Mountains Fall
Omurai and Asher soon found themselves close to the eastern gate of Tier Bastion. The soldiers were tired of fighting the two powerful adventurers, but they reluctantly continued. Asher noticed a large man with a heavy gauntlet covering up his entire arm. It seemed that all the soldiers who turned away were quickly turned back around by the fierce glare that man cast upon them.
“Do you notice that man? It seems all the soldiers fear him,” Asher said once he was close to Omurai.
“Indeed, he is no doubt the leader of this bunch,” Omurai responded.
“Should we take him out then?” Asher asked eagerly.
“But of course!” Omurai exclaimed, rushing towards the man.
Jowl noticed the two adventurers that had been causing his men so much trouble charging straight at him. He nodded his head and drew his sword from the strap on his back.
“About time…” he mumbled to himself as he readied for the attack.
Omurai leaped into the air with his katana drawn and came down with a swift, but powerful, strike. Jowl merely held up his broad sword and swatted the attack aside. Omurai hit the ground in a run, moving around Jowl while sheathing his katana. Asher had a more direct approach, and came storming in with his full blade. He swung it down with a mighty chop, but Jowl caught it with his gauntlet arm and shoved Asher back. Omurai charged again, this time drawing his katana just as he reached Jowl’s left side. Again the broad sword smacked the attack away. Asher repeated his attack, but Jowl side stepped the attack. This time, Jowl spun around with his dodge and swung his sword horizontally at Asher’s head. The fire adept lifted up his sword in time to block the attack and fell into a roll.
Jowl spun to face Omurai, who jumped into a flurry of blows with his katana. Jowl held out his gauntlet arm and slashed with his sword, pushing back the furiously fighting wind adept. Asher was up by then and gave another swing at Jowl. This time the commander spun out of the blade’s way, knocking Omurai back with a swing of his sword, and slugged Asher in the side of the face with his gauntlet arm. The fire adept spun to the ground and slowly started to rise. Omurai raised his katana high and slashed down, but Jowl caught it with his gauntlet and threw the wind adept into the air by the blade. Omurai set his blade to fall vertically on Jowl as he fell down, but the commander wouldn’t have that. Jowl raised his gauntlet and let out a burst of neutral energy that shoved Omurai into the air even higher. Jowl slashed to his right just in time to parry Asher’s full blade somehow. Next, Jowl crossed his right arm over his blade hand and let out another burst of energy, knocking Asher backwards.
Omurai suddenly fell out of the sky screaming, his katana glowing like lightning. A thin grin crossed Jowl’s lips as he placed both hands on the hilt of his blade and prepared to counter. Both blades clashed in a flash of energy. Asher squinted his eyes from the nearly blinding light, but still couldn’t tell what was happening. Just then, Omurai was thrown back several feet.
The wind adept sat up and glanced down at his blade. A look of sheer horror crossed his visage. A crack had formed near the middle of his blade.
“H-how could this happen? This blade is magical…it’s not supposed to break!” Omurai said to himself. He looked up to see Asher being thrown in his direction. The fire adept crashed into the ground nearby and let out a groan.
“Asher…we have to be more careful…” Omurai said grimly, presenting his blade to his friend. Asher’s eyes widening in disbelief as he stared at the crack on Omurai’s katana.
Asher’s stare of disbelief quickly turned to an eager grin as he stood up and held out his full blade. With a single thought, the blade came to life with a swirling fire. With his full blade afire, Asher charged at Jowl, who was already prepared for the attack.
As the full blade came thundering down on Jowl, he held up his gauntlet and caught it. Asher grinned, and the blade’s fire grew stronger. Jowl’s calm expression remained as he drained the power out of the blade and shoved Asher back. Jowl then slammed his gauntlet into the ground, and a huge explosion went off, taking out nearby troops who were watching.
“Asher!” Omurai shouted, leaping to his feet and rushing towards the flames. As he drew closer, though, he stopped and stared in disbelief. Asher stood among the flames like they were his kin. The fire slid off his skin and nipped at his clothing but did no harm.
“So, you’ve got amazing defense…but I bet it’s only against fire,” Jowl said calmly, walking back from the flames.
Asher’s happy expression suddenly went grim and he readied his blade again. “I grow tired of you..”
Omurai leaped through the flames with his wakizashi bared, but Jowl grabbed the blade and tossed the wind adept into the air once more. This time, however, Jowl sent his blade spinning after Omurai.
Omurai stopped himself in the air and started hovering. As soon as he saw the blade spinning towards him he let out a shout, and the wind around him gusted down on the blade, sending it flying back at its source. Jowl caught his blade and slashed to his left in time to parry yet another strike from Asher. Once again, Jowl held out his right hand and set Asher flying backwards.
Omurai put away his wakizashi and held out both arms, fingers outstretched. “It’s time to finish this, my friend!” he shouted.
As if on cue, Asher stood up and threw his full blade down. The fire adept pulled down his goggles over his eyes and cracked his knuckles. After checking his gloves, he looked up to Omurai and nodded.
Small beads of energy began to appear at the tips of Omurai’s outstretched fingers. Once they all were formed, he shouted, “Tempus Cry!” The wind adept began to swing his arms down at Jowl as if he were throwing a ball. Instead, bolts of lightning began to appear in random directions and darting at the commander. Jowl managed to block a few with his gauntlet and sword, but in no time Omurai began to speed up, and the commander couldn’t keep up with the attacks. Jowl began to jerk around, stumbling this way and that, as the sparks darted around and through him.
Asher licked his lips and shouted, “Dragon’s breath!” With that, he sucked in a large gust of air and exhaled a quick, but extremely hot wave of fire that enveloped Jowl, who surprisingly managed to hold up his gauntlet in time to take the blow. It hardly mattered, though, for the fires moved around the gauntlet and blew Jowl several feet back. He hit the ground and started to roll.