The sun was finally about to set, the circle of heavenly light now cut by the horizon, spilling orange blood over the sky and grass, painting every aspect of Daniel's tension rising battle.
The wind whistled past, caressing the leaves of the forest behind them and the grass of the plains. The two stood many feet apart now, both of them locking stares like looking at a reflection. Each one waited for the other to attack, but instead got readied confident stares. The violet sky and benevolent clouds above seemed to move with the lifting wind.
Let's see what you can do, Daniel-san, Shintenmaru thought, shifting his feet, shuffling the grass blades and dust together that was carried off by the wind. Go! He declared, sharpening his stare. Daniel became aware of his movements and shifted his weight, ready to dodge. The tension broke off as the fight finally began.
In an instant, five "soul spheres" erupted from the ground like a ghost, and darted towards the red headed Minor. He dodged sufficiently, jumping backward while keeping his eye on the attacks that came toward him. More soul spheres zoomed out five at a time, Daniel dodging all of them with flips and jumps and ducks, the attacks crashing into the ground like miniature meteors, hammering holes into it.
He's pulling them from the ground? He thought, keeping his eye close on the attacks. No, it's not the ground. It's the grass. He's pulling soul energy from the grass! Daniel realized short into the fight as he saw the patches of grass that had been used for the first few attacks begin to wilt and discolor. So that's how it is. He's conserving energy by using life forms around him. Well, that's not going to work on me, Daniel thought backing up to a tree as the barrage of soul spheres stopped.
He's using a side supply, so in that case… Daniel looked to the wide forest behind him and gave it a promising stare. The sunset breathed into its aspects, seeming to water color in the trees and shrubs with a bright, unnatural orange. The usually green life shone with an artificial orange. Daniel looked back to find Shintenmaru still in his place, not tired at the least.
"Your plan is rigged," Daniel told Shintenmaru, his back still against the tree, the sunset portrayed on his clothes and skin, reflecting off his glasses, coating the grassy plains with its dead, false carroty look. "Five minutes into the fight and I've all ready figured it out."
"Then you took too long," Shintenmaru replied in his direct voice.
Daniel scoffed. "In that case…" he said, bending his knees and ducking downward, laying his hands on the floor. "Go…!" he shouted, the forest rustling with the wind in reply. The branches danced and mixed with the wind's tango, the leaves' waltz, and the sunset's choir. Like darting arrows, the trees and grass in the forest let out spirit spheres like cannons, releasing the glowing orbs like diving into Shintenmaru's position like a fallen star,
"Too slow," Shintenmaru muttered, taking one step to the right as he disappeared from sight in dust from the bombarding globes.
Did it…hit? Daniel thought, staring hard into the smoke, trying to see the least bit of a figure. The dark puffs of dust crept closer as they died out, begging for another chance to live. Like an UFO, Shintenmaru darted out of the smoke, his feet on another panel of earth he brought to life. He levitated into the air about six feet with the platform of rock suspended in the air like it was frozen inside time. The parade of showering life was nowhere to be seen, and the trees remained behind Daniel, a little weaker but still able to live on.
"You can't pull out all of the life from something yet. You're still weak, and on top of that, even if you could completely steal the life out of a tree, or grass blade, you shouldn't use your supply so fast. It's like firing a cannon with one cannonball," Shintenmaru lectured from the air, feeling the light wind brush his hair towards a certain direction, the sunset his best friend at this point. "You can't waste all you have without thinking about where you're sending it first. This should be common sense."
Daniel gave a dull stare. Shintenmaru stared back. "In that case," Shintenmaru continued. "I'll teach you about supply and using it in different ways." As his words finished and began to go through a consideration process in Daniel's mind, the panel of rock began shifting. With Shintenmaru posed on it perfectly, the front of it began to shift and stretch out forward, as if something in it were itching to break free from its eternal shell that imprisoned it so. The brown, rocky front formed types of thorn like shooters, three large ones protruding out like a cannon.
This is bad, Daniel realized. He's right that I can't call upon all of the life energy of something yet. I guess ability will come with practice after all. So in that case, I'll have to use this! Daniel leaned forward, as if getting ready to run track. He picked his head up and posed a ready, hopeful look. "Kihaku Renda! –Soul Barrage-" Daniel cried out as his own soul spheres pulled back and raced like bullets toward Shintenmaru's cannon arsenal, tens of them flying out at once, rapidly over time.
"This is it!" Shintenmaru cried out loudly, so loud that the people beyond the sunset horizon could hear his declarative cries. "Rokku Kyanon! –Rock Cannon-" he cried out, the platform reacting. The three thorny cannons at the front of the platform, one big one accompanied by two smaller and thinner ones pushed out large boulders like they were bullets that were the size of Daniel's soul spheres. The two attacks collided, one from the sky and the other from the ground. They created dust between them and friction that created a wall of light brown mist, blocking view of their opponent. The smoke soon began to cover Daniel's presence, wrapping around him like a fist of wrath.
On Shintenmaru's side, he watched the smoke wall grow from below, crawling higher into the air like they were reaching out to the clouds, to the sky, reaching out for their dreams, each one breaking and failing as the wind blew past, the dust overpowered and not motivated enough. The rocks stopped firing and the soul energy stopped zooming. All Shintenmaru could do now was wait.
Seconds into his linger, Daniel seemed to rush out of the smoke and headed directly below Shintenmaru's rock platform, Shintenmaru spotting him. "What do you think you're trying to do?" Shintenmaru asked, watching him with narrowed eyes. Daniel ducked into the rock's shadow, and showed his back upward.
"Let's go!" he shouted. "Kihaku Renda!" he declared again as another barrage or spirit energy came out in glimmering spheres, shooting upward and bulleting towards the bottom of Shintenmaru's beloved platform.
"Too slow!" Shintenmaru told him, the bottom base of the platform growing downward, creating a sort of pillar with a large, hemisphere at the end of it. The large dome suspended in the air like a puppet created a darker circle of shadow around Daniel as his spirit orbs crashed into upside down bowl of rock, the dome cupping the attack into a fully grown sphere. The base of the platform began glowing and outlined Shintenmaru's shoes. The life energy sucked in began to fill him like a pitcher did with a drinking glass.
Daniel stayed ducking on the floor, his body still inside the circle of shade. "Now you die," Shintenmaru said. The back of the rock platform grew a straightforward tail that emerged in a second, solid and steady like a pole. In the next second, it grew five scythe blades, one smaller after the other counting from the top. The rock sculpture of a five blade scythe looked so real, yet still so fake. The pole curved downward with Shintenmaru's commanding, and as Daniel looked up to see what was happening, he was caught in the neck in the middle of the five deadly blades, his body flying into the ground and the curved triangular pieces of rock cutting into his neck.
He put an expressionless look on his face as he lay there without energy. Then, in a flash, he disappeared into thin air. Hm? Shintenmaru thought. Did he… flash jump away? No. Couldn't have. In that case, it must've been a clone, then. I must say though, I'm pretty impressed. Even though he still may be a beginner at controlling his element, he can all ready make a clone in a minute of seconds. Shintenmaru peered back into the cloud of growing smoke, his stare piercing. He must still be in there, he thought.
"Guess again," came a voice suddenly appearing behind Shintenmaru. The council widened his stare in shock and surprise, and turned slowly to see who it was. Everything seemed to be going at slow motion at this point, as if karma had just put life on hold. His slow, turning stare finally found Daniel standing behind him, the tip of his feet just barely standing on the back of the panel.
"How…? When did you…?" Shintenmaru blurted out in a forced, sudden voice. His teeth were grit in a gasp; his eyes were dilated to one-tenth of their original size.
"Give me my energy back!" Daniel said, narrowing his eyes and gritting his teeth in confidence and bravery, knowing that his plan had finally succeeded. Daniel delivered a punch to Shintenmaru's frozen face, and knocked him off the platform, his body flying six feet away and six feet down. Now, Daniel had the platform all to himself.
After pulling back his punch and watching Shintenmaru swish into the haze of dust, life energy that was taken from Shintenmaru's body with the contact of hand to hand combat lay in Daniel's hands, levitating like a tiny, handheld sprite. The sprite diminished in size and went straight back to Daniel's body, where it belonged. The energy pumped through Daniel's blood and he felt livelier again.
"Your mistake," he told Shintenmaru as he made the rock platform levitate back down, his feet draining all the life energy from it. "Was underestimating me, even with your great analytical skills." Daniel crossed his arms in front of his chest, peering past the dust that was almost finally done clearing, Shintenmaru struggling to get back on his feet. "Looks like the pride of being a council clouds your right judgment. That's why I never wanted a title like 'Minor' or 'Genius' in the first place."
This time, it was Shintenmaru's turn to scoff, even if he did realize deep inside that he had been wrong about Daniel from the beginning. Even if he did acknowledge him for the things he did, what he said was unpleasant to Daniel's ears, but it wasn't like the Minor cared about what people thought anyway.
"That's why, this time," Daniel said, the platform finally on the ground now, the Minor causing the cannons to continue growing. "This time, you'll be the one in for a world full of hurt!" he declared loudly to the orange sunlight that painted him, gripping the slanted platform that lay on the floor with a tight hold.
Looks like I really have underestimated him, even after I gave him credit for what he could do. This kid's right, Shintenmaru thought as he stood up on his feet and watched the rock cannons from before protrude from the ground, and continue to grow and stretch, creating even more cannons this time, preparing for a whole rapid fire barrage of an attack. Looks like the title of being a council really has clouded my mind.
"Let's go!" Daniel shouted as the large weapon that protruded from the ground that had at least fifty cannons in its arsenal emitted smoke from its sides. "Kihaku Rokku Hakabakashii! –Soul Rock Rapids!-"
In a second after the declaration, the holes of the tens of cannons emitted a strong, soul colored light. Large halos of spirit energy surrounded their ends, and prepared for fire.
Amazing, Shintenmaru credited. He was able to combine my old soul energy I put in to make the rock platform alive and his own soul energy that he used to create the multiple cannons and force them through the ends and prepare a powerful attack. If this hits, then I'm sure to be dead. In that cause, I'll get ready. Shintenmaru shifted his feet and smiled, accepting the glowing challenge that lay in front of him like a wall separating the Minor and Council. The glowing halos around the end continued to glow wildly.
"Go…!" Daniel declared, pouring all the energy in his body into the one attack. With a loud boom, the attack exploded loud screeches into the air and hurled out extra large spheres of energy out, emitting smoke into the air with their collision. They rained upon Shintenmaru, who did not try to escape, but instead, stood up to the challenge.
The sound of firing, crashing, exploding, and crashing was the only thing that was heard for miles. Smoke pooled the area in front and the attack lasted for only a few seconds, which was disappointing. Nine seconds is the limit I can go for this attack, Daniel counted in his mind.
The smoke soon began to clear and the tens and tens of pillar cannons sunk back into their place in the ground, shrinking in their place. The wall that separated the two fell, as if their bonds were too great for walls to sever. But now, a new challenge came. A new wall of depriving smoke and filling dust separated the two now.
Then, with a strong wind, someone- or something in the dust cleared the dust, blowing it in every direction with a circular wind.
What? Daniel thought in surprise, covering his eyes only partially with his arm to protect his them from the raging dust that blew past, which fluttered his clothes, trying to push him backward to the grassy plains behind him.
When the dust and wind died out, Daniel looked forward. Far from him, in front of Shintenmaru like a protector, was a winged messenger from the heavens. That's right – it was an angel. It's wings glowed with a holy, yellow light, and its blonde curly hair was without a halo, its wings spread out evenly like pure, sinless white. The feathers fluttered beside it, and its white dress gown looked delicate yet powerful, its stance hovering in the air in a graceful way. Its eyes were piercing, icy blue, where the sunset's orange light poured onto, painting them half orange and half blue with a hint of white. The third of a circle sun also glowed on its wings, making them look even more heavenly.
What the hell? What's an angel doing here? Daniel thought as he began analyzing it carefully, bit by bit in his mind just in case if it was going to attack him.
"Number 37," Shintenmaru came from behind the angel placed in the air, as if it were frozen in invisible, abandoned ice. "Guardian Angel."
"What is that thing?" Daniel cried out, demanding an answer, still staring hard at the godly sight, his mind not believe what his eyes told it.
"I didn't think I had to use it, or any of the rest of them in this fight, but I'm glad I brought it along. I haven't used it in a while though," he said, sighing nostalgically. "I guess it was a good thing I let it get some air," he said, peering to the angel beside him, the heaven's messenger not peering back, but just hovering in the air, as if suspended or punished for the one sin it would ever commit.
Daniel continued to look at the holy being, his eyes crazed into a lock of surprise and a bit of horror. "This is one of my many Icons. I can bring them to life and they can help me whenever I want. They're kind of like the cards you carry around, except I have a more wide variety of them. So wide, in fact, that I can't carry them all at once. Not even with a bag. I keep them all at my room back at the Inner Tower, and only brought this one, just in case things got ugly," Shintenmaru finally explained.
"I see," Daniel replied, his eyes calming, the disbelief drained. So in the end, he didn't underestimate me that much at all.
"Good thing I brought it too," Shintenmaru continued. "If I hadn't brought it, I could be dead by now." Shintenmaru gave Daniel a knowing,, piercing stare in the dying sunset. "I'm amazed at how much at how much you've grown in one fight. First, you came scared and only had the guts to rely on your cards, to hide behind them."
Daniel scoffed. Shintenmaru let out a chuckle as Daniel looked to the sunset, trying to keep himself from becoming nervous again. "But, now, you have the skill and power to use your own spirit energy in battle. So let's hope that stays with you along the way," Shintenmaru added.
Daniel looked up with normal, friendly eyes and a miniature smile. "And in the end, you know not to underestimate any of the Minors anymore," Daniel added to Shintenmaru's addition.
Shintenmaru laughed and agreed. The Guardian Angel shrank back down in size, its body beginning to discolor. It turned back into a miniature stone copy of what it really was when Daniel had spotted it, and stood its stand on a stone, circular panel. Shintenmaru picked it up and stuffed it in his robes pocket. "So," he began again.
Daniel lifted one eyebrow, as if to ask, "What?"
"Should we get back?" Shintenmaru said with a smile. Daniel returned the smile with a smirk. Then, they began walking away from the sunset and back to the Inner Tower where they would catch up with the rest of Minors, and wait for the two final battle to finish.