The End of an Era

Cael v. Sin

     There is a samurai sitting before a castle gate. He meditates quietly as Lexianna and Cael approach. Sin stands up and tucks his swords into his sash. Lexianna doesn't break stride and walks right past Sin. Sin makes no move to stop her. They both know what is meant to be. Instead Sin stares down Cael.

     "It occurs to me that I don't know you very well." Cael says.

     "Do you wish to waste time with idle chatter?" Sin replies curtly.

     "It doesn't hurt you any. In fact I'd say it's in your favor." Cael presses. There is long moment.

     "What would you like to know?" Sin says. He appears relaxed yet is anything but. To the untrained eye his guard is down. But Cael can see that he is ready to strike at a moments notice.

     "This place. It's important to you?"

     "It is." Sin says. Cael waits expectantly. "I served my master blindly. I was the most loyal of my peers. Even as they fled from the wicked and vile man we served, I stayed. Resolved to honor my oath. In the end I stood alone. Ten armies gathered to put an end to the tyranny of my lord. And I stood against them all. Not realizing that my lord had cursed me with undeath. The honorable death I thought I would receive was denied me. In the end my lord took his own life without lifting the curse placed on my body."

     "How did you escape that fate?" Cael asks genuinely curious. A faint smile graces Sin's face.

     "A young man fought me, died, and became a revenant who was dedicated to breaking the curse through fighting spirit." Sin explains.

     "Did it work?"

     "No." Sin chuckles. "But I had a friend to keep me company. Until we both faded from existence."

     "Yeah, that sounds like him." There is a long silence. "I suppose we should get on with it."

     The two warriors face off. Cael doesn't know anything other than Sin is a powerful Corporeal Seal user. In his mind Cael imagines the monstrous creatures that mutate in combat and Razz who fights with overwhelming attacks that smash opponents into nothingness. Yet looking at Sin's slender form it's hard to believe he his capable of either. Suddenly, Sin drops into a draw stance.

     "Nine Circles Initiation: Silver Styx Crossing." Sin in a single fluid motion increases the resilience of his muscle fibers and hyper oxygenates his body. The speed at with he unsheathes his sword is staggering. Not to mention it is infused with kinetic energy. The shear force of the blow reverberates up Caels arms when the attack is blocked.

     "First Circle." Sin, leaving no time wasted, immediately transitions into his next attack. Grasping the sword with both hands Sin once again strengthens his muscles and oxygenates his body. The attack is quick, made at an upwards forty five degree angle, and targets the underarm with the tip of the sword. Cael manages to block but again the force of an attack charged with so much kinetic energy unbalances him.

     "Second Circle." This attack is a thrust made at lightening speed. Cael manages to slip by the attack but the thrust and withdrawal of the sword creates a powerful vacuum that leaves Cael's shoulder dislocated and badly bruised. Cael curses and looks for an opening.

     "Third Circle." In a seamless transition Sin pulls back from the thrust into a counterclockwise horizontal cut aimed at Caels midsection. Thinking on his feet Cael teleports himself backwards a bit and fires his gunblade at Sin. As the Third Circle misses so does Caels bullet. The round passes through an after image as Sin ducks the bullet and continues his dance.

     "Fourth Circle." Sin takes a step forward and unleashes an attack that is gratuitous at best. Seeming to be in line with the two attacks before it is an attack made with both desire and hunger yet carries with it a purposeful intent to take the opponents life. Cael slips under the attack and thrusts the point of his blade upwards at Sin's heart. Same as before the blade passes through an after image.

     "Fifth Circle." Sin raises the sword high above his head and prepares to strike with a powerful downward cut. Cael reflexively teleports a significant distance away. Sin anticipates this and feints the cut into leaping slash. Covering the distance in an instant he crashes into Cael who is unable to block the strike. Cael is able to deflect a killing blow and instead the blade sinks into his shoulder. Sin raises his hand with his fingers gnarled. 

     Cael curses whatever fresh new hell this is. At the same time he does reflect on the peerless swordsmanship he is witness to. Sin, bearing the seal that makes him a physical juggernaut, has focused all his potential into these immaculate sword forms. Cael curses himself this time. He's wasted precious nano seconds  that could have been used to further formulate strategy.

     "Sixth Circle." Sin's hand twists and cracks as he ejects the bones as projectiles. The bone fragments perforate Cael who buckles and falls to one knee.

     "Seventh Circle." Sin draws the blade of his sword along his forearm. His blood and bone cling to the blade forming a macabre saw blade. Furthermore Sin seems to be vibrating the blade at such a frequency that it has begun to heat up. As Sin executes his cross cut the sword bursts into flames. Cael again manages to avoid a deathblow but he is severely burned and maimed by this technique.

     Sin then lifts his blade high above his head. Cael sees an opening in this coup de grace. Raising his gunblade he fires point blank into Sin's chest. The round however passes through yet another afterimage. Cael realizes too late exactly what the Eighth Circle is. Sin lands the killing blow from behind. 

     "Eighth and Ninth Circle." Sin has run his blade through Cael's heart by stabbing him in the back after tricking him into attacking an after image. It's a truly inspired technique.

     But Cael has treachery of his own. There is a great conflux of chronological energy  as Cael absorbs countless eons of his own timeline. Sin is thrown backwards and suddenly covered in wounds that he had not had before. Cael is now a grizzled old man.

     "I figured that I couldn't beat you in just one go. So I fought again and again in a frayed time sphere until I could at least give as good as I got." Cael says standing up. His hair is long and a reddish silver that is mirrored in his beard. He has countless scars crisscrossing his body. Proof of centuries of combat.

     "And you managed to survive my Ten Penances. I am impressed." Sin says wiping blood from his nose. "But this is over." Sin thrusts his sword into the earth as he drops to one knee and suddenly the molecular vibrations in his body come to a stop. Cael only just barely avoids being killed instantly.

     "Seriously? There's just no end to your techniques." Cael says as he back pedals and fires a round at Sin. But the waves of shear cold rob the round of all its momentum and it drops harmlessly to the earth. Cael realizes how dangerous this new move is.

     During Seventh Circle, Sin used his own biological material to ignite his blade. That biological material is now scattered all over the area. Sin has such a mastery over his own body that he can halt its molecular vibrations whether or not it is still attached to him. Slowly he is expanding the sphere of influence as his cells are activated in ever expanding outward waves. Cael laments that he used all of his power to fracture time. Time travel would be very useful here.

     Gritting his teeth Cael summons the Cannon-blade he took from the Library guardian and judges the distance. He'll need to be spot on for this to work. Firing an explosive round into the freeze field Cael propels himself forward using gravitational waves. The kinetic energy from the explosive round generates just enough of a window to fire another. And another. And another. As Cael rides the gravity waves through this icy death field he preps the area ahead of him with explosions to keep the molecules charged.

     Upon firing his last explosive round he lunges forward with his gunblade in hand. Upon contact Sin shatters into a fine powder. Cael lands in a heap. He's stopped the progression of Sin's technique but this close to his body the temperature is still impossibly low. Cael cracks a smile as the cells in his body crystallize and the world goes black.