The stage was set for battle, Vunaru challenging The Ennom Forcent, and The Beast King Kemono challenging Imuru. Their allies drew back some distance from the area, not wanting to end up as collateral damage in the coming clash.
"Let's get this started." Vunaru smashed a fist in her palm, twisting her form into her fighting stance. Forcent's spirit flame burned to life, flowing over from one front paw to the other.
"Hmph... Be careful Forcent," Imuru wished Forcent luck, before he focused his attention on Kemono; gripping the handle of his sword.
The air was thick with tension, intrigue, and anticipation as those on the sideline waited for who would make the first move… They didn't have to wait long, as the Beast King's roaring voice rolled over the battlefield.
"Brace yourself, Demon Lord!"
And he took charge in one burst, thrusting his lance with deadly force at Imuru. Reading kemono's attack with excellent precision Imuru intercepted cleanly. blocking with his sword, he remained firm in his stance, being pushed back by the kinetic force Kemono came with. Pouring in some strength, Imuru pushed back, swatting Kemono's lance and breaking the attack sequence.
"He had some power behind that," Imuru thought, a drop of sweat beating down his face. He turned to see how Forcent was handling his situation—at the exact time the ground shook and lightning rang out across the area crumbling the ground, as it changed direction into the forest; leaving nothing but the sight of a smuddering dust cloud of dust marching up in the air.
At the end result of this focus of lightning was Vunaru cutting through the woods, Forcent right behind her. Vunaru flipped herself to a stop, the excitement unwavering from her face.
"Nice! You can dish it out, but can you take it?!" Vunaru's body crackled with electricity, the signal use of her [[
Vunaru simply grinned and met the barrier head on, throwing out a fist at the last minute, shattering the barrier the instant it made contact with her fist. Forcent swiftly leapt back to create distance, firing a bolt of electrical discharge lightning, down at Vunaru. She raised her hand before the discharge connected, withstanding the crushing force of the lightning, as the ground beneath her feet broke and the nearby trees shattered to pieces.
"Tsk!"
Forcent increased his output, pouring more effort into an attack he typically never does. Even then…
"Heh!... T—This Really Is Getting Fun!" With the shift of posture, Vunaru tore through Forcent's lightning. She slumped over momentarily, her hands hanging down loosely. Letting out a deep steamy breath, Vunaru straightened herself and cracked her neck.
"Not bad, let's turn this up a bit," Vunaru instructed, leaning forward holding up a claw.
The pair found themselves in a quiet standoff… As it seemed Forcent didn't want to make the first move, Vunaru took the initiative. In a step she cleared that distance between themselves. Forcent's eyes widened at the sheer speed—slipping to the side, near inches from meeting Vunaru's fist.
Vunaru lost track of Forcent the second he slipped from her fist her eyes trailing only a microseconds behind. Her eyes reached where Forcent should've been but he was nowhere to be found, gone and now invisible to the naked eye; in effect of his skill. Vunaru's ears perked up, confusion washing over her formerly excited face. Her eyes darted around momentarily… Coming to realize the switch in tactic, her grin returned, and Vunaru made her attempt.
Vunaru drew her arms close to her chest. "No hiding," She muttered. "Come Out!!!"
[[
[[
[-Meteor Discharge-]
Vunaru parted her arms from her body, unleashing a swelling jolt of energy from her body that erupted out in a massive blue towering pillar atomizing everything within its 200-meter diameter distance, subjecting the area to supersonic forces of wind that reached her allies.
Imuru and Kemono, much further from the initial attack, were able to easily steady themselves in the air; unlike their allies on the ground that were subjected to a much stronger force that disrupted and toppled the stagecoaches.
Kemono's mouth was left agape at the blue pillar. "What… in the name?..."
"I have a feeling that's not from Forcent," Thought a worried Imuru.
Kemono's shocked expression softened to a smile. "Demon Lord!" He addressed Imuru. "Can't you see? It's time for us to take this seriously! I'll attack you with my best, then we can go from there," Kemono stated, moving further up from Imuru.
Kemono held his lance up high over his shoulder. "Can you withstand this?"
"The power begged for…"
Small particles began to gather to the blade of his lance.
"A power I'll use to create my absolute utopia…"
The particles launched onto the weapon, replacing the silver gleam with an intense gold.
"Let me see your intentions… What do you fight for… Demon Lord?"
The air around the blade of his lance, screamed with a long piercing SKREEEE….
"ROAR! Beast King: Temper Crusher!"
[[
[[
The gold on the weapon morphed into the head of a lion, and with the roar from the formed attack itself, Kemono sent the roaring beast toward Imuru.
"If you want it that way…" Imuru stood his ground, deciding to take it head-on. In the inches from the collision, Belzora burst out of his body in silent form….
….In the next second Imuru was gone, devoured. The attack carried along in the air for a few seconds; before halting and erupting into an engulfment of sneering spherical energy of Kemono's Beast King: Temper Crusher.
With his keen eyes Kemono watched the calm energy closely, gradually the form began to shift and falter, the stability giving way, to a sudden and abrupt outburst of blue-ish purple flames. At the end of the surge, Imuru was revealed, his body unharmed.
"Hmph." A pleasant-proud smile crossed Kemono's lips. "An equal."
He flew over to Imuru. "Impressive, Demon Lord Imuru. I can consider you an equal, and someone worthy of your title," His compliments rolled off his tongue as natural as the beat of a heart. Kemono brandished his lance. "But this fight is just beginning."
"And here I was gonna say thank you." Imuru mentally scratched his head, a tentative smile on his outward appearance. "Anyway… another win for Belzora… yet, this made me realize something. There are certain factors when Belzora interacts with Skills, the more intense and complicated the skill the harder it is to break down. Then there's the Cryipiyd, I have a feeling it wasn't utilizing a Skill, possibly a Gift; to which Belzora seemed to have even harder time handling. Taking that attack head-on was pretty reckless—suppose I didn't want to disappoint. Worth it, now he thinks highly of me… different personalities require different approaches."
Over the battlefield with the Cat Daughter, she stood in place with her arm across her chest in bold primal confidence.
"Where are you Ennom?!" Vunaru called Forcent out. "Wait… I didn't kill him—right?"
A crackle from behind drew her attention, and she followed the sound in swift motion. There was nothing in that line of sight, but subsequently after came a crushing force on her arm, as she was lifted and tossed across the barren area. Vunaru bounced off her feets, flipping off her hand, before she found her proper footing.
She flashed a glance to her right arm where she left the biting force; finding it injured, and dripping blood. "Tricky bastard…" She stood up to her feet, "lured me into that one. Let's see how clever you can get." Vunaru dropped into her fighting stance.
In a split rapid sequence of attack, an invisible Forcent blitz across the area, clawing at Vunaru in rapid succession—landing a barrage of consecutive blows that caught Vunaru off, eventually knocking her right off her feet, bringing her down, on all fours at the end. She tried to pull herself back up, only to feel the weight of the Ennom stomping down on her back pushing her face into the dirt on the ground.
Vunaru let out a muffled laugh, trying to lift her face from off the ground. "Glad to see you're alive. I was afraid I killed you too quickly."
There came a silence that followed. The crackle on Vunaru's body intensified; the instant she felt the micro shift of weight as Forcent went to lift his foot, Vunaru slipped up to her feet, firing a fist to where she expected the Ennom should be… And she finally landed a blow on her target, her fist sinking deep into his side, lifting Forcent off the ground; through the air, dropping him on his side.
Knowing this was her moment, like a predator to a wounded prey, Vunaru leapt on the opportunity, hurrying to take advantage of the situation. Forcent didn't get the time to get himself back up to his feet, before the proximity between him and Vunaru was cut short by his eager competitor.
Vunaru leapt into the air, pulled back her fist, and brought it down,even without any visual sight of the Ennom, the only confirmation Vunaru needed was the connection of the blunt force of her fist into the Ennom's furry body.
From the plume of dust, and crater, an invisible force came bolting out, Vunaru tailing right behind. In one fell swoop, Forcent's skill [[
"Alright…" Vunaru flipped to launch an assault of kicks, "Glad…" Vunaru switched her attack pattern again, sending a roundhouse, "You finally showed yourself," she finished off with a quick jab.
Despite her clear combat capability, Forcent brushed inches past from each of Vunaru's strikes.
After being patient, Forcent waited at the last second where he saw an opening, and took the chance, pouncing at Vunaru,champing down on her shoulders. Before Forcent could make the bite, Vunaru caught and read him like a book mid-lunge; dropping herself to ground, and utilizing both her legs in her now advantageous position underneath the Ennom to send a double-kick straight to his belly, right into the air.
With the Ennom off the ground, Vunaru got herself into the air, clubbering Forcent over the head with a firm crackling punch,sending him to meet the surface of the earth in an unceremonious manner.
"Uh!..." Vunaru bent her knee in her landing on the ground, taking a careful look at her knuckles, as stood up to her feet, opening and reforming her fist. "Heh~e… man," She flashed her hand, voice edging out in amusement, "talk about a hard skull."
Growling under his breath, Forcent pulled himself to stand a trickle of blood running down his head. Forcent bared his teeth, taking one step forward, with a heavy defiant stomp that cracked the earth beneath.
Vunaru met Forcent's intense gaze. She went to open her mouth to speak, pausing and turning her to the silent activity ongoing above her, Dark heavy clouds swirled around above their specific area like a highly localized; controlled weather phenomenon… Forcent's Gift [Weather Phenomenon].
The ominous silence was promptly cut short, by the intense rush of wind, then the rumble of thunder and blaze of rain; then came the lightning flashing, and striking down at at Vunaru forcing her to make the split second decision of leaping back to dodge the initial energy of the lightning colliding with the earth, sending her in an unbalanced tumble. The lightning didn't stop; sustained by the clouds above, it cratered the surface of the ground, chasing after Vunaru.
From the clouds driven by intense helicity, the mesocyclone's vertical shear tightened into a violent vacuum as a dark wall cloud sagged from the atmospheric pressure dropped sharply enough to shred the landscape with a deafening, freight-train roar. At the sight of a tornado flashing unpredictable lightning and backed by the lightning from the clouds above, created a sticky situation that made Vunaru anxious.
Forcent stood in firm unbothered confidence, a thought crossing his mind, as he went and made a curious assessment. "Must be low on Perivállon? If she used that skill from her earlier display she could brute force her way past all of this."
Vunaru was left with only one option; to run.
"This outta be fun…" Vunaru took off in a blur of motion, "tsk… So this was what the Guardian had to go through?… this is how it feels to fight an Ennom."
A powerful bolt of lightning, struck the earth a few meters from directly making impact in Vunaru's way; the lightning bolt at its width coming out almost 12x wider than a regular lightning bolt, leaving a smoldering crater in its wake.
Vunaru spun on her heels, anchored against the cacophonous rage of the tornado. With a deep breath that seemed to pull the very oxygen from the air, she held her clenched fist in a momentary, weighted stasis. "Let's see if I got enough left in me for this," She gritted out.
She took a ground-shattering step as she fired her fist forward. At the tornado's leading edge, a blue spherical flash ignited…
[[
[[
[-Breakpoint Signal-]
In a single microsecond, the ambient electrical activity underwent a violent transmutation, converting controlled potential into raw explosive force. The effect surged through the atmosphere in invisible, high-frequency waves, targeting the storm's lightning discharges. Everything within the radius that conducted any form of electricity achieved a blinding incandescence before detonating outward in a sequence of connected, concussive shocks that shredded the vortex, clouds above and everything else within the area from the explosive force.
At the end of it all followed a deafening silence. From the area a massive plume of dust remained. A few minutes of quiet, Forcent had not made a single physical move since the Vunaru overcame his recent Ipsum; the manipulation of weather.
The small shifting of earth beneath someone's feet drew his attention, and he got into a guarded stance to face that friction, meeting his opponent Vunaru face-to-face once again. She raised her hand in a placating gesture, flashing the Ennom an easy going smile; dirt, dust and the mix of all things that came from the recent explosion caked her almost all her body in a thick black spot, dampening her aesthetic.
Vunaru ruffled her air. "Let's call it," She rested her hands on her hips, "I've had my fun."
Forcent cracked a subtle smile, delivering an uncharacteristically eager nod. "You're strong… Stronger than before," He said in a tone that spoke of his long familiarity with her.
Vunaru tilted her head catching onto this. "Before?..." She muttered in confusion, gazing with curious intent into Forcent's eyes. "... If you're saying…" Vunaru narrowed her eyes, rubbing her chin as she leaned forward.
"If I'm wrong, you can say I'm going wild; but If I deduce this properly—Are you saying you are that specific from those years ago?"
"That would be correct," Forcent replied, performing a shake-off on his body. "The circumstances of then and now have shifted drastically, wouldn't you say?"
"Holy!..." Vunaru held her head in stunned shock, her mouth left wide agape. "I'm going wild. You're really not just some Ennom. You're that Ennom, the one that fought the Guardian—the one I fought. What are you doing here again? Following that kid?"
Vunaru's eyes darted off for a few seconds. "What's that Imuru kid to you?"
"Imuru?"
Forcent went silent at Vunaru's question, his mind turning. "...." In the set of a few seconds he went over all the time spent with Imuru, finding such a simple question requiring him to think deeply as to the nature of their relationship… something he had never done before.
"Imuru…"
A thunderous clash snapped the pair's attention to the sky, even with their personal battle coming to a close, Imuru and Kemono were only getting started with theirs. In the air everyone back at the road had their eyes focused above them, none able to properly keep track of the pair, only listening to the clash of blades and fists that shook the ground below.
"Impressive!" Kemono slipped his way to Imuur's back, lifting his lance over his head—he brought it down, only to have Imuru react and parry it, with clean precision.
"HAAA—HA HA HA!!! Your strength has yet to even waver."
"Woo... How observant of you," Imuru thought, far from enthusiastic as he tried to get distance between him and Kemono. "Hmph. If you won't let up… then let's play…" Imuru came to an abrupt halt, spinning around to strike at Kemono.
Kemono's eyes glimmered with sharp anticipation as the Beast King performed an evasive maneuver, reading Imuru's intentions and shifting just before the strike could land. Imuru didn't relent, instead of falling back on defense, he pushed forward, pressing the attack.
Kemono met him head-on, thrusting his lance forward toward Imuru's chest with brutal precision. But Imuru was small and nimble; with a quick twist of his body, he slipped past the point of the blade, the lance grazing the air beside him, leaving him unharmed and already moving into the next beat of their dance; returning the favor with a thrust of his own, missing Kemono by mere inches.
Imuru tucked his chin, then tapped his blade. His eyes squeezed to a firm look, Imuru brandished his weapon; the silver blade having a faint glimmer. "One last push… just one hit and Belzora should do the rest!"
Imuru with his determination bolstered, Imuru zipped through the air; breaking the sound barrier in less than a second. Kemono didn't wait for his arrival, blitzing forward with the same explosive speed….
…. Then they met, crossing blades for less than a second, as their backs were left facing each other. At the end of this, Imuru felt the process of pain begin to jolt his body. He steady himself, his eyes drifting to the upper left side of his chest near his arm-pit; which was dyed red. The slash had crawled over to his upper arm also.
"Huh?" Imuru blinked, left frozen in stunned disbelief. He turned his attention to Kemono; the Beast King looked down at him in a calm state.
"Uh… He's strong… Oh right…"
[[
[[-Analyze And Assess-]]
Utilizing his skill Imuru finally grasped an understanding of Kemono's current strength. What he saw was Kemono's overwhelming Perivállon pool. If he were to guess, the Beast King seemed to be able to perform at least a dozen more of his specialized skill Temper Crusher.
Imuru turned and retreated to the ground, alerting Kemono to begin a pursuit. Landing the in the forest seconds behind Imuru, Kemono bulldozed through the area, catching up with Imuru; forcing him to into a clash, that erupted the vicinity around them, sending debris of all shapes and sizes firing into the air at varying speeds, before they came from the rising dust cloud in brisk motion.
Kemono held Imuru on the defensive, striking at him with a rapid, relentless rhythm that pushed him higher and higher into the air with each brutal exchange. The Beast King's lance became a blur, each thrust and sweep forcing Imuru to twist, deflect, and climb.
Then, just as suddenly, Kemono let up a calculated pause.
In the breath of that stillness, he blitzed upwards, appearing overhead of Imuru in a flash of golden eyes and red cloth. Once again, Kemono charged his attack, this time twice as fast, the energy around his lance condensing then morphing into the head of a lion.
He unleashed it.
[[
[[-Beast King: Temper Crusher-]]
"That fast?!" Imuru fired a stream of Belzora to intercept [[-Beast King: Temper Crusher-]]. At the very last second it zipped out of Belzora's path, at an impossible sharp turn; bending again for a beam line to Imuru, yet unable to catch him lacking; chomping down on the space Imuru once occupied.
With that split second of opening, Kemono leapt into action.
Imuru's attention shifted at the last second, his blade coming to block the downward strike—but the kinetic force of the blow was immense. The impact slammed into him, sending him rocketing toward the earth in a single, devastating crash that kicked up a cloud of dust and shattered stone.
Imuru didn't stay down for long.
In one smooth, fluid motion, he came out of the crater in a spin, landing on his feet, as Kemono descended from above like a meteor, his lance aimed true.
"Let's see what this can do." Imuru retracted his wings, shifting into a fighting stance.
[[
[[-Celestial Lake Domination-]]
Upon activation a portion of the Celestial Lake materialized behind him in its silver glimmering glory. Kemono burst forth from the crater, thrusting his lance forward… and coming to an instant and abrupt halt inches from Imuru's face.
A wall… A wall of water, falling in-between the blade and the upper shaft of the lance.
"Uh?..." Kemono tilted his head in confusion. He couldn't even budge his staff; it was almost as if it was built into this water wall.
"Sorry, not sorry, I'm putting an end to this." Imuru took a step, bursting through his own wall easily, throwing a punch into Kemono's sternum, then an uppercut to break the hold of his weapon… he wasn't done, with Kemono off the ground, Imuru leapt above Kemono, striking the Beast King into the ground from a fist he delivered.
Imuru stepped back to the wall, glanced over at the lance. He opened his hand; and the lance was moved by the water right into it. The portion of the Celestial Lake, morphs from a wall back to a floating blob.
"Ugh!" Kemono brushed the dust from off his face, pushing himself upright into the blade of his own lance.
Imuru glared down at Kemono, and narrowed his eyes. "Hmph." He tilted his head, very curious to what Kemono would say.
"Imuru. I yield," Kemono said, smiling proudly as he brought himself up to his feet. He crossed his arms across his chest, brushing his hair. "HAAAA—HAA HA HA HA. You've proven yourself enough. It's an honor to have you in the Sacred Forest." He rested a hand on Imuru's shoulder.
"You'll make excellent allies. It's only natural for us to stick together. Demon King and Demon Lord. No will dare threaten the Sacred Forest with us both here. Heh-heh."
Imuru looked up at Kemono, then lowered his head and smiled. "Yep. It's my plan in the long run. Though my main intention is to ensure the security of my people," Imuru thought.