?The Storms Divide

  "I'm just going to guess you're not here to exchange pleasantries?"

  ?Indra asked, waiting for the figure to make the first move as he deactivated his Ashura Karma

  ?Meanwhile, Blade was struggling to figure out everything that could give him an advantage. If it wasn't for Indra, he could have been gravely injured, if not dead. He had to think of any way to be of use in this fight.

  ?The figure revealed herself as a woman with long, black hair with purple stripes. Staying silent, she tried to eliminate Blade first, only for Indra to again step in her way. Grabbing her arm, he landed a kick that was blocked, though it sent her back.

  ?Recovering, the woman parried the sneak attack Blade tried to use on her, clashing before ending it by putting more force behind her blade, moving his blade out of the way as she tried to cut him down.

  ?Indra, noticing the lack of damage they had caused, observed her closely until fire suddenly erupted on her. By making lightning collide with the fire, she managed to avoid most of the damage as an explosion was created by the collision, forcing her back.

  ?Blade held back, as he observed how the fire and lightning collided. No matter his skill, as things currently stood, stepping in would be suicide. Now that he could perceive mora, it opened a whole new dimension of power to him, and he desired to learn more about it.

  ?The clash of fire and lightning only intensified as Indra’s grin widened by the second, enjoying each moment of it all. Yet the truth lay clear that he was superior to her in terms of combat, as they dispersed leaving him on the ground and her in the air.

  ?"You know, a battle is a conversation. Yet you are as boring as your demeanor.”

  ?Indra remarked. Normally, a person’s personality could be glimpsed through how they fought, yet her fighting was as emotionless and silent as herself.

  ?Nodding at the notion, Blade thought back to the short clash he had with her. He had barely felt anything from her blade, yet their sentiments met silence as the woman disregarded them. She raised a hand towards the thundering sky, and with a whispered command, the heavens broke.

  ?"Heaven's Wrath

  ?As her hand fell, so did the lightning that followed. It made the clouds split from the force and caused Indra to grin wider as the lightning was blown away by the flames bursting forth from Indra’s body.

  ?Blade held up his hand, trying to block, though he quickly noticed that the flames fell perfectly around him. It was like standing in front of a sun, but with a protective shield just around yourself—truly a mesmerizing sight, broken by the sun.

  ?"Seems like I actually had to use it. Well now, shall we continue?”

  ?Indra commented, before continuing.

  ?"Ashura Karma

  ?Watching the flames retract back to his body as his body and the right side of his face gained crimson markings. Indra brushed the hair from his face, revealing an enthusiastic grin. ?

  "Too bad flames get in the way. Would have been fun seeing you burn.”

  ?Indra stated before looking over at Blade.

  ?"Going to choke on the smoke or come and join the fun? If I wanted a statue I would have cremated you?"

  ?Stunned for a few seconds by the realization of how much Indra had been holding back, Blade regained his bearings and walked over to Indra. Standing by his side, he asked:

  ?"I’ll do my best, but won’t I be a hindrance?”

  ?"Just keep your eyes on me. Since fighting beside me will be too difficult for you, follow my movement and use me as inspiration. Fighting side by side is all about using one another, you know, so use me with everything you have.”

  ?Blade gave a sharp nod. He would keep his eyes on him and focus solely on his role in this fight. Following Indra’s lead, he dashed into the fray.

  ?Indra and the woman clashed again, yet this time it was even further beyond what happened before, with lightning discharging in all directions as the heat of the flames kept them at bay. The result caused the ground to fracture and tear apart while simultaneously melting whatever remained.

  ?For Blade, it felt like he was trying to interfere in a battle between giants while he was a feeble rat, but he shook his head, remembering Indra's words as he understood his position.

  ?From having observed them earlier and seeing them now, he saw that their power was about equal. Like a scale swaying between two sides. That's where he came in. In comparison, he might as well be a feeble stone, yet even that can shift the scale entirely in such a balanced situation. And so that's what he did. By using the openings the two created in their clashes, Blade managed to deflect some of the attacks heading towards Indra while taking advantage of all weaknesses he could exploit. This would be his way of tipping the scale.

  ?One thing Blade noticed while fighting was that Indra's flames, which had been red, had become a strong blue, matching the lightning falling from the sky. The power of the flames also increased significantly, with everything improving massively after he activated his Ashura Karma. Either way, for now, he did not have the luxury to let his thoughts drift, as even to stay afloat in this battle required his full concentration.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  ?Still, he was only human. Each clash with the woman, each deflection of lightning, continued to strain him. And though the woman and Indra seemed to be able to continue for days, the strain slowly started building up and eventually caught up to him, even as he tried pushing through, knowing if he fell now, Indra would be left open.

  ?For Indra and the woman, things were different. Indra was grinning the widest he had, loving this fight even if he couldn't go all out. His focus had been split between fighting and making sure Blade didn’t die from a stray attack. In the best case, it would leave him in a bad state. In the worst-case scenario, he would die. Blade dying would probably make things easier for him, yet he had a promised fight he waited for. Still, by taking advantage of Blade, they had gained an upper hand. By using Blade, Indra was given a lot more possibilities, while Blade got a shield and something to hide behind, letting him both conceal his attacks and gain inspiration for new ones. Together, they managed to build up enough damage to severely wear her down, while only taking minor hits themselves.

  ?The woman, finally breaking to show a hint of emotion, showed the tiredness aching her. And so she shifted her approach, landing on the ground and sending out waves of lightning in all directions. Weirded out but not paying it much attention, Indra rushed at her, dodging her electrical slashes as he came within range. The moment he did, though, the woman went past him to target Blade.

  ?Turning to chase after her, the woman had already turned in a cutting motion, having tricked Indra into falling in the way of her slash. Yet the moment the blade connected, it was only met with metal.

  ?"Sorry, but I need him alive.”

  ?Blade said, holding Indra’s arm with one hand to anchor himself even as it burned, while he kept the woman’s blade away with his sword.

  ?The woman seemed momentarily surprised, though taking little note of his interference. She seemed more as if she was out of time. Quickly pushing his sword away, she kicked it down, sending enormous amounts of lightning into it.

  A pillar of lightning rushed down from the sky slamming into the earth with force that tore it away. Incinerating a path between heaven and earth, while vaporizing the stone and kicking up a blinding cloud of soot. When the air cleared, the woman was gone."

  ?Indra, who had managed to jump back in time, deactivated his Ashura Karma

  The hole connected to an even steeper ravine with no end in sight, and he would have little chance of finding anything had he gone down. Even if he had, the lingering lightning wouldn’t let him. Therefore he decided to continue exploring, trying to find either Blade or the woman who had escaped.

  ?Meanwhile, Blade was falling. He knew he was falling, as he had felt this sensation a few times now. Somehow he had managed to remain mostly intact, though it felt like the nerves in his right arm were short-circuited.

  ?Piercing his sword into the side of the ravine, he slowed his momentum until he came to a more bearable speed when he reached the ground. Afterward, it was just about fixing his arm.

  ?By using his mora, he managed to lessen the strain on his arm. ?Knowing he couldn't fight with a dead limb, he created a dagger. He didn't hesitate. Gritting his teeth, he bit down on a piece of leather from his old gear, the copper taste of his own blood filling his mouth as his jaw muscles locked.

  The first priority was the purge of dead flesh. He used his mora to numb the edges of the wound, but it wasn't enough to kill the aching agony as he sliced into his own forearm. With the precision of a surgeon on a timer, he began to excise the blackened, shriveled nerve fibers. Each snip sent a shock through his brain, making his vision swim in a sea of grey. He felt his teeth crack against the leather, but he didn't stop.

  With his current knowledge of mora, using it as a substitute was far too unstable. Meaning his best bet was using alive nerve cells. Running his mora through his arm, he tore up more of his flesh as he began cutting off tissue to replace what was lost. It would weaken his arm, but make its recovery both safer and quicker.

  As he began the grueling process of rerouting healthy tissue, he sewed the nerve endings together with threads from a needle he made. The pain was no longer a sharp sting, but a crushing weight pressing down on his mind.

  ?When the last fiber was knit and the skin was fused back together with a cauterizing glow of mora, the adrenaline vanished. Feeling like his body disconnected, as his eyes went dark and his body hit the ground. A deep rest to remove the toll that had caught up to him.

  ?When he finally woke up, he took some time to look around, only to see nothing to note. So he started walking. Staying there wouldn't help him, and he wanted to regroup with Indra as quickly as possible.

  ?Without knowing how much time had passed, the calm walk quickly became a run as he got impatient. After a while of running through the strange terrain of the ravine. Jumping off cliffs, running up hills, and passing through all the other strange things that found themselves here, it took quite a while before he finally found an opening. What he saw, though, made him stop for a moment.

  ?A frozen landscape was what he found in front of him. Ice sculptures and statues littered the clearing. Though when he approached, he realized what he saw were not statues, but people. People who were completely frozen. Like statues framed in time their faces screamed both from terror, despair and simple peace. Some were destroyed, others still whole, yet all irrevocably frozen solid.

  ?Some distance away, beside a giant icicle, was a woman. Her beauty clear as her white hair framed her face. Yet as he stepped closer, he noticed another individual backing away from her.

  ?“Please… I’m sorry… I didn’t know better…”

  ?Yet the pleading words were left on deaf ears as she apathetically pierced the individual through his chest, before he was encased in ice.

  ?Multiple thoughts sprouted in his head, yet none dared to move as he stood still. But the thoughts were not even allowed to turn before he found himself face-to-face with the woman, who had crossed the distance in his moment of dazed silence.

  Blade moved to draw his sword, his mind already calculating a parry. But the world suddenly turned brittle. A terrifying chill raced up his legs, and just as he drew an inch of steel, he was anchored. His body, from the chest down encased in a freezing, unnatural ice. Still, the block has been successful, as her blade hit his, sending him crashing through ice.

  Had he not enhanced his lower body with mora, the ice would have torn him apart as he was thrown back. The woman didn’t let up.

  Her attacks came quickly and elegantly. Yet had the same, no maybe more force than Indra put behind his attacks.

  But these attacks were not aimed to prolong, but to end. The girl targeted his weak point and nothing more, having quickly locked onto his right arm.

  ??Many thoughts ran through his head, though one of the ones that remained the most steadfast was the striking similarity between her and Indra.

  But with no time to question it. Even a moment was taken advantage of, and that was her playing.

  A step and nothing more, before Blade found the ground crystalized ice, beautiful but thinner than glass. Blade couldn’t react before his foot cracked through the ground. An opening and one she took advantage of with haste.

  Rushing forward, the arch of her sword fell in the direction of his neck. With nothing to lose he went for the gamble.

  "Do you happen to know Indra?"

  The smallest twitch of her eyes, but a reaction nonetheless. Her sword slowed imperceptibly, drawing blood, but nothing more than a graze of his neck as Blade threw himself to the side.

  He put a hand on the cut, watching the frost spread, his breath falling faster. Yet the woman had stopped attacking. She had never held animosity, never truly looked at him at all. But now he had her attention, her full gaze upon him.

  A frozen moment made between the crystalized flower and the blade belonging to the devil.