Omega Wars Chronicles

Chapter 110: Mirrors part 3

  In the unknown forest, Karma dragged the battered and unconscious Cloud by the right arm towards a nearby lake and scooped water to sprinkle on his face and just as Cloud woke up and coughed, Karma held him up by the wrist and stared down at him.
  "You're awake again. Good, let's continue." Karma said.
  With no time wasted, Karma sent Cloud flying across with a punch to the face, leading him to crash through multiple trees and tumbled viciously on the ground. Cloud groaned in pain and Karma descended to the ground and watched as he struggled to stand on all fours.
  "Well, I'm waiting." Karma said.
  Cloud stood on his feet and glared at Karma while panting and with a  blare, Cloud ran towards Karma with the attempt to punch her to which she casually evades. Cloud threw a storm of punches at her but Karma flawlessly evaded every last one while speaking in her heart.
   "Slow. Predictable. I thought he was supposed to be better than this. With Sting's hype of his intense training, i expected more but he has barely improved in combat."
   "What exactly did that god see to bestow such a power?!" Karma asked within as she delivers a swift right hook that made Cloud stagger back.
   Karma unloads a flurry of punches on Cloud's chest which made him scream out in pain, slams the side of her fists on his ears which also turned his eyes pupilless in the act, followed her attacks with a hammer fist to the head that made him slump on all four and ends everything with an axe-kick to his back, causing him to lay flat on the ground.
   Cloud groaned in pain again and panted while Karma stared down at him with her cold demeanor.
  "On your feet. You want to protect her, don't you?" Karma asked.
   The battered Cloud stood on his feet and gaped at Karma for a time until he grits his teeth and charged at her to deliver a punch but Karma averted it. Karma evades three of Cloud's punches and ducked for the fourth one and quickly spun herself backwards to deliver an elbow and kick to Cloud's belly; with no time wasted, Karma quickly held Cloud's wrist, struck him with two punches on the belly, a backfist and quickly leaped in the air to deliver a spinning kick to his head that laid him flat on the surface again.
   Cloud laid lifeless on the ground for a some time until he showed life and creaked in pain and as he raised his head, he noted Karma staring down at him. Cloud stood on his feet and panted for a short time and as Karma and Cloud locked eyes with one another, Cloud growled and charged towards her and threw a torrent of punches which she casually dodges them all again and ends his barrage with an elbow to the face and slammed him on the ground with a body throw.
   Cloud coughed out spittle but he was able to roll out in time to avoid a stomp from Karma that fractured the ground but as soon as Cloud stood, Karma showed up in his front, prompting Cloud to react quickly with a punch but she held his wrist, bent him backwards a little, struck his back with her knee and laid him on the ground with a blow to his chest; Karma held Cloud by the arm to raise him on his feet, delivers multiple blows on his face, chest and belly and finalized everything with a roundhouse kick that sent Cloud spinning in the air.
   While Cloud laid on the ground, coughing and moaning in pain, Karma soccer kicked him on the belly, thereby sending him rolling towards a tree and slamming his back against it in the process. Cloud groaned and panted but as he tried to stand, he ended up vomiting on the ground.
  "Humph. The fate of your sister is in peril and this is all you can do before me?" Karma asked, "Pathetic.
  Come on, god, show me what you are made of."
  Cloud coughed out twice and grits his teeth.
  "Do not call me that." Cloud said.
  "I'll call you whatever i want." Karma replied, "It's pathetic really. You are given a chance to save your sister and this is all you can do? With all your power, all your advantage, you lay here, groveling in dirt, blood and vomit. How infuriating.
   I wanted to go all out and see what you are hiding but it's good decision i didn't, otherwise i would have killed you too quickly."
   "Get up." Karma said as Cloud coughed out again while struggling to stand, "On your feet. You have the advantage; you have a god's power and i am holding back... Way back. After all, isn't that how you constantly won? Through people holding back?"
  Karma walked towards Cloud and turned him over with her left foot, allowing him to lay on his back. For a while, Karma stared down at Cloud and watched as he was breathing heavily in pain.
  "Hmm... Perhaps i should hold back some more, don't you think? That way you might be able to take me by surprise."
   In a flash, Karma slammed her right fist on Cloud's diaphragm and created a small wave that made Cloud scream out in agony.
   "Hmm. Was that a bit too much? How bad does it hurt?" Karma asked.
  Karma slowly pushed her fist a bit deeper on Cloud's diaphragm and took her time to rotate her hand at the moment, causing Cloud to groan loudly.
  "Hmm. It really does hurt. What about now?" Karma asked.
    Karma applied more force to her activity and increased the pain of Cloud.
  "Yes, very painful." Karma said.
  Karma immediately punched Cloud on the diaphragm again, making him to scream out again while slightly breaking the ground. Cloud clutched  his diaphragm and laid on his chest while coughing and gasping for air.
  "For you to have lasted for some time against Zera shows that she held back more than me. I have seen how she trains Onak, if she had trained you like that, you would have been dead; the same thing would have happened if you were a part of this red mist." Karma said, "All that power would have been gone. What annoys me is that a power as great as that is wasted on a weak, lying trash like you.
   You do not deserve it."
   "D-deserve it? I don't want it!" Cloud replied while still clutching his diaphragm in pain.
  Karma stared at Cloud for a few seconds.
  "Lies." Karma said.
  Karma squats to grabs Cloud by the hair and lock eyes with him.
  "You lie. You do not want this power? Who do you think you are fooling?" Karma asked, "You who desired to be seen as the greatest, to be seen as strong, saying you do not want the power you possess. Is there any limit to the amount of lies you tell? First it was your pretence of being a minor, now it's this."
   "I don't want it." Cloud said.
   "There is no one in their right mind that won't want power especially if it is absolute." Karma said, "You have it, yet you say you don't want it. I may not know anything about you but i know deep down, you desire it; you want that power."
   "You are wrong. I have no interest in it and i never will." Cloud replied,"Besides, power like that doesn't come without a cost."
  "Really? Tell me what in this world comes without a cost? Nothing. Nothing at all." Karma said, "Everything must come with a price."
   "Sure but this one i ain't paying!" Cloud replied, "And if you knew the cost, you wouldn't desire it either."
  "Hoh? And what is this cost?" Karma asked.
   "Everything. Your life, your identity... Your soul." Cloud answered, "Nothing about you will exist. You will simply be a mere puppet for him. A slave bound to him and his evil desires forever. There is no escape... There is no freedom."
    Hearing the answer from Cloud, Karma stared at him for a few seconds, filling the atmosphere with silence.
   "Is that it?" Karma asked.
   Karma immediately slammed Cloud's face to the ground and stood up; Karma turned her back on Cloud and walked towards a tree to lean on it.
   "Is that the cost of having such power? No freedom? Being bound to him? Is that it?" Karma asked as she crossed her arms, "Is that the reason you pretended to be a minor when you weren't? Choosing to play pretend in order to escape the reality of who you are."
  "Quite pathetic." Karma said as Cloud was struggling to stand, "To have absolute power and choose the position of a nobody; reminds me of a certain person that irritates me more than the ones that took everything from me."
   "I have struggled since the destruction of my tribe to become stronger and i have shown several times that i am at the top but you... You had this power all along and acted like you were powerless, all because of what, a few costs?" Karma asked as she clenched her biceps, "Your reason for pretence is so that you can have your freedom? We are all bound to something one way or the other. No one is truly free.
   Get that into your thick skull, pretender."
   "I wasn't pretending, i just didn't know." Cloud said as he was still struggling to stand, "When i found out i was no minor, it took time for me to accept it but this... This is something i cannot and i will not accept."
    "So you intend to pretend again? Live in a fantasy where you are a powerless human trying to make a difference but reality says otherwise." Karma said, "I've seen a lot of denials and hypocrisy but yours is a serious matter."
   "You said something about freedom, claiming no one can be truly free. You're wrong." Cloud said, "There are people that can be free if they choose to be."
    "Oh really?" Karma asked, "If you believe that there are people that can be free then tell me, why do people have those they answer to? Why do we submit to things greater, intentionally and unintentionally? Forces beyond comprehension, power beyond understanding. We are all bound by these things and we find ourselves answering to these powers.
   The only way to defy is to have power above them. Power beyond everyone. Where you decide what happens and what doesn't. Where you decide who you can save and who you deliberately choose to leave in peril. That is when you are truly free."
    "You just contradicted yourself. You talked about having absolute power to stand above everything and be bound to nothing, yet you dismissed the consequences of losing your freedom despite having such power." Cloud said as he stood on his feet, "Tell me, how can you claim to desire power that removes your restrictions but yet still feel that this power is worth being bound to?
   Your argument right now holds no water."
  The words of Cloud left Karma silent for a little while.
   "Do you remember when you first came to the Tall order pilgrim academy?" Karma asked, "We had a test and many failed... Well i obviously passed and those that failed were upset then you came.... A boy with a strange white hair who arrived late after a few months had passed; your first words many didn't heed because they were grumpy until you mentioned being the greatest warrior that will ever live. Those words made them mock you, you became a laughingstock but it didn't take long for your first words to ring in their heads."
   A flashback takes place during the time in the pilgrim academy as after the laughter had died down and Cloud sat on his chair, a female Tenplar giggled.
  "Stupid minor. Saying crap like he will surpass all of us. This might just make my day." The female Tenplar said.
  "Wait... Didn't he say he is a Stormwind?" A brown haired male Graundar asked.
"Yeah, i mean he is from that minor tribe that... Hold on." A male Tenplar said as he came into realization.
   At that moment, a lot of students in the classroom became shocked.
  "A STORMWIND?!!!!" The students said as they glanced at Cloud.
  The reaction of the students left Cloud a bit startled while they began to murmur among themselves.
   "What the hell?!"
  "A Stormwind is alive?!"
  "First a Dreygar, now a Stormwind. What are the possibilities of survivors from the other tribes?"
  While the other students were murmuring, Karma gaped at Cloud from her seat with crossed arms.
"Yeah, i remember that moment. Even i couldn't believe it." Karma said after the remembrance, "Another survivor. Someone who survived the unknown slaughter just like me.
   I was curious on how you survived but i felt you weren't worth talking to. I looked at you as another lesser but now here we are. I remember when you told me how you survived the unknown slaughter, several theories were in my head of how it was possible for you, eventually i decided to go with the one that you were just lucky as usual.
   The theory of you having kan i dismissed it because i thought it wasn't possible and it made no sense, i mean how could it? The Stormwinds never had kan so there is no way you could have had it. I ignored all the signs of you having it and the more i ignored it, the more my curiosity grew and now i can't ignore it anymore.
    I survived because i was mysteriously tied in a closet but you survived because you were that god's other half. All along you had power beyond imagination yet you played the powerless and now you stand here and talk to me about his power not worth having when you have survived all these times because of it.
   Do you remember the day we received our pilgrim candidate rankings? You got a C and i got an S; do you remember the words you said about me?
  She may be the strongest for now, but one day i will be the one to surpass her. Just one day."
   "Huh? How did you-?"
   "I wanted to use kan communication of the heart to speak to Bee and ask her about her rankings but for some reason i was able to hear what you said in your heart, but i ignored it." Karma cuts in on Cloud, "After all, a minor claiming he will surpass me is just the talk of one who is a different kind of delusional and i find it odd that the boy who bragged about surpassing and being better than everyone is now talking this crap.
   Let's assume you didn't know until now, are you telling me that that arrogant and delusional boy would turn down absolute power? That that boy would rather be powerless and throw away the chance he has at surpassing everyone and being the greatest? At being strongest?"
  "I... I was delusional." Cloud said as he bent his head down, "I was arrogant or cocky as others would say and i thought i was better than everyone, but you're still wrong about me.
  I may have been a cocky person but i would never accepted it especially if i knew the consequences. If being strong meant i would become a mindless and heartless person then i would rather be weak. If being powerful meant i would become an evil genocidal being then i would rather be at the bottom.
   Even with the way i was back then i had limits on how far i would go and this is obviously one of them. I would and will never accept him."
  "Never." Cloud said as he raised his head.
   "Disgusting." Karma said with a scowl as she closed her eyes.
  "Let us continue." Karma said as her irises glowed while discharging her red aura.
  Elsewhere within in a stone palace with glowing green stripes and patterns around stood 7 humanoid animals and among the animals were Cloud's godfather: Roku the panda, Karma's former master: the old dragon of the mountain Riu and the giant lion Azel.
   "Great sages, we have all gathered here today for the awaited battle." An elderly humanoid turtle holding a rod with a red sash worn across his body said.
  "Yes, elder great sage." The other sages said.
  "Great sage Roku, i welcome you." The elder great sage said as Roku bowed his head.
  "Great sage Riu, i welcome you." The elder great sage said as Riu bowed his head.
  "Great sage Azel, i welcome you." The elder great sage said as Azel bowed his head.
  "Great sage Kova, i welcome you." The elder great sage to a female snow leopard wearing a purple hanfu with white vine patterns and black trousers) during the time she bowed her head.
   "Great sage Avok, i welcome you." The elder sage said to a male frog wearing a black qipao vest with gold vine patterns and black trousers during the time he bowed his head.
   "And great sage Jao, i welcome you." The elder great sage said to a male tiger wearing a red-brown robe and black trousers during the time he bowed his head.
  "I believe the time has come for the battle we have all been waiting for; the battle between the ruler and empress, the battle between chaos and order." The elder great sage said.
    "Mirror." The elder great sage said as transparent orb materialized in his hand.
   The levitated into the air and as it grew in size, the orb displayed a scene of Karma delivering an uppercut to Cloud's belly.
  "The battle between the two has already started and now we wait to see who will win; who shall stand and who shall fall." The elder great sage said as his eyes glowed.