P84 - The Sun vs The Glacier

Blaidd narrowed his glowing blue eyes.

He pulled back his sword of ice-encased steel, then thrust it forward in a piercing strike. Rikushi shifted just barely to the side--too slow to dodge cleanly. The blade scraped along the side of his neck, slicing a shallow cut, blood mixing with frost.

Blaidd's sword pulled back, the tip still dripping with scarlet as he looked down on Rikushi--eyes filled with quiet, icy judgment.

"You're spent, surrender, because you're not as strong as you think you are," he muttered.

But Rikushi's hand rose--trembling at first, then steadying. The rune burned into his hand began to glow with an eerie golden heat.

"...COME TO ME, MY INSCRIBED WEAPON," Rikushi roared, "FOR I NEED YOU--AND CALL YOU TO MY AID!"

The rune flared like a small sun.

Far away, in the quiet dark of the infirmary--past the sterile halls and empty locker rows of the WL team's quarters--a pulse of energy surged.

Clang.

From a sealed locker, the blade known as Sunbearer began to hum.

A golden glow escaped the edges of the locker door. Then the metal screeched and tore apart as the sword pierced through it, hurling into the air like it had a purpose--like it had heard its master's cry.

Back in the arena, Rikushi opened his hand as the blade sailed through the air like a comet, handle-first.

It stopped before him, just inches from his palm.

Rikushi's voice dropped into a whisper. "Awaken, my dear familiar... for I have forsaken you before... but now, let's become one--and endure the heat together."

He gripped it.

A searing hiss rang out as smoke burst from his palm.

Sunbearer's hilt was forged from concentrated sunlight--pure radiance turned tangible. And now, it responded.

A green gem glowed at the center of the cross-guard, surrounded by arcing rings of orange, white, and crimson alloy forming and locking into place. The handle pulsed with divine energy, like a heartbeat made of fire.

Rikushi clenched the blade tighter, his teeth gritting through the pain.

Flames erupted across his arm as his cloak fluttered behind him, lifted by waves of hot air. Above his head, a halo formed--pure sunlight arced into a burning ring, orbiting like a miniature sun.

Then, around his neck, a pendant manifested--a glowing disk carved with a rune of the sun, and beneath it, the symbol of a sword--both etched into golden crystal.

A radiant fire aura burst from his chest, licking up his shoulders and down his legs as his eyes burned with orange embers.

From a distance, it looked like the sun had taken a human form.

Opposite him, Blaidd exhaled frost. His breath spiraled out into the air like a misty veil. His wings of ice shifted behind him, bracing as if he were standing at the heart of a glacier.

Across the battlefield, they stared each other down--two archangels reborn in the image of extremes.

Rikushi, The Sun-Bound Warrior.

Blaidd, The Frostwalker King.

One wrapped in radiance, burning hotter than flame.

The other wreathed in cold that froze all sound and motion alike.

The crowd, high above them, could feel the pressure shift in the air. That even the wind hesitated.

Blaidd lowered his blade ever so slightly, feeling the frost cling to his fingers.

"There's the power you held back this whole time," he said. "Your true and perfected potential."

Rikushi's grip tightened on Sunbearer.

"No more holding back," he said, his eyes narrowing. "I'll let everything out, I'll show you a power that's hotter than the sun."

The battlefield rumbled--ice cracking beneath Rikushi's heat, while fire hissed under Blaidd's frost.

The final storm was about to begin.

((Writer's Note: Our Apologies for being gone! Lots happened behind the scenes but we're back to finish the Series!))