Incline 40: Oddity Student Omb

"Across the water or along the pier." I told the warrior as I placed my hand on the bulbous tip of a guard rail. At first, she seemed hesitant, but, she quickly started to head towards it. However, she did not move so fast as to outpace me, even if she was flying.

"Why won't it...?" she let out in confusion once she came into contact with what should've been the way I got in. Perhaps it was a one-way door?

"I believe it will not let you pass until you have asserted your strength." I tell her, having quickly pondered another way for this door to be opened.

Then, a resounding boom shot past me, "This does not work either." she tells me as she turns around. The pier was now nearly gone as well and I was forced to take a few steps back.

"I did not mean like that." I clarified to her as my expression set itself in stone. A serious determination filled me in the coming, nerve-wracking moments.

"I am not interested in fighting you." she says, shaking her head as she did so.

"You do not have a choice, warrior. Your goal cannot be reached while I still stand." I point out.

"Very well." was all she had to say before she suddenly shot toward me. A single punch to my upper chest followed. Yet, it did not have the desired effect despite the pain I was now feeling.

"Before we get into it, might I say a few words?" I asked the powerful warrior as she took in the fact I survived her punch.

"I suppose..." she finally said after a brief quiet. It seems like something was perplexing her in those moments. A moral code that disagreed with what she wanted to do...?

"I travelled to this land of mountains for one purpose. To bring glory to my family and home. I wish to prove myself not only to my people and to those who hold the line around the Fire Mountain! But to the world as well!" I begin with.

"Can you stand against me, then?" she asked me with no mockery in her tone whatsoever. She was a warrior confident in her power!

"I do, I do believe I can stand against you and everyone shall see. So, great warrior! Will you offer me a chance to stand before Waionr, the blessed God of Honourable War!?" I asked her loudly and proudly.

"If you can stand against me." she answered before the air started to ripple with her power. A subtle yet still impressive shockwave then exploded from her. All the fragile glass near us shattered as if something physical had smashed through it. The water below even grew turbulent as her aura pressed down on it.

"I will." I tell her before I unsheath my thumb from the inside of the fist I had made. A small, delicate fire was lit upon that thumb now. And, I brought it up to my mouth. Quickly sucking it in as if it were a morsel.

Then, I felt it, I felt fire build up inside of me before I then let all of it out. With a maw that breathed fire and eyes that glowed like the Sun God's lost sun itself! A display she did not find impressive. Yet, I had one regret, because the city we were in was now gone.

"THEN LET US FIGHT!" I shouted to her before shooting toward her. The force of my launch had distorted the melting inferno the city had suddenly become.

And our following collision broke it all down further. The ground was suddenly further away. The sea had become a misty cloud of sizzling steam. All to the backdrop of the city turning into waves of fire!

Each further punch only reinforced what had just happened. With thunderous booms each time. We erased the memory of the city and warped the land. Yet neither of us were content to linger in one spot.

So we broke off again and again and rocketed towards each other. Breaking apart the blazing tsunami our combined power made. And remaking it into many smaller ones that too were broken down. Even the sky eventually cracked as we steadily moved up.

"YES! SHOW ME YOUR POWER!" I demanded of her when I finally scored a hit against her shoulder. Only to then receive a shin to my head that sent me to the ground. However, I got back to my feet and resumed the fight instantly.

And we both unleashed a flurry of powerful strikes that flattened the earth further. Soon, we even let up on countering each other's punches in favour of just striking at each other. Yet, despite how much magic-filled fat I had. I felt her blows as if I had none at all.

Each blow struck me to the core. Leaving me shaken and eager for more. Yet, my excitement came to blind me. And she took hold of my arm.

"Go down, it will be better for you." she calmly told me with little enthusiasm. Her free hand then pistoned over and over into my gut. The explosive force it came at me with extinguishing my fires while my body rippled itself apart.

"I WILL NOT GIVE UP!" I yelled defiantly before I unleashed a blast of magic all around me. The force freed me from her grip and she was clearly left disoriented. So, I moved on to using the rest of my arsenal. And I made no point of being elaborate about it despite their scale.

I wanted to win so I did not perform any theatrics. I instead trapped her in blazing pillars that twisted around like snakes. And while she was imprisoned. I gathered up the fire-infused earth and collapsed it on her.

"WHA-" I started to let right when she suddenly appeared behind me. A sudden, uninterrupted blow to my spine sent me straight down to the earth again. And all the air left me just as quickly when she dropped on me with instantaneous speed.

However, I freed myself with the quick manipulation of the burning ground. And I danced her about the air before I dragged her down below. She then continued to impress me when she punched her way out of the earth. One final punch came straight towards me.

I countered it this time and my knees buckled as her strength rippled through me. It was not my failing strength that worried me, however. It was the fact that despite all my power being unleashed on her... A power I topped off just before we fought...

She still looked at me with apathy. She was not threatened by me at all! Unlike a weaker spirit, though. I used it to fuel my aggression and I came at her harder than I did before.

I broke through her guard and I sent her flying off. Following after her with a ferocious fire tail behind me as I hunted her across the sky. Breaking apart the smoke and cloud with each punch until I got a good grip on her.

"DOWN!" I yelled before I stopped flying through the air. Instead focusing that power on bringing us straight back down. All the while, I roared my fire directly in her face as if I was a dragon. But, she was a dragon-slayer!

And I could only just realise what had just happened before I was emptied of air yet again. This time, though, she never let it come back. What fire I could get out at this point was as pathetic as it had ever been. More like burning bile than a power gifted to me by the Fire Mountain.

"Do you see the futility?" she asked me calmly before I punched her away.

"HOUSE UR-NACE! SEE ME!" I roared to the sky as I started to call back all my power. Shining as bright as the Sun God himself before I made one final charge.

"GAH!" she let out as my blow exploded in her face. All the fire I had brought back then suddenly reentered the world. A colossal explosion that reached far beyond the sky and beyond the limits of this city. And I was smiling the whole time.

I had heard it! I had heard her pain! I was just given the divine sign I needed! I could beat this glorious warrior!

"You cannot win." she whispered into my ear from behind me.

"AGA-" I began to say before roaring in pain as my arm was twisted around my back. Then, she swung me up and over and brought my head below the earth. And her foot suddenly excavated me out of it. I screamed in shock the entire time I soared in the air.

Until she interrupted my flight with an elbow that had all her weight behind it. And when I landed, all the fires were gone. Not even the smoke was left alone. For with such force it had be blown away...

"H-How..." I struggled to get out as my eyes slowly turned towards my increasingly skinny body. All that power I had been building up was nearly gone... My clothes did not fit me anymore and I was left stumbling to my feet a naked man.

She did not land on me, though. Instead, I was witness to the land erupting around her as she smashed into it. A gasp of awe left me while terror filled me. Yet, the drive to fight was still there.

My loss would never be forgiven if I just gave up here and now while I could still stand! If I could stand before her, I could fight against her! So I just needed to get closer! Surely this was all a facade!?

"One more step and you will not walk again." she warned as her posture relaxed while mine froze.

"If I stop now... I will not be welcomed back..." I tell her as I start to burn off the power I had left in me. Something I kept up until I could more clearly see the actual shape of my body.

"They'll realise you could never win." she tells me in an effort to comfort my fears. Yet I did not want to listen. I could keep on fighting so I should! I needed to prove to her that this was indeed something I could win!

My family would never forgive me if I just stopped because this warrior said so. No matter how great she was in her power and ability. I needed to keep this ongoing... Even if I only had enough for one more strike!

"Do me the honours of one final attack..." I gasp before I nearly fall. And, when no answer came. I took her silence as a yes and I ran with all my might. The ground once again lit up with fire as I did so.

Even as terror built up in me with each stride that brought me closer. Then, when I finally hit her. I looked at her with amazement as she took it standing. Unyielding in her stance with no ground given.

And the following moments were quiet between us. She did not utter the slightest sound until the air cracked as her fist shot forward. It seemed slower this time. Yet, when it struck me, it was as powerful as it had ever been.

Then it all went dark when I hit the ground.