Angelos Odyssey

6-2

“Tavon!” I hear Hadrian cry out.

I cry out as I step back, pulling the scorching-hot blade from out of my body as I do, and Artemis respond with a quick step forward followed by a swift diagonal swing! When I dodge left, he immediately swings right, and, when I step back, he steps in, thrusts, and tears through my other side to form a bleeding tunnel running through my ribcage. I step away, and dark tau erupts from my body. While the temple continues to collapse into a heap of grey and white smog that hovers above chunks of debris, the mix of zol sources pouring into my heart causes the muscles in my body to expand on their own and press out a series of veins in my arms as they do.

Artemis charges toward me and swings with a group of consecutive strikes: left, right, up, down, left. I backstep, strafe left, backstep, strafe right, and crouch to avoid the last stroke. He swings faster with his subsequent attacks, and, when trying to sidestep a blow aimed at my head, Artemis swings out with his other sword arm and slices a deep gash across my chest.

“Tavon, you i***t! Go on the offensive!” Hadrian shouts again, and, when he does, a line of blue energy draws toward me and creates a surge of adrenaline that causes my body to twitch.

To my far left, I hear someone with an emerald trail of tau that’s drawing toward me approach Amegdion and say to him, “Hey sir, I need to talk to you for a second…”

Artemis extends the point of his left blade my way, crouches low into a lunge, and then emits a black cloud around his body as he flashes toward me with more speed than I can keep up with, even with all the power that’s gathering within my body. As I try to step out of the way, I feel frigid chills followed by intense heat, and then my left arm goes numb as blood flows down from a deep cut. Artemis rushes past me and delivers a strike that slashes into my arm and chest deep enough to send rivulets of blood running down my stomach. His body flies toward the rubble left behind by the fallen temple, and, just as I turn to face him amidst an astonished crowd of onlookers, black tau is emitted from my fists alongside a red outer aura that surrounds my entire body.

On my right, I hear Hadrian yell: “Go on the offensive right now! Fight back! Hurry up, Tavon!”

Hadrian’s anxiety causes the energy pouring into me to double in its magnitude. It ripples through, and I feel a mixture of rage and adrenaline building inside of me. My body feels tighter as it continues to expand while I push out a black aura that grows with my anger. When the feeling finally returns in my left arm, I charge toward Artemis Spilsbury.

In response, Spilsbury ejects curved, jagged spikes from his body that shine with a violet light. He rapidly begins grabbing each by its own makeshift handle and flings them at me without so much as shaking from the effort. Artemis throws twelve razor sharp boomerangs at my head, and black aura erupts at my feet as I dodge in every direction while still charging forward. He throws another, then another, and then he meets me head-on and slashes at my neck! I duck just in time to sidestep left as he follows with a thrust, then I dash right and left, dodging two more thrusts before I jump on top of his sword arm and kick out at his head.

Artemis soars back in the opposite direction and leaves me to fend for myself as over a dozen boomerangs home in on my location. I jump as the first comes for my feet, and then I spin through the air to evade when Artemis follows by swinging one of his swords and sending a black arc my way. As soon as I hit the ground, I rotate left to avoid the next projectile, and then I spin right to avoid a third. Artemis swings four times, producing four waves of concentrated energy that sweep toward my direction; I duck, jump to the right, somersault over the third wave, and, as my tau collects into one fist and causes it to expand, I catch another boomerang as it sails through the air and leap over the final arc of black energy.

I spin, throw, and toss one of Spilsbury’s boomerangs back at him, and then, just when a second soars directly at my head, I catch it with both hands. I spin and throw again and then catch another right before sidestepping the one following behind it. I throw each projectile back at Artemis, who absorbs them into his body before flinging them back so that there’s nothing that I can do but become more and more agile as several glowing projectiles continue moving my way. Eventually, I decide to advance on Artemis.

I take the fight to him, sprinting as fast as I can as sharp boomerangs collect behind me. I duck before reaching Artemis, lowering my head as one projectile sails over it, then I step to the side as he reacts instantly with a thrust. He slashes at the wound on my chest, I backstep, he slashes out again, and I duck to avoid a boomerang that soars directly into his shoulder. As it’s being absorbed, I punch at the air in front of Artemis and project the force of my strike into his body; Artemis flinches backward, and I press onward. When he responds with a thrust that nearly runs me through, I rotate my body to dodge him and advance with a haymaker!

My fist connects with what feels like solid steel, and Artemis hardly budges from the attack. I’m so shocked that I fail to keep myself from gasping out loud as I turn to dash away from him. Artemis promptly follows with a charge that precedes a lunge. He thrusts and shoots forward; I leap into a backflip as he rushes underneath me, and then I land and sprint away before turning to face him again.

“Impossible,” I say out loud to myself. “I couldn’t shake him at all.”

Artemis dashes my way with more speed than ever and slashes at my head. Even though I dodge and put enough distance between the two of us to anticipate his next move, he flies at me even faster and slashes once, twice, a third time, and slices through my right cheek as I fail to dodge his last strike. Just when I get some room to breathe, three boomerangs come at me at consecutive intervals. I crouch low to avoid one and sidestep to the right and left as they cut through the air at the same time that Artemis makes another thrust for my face. I evade him, try to step away, and he tracks my movement before following with a swift stab that catches the side of my neck, causing blood to trickle down to my right shoulder.

He swings more rapidly than I can keep up with, and, when I do manage to catch him in between strikes, another boomerang flies at my body and pushes me to continue dodging. I remain on the defensive, but I start to lose ground when Artemis dashes at me, anticipates my backstep, pursues me as I try to dodge his next thrust; he cuts a deep gash across my stomach.

I ball my hands into fists and clench my teeth as I feel anger rise within me. While that anger climbs and climbs, reaching its climax with an explosion of red aura, I feel black tau spilling out from my form in a wave that makes me numb to the pain of my injuries. I take off with one foot and blast toward Artemis with a burst of energy as I prepare to send a swift jab his way. I reach him, and he swings; I lower my head in time, advance, and he thrusts with his other arm; I sidestep, and he spins, cuts through the air, and swings down diagonally; I move right and under the arc of his swing, then I expand my arm to its maximum—generating a great cloud of black tau that surrounds a ball of blazing red energy burning in a halo around my open palm—and I chop at the side of his ribcage.

My hand strikes his side with a crunch, but the force of my strike is so hard that I feel my entire forearm press in on itself. I follow through by turning on one foot so that I can uppercut him in the same spot. Artemis turns instantly, swings, and his ebony blade soars toward my head faster than I can dodge!

I catch his blade in place. My entire hand burns before Artemis tears his weapon out of my grasp and, as he does, creates a cut that runs from the underside of my arm through the center of my hand, nearly dividing it. I back away while leaving behind a trail of my blood. I start to feel what I felt back then, back when I was fighting Sade, the leader of the Pyrite Brigade. My odds of survival are lower than ever. Dread wells up on the inside. Dark tau flows along my injured arm, and rage continues to build alongside adrenaline that causes my body to go from twitching to constant trembling at my own power. I clench my fists tighter, feeling a surge of aura that’s like a million fiery jolts of energy pouring throughout me. I breathe in, and someone places their hand on my shoulder.

“That’s enough, brother. I think it’s time that you came with me.”

I feel another jolt, and then the world around me flashes white.