Cross Worlds

Chapter 44-2

"Don't go getting cocky just because you got one hit off." Raichi's aura explodes, blowing away all the smoke in the process. "There's a reason I can fight like this. It's because I'm strong, Riku."

"I really hope you don't fight like that when it comes to a real life and death battle, Raichi." Riku lands only a few feet away from Raichi.

The moment Riku's feet touch the ground, Raichi fires off a bombardment of light beams, almost in the exact same way he had done against Sorey. Riku quickly puts up a barrier around himself, gritting his teeth as he withstands his attack. "No, I don't fight like this in a real fight. However, I'm not trying to kill you Riku." Raichi's eyes glow in an almost sinister way as his pupils turn to slits. "That's why I need to see what you can handle."

"Well I'm already prepared for this move, so you're gonna have to try a little harder!" Riku's barrier gets stronger as he applies more magic power to it, making it glow brighter as it suddenly bursts and expands. The shockwave not only seemingly deletes Raichi's magic, but it also slams right into him.

"Damn, I was wondering how you were gonna overcome that!" Raichi says with an amused smirk on his face as he guards himself with his arms.

Riku is quick to "teleport" behind Raichi, his palm open and pointing right at his back. "If you don't give it your all, I promise you're gonna get hurt." Riku fires a powerful beam of his magic power into Raichi's back.

"You're getting rather cocky for someone who's not going all out himself..." Riku's eyes go wide as Raichi seems to be unfazed by his magic. Then he sees the glowing wings that have formed on his back guarding him. "I'll give you a little bit more, you've earned it." Raichi smirks as the energy tail on his back points to Riku's chest, breaking through his magic beam with relative ease.

Riku instinctually "teleports" to another spot on the field just before Raichi fires a sparkling blue beam of light from the tip of his tail. "That would've done more than just a little bit of damage if that hit me..."

In an instant, Raichi is right in front of Riku, fists encased in his dragon's energy claws. Riku quickly conjures up a barrier and crosses his arms over his chest, but Raichi's speedily punches right through the barrier, sending Riku flying. "Bitch!" He grunts, his blades taking more of the force. What annoys him is that Raichi hasn't taken his full "energy dragon" form yet, he's just using the pieces that he deems necessary.

Raichi flies after Riku, going to strike him again, but he just "teleports" once more. Raichi is able to follow the movement of Riku's body with his eyes however, simply flapping his wings once to change his trajectory. Riku's eyes go wide as he sees Raichi flying right at him, trying to fire a beam of magic at him, but Raichi easily avoids it. Raichi's leg becomes encased in another energy claw as he barrels to Riku and kicks him in the ribs in less than a second.

Riku gasps as he gets the wind knocked out of him. Raichi quickly follows up his attack, spinning forward to smack the top of Riku's head with his tell. Riku quickly slams into the ground, but is fast to catch himself and "teleport" once more. Raichi smirks, "I was hoping I wouldn't beat you that easy. Good on you for bouncing back!" Though his compliment is short lift as he fires another "lightshow" attack at Riku, more powerful now that he's taken his full energy dragon mode, and also firing from his wings and tail rather than just his hands.

Riku "teleports" repeatedly, doing everything he can to avoid the many thin beams of light flying all around him. Unlike Sorey though, he isn't able to avoid everything, grunting whenever he's grazed or full on hit. He tries to conjure a barrier, but the array is far too vast, strong, and fast. Every time he tries the barrier is instantly broken.

"You've got a problem you need to fix, Riku. If you don't, then you're never going to be able to beat me." Raichi focuses every beam closer and closer to Riku until he isn't able to run away anymore. Riku barely manages to avoid being hit by every single beam in the array as Raichi combines them all, making them explode on one point. Even though Riku finds a small gap to "teleport" through, the explosion still expands enough to slam into him.

Riku grunts in pain, gathering magic power into his blades and swinging them to cut through the explosion, deleting it. When the explosion fades away, Raichi is right in front of Riku, a beam of light gathered into his hand. However, Riku's prepared for it this time, using what light he managed to steal with his magic from Raichi and firing it at him at the same time. Though Raichi's beam is much stronger, the beam of light Riku fires is able to redirect the more powerful beam around him, allowing him to close in on Raichi.

With his free hand, Riku spins around and throws an orb of power into Raichi, just as he did when the fight began. Raichi blocks the attack with his arms, but at the same time Riku fires another beam with his other hand into Raichi's stomach, the one spot he isn't being protected by his magic energy. Raichi grunts as the beam hits him, but stands strong. That is, until Riku punches him as hard as he can, then slams both of his joined fists against the top of his head to knock him into the ground.

"You were saying?!" Riku shouts as he prepares to fire a bombardment of magic attacks into Raichi. However, he gets the daylight knocked out of him when he suddenly feels a heavy beam of energy crash into him from above. Riku coughs and groans, wobbling from where he stands. "W-What..?"

Raichi is already back on his feet. "You should've known I might use the beam of light you knocked away still, since it hadn't been deleted. Gotta think outside the box homie." Without another word, Raichi punches Riku in the gut as hard as he can, making Riku's vision blur. "The thing you need to work on to beat me is, being able to fire as much power as you want, whenever you want. You always have to gather energy to use stronger moves. If you fight like that in a real fight all alone, it may just cost you your life."

Raichi looks down at the now unconscious Riku hanging off of his shoulder. Raichi chuckles softly and pats him on the back. "Well, I guess I'll have to tell you when you're awake. Looks like this win goes to me today, Riku."