Cross Worlds

Chapter 33-3

Riku swings his blades rapidly, leaving a blue streak of energy with every swipe. He deletes every holographic blade, wooden plank, and concrete pillar sent his way, his eyes glowing as he fights. And yet, there's not much more he can do. With Kei creating copies of the environment around him and launching them at Riku effortlessly and endlessly, Riku is forced on the defensive.

Despite this, there isn't a hint of worry in Riku's eyes. Every deletion either grants him a new asset, or more energy. What does worry Riku is the fact that Kei is continuing this pointless assault despite knowing this fact. "He's planning something, but what..? It's almost like he's trying to keep me from moving around too much...and it's working. With him attacking me like this, I can't even focus enough to teleport."

Kei simply stares Riku down as his many copies rain down on Riku endlessly. Through his barrage, Riku can see the faintest hint of a smile on Kei's face. It's then that an idea suddenly comes to Riku's mind. "That's it...he's trying to physically tire me out. Even if I have an endless supply of magic energy, it won't mean anything if I can't move a muscle. I need to get out of this and attack him!"

Riku starts gathering energy within himself, quickly creating a barrier with the swing of his blades. Once his barrier is fully formed and protecting him from Kei's attacks, he instantly warps in front of Kei and swings one of his blades. "Nice try, but you'll have to be faster than that." As Kei says that, a stone pillar rises out of the ground and strikes Riku in the gut.

Riku gasps as the wind is knocked out of him, his back slamming against the ceiling. Immediately afterward, another stone pillar forms above Riku and knocks him back toward the ground. Before he collides with the ground, Kei twists his body and knocks Riku back with a kick. Riku flips in the air and teleports once more, groaning in pain as the wounds he's received start to bruise. "Damn..."

"Remember, I can create copies wherever I see fit. You aren't safe inside that barrier." Kei says, and Riku's eyes widen as several ghost blades, wooden planks, and concrete pillars form in the space inside of the barrier. As the copies fly at him, Riku thinks fast; he doesn't get rid of his barrier, but instead shrinks it. The copies are all deleted as they come into contact with the barrier, and the barrier itself wraps around Riku's body.

"I can't believe I didn't think of this before." Riku grins, his body wrapped in the holographic, blue glow of his barrier.

"Ah, I see what you've done. Quite smart." Kei says with a smile, firing another barrage of copies at Riku to see if his plan will actually work. Riku shuts his eyes tightly, and as he guessed, the copies are all deleted upon coming into contact with his body.

Riku opens his eyes again and starts laughing with joy as he sees he's unharmed. "Holy crap, it worked... It really worked!" He then sets his sights on Kei, readying his blades. "Which means..." He teleports, appearing in front of Kei with his blade raised. "I've just won!"

Kei presses his palm against Riku's chest. "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you." Without warning, a stone pillar forms through Riku's body.

Riku's eyes widen, not because he's in pain, but because he suddenly feels himself being pushed back. "Huh..?!" Riku is sharply pushed away from Kei, his body slamming into the wall across from him hard. Even though his barrier is shielding him, the impact was quite strong, making Riku cough as he struggles to stand back up. "How...what the hell was that..?!"

"Do you see why I'm the tenth Teikoki now?" Kei's eyes glow once more, his aura spreading all over the room. "There's more to my abilities than you think." In the blink of an eye, the entire room becomes like that of a war zone. Copies of Kei's weapon, wood, and stone start appearing and disappearing all over the room in all sorts of different shapes and sizes.