dawn of shadows

Chapter five

I'm off now, Kumi said as she was about to open a portal. Then I will be seeing you when it's complete, Giichi responds. That is the plan, Kumi says. Then the man smashes into the throne room with his bladed staff. He goes to stab Kumi. Light art: ultraviolet barrier, his weapon hits a transparent purple barrier. The king grabs his weapon and charges at the man. He had a two sided battle ax that could split into two one sided battle axes. The man uses the staff part of the weapon and blocks his attack. Light art: spear of light, she creates a white spear and tries to stab the man. He stops blocking the king's ax and deflects Kumi’s attack. The king splits his weapon and goes in for another strike attempt. At the same time Kumi is trying to thrust her spear again. They are trying to overwhelm him with a flurry of attacks. The man spins his weapon around deflecting all of their attacks in rapid succession. Kumi and Giichi jump back. Light art: ball of light, she creates a shining white ball in her hands and fires it at the man. Shadow art: black lightning, the man fires a black bolt lightning from his fingers. When it collides with the ball of light a great explosion is made blasting them all out of the room. Kumi catches Giichi and they land safely on the peak of the mountain right next to the castle. The man soon joins them. Kumi, who is this guy, Giichi asks. He is one of the seven shadows, the first shadow, Miran. He can use shadow arts but his greatest magic is illusion style. A magic exclusive to him. And he is skilled with his weapon too so we must be cautious when fighting him. So you know a lot about me, it won't save you, Miran says. Illusion style: deception, he charges forwards. Kumi turns around and puts her spear in a blocking position. A clash of weapons can be heard and Miran appears as the him charging forwards disappears. Oh your good, Miran says as he jumps back. What was that, Giichi asks. He created an illusion of himself, our brains can't handle the information of their being two of him. Possibly a part of the spell but it means we fail to see him because of his illusion. You can't rely on your eyes when against this guy. Listen, I don't think you can fight a battle like this. You should retreat, otherwise you may only be in my way. Oh don't think I would allow that, Miran says. Illusion style: metaphorical cage, a massive circular cage forms around the peak. Well I guess retreat is out, Kumi says. Just don't make any moves, you can't fight a battle like this. I understand, Giichi says. Something to know about his moves, Kumi says. None of them are real. There only illusions, but if your brain thinks them real then there isn't really a difference between fantasy and reality. But his technique is limited. Illusion style only manipulates the illusions we see. But to create them in the first place he administers a toxin. It's an invisible gas. It can be found from a special flower but it's a rare flower. But his staff has the special ability to create it. If he doesn't have that staff his technique becomes pointless. Although it will be difficult to take it from him. Although it's only an option, knowing as much as you can about your opponent is the key to beating them. Huh, strange, Miran says. You seem to know quite a lot about me despite this being our first time meeting. I've never met your sisters either so I am wondering as to how you know so much about me and my technique. I suppose I should test the limits of your knowledge to gain a clue. Illusion style: tranquil forest, their surroundings disappear along with Miran and it is all replaced by a nightly lit forest. Do you know what this is, Giichi asks. No I've not heard of this, Kumi says. They snap out of the forest back to reality when a hole opens up in Kumi and blood starts flowing out. Miran appears again as the one piercing her with his staff. I see so you don't know about that technique, Miran says. Although if someone had told you about my techniques then they obviously would have had to live to do so. So it's someone who is smart enough to figure out my techniques but didn't see all of them and escaped to live. Did I fight someone like that? He snaps his fingers, Youko, yes it's Youko. She's your source right. As if.. I'd.. ever tell that.. to someone like you, Kumi says breathing heavily. She grabs hold of the staff, she quickly jumps back into the air. Light art: light thread, she has attached a light rope to his staff and pulls it to the ground. He obviously wouldn't let go of it so he is stuck in place. Light art: one thousand sunshines annihilation beam, she puts her hands on top of each other to a tilt and aims it right at him. A giant beam of light comes from her hands fastly approaching Miran. Shadow art: black lightning, he fires this to try and counter the beam of light. They clash for an instant but the light quickly overpowers the shadow and hits him. It blasts him through the peak of the mountain and all the way outside of the city. Kumi lands on the ground. They see as the cage disappears likely due to the toxin losing effect and the source being far away. Kumi grabs her stomach, she feels the pain of the wound. Kumi, Giichi says as she is in pain. You need to take it easy. No I'm fine, she responds. This is nothing. Stay here, she says as she chases after Miran.
  She finds Miran just outside the city. From a diagonal right everything upwards he was wearing was blown apart. That means his face is clear as day. He had black hair that reached down to his eyes and those eyes were glowing red. He stands and spins his weapon for flair and then stabs it into the ground, is that all you've got. Kumi was annoyed by this but kept her cool. She manifests her spear and goes to stab him. Illusion style: binding chains, illusion chains form around her stopping her movements. He lifts his weapon and goes to stab her. Light art: ultraviolet sickle, she manages to somehow break free of the chains and grabs his weapon with one hand. And in the other she manifests a sickle made of ultraviolet light and pierces him. How did you get free of my chains? I never used them against Youko. No she didn't, I figured this out myself, Kumi responds. Pain breaks the illusion. A small amount like a tiny cut isn't enough, so I broke my finger. Also if you drag several people into an illusion only one has to break free of it to end it. And as good of a fighter you are, you play with your food too much. If you had used this sooner than you could have won. Or maybe if you had killed me when you had me caught in that forest. What makes you so confident you've won, Miran says. This wound isn't so bad, plus you clearly aren't any good at taking wounds as that stomach wound is pretty bad. I estimate I will have at least a few more minutes to fight before this wound renders me incapable of doing so, she responds. And I've taken your greatest advantage. Light art: rune cancelation, the runes on his staff become filled with light. That staff was made by the god of shadows out of steel found in shadow territory. You can't get a more shadow weapon, so I can cancel its effect with my own magic. You can release the illusion toxin anymore. He pulls the sickle from his body and jumps back. Who said I needed that to win, you said it yourself I'm a good fighter. You can nullify the magic but it's still a weapon. Light art: twin swords of light, we will see. Just then both Touma and Giichi join the fight. And they heard what was said so they know his illusion magic is out. Oh three on one, this is about the integrity I expected from this kingdom. Well then come on I'll kill all of ya. Giichi splits his ax and charges at Miran with Kumi. Touma pulls out a hand sized metal ball. Metallic style: sword, the ball molds into the shape of a sword. I see so your technique is the same as Chikao, of course to a much lesser degree, Miran says. They all are about to strike him. Weapon control: slash dome, he spins his staff in a super fast pace to create a dome of slashes. All of their weapons were repealed back. Weapon control: frontal assault, he thrusts his staff forward in a repeated rapid succession at Kumi. She puts her swords together in a blocking like manner. Light art: glimmering barrier, this makes all of his attacks hit an invisible barrier, they don't all stop at the same place. But this technique strained her and she fell to the ground. Giichi and Touma are attacking from behind. Weapon control: quick strike, he turns around and slashes them in an instant thrusting them back. However the wound wasn't too deep. Light art: flash, Kumi has recovered and she flashes past Miran and gets the other two a bit away from him. Listen, I know what that technique is. Weapon control is like releasing a specific technique with your weapon but to its absolute greatest potential. So think of it as the ultimate technique for a specific move. It can't be easily countered or blocked and it's a danger to hit by.  It drains his stamina greatly every time he uses it. So we just need to keep forcing him to. Wait, I just need to touch the blade, Touma said. I can manipulate any metallic objects with my technique. No that won't work, Says. That's made out of moon steel, it's the rarest metal in the world and it's immune to magical manipulation. And we can't hope to break it either, once forged the metal becomes indestructible. When I blocked its ability I was only clashing shadow runes with light magic, it's not manipulation. Are you done stratising, so boring you all are, Miran says. Touma pulls out five metal balls. Metallic style: spear, he forms them into five spears that float next to him. He then has them fly towards Miran. He twirls his staff catching the spears with the blades. What a bland attack, was that your way of trying to disprove me. He drops the spears from his staff and then rushes at Touma. Kumi steps in front and blocks the attack. Weapon control: spinning correlation, he spins his staff vertical. It wasn't very fast or with much effort but because it was weapon control each time it slammed into her swords when she blocked it felt like giant hammers. Eventually the swords break. Weapon control: pierce, he thrusts his staff into her upper center chest going right through and hitting Touma a little bit lower. Kumi grabs hold of the staff and Touma does the same, making Miran unable to pull it out. Giichi puts his ax back together and runs at Miran with a downward strike. Miran lets go of the staff and kicks Kumi away with Touma. He puts his hands in front of him to form a shield. Giichi goes through the skin of his arms but he can't make it past the bone. What the, how, Giichi says. Miran pulls his arms from the weapon and grabs it, pulling Giichi to his face. Because you swing like a child, Miran kicks him away. You have no real skill, you live in a world apart from the talented. If you had the skill to swing that weapon you could shatter boulders with ease. I have seen someone cut a mountain in two with a katana just with skill. What a pathetic king you are. Let me show you trash what true skill is. He holds the king's ax above him about to swing. Kumi pulls the staff out of both of them and throws it far away. Light art: shining fist barrage, a bunch of white fists come rushing at Miran. He splits the ax and holds one about to throw it. Weapon control: smash, he throws it through the fists and into Kumi's eye. It only logged itself in her skull so she is still alive. He charges at her with the other ax. Weapon control: horizon slash, he launches a horizontal slash going for her neck. Touma touches the ax, metallic style: melt, the ax melts into a metal goop but not before it cut off Touma’s hand. Miran grabs Touma's arm that lost its hand. Weapon control: smash, he uses weapon control on his own fist and punches Touma in the face, sending him away and breaking his own hand. Using weapon control of one's self blunts the normal power it would have and breaks what they used it on. But Miran only needs one functional hand to win. Because if he kills Kumi her technique blocking his staff from releasing the toxin will be removed. And Touma and Giichi can't combat his illusion style. He jumps on top of Kumi causing her to lean back but not fall. He takes the ax out of her head. Weapon control: sky smash, a vertical slash with great power. Water art: shock wave, Nori arrived on the scene and used this technique on Miran. It sent a shock wave that traveled through every liquid in his body sending him flying. Nori what are you doing here, Kumi said while holding her face in where she had the ax. You weren't supposed to be gone this long so I came to check on you, Nori answers. Now let's end this. She looks furiously at Miran for what he did to her sister. Water art: a hundred hungry piranhas, she creates one hundred piranhas out of water and sends them to Miran to rip him to shreds. He knows the ax isn't a fast enough weapon to slash them all so he has a different idea. He tosses the ax up. Weapon control: forcible impact, he slams his head into the ax, it cracks his skull and breaks the ax. However it also creates a shockwave that destroys all of the fish. He collapses on his knees, blood spills out his head and mouth. Water art: twin dragon tide, she sends two dragons made of water that flow like the tides at Miran. Weapon control: forced smash, he uses it on his leg kicking through the dragons and smashing into Kumi's head. Although this broke his leg it also knocked her out which forced the release of her technique. Water art: shock wave, Nori turns around and tries to hit him with this. Weapon control: smash, he slams his other leg into the ground sending Kumi, Nori and himself flying in different directions. He now had a broken head, hand and legs, but he did this recent smash to throw himself in a specific direction. He landed next to his staff. He couldn't walk and he only had one hand to use it but he had it. Despite the immense pain he must have felt he was smiling widely. Illusion style: chaos, this creates so many random things that it overloads the brain making them incapable of doing anything. Although Miran has never been immune to seeing his illusions and so he will be caught in this as well. And because he is unable to do anything he can not keep admitting a stream of toxic from his staff. Which means the technique will end when the toxin dissipates which takes one minute. However his goal is to buy time so he's fine with this. Of course not all of his techniques affect him, like tranquil forest. And things like the binding chains can be seen by all who have taken in the toxin however he chooses who is bound. They all snap out of it as the one minute is up. Nori quickly stands, water art: piercing pressure stream, she shoots a fast pace stream of water from her hands which has high piercing power. He holds his staff in front of him to split the stream to the sides. This isn't good, Miran thinks. I only have enough stamina for one more weapon control and my mana is also dwindling. So if that's the case I can at least take out one of them. He holds his staff in his and like he's about to throw it. Weapon control: force smash, force smash isn't a direct attack like a normal smash but instead a flying smash. And so Miran lets go of his staff and it flies through the air. It goes past Nori and Kumi indicating they weren't the targets. It then becomes clear who he's aiming at is king Giichi. Giichi sitting on the ground notices it but is not fast enough to run. He closes his eyes. When he reopens them he's surprised to not be dead. He sees his friend, his advisor, to be standing in front of him with the staff in him. He used the last two metal balls he had to create shields. The staff smashed through them but it stopped the staff from hitting Giichi barely. Touma falls over dead. Touma, Giichi says with a shake in his voice. No this can't be, no no no, I won't accept this. He says this with tears in his eyes. Damn so I failed, Miran said. You bastard, Nori yelled. Water art: giant water dragon, she creates a giant water dragon and sends it to kill Miran. A cloaked figure jumps in front of Miran and takes out their sword. Sword technique: spin, he spins himself with his blade and disperses the water dragon. When I sent that message I didn't request reinforcements but I knew someone would come, Miran said. It took you long enough Chikao. You shouldn't be complaining to the guy who saved your life, Chikao said. Then again you are our leader so I would definitely be in trouble if I let you die. Well what are your orders? Normally I'd like to kill either Giichi or Kumi but with Nori around I don't think you can pull it off. And my legs and one hand are broken among other things so I can't help. For now we retreat, although I will need my staff. Understood. Chikao pulls out a handful of pebble sized metal balls. His technique is similar to Touma's in the fact they both manipulate metallic objects, however Chikao’s is a bit different. He tosses the handful of the beads at Nori. What is this, Nori thinks. Kumi touches her shoulder as she is now awake, light art: flash, she moves them both back. The metal beads exploded upon everything they touch. Kumi says to Nori, his technique is to turn metallic objects into explosives. God, is there anything you don't know about us, Miran says. Light art: light thread, she uses this to latch on to Giichi. Grab the staff, Kumi says to him. He grabs it and she pulls him over to their side. I guess I won't be getting that back, Miran says. I suppose it's time to go. Very well then, Chikao says. He ties Miran to his back and runs off. No one tried to stop them because it would have been a wasted effort. The only one who can still fight is Nori. There's no guarantee they could win this, so no reason to push when the enemy's retreating.