Episode 2: A Goddess's Wrath
A few weeks have passed since Aether and Ayaka became a couple and soon enough Ayaka is setting up a meeting within the teahouse to wait for Thoma to show up to discuss the plan on fighting the Shogun.
"Gee, where is Thoma at?" Paimon asked.
"He must be picking up girls again," Aether asked as Ayaka sighs at this.
"Women are his weakness, always the playboy," Ayaka said as Aether is drinking Dango milk from a bottle. "Oh, this is so delicious," she commented with the sweetness sticking to her mouth.
"Hope he comes back and we can put up a plan together," Aether said.
"Yes with the military and police going to the event today, they will be distracted and it is easier to move around," Ayaka said.
"Princess, we should go to a different room to check on your training with your new fighting style," Aether said.
"Oh, you want to check on my progress, my love. Okay, I will show you my hard work with the dual-blade fighting technique," they both go into another room which is quite spacious and empty perfect for practicing.
"Show me what you got Ayaka," Aether said as he summons his Sword of Descension into his hands. Ayaka conjures her Mistsplitter and Jade Cutter in either hand to go into a combat stance. "Remember you would lack power but you gain more options in combat. Rapid attacks are the name of the game of dual blades," Aether said.
"Thank you Sensei," Ayaka said lightheartedly as Paimon watches from the sidelines. The two of them go into a sword duel with Aether going into a defensive stance to block her incoming attacks. Ayaka's fast slashes and thrusts with her two swords are getting dodged, blocked, or deflected.
Aether noticed Ayaka's skill with two blades has greatly improved within a short period. Paimon looks on to see the couple is in a deep dance of grace and precision. She manages to pressure Aether as he backs away with him sidestepping out of her reach to put his blade onto her neck.
"Nice work Princess, you reach further than before," Aether said as they backed away for Ayaka bowed her head.
"Of course, you are a great driver of my development," Ayaka said as they hear someone yelling for Ayaka.
"Lady Ayaka, where are you?" the voice of a small girl said as they go to the front door to see a little lady dressed in a Tanuki-style ninja outfit.
"Oh Sayu, what do you need?" Ayaka asked to see if the girl is panicking.
"It's Thoma, the Shogunate soldiers captured him and took him to that weird statue," Sayu said as Ayaka looks deathly scared about this.
"What, are you serious?" Ayaka asked as the ninja girl nods her head.
"Yes, Raiden Shogun is there herself about to take his vision. We need to do something," Sayu said as Ayaka is about to burst out of the door with Aether stopped her.
"No, I will go save him and face Raiden Shogun by myself," Aether said as Ayaka and Sayu looked on with fear and confusion.
"What, you can't go alone. I will help you save him; he is like my older brother. I can't just sit here and do nothing," Ayaka said as Aether stops her again.
"What about your clan and your status if you aided in stopping Ball from taking a vision? Your lives will be hellish to be taken it lightly," Aether tries to reason with her as Ayaka sighs and understand what he is saying.
"Okay, I understand but how are you going to face Raiden Shogun? She is an Archon," Ayaka said as Aether cracks a smile.
"I fought two powerful god-like beings before with the Dark Goddess Void and the Immortal Tyrant Drake Lawrence. This isn't my first time and I do have a trump card in my pocket. I need to talk to her anyway while I stall her," Aether said as Ayaka hesitates to let him go.
"Okay my love," she said kissing him on the lips. "For luck, go save Thoma, and don't do anything reckless," Ayaka warned.
"Come on, it's me. I will manage," Aether said as he goes outside with Sayu following from behind.
"Man, you got balls, or your pretty stupid fighting an Archon," she said.
"Sayu, I need you to keep in the shadows and wait for a sign to aid me okay," Aether said.
"Okay, stay alive or Lady Ayaka is going to be upset with me," Sayu said going into the bushes to keep watch from a distance.
Ayaka is nearby to watch from afar deeply worried about Aether about to face Raiden Shogun's wrath. "Oh Aether, my love please be safe and save Thoma for me," Ayaka said as she did a silent prayer for his safety.
A huge crowd is around the creepy statue with Thoma in the middle of it covered by Shogunate Samurai.
"You are going to use your original power against Raiden Shogun like when you fought Void and Lord Drake?" Paimon asked as Aether places his hand on his chest feeling power surging throughout his chest.
"My power is slowly returning. This Ultima State allows me to summon my original powers back for about five minutes before I run out of power and am left vulnerable," Aether remembers the previous two final battles to be left in a deeply weakened state after pushing it too far both times.
"I remember, it was beyond powerful but will it be enough to hold back a true Archon?" Paimon questioned.
"Well, it has to be enough or Thoma will suffer a fate worse than death," Aether said to see Thoma on his knees on the ground seeing Raiden Shogun herself right in front of the huge creepy statue.
"Now this will be the 100th vision within the time of the Vision Hunt Degree. Now I will pin your vision to this statue," Ball stretches out with her hand to begin making Thoma's vision float to her hand.
"Not so fast," Aether uses his new lightning speed to easily catch the vision to hand it back to Thoma. Aether tosses lightning blades to take out a few Samurais with him wielding his Sword of Descension and getting ready for a fight.
Raiden Shogun looks at Aether with a sharp focus aiming her palm at him. "So, you are the Traveler I heard so much about," Raiden Shogun said as Aether looks with a grin.
"Okay, you want my autograph or something," Aether said lightly trying to calm himself before this fight with a real Archon.
"You think yourself a funny man, don't amuse me. You have taken something I demanded by my will," Raiden Shogun said as he felt a huge pressure coming from her.
"You can use the elements without a Vision. How curious and also a threat to my domain," Raiden Shogun summons her tachi from her chest to rip open a portal to a dark battlefield. Electro power flows out of Raiden Shogun to shake the whole area as Aether gets sucked into the portal.
Aether lands on the platform to see red arches all over the place and sees Raiden Shogun calmly staring him down to wield her naginata. "So, Traveler are you ready to face a god?" Raiden Shogun asked.
"I fought gods before, you are no different," Aether said to dual-wield both the Sword of Descension and the Festering Desire in each hand.
"I heard about your feats out there. I will not take you lightly," Raiden Shogun said talking to him like a child.
"Don't be cocky because you are a god. I will not go down so easily," Aether said as he activates his Ultima State for the arena and the space around them begins to violently shake. Aether is engulfed in a bright pillar of light for a shockwave to push back Raiden Shogun a bit.
"What in the world?" Raiden Shogun looks on to see Aether tapping into his original power with his clothing glowing grey.
"I will go all in," Aether said as he disappears in a flash to clash with Raiden Shogun's polearm. Soon the battle begins with the two combatants trying to overpower the other.
Aether is feeling Raiden Shogun's powerful blows with each block causing the whole stage to shake. He is using his first blade to block while his second blade is used to counter. Raiden Shogun fires a close-range electric blast to stun Aether to stab him in the chest.
He made an ice clone to take his place which got the stabbing. He swings by and attacks her on the side while she is distracted. "Oh no you don't," Raiden Shogun swings her naginata while Aether slides under her attack. He shoves a Wind Blade onto her chest to unleash a ripping gust of wind to blow her away.
Aether tosses several rock spikes in her direction with Raiden Shogun catching herself in midair. She is deflecting the incoming projectiles with ease as she casts clouds above them to rain down random bolts of lighting to keep Aether on his toes.
"Oh great, more crap to deal with," Aether said as he blocks incoming lightning bolts. "I only five minutes before I get destroyed. I need to buy time and get as much information out of her as possible," Aether thought.
"You are only delaying the inevitable Traveler. I will kill you and you will be mounted on that statue," Raiden Shogun said still being calm despite Aether increasing the pressure.
"That is not going to happen, I came to Inazuma to talk with you about what happened 500 years ago in Khaenri'ah," Aether said as they clash again with Raiden Shogun knocking away Aether's second blade to cut across his arm and leaving a bloody gash there.
"That is none of your concern, nothing to do with you," Raiden Shogun said as Aether is getting angry for a burst of power overcomes him. He binds Raiden Shogun's naginata and twists it out of her hands.
"Bitch, it has everything to do with me!" Aether screamed with his face etched with rage at this. Aether is moving around like flashes of lightning as he is blitzing Raiden Shogun not letting her get any counterattacks at all. Aether is wielding all 7 elements at once unleashing hellish barrages of elemental might onto his enemy.
Raiden Shogun is dumbfounded by his raw power and control especially coming from a mortal as Aether is throwing everything at Raiden Shogun. Cryo, Pyro, Hydro, Anemo, Dendro, Geo, and Electro. Aether uses several elemental chain reactions that overwhelmed Raiden Shogun as he unleashes a massive field of superheated flames to fry anything in his path.
Raiden Shogun flops onto the ground as she quickly got back up to sense Aether is getting stronger from his emotions. "Where did that power come from?" Raiden Shogun wondered.
"I know what happened. Zhongli didn't tell me but Venti told me what the Archons did. You were forced to destroy them to cover Celestia's ass and get rid of a threat to their power. Like little attack dogs," Aether said as this offended Raiden Shogun to unleash a powerful gust of electro power to knock him into a red arch breaking it on impact.
"I am no attack dog of them," Raiden Shogun breaks her calm disposition as she rains down more lightning bolts from the clouds with Aether evading and deflecting the lightning bolts. Aether drags his blades across the floor leashing out rows of rock spikes heading for Raiden Shogun.
"You are, don't lie to me. Venti was there and said you were involved as well. You commit genocide against millions of innocent people of the nation, do you understand that?" he demanded as Raiden Shogun looks unfazed by this. Raiden Shogun is slicing up the rock spikes on the floor with Aether lobbing balls of fire and ice. The ice balls hit her legs to freeze them in place and fireballs smash into her chest.
She charges up and lets out a powerful blast of lightning to destroy all the rock spikes. She summons a barrier of electricity to block all of Aether's energy attacks and spells.
"What of it, they deserve to die. Humans without guidance are a threat and need to be dealt with," Raiden Shogun blasts Aether with bolts of lightning from her hand. Aether crossed his blades to catch it and slap it onto the ground. He redirects the bolts into the lightning clouds causing them to explode into nothing.
"Wrong answer," Aether is starting to hate her because he saw Venti and Zhongli show remorse for their terrible actions but Raiden Shogun shows no emotion or guilt for what she did. Aether didn't care to win the fight, all he wanted to do is to beat her to a bloody mess. "Genocide is never justifiable and if the people find out what you did. They will destroy you," Aether said as Raiden Shogun has a dark grin on her face.
"Then I deal with them as well as enemies of Eternity," Raiden Shogun said as Aether laughs at this. "What is so funny, do you finally realize your foolishness to challenge me?" she asked.
"Damn, you are just like Zhongli and Venti. Another goofball," Aether said.
"What, don't compare me to them," Raiden Shogun said losing her cool as being compared to the Geo and Anemo Archon set her off.
"If the people knew about your wicked deeds. They will lose faith in you and make you weak as dirt. You are going to lose control one way or another sooner or later," Aether said as he rushes in to spin like a drill to become engulfed by six elements of Dendro, Pyro, Hydro, Anemo, Geo, and Cryo.
"Foolish," Raiden Shogun said as Aether crashes into the barrier rapidly grinding into it. Raiden Shogun is surprised to see her shield begin to break as Aether cracks it wide open. He assaults Raiden Shogun with his energy drill tearing into her body as Aether gets out of it with a mule kick to her chest.
He tosses both blades which impale deep into each of Raiden Shogun's knees as he makes Geo gauntlets and shin guards for the battle. He puts them on and begins bashing her in the stomach. 'Taste this," Aether is rapidly punching into Raiden Shogun's chest with increasing speed and power.
Aether kicks the blades making Raiden Shogun wince to knock her into a stone wall. Each blow digs Raiden Shogun deeper into the dented wall until he shoves a powerful Wind Blade into her chest unleashing a terrible blow. The strike is enough to smash through the giant stone wall open making it fall on top of her.
Raiden Shogun unleashes a beam of energy to vaporize everything within her reach. The light blinds Aether as Raiden Shogun comes in with a kick to his head. He sees Raiden Shogun's kimono destroyed with her bodysuit underneath and knee socks remaining on her body.
"I need to show you what real power looks like," Raiden Shogun transfers from her naginata to her tachi to get a massive surge of power to blow Aether away. She uses electricity to supercharge her healing factor to easily recover herself back to 100%
"Seems like she is getting serious and I am only got two minutes left before I am out of juice to fight back," Aether said as he summons his blades to engage Raiden Shogun but her sword skills far surpass his own to disarm instantly.
"You can't match me with a sword," Raiden Shogun said as she gets into her sword stance.
"Yeah, you're right," Aether changes up his tactics to keep using his Geo gauntlets and shin guards to block and evade her sword swings. He drops boulders from the air as Raiden Shogun dodges but the boulder explodes knocking her off balance. Aether leaps into the air and slams hard onto the ground unleashing a massive amount of shockwaves and keeping her off balance.
Raiden Shogun hovers in the air to avoid his shockwaves to fire a giant lightning bolt to hit the mark giving Aether a painful shock. "Enough of this," Raiden Shogun powers up her Tachi and lets out a huge electro crescent which splits the entire stage in half.
"What the hell," Aether is trying to maintain his footing as the platform is falling apart. "Oh crap," Aether falls into the darkness below with debris falling around him.
"Submit, you can't win," Raiden Shogun is calm as usual with her skill with a sword has no equal. Lucky for Aether has other means to attack her as he summons a flower using it as a makeshift platform to launch his next move.
Raiden Shogun uses lightning bolts and electric crescents to blast away any falling debris that Aether can use as a shield. Aether leaps off the rubble with him bashing a rock to aim it at Raiden Shogun. She easily slices it in half as Aether lobs tons of water balls and ice balls around her missing their mark.
"Oh, you missed," Raiden Shogun said but she looks at Aether to see he has a smirk on his face. She looks around at hundreds of orbs surrounding her. Aether made them crash into her at once to turn her into an ice statue.
Aether fires a large fireball to hit her triggering a powerful Melt reaction and burning off her braided ponytail. Aether summons a huge stone wall but Raiden Shogun catches him by the throat and tosses him into the stone structure making a large crater.
Raiden Shogun crashes her foot down onto Aether but hits an ice clone again. "Not this again," Raiden Shogun noticed a flower bud emitting pollen into her face. "What the?" she wondered as she feels her body getting paralyzed by it.
Aether is high above as he uses this pause for a counterattack. He fires a lot of high-pressure water beams strong enough to cut through solid metal to score hits on Raiden Shogun. Each hit made her dig deeper into the huge rock formation to make a pool which is Raiden Shogun under piles of rock within the water.
Aether lets out a powerful fireball to contact the pool to uses a massive Vaporize elemental reaction to deal Raiden Shogun a big blow. He then falls onto the giant stone wall with his Geo-infused fists crashing with enough force to split the 500-foot stone wall in half.
Aether lands on the ground below to see the destruction their duel is doing to this domain. Aether is feeling quite tired from this battle. He sees Raiden Shogun erupt from the huge pile to appear before him with a sword in hand.
"Well, Traveler I must admit. For mortal, you are quite skilled. I haven't had a battle like this in a long time," Raiden Shogun said giving him some praise as a warrior. Aether took this praise quite highly from an Archon. "But tell me, how long does that unique state of yours last?" she asked as she smiles to see Aether has a look of disbelief and fear etched onto his face.
"Shit, I have only a minute left before I crash and burn. Then she will rip me to pieces," Aether thought as Raiden Shogun giggled at this.
"Funny seems like you are very worn off and I can keep going for a long time," Raiden Shogun shows she has almost infinite stamina with no loss of energy at all. her body is pulsing with electro energy with no sign of stopping.
"Crap, I hold out and I am no match for her in my current state. Archons are freaks of nature," Aether said as Raiden Shogun is getting ready to finish him off.
"For your status as a worthy warrior, I will kill you with my ultimate sword skill, Musou no Hitotachi. Any last words before I put you out of your misery," Raiden Shogun said as Aether wanted to know something.
"What is your Eternity even mean?" Aether asked being very curious about her mindset. This catches her by surprise.
"Oh okay, it's keeping my nation pure and still," Raiden Shogun said as Aether laughs at this. Raiden Shogun once again loses her cool with Aether showing total disrespect for her. "What is so funny?" she asked.
"Pure, you mean corruption, xenophobia toward foreigners, the strong preying on the weak, greed, and selling people lies from your Shogunate. Your pureness seems like bullshit to me, you are insane," Aether calls her out as Raiden Shogun is getting angry which Aether seems to be striking a nerve.
"You know nothing about Eternity," Raiden Shogun said as Aether seems to be the one in control of his emotion despite being on the verge of losing the fight.
"I know one complete fact you can't ignore. Every beginning has an end, Raiden Shogun. That is a universal fact which means your Eternity is nothing more than a farce," Aether said as this is the last draw for her face to light up with rage.
"Die!" Raiden Shogun comes in with her Tachi with Aether putting all the elemental power he had into this one sword slash. They both went in and slash at each other. The power of the clash was so strong it broke Raiden Shogun's domain returning them to reality.
The crowd was there looking at both Aether and Raiden Shogun suffering severe battle damage. Raiden Shogun is shocked to be on her knee to see her arm show a nasty gash with Aether suffering a large cut across his chest.
"Aether no," Paimon said as Aether crashes onto the ground face first. Thoma goes over to grab Aether as he noticed Sayu nearby.
"Now," Thoma said.
"Time for our grand escape," Sayu tosses a lot of flash bombs to brighten up the area. The crowd and the guards were blinded by the light as Thoma takes Aether and Paimon to leap into the river below escaping the enemy.
Raiden Shogun looks dumbfounded she got tricked. "Did the kid know he would be rescued like this? I need to tighten security within the city," Raiden Shogun thought as her right-hand woman Sara appears to be by her mistress's side.
"Madam, your kimono is gone and the gash on your arm," Sara sounds worried as Raiden Shogun looks unconcerned by her injuries.
"I am fine, this is nothing. Put up a warrant for the arrest of the Traveler and then bring him to me," Raiden Shogun said sounding quite serious about this.
"Right, I am on it," Sara said as she moves to disburse the crowds. Raiden Shogun looks onto her city to see the gash on her arm has not healed yet. She knows Aether has somehow managed to survive her ultimate sword technique which no one has done before, especially a mortal.
"This young man has potential. Tons of potential to be a threat to my eternity," Raiden Shogun said when she says the word Eternity it feels so sour now. "Like that Traveler knows anything but why am I reacting to his words so badly? Is there some truth to it?" Raiden Shogun wondered heading back into her palace to change and ponder on what just happened.
Elsewhere Thoma and Sara take Aether to a secret safe house on the outskirts of the capital city. Thoma gives him a bunch of healing potions to see if he is recovering back to full health. "Gee, this guy has balls of steel. He fought Raiden Shogun and lived to tell the tale. Who knew, I guess Ayaka wasn't just hyping Aether up for nothing huh," Sayu said as the door bursts open for Ayaka to come in to give her boyfriend a big hug.
"Daring, I saw what happened. I knew you were the right person for the job," Ayaka said as she places Aether's face onto her chest.
"Hey princess, I can't breathe," Aether muttered against her cleavage for Ayaka looks bashful and lets him go. Aether still feels very sore from the exhaustion he suffered from the fight.
"I am so sorry; I am so happy you are alive. I was so worried about your safety," Ayaka said.
"Yeah, I am. I thought I was going to die," Aether said as Paimon goes in to give him a big hug,
"You big dummy, don't scare Paimon like that again," Paimon said as Aether pats her on the head.
"Don't worry I am okay," Aether said as Ayaka is very impressed by what Sayu told her.
"I knew it, you manage to hold off Raiden Shogun when wielding her sword. Her swordsmanship is unrivaled within these lands. You keep impressing me every day, my love," Ayaka said.
"It's nothing but now I need to find the resistance," Aether said.
"Really, well you can go to Yashiori Island to find them here. Lady Ayaka, we need to head back to the estate and wait until this blows over," Thoma said as Ayaka nods her head.
"Good luck darling, don't die out there," Ayaka said as Aether gives her a goofy grin.
"Hey, I survived an Archon. I will be fine," Aether said going up to her ear. "I will meet you within the teapot later and we can be more private there," Aether whispered as Ayaka nods her head.
"Okay then," Ayaka said as Aether and Paimon sneak off into the wilderness to head off the island. She sighs as she gets escorted by Thoma and Sayu back to her house. "Aether be safe out there," Ayaka said as she goes with her escorts for the war is just beginning.