The Cursed Swordsman

Part 22: Return of Lightning

———

As Claus stood and grabbed his sword, it materializes his blade from the metal hilt. He knew exactly where he was dropped off, given the surroundings. The Temple of Storms. Above him, sitting in her throne, was Tine, once again. She didn't seem to change at all, but her expression was more serious than it was the last time them faced off. "So the tiny Goddess of Storms hasn't had enough of a beat down the first time?" He asked with a smirk.

With a deep breath, the young woman starts to descend the stairs, her lightning tome floating up to her side. "I'm the not the same person you battled with last time." She says. The aura she gave off was completely different. Before, she trembled. She kept her distance for her safety, and never stepped closer than 20 meters of him.

Her new attitude was certainly a shock to him, as she now stood right before him, about 10 meters away from him, as she raises her arm up and ready as sparks began to fall from her palm. "You do seem more competent, I'll give you that." Claus says, getting into position himself. "But it will change nothing."

"Then we shall see." Tine says. "I don't intend to die today."

The space between them falls silent. She was letting Claus make the first move? With what little distance between them, Claus aims to end the battle immediately. In the blink of an eye, he charges and swings down. But just as fast as he strikes, Tine flashes backwards like lightning, then fires a bolt right at him. Since his sword wasn't metal anymore, it wouldn't attract the lightning bolt toward his direction, so he attempts to jump up and away. However, he wasn't expecting the attack to redirect at such a sharp angle and zap him. Tine held the discharge in an attempt to get him to yield, but he swings his sword and nullified the lightning magic completely.

He lands on the ground and glares at Tine while kneeled. She hadn't moved from her new position, and she kept her arm, ready to fire off another bolt if he got too close. Despite how much his body was tingling, he chuckles and stands up again. "Guess you have gotten better..." He says and raises his arm. "Then let's see you deal with this!" Claus shouts and starts to channel more of his cursed energy into his sword, making it grow.

Knowing that he was planning to end this in a single strike, Tine prepares herself. She knew his sword could nullify her divine powers, so there was no point in blocking the attack, or trying to interrupt it. All she could do was evade. Once his attack was ready, Claus swings his arm downward as a massive wave of red aura flies forward. He then adjusts his stance and swings horizontally to create a plus shaped wave, then diagonally upward, tilted to the right, then downward, tilted to the left. A massive cross of cursed energy rushed toward Tine, who just narrowly avoided them by slipping through the gaps between each swing like lightning.

Claus's eyes widen. She actually dodged all that?! He could hardly believe it. Last time he did this, she froze up!

Knowing that Claus was now immobile after that attempt, Tine raises her arm and fires another bolt at him. But to her own surprise, he swung his sword and stopped the attack. He then charges her down, sword over his shoulder to slash at her once she was in range. He picks up speed and disappears for a moment, and reappears right in front of her, arm ready to swing. As he does, Tine raises her own hand, looking as if she going to zap him again, but that wasn't the case. In her hand, lightning forms, yes, but Tine could be seen gripping the bolt of electricity and using it to block Claus's attack. And unlike her other attacks, this action wasn't immediately canceled from his sword. The shock on Claus's face could only be seen for a moment, as Tine reaches up and grabs his sword arm, sending a jolt of electricity from her palm and straight to his muscles. Despite the screaming pain in his muscles, he refused to drop his weapon and held on, kicking her stomach, and sending her tumbling on the floor.

"Ugh...!" Claus grips his forearm, as he finally relaxes the arm that was being shocked. "How the hell did you block that...? My sword cuts through divine power like butter...!" He growls.

Tine stands up, still holding her lightning sword. "Because this doesn't have a single ounce of my divine power in it...!" She groans, and holds her arm up. "This is made from my own magic...! With my own control!" She declares. As Claus was still recovering from the shock, she claps her hands together and changes the lightning sword's shape, now making it a lightning whip. With excellent control over her magic, she swings her arm and strikes Claus's leg, electrocuting him again as he kneels on his one good knee now. Tine then pulls her arm back and aims to strike his other leg to cripple him completely, but Claus rolls to the avoid the attack. His muscles soon stop tingling and he's able to move normally again. He plunges his sword into the ground and erupts a massive amount of cursed energy , sending a massive shockwave toward Tine. Using wind magic now, she leaps into the air and rains down bolts of lightning at her foe.

Claus quickly starts to dart about the temple to avoid her attacks, and starts to jump on the walls to attack her. The young Goddess uses her magic to create an updraft, sending him into the ceiling of the temple. Once he's stuck there, she strikes again, zapping him once again. He manages to push himself out of the stone ceiling and goes in for an attack from above, which is blocked by Tine's lightning sword once again. Claus pushes himself away this time to avoid being electrocuted, and swings a wave of aura at her as he falls back to the ground. Tine gracefully avoids the attack, still hovering above him as she fires off more lightning downward. Claus spins in the air to narrowly avoid it, and swings again, sending the tiniest slash that was barely noticeable. It strikes Tine in the shin, causing her whole lower leg to stop functioning. She winced from the pain, and goes crashing down with Claus.

As the two stared each other down, Tine smirked as Claus landed on his feet. He had just triggered her trap. Right in the specific spot that he landed in, lightning shackles burst from the floor and lock themselves around his ankles and wrists. The constant voltage that surged through him was too much at this point, as he screams and drops his weapon, the energy blade dissipating until only the hilt remained. His body convulsed under the constant voltage coursing through his body, as he glared at Tine with hateful eyes.

Despite the fight basically being over, Tine raises her arm as a giant lightning bow and arrow materialize above her. Using as much energy as she can muster, the electric bowstring is pulled back as far as it can go. So much so that any normal weapon would snap in half. As she continued to pull it back with her magic, it got bigger and bigger. Finally, it was pulled back as far as it could go. "RrrrrrrrrRRRRAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!!" She screams so loud that her voice sounded like it was going to give out entirely, as the lightning arrow is loosed and heading straight for Claus!

As Claus is unable to move or block the attack, he gracefully accepts his death, and closes his eyes. However, no impact is felt. Only a loud crash behind him. He opens his eyes again and notices the amps had softened up on his body. He was no longer being shocked, but he still couldn't move. He looked back and saw a massive crater in the wall behind him with some serious smoke left by the intense lightning strike. She...missed? No. That wasn't the case. "Why...?" He groaned, genuinely confused as to why she redirected her killing blow.

Tine was silent and limps over to him as best she could. Once she is right in front of him, she places her hand on his cheek and smiles. "Because I know...there are people who look up to you... Who love you... Who are inspired by you..." She says, tears rolling down her face. "Killing you...would do nothing. It will only perpetuate the circle of hatred and revenge, until eventually it eats up everyone... The people you killed... Death would be too light a punishment... So you will live... Live...knowing that you do so only because I let you..." She says. Her hand slowly reaches down to his, as she takes hold of it and closes her eyes. "Claus...you were a worthy challenger... And for that, I grant you...the Stigmata of Storms... As punishment for your transgressions, you will serve me as my retainer..." She says, as a symbol of lightning is burned on the back of Claus's hand.

His eyes widen in disgust. He struggles, but can't break the lightning chains that bound him. "This is a sick, twisted joke...!" He growls. "I won't accept this!"

Tine stands as best she can, and looks down on him. Not with a condescending glare, but one with compassion and gentleness. With only a hint of contempt in her voice, she spoke "You don't have a choice this time..."