XXVI: Live With Rage

Raiten: 

Eventually, I disentangle from Baroth, shooting away from the flying monstrosity. He chases me across the forests, the plains, towards the East. Blue fire rages behind me. I counter with well-chosen lightning strikes that sunder the flames. It seems that my element counters his to an extent. The only problem is that he can produce a lot more soul flame than I can lightning — meaning he can just brute force his way through this battle. 

I don't have that luxury. 

He sends forth another sputtering ball of blue fire. I swing across the length of a cloud — but the flame finds its target, hitting my leg. With a curse, I jolt lightning through the thigh, scorching my leg and frying my nerves, making the damned thing numb. If I had better practice at this, I could find a more nuanced solution to countering the soul fire once it tried colonizing my body. Unfortunately, this is a first for me. A very dangerous first at that. 

To counter, at the top of my arcing swing, I dissipate the lightning rope and instead, imbue my feet with lightning. Somersaulting in mid-air I attach myself to the long cloud's underside. When my feet touch the gray, puffy wisps, the cloud hardens and coalesces, and I feel as though I am walking upon water. My hair hangs and the blood runs to my head. I try not to look down too much, instead focusing on my encroaching enemy. 

Baroth also has some self-healing capabilities — or at least, this elk vessel of his does. When I smite it, burn it, bite it, slash it, the damned beast always comes back. But I know better than anyone that nothing in this accursed world is truly immortal. I just have to squeeze. 

My dust runs close to done. I clutch another amulet in one hand and summon one last, gargantuan bolt of raging, crackling lighting in the other. Extending that arm back, I thrust it forward with as much power as I can muster, sending the spear of red light towards Baroth's zooming form. 

As the lightning passes through the air, branching sparks touch the clouds around it — such is its power. Lightning cannot be contained or controlled fully. It can be mended and shaped. Should one try to force it, bully it to bend to their wills, lightning will never obey. Instead, it will smite the beholder. 

That has always been the mistake of my elders. They try to control everything. That is why, to this day, they have never understood angelic smite. They thrust that duty upon their enslaved Thunder Watchers — who are, ironically, perhaps the only people in this universe who understand the whims of lightning. 

Because at the end of the day… 

We are the same. 

I feel a kinship with crimson lightning. It was my sole protector during my years at the tower. Whenever I got a new package of angel dust from Kai and his entourage, I'd cherish and revere the amulets. I'd clean them too — odd as that might sound, since I had to break them regardless. 

Now, my bolt of lightning cascades towards Baroth: a ripping redness in the sky. My eyes are trained enough to see its path, but to others, it must look like some scarlet flash. In its wake, thunder roars through the valley. 

Baroth cannot dodge the bolt fully. And he knows that. 

So instead, the beast summons forth its own pillar of blue, concentrated fire between its antlers. Then, it sends that flame forth to clash against the incoming lightning bolt. 

The impact of the two elemental forces sends shivers throughout the world itself. Suddenly, the dull sky gains a wealth of color as blue and red hues war for dominance. 

My lightning against his flame. 

Roaring fire against thundering storm. 

The sound of their battle is earsplitting. My drums beg to be covered, but I am too in awe of the lights below me. 

My angel dust runs out. Just as it does, my legs detach from the cloud. I crush another amulet and immediately re-imbue lightning into my soles, hanging from the cloud once more. 

The blue hues begin to win. Baroth has too much flame at his disposal. I issue forth three more bolts of lightning to help my primary spear, but it is a useless exercise. I should not engage in this battle of ego — his element will beat mine only through sheer volume. 

So, I detach myself from the cloud and watch as my lightning slowly disintegrates in the wake of Baroth's soul fire. 

However, the beast is too distracted by my original attack to notice me now positioning myself below him. 

As the final wisps of lightning disappear and Baroth's blue fire reigns as the sole element in the sky, I levy another three smaller bolts of lightning at Baroth's underside. They shoot up fast-like and strike the elk's white-furred belly, sending it flying above the clouds, bleating and roaring something terrible. 

I move to pursue; I lob a rope of lightning around another cloud and whip it down, launching myself with lightning-imbued legs simultaneously. Since the cloud gains weight when touched by my lightning, I propel myself like a catapult straight into the sky.

Ripping through a cloud, I see Baroth high above me, screaming and cursing: "RAITEN! THUNDER WATCHER! YOU FIGHT LIKE A COWARD!" 

I can't help but smirk at the beast as my flight halts and I fall back down, landing atop the clouds. 

It searches for me frantically but only finds me as I call out to it: "Remember what happened last time when we were this high up Baroth?" I ask. I want to taunt him further. Make him irrational. "If not, let me remind you: I strung you with lightning and thrust you down from the heavens, killing you." 

The elk looks at me with a great measure of rage. 

I make sure to avoid the gaze of its black eyes, instead, looking at its body. 

Baroth dives for me. 

That's right, I think, hands tingling with sparks. Come get me. I'll kill you the same way as I did before. 

Then, something strange happens. Rather than summon more blue fire, Baroth's antlers begin to… grow. 

What the — 

In mere moments, the already hulking antlers spurt forth and extend downwards, heading directly for me. 

In a panic I run across the cloud and launch myself forward. 

One antler simply changes path midair, following me. 

The other comes 'round to my frontside to cut me off. 

Alright. This is new, but I can deal with this — 

The antler in front of me splits into two. Cursing, I summon a crude lightning blade and slash at both antlers in front me. 

The one chasing from behind skewers my chest. Sharp, digging pain. Fire begins to rage against my soul. Cursing, I hit myself with lightning to stave it off. 

And then Baroth is upon me, head and body now caught up with his antlers. They retract to their normal size as the elk bears into me with his weight, diving down, parading me on its ends. 

"Cocky little bastard," Baroth hisses. "Things have changed. Allow me to demonstrate." 

And suddenly, the sky itself begins to turn monochrome.