Angelos Odyssey

5-2

Artemis swings, and the thug grimaces while raising both hands to block. His sword cuts through his target’s forearms as he advances and through his opponent’s neck while rushing on toward me!

“Stop! Enough!” shouts Sygdom as a ghastly aura erupts around him.

A voice booms overhead: “IF YOU DON’T STOP THIS MESS OF A FIGHT, I WILL BRING THE ENTIRE SHIP DOWN WITH ME! STOP INTERRUPTING THEM THIS INSTANT!” I hear Grandmaster Jia shout from the other side of the zekomata.

At that moment, I look up to see a massive ball of transparent light that’s ringed with strands of bright orange. Those strands writhe and tangle around each other as the giant sphere continues to expand while producing a whole lot of heat.

Artemis and I stop a short distance away from each other while Sygdom coughs before continuing with a roar: “Artemis Spilsbury! What possessed you to kill so many of my own men? They were sent to even the odds, to shorten this match a bit, and you helped the ‘Knight Murderer’ kill them. How can you expect us to forgive you if you’ve killed more of us than he has? You’re a total buffoon, and, at the risk of severing ties with Noboros, I’ve decided to condemn both of you until further notice. At the end of this match, Titus will raise the hand of the victor and might just slit his throat while he’s at it! Both of you have Maeja blood on your hands now, so, if you’re going to finish this fight, it had better damn well be impressive. You’ve got cameras on you. Fight like your reputations depend on it!”

he Before I’m ready to charge into battle, I notice a stream of emerald-colored light that runs from my chest to someone else in the distance. When I trace it to its source, I recognize a familiar face.

“Tavon!” Kagiso shouts with a big smile, “You’re looking really cool! I’m rooting for you, so don’t give up!”

Just as he finishes speaking, Artemis lunges and stabs at my head. I sidestep, watching as he draws his blade back, and sidestep again to avoid a second thrust. I evade by shifting my stance left and right as he continues to strike with consecutive thrusts. After Artemis swipes at the side of my head and I react by jumping back to increase the distance between us, he cracks open the side of his ribcage and launches a cyclone of ivory shards my way.

Instead of dodging, I let Kagiso’s energy combine with mine, and the red aura around my body suddenly becomes tinted with a shade of green. I reach back with one fist, let it expand as the aura around it burns like a bright flame, and punch at the air—

The force of my punch travels through the air, smashes into four of the fragments headed my way, and dissipates after crushing through jagged bone.

Artemis hesitates, mutters, “Incredible,” then he fires off another barrage. I punch at the air and blast through them. He fires off a third barrage, so I punch again, and, as I do, I feel a surge of adrenaline hit me like a wave. My punch echoes out in a shower of green, red, and white; it rockets through a flurry of spikes, shattering them as it travels onward and smacks into the body of Artemis. Artemis steps back, taking notice of the same thing I do.

A stream of silvery-white tau reaches toward me from behind, and I glance back with enough time to catch my pupil focusing hard on the fight. Raiko clenches both fists and shouts, “That was awesome, T! Keep going!”

Raiko looks as determined as I feel, and, with that in mind, I advance on my opponent with even more confidence than before. I try to close the distance between us, but, before I can, Artemis fires off his entire arm in my direction. Responding quickly, I switch my stance, channel red tau into my fist, and punch immediately before his blade’s edge meets my knuckles. The aura from my strike wraps around Spilsbury’s sword arm in a rainbow of three different shades; it catches his arm in midflight, pushes back so hard that it cracks in on itself, and explodes outward with fiery red sparks while forcing his arm back in his direction.

Artemis reattaches a limb that’s bent at the middle, with cracked bone exposing the grey zol flowing throughout his body. He buckles over with a groan, which prompts me to go on the offensive. This time, I advance with my full strength.

I move on Artemis, who slashes at me with his uninjured arm. I flex my arm to enlarged it and block: aura bursts from my fist as I catch the blade with my forearm. I knock his weapon back and move to punch, but he backs away. Rather than let me continue to attack, Artemis launches three shards at my chest. He shoots, I punch, and the power packed behind my fist shatters each projectile before rushing toward him like a rocket of energy. This power smashes into Artemis’ body, who groans more loudly as he tries to withstand it. As he does, the light of his zol flickers out briefly before it returns to expand into an even bigger halo around him. Just when the color of his aura changes to black—and when he starts to buckle over again—I sprint at Artemis; with all the momentum I manage to gather, I jump, spin, and kick his only functioning arm right as he moves to block his head.

My kick radiates out with the strength to rock Artemis back on his feet. I step forward, kick again, and strike Spilsbury’s arm hard enough to cause it to splinter in the middle. I step forward again as my body starts brimming with aura and kick a third time: his sword arm cracks inward and drops to his side.

Artemis generates a cloud of zol that erupts from the center of his chest and begins to circle his body. The armor of bone around him starts to thin out and look more brittle; before my eyes, his arms push themselves back into place while dissolving into a substance that solidifies into narrower limbs adorned by blades that have become slenderer. Just as he begins to resemble his original form, I move on him with a fourth kick.

He blocks, but my strike cleaves his blade in two. I step forward, kick, and then I cleave through his other blade. Aura flows through me, producing an even stronger current before, and I deliver a sixth kick that blasts its way into Spilsbury’s chest, throws him off his feet, and sends him flying backward as rivulets of color push through him.

I hear Raiko shout, “Yeah, T! Keep going! Knock him out!”

Knowing that I’ve eroded Spilsbury’s defenses, I rush him faster than he can regenerate his blades. I move on him and deliver a punch straight to his chest. Artemis gasps and steps back prior to ejecting a shard out of his chest that’s aimed at my head! I move my head to the side and chop through the spike, then I punch him in the chest again with crimson energy that explodes on contact.

Dozens of spikes erupt from Spilsbury’s chest at once as he tries to back away. As I keep close to my opponent, I bob and weave as jagged edges fly past my head and neck and twitch to the right in time to avoid a spike that threatens to pierce my left eye.

Artemis retracts each spike and then ejects them again in a different pattern: one comes for my right eye; I twitch right and chop, breaking it in two. Another shoots toward my forehead; I move my head down and left, push up with the palm of my right hand as I smash through it, then I punch: I hit Artemis with a swift jab to the chest and draw my hand back as a spike soars up from below to impale it. I chop down and right to break the next spike, chop left as another comes for my head, hit him in the chest with a left hook, chop down as a spike flies in from the right to pierce my left hand, and jab him in the chest with so much energy that I hear a crack as he steps back and grunts in response.

I try to strike at him again, but Artemis races to get away from me and then turns to fire off a long, slender spike. I move to intercept it and strike its center with the back of my fist to shatter it at the middle. Artemis fires again, I punch at the air before each projectile, and each one breaks into millions of fragments that hit the ground at my feet just as Artemis lets off the full extent of his aura—a raging silvery black mass of tremendous magnitude—and begins firing at an even more rapid pace.

Instead of punching, this time I dash in between each flurry of razor white as I sprint toward my opponent. I move so that I’m on his right flank, and then Artemis turns to shoot off five spikes that I sidestep while rushing forward as I prepare another all-out assault. Spilsbury’s reflexes serve him well; he continues backing off and luring me in a wide circle as I pursue him. He fires and fires, blasting ivory storms of bone at my body. I strafe right, avoiding one way, then I charge on and sidestep right, avoiding another. Artemis aims at my lower body, fires, and I jump through the air as I continue to chase him around the ring. He fires a column, I dodge left, and he bursts forth with another column that I evade by dodging again in the same direction.

Artemis fires a row of spikes at my feet. I leap up into the air, spin, and evade them as I come down and sprint so quickly that I’ve almost closed the gap between us. Artemis fires another row before I reach him, and, upon reflex, I jump with a spin that’s faster than before. I keep my eyes on my target the entire time, watch as he shoots at my feet again, leap, spin, and kick one of my weighted shoes off my foot so that it soars toward him.

My shoe connects with Spilsbury’s head and rocks it back so hard that he’s forced to stagger backward as he moves to protect his face with his broken sword in shock.

I discard my other shoe and close the distance.

I reach Artemis before he can react and punch him in the face: his mask of bone cracks at the center as he’s nearly pushed off his feet. Artemis staggers backward, and I rush him with a strong first kick. When he tries to block with both swords, regenerating them as he reacts, I half each with my opening attack. As his swords break away, I spin, kick, spin, kick—cracking his sternum with the ferocity of the blow—spin, kick—breaking off one arm at the shoulder socket—spin and then kick Artemis in the stomach with so much force that he vomits up black mucus.

“Go, Tavon!” Raiko cries over a hushed crowd; at the same time, the flow of his aura expands and causes more zol to swell throughout my body.

An invisible hand closes around my shoulder and says, “Go. You’ve got this.”

I close the distance between us one more time.

I reach Artemis with a punch that connects with his chest and causes it to break inward. Even with a strike that strong, Artemis still manages to eject a series of spikes across his body that aim for my thighs, stomach, face, and throat. I shift my stance while moving my body around each spike as I break each one with a consecutive chop. I move deeper inside Spilsbury’s guard, and rows of spike eject at me faster as I punch and chop through each jagged blade.