Protectors- Consequence

Chapter Twenty Nine: The War Begins

Ra stood between Noctum and Shu, before he pointed at the sky with his right hand, anticipation causing the very air to shudder. A flare of energy from space shot down through the snow, illuminating the mountainsides of rural Japan. The energy of the nuclear weapons was drawn into Ra's body, and he glowed as brightly as the sun, shining light breaking the darkness. In the sudden light, Noctum felt exposed, as if his shield had been stripped from his body, leaving him defenceless. Contrarily, Shu seemed to glow in the sun, basking in it like it was the best feeling in the world. Ra released a bolt of golden Aura, which hung in the air like a third sun, before exploding in a green light as Anubis gestured at it. Golden and green embers fluttered around them, forming a giant barrier in their wake, keeping the three Gods, Simon and Noctum from fleeing the scene,

"There are thirteen seconds until the battle begins," Anubis stated, "say your last words to each other outside of battle,"

"Why me?" Shu asked quickly, "why would you fight me first, and not one of the others? I have to know,"

"You?" Noctum replied, a sinister smile forming under his bandanna, "because you're obviously the youngest. Killing the young is easy,"

It was anything but, as he remembered for a moment as a flash of one of his missions as a Highlander crossed his mind, filling his chest with guilt. He had been forced by Bjorn to kill the kid of a rival gang leader, and had done so without hesitation,

"You may commence the battle," Ra stated, and he and Anubis left the scene,

Noctum considered pulling off his jacket, but decided that it would be more useful to make an impression on Shu. His Aura blew the jacket apart as it erupted from every atom of his being, burning away all the snow in an instant as he rose above the ground like a phoenix from the ashes. His eyes, blazing points of fire, locked onto Shu's which were still the eyes of a human, although the fire within his soul burned brightly enough that it was visible inside of his pupils. Shu's body caught alight, and he burned as brightly as Noctum, perhaps even more so,

"I tried to find the goodness in your soul," Shu blazed, the flames drowned out by his roar, "But there is none. You kill innocents, target the weakest for your own selfish gain. You are the definition of a villain!"

Shu rocketed towards Noctum, but the vigilante disappeared, reappearing behind him in an instant. He landed a sharp blow to the back of Shu's neck, following it up with a vacuum wave that pulled the God back towards him, just in time to have a ball of Aura slammed into his spine. Shu was knocked to the ground, but was pulled back upwards by a vacuum wave. Noctum readied another attack like the last one, pulling more and more Aura into the sphere, but suddenly, a hand caught his arm from behind,

"What the-" 

"Didn't think you would've used your full speed earlier," Shu smiled as he held Noctum's arm back, the crackling flames of the Aura dissipating from his open palm, "That attack really hurt me, but I was only using about half of my speed before,"

Adam snatched his hand back towards him, before spinning midair for a kick that Shu dodged effortlessly. Noctum began to smile as his body readied itself for a real fight, the type he hadn't had the pleasure of enjoying since The Stranger. He unleashed a barrage of attacks, the sound barrier shattering as his fists flew past Shu's body, the alien avoiding every attack with ease. Shu's eyes flashed for a moment, and he appeared behind Noctum, attacking just as hard and twice as fast as the Vigilante, basically every attack having no trouble hitting Noctum's vitals,

'Not good,' Adam thought as Shu's attacks increased even further in speed, 'if this keeps up, I'll be dead before I have the chance to fight back.'

Shu's eyes smouldered as he gave his all in the attack, forcing Noctum further and further backwards towards the ground. When the vigilante's back touched the ground, and he could not avoid any more attacks, Shu pooled all of his Aura into his fists, bludgeoning the man with the sheer force of his punches. Noctum held firm against these attacks, and with a roar of desperation, he released a massive amount of Aura from his body at once, creating an effect similar to that of a bomb, knocking Shu sharply backwards. He seemed a bit singed by the attack, but rushed back in anyways,