"Stormcutter Blade!" The snowy white bird flew towards Kelpy who leaped into the air and sharpened the end of his fish-like tail.
He narrowed his eyes at Jeremiah when he changed his direction. "Tidal Wave!" The large tail of the horse's nearly struck his opponent. Jeremiah glided away from Kelpy and fired a large green energy ball at the horse.
The bright light given off by the green energy ball pierced Kelpy's eyes within that moment. He scraped the ground with his foot and proceeded to gallop away from that spot and skid to a halt so Jeremiah wouldn't be able to predict his next move.
Regardless of whether Kelpy was in the defensive mode or not, he couldn't get away this time. Jeremiah sworn down to where the horse was standing and emitted a ray of illusions that swirled in Kelpy's mind. The horse, overwhelmed by the flashes of strange destructive events playing in his mind.
Kelpy was snapped back to reality when he saw Jeremiah summoning a tsunami towards his direction. The horse barely had time to brace himself as strong waves knocked him down into the water. He lifted himself to the surface and stared at Jeremiah in shock.
"You're the angel who saves people from disasters. Did you come all the way here just to stop Ryukushu? That must've been a drag."
Jeremiah gave no response, instead he casted a hurricane combined with a landslide that startled Kelpy when the debris slid down beside him.
Kelpy stood upright and waited for several barbed tendrils to emerge from his back. When they did, he reached out to try to flung Jeremiah away and fire spikes to slow him down. Kelpy found it infuriating whenever Jeremiah reprehended his attacks on purpose just so he can calculate Kelpy's incoming ones.
"With good intentions, your actions will always prevail." Jeremiah said in a noble tone. Sparkling stars appeared in the sky where he lingered and paralyzed Kelpy who rummaged through the landslide to get up.
Growling in fury, Kelpy broke free from his paralysis with a whip of his tendril and bolted towards Jeremiah, ignoring the strange hallucinations caught up in his head whenever the bird approached him.
When the hallucinations were practically blocking his concentration, Kelpy fought through and thrashed one of his tendrils at Jeremiah, sending him backwards.
Jeremiah winced and flapped his wings hurriedly. The leaves flying around him transformed into a flock of translucent that repeatedly pecked and clawed at Kelpy. Brusing him in the process with glowing cuts and marks that didn't seem to subside despite his regeneration.
The flock of birds chirped to Jeremiah. Telling him that they spotted his weak points. At the same time those very same weak points on Kelpy's body lit up and Jeremiah immediately took notice of them.
One of Kelpy's weak points was at the nape of his neck where the very same scar he got from trying to scratch Jeremiah's wing stood, another his tail, but the end of it which was hidden by one of the fins. Jeremiah guessed that the weak point was the sharpened tip of Kelpy's tail.
Kelpy knew these birds were exposing every weak point he had and in annoyance he shredded the birds like stacks of paper being torn apart to pieces in one sitting.
Jeremiah flew over Kelpy and grabbed the horse's shoulders. Struggling against the firm grip of these sharp impending talons of Jeremiah's, the horse constantly moved around as he was being lifted off the ground so he would slip from the bird's hold.
It seemed to be working which is why when Jeremiah noticed this he tossed Kelpy to the ground and dove towards him.
The majestic bird sliced the back of Kelpy's neck. He expected the horse to be weakened by a margin however, Kelpy got up and pushed Jeremiah away with more energy than before. Stunning the bird when he landed on the ground.
"Shocked? Well that's because I changed my weak points." Kelpy sneered, the tendrils on his back extended. They lifted him off the ground as he galloped towards Jeremiah, the tendrils increasing his pace as they clawed the forest floor with every step of his hooves.
Jeremiah narrowed his eyes at Kelpy and halted his tendrils with his wing. The flap of his wing pushed Kelpy away by a few meters. The horse shook his head and kicked the side of Jeremiah's body with his hoof.
The swan ripped the side of Kelpy's neck with his talons. He watched the horse back away from him and twist his neck to fight off the stinging strains in his muscles.
A dozen balls of spike that looked to be sea urchins spawned out of Kelpy's body, falling to the ground and disappearing without a trace. The long scar on Kelpy's neck vanished along with the urchins.
He healed himself. Jeremiah narrowed his eyes at the horse who smiled wickedly at the swan in front of him.
"What can I say? This is just the beginning of our battle." Kelpy grabbed Jeremiah's wings with his tendrils and threw him to the ground at least three times until he stopped hearing those heavy wingbeats.
The aquatic horse rose to the sky. "Tidal Wave!"
At that very second, Jeremiah extended the tip of his wings and blocked the sharpened tail in crashing in his direction. Kelpy moved away and stood on the ground.
Jeremiah decided that since physical damage will barely make any progress during this battle, he might as well start using a few tricks up his sleeve.
Kelpy watched the large swan hover over him and engulf his mind in a state of fear and confusion. Various images of disastrous events that he got dragged in played in his mind. His body reacting based on these vivid scenarios as though he were part of the events.
The horse struggled to free himself from this mental prison he was trapped in. One moment he was running from a tornado, the next moment he found himself falling into a sinkhole.
In the sky, Jeremiah could see Kelpy's willpower draining from these hallucinations. He fired the green energy ball at the horse standing beside a few shrubs.
Kelpy's heart started racing when he began falling through images of natural disasters that physically and mentally hurt his wellbeing. As things escalated, he found himself unable to differentiate between reality and a bunch of illusions surfacing to the brim; The edge of this frightful experience.
Slowly, Kelpy brushed his hooves against the ground to relay to himself that none of these events were real, he then dragged his feet across the forest floor, walking towards a tree that his instinct directed him to.
The green energy ball was a few meters away from the horse who sped up when he heard the sound of it approaching and bashed his head against the tree trunk.
Kelpy spun around and fired a green beam of light emitted from a relic that appeared in front of his chest. The green energy ball disintegrated but even though it managed to bypass its defenses, the beam did nothing to Jeremiah. The beam just went right through him like a projector.
When Jeremiah was about to close in on Kelpy below him, a patch of burnt marks appeared on the spot where the beam struck him, spreading to the wing beside it.
"Tunnel of Atrocities!" Kelpy disappeared from Jeremiah's view when darkness surrounded him.
The swan looked up to find himself in a dark tunnel except this time, it wasn't any ordinary tunnel. For there was no light at the end of this tunnel.
Puzzled by this strange structure, Jeremiah flew down the tunnel in search of an exit. He was certain the fight didn't end just like that. This has to be an illusion of some sort, except it wasn't a never-ending cycle of mental punishment.
Water began flowing into the tunnel from the pipes on the walls. Jeremiah's breath hitched in his throat because of the rising water levels that covered more than half of his body in less than a second. He had to swim across but there was a problem; The tunnel was never-ending, he hadn't seen an exit in plain sight.
A large splashing sound echoed behind him. Whatever that was had been observing him from afar, as the slithering creature swam towards the swan like a crocodile stalking its prey.
The serpent emerged from the water and wrapped itself around the swan. Terrified, Jeremiah tried to contain his shrieks. This creature was a slithering mass of tissue and bones with deskinned mice clinging onto its body. Jeremiah couldn't tell if they were dead or alive. It was a cruel fate.
"Tidal Wave!" That was Kelpy's voice. It stormed the tunnel, serving as a reminder that the battle wasn't over.
Opening its jaws, Jeremiah looked away from the serpent. His eyes glowed and the entire tunnel started shaking.
A rigorous decision, but Jeremiah had no other choice. He absorbed the tunnel along with the entirety of this illusion.
When he saw the forest beyond this torn space that was slowly being absorbed by this sphere held in between his wings, the swan relaxed himself, easing the tension from his shoulders so he can fire his attack at the incoming Kelpy properly.
The horse was insistent on striking Jeremiah with his large tail. He didn't hesitate to keep going.
Looking up, Jeremiah flew to the sky and threw the large glowing sphere at Kelpy which resulted in a massive explosion in the forest that shook the area to its core like an earthquake.
Kelpy got up from the ground and scanned the area around him. The forest was completely decimated. From lush greenery to a catastrophic wasteland. He saw flames gathering in some spots and clusters of sticks that reminded him of fossils.
Jeremiah emerged from the smoke with a grim expression. The aftermath of witnessing the horrors in that tunnel. Kelpy got up, nearly tripping from how sore his limbs were. That attack left his neck, legs, and tail crippled.
They weren't backing down from this fight. Jeremiah and Kelpy got ready to fire their stacks of torment at each other being the only solution.
The swan fired the disastrous events in the form of a beam likewise, Kelpy did the same with that unsettling tunnel. Both beams collided with one another, none of them were intently meant to be long-range attacks but they appeared to be from a distance.
A bright flashing light took over. It overlapped the forest, including Jeremiah and Kelpy who could barely see each other anymore. Their silhouettes turning into a blur in the bright manifesting canvas.
The battle came to an end.
Jeremiah opened his eyes and gasped when he didn't see Kelpy anywhere. The horse disappeared but it was unlikely that he got decimated by the bright light. If the swan remained unscathed that means Kelpy had fled.
Hopefully he wouldn't dare show his face here again, Jeremiah won the battle fair and square. Kelpy should know that if he tries to play truant again, the swan will make sure he learns his lesson the hard way; Kelpy won't come out alive from another battle between them should history repeat itself.
But at this rate the swan might have to start hunting him down. He was part of the Sagi-chi after all, fleeing doesn't mean his destructive tendencies will stop down the line. They were embedded in his nature.
Clutching his arm, Kelpy ran towards the shore hoping to see that person he was so worried about.
Her hair that glowed like the sunlight, her smile that he couldn't forget, and her voice sweet like honey.
The truth of the matter is, she doesn't know Kelpy is partly responsible for these events. Not that he was going to let her know about it but he wanted to make sure she was safe. In this world, she's the only person who cared about him. Kelpy didn't want to forego this bond they shared.
"Of all people, why did I have to fight an angel?" Kelpy had severely underestimated his opponent. Moreover, he didn't fight just one, but two. He was lucky to survive those hits and successfully bypass their defenses at times. Angels were difficult foes and their tactics were unpredictable. It takes patience to even come across as a challenge to these beings.
Sparkles in the water tinkled in his vision as Kelpy sped up and trotted along the sand that he soon stepped on.
The ocean was barren of any walks of life at this hour. Kelpy knew for sure that everybody had evacuated and if she was one of those people who got to safety he didn't need to worry. She was in good hands and they'll reunite afterwards.
Or so he thought because anybody who saw him with the Sagi-chi would recognize him and convey the news to her.
Kelpy hoped that wouldn't happen otherwise he'd have to take care of things himself for the sake of her sanity which he didn't want to resort to. These injuries acted as a warning not to do something so reckless and maybe he should be grateful for their presence.
I hope she's OK. I didn't mean for all this to happen. Kelpy walked up the cobble trail leading to a house facing the vast ocean. He took a deep breath and stepped on the porch.