Ultraya: Revival

Chapter 36: Fiery Skies

07/02/4014 AD – 22:50 – Warturf – Skies Above Shorophrou Port

Skyswipe laughed as he swerved effortlessly around Fated's homing missiles. Behind the pair, the destroyed remains of the Terradeath were crashing down to the ground. Fated glanced at it; he would never be able to fully accept the visual contradiction of what should be a flaming wreckage just falling out of the sky normally. He looked up to the storming clouds and then back down to his Hyloe. 'The fire-negating rain is nice and all, but this launcher runs on traditional exhausts as opposed to energy thrusters. Why do Humans have to take so many steps backwards in technology?! This rocket is moving a lot slower than it normally would be!'

Relical noticed Fated struggling and aimed his floating cannons at Skyswipe, ten reticles slowly began to merge into one as it painted over the ex-Guardian.

"Not so fast!" came an angered voice as a red energy axe soaked in flames sliced through two of the pillar units. The double-headed axe wasn't even a meter long and was purely made of fiery energy; even the hilt was unguarded. This meant it could only be wielded by one who was unaffected by fire damage. As the rain fell, droplets of water fizzled out upon contact with the weapon. The weapon was pointed towards Relical.

"So we reunite at last!" Flaymaclaze smirked as he addressed his former ally.

Relical looked over at his remaining pillars, "I didn't realise that the A.E.R., the self-proclaimed 'avengers of the Ayratulia', were supposed to attack said Ayratulia".

"Yeah, well that has been thoroughly exposed as a lie now, hasn't it? I'll happily admit that I'm only in this to obtain those sweet, sweet Angel ranks!"

"Come again? You're already at the highest rank, what do you hope to achieve by killing more people?!"

"Um hello? There is still Angel-Ayratulia rank to obtain? Did you forget about that one?"

"Oh, you sweet, sweet boy", Relical mocked in the same tone.

"...What?" Flaymaclaze tensed up.

"You seriously think that's how you get Ayratulia Rank?"

"What? What do you mean?! Do you get it some other way-" Flaymaclaze was interrupted by Elimiphlaren smacking him out of the way of a thick white beam fired from behind.

"He's distracting you, idiot!" Elimiphlaren yelled at his superior. "Dirty tricks, Relical!"

"Yeah well, like my brother said, the war ends today; no one cares about ethics anymore", Relical said coldly as his pillar units fired once again from multiple directions.

As his enemies avoided, Relical withdrew two of his cannons and lined them up with his arms. Handles released from the middle of the pillars, allowing them to be held in reverse; the two were now acting as hammers, with the thrusters providing propulsion in devastating melee hits.

"Don't worry, Flaymaclaze", Elimiphlaren reassured. "Relical's pillar's provide little-to-no protection from fire attacks. Anmarina's rain extinguishes lingering flames, so just provide a constant source and we will be fine!"

"Heh", Relical grunted as he dashed towards the Angels who indeed retaliated with a wave of flames. He activated his shield and pushed through the fire effortlessly. The blunt end of the pillar on his right arm slammed square into Flaymaclaze's chest. Elimiphlaren tried to flee but was locked in place by psyka; Relical slammed his left pillar into Elimiphlaren's waist in an uppercut, used the pillar's thrusters to boost above the Angel, then smashed both pillar ends into Elimiphlaren's back. The Quadria was sent spiralling towards the ground; he was barely able to regain control of his fiery wings before he hit the surface. He quickly shielded against six beams fired from Relical's pillars that were still hovering in the sky. Flaymaclaze roared as he attempted to charge towards Relical with his axe in one hand and holo sword in the other.

"How many times did I have to tell in training?! Your battle cries do nothing but give away your position!" Relical aimed the six pillars at Flaymaclaze. He ignored the remarks of his old boss and hurled the axe; it struck the pillar on Relical's right arm. The sword was thrown next, skewering one of the detached cannons.

"Shadow Ability!" Flaymaclaze called out as he drew his last sword from his belt. "Thermal Glazing!" Relical was locked in flames whilst Flaymaclaze sliced up another two pillars.

At this point, Elimiphlaren had rejoined the fight and had slashed three more pillars in half with his own holo swords, leaving only the one on his arm. "Shadow Ability: Flames of Elimination!" he called out, forcing Relical to expend his spherical shield in order to block the attack. Relical's visor was now red.

"Ha! Past Ayratulia or not, you're just a defenceless moron that tried to fight two Angels. You never even discovered your own Shadow Ability! You were by far the weakest of the original four!" Flaymaclaze mocked.

"The weakest? Undoubtedly, they would all agree. But they all knew I was the smartest", Relical's visor flicked to green as he launched off his last pillar towards the ex-Guardian. The unexpected attack knocked him off-guard and left him stunned as the gun barrel flipped around and blasted him. Elimiphlaren threw one of his swords to destroy the pillar before it could fire a second shot.

"A valid effort, old friend", Flaymaclaze dusted himself off. "But now you are completely defenceless!" Elimiphlaren wasn't convinced; Relical's visor was still green.

Relical pointed at Flaymaclaze, "Ninety-two percent, no swords, no Shadow Ability". He pointed at Elimiphlaren, "Eighty-seven percent, one sword, no Shadow Ability". The two Angels flinched as they glanced at their health bars; Relical was spot on.

Relical pointed his thumb at himself, "One-hundred percent, shields recharging".

Flaymaclaze grinned as he pointed at Relical, "No Shad-"

"Shadow Ability: Relic Call!"

Flaymaclaze's expression fell as all ten of Relical's pillar units respawned. Two of his cannons boosted up into the air; the remaining eight divided up into groups of four and joined together, side-by-side, in the formation of four-barrelled cannons. These cannons attached themselves to Relical's arms and he fired. Each of the compounded cannons fired one giant unified beam at his opponents. Flaymaclaze and Elimiphlaren acted quickly: each summoned both of their Angelic Cannons and fired upon the incoming attacks. The six beams clashed. Relical's visor remained green as his two powerful blasts were strong enough to hold back four Angelic Cannons at once. Elimiphlaren's visor was a solid black as he put all of his effort into holding his own. Flaymaclaze's visor was constantly flickering between red and blue. The frustration of his old boss's power and the sadness of the lack of trust Relical showed in revealing he had a Shadow Ability all this time. What was his original name? Why didn't he trust his own Guardian? Suddenly, the two pillars that had been sent high above each unleashed a small beam of their own upon the Angels, disrupting their momentum and causing the beam struggle to end with the Angels taking the full force of Relical's original blast. Smoke filled the skies as the two were knocked back. Elimiphlaren's health dropped to sixty-percent; Flaymaclaze's to seventy-two.

When the stormy skies swept away the smoke, Flaymaclaze could see Relical hovering in the same spot, his pillars separated and scattered around him; He was laughing.

"I've had my Shadow Ability since I was two years old!" Relical explained joyously. "They were my first words: I don't even know what my original name was! My parents saw this as a sign from the Unknown Power that this was to be my name from the start. Oh how Millenicel and I had fun playing around with this things... don't give a child heavy energy cannons that have cameras... it's not a good thing!" Flaymaclaze didn't know what to do except shake with fear.

Relical sighed and his visor flickered to red, bright lights began forming at the barrel-ends of his pillars, "You disappoint me Guardian Flaymaclaze. You always have; you always will".