While my own battle with Crimson unfolded, Jaipa faced his opponent across the blood-soaked field. The armored Stone stood motionless, his massive circular weapon gleaming on his back. From my peripheral vision, I could see them sizing each other up.
"I am Obari, Fourth of the Seven Stones," the armored one announced, his voice reverberating from within his helmet. "And you are...?"
"Does it matter?" Jaipa replied, standing slightly behind him.
Obari tilted his head. "No, I suppose not. The dead need no names."
Without warning, he reached for the circular weapon on his back—a massive ring blade with serrated inner edges. In one fluid motion, he hurled it directly at Jaipa, the blade spinning with such velocity that it created a high-pitched whine as it cut through the air.
Jaipa's reflexes were impressive. He twisted his body sideways; the blade missed him. But the weapon curved in its trajectory, arcing back toward him from behind.
"Crap!" Jaipa muttered.
He ducked just as the ring passed over his head. The blade continued its path back to Obari's outstretched hand, who caught it effortlessly.
"You're faster than I expected," Obari said, watching Jaipa rise. "But speed alone won't save you."
Jaipa didn't waste breath responding. Instead, he spread his wings fully—their span easily twelve feet across—and launched himself skyward. The red-and-black membranes caught the dying sunlight, making them appear to be dipped in fresh blood.
From the air, Jaipa extended both hands toward Obari. Green energy coalesced in his palms, forming orbs of pulsating light that grew rapidly in size and intensity.
"Celestial Lanterns," he whispered.
The orbs shot downward, trailing verdant fire. Obari slashed his ring blade in a figure-eight pattern, creating a barrier of kinetic force that intercepted the first orb. The resulting explosion rocked the battlefield, sending tremors through the earth. The second orb curved around, striking from behind, but Obari simply stepped aside, letting it impact the ground where it detonated in a flash of emerald flame.
"Impressive... for someone like you."
He hurled his ring blade again, this time infusing it with a dark energy that sent ripples through the air. The weapon split into three identical copies mid-flight, all converging on Jaipa from different angles.
Jaipa folded his wings and dropped like a stone. The blades passed harmlessly above him. As he fell, he muttered "Celestial Lanterns" again, forming two orbs and shooting them at the remaining duplicates. All three blades flew back to Obari's hand.
Then Jaipa stood tall, his robes billowing in the wind. "I serve no one but a stupid brat," he said.
Obari chuckled, the sound hollow within his helmet.
Jaipa charged forward with unexpected speed. His hands traced glowing sigils in the air, which coalesced into crackling whips of energy that extended from his fingertips.
Obari smiled, holding the ring blade horizontally before him. The energy whips lashed against the weapon, sending sparks cascading in all directions. With each impact, the blade absorbed some of the energy, growing brighter.
"It feeds on my power," Jaipa muttered in suprise to himself.
Yet he didn't slow his assault. The whips struck again and again, each impact seemingly more furious than the last. Obari merely stood his ground, deflecting or absorbing each attack with ease.
Then something changed in Jaipa's strategy. Suddenly the whips disappeared, and he lunged forward, his palms thrust outward. When his hands made contact with Obari's blade, instead of being repelled, they adhered to it.
"What ? " Obari's confusion was evident even through his helmet.
"Celestial Absorption," Jaipa said quietly.
The energy that Obari's blade had collected began flowing back into Jaipa's hands, coursing up his arms in visible currents of power. His four eyes glowed brighter with each passing second, and the wings on his back extended further, edges becoming razor-sharp.
Obari tried to pull away, but Jaipa held fast
With a little effort, Obari tore his weapon free and leapt backward, creating distance between them. I could see that his armor now bore scorch marks where Jaipa's hands had touched, the metal warped and discolored.
"You're not a simple servant," Obari said, a new wariness in his posture "What are you?"
Jaipa's entire body now pulsed with the energy he had reclaimed, making his white skin glow from within. "I am merely a fragment... a fragment of someone's journey," he answered. "As are you!"
This seemed to anger Obari. He raised his ring blade high, dark energy swirling around it until the weapon was almost obscured from view. "Fragment or not, everyone will fall just like the world. That's the truth."
"Burdening a kid with a history of fallen worlds... isn't it too much for a child?" Obari said quietly.
"What? What are you talking about?" Jaipa replied, confusion evident in his voice.
"Ah, wow. He is also an idiot!" Obari muttered. His blade began to spin above his head, faster and faster until it became a blur of motion. The very air distorted around it.
"Void Cleaver," Obari intoned
He hurled the blade downward with terrible force. As it struck the ground, a fissure opened in the earth, spreading rapidly toward Jaipa.
Jaipa's wings beat powerfully, propelling him skyward once more, but the fissure followed, extending upward in defiance of gravity.
"Running only delays the inevitable a truth that can't be accepted by no one " Obari said, his hand controlling the trajectory of the void-tear.
"What are you muttering about?" Jaipa shot back.
Jaipa's expression remained calm, even as the anomaly pursued him. His flight path took him in a wide arc around the battlefield, leading the fissure in a circular pattern. As he completed the circle, he gathered energy in front of his hand and shot it toward Obari.
Obari deflected the attacks with his bare hand with ease. Jaipa kept firing continuously, increasing the number of orbs he was shooting. Even then, he couldn't leave a scratch on his opponent.
But then Jaipa muttered something.
The energy he had been gathering doubled in intensity. "Moon after the moon," he whispered, and shot an orb made of white flames toward Obari. This orb looked just like a replication of the moon itself.
But even this was easily deflected by Obari with just a swift movement of his hand.
Then, slowly, Jaipa's lips curled up. He laughed. "Ha ha ha! Always this type of bastards."
Suddenly, the black armor on Obari's body started to melt away. As the armor dissolved, followed by his clothes, his expression changed dramatically.
"What! What have you done to me?" Obari demanded, but Jaipa kept laughing.
"My body... it's feeling weak, like I'm losing everything," Obari muttered to himself.
After a while, Jaipa spoke. "'Moon after the moon' is one of the eleven forbidden techniques that only my bloodline can perform. This technique directly targets the enemies in front of the user, consuming their potential. It eats away their strength, stamina, mental fortitude, even their inner energy. It feeds on them to strengthen itself while burning the physical body."
"But..." Jaipa muttered slowly, as if realizing something about Obari. "Something is not right with you. Like there are restrictions on you, on the use of your strength."
Burn marks started to appear on Obari's body.
"It's quite hot," Obari said while looking at Jaipa. Then he turned toward the other Stones who were watching from the sidelines. When he turned his back on Jaipa, the jaipa's eyes widened.
"Why? Slowly a word fell from his mouth Why?" Obari whispered.
Suddenly, Jaipa screamed so loudly that everyone in the field froze in place
"WHY THE HELL IS IT ON YOUR BACK ?! "
The one I was fighting he also froze, eyes locked on to the fight behind me, them i also turned instinctively, following his gaze
Jaipa stood there, just stunned half of his words were in his mouth
Then the words came again softer this time, but filled with disbelief
"The Mark of Claim… why is it on your
back? "