Chapter Fifteen: Raging Gaia
I vaulted up several crags, losing sight of Amy in the process. I glared up at Ereshkigal, who glared back at me, then sent boulders and sand needles at me. I narrowly dodged the boulders, but got hit in the lower torso with a couple of sand needles. I grunted, and then kept vaulting up the crags to about the halfway point.
At this time, spears of rock came shooting out of the crags, nearly killing me. I narrowly dodged in between them all, and then kept jumping up the crags. All the while, spears of rock, needles of sand, and boulders continued to fling themselves at me. Eventually I made it to the plateau, a grassy little crag, where Amy had already engaged Ereshkigal in battle. I pulled out my Zangetsu and charged at her.
As I charged at Ereshkigal, Amy used a Batto-jutsu, which Ereshkigal easily dodged, and then threw sand needles at Amy. She was able to dodge them well. I took a side swing at Ereshkigal's torso, but she armored herself with a small barrier of sand. Ereshkigal then threw some sand needles at me, one of which got my right leg, but left herself open to an attack from Amy. She screamed as Amy gave her a good, deep cut in her back.
Ereshkigal then raised herself higher than the surrounding crags; she was probably about 25 feet higher than Amy and I. We jumped up onto the cliff, and I lost sight of Amy again. I used the cloth wrapping on my Zangetsu to use it as a climbing tool. I reached the top in a minute or two, dodging rock spikes the whole way.
When I reached the plateau again, Amy wasn't there. Ereshkigal faced me and pulled a boulder out of the crags below, throwing it at me. I dodged it, but then the ground began to fall, descending faster than I was falling. Amy appeared amongst the falling crags, but I turned to grab onto one of the cliffs.
I managed to grab onto one of the cliffs, and then pulled myself up. Somehow Amy had been able to do so as well, and I looked at her from across the sinkhole.
"Let's go!" I yelled.
"Right!" she answered.
We started jumping down the cliffs, eventually reaching the bottom of the sinkhole. There Ereshkigal waited for us, ready for a real fight. I was tired of running, and taking a few wounds didn't help, either.
"No more running! Let's get to it!" I yelled at her.
"Fine!" she yelled, and rushed at me, sending spikes of rock up from under my feet. I jumped up, but Ereshkigal came at me, earthen spears in hand. She had forgotten about Amy, though, and Amy came up on Ereshkigal's back and gave her another good, deep cut. Ereshkigal turned around to get Amy, losing her focus on me and lowering the spikes. I then threw my Zangetsu at her, using the cloth as a cord, and got her right in the stomach.
Ereshkigal staggered, spitting up blood. I pulled my blood-covered Zangetsu out using the cloth, and got back into my ready position. Amy stood opposite me, holding her Sakaboto with both hands. We both charged at Ereshkigal at the same time, both shouting at the top of our lungs. But we had severely underestimated Ereshkigal's power and resolve.
Just before we could get the deathblow in, Ereshkigal rasied herself on a pillar of rock about 20 feet above us. Both of our fierce strikes hit nothing but rock.
"Even… without darkness… they're… too much!" She gasped, the pillar of rock now rising at a slower rate. I couldn't see Amy, but, using the cloth,I threw my Zangetsu into the surrounding bedrock, pulled myself up to the rock, and rebounded off of it towards Ereshkigal.
Amy had climbed up the crag, and was at Ereshkigal's back. Once again, she charged at Ereshkigal, batto-jutsu style. Unfortunately, even with those grievous wounds, Ereshkigal was able to dodge it, and sent Amy flying back down to the crags below with a spear of rock.
I… couldn't control… my emotions any more. I felt that darkness awaken…
I gave up the darkness!
