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Chapter 25 : Tempest of Blades
🕑 Added 2024-08-24 12:20:16 +0000 UTCOrion's words were defiant, and in that instant, the atmosphere tightened in the chamber, each of them bracing for battle. The shadows all around seemed to pound with anticipation, the air vibrating with energies clashing against each other in a forthcoming battle.
The man's cold smile faltered for a second as a flicker of irritation crossed his face before he steeled his features. He raised his dark sword. Its edge glinted ominously in the thin light, and with a smooth, almost casual motion, he pointed it at Orion. The abyssal energy surrounding him seemed to ripple in reaction, growing darker, more menacing.
"I've faced a legion of ignorant fools who thought they could defy me," the man sneered, his voice rife with condescension. "You'll be no different."
Before the man even finished his taunt, Orion's polearm erupted into fierce, elemental energy. Flames licked up the shaft, bathing everything in a warm, fiery glow, while frost spread away from his grip, freezing the air around it. His eyes blazed bright, Pyro and Cryo swirling inside. The earth cracked and splintered under the force of his power as ice spread outwards to meet the fiery embers that began to rise around him.
"Let's see who breaks first," Orion growled.
The figure snarled, his yellow eyes blazing with evil intent. Then, without a word of warning, he charged forward—dark sword arcing in deadly swiftness through the air at them. As one, the group reacted, their movements blurred as they spread out to meet the onrushing enemy.
Xiao launched into the air, his polearm whirling around him in lethal grace as Diluc rushed forward, his greatsword blazing with fiery wrath. Eula followed through as her blade shimmered in Cryo energy, ready at hand. The chamber exploded into a cacophony of battle as elemental powers clashed violently against the darkness man-wielded.
The chamber was alive with the clash of the powers of the elements, the air charged, as Diluc charged towards the dark figure. His greatsword blazed like flaming wrath, the flames licking up the blade as he swung it in deadly precision. The man met Diluc's attack with his own dark sword, and both clashed in a shower of sparks.
The force of their collision sent shockwaves throughout the chamber, metal on metal echoing off stone walls. Diluc's eyes burned with determination as he pressed the assault, his sword movements swift and powerful. He swung his greatsword through wide arcs, the flames off it trailing behind like the tail of a comet, but that dark figure proved quick, parrying each blow with quickness that proved his earlier arrogance.
"You're a fool for facing all of us at once," Diluc growled through gritted teeth, his voice seething with anger as he forced the man back with a powerful overhead strike. "You couldn't even defeat me alone before!"
The man's cold laughter resounded throughout the chamber as he parried Diluc's strike. The force of the blow slid off his sword in a calculated deflection, practiced in its ease. He spun out of the way from Diluc's follow-up strike, smooth and nearly effortless in his movement.
"Do you really think that I wanted to kill you at that time?" he sneered, his tone very mocking. He lashed out with his sword again, the sharp clang of blades after. "I was sent merely to show a warning to the Anemo nation, and now you're meddling in something greater than all of you!"
At the final word, the man twisted his blade around with brutal grace, catching Diluc entirely off his guard. He thrust his sword forward, cutting through the air with a speed that made one's head spin. The blade cut across Diluc's arm, leaving a deep gash that burned like fire. Diluc grunted in pain as he stumbled back, the blood welling through his clothes.
"Diluc!" Orion shouted at him, his voice urgent. Seeing his comrade injured really fanned flames within him. He could no longer stand by and watch any further. "Back away! I've got this!"
Orion charged forward without a care for a reply. His polearm hummed back to life, bathing in elemental power. Pyro and Cryo mixed in an breathtaking dance of energy as his weapon glowed bright, while he charged at the figure in darkness. The very earth would seem to rip apart under him as he pushes off, the air raging wildly around him in great fury.
Before the man could even register the attack, Orion was upon him with his polearm. In the strength and ferocity with which it cut the air, there leaved little room for defense. Orion's eyes burned like the same elements that infused his weapon, and with fury and purpose empowering his blows, he struck. The force of his attack drove the man back, with the dark sword struggling to keep up with the unyielding flurry.
Orion's entry was nothing less than explosive, all a blur of motion as he pressed the advantage. His polearm struck with flame and frost power, every hit shoving the man further on the defensive. The resounding clangs of the weapons, like fireworks, lit up the vast chamber with their battle, so fierce that its intensity sent palpable ripples through it.
Orion's eyes gleamed with a resolution as he quickly surveyed the battlefield. The Abyss soldiers were just regenerating endlessly, proving to be a real pain in the neck. "Eula, Diluc!" he yelled above the din. "Take care of those Abyss soldiers! We need them out of the way, let me focus on this one in front of me!"
Eula nodded, her eyes cold and focused as she turned to the regenerating enemies. Diluc, even with his injury, clutched his greatsword tightly, the flames surging anew with much intensity. The two charged towards the Abyss soldiers, leaving Orion and Xiao to face the man.
Smiling, Xiao took to the air, looking down at Orion with seriousness in his expression. "Don't push yourself too hard," he said in a calm voice, laced with concern.
Orion nodded, firm, hands tightening on the polearm as he stared at the blackness of the figure in front of them. "let's bring him down. Together."
Without another word, Xiao zipped forward like a thunderbolt, polearm still spinning in his grip as he closed in on the man. Orion followed, his polearm blazing with both Pyro and Cryo energies as he closed the distance, the man unperturbed that he was now outnumbered. Instead, his dark sword began weaving with terrifying precision, parrying away Xiao's quick successive polearm strikes and Orion's strong swings with ease. The chamber exploded into a maelstrom of metal and elemental energy as all three warriors engaged. Xiao's blows were a blur, his polearm virtually gone in a flickering of jabs and slashes. Orion paced with him, a force of tempest-driven energy with his own polearm's strikes. The man parried their blows with an ease that seemed to go against darkness surrounding him, his sword waltzing between their weapons with eyes-wide grace.
Xiao suddenly feinted and, with his prodigious speed, moved sideways and lashed out with a kick as powerfully as he could to the man's ribs. The man managed to block it with his forearm, but still, the force sent him flying back. Before he could recover, Orion was on him, the punishing punch to his midsection followed by an upward swing of his polearm that forced the man to leap back.
The man twisted in midair, and his black sword crackled with energy as he made his landing, only for Xiao to meet him head-on. Xiao's polearm slashed down on an angle across the man's chest, although he twisted just barely in time and the blade caught his flesh. The man immediately brought a slash downwards, but Orion intercepted him with the haft of his polearm, the force of the impact tossing up sparks.
Let's see you handle this!" Orion bellowed as he shifted his stance and launched a fearsome array of strikes. His polearm swirled around his body in wide arcs, slicing the air with lethal precision. His free hand released Cyro energy in explosive bursts around them, freezing blasts that might have killed them both.
And Xiao did the same, attacking in perfect synchronization. His polearm was flashing with Anemo energy as he attacked with both weapon and fist, the will to bend wind itself seeming to come from him. He moved in like a ghost, attacking the opponent from every imaginable angle, so the man couldn't predict his next move.
But he was no typical fighting force. He fended off their blows as though he were some type of inhuman being, his black sword flitting in and out and moving so quickly that it let them both know he was more than a match for both Xiao and Orion combined. He ducked beneath a swing from Xiao, catching him with a kick he barely side-stepped, only to sweep away to avoid a punch from Orion.
The three of them moved in a deadly dance, their weapons clashing in a whirlwind of metal and sparks. The chamber shook with the force of their battle, the ground beneath them cracking from the sheer intensity of their strikes. Orion and Xiao’s coordination was flawless, their attacks complementing each other in a way that made them a near-unbeatable duo.
Eula, amidst her fierce battle with the Abyss knights and mages, couldn’t help but steal a glance at the clash unfolding between Orion, Xiao, and the dark figure. Her breath caught in her throat as she witnessed the sheer ferocity and precision of their movements. It was as if she was witnessing a battle between gods, their powers so immense and their coordination so flawless that it left her in awe. The sheer speed and power of their strikes were almost too much for her eyes to follow, each blow sending shockwaves through the chamber, making the ground tremble beneath her feet.
"It's like watching gods clash," she thought with her heart racing, and it struck her. "Their strength; their speed, i can't keep up with my eyes" Amidst the fury of her own battle, it hit her for a moment— she had to be entranced by their fight. The pure weight of their power made her feel as though she was witnessing something far beyond the realm of ordinary combat.
Orion drove him back with a flurry of swift strikes, the polearm alight with the essence of the elements, and Xiao cutting in from one side, striking a strong kick against the man's head. The man ducked on time, and he spun away in time to avoid the kick, but Orion was there before him, his polearm thumping down with force enough to shatter the stone floor they were standing on. He parried the gout with his sword, and the force sent a shockwave through the chamber. But before he could get a counter ready, Xiao appeared alone at his side, and he shot the man some sort of spinning kick to his side, making him crash into the wall. The force of the impact shook the chamber, cracks spider-webbing through the stone as the man slid down, only to rise again, his dark eyes burning with a cold, calculating rage.
He stared at the two warriors, Orion and Xiao, as though he was relishing a challenge he had never faced before.
"You are quite strong Yaksha and whoever you are, but.." he crooned with malice as his voice grew ever cheerful. But then his eyes flicked to the battle raging behind them, where Eula and Diluc were fighting off the regenerating Abyss soldiers. A smile played at his lips, a wicked light in his eyes, and realization drove through Orion in a bolt.
One second later, Orion's instincts kicked in. He knew this look, knew a predator's stare, one that focused on the weakest of prey. In one swift instant, the man blurred into motion; his dark sword cleaving the air as he surged toward Eula with deadly intent.
