Re-Discovery

It was a strange sensation as I felt my scales growing back into the familiar armor I once wielded — a mix of both something that I was all too familiar with, yet also new and refreshing, as if it was the first time I had ever experienced it in my life. Opening and closing my palm, I grasped for a feel in this bulkier form. It was a bit slower than what I usually had, but at the same time, I could sense it again — the strength that I once had and lost, as well as the bubbling joy deep within the abyss that was my mind.

At the same time, the monster had made its way right next to us. Only as I stared at it up close like this did the massive difference between our sizes become clear. Not even a head or two, it was more like nearly a storey higher than us, towering over even some of the rocky pillars outside. Its movements were still slow, but one hit from the thing and we would be crushed like bugs.

Both Kana and Duna knew this. The former, despite her struggles with controlling her halves, still managed to perform an electrifying dash away, sending crackles of lightning in her wake. The latter, being the trickster he was, already sent out a clone to die in his stead. With this, I could also affirm that the clones shared no senses with him — if it was the case, then his action would mean no less than suicide.

Which left only me and the demon in the scene.

After having crushed the Duna clone to a pulp, the demon stared at me. Its eyes wavered for a second, but at this point, it didn’t matter anymore. Any hope that I could see my former mentor left in it was gone. I didn’t know if it knew it too, but looking at the way it raised its six arms without hesitation, I could assume that it did.

“Let’s do this, shall we?”

I raised my hand to the side. Unlike the previous times, my sword didn’t spawn with me, but I had a feeling that it would work out like this. After all, it was raining — and Vritra was a power that reveled in the rain.

From all sides, water droplets floated about, gathering themselves in the palm of my hand like moons circling a planet. Within my palm, a clear, still ball of water formed, reflecting both sides like a wide lake. The ball elongated, spiraling its water faster and faster like a drill. All when the demon’s weapons came crashing down.

Even one of these blows was as heavy as a mountain, let alone six of them. Yet, within this massive combined weight, when every fiber of my being was crying in pain, there was an odd satisfaction running through my veins. It was when my blood was pumping like a freight train did I feel oddly calm and relaxed, as if both my body and soul was cleansed in a rejuvenating spring.

The impact was so massive, I could feel my body being pushed almost a fourth underground. Bracing six different weapons at once was already taxing enough, and yet it wasn’t even the worst that came out of the demon — its boiling blood was still so scorching that the only thing keeping my armor from combusting in place was this unending rain. However, there was still an advantage to be gained.

I was still only using one hand.

“This time…!”

The demon was focusing all six of its weapons on crushing my one sword. In other words, it was currently vulnerable. Just like my first fight with Duna.

And this time, I wouldn’t fail.

Raising my hand forward, I aimed right at the demon’s torso. Once again, water droplets formed and gathered, spiraling and swirling around my palm. Once again, new life was taking form — first, it was a pair of sharp, curved fangs. Then, a reptilian head. Then, the details on the scales. And finally, its eyes — mixed within the water was some of my own blood, giving its eyes a glowing, yet murky, red.

This time, there was no failure.

“ May the Floods' Child accept my songs! Asura!”

As the words came out of my mouth, the water serpent that I formed finally took flight. Coiling and dashing in the air, it crashed towards the demon with the force of a tidal wave, blasting away the six-armed creature in a raging torrent. It then took off into the air, carrying the demon still in its mouth, hanging its victim in suspension before coiling around it to form an inescapable water prison.

The demon tried to punch through the water veil, but all it did was send a rebounding shockwave back to itself, rocking it to the point of gagging itself in pain. However, there was no way else for the demon to retaliate — no matter how much it screamed, slashed, thrusted, or swung its weapons around, there was no way out. The water ball was completely sealed, and its water nature meant that it was resistant to any kind of blunt force that it could muster. Even its heated skin proved no point, as while the water was boiling, it could always be refilled with the rainwater from outside — a perfect perpetual motion machine.

And now, all that was left was to finish it all.

“Let’s see if this works.”

I held my curved sword in my right hand, while raising my left to form a similar summon. As I would expect, there was another sword with the same nature appearing in my left hand, with the same exact appearance as the one before.

I turned the second sword on its head, then plunged the two hilts together.

A brute force attempt proved to be effective, as the two hilts soon crashed and lodged into each other, stuck together in a perfectly even split. The two swords had become a single, double-bladed, longsword — similar to Indra’s vajra.

But that wasn’t my final intention. Raising the double-headed sword upward with one hand, I pointed my other hand towards its exact middle point.

From the two tips of the blade, two tiny, but violently rotating, spheres of water formed. They were only the size of a marble, but their rotating movement was without a doubt the fastest I could do with one of these water spells — it was enough to give a feeling of being able to cut even the toughest steel, like a water blade in itself.

The two spheres on each side then released a part of itself, connecting to the other end via that one small, but incredibly tense string of water. Two blades had formed a singular water bow.

All that was left was the arrow. And that, I already had plenty.

Droplets rose once more and gathered themselves in my other hand. As I slowly arched my arm backward, an arrow of solid, coursing water formed. One. Two. Three. Each of them was also spinning on their own axis, increasing their torque and destructive power by at least tenfold.

“No hard feelings, Chief. But sometimes, it is what it is.”

As I muttered my last goodbye towards the being that was once my mentor and guardian, I released the string. The three arrows flew in the air, but not all of them flew straight — as the center one kept its trajectory, the other two soon deviated into something much more soft, artistic, and alive. All three soon discarded their inanimate form to gain the appearance of three separate serpents once more, with two now coiling around the center to make a perfectly beautiful spiral core.

The three water serpents opened their mouths as wide as they could right when they crashed into the water prison. A booming explosion of water ensued, but the aftermath was hardly visible in this land’s perpetual rain.

If anything, only the strongest of noses could smell the faint scent of blood in the damp air, and only the sharpest of eyes could detect the hint of scarlet hidden within this constant rain.

But it wasn’t enough. Not for me.

Only after transforming did I remember, but together with power, there was another feeling that constantly surged within me. A hunger, constant and inexplicable, towards the strong.

And it just so happened that my next target… or should I say, targets, were also right here.