Cross Worlds

Chapter 43-1: "Knight of Spirits"

"I'll have you know, the previous leader trained me personally. After all, I can use a variety of magics and powers, just as he can control all the elements." Sumira readies her gunblade, a very similar make and design to Riku Fantasy's, except her's is white and silver rather than jet black.

Riku has done all he can to rest and prepare for this morning. He swings his wrists at his sides, his blades sliding out and lighting up with energy. "I bet I could kick his butt if I wanted to right now, so his apprentice will be a good measurement of my strength." He grins.

Sumira glows in a golden aura, stabbing her sword into the floor and resting her palms on the butt of her sword as the field changes to suit their battle; a grassy plain that stretches out as far as the eye can see. "Well then, come at me if you're so confident. As I promised, this isn't going to be easy."

Riku "teleports" right in front of her, spinning and swinging both of his wrist blades at her. His attack gets blocked in an instant, but not by Sumira. Her expression doesn't change as Riku's eyes widen, a golden silhouette of a young knight with a spear in his hands being the one to block the attack. "Lend me your power..." Sumira mutters as she reaches out and presses her palm against the ghost's back.

The ghost vanishes in less than a second, causing Riku to fall forward a bit. "Uh oh-" In Sumira's hand is a glowing ball of water, and she swiftly moves her hand to Riku's chest as he falls toward her. Before her attack can make contact, Riku fires his own weak blast of energy to his left to propel his body out of the way. The sphere of water explodes into a geyser that would've launched Riku quite the distance had he taken the hit. "It's good to know she needs to actually touch the spirits she calls upon if she wants to use their powers..."

"Your reflexes are good." Sumira smiles and calls upon the ghosts of two more young knights, pressing her palms to their backs and absorbing their magic in an instant as well. "You'll have to be a little bit faster though." Sumira's legs glow as they become encased in lightning, and she launches herself at Riku, kicking him in the gut.

Riku barely blocks her kick in time, grunting as he feels the force of her attack in his arms. "Damn..!" This time he does get sent flying, though Sumira is quick to chase after him. In her hand she charges up a ball of energy while also charging energy into her gunblade. Riku charges magic power into his hands at the same time as fast as he can. The two fire at one another at the same time, Riku's magic just barely overpowering Sumira's and deleting it.

Riku is quick to "teleport" right to her as well, quickly following up for a counterattack. He thrusts both of his blades at her with rapid precision, Sumira blocking and parrying what she can. Riku's speed keeps Sumira on the defensive however; even when she tries to speed away with her lightning legs, Riku just "teleports" right to her again.

"Your technique and speed are good, but I won't go down that easily!" Sumira shouts, her legs glowing blue as the electricity around them intensifies. As Riku "teleports" to her, all Sumira has to do is press her feet against the ground to do what she wants to do. The combined lightning and energy magics create a fast, weak shockwave that hits Riku dead on.

"Woah!" While it doesn't hurt Riku, it does push into him like a strong gust of wind, keeping him from advancing for half a second, which is all Sumira needs. Sumira is quick to launch herself off the ground and slam her knee into Riku's gut, knocking the wind right out of him. Before he can think to move away from her, she twirls her body and slams her leg into his side, knocking him several yards away from her.

Riku barrel rolls in the air, grunting as he slams his blades into the ground to catch himself. When he looks up, he can see Sumira calling more spirits to aid her in battle. Two of the young knights with blades dash at Riku, their blades at the ready, whilst two more stay at her sides to offer their magic power.

Riku retracts his blades and launches himself off the ground, magic encasing both of his legs now. He's sent flying above the two spirits charging at him and soaring toward Sumira. He "teleports" right to her once more and throws a kick, but she vanishes before his eyes. His magic encased leg slides right through the two magicless spirits before him, deleting them with his power.

In an instant, Sumira is right behind him, throwing her gunblade into the air so she can punch and kick Riku a few times quickly. She manages to land one punch on Riku, but he reacts fast, catching her leg before it connects and throwing a few punches and kicks of his own. Just before Riku manages to land a punch, she's gone again when her gunblade falls into her hand, and then she's at his side, firing a beam of energy from the weapon into him.

Riku grunts as he flies back once more, panting heavily as he readies his blades once again. "She's not teleporting... Too slow for that..." He mumbles to himself as he keeps his eyes focused on her, using his magic to sort of "zoom in" on her with his eyes. Then he sees it; Sumira shrinking down to the size of an ant, and using some sort of light speed magic to reach him in less than a second.

Riku is able to react fast enough this time, aiming his palm right at her as she grows to normal size. Sumira's eyes widen as Riku fires a beam of magic power right into her chest. Sumira is quick to catch herself, grinding her feet into the ground and looking up at Riku. Not only did he just manage to completely erase the two magics she was using, but he also got rid of the armor guarding her torso, a gray tank top underneath.

"I didn't think that was actually going to work. Since the magic didn't belong to you, I was able to purge it from your natural aura." Riku chuckles, "teleporting" right in front of Sumira. "You can give up now if you want. I'd rather not hurt you more than I need to." Riku says as he charges more magic power into his hands. It's clear he doesn't plan to let her summon any more spirits.

"Oh Riku, the idea here is for me to make you break past your limits. The only way this fight will stop is if you make me unable to fight." Sumira fires a shot from her gunblade into the dirt, causing a quick smoke screen to build up. Riku is quick to fire two beams of magic from his hands, but they don't connect with anything. Riku fires a weak shockwave from his hands to blow the smoke away, but Sumira is gone, or so he believes.

Sumira is right above him, gaining the magic powers of two more spirits that float at her sides. Riku looks up as he sees her shadow and "teleports" to her once more, but when he appears in front of her, he can't move. "W-What..?!" He struggles in vain, his body stuck in place.

"You see, there were two friends of mine who had rather special magic powers...not powers they awakened, but powers genetically modified into their very being." Riku's eyes widen as Sumira explains this. That means that those two knights were no different than Chiyako when they were still alive. "Their powers were telekinesis, and electrokinesis. Powers that came from their minds and not magic. It strained them both heavily, which eventually led to their deaths but..."

Sumira's eyes glow and without even moving Riku's body is sent flying back down to the ground. Riku grunts, using his magic power to both "teleport" several feet away, as well as making his aura burst to break free of her hold on him. "That means I'm not going to be able to delete those powers...because there's no aura for my magic to delete."