Low Noon Showdown Part 4
The sky darkened to ebony squalls, the wind howled like that of monstrous beasts, and gales cut into Oda's skin like icy blades. Borne upon the colossal undead leviathan, Targos roared out for his beast to charge. Stamping hard into the undead beast's frame, it surged forward with grim, abhorrent determination. Normally Oda would evade such a charge and engage in hit and run attacks, wearing down Targos and his beast. However, as he saw the militia coalition to his left and right, he realized he couldn't.
He was looked upon by all as their leader, their champion. A titan of wisdom, power, and arcane might that no one in this time could comprehend. He was by default expected to be placed into such a challenge. A youthful, naive view of combat, to send their greatest champion against their greatest foe. For them to slay them in a great titanic clash of legends.
He wished he had dissuaded them from such fantasies. Even his monster slaying kin the Kamishini couldn't engage in such contests and win regularly. All that view did was get their best and brightest killed. It was the epitome of brain drain that would doom civilizations. Yet he made that very bed, and now he had to lay in it.
Gripping his hammer, he smashed it against his shield and braced. Runes across his legs and spine glowed bright in the unnatural darkness like a celestial beacon. Against most foes, it would allow him to brace and slow their momentum, to allow for a counterattack. Targos, however, clearly hadn't forgotten his people's tactics in his thousand years of plenty. The great zombie dragon lowered its spiked head and smashed into Oda, his feet wreathed in mystical energy tearing the ground in great furrows and cracks as it effortlessly pushed him onwards. Though Kakashi plugged the central hole, Oda was sent spiraling onwards.
'"Take the center," I said. "I'll handle Targos," I said. 'You have nothing to fear," I said. I am the biggest idiot of a king possible!' Oda thought as he desperately thought of a way to not be crushed into royal paste.
"Lore of Stone: Vicious Trap of the Hunter!" Oda called out, stomping the ground with one foot, causing the ground to shake.
Instantly, the ground cracked and split open beneath the feet of the dragon. Too caught off guard to take flight, it was then impaled by earthen spears from the sides of the chasm, forcing Targos to jump free to avoid meeting a similar fate. Glaring back in rage at his slowly dying mount, the ancient vampire growled in fury as his volcanic eyes met Oda's.
"You think yourself clever, Seaheart scum! But this is only the beginning!" The beastly bloodsucker roared in fury as he began gathering necromantic energy from the battlefield.
Channeling into its troglodyte clawed hands foul, horrid magics, forcing them into his struggling mount. Pumped with such magicks, it looked as if it was fit to burst, its skeletal frame, rotting flesh, and undead anatomy straining. Yet it surged forward, forcing itself off the spikes and driving fierce gashes through it, breaking bones, and flesh as it went. Unfettered and healing at a truly astonishing rate, it lunged forward gainly across the ground, charging forwards to crush Oda once and for all.
'I had hoped I didn't have to commit to this… but I am left with no choice.' Oda thought as he clasped the amulet of Susanoo he had around his neck. Seeing no other choice, he ripped it off and held it out in front.
"Lore of Susanoo: Thousand Blades of Orochi's Bane!" Oda roared to the heavens as the amulet shined, showing the god of storms' kanji upon its ancient artisanal workings.
A vicious, violent wind whipped across the battlefield as the reddened sky darkened. Then, from the hurricane that had emerged seemingly from out of nowhere, curving, snake-like tendrils of visible wind appeared. The great gusts curved, whirled, and hissed like snakes as they shot forward like cannonballs shot from cannon fire. With great speed, the violent wind tendrils curved and whirled, surrounding the undead wyrm. Surrounding it in a sphere of visible wind, the zombie dragon was then torn to pieces by thousands of invisible blades as Targos was forced to jump free of his mount to avoid being shredded unalive.
As soon as the great undead monstrosity had finally laid low, and the winds died down, the amulet turned to dust in his hand. Now without it's supernatural protection, Oda gripped his hammer and shield as he stood down the hulking abhorrent, Targos' eyes burning as pyres of hate.
"So how clever was that, Targos?" Oda asked, trying to find his way through the vampire's aura of confidence.
"You will regret that, human! Had you simply let my dragon kill you, your death would have been swift! Now, for angering the Great One, the flesh shall be slowly peeled and ripped from your bones and your blood used for sustenance!" Targos roared in unbridled fury.
"The only great one you will ever get to experience is Izanami when I send you to be judged in her courts for your great crime of undeath! You all have turned from Heaven's light, born upon false promises of power and immortality! And look what it's gotten you, an existence of being a monster to sire insane, blood maddened monstrosities and lord over a kingdom of deranged troglodytes!" Oda roared back, the two's heightening mystic pressures whipping the storm around them slowly into a maelstrom.
Targos scowled, baring his blackened fangs, and curling his thin lips. He looked upon his foe, the foe he had waited so long to get his revenge on. To any outsider, it was night and day between the two. Oda wielding great relics of old, glowing in bright bluish heavenly light, while Targos wreathed in black and crimson veil of undead magicks. Both had come too far now to back down. Both dug in their heels, and finally committed to the charge.
The two rushed in at each other with great speed, the force behind their footsteps cracking the ground. Colliding with great force, the two sprang apart from each other as they went on the attack. Targos slashed at Oda with his vicious, wickedly sharp venomous claws only for the King of Seaheart to block with his shield. Pushing his foe back, Oda swung with his hammer only for Targos to catch the head of the hammer with his hand. The two battled for supremacy in a show of strength before the edge of Oda's shield began rotating like a circular saw blade.
Swinging with the sharp edge of his shield, Oda slashed into the ancient vampire's chest to force him back. Barely standing his ground, Targos grits his teeth in pain before howling in rage and agony as another swing of Oda's shield tore through his wrist and cut off his hand. Barely leaping backwards out of the way of the king's hammer swing as it smashed into and cratered the ground, Targos cursed as the stump where his hand once was dripped toxic, black blood.
"You are damn worthless chattel! You are pathetic, fucking human worm!" The troglodyte vampire roared in fury and pain as his hand slowly began to regrow.
"I spared you all those years ago as a mercy. How wrong I was to think a vampire could change." Oda scowled back, getting himself into a better stance to face the vile undead champion.
"I will feast upon your flesh and bathe in your blood, Shang!" Targos roared as his hand fully regrew, rushing in at the King of Seaheart.
"It's scary how predictable their threats get." Oda muttered as he readied himself.
The two met in a clash of blows as Oda swung with his hammer. Blocking the handle of the hammer with his wrist, Targos slashed at Oda with the claws of his other hand only for Oda to block with his shield. Slashing with the rotating edge of his shield, the king carved into the Strigoi's chest only for it to heal instantly.
Growling in fury, the brutish vampire lashed out with a kick that Oda blocked with his shield. However, that left Oda open to a fist that impacted hard with his face and knocked him back. Quickly recovering, Oda slammed his hammer into the vampire's skull with the undead monstrosity barely blocking the hit with his forearm. The weight and force of the impact rattled Targos' undead bones as he struggled to not be thrown back by the power behind it.
Not letting up, Oda kicked the vampiric monstrosity in the stomach to knock him back before slamming his hammer down onto his head. As his head regenerated from the impact, the skull mending with sickening pops while his broken neck popped back into place, Targos let out a gurgling growl of rage as he slashed into the side of Oda's face, landing a hit and cutting his face. Oda gritted his teeth and tried to not cry out as he smashed his hammer down on the offending hand, crushing it. Targos roared in pained fury, but simply slashed deeply into Oda's arm with his claws, more of his venom being injected into Oda's system.
Gritting his teeth, Oda slammed the head of his hammer into Targos' stone hard chest, cracking ribs and knocking the beast backwards. Righting himself, Targos chuckled viciously as his wounds healed before Oda's eyes. Rushing in as he healed, the vampire slashed towards Oda's face only for the King of Seaheart to block with his shield. Targos tried to lash out with another kick only for Oda to lower his shield to block that blow as well. However, this created an opening as Targos slashed with the claws of his now healed broken hand and cut into Oda's chest, forcing ever more venom into the king's system as Oda stumbled back while Targos laughed.
"You cannot defeat me, Shang! I am immortal! I heal nearly instantly and cannot die! What hope could a frail, fragile human has against me!?" He roared with laughter.
"You… Forgot… Something…" Oda panted, his runes of healing and constitution fighting hard against the venom and taking its toll in the process.
"And just what might that be, mortal?" Targos spat out, amused by his prey's defiance in the face of certain death.
"We of Seaheart stand not just as men… we hold the blood of Heaven inside us. Blood of gods, titans, and heroes! We may have fallen, we may have stumbled, and my kin may have wandered, but we stay. We stand our ground in civilization, honor, and Heaven's name. I am the king of the people closest to the gods! And we may bend, we may stumble, we may fail, but we refuse to break!" Oda yelled as a red, fiery aura began to engulf his hands, confusing and somewhat intimidating the vampire.
Targos smirked at his foe's bravado. "Then that will make my vengeance all the more satisfying when I DO break you!" He roared, charging in at the King of Seaheart.
Oda took a deep breath and, with his fiery hands, put away his weapons and began to make hand symbols in some ways reminiscent of his shinobi allies, but far different. To a shinobi onlooker, the symbols simply made no sense, as if using an entire system and language entirely from what they could understand. And each one began to make the earthquake in power, the aura rising in fiery fury and strength.
"If you wish to face me, then you face the might of our people's spirit totems!" Oda yelled, "I call upon the fire, fury, and strength of the Mighty Ape, All Fearsome Lord of Fire and the Forge!"
"Call upon your pathetic spirits all you want! I shall crush them along with you!" Targos confidently cackled as he swiped at Oda with his claws.
Oda stood his ground, standing tall as the aura whipped around him like an inferno, wreathing him with furious fire-like energy. With a monstrous stomp he cracked the ground beneath him, its sudden force and head sending spatterings of magma off to his side, and made his stance grow wide akin to a sumo wrestler. Oda hurled his head back in the process to avoid the swipe, giving him the opening to use his momentum to pull him into an elbow smash. The thunderous blow sent one of Targos' fangs flying from his maw as Oda then used his grip to judo throw him over his shoulder face first through a pillar meant for the bridge.
Targos roared as he got back up and gripped part of the stone pillar tightly in his clawed hand. Lifting it up and over his head, Targos threw it with one hand. The one-handed throw sent the stone projectile flying at Oda, forcing him to defend himself. Clenching his hand tightly into a fist before punching it with all of his strength, shattering it into molten rock. However, he then saw Targos rushing at him from behind the stone, forcing him to defend again.
Blocking a blow from Targos' clawed hand at the wrist with his own wrist, Oda swung with his flame-wreathed fist. However, Targos deflected the blow aside at the wrist before going in for a kick. Using his own leg to block the kick, Oda deflected the vampire's slashing and stabbing claws hands in a flurry of blows before landing a blazing punch across Targos' face. Snarling, Targos became enraged by the pain of the blow.
"How dare yo-" Targos began to roar only for Oda to kick him away, knocking him back.
"Spare me your prattle, vermin. If you're going to keep chittering, then I suggest you entertain yourself with rats." Oda shot back, panting under his breath from the strain of the venom and the battle.
Flipping in midair to right himself, Targos skidded across the ground as he dug a trench into it and growled. Taking off at Oda, the vampire readied his claws to slash at the king. The king and he exchanged blows as Targos landed more cuts with his claws while taking fiery punches that scorched his skin. Roaring in fury, Targos punched Oda in the face to knock his head back and stun him. However, what happened next proved to the vampire that engaging his prey in close range was a mistake.
Starting at the base of his spine above his tailbone, a rune with the clear meaning of fire lit up, and a vein of smoldering magic shot up his spine. This ignited another rune, then another, then another as it reached his neck, which glowed soon like the center of a volcano. Opening his mouth, the air warped as a torrent of fire came out of his throat. Hitting with not just searing heat but concussive force, Targos's charge was slowed to a stop. His skin charred and curled away, his muscles writhing and squelching under the heat, mystic energies seared away by the sudden burst of fire magic. As Oda stopped, Targos was left panting, smoldering, smoke wreathed and in shock of pain.
'Is this what Naruto truly meant to me? To see and seize the moment, even if you don't know it?' Oda thought and looked at his fiery aura-covered hand. 'Alright Naruto, I'll take this chance. I will not make the same mistake I made all those years ago. This monster will not stand, and his dynasty will crumble to ash!'
"Time to decide this! Lore of Fire: Fist of Internal Immolation!" Oda yelled; his hand ignited into white hot fire.
"Fist of what!?" Targos roared in disbelief and pain, reacting too late to the unknown spell.
Using every last ounce of strength in his legs, he ran forward headlong, his fist turning into a twin-tailed comet through the blur. With ferocity and conviction, Oda slammed his fist hard into Targos' chest, shooting fire magic directly into him. Targos roared and howled as his blood turned to fire, air in his lungs to smoke, and his very flesh roasting to ash. As he howled, fire erupted from his throat like a volcano as his eye sockets turned into orbs of hellfire. When his body no longer could hold against the force of this physical blow, it was sent flying, crumpling into scattered bones and barely remaining skull. Gripping it, Oda held it up in his hand and looked into the fire slimmed eye sockets of his ancient foe.
"Rot in hell, Targos, and enjoy the Shinigami's undivided attention." Oda growled, before sending his foe's skull into the sky upon a fireball, to explode into merely scattered ash on the winds.
Putting his hands on his knees from exhaustion, the aura dissipated, his called totems work now done. Even through his exhaustion he felt the receding of Targos necromantic energies and his dynastic effect on his forces. What undead was left began to crumble as the energies that fed them faltered and were snuffed out. Ghouls, bats, wolves, rats, and others still living if affected creatures had no will and fled. Many were cut down, those remaining retreated to the shadowy depths of the continental forests. He gave a small smile.
He turned to try and return to his forces. However, Targos even from beyond the grave was still a thorn in his side. While he was gone, the venom wasn't. Even as his body slowly wrangled with it, he had no more strength to go on. His left leg buckled, then his right, as his knees hit the mud. Oda tried to focus his vision but couldn't. And soon fell forward into the mud. All who soon found him looked upon the fallen titan, his body torn and on the verge. However, all who saw him swore till the day they would eventually die, that the King of Seaheart bore no wound upon his back. He may have bent, he may have buckled in the end, but he did not break.
Forgive the delay, my head has been the bane of my life this week. Every other say I swear it tore into me like Naruto tears into Ramen. However, I broke the streak and finally got us properly to the climax of the Land of Waves Arc. It's been long, bloody, brutal, and most certainly strays quite far from the original, but I hope that you all have enjoyed it, and wish to see the further adventures ahead in our new mystically enhanced world. For I find the shinobi and others are at their best when they have to be put on the backfoot and face new and interesting shit. Really lets you test out how these characters can cope and deal with new challenges, even using parts of their loadouts they rarely use, or making new moves. Anyways, onto my partner in crime.
Uzumaki Ricky: God damn, that was fun! I always love writing fight scenes and character interactions! Well, Targos is dead! Another one bites the dust! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter!
After this we then wrap things up in the lovely Land of Waves next time in, "New Chips have been laid."