edelweiss - &team

41

Riki travelled through the dark winding pathways with a glowing ball of light in hand and scythe in the other. He was slightly on the edge but steeled himself, expecting an attack around every corner. But as he delved deeper into the labyrinth, he remained alone.

When he told the team that he could take down Hikaru, even he himself knew how unlikely that was. Not that he didn't have faith in his powers, but more that he knew he was undeniably weaker than Hikaru. He just didn't remember being significantly weaker than the other.

When the pathway became narrower, Riki decided it was going to get bad soon. Indeed, as he expected, he was soon greeted with a smooth stone wall, adorned with a single large lever in the centre of the wall. There were no sources of light, no flaming torches or sunlight from above, only Riki's bright ball of light gave him vision.

"Well," Riki managed cheerfully, "There's only one option, right?" Resting his scythe against the wall momentarily, he grabbed the lever and gave it a firm tug. He probably should have thought that through a little better.

At once he was sent toppling down through an apparent trapdoor, which was annoying but relatively harmless after he landed heavily. His scythe, luckily, had joined him for the ride down but he reckoned it would have limited use against an immortal like Hikaru. He managed to gather that he was in a large, wide space with an open area, cool wind against his burning cheeks.

Speaking of the devil, when Riki recovered, there was a tall, lean figure standing before him, arms tightly crossed, silvery tentacles wriggling behind him, reminiscent of a gumiho's tail.

"Long time no see," Hikaru drawled sarcastically.

All around them were stones and dust, it seems Riki would need a different plan than last time.

Hikaru spread his arms grandly, "Do you like this place? There is nothing you could burn here."

Riki blinked, before saying, "Are you serious? How can you still be bitter about that?"

"I could not believe you would think of something like that."

"I'm hurt."

"I'll hurt you even more," Hikaru taunted.

"That depends if you can even touch me."

"Oh, please. Doesn't it suck to be just a smidge weaker than me?"

"Eh, I'll live. But, I don't know why you rewrote history," Riki's spikes became longer, branching out even further, "I developed my technique first, so don't flatter yourself."

Hikaru gave a condescending laugh, "Don't forget, my energy has been the strongest among us all."

"That's not true," Riki beamed, "Euijoo's is."

While Hikaru made a face, Riki added, "Also, since we've last met, I've been training."

That was a half lie but Riki figured sounding cocky and confident now couldn't hurt. It may be the last time he'll be able to.

With a scowl, Hikaru began at once, four tentacles shooting directly at him. Hands now tightly gripping his scythe (he learnt his lesson), Riki slashed at the tentacles, succeeding in cutting one but doing minimal damage to the rest.

"You want to use that earthly weapon on my energy?" Hikaru cackled as he continued his barrage of attacks. Riki managed to roll his eyes as his own energy spikes began to extend, focusing on making them long and plentiful, resulting in dozens of ever so thin spikes curving from his back.

His spikes worked to pin Hikaru's tentacles down, which was successful for a second, until Hikaru tossed his head languidly and the tentacles started to split into separate tentacles, easily evading Riki's spikes.

"You aren't the only one who's been practising," Hikaru taunted.

Features contorted in concentration, Riki's spikes stabbed at Hikaru but while some managed to make contact, most were broken off by Hikaru's swift tentacles, Hikaru barely batting an eyelid at the tiny pricks of blood dotting his skin as the wounds healed rapidly.

It was a back and forth for a bit, trading blows and managing small victories that were quickly crushed by a counter attack.

Then, to his horror, Riki looked down to see one of Hikaru's tentacles slithering around his torso before he was ripped off from the ground and hurled towards the wall. Riki felt his spine contact against every single rock as the wall broke from the force that Hikaru used. Scrapes and bruises blossomed over Riki's skin, and while it hurt tremendously, he was still alive. Staggering to his feet as he regained his ground, Riki could literally hear the smug smile Hikaru wore as he crooned, "My, my. Not so confident now, are we?"

He had been tossed through the wall, literally breaking through the little arena Kyungmin had worked to provide for them.

As Riki coughed and tried to make his legs stop wobbling, he realised they were at a temple, likely the one Euijoo mentioned Death had taken over. He took a quick scan at all the wood and greenery surrounding them, before Hikaru's tentacles got to work shredding them up while still managing to deflect Riki's mild attacks, much to his annoyance.

Already in too much pain, as a last resort, Riki rolled his dice but Hikaru was more observant this round, his tentacles swooping in to crush the glass dice into smithereens.

"Rude!" Riki exclaimed, disappointed that his plan had been foiled. His back screamed in agony but he ignored his multiple likely fractures that would heal soon enough.

He was in pain and his energy was waning, so he figured if he didn't use the final card up his sleeve, he would be taking his final breath. He didn't like using this technique since it was a dirty trick but then again, there's nothing considered dirty when one is trying to survive.

Riki shone a blindingly bright ray of light directly into Hikaru's eyes, despite being immortal, he was still sensitive to such intense light that he stepped back, eyes tightly shut. Taking this opportunity, Riki immediately plunged two of his spikes straight into Hikaru's eyes, piercing through his head.

As Hikaru stumbled around howling in pain but still very much alive, Riki let out a long whistle, "So we won't die even if our brain's are poked through? Ah, maybe it's because my energy spikes are too thin. I'll make them thicker next time."

Gnashing his teeth, Hikaru spat out, "That was low, even for you."

Riki shrugged, "I should have done it from the start. It was out of pure grace on my part to have not done that from the start."

Fueled by anger, Hikaru's writhing tentacles continued to smash the beautiful, delicate temple into ruins, as blood ran down his pale face. Because of the haphazard manner the tentacles were moving, they were doing more damage to the structures around than to their actual target, who could carefully manoeuvre his way towards Hikaru.

When he was in a suitable location close enough, Riki managed a mildly apologetic smile to Hikaru, who of course couldn't see it. When one of Hikaru's tentacles brushed against Riki, Hikaru released a triumphant scoff, before Riki chopped his head off cleanly with his scythe.

The tentacles flopped limply as Hikaru's lean body collapsed in a pool of blood. The immortal's angelic face was stained with tears, blood and pain.

The once serene temple area was now a barren land, every plant and tree uprooted, grass torn to shreds and the temple lying in unrecognisable ruins.

Drained both emotionally and physically, Riki fell to his knees by the ruins of the temple, eyes still fixed on Hikaru's unmoving body.