Splashes and Ripples

He spoke with a raspy voice but smiled in a wicked way unfit for someone of his old age. With his hunched back he stood at about 5’ 10’’. His body appeared frail and withered with age but every muscle of his seemed to restrain immense strength. He held his hands behind his back and wore gray ceremonial robes.

Naturally, while I looked at him my eyes eventually wandered over to his eyes.

The place where his eyes should have been were instead replaced with completely blackened voids with lightning flowing through them. My heart palpitated when my gaze met his “eyes” and the environment felt as if it grew 10 degrees colder.

His smile grew when he noticed this change in me and he poised himself to attack us. However, just before he did, Raya interjected with a question.

Raya: Humor me this one question before we truly begin: Why chase us for all this time? Shouldn’t an old man like you be playing bingo with the other retirees right now?

Kael: Kekahahahah! You really think I've been doing nothing but chase you for the past 3 years!? Well, I guess your brother was the smart one so I'm not that surprised.

Thinking about whether or not Raya actually thought Kael had been doing nothing but chasing us had to be put on hold until later because Kael had completely disappeared as soon as he finished speaking.

A grey colored blur seemed to teleport around different parts of the environment before Raya intercepted it a few meters before me.

He's fast, much faster than me. As I sprinted in, I pulled out hundreds of blood soaked bandages that had been wrapped around my arms and torso and threw them at Kael Drogo. Alone, a single blood soaked bandage couldn’t do much but the bandages coiled and tangled on top of one another to form three giant tendrils which pincered Kael simultaneously.

This, along with Raya’s ongoing onslaught made it so that Kael Drogo was completely surrounded.

Don’t underestimate me!

As the tendrils neared their target, it looked like Kael wouldn’t be able to dodge and would be impaled, but the old man’s grin simply grew even more maniacal. He took a step away from Raya, swiped his hand backwards through the air, exploding the tendril that was about the pierce his back, and dodged in the air. Against all reason, he even dodged every drop of blood that had exploded out of the tendril.

I took the opportunity to place my hand on Raya’s back and heal every scratch that had hit her. Though she had only been fighting against Kael for a few seconds, her body had small cuts in several places.

The wounds closed up instantly and Raya raised her sword to the sky.

Lightning bolts cascaded down from the heavens one after another. Kael Drogo narrowly avoided each as he tried to close in on us.

The tendrils would simply get fried by lightning if I sent them to attack now so I reclaimed the blood stored in them and swung my blood blade horizontally. This caused the entire area before me to be covered by a thin floating layer of blood.

Truthfully, this attack couldn’t do much damage but for some reason Kael Drogo had been religiously avoiding all of my attacks so I thought that this could create some opening.

As expected, Kael jumped into the air to avoid the blood. Raya took off after him while encasing herself in a ball of electricity.

After a brief exchange midair, Raya came crashing back down in a crater a few meters away. I dashed in to hopefully provide her some healing but suddenly Kael Drogo appeared in front of me.

I see, so he wants to take care of me first.

With my arm covered in bandages, I threw a punch at his stupid face.

Catching it with one hand, Kael smiled at me. Instantly, my arm turned to shredded meat. But it’s not like I had expected to hurt him with a simple punch.

All of the blood that had previously belonged to my arm continued moving forward with its momentum and exploded in Kael’s face. Unfortunately, he disappeared before most of the blood reached him.

Reappearing behind me, he waved his hand and large chunks of my flesh were torn off. He raised his arm and more flesh was ripped away from me. I managed to dodge partially so I didn’t die instantly and even managed to heal a little bit.

With every motion of his arms, pieces of my flesh were torn only to be regrown once more. This dance of me barely hanging on continued for just two seconds but I had been cut at least a hundred times. It only ended when Raya finally returned. She took over the role of directly contesting with Kael while I shaped some blood into a new right arm, then grew a new arm in an instant.

Resummoning my blood sword, I jumped back in. The three of us reached a deadlock for what felt like hours. Kael Drogo would land attacks on Raya and I often, which I would then heal instantly, and Raya protected me well enough that Kael Drogo couldn’t find any openings to instantly kill me.

Normally, just fighting against Raya and I in this manner would damage our opponent. Every time a part of me was cut open, blood would splash in many directions. Kael could dodge the droplets but a small amount of blood would turn into mist, which would be breathed in. It wasn’t a quantity that could explode but it still had corrosive properties that would eventually damage his respiratory system.

Raya could similarly apply damage over time. Every time her sword met an opponent’s weapon, a small amount of electricity would pass into them. This would add up over time and cause the opponent to feel numb or cause muscle spasms.

But for some reason the blood mist inhaled by Kael didn’t seem to affect him at all. Similarly, he didn’t seem to be affected by Raya’s electricity.

Only direct attacks could do anything.

Upon reaching this conclusion I jumped into the air and fired ten Piercing Shots from my fingertips.

Kael took a few steps back to dodge.

At this rate, I would run out of mana and we would lose.

Adam: Beyond the spring lies a fountain of delusion–

I began chanting my trump card.

Raya, wanting to protest but understanding the situation we were in, used ranged lightning attacks to keep Kael from coming too close.

Adam: –You, the sovereign who arrests my dreams. Me, the subject to your tyranny, asks for your forgiveness and an end to the times–

Kael’s smile faltered for a moment before returning with vigor. He muttered something then gray scales appeared all over his body. His teeth turned razor sharp and his muscles bulged and morphed into a disgusting figure. From his completely blackened eyes, a blue liquid bled out.

As Kael charged straight in, he was struck by Raya’s lightning several times.

Adam: –Swallow Sinners and Heretics alike with red torrent–

The monsterified Kael was intercepted by Ryuzu’s Fang. He tried to break through but was stopped momentarily by a wall of electricity.

Adam: –So we may find true peace in drowning –Flood of the Unliving

I lost consciousness as my mouth unhinged and released thousands of gallons of blood in all directions.

In my dream, I took control over the flood of crimson, shielding myself and Raya in a bubble while subjecting Kael Drogo to the full might of my strongest attack.

He took to the sky to evade the flood but hundreds of tendrils sprouted and pulled him back into the sea of blood. After resisting for a moment, Kael Drogo curled up tightly into a ball and allowed himself to get submerged.

???: Usurp the Dragon, seize the claw, rebel against Fate incarnate —Soul Eclipse

~~~ True Tempest of the Gray ~~~

With a flip of the hourglass, perspective has been seized

Falling, not floating nor flying

Spinning in the sea of gray and black

Ground and rock fly as if possessed

This is a true Eclipse