Author's Note: If you have stuck around and read the story up until now, I want to thank you for your support. It means the world to me that you are enjoying the world of Keena as much as I am! From here on, unless something happens in my life, I will be posting an episode on every Tuesday and Friday of every week. I do ask for understanding if I am not able to post and I will make sure to explain why. Again, thank you all, and enjoy! End of Author's Note.
Episode 6: The Fight That Decides It All Part 2
The rest of the Black Dragon Guild already knew what those last words meant from their Lord, and decided it was best to make way for the fight of the two titans in front of them. They tried clearing the space around them, but Rain had other sinister ideas. He grunted as if he was looking down on Thanatos. "Big talk for such a big nobody. You're pathetic. I hope you don't think your words carry any weight with me. They are just empty promises until you manage to back them up. Honestly, I doubt you could warm me up much less than beat me in an actual fight, you weak idiot. All you're good for is lighting candles. I can show you what real strength looks like, for example." As Rain finished taunting Thanatos, he pushed out his hand in front of him, but Thanatos felt nothing. However, a moment later, strange gurgling noises could be heard all around them.
Getting slightly worried, Thanatos took a look at his men and realized they were all being suffocated and held up by their necks by an invisible force. Quickly returning his gaze back to Rain, he noticed he was doing something. Rain had his hands spread out to each side of him with an ominous glow surrounding his arms. He was more than likely the root cause of Thanatos's men being strangled. He knew he had to act fast or his men would die here and now. "Ah!!!" Thanatos yelled out as he pushed off the ground with a slight twitch of his foot. As he leaped forward, dirt and dust flew behind him like a tidal wave. Thanatos covered the distance between them in an instant and slashed down diagonally at Rain's neck, hoping to slice him in half. Rain let out a pulse of his energy from his chest that flung Thanatos's attack backwards. In that same motion, Thanatos controlled his actions and placed his scythe away on his back. He lit up his fists in the black flames while twisting his body around and went in for a back fist. After that was deflected he followed up with a powerful jab to Rain's ribs that connected cleanly.
Thanatos was mildly confused, because his flames didn't catch nor spread onto his body with the punch like it normally would have. Rain looked into Thanatos's eyes and winced. He backed up holding his ribs where Thanatos cracked him. It was odd though, the glow around his hands never faded or faltered and his men weren't released from the strange power. Rain screamed, "Just kidding!" A maniacal cackling laugh erupted from Rain one moment and the next, he closed his hands in a way that looked like he was crushing something. At that moment, everyone who had been choking had their heads blow up in size and explode in the same way as Elder Yazzy did. In just a few seconds, Rain Nisho had defeated the entire Black Dragon Guild, which consisted of thousands upon thousands of skilled and battle hardened warriors, all apart from Thanatos.
Not believing that Rain was stronger than him even now, Thanatos made the flames on his fists grow three times bigger. This made them about the same size as his own head. "Forgive me for trying to understand the inner workings of a mad man, but before we carry on, humor me. What has your panties in such a wad that you are doing all of this? From my point of view, nothing makes sense except for becoming some kind of dictator. I hope you don't think the people will respect you or just hand over their love and affection after stealing their homeland." Thanatos said as he started slowly walking in a circular pattern around Rain.
"Well now, that's more like it. All I had to do was show the dog that he was misbehaving and he starts talking with some real manners. Here, since you're being more polite now, maybe I'll tell you something worth your while. I mean it's not like you'll be alive to tell anyone else anyway." Rain said while laughing and watching Thanatos. "I want the ultimate power… I want the crown!! There is no real peace in this world, only for the strong. Even with what I'm doing, that will never change. I'm just making my seat a bit more comfy at the top." Rain then winked at Thanatos. "I will shape this world to my liking. Everyone will want to grow even stronger with the way I will rule. Give the people a goal to fight for, or to be crushed under. Whichever one fits their destiny is fine with me. You know, survival of the fittest and all that."
Thanatos took a moment to take in what was being said, but he still couldn't make out the point of it all other than the fact that Rain wanted to be a king. "Come on Rain! You're doing all of this for something as petty as control? I don't buy it. I've always hated your guts, but to stoop this low? I consider myself disappointed. I never would have thought it would have been something as petty as a child playing king of the hill." Thanatos shook his head. Rain then gave Thanatos a side eye from hell, "Thanny, let me ask you something. Do you know why your men are dead and you are not? Do you have any idea about the actual benefits of being strong versus the consequences of being weak? Have you even thought about it? With all of your resources at hand, you never had anyone doing any research for the Black Dragon Guild, have you? All you're worried about is fighting mindlessly. I shouldn't be surprised."
For a second Thanatos looked kinda offended with the face he pulled, "My name isn't Thanny you prick. Get it right!! As for your question, I don't care about that." Rain looked slightly amused and said, "I thought as much, you overgrown gorilla. The fact that you were only offended at the nickname I gave you shows how dumb you really are. It's because of your strength. No, I'm not talking about your physical strength either. It's because you are stronger in your ability than the rest of your guild. Too bad you weren't strong enough to protect them. The more strength you have in your ability, the more natural resistance you will have to other abilities, especially to those who are far weaker than yourself."
It looked to Rain like Thanatos was beginning to understand what he was saying. "Most of the power we obtain from our ability is received when we are granted them at the age of ten. However, that doesn't mean we can't work hard and increase the power in our abilities, but most never reach their full potential. As for me, why do you think none of my guys have had to do a thing in this fight?" Being so focused on Rain and how quick the fighting actually was, Thanatos didn't realize that the Red Dragon Guild were lined up and watching the fight go down, but they kept their distance. "It's because they aren't needed." Rain stated coldly. "I'm not even worried about you, because you are nothing to me!" a smirk was seen on Rain's face as he looked behind himself towards Thanatos.
From a distance Thanatos, without hesitation, punched forward sending out a large beam of the black flames right at Rain. The flames covered him from head to toe on all sides. Nobody could see any part of Rain's body. Thanatos kept up the beam for a bit longer and turned up the heat near the end just to make sure. After about a minute of the insane burst of power, Thanatos dropped the output of the flames. It was so hot that the Red Dragon Guild members behind Rain had to shield themselves. To Thanatos's surprise, a pretty annoying voice was heard. "Woo!! Now that's what I call toasty! Okay, okay. Maybe you could start a camp fire. Look at that, you've upgraded!" Rain brushed himself off in a cocky fashion that got under Thanatos's skin. "I almost had to take off my cape just so you didn't singe the ends!" Rain took a second to enjoy the irritated face of Thanatos before stating, "Aw, you didn't think that little ember was enough to do me in did you? That's cute man, it really is, but if that was enough, I wouldn't have made it this far. You're going to have to do a lot better than that, Thanny!!"
Letting out an aggravated growl, Thanatos ran at Rain with his scythe out. Halfway between them, he jumped in the air about thirty feet high and forced his body into a horizontal position while spinning like a mad man. "Let's light it up!" he said while enveloping the blade of his scythe in the black flames that trailed further and further behind, the faster the blade was swung. As he came down, he slammed the blade into the ground and spread the flames outward. The flames exploded and it somewhat looked like a modern day nuke went off from a single man. It almost looked like, through the constant battering of flames, there was some type of force field protecting Rain.
"What?! What the hell is going on?!" Thanatos thought to himself. "He wasn't this strong before. I know his ability is to manipulate oxygen, but is this what he meant by making his ability stronger?" After the explosive flames died down, the aftermath was obvious to both Rain and Thanatos. A few dozen men from Rain's guild were burnt to a crisp. In the next second, their bodies, from head to toe, started breaking into small flakes of ash and drifting off in the wind.
Thanatos scoffed, "Remember when you were talking all that crap about being too weak to protect your men? How does it feel?" Thanatos sneered as he ran at Rain once again. He slashed multiple times in an X like formation and sent out line after line of the black flames. At this point, he knew his flames were a little useless, but not entirely. He was using them as suppressive fire to get close and cut Rain apart. He shot the flames out from the back of the scythe, adding momentum and force to the swing. The black flame enveloped blade made contact with Rain's arm. Not just that, but it sliced through like butter. A moment later and Rain heard a thud. Realizing he couldn't feel the arm that was once there, he jumped back a further distance than Thanatos expected. He was using his ability to somewhat glide further just that much faster.
Controlling the oxygen in his blood, Rain manipulated the blood flow so he never lost a significant amount of it. Getting out of the immediate reach of Thanatos, Rain lightly lept upward into the air and using his ability to then control the oxygen in the atmosphere, he started floating in a manner that looked like flying. Thanatos picked up Rain's arm, then snatched it from the white and gold sleeve that came with it and yelled, "Don't think you can escape me!! You've had this coming for a long time Nisho!! Death will become you by the hand of the reaper!!" Thanatos reared back his hand with Rain's severed arm and thrust it forward so fast that a sonic boom was heard. Simultaneously, a visual explosion could be seen as the arm then left the sound barrier and was headed right for Rain's head.
Rain held his one good hand out and the air seemed to pull small translucent bubbles out from nothing and formed into somewhat of a crescent wall. As Rain's arm made contact with the bubble shield, it slowed down to a near stop and he grabbed it with relative ease. He placed his severed arm up to his current nub and held it in place for a few seconds before letting go. He used the oxygen in his body to speed up the movement of his white blood cells. His arm was practically good as new. "Thanks for giving that back. It would have been a real shame for you to lose to a one-armed man. At least this way, you can die with some dignity left intact. I do hope you found someone to at least enjoy a little of what life has to offer, but I guess that won't really matter at this point, ha ha. If you thought I was strong before, I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised now. I can do so much more than I originally thought possible with my ability and now you're only seeing a fraction of my power."
A frightening cackle broke out of Rain. In front of Thanatos's eyes, Rain could no longer be seen. He started looking everywhere trying to find him. He thought, "If he went invisible somehow, he's probably making a move." In a desperate attempt to find Rain, Thanatos lit up the scythe with much more intense flames than the last time and slammed it into the ground, once again. He knew if it went on like this, he would end up in a pretty sticky situation. Sure enough, a type of shielded bubble could be seen not even ten feet from him.
Before he could do anything else, Rain spoke looking irritated, "Why are you so weak?! Come on! You aren't even giving me a hard time. It's clear you're just as weak as the last time we fought. While you were being lazy, I got a leg up in the game. I don't need you wasting any more of my precious time here." After the flames died down, Rain shifted his expression into one that could only be interpreted as trying to be friendly. "I know you hate me, but I have to ask. Would you consider joining me? I want you, or at least your power, on my side. With my knowledge and the unique ability you possess, it would be a tragedy for the world to lose it before it had a chance to blossom." Thanatos was so shocked by Rain's proposal that he could only take it as a desperate attempt at a joke. "Eat shit Rain. You talk all this crap about becoming a king and then tell me you want to use my ability for your own benefit and just expect me to jump on board? You're a joke. I'll never help you after everything you've done. Not after everyone you've taken. You can't kill off hope, not in me. I'm the black phoenix, the reaper. I won't allow you to go on forever doing as you please. So kill me if you think you can, but I'll make sure you always have to look over your shoulder."
Rain became uncontrollably enraged. "I gave you a chance at life and you spat in my face for the last time. I don't really care what you call yourself, all anyone will know about you is that you're dead!" Rain moved his hand swiping in a Z formation and the same invisible power struck Thanatos's body, but with a force that couldn't be predicted. He felt a slash go across his knees, another one struck from his bottom right hip to his top left shoulder, and lastly he was sliced right across his neck. He stood still and it looked like he was frozen. A moment later, right where the ability hit, blood could be seen trickling out from under the wounds. Rain was smiling and taunted Thanatos one final time, "Well, I guess the reaper has been reaped."
Thanatos couldn't speak, but had a few final thoughts, "This is not the end. In fact, it's just the beginning. I know what I have to do and what needs to be built. You'll get your way for now, but just you wait." A second later and the part of his body that contained his right shoulder slid out from the rest of his body. That started a domino effect and soon his body crumbled into five cut apart pieces onto the cold ground. Rain stood over top of the man he just slain. Thanatos's body then spontaneously combusted into a large black flame that consumed his body and left nothing behind. Rain never knew about this power, but casually dismissed it since he was in a good mood now that nobody could stand in his way. He chuckled and yelled to his guild, "Red Dragon Guild! March onward and into the future! We are the change the world needs. If you questioned any part of our movements before, find resolution in the fact that I, your king, Rain Nisho, has slain Thanatos and the whole of the Black Dragon Guild. I have to make our presence known in Meetria and unite both halves of Keena! Great work everyone."
End of the Episode 6: The Fight That Decides It All Part 2
Author's Name
ClodiasManga