Ultraya: Revival

Chapter 22: Vengeful Flames

22/01/4014 AD – 09:36 – Warturf – Skies over the Continental Lands

Anmarina crashed into the ground a few hundred metres away from the others. Her armour was scorched, and her health was down to sixty percent. Elimiphlaren had constantly blasted her with flames.

"You know..." Elimiphlaren laughed as he hovered menacingly in the sky above Anmarina. "I didn't think I would receive much pleasure in beating on a rookie Angel". Anmarina struggled to get to her feet, her otherwise brilliant-blue wings had become corrupted with soot and burns. She pointed her left hand towards her opponent and sent a huge blast of water at him.

Elimiphlaren flicked a wave of flames towards Anmarina's attack and turned it to steam, "But then I remember that you would be forced to live the same fear and hell you put Ru-Flare through somewhat brightens my mood! Some might even say that the Angel's power is a curse!" Elimiphlaren doused the Angel of Water with an intense burst of flames, causing the girl to scream out in pain; her health dropped to forty percent.

"The only reason you are lasting this long is because your Angelic abilities are providing a very generous safety net against fire-based attacks!" Elimiphlaren angrily stated as he hurled a basic fireball at Anmarina's feet.

"R-R-R-Ru-Flare killed hundreds of innocent people, possibly thousands", Anmarina winced. "At first, I thought Hyperzio's treatment of her was too harsh, especially for a sixteen-year-old kid. But now, I'm starting to think she deserved it!" Anmarina's visor became bright-red.

Elimiphlaren's visor colour responded in kind, "Shadow Ability: Flames of Elimination!" A flurry of flames emitted from his wings and curved around to strike Anmarina, who had no choice but to block with her spherical shield; the integrity of which instantly became zero.

"Hyperzio taught me that it's always best to bait out one's Shadow Ability as soon as possible", Anmarina laughed weakly. "Taunting is often the best way to do that. It makes the enemy feel the urge to finish things with their personal attack".

"Oh no", Elimiphlaren replied sarcastically. "You got me good there!"

"That being said, I wasn't expecting it to completely annihilate my shield", Anmarina's tone was suspicious. "From one-hundred percent to zero! Amazing!"

"'Flames of Elimination' instantly sets the target it comes into contact's value to 'zero', whether that be health or shield strength", the red Wyperian boasted.

"Aha; thanks for confirming!" Anmarina summoned her Angelic Cannon and fired at Elimiphlaren, who was caught off-guard; his health dropped to seventy percent as the energy blast was barely below the maximum potency that Wyperian armour could absorb without being destroyed. A Quadria's Angelic Cannon is strong enough to pierce armour, but not the basic Rank's cannon, much to Elimiphlaren's relief. A plume of smoke obscured Elimiphlaren's vision.

Anmarina took flight, equipped her holo swords and charged at him, surrounding herself in a veil of water. As she approached, a fiery, metal claw emerged from the smoke, cut through Anmarina's water, and grabbed her throat.

"A valiant effort!" Elimiphlaren hurled his captured prey at the ground beneath him before following up with a barrage of flames. "But you idiots have constantly used deceptive tactics from the start; it's starting to get old!" Her health dropped to zero and she became Human again. All she could do is lay there, on her back, panting heavily as she coughed up smoke and blood. She couldn't even lift a finger.

"Now, I shall have my reven-" Elimiphlaren paused. He felt a surge of energy coming from within. The top two patches on his back started to glow and open up.

"N-no..." Anmarina wanted so much to be able to reach for the button on the side of her headset; if she could press it, her Human visor would activate, and she could call for help. It was no use. She just laid there. Broken and powerless. A second pair of red wings emerged from Elimiphlaren's back. Radiant light came from within his metal body as he stared blankly into the sky.

'This is an Angel's evolution?' Anmarina could no longer even speak. She wanted to shut her eyes and rest, but she could not look away from the God-like image. 'Damn it... what was the second form called...?'

ANGEL-QUADRIA OF VENGEFUL FLAMES.

The text scrolled across Elimiphlaren's visor as he regained his focus.

"Huh... my flames will now do double the damage", Elimiphlaren read aloud through the description and abilities of his new form. "And triple damage against targets that-" Mylialta laser fire interrupted his speech.

"ANNA!" screamed Olicleaver as he came rushing towards the pair of Angels, pulling every possible trigger his fighter had.

"No don't-" Anmarina strained her throat and began choking violently.

Elimiphlaren grinned as he shrugged off the assault; it did damage, but he didn't care. He didn't even lift a finger. "Ria Ability: Flames of Revenge!" Fires spawned out of nowhere and surrounded him. They seemed to be lively, and once they realised who their target was, they blazed straight towards Olicleaver's aircraft. The humiliation felt back on Earth, the damage received from Olicleaver's 'Wing-Shredder', sub-machine gun and that stupid, pathetic, oversized sword: these were the things that fuelled the raging inferno spiralling towards Olicleaver.

Olicleaver's Mylialta triggered an auto-eject sequence and launched him into the air. A split-second later, Elimiphlaren's Ria Ability instantly vapourised the aircraft. The heat wave singed Olicleaver's armour, even causing slight damage.

"An Angel-Quadria? Well this-" Olicleaver was interrupted.

"Flames of Revenge!" Elimiphlaren called out once again as another wave of blistering flames rushed towards Olicleaver, who was forced to trade his spherical shield for his life.

'That's right; Ria Abilities have unlimited use!' Olicleaver remembered. Unlike Shadow Abilities, a Quadria's Ria Ability, and a Deltricia's Delta Ability, do not need to be called out. Staruthia explained to Anmarina that Angel's must 'just do it' when it comes to their powers; they must get a feel for their new way of life. Calling out the ability's name helps them get into the mindset of using said ability. As a result, Angel's often call out their abilities towards the beginning of an event; they will then be prepared to use it at a moment's notice. Elimiphlaren had already called out his ability, so saying it additional times was to inflict fear upon his opponents.

"All forces: retreat!" Millenicel ordered. "We cannot win this fight!" He rushed towards Olicleaver's side and started to use telekinesis to disperse follow-up flame attacks.

"But we can't just leave Anmarina!" Olicleaver cried.

"Of course we won't; I have a plan for that", Millenicel didn't sound overly confident. Whilst the Angel-Quadria was distracted, Alexis boosted across the battlefield to retrieve Anmarina. Elimiphlaren noticed and locked-on to the blonde-haired girl.

"Flames of Revenge", Elimiphlaren ordered. Millenicel crossed his fingers. Alexis didn't even look at Elimiphlaren. No attack was unleashed.

'INVALID TARGET', displayed a notification on Elimiphlaren's visor.

Millenicel breathed a sigh of relief, "Alexis hasn't done anything to wrong Elimiphlaren, I had figured his Ria Ability would do less damage, but apparently it can't even activate!"

"But he can still attack her with regular fire!" Olicleaver panicked as Elimiphlaren prepared to do exactly that. Suddenly, gun-type P.C.U.s surrounded Elimiphlaren. Beams launched and he deployed his shield to block them. Millenicel kept eighteen beams traced on him before they overheated and stopped in order to cool down; Elimiphlaren incinerated the floating turrets in the next moment. The fires cleared and Elimiphlaren couldn't help but smile as the Ultrayan Alliance scurried away. Their Angel was down, Tri-Carazstar torn in three and all of them had suffered major damage.