Angel's Ascension: Strife (Book Ten)

Chapter 6: Heartfelt

"I've come so far for this moment and I'm not letting some spider take me down!" Lucy stared up at Okishi and crossed her blades. A swirl of light energy covered her body before she disappeared. An afterimage remained in her place and dashed after the creature. Darkness flew from the afterimage and knocked Okishi's balance off. She soon reappeared above the sky and a ray of light pierced through the ground.

"You are quite a bother with light and dark energy. This will displease Death if you stay any longer." Okishi spat a thread of web into his hands. He crafted a long bow with it while his stinger dripped liquid on the weapon. Venomous arrows formed before he fired a dozen at Lucy. His limbs buried themselves in the ground and tracked her movement. A few ripped into her clothes when the feathers blocked the remaining ones. Lucy faced him when her vision distorted. A ringing echoed in both ears as she stumbled back and winced.

"Ugh, he got me with poison with those spikes? I thought only his arrows were the ones with it." She groaned.

Onipa held a hand to his mask. "This looks bad. I heard Okishi's poison would put down anyone regardless if dead or alive." He scratched at the paint as sweat dripped from his chin.

Lucy nearly fell to the ground as her body trembled. A burning pain lingered as her insides felt twisted. Her vision nearly faded when an image of Talai stood before her.

"Come on, Lucy. You gonna let some poison get in the way of saving your best friend?" Talai asked with a grin.

"The amount of strength you've gained these past few years is amazing! Don't let your friends down!" Clara exclaimed.

Lux stood between them with a huge grin. "Karina and I knew you were going to make a name for yourself. Stand up, Lucy. Power through like you've done hundreds of times before!"

Lucy teared up at the sight and pushed herself up. "Thank you, guys. I'm on the way!" A green aura emanated from her body like a whirlwind. Her silver hair stood up on its own while several feathers circled her. She faced Okishi and zoomed toward him with a ball of fire covering each blade. Hundreds of thousands of arrows rained down before her along with spiked limbs shooting out of the ground.

"What is she doing!? That's crazy for anyone to pull off with poison in their system!" Onipa exclaimed.

"This person is coming at me despite all I'm throwing at her. This is unbelievable..." Okishi tilted his head to the left and twisted each limb. Feathers pinned each one down until none remained as Lucy rocketed through the sky. She slammed into Okishi and silver flames engulfed his body. Both swords went flying into his abdomen with light and dark energy exploding inside his body.

Lucy tossed an arm up when a barrier of energy shielded her from the arrows. "I can't let this stop me. If Death wants me so badly then he can come in here himself."

Okishi writhed on the ground while his stinger was uncoiled and his body grew stiff. "This won't be the last of me. I cannot die in the realm of lost souls because I have none." He whispered before sinking into the ground.

"That was amazing!" Onipa yelled. "You just kicked that proxy's ass with all this cool stuff. I didn't realize how strong you were." He chuckled at himself.

"Gotta save them..." Lucy fell to her knees. "But I overexerted myself back there with harmonic and chaos energy." She attempted to stand when Onipa caught her.

He held her steady and noticed the souls off in the distance. "I wouldn't try to move too much. We should wait and I can get the poison out."

Lucy shook her head and inhaled. "If you can do it quickly then do it. They've been waiting for me." She sighed.