Chapter 80 - Dance of the Holy Fire
Beautiful and enchanting flames were surrounding Nerun as he attacked Sombra non-stop with fists and palms. Nerun's movements were akin to dancing, and followed a natural rhythm that little by little was engulfing Sombra in an inescapable whirlpool. He soon found himself only able to defend.
'What sort of technique is this? How is he so strong? This is not pure Mana, nor is it Qi, it's a combination of both. But how can both be combined, and how is it so strong?' thought sombra, as he did his utmost to defend himself from Nerun's attacks. In the end, Nerun's attacks had a little pause, which allowed Sombra to blink away from him. Nevertheless, there were several injuries in his arms and legs, with burning marks all over.
"Hmmh. It's difficult to maintain the balance. Any small amount of interference or mismatch in the use of Qi and Mana will take me out of the state. It seems I still need to train more on this technique. However, I've confirmed that this path is feasible. A truly new path for myself." The smile on Nerun's face was even more brilliant.
The people who were checking the fight were also astonished by the reversal. Especially by the might that Nerun could exert with the technique.
"A Fire Element Technique? A Spell? How is it possible. No one below the Middle ranks of the Warrior Path can do so. His energy level is barely above that of a Qi Master, but the power I could feel from the attacks was close to the full power of a Qi Praetorian. Not only that, but the elemental damage added to it also causes a great deal of damage as well. Not even the elemental conversion in the attacks of a Qi Centurion and higher causes that much elemental damage. It's like countless low grade mana spells hitting their target over and over. As if every punch and kick hit with the strength of a low grade fireball. One may not be much, but when you find yourself showered by that many attacks, few could truly withstand it. Had it been any other Praetorian, he would have already been defeated." said Carlos astonished.
As a Qi General he was much stronger than Sombra, but even he would find it difficult to restrain Sombra, and knew that the latter could even fend him off for a short amount of time, before escaping. It was true that Sombra's skills and techniques were more geared towards assasination, and he was not an expert in a direct one on one fight, however he was a powerful high leveled Qi Praetorian, and a genius to boot. Yet, he was being pummeled by a kid much younger than himself. Even Dagan and Raven who were fighting above were somewhat astonished.
"What's your name, boy? Do you dare tell me who you are and why are you meddling in this?" asked Sombra gloomily.
"Do I really need a reason to interfere with a bunch of kidnappers hiding in the dark? Even worse, ones that summoned a strange blood seeking entity. Aren't you all the perfect definition of fiends? So I have truly no qualms whatsoever to meddle in this affair. As for my name, you may call me Nerun." said Nerun calmly, while assuming a standing sideways position. He was focusing his full power, Qi and Mana, to use his new technique.
"It's about time to end this. You never know when new variables may appear. Swift and merciless my brother says. I concur with the first part, I'll be the first to admit to having trouble with the second one. But for people like you, it seems to be easier." said Nerun once more. He was also good at getting on his opponents' nerves.
Sombra did not speak anymore. He could not retreat any further, for the broken statue was right behind him. Were he to back once again, Nerun would have access to the statue and be able to break it, which would mean the failure of his operation. Actually, he was already disadvantaged, since the appearance of the Legend Level Warrior would mean that what happened in the ruins would surely be known. Nevertheless tha chaos caused, could also gain him some merit, and should Dagan get the upper hand, getting rid of several of the Noble Houses in the County would mean that an unstable seed would be planted on Ansem. This was also part of his goal, so it would not be a complete failure. So, he decided to go for broke as well. He needed to end Nerun's life. He'd probably suffer from some minor injuries afterwards, but the rewards were more than enough to upset the cost.
Nerun opened the palm of his hand and Fire started congealing on the tip of his fingers. The Natural Energy of Heaven and Earth started feeding each fireball, and soon enveloped Nerun's hand as if a fire glove. Soon, Mana started circulating alongside Nerun's meridians, around them, while Qi was circling inside. The Heavenly Gates were helping Nerun to communicate with the Natural Energy, and allow it to empower his Magick Spell, while making sure that both Qi and Mana stayed balanced. The Core Meridians and Heavenly Gates were working in tandem, allowing Nerun's power to flow swiftly inside his body.
As Nerun watched the fire dancing at the tip of his hand, he could not help reminiscing about the burning bush. As he remembered the sacred fire, he was inspired by the holiness of it, as well as its might, yet at the same time, the closeness and tenderness of it all. Fire was not only powerful and explosive, it could also be mellow and comforting, like the flames from the fireplace at home. Nerun did not totally understand what true fire was, but he knew that fire was not totally opposed to his nature. For fire could both fuel the flames of his anger, and also warm the coldness of his heart. 'This is my technique. A combination of the First Form of the Free Flowing Fist, and my first Magick Spell, Χέρι φωτιάς - /Chéri fotiás/ (Fire Hand). I will call you…'
[Choro Sancti Ignis]*
As Nerun said that, the Natural Energy of Heaven and Earth empowered his attack even more, as the flames in his hand became even more powerful, at least fifty percent more. That was the difference between a spell with no name and one that called upon the power of the World. That was the reason Mana users said the name of the spells aloud, for communication with the Will of the World, allowed the Magick Spell to truly use the surrounding nature's power.
Nerun's power soared, as he moved towards Sombra at full speed. The fire surrounding his hand moved freely around Nerun's body, and when fused with his feet, it allowed Nerun to move at speeds quite close to
Sombra had also prepared to make a last direct confrontation. Focusing his Qi on his dagger, the
With the Blackish looking Qi around him, Sombra's muscles seemed to bulge, and black veins could be seen in the naked part of his extremities, looking quite gruesome. It was clear that his power had also increased as he clashed with Nerun. The latter, however, was quite calm and soon, both of them started exchanging attacks.
Flames danced around Nerun, as his attacks connected with Sombra. Sombra thought that by using his taboo technique, he would quickly gain the upper hand, however, Nerun's enlightenment about the nature of fire as he remembered the Burning Bush, as well as the bestowal of a Name, increased the strength of the technique and managed to offset the power he was using.
When the exchange began, he had somewhat of an advantage, however Nerun's defense was quite tight, and the fire around his attacks was quickly eroding the baleful Qi around him, and was also making direct injuries to his body. Nerun avoided his
"AAAAAAAAH!" yelled Sombra, in a madness bout, trying to overwhelm Nerun, but Nerun's calmness allowed him to maintain the upper hand. In the end, Sombra had to retreat, and made a
Nerun stomped into the ground and forced his Qi and Mana into it. As Sombra was leaving the shadows, flames engulfed him, which hurt him as he needed to jump to run away from the flames covering himself with his arms. However Nerun had foreseen his reaction, and was already right in front of him. All of the flames focused around his arm, and a half meter fire glove surrounded his hand. Nerun used all of his Qi and Power into this attack, and striked Sombra right in his mask.
- CRACK! -
Sombra was expelled backwards tens of meters, as part of his mask was broken, and fire quickly burned part of Sombra's face, which looked completely hideous from the burn marks. Nerun however could see that Sombra was actually quite young, which deeply surprised him. He looked like a black eyed, black haired, handsome young man, with sinister looking eyes, that were now glaring towards Nerun with unbounded hatred.
The attack truly did a number on Sombra, who felt his innards churning and was close to losing consciousness. However, he held back vomiting blood, and bit his tongue really hard to focus. Then, using the recoil from the attack, as he landed he quickly escaped from the ruins, using his shadow powers to their maximum.
Nerun wanted to follow after him, however before he could, he heard a yell from above…
"QUICK. DESTROY THE STATUE!" The Legendary Raven was currently on the defensive. When Dagan saw that Sombra was defeated, he seemed to go a bit crazy and started to attack desperately with the last of his power, as ruinous strikes in the form of meteors started descending upon the ruins. It was as if the heavens themselves were falling on them. The Raven had to descend at maximum speed while huge wings spanning 50 meters each came out from his back. He used the wings to stop Dagan's attacks on the ground.
All of the men fighting stopped while looking at the meteor-like strikes. If the strikes managed to hit them, they would all perish, no questions asked.
Nerun quickly used his Fire Technique again to strike the statue, however a sanguine barrier formed around it, and Nerun was actually flung back even when he attacked with his full power, and he was even hurt by the rebound, by an amount of half of the strength he had used on the strike.
Nerun's eyes dilated, since this was most unexpected. He quickly noticed that the Barrier would not last much, especially if he attacked it non-stop with full power, even at the cost of serious injuries, since it used the power of the Ruby-like gem on the statue's face. However, it would still last a minute or two, and that was too long, considering that Dagan was attacking without restraint. Soon, it was possible for Raven's defense to falter and the attack to kill them all.
Once again, Nerun went with full power towards the barrier and used a mighty kick surrounded by fire, but it was to no avail, as he was once again forced back towards the wall of the ruins, with a trickle of blood in the corner of his mouth. Everyone else was starting to feel despair, and some even tried to go to the statue, but the men that had aligned themselves with Dagan stopped them. Even though they felt apprehensive, they knew they had long crossed the point of no return. They needed to fight to the bitter end.
Nerun was at a loss of what to do, and was about to unleash his very own taboo technique, when all of a sudden, he heard a chuckle in his head. "Hehehehe, lad, you have actually become quite a bit more powerful. It looks like the help I have provided over these years has not been completely wasted on you. You even managed to develop a Mana and Qi technique on your own. Let me give you a reward then. I'll help you this once."
Nerun was ecstatic when he heard this voice. After 6 years of silence, he once more heard the voice of Ego Sum.
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* Dance of the Holy Fire