Choose your Destiny (Raiden x OC) Part 2 : Where It all collides

Chapter 12 : Déjà-Vu

While Kung Jin, Takeda and Jacqui were distracting the revenants at the Sky Temple's main court, Sakuya and Cassie took advantage of the situation to sneak inside the Chamber without alerting their enemies. Once they entered inside, the duo was shocked to see what was before them : the Fallen Elder God had changed his form completely and had now the appearance of a demon with his two large horns. They could also see veins like thin gilt rivers flowing on his skin all over his body that looked like it was made of stone. His chest was wide open with a hellfire blazing inside and, once he sensed the presence of the two intruders and opened his eyes, they had the color of pure gold.
"By the Elder Gods..." Sakuya murmured.
"Dad!" Cassie exclaimed next to her and the goddess brought her attention to Johnny who was still wrapped in D'Vorah's web, with insects on his face slowly nibbling his skin. D'Vorah who noticed the two arrivants, started to lead towards them with a grin. Motivated by anger, Cassie ran towards her to hit her, but the insectoid parried her attack and quickly gave her a kick in the stomach. As Cassie was lying on the ground, Sakuya decided to be more careful and remain where she was, waiting for her opponent to strike the first blow. Or, at least, to try.
D'Vorah used one of her insect legs to pierce the goddess' skin, but she reacted rapidly by raising her arm in front of her face and pushing it away before she attempted to punch the insectoid with her valid hand. But D'Vorah dodged her hit easily and tried to retort by giving Sakuya the same kick that put Cassie down. Fortunately, the goddess reflexively lowered her hands and parried her opponent's hit, but the impact still made her take a few steps back, giving her some space to strike back by using her magic, making roots rise from under D'Vorah feet without she even had the time to realize it. Soon enough, the insectoid was wrapped inside the spiked roots and, as she was screaming in agony, Sakuya tightened her grip even more to weaken her opponent. Since D'Vorah was incapable of moving, the goddess neared her with a severe look on her face.
"You seem to have forgotten that nature is far more greater than your pathetic existence." Sakuya remarked as she stared at the insectoid's face.
"Sakuya !" she then heard a familiar voice call her and spinned her head to find Raiden who was still held back by the giant hand. At the other side of the room, she could see Cassie trying to help her father to get rid of D'Vorah's web.
"Raiden !" Sakuya called her partner before she sprinted towards him and, once she was close enough, she visually checked on the god.
"Help me to release myself." he asked her and she nodded as she grabbed one of the skeletal fingers and pulled it with all of her strength. As she realized that it was useless, she decided to manipulate a couple of thick roots to focus on unfolding one of the fingers to be more efficient. As she focused all of her strength on her task, the goddess grimaced and her whole body started to shake lightly. Once she finally succeeded to open one of the fingers, she breathed deeply and felt the heat of the effort in every single muscle of hers.
"Sakuya, look out !" Raiden tried to warn her, but before she had the time to turn, she felt an energy abruptly hit her from behind and send her to the other side of the Chamber. With her eyes shut, Sakuya groaned in agony as her cheek was against the cold ground and she felt a warm pain through her spine. The goddess then leaned on her forearms as she glanced around and saw Shinnok standing near Raiden, his eyes locked on her. This made Sakuya try to quickly get back on her feet before the Fallen God took advantage of her vulnerability.
As Shinnok was about to near her, he froze once he felt something hit him from behind. With an unperturbed look on his face, he slowly turned around and saw Cassie Cage standing on guard behind him.
"Forgot about me ?" the woman joked with a serious expression on her face.
"So you are the issue of Johnny Cage." Shinnok said to her. "Fitting that I exterminate his entire line."
"You want him ? You're gonna go through me."
Without waiting, Cassie approached her opponent and started to give him a series of punches that Shinnok parried with no difficulty whatsoever. Once she finally managed to give him a hit on the face, it only made his head move but the Fallen God did not even flinch. The impact hurt Cassie's hand more than it affected Shinnok who then grabbed Cassie by the neck and started to rise her up before he immediately punched her in the face and sent her to the floor. As Cassie was rolling around in pain, Shinnok felt something progressively wrapping his own neck and, before he had the time to realize, it suddenly tightened its grip and was pulling him back. Behind him, Sakuya was back on her feet and trying to make Shinnok fall with her roots, but as he grabbed them and tried to get rid of their grips, he succeeded to rip them off so abruptly that it made the goddess flinch as if she had taken a hit.
With a menacing look on his face, Shinnok glared at the goddess. "What awaits those who defy me is nothing but excruciating, exquisite death." he said before he slowly neared Sakuya who was on guard, ready to anticipate any forthcoming attack from her opponent. But, with time, she started to weaken progressively, as if she was losing all of the energy she had. As her head was spinning, the goddess struggled to stay still but tried with all of her strength to focus on Shinnok.
The Fallen God grinned as he noticed the change in her behavior. "Ah, yes. Let us see how you will make it without the Jinsei's power."
Since Sakuya's source of energy was the Jinsei, the goddess was slowly feeling the effect of its corruption by Shinnok. Each second that passed, it felt harder for Sakuya to concentrate and, soon enough, she felt completely overwhelmed by tiredness. She then fell down on her knees and kept her hands on the ground as a groan came out of her mouth.
"Your mission of protecting Earthrealm ends now." Shinnok grinned as he approached Sakuya who barely could raise her head to look at him. "It is time for you to serve the darkness."
The Fallen God then grabbed his amulet and pointed it towards the goddess in order to trap her soul into it forever. But before he could use it, Shinnok's entire body got suddenly paralyzed as he felt an electric energy all over his body. Behind him, Raiden, who had managed to release himself, was electrocuting the Fallen God with both of his hands raised towards him, continuously throwing lightnings.
After a few seconds, the Thunder God stopped and glared at Shinnok who was slightly weakened by Raiden's attack. "It ends now, Shinnok!"
Sakuya lifted her head and noticed Raiden standing still in front of the Fallen God. She felt relieved to see that he had regained strength. Their gazes even met at one point, and the Thunder God's expression softened momentarily before he brought back his attention on Shinnok.
The Fallen God glared back at Raiden as he growled angrily. "Indeed."
At the least expected moment, Cassie Cage joined the battle by giving a kick to Shinnok's ribs which, this time, actually affected him, as he let out a groan of pain. Raiden and Sakuya were both surprised by the green light that was coming out from the young woman's entire body, reminding of the same magic her father had.
Cassie also seemed impressed by her new power. "Holy shit! It does run in the family!" she exclaimed as she looked down at her own body.
As Shinnok seemed shook up from Cassie and Raiden's attacks, Sakuya raised her hands and used the little energy she had left from the Jinsei to wrap her roots tightly around Shinnok's body, making him incapable of moving. It gave the opportunity to Raiden to throw at the Fallen God a couple of his electric balls, while Cassie punched him in the face and gave him one last powerful blow that finally knocked Shinnok out.
When Sakuya felt that their opponent was no longer resisting her grip, she let go of him and he heavily fell on the ground, barely conscious. The Nature Goddess imitated him since she had no more energy to remain on her knees. The tiredness was weighing on her so hard that she barely could feel the coldness of the ground on her bare arm.
Raiden saw her collapse from where he was standing. "Sakuya!" he exclaimed as he ran towards the goddess who did not flinch, as Cassie went to see her father. Once he knelt down next to her, as the god could not see her face hidden by her hair, he gently grabbed her by the shoulders to turn her towards himself and held her in his arms. As he worryingly moved a couple of hair hiding her face with his fingers, he noticed that her eyelids were slightly moving.
She struggled to whisper his name. "Raiden..."
The god's heart broke into pieces as he heard her call him with such a weak voice. He had to help her to regain energy but, as he turned his head and looked at the Jinsei, he could see that it was still contaminated by Shinnok's dark magic.
"I have to purify the Jinsei." Raiden affirmed.
"No..." she murmured as she struggled to raise her hand and put it on his arm. This touch of hers instantly brought the god's attention on her. "It is too... dangerous..."
He softly cupped her face as he stared deep into her eyes. "You and Earthrealm are in greater peril. Nothing else matters to me."
As he raised his head, he saw Kung Jin arrive in a hurry from outside.
"What happened ?" he said out of breath. "Is Shinnok dead ?"
"He cannot die." Raiden reminded him. "But he is weakened and I must take the opportunity to cleanse the Jinsei." He then lowered his gaze back on Sakuya and carefully lied her on the ground. "Look after her until I am finished."
"I will." Kung Jin responded firmly as he knelt next to Sakuya.
At the same time, the Thunder God stood back up and led towards the Jinsei. Once he was in front of it, he took a first step inside, then let himself float completely inside Earthrealm's source of energy. It was nothing like the previous times he had been inside the Jinsei. Instead, it almost felt like the power was burning his skin in a painful way.
He started his incantation. "Eruni no... kami wa, watashi wa chi... joka shimasu... wa joka shimasu..."
The Thunder God then raised his hand towards Shinnok, who was still lying unconcious on the ground, and, with an electric bridge linking him to the Fallen God, started to drain the Jinsei's energy that was inside of him. Doing so would have also broken the bound between Shinnok and the Jinsei, but it was a rather painful experience for Raiden.
"Aaaargh..." he groaned in pain as he took all of Shinnok's energy into himself. Slowly, he felt completely submerged by the dark power that he was trying to keep within. Meanwhile, Kung Jin and Cassie could see that Raiden was succeeding, as Shinnok turned back into his initial form. Once he did, the Thunder God finally broke the bound that was contaminating the Jinsei.
With a warm pain in his chest, Raiden could see the Jinsei that was enveloping him progressively get its natural sky blue color back. When he looked up through the giant hole at the ceiling of the Chamber, caused by Shinnok, he also noticed that the red clouds were also vanishing outside. The Thunder God let out a sigh of relief as the pain felt from the laborious work he just had done stopped as well. He took some time to breathe before he finally exited the Jinsei.
Once he put his feet on the ground, his eyes instantly searched for Kung Jin.
"Sakuya." he firmly said.
It took some time for Kung Jin to understand that it was an order and not a call. He then quickly knelt next to Sakuya, who was unconscious, to lift her up and carry her in his arms as he hurried towards the Thunder God who did not move from where he was. Once he was close enough, Kung Jin let Raiden hold the goddess and he immediately helped her to get inside the Jinsei to rejuvenate. The Thunder God let Sakuya unconsciously float inside the now purified Jinsei under his gaze. The goddess appeared so peaceful at that moment, as if she had not just fought the greatest threat Earthrealm ever had to face. She took a deep breath and she felt like she was living again as she let the Jinsei wash away all of her pain with time.
Outside the Jinsei, Raiden remained expressionless as he had his eyes locked on Sakuya. Kung Jin approached him carefully and stood beside him.
"Lord Raiden, what should we do of him ?" he asked as he designated Shinnok.
The Thunder God glanced behind him and silently stared at the Fallen God who still was unconsciously lying on the Chamber's stone floor. Raiden clenched his fists and his jaw and he could feel his blood boiling with rage inside him. Kung Jin, who noticed the god's sudden wrath, carefully took a step behind. "Lord Raiden ?" he hesitantly repeated. For the first time, he felt intimidated by Earthrealm's protector.
Soon, the small white lightnings flashing around Raiden's hands took a scarlet tint and his eyes, usually as pure as the clouds, now seemed shadowed by shades of red and resembled two fireballs.
"Leave him to me."