#Back to the Present

All this while, after Kaelus pierced the Takeda he’d chosen as the “real one” and watched it dissolve into nothing but a clone, he’d been sinking into frustration, convinced that he was about to lose to Aeron and watch the spotlight shift away from him.

But what stood in front of him now... wasn’t anything close to the scenarios he’d played out in his head.

“Time to take you on,” the bulkier Takeda said, as he lifted the greatsword from his shoulder and hurled it towards him, that was how the blade spun through the air toward Kaelus like a helicopter rotor.

“Why won’t you just die?” Kaelus snapped—tired, furious, and already halfway into despair, as he dashed forward again, arms flung behind him.

Qi surged out of him and poured into his Aether Blade, the moment the spinning greatsword reached him, he stomped into the ground and swung upward, trying to deflect it away.

Clang!

A brutal jolt ran through the clash and blasted into his arm, sending numbness up to his shoulder, but Kaelus gritted his teeth and pushed through anyway, forcing the greatsword off line after a grinding struggle.

But while he was locked in that strength contest—The katana-wielding Takeda calmly slid his blade into its scabbard, as the bulkier one stepped before him, as the wind Takeda hands began moving through a quick series of signs.

He then shifted into a stance and thrust both palms out together, with the right hand on top, and left hand angled downward, immediately the air shuddered.

As wind particles converged at the point his hands met, before surging forward like an invisible shove that launched the other Takeda ahead.

Mid-flight, that Takeda raised his hands and chunks of rock snapped into place around his forearms, piling up until they formed a gauntlet.

[> Mid Tier Spell – Enhanced Stone Fist <]

The moment the spell locked in, the jagged stone gauntlet tightened, as mana flooded over it, compressing and smoothing the shape until it fit perfectly, though the finger sections open, and the bulk reshaped into something closer to a long boxing glove than armor.

It was right then that Kaelus finally managed to deflect the greatsword upward, only to be met by a punch driving straight for his chest.

From the build of the Takeda rushing towards him, Kaelus knew he wouldn’t like the aftermath of taking that head-on, so he did the only thing he felt was right in that moment, he twisted his body, turning his right shoulder into the strike, hoping to cushion the impact with it, while also using his Qi to coat the area like a thin shield.

But Takeda didn’t hit, the casting and the stone fist were all just a feint to make him make a move that the Earth Takeda can read into, in the same breath, Takeda’s right leg snapped low, cracking into Kaelus’s right leg. Kaelus’s balance vanished instantly, as his knees hit the ground.

Bang!

A straight jab followed immediately, smashing into Kaelus’s nose the moment he lifted his gaze, as his vision swam, too many things happening too fast, too cleanly, for his mind to keep up.

Before he could even process it all, a hand clamped around his neck and hurled him the other way, and waiting for him there was the Wind Takeda, who stepped in and slapped his palm against Kaelus—once, twice, then again—touching different points across his body in rapid succession.

The strange part was this, none of it felt powerful. It didn’t even hurt. It was almost gentle, like a series of light taps.

But what Kaelus didn’t know was that every touch was leaving something behind, a wind glyph being drawn onto his body, one after another, layered so quickly he couldn’t even see it happening, he forced himself upright and swung his Aether blade in a hard horizontal cut, desperate to draw blood, as his right hand dragged the blade from left to right in a long, vicious line aimed at the Wind Takeda’s neck.

But the Wind Takeda simply raised his left hand toward the incoming edge of the blade, as a green hue spread over his palm, summoning wind pressure that converged along the katana’s path.

The wind pressure dragged his katana upward, slowing the swing to a crawl no matter how much strength Kaelus poured into it. But Takeda wasn’t slow, and he knew he could never hold Kaelus’ blade there, he only did this to give himself a window of time, a brief opening to slip out of killing range.

As his left hand delayed the cut, Takeda’s right hand snapped diagonally toward the ground, as he executed a lesser version of Wind Slam, using the recoil of the spell to propel himself backward in a clean retreat, as his body skimming through the air like a leaf caught by a gust.

Kaelus refused to let it end there, he surged forward—

—but Takeda was already forming a shinobi-style seal with his left hand.

“Activate.”

The wind glyphs that had silently latched onto Kaelus flared to life, glowing a sharp green, Kaelus’s body jolted with an unfamiliar sensation, as if gravity had loosened its grip, as if he was about to float.

It felt all wrong to him, instinct screamed at him to resist, he froze and glanced down.

Across his body, the wind glyphs were visible now, siphoning the air around him like hungry mouths, they had been filling up, waiting.

And the moment Takeda triggered them, Kaelus got his answer.

The wind detonated.

A violent burst exploded beneath him, launching him skyward as if he’d been struck by an invisible cannon, his body ripped into the air on a roaring pillar of green pressure.