Chapter 67: Bones that Cannot Break
For a while, Tarma and Astraeus stared at one another. Then Astraeus sent another volley of bone-made bullets, forcing Tarma to use his sand to block them. He also attacked Astraeus with the sand, forcing him to move steadily backwards while sending more Bones of Gaia. Beni watched in surprise as Tarma blocked every single bullet while simultaneously attacking Astraeus. Yet the sand could not touch Astraeus, who dodged every strike.
"Without your sand, Tarma, you're nothing!" Astraeus reminded.
Unconcerned, Tarma said, "Hail of Sand (Sand Drizzle)."
Seeing a cloud made of sand form above him, Astraeus tried to move but discovered that his feet were bound by sand coming up from the ground.
"So long as there's sand around, I can do what I want," Tarma stated, and clenched his hand.
This caused raindrops in the form of sand to fall on Astraeus which immobilized him further. Then the sand cloud turned into a tornado and trapped Astraeus within it. Curious, Beni noticed sand pouring into the dirt near Tarma's feet and came to a realization.
He's pouring sand underground in order to mix it with the dirt and gravel underneath, thus creating new sand in the process, Beni thought.
"And now…Sand Tomb (Sand Binding Coffin)!" Crushing his hand, Tarma caused the sand that bound Astraeus tighter until blood seeped outward.
"That man…has the same eyes as Tony Fuori," Tarma observed, which surprised Beni. "In them lies a strong desire to verify one's existence."
Before Beni could question him further, the sand started to break apart as Astraeus emerged from within. He was miraculously intact, but now there were several square-shaped black lines covering his skin which was torn in some places showed patches of bone underneath.
"If I hadn't created a membrane of bone under the skin, that attack would've killed me instantly," Astraeus muttered as he looked at Tarma. "It seems I greatly underestimated you, Tarma."
At that moment, Tarma made several hand-signs just as a wave of sand poured from his sack. "Sand of the Red Sea* (Quicksand Waterfall Flow)!"
The wave of sand became bigger, and swallowed Astraeus within it. Despite his struggling, he got buried underneath and swept along as the sand wave encompassed the entire park and leaked out into the nearby streets.
"I-I think you won," Beni guessed.
"Not yet," Tarma objected and placed his hands on the edge of the sand wave. "Sand Pyramid Tomb (Sand Waterfall Imperial Funeral)!"
A ripple through the sand shook, and then there was silence.
"Is he dead?" Beni asked after a pause.
"No."
Just then, something emerged from the sand nearby. Immediately, Tarma tried to bury it in another Sand Tomb, but the thing resisted and emerged unscathed. Beni's eyes widened as he recognized the creature as Astraeus, but he looked different. He now had gray hair, yellow eyes, and grape-colored skin. Thick bones protruded from his back and a long tail waved back and forth. Tarma tried his best to repel Astraeus though the creature managed to hit him directly.
"So this is the best your sand can handle?" Astraeus taunted.
A few feet away, Tarma got up as pieces of his face fell off revealing sand underneath.
"You were wearing sand the whole time, huh?" Astraeus then saw a flash of green and turned around just as Beni attacked him.
"Tarma's not the only one you're fighting!" Beni declared. "I'm here too!"
But before Beni could land a hit, Astraeus' bone-encrusted tail came flying. A wall of sand protected Beni, though he still went flying. Landing on a bed of sand, Beni struggled to get up.
This isn't good, Beni realized. I'm still recovering from my earlier fight with the guy, thus leaving Tarma with no backup.
"Don't feel left out," Astraeus said to Beni and turned his attention back to Tarma. "I'll deal with you once I've finished Tarma over here."
Reaching behind him, Astraeus grabbed a piece of bone that was sticking out of his back and pulled it out.
He-he ripped out an entire spine! Beni's eyes widened as Astraeus gripped the spinal column and held it like a whip.
"Dance of the Black Orchid** (Dance of the Clementis Flower)!" Astraeus cried as he lashed the bone whip toward Tarma.
In response, Tarma covered himself with sand as the whip wrapped around his body. Holding him in place, Astraeus used his other hand to create a large lance intertwined with several bones.
"With this, I will pierce through your sand and—
Suddenly, Astraeus coughed up blood.
As Tarma covered himself in sand, he shouted, "Last Defense: Cave of the Sphinx (Ultimately Hard Absolute Defense: Shield of Shukaku)!"
In front of Astraeus appeared a large cave-like structure mounted by a figure with the upper-half of a woman and the lower-half of a lioness. Towards the back of the structure, Astraeus saw the faint hint of crimson before the cave's entrance was sealed up completely by sandy wings that emerged from the figure above the cave. While Astraeus used the lance to drill through the wings, Beni watched in anticipation. Yet after several minutes of drilling, Astraeus' lance started to crack before crumbling altogether.
"These delicate-looking wings are surprisingly tough," Astraeus admitted.
"I mixed harder materials from the ground into my sand, and laced it with nature energy (chakra) for extra security," Tarma explained as his voice echoed from the cave. "This Spell (Jutsu) you've used…it's your Gift, isn't it?"
Astraeus nodded. "Yes, and I'm the last of my clan to use it."
"Then this Gift will die with you," Tarma responded.
"That may happen, but…a part of my soul is permanently bound to Father Typhonragazzo (Lord Orochimaru). So even if I die, I'll always be with him!"
"Willing to sacrifice yourself for someone who sent you on a suicide mission? You're quite the pitiful guy."
End of Chapter 67
*Red Sea is a reference to when Moses parted the Red Sea as he and the other Hebrews were making their way to the promise land of Israel
**Black Orchid is a reference to the Black Vanilla Orchid which is a very rare plant that grows in the Alps