the tower, seeing a faint hint of red rapidly climbing from the bottom.
His heart raced and without a second thought he willed his body to fly towards the top of the tower, even as friction wore down on his aging bones.
Nimus floated a little ways over and scoffed, "Ah shoot, he figured it out."
Sarajin looked back and forth between them and only then noticed that Nimus was carrying twenty-nine blades on his back.
He followed his father as fast as he could but Nimus blocked his path, grunting as he barred the way with his blades, "Ghhh...! Just let it go, cotton puff! This is the best for everyone!"
"NO!" Sarajin sliced across the blades and managed to push past him.
Darnia focused entirely on Twinbeak limping in its nest and gathered all his remaining strength to wrap his skin in steel, "Please...Let me make it!"
"And forgive me...Lord Twinbeak...!" He had no choice but to ram the Titan in the head with everything he had and hope for the best.
Every fiber of his being buckled under the pressure of hitting this behemoth out of the way, but so he did...
He breathed a sigh of relief...
Then Nimus' blade pierced the roof, and continued on through until it sliced through him.
Sarajin's eyes froze, he bolted down to the tower right as his father fell to the ground. He dropped on his knees and grabbed him and shook him, hearing faint groans.
"Dad...! DAD!"
Twinbeak raised its head and with a weak groan muttered, "D-Darnia...?"
The blade returned to its owner's side as he floated down near the tower.
"Tsk...!" He then tucked his hands into his pockets and remarked, "It could have ended now, but he was just too clever..."
Sarajin grimaced as the man proceeded to say, "Hey! Go ahead and pick him up and get him home. It's been a fun fight so far, but I'd reeeeeally rather not face you with the baggage, cotton puff."
"SHUT UP."
Sarajin's insides were boiling. His dad's blood was mixing into the straw, and this Sage was still being carefree about it.
"Keep it together, Sarajin...!"
The inside of Sarajin's mind was pounding, memories beating against a thick, subconscious wall. Burning, throbbing red with hate.
Consuming it all, every trace of good times he shared with the Sage became one with the flames...
"Keep it together...!"
"Ke*p I* to**ther...!"
"*e*p ** *o**th**...!"
**** ** ********...!
…!
Thunder roared in the skies, as Nimus shivered all over, not even realizing it until he took a look at goosebumps forming on the back of his hand.
He then looked down and saw Sarajin had made a sharp turn to face him. His face was stiff, his eyes wet, irises hollow, forced wide open, intense...lost.
He clutched his sword tightly and stood up like a limp puppet, his back hunched over until he grabbed the sword in both hands.
Nimus arched his brows and muttered "Shit..." while trying to rally his blades to his defense in front of him.
Less than one blink, and Sarajin was right before him wreathed in white light, his form completely changed to that of a holy, winged executioner.
Sarajin grit his teeth and let his wrath guide his sword straight up across Nimus' blades. He held down his confidence until three of the blades split in half.
Then, his facial expression stiffened wide open and he pulled away as quick as lightning.
He could run fast, but Sarajin was exponentially faster, and now, more than ever, more determined.
Nimus faced his pursuer with a cocky smile and his hand atop his head, just barely managing to evade the edge of the sword.
"Ha...! So you really did snatch some of that power off of her! You know cotton puff...you really did turn out better than I expected you would!"
Sarajin growled and swung his sword like a barbarian's club, the sheer force of his attacks throwing Nimus for a loop, but he kept his wits about him and countered with his gales to keep even footing in the air.
There was no point in trying to shield these attacks now, he'd have to bundle up most of his blades and deliver wide slashes if he had any chance of holding Sarajin off.
Nimus grit his teeth and enforced the blades with multiple layers of aura, clashing off of Sarajin's attacks every step of the way.
They were making the entire skyline above Arc Hurricanos their battleground, zipping around with such quick movements that one second someone saw them above the tower, the next all the way past the south edge.
Nimus eventually figured out the moment he was free to float upright and faced Sarajin head-on, glaring at him with fierce determination, "But this still isn't enough to beat me...! If you're flying faster than light, then I'm just going to have go EVEN FASTER!"
He pushed the limits of what his gales could create upon his body and accelerated after Sarajin to meet him in the middle, rallying the entirety of his blade's force to slash out.
When they connected, Sarajin briefly recoiled and then pressed on, ramming into the edge of Nimus' blades and managing to shatter another.
Sarajin then bounced back, taking the form of a bolt of light flying rampantly around in the sky and ramming into Nimus repeatedly.
Nimus shifted his body around to the best of his ability but when the pressure got to be too much he bailed out with a series of gales.
He was starting to sweat, but cocked a smile the whole way through.
"Ha ha ha!" He erupted joyously, "See how great it feels to be free?!"
Sarajin returned to his physical form to deliver a powerful slash, but this time Nimus intercepted him by propelling forward with his gale and punching him square in the chest.
When he didn't flinch, Nimus used his gales to force him away and then shove him back into his punch, going farther out each time to increase his strength.
Until finally, a small cone of aura burst out of Sarajin's back and made him stagger.
Only for him to swing his sword down again, dragging out a very large swathe of light with it that could have taken Nimus' arm out.
Nimus fired off a few of his blades and managed to cut across Sarajin's skin, but attacking the armor caused them to simply bounce off to little effect.
Sarajin widened his eyes with intense focus and raised his sword up high. Then when he swung down he reappeared behind Nimus.
The Sage flickered up a shield of aura and watched as three glowing afterimages attacked his vulnerable blades and shattered them, with one last appearing before him, flashing pure hate from it's eyes, and the lingering slash proceeding to shatter his barrier.
Nimus tucked his hands into his pockets and glared Sarajin down as he turned around, using his gale to slow down Sarajin's lightspeed movements to a more manageable level...
Except Sarajin kept building up speed. He was getting faster, and faster, until it reached a point where Nimus had to break away or he'd be in serious danger.
Sarajin went spiraling off so far away in an instant that Nimus didn't know where he'd strike from next.
There was a glint from afar, and before Nimus blinked a small beam of light pierced through the sky at his face. He managed to bounce it away with his blade in the nick of time and chuckled, arming his aura from behind and successfully predicting that Sarajin would strike there.
He then spun back and slashed one wing of his blades out to cut Sarajin through his chest plate, "You may be strong now, but you're never going to reach your full potential until you cast off your last chain!"
"SHUT UP!" Sarajin roared for the first time in a long while as he beat down on Nimus' blades with mad swings.
Nimus swung his hands out and commanded the blades to hold together and lunge out as two spear-like forms coming out beside his hips.
This repelled Sarajin and let him follow up by sweeping the blades up and maybe hurt the wings.
Sarajin rapidly swung his sword around in one hand to deflect them, hardening his stance and alerting Nimus that a bigger attack was coming.
Sarajin just stopped, sword raised over his head, wreathed in feathery light, and all of Nimus' blades were dispersed with reckless abandon.
Nimus had two options: Defend or attack.
And his body chose to defend, causing him to wall up the remaining blades in front of his body.
Sarajin unleashing the energy wave carried a lot of weight behind it, and the light casting shadows around his eyes.
Nimus' blades bunched up and held up under pressure, with the Anti-Genesis Theorem doing most of the work to burn the light out.
But this was more than just an element, this was Sarajin's wrath, his strength, made real, and under all this pressure the blades succumbed and scattered all around with their master recoiling.
He hardened his stance and swung his blades down, locking Sarajin's blade with the tip inches from his face. He smiled and met his bravado feeling in control enough to treat this with a casual air.
"Think a little harder...! This isn't about the fate of the world, cotton puff, you're just shielding that worthless Titan from me!"
"If Twinbeak dies the whole city will come crashing down!" Sarajin roared, breaking through his guard by shattering a couple more blades.
Nimus flew back and then whipped his leg around, dragging along his gale winds into powerful projectiles to hold Sarajin at bay while he got his opinion out into the open, "And if I let them live they'll do what? Nothing! Just like always!"
"Your whole society is founded on worshiping a giant bird who flies around glaring at the ground and spews hokey crap you could easily find in a book!" Nimus' frustration was starting to edge out over his cockiness, "It's insane!"
Sarajin closed in and Nimus dodged by a hair's thread, proceeding to rapidly swing his combined blades out to sweep the area in front of him and keep him from getting away for a bit.
Sarajin lashed out with a hefty amount of light energy and briefly forced the blades aside, but they slammed back down and barred the path, forcing another clash.
Sarajin then grit his teeth and yelled, "You think you know better than everyone else...!"
"Newsflash, cotton puff, I always have!" Nimus declared and this time it was made abundantly clear that he wasn't huffing air, he was legitimately beholden to his beliefs.
"Everyone's trapped in the past, worshiping these 'gods' like they're the answer to all of life's problems! But you've seen it with your own eyes, how the likes of Canofloe, Pulsa Minoria and even Obscura's Titans are content to toy with human life without remorse!"
Sarajin's blade lost vigor and Nimus began to push back, lashing his arm out to break Sarajin's offense and then managing to slice through his wings with a few blades before Sarajin regained momentum.
"They aren't our saviors! They're the ones holding the reins on our potential, our freedom!"
Sarajin shouted back "If it wasn't for then, we'd be overwhelmed by the ROT!" and then attacked as hard as he could, his elbow bones snapping on impact with Nimus' blades, but successfully breaking three more in the process.
Nimus held his stance with a grip of his fists as tight as diamonds, "Are they really shielding you from the outside, or shielding the outside from US?"
Sarajin grit his teeth and fought his argument every step of the way, "I won't let you kill Twinbeak and endanger my home!"
"All that birdbrain is good for is keeping this city afloat! I can do the same, you KNOW I can!" Nimus said, and Sarajin flinched, leading to the Sage declaring, "I'll control the city's descent to safety. Nobody will have to die."
Then the bleeding body of Sarajin's dad flashed in his head and his anger carried him forward to lash out with a slash that dragged light far into the sky, "LIAR!"
Nimus bit his teeth down and mumbled, "Damn it, don't let those gods keep a hold over you, you're smarter than that, please...!"
"This IS how it has to be...! It's the only way we'll advance as a society!"
Sarajin kept swinging wildly, slowly chipping away at Nimus' blades only for the Sage to match him with what he had left combined with his aura.
"You're so arrogant...! My people have only ever known the safety of the sky! They would never be able to survive on the surface...!"
"But YOU did...!" Nimus shouted, thrusting his hand out with a commanding presence, "You're the proof it's possible! With your own two hands, you survived the trials placed before you, you EARNED your right to be strong...and free!"
"You're more deserving than anyone to help these people find their place in a new world!"
It wasn't what he was saying that riled Sarajin up at this point, but rather the tone he took. Nothing but compliments and friendliness, even after all this time, after they had grown so divided...
Sarajin's anger was rushing over him, his blood consuming every bit of visible skin. He was flashing through multiple memories of their time together per second and wanting to tear it all down, but couldn't...! Why couldn't he just be rid of him already?!
Nimus sighed and smiled, "Just let me get it over with already, cotton puff..."
There was a long pause, during which Nimus' gaze bolted towards the tower.
Sarajin snarled and pursued him, getting in front of him and elbowing him in the gut. Nimus leaned away from the attack and bought himself the precious moments to arm himself with aura, but Sarajin kept attacking with his sword to force him away.
Nimus arched his brows and shouted, "I'm NOT the bad guy of this story! And you know why?"
"Because I didn't get my strength handed to me on a silver platter! I worked hard to seize my OWN freedom, and have been fighting for a better world this whole time!"
"And where was MY god? Nowhere, because sitting around on your ass expecting some omnipotent savior to rescue you makes you weak...!"
"I have NEVER...taken an innocent life...! That's not something a bad guy does in these sorts of stories, cotton puff! That right there...is the mark of a hero!"
Sarajin's eyes hollowed, his voice hoarse with rage as he growled, "You are NO hero...!"
"If I'm not then neither are you, because you can try and deny it all you want but we're cut from the same mold!"
"We're fighting for peace and someday all this pain, misery and hardship will be worth it when we can wake up in the morning and realize we live in a world where a father won't beat his son, just because he didn't live up to his high expectations...!"
Sarajin went silent and grabbed hold of his sword in both hands and took a swing. When his blade clashed with Nimus', he felt the innocence of those memories shattered as three of Nimus' blades broke.
He was breathing heavily, struggling to control his lungs. All he wanted was to keep attacking until something happened.
He relentlessly battered his sword against Nimus' blade, the Sage refusing to let up even as he was dwindling down to the last blade.
And he held that blade up and hunched down, pouring all his aura into holding back Sarajin's final swing, infused with so much light it burst uncontrollably in all directions.
Sarajin grit his teeth and shoved harder and harder and harder still.
Nimus held his ground with a smirk full of confidence. He knew Sarajin better than anyone. He still had victory in the bag as long as he held out just a little longer.
Because Sarajin wouldn't be able to commit.
Sarajin's jaw unhinged with his roar and the light solidified, beginning to bleed red.
The aura around the blade began to crack, but it took a few seconds for Nimus to register it. Then his pupils shrank and his skin turned pale.
A loud, visceral sound of breaking glass filled the air around the city as Sarajin broke through and cut Nimus down the center of his chest with all his might.
Nimus stumbled back, paralyzed by blood spurting out of his wound. He then fell over and laid a hand over his chest where the wound was at its worst.
His breathing got heavier and caked with a dry, cracking noise. He was trying to take in what happened, resulting in a slowly growing smile as he raised his head, tired bags forming under his eyes.
"H-Heh...damn. Didn't think you had it in you, cotton puff..." Even to the bitter end, he kept up his carefree, friendly tone of voice.
Sarajin held his sword at the Sage with eyes piercing wide and trembling.
Nimus applied a faint amount of aura to his wound to slow the bleeding, then stood tall and chuckled, "Guess sometimes the hero has to lose to learn an important lesson...Ha ha...Damn, thought it was the right time..."
Sarajin's teeth rattled inside his mouth. He gripped his sword tighter, staring him down with nothing but the heavy, tired, bitter weight on his back coming through, "You were my friend...!"
Nimus grinned with the faintest hint of regret, "...That's the crappy part about this whole war, cotton puff. We ARE...still friends..."
Sarajin's blade hand started trembling.
He had him at his mercy. This could end NOW...
But even at his very worst...Sarajin remembered.
A promise...
He wasn't worth breaking it over. He would NOT sink to his level...
Sarajin grit his teeth and murmured aloud, "Leave. NOW. And don't you ever, EVER return...!"
Nimus closed his eyes and sighed, "Alright, alright, I get the message..."
He looked up one more time with determination, "But I can't tie the bow on that promise. Sorry, just got to be honest...This is too important for me, Sarajin."
Nevertheless, he bit his teeth to flash one last smile and then turned and flew away.
Sarajin felt compelled to pursue him after that last comment, but he was running out of steam, and there were more important matters to attend to...
He flew towards the tower and just as he was about to land his Light Form ran out, leaving him making a rough landing.
But he got near where his father was, and had just enough strength in him to kneel down and grab him. He wasn't moving, but his body was still warm...
Sarajin didn't know what he could do but still turned his body around to TRY.
Upon doing so he was faced with a surprise that left his heart bleeding tears...
His father was still breathing. Slowly, but at a healthy pace.
Then, Sarajin noticed that the exit point of the wound was on the side of his body.
"We supplied your father with a bit of our Wellspring..." Twinbeak addressed the situation with delicacy.
"He was lucky though. Had the blade hit any vital organs, there would have been nothing we could have done."
This left Sarajin with complicated thoughts he'd rather not focus on...
He looked his dad in the eyes and cried as they opened.
"H-Have we won...?" He muttered.
"...Y-Yeah, dad." Sarajin sniffled, slowly sheathing his blood stained sword...
That was all he had the strength to say. With a smile, he let himself rest, where Sarajin would carry him back home to the comfort of his bed, and his wife.
Twinbeak would have plenty of time to heal, but the fact that the Anti-Genesis Theorem could be applied to weapons wasn't something that would leave their mind anytime soon.
This personal battle...may only be a prelude to something far more grim.
…
After leaving Arc Hurricanos behind, Nimus attempted to fly elsewhere to get some rest.
He underestimated how heavy of a toil his wound was. Even his aura couldn't prevent more blood from spurting out and eventually, the pain pulled him down to the ground with a barely cushioned fall...
He rolled and tumbled, coughing roughly as he crawled up onto his feet and dragged himself over to the nearby rock structure.
"A-Alright, better just take it easy for a bit..."
He sat back against it and got comfortable. His head felt a little faint, but he powered through with a smile and reached into his jacket.
Inside was a bag now soaked in blood. He paused for a moment, but still pressed on to take out what was inside...
Two sandwiches, a half of the bread now covered in dark red blood.
His smile continued to hold until he dropped his arm to the ground and the sandwiches and all their ingredients spilled upon the ground.
The shadows of Rot Walkers began to approach him. But he kept his cool and closed his eyes gently.
"One nap...and then I'll head home..."
In his rest, he would have a good dream...
A dream of a world thriving with life, free of Titans, with him sitting on the edge of a cliff, sharing sandwiches with Sarajin like the good old days...
"...Guess you'll have to achieve that dream for us now..."
And so, came darkness, and a chill in the air...
Next Time: Be Normal