Sands of Destiny: Five Lights Appear

Chapter 18: Rain and Fire

The desert was eerily quiet the next morning. A light, brisk breeze came from the east. Kruise and Ash stood across from each and you could feel the tension emanating from them. They stood in a ring Igneous had built right behind his mansion. To their side was a small set of wooden bleachers. Igneous sat down with a mug of coffee, with his head bobbing as he tried to stay awake. Frixius sat next to him and Medikus, Dormia, and Trista sat behind them, eager to see Ash and Kruise battle it out. Frixius stood!

"Ahem. ALRIGHT!!!"

Igneous jumped, splashing his coffee in his face.

"Ah seems like you're awake, guess your coffee did its job."

"Very funny old man, can someone get me a towel, and another cup of coffee please?"

One of his maids appeared instantly.

"Here's your coffee and your towel sir."

The maid was gone in an instant. Medikus narrowed his eyes then chuckled and Dormia smirked too. Trista looked confused.

"What's so funny?"

"You've trained your maids and butlers. To me an army dressed in either three piece suits or tight little skirts is kinda funny."

Igneous chuckled himself.

"Don't be fooled, they are quite formidable. That outfit helps them maintain their element of surprise, plus they are well paid both as butlers and maids, and again as soldiers."

"Shut it you two! Don't be a brat who can't close his mouth like you old man!"

"With all due respect, that brat was stronger than you."

Frixus stared blankly at Medikus. Medikus met his gaze, frowning at him.

"You really are that brats kid to challenge me like that! I'll make sure to put you in your place!"

"I'm just hoping you're not all talk, old man!"

Trista stared admirably at Medikus, twiddling her hair.

"To be able to sense his strength and still be so brave, you must be really strong!"

"I can't sense anything from him."

Trista's eyes widened. At the time, she didn't realize that only wind triggers could sense their opponents strength without actually fighting them. But even still Medikus's strength was enough to make her believe he could win.

"Shut it girl! As I was saying before you brats kept interrupting me, today's training kicks off with a fight to the death between Ash and Kruise. Me or Igneous will stop the fight when necessary. The only rules are don't be ready to die, be ready to kill! Now fight damnit, FIGHT!"

Kruise snapped, triggering a vicious rain to fall from the sky. Ash seemed unfazed and created a light aura of fire. Kruise chuckled and snapped again. The rain turned silver and began slicing through anything it touched. Medikus drew his sword and swatted the rain drops from above the group's head. Ash dashed through, expertly dodging and melting the bullet like rain. He caught up to Kruise quickly, digging his knee into the rain trigger's stomach.

"Nice try, fire boy!"

Ash turned to see the real Kruise behind him. He was dashing toward him with his water arm shaped into a silver spear. Ashes life flashed before his eyes.

"All I've gone through, I can't die here!"

Ash saw an image of a figure surrounded by gold fire, standing in black sand. The fire turned black and next thing he knew he was behind Kruise, surrounded in those same black flames. Frixius grinned.

"So you can teleport now! Well let's see what else you can do!"

Kruise shot a barrage of blasts of water at Ash. Ash turned into black flames himself and dashed at Kruise with insane speed. He landed a punch on Kruise's jaw, sending him flying. He teleported to chase him, landing a ferocious barrage of punches. Kruise grabbed his face with his good hand, and slashed at him with his other arm, creating a silver bow sword. Ash took a bite of Kruise's finger and teleported, taking a piece of his finger with him. Kruise held his hand and wobbled a little.

"Damn you!"

Kruise suddenly saw red sand spread around him. A trickle of his own sweat dropped in front of him and stopped in mid air. It formed into a blood red figure, and reached out toward his finger. Silver water replaced his finger. Kruise looked at his hand and saw a translucent red line coming from his finger, pointing wherever he pointed. He smirked and pointed at Ash.

"I think you tried that one once al..."

Ash barely dodged the high speed water bullet. A scratch formed on his cheek. Kruise divided his arm of water into four silver whips, and began swinging them wildly, each moving individually in its own direction. Ash teleported rapidly as Kruise slashed and shot at him. Ash turned into black fire, and shot fireballs at Kruise.

"That won't work!"

"Sure about that?!"

Ash's flames stuck to Kruise's water.

"Now come here!"

Ash yanked his hand towards himself, using his black flames to pull Kruise to him. Kruise turned his arm back into a sword, using the moment to land a final blow. Ash teleported above Kruise hoping to land a sneak attack. Kruise adjusted, shooting at Ash. Ash dodged but not without getting another scratch. He grabbed Kruise by the neck and slammed him into the ground. Kruise held his finger out, pointing directly at Ash's head.

"Enough!"

Frixius stood.

"You two are just about evenly matched now. While Ash learned to use his trigger ability easily, Kruise was forced to use more creativity. Well done!"

Ash helped Kruise up.

"Hell of a fight, eldest son of Midaco."

"Same to you, Slayer."

They shook hands and walked back to the bleachers smiling.

"Well then, get out there ladies, give us a good show!"

Trista and Dormia traded looks and took to the field.

"Dammit you already know the rules, let me hear it!"

"DON'T BE READY TO KILL, BE READY TO DIE!", the girls screamed in unison!

"THEN FIGHT ALREADY DAMMIT!!!"