Chapter 8 | The Strongest in the World

"No hard feelings for whatever might come next then." Celestia jumps off the tree. "Well, let's get going right now then."

"Hold on, I still need to teach Taiga how to anchor."

Celestia stares at Rudeus incredulously. "Rudeus, I know you aren't stupid, but now I'm starting to think you are."

"Good. That means you'll go a little easier on us out there right?"

"I guess… but why would would you choose to fight in the storm when Taigy doesn't even know how to anchor? It's suicide for both of you."

I look at Rudeus from the corner of my eye. "What is she talking about?"

"Give us… six hours." Rudeus said.

Celestia waves her hand in resignation. "You're crazy." She then heads away and sits down at the ground, face resting in her hands, observing us.

"Rudeus what is she talking about?!" I reiterate a little more forcefully.

Rudeus pops his sword just slightly out of it's scabbard. I see a flash of red as he cuts his finger and then slides the sword back. He then leans down and grabs a rock off the ground.

"I'm talking about this." Rudeus suddenly whips the rock straight into Celestia's face. Easily as fast as something that would shoot from a gun.

Celestia stares idly at the rock as it barrels towards her but stands ever so still. Right as the rock is about to make impact, it freezes in midair.

She blinks a couple times then leans back relaxed as ever. I stare at the rock dumbfounded, it's just floating in midair.

"You shouldn't have stopped it you know." Celestia said. "Might have given you an advantage later down the line."

"We both know that pebble wouldn't have done anything."

"What did you just do?!?" I interrupt them loudly.

"As I thought, you are unfamiliar at using your blood." Rudeus said.

"Hmm, to explain simply, with enough skill, Anku can manifest in any part of your body. You already seem to be good at doing this." He said.

"This includes injecting anku straight into your blood. Which is pretty useless on its own, except maybe to improve circulation long-term, but when it escapes, blood is what allows you to distribute anku outside your body. Which is what I just did with that rock." As I listen to his explanation, I casually put my hands in my pocket.

"So… Mind if I draw some blood? I know a spot where you won't even feel—"

I take my hands out of my pockets. I then pinch my fingertip with my nails until the skin tears open. "Alright got it, what's next." I watch as a tiny droplet of blood oozes out of my finger.

"Now here comes the first hurdle. Try diverting a small amount of anku into the blood escaping your body."

I began to see where this was going, I close my eyes and focus. I indeed felt like there was a new alternate pathway in which I could divert my power to. I had never noticed this before since... Well, I guess I never bled whenever I had the mask on messing around on Earth.

I open my eyes, "Done." I could feel the the blood had become a little bulb of power straight from the inside my body. It was a new feeling, my masks power flowing to a place other than my body.

"Alright take this rock and smear the blood on it." Rudeus takes a random pebble off of the ground and hands it to me.

I smear the blood on my fingertip on the rock, Rudeus then takes it away from me and tosses it a couple meters away.

"Now grab that rock."

Huh? Just like that? I was going to go right into it?

No wait. This is possible. It was strange. I could sense my anku embedded within that rock. The sensation was ever so slowly fading away. However, it was present. Now the question becomes how do I do this?

I mentally picture the rock moving towards me. Physically straining my body in a futile attempt to move the rock. Of course the rock doesn't move.

"That rock is not an object. You have to think of it as a part of your body." Rudeus was giving me advice as he saw me struggle.

I continue focusing and unconsciously bring my hand towards my body.

"You can't associate the rock with your arm, the rock is simply a part of your body, and a rock. Come on there's a much harder challenge waiting for you after this one."

I calm down and moving my body. This isn't a physical task. There are no muscles connecting my hand to that rock. I look down at my hand and move it back and forth experimentally. What's the action, what's the instinct that is making my hand move that way? The muscles move, but how do I make the muscles move? What signal is my brain sending?

After giving the matter deep thought for the minute, in a trance-like state I move the rock towards my body. Controlling it as if it were a 5th limb.

Celestia's eyes light up as the rock swiftly darts towards my hand. "Bastard… You've done this before haven't you? Not bad."

Rudeus looks at me quietly for a bit. "Huh, good to know that mask of yours contains Anku and not some other weird power." He says.

"Alright, now rotate it 200 degrees." Rudeus began calling out a series of drills for me to accomplish. An hour later of practice, moving the rock came as naturally as moving my arm around. Celestia closely observing me the entire time.

I take off my mask and then shiver as a small bout of discomfort ripples across my body. The rock finally drops after manipulating it for so long.

"Oi, Taiga." I look up surprised as Celestia stands up. She wasn't using my nickname either. "I have to apologize, I underestimated you. So I have to say it one more time. Don't fight here, you have way too much potential to die right now." She places her hands on my shoulders.

"I… Don't think I'm going to die." I hesitantly said with instant regret. However, they were my true feelings. Her tiny mannerisms, it was subtle, but right now she wasn't the same person as she was when I met her. Rudeus' seemingly insane confidence legitimately threw her off, and she seemed too straightforward of a person to fake something like that.

Celestia stares at me for a couple seconds, then slowly takes her hands off. Then mysteriously starts laughing. "Even instincts as good as yours are against me haha! Amazing! I never felt nervous before a fight before; once we get out of there you two better not disappoint!" She walks back with a giddy smile on her face.

There's gotta be something unscrewed in that head of hers.

"Hey, focus, you still gotta learn the hard part." Rudeus takes off his shoes, exposing his bare feet.

I follow in his example and take off my shoes as well. "Now, this time you need to bleed bad." Rudeus said, he then lifts up his feet and traces a line on his sole.

"Make sure to aim for this artery, if at any moment, your wound closes up and you stop bleeding, you will be eaten up by the storm, don't hesitate." He puts his foot back down.

"I won't be able to talk to you out there, but just remember, keep supplying anku through that wound, the Earth will a part of your body just like that rock, and you're going to need to pull yourself towards it constantly."

Fu, fu, fu, fu, an audible rhythm of air was moving through my nose and mouth. If I'm not careful, all the adrenaline I was channeling could quickly turn into panic, and then that would be the end of me.

"Alright, follow us if you want, we're going outside the barrier now." Rudeus says to Celestia as he walks away.

"Right… Well, don't worry about me too much, I'll be sitting here until it's time, but… just remember, if you try to run away, I will hunt you guys down to the ends of the Earth." She says with a toothy grin.

Rudeus doesn't respond and walks away. I hesitantly follow him.

"Say… have you ever killed anyone before?" He asks as he walk together.

"Oh." I couldn't help but let out a sound as I realize what the end of this fight would entail if we won.

"Judging from that reaction I'm guessing you still haven't huh…" He looks down at the ground thinking.

"Well, try and leave it to me, I don't want you to dirty your hands for as long as possible."

I walk with a hollow feeling spreading through my chest. "If we get to that point, I'm going to stop you." I blurt out unprompted.

"Okay. Please do. I honestly don't want Celestia dead either. However, if I don't fight to kill her, we'll be the ones dead." Rudeus says as we arrive at the edge of The Eye.

"Once we're out there, we won't be able to hear each other, so remember what I said, I don't know if even I could save you if you get pulled too far into the sky; don't hesitate." He reiterates.

"Mmh." I take off my shoes, and then dig my finger into the sole of my foot letting out a spurt of blood. Feeling too anxious to really register the pain, I let my blood soak into the ground, imbuing my Anku straight into the Earth.

I carefully dip my toe out the barrier. The winds immediately began pushing on my legs threatening to shove me off-balance, but I manage to set my entire foot on the ground. Remember, constantly push out anku through my blood. I could feel a connection with the ground itself. The size was very different but the feeling was the same as that rock. I can do this. I take another step outside until I my entire body was outside the barrier, the deafening sound of wind envelops my ears. I had lashed myself to the ground, using the Earth to support me with all my might. The wind batters my body in all directions threatening to throw me off balance if I lost concentration for a second. However, I manage to keep my footing by holding on to the Earth. Every splotch of blood I left on the ground acted like a magnet for my body to latch onto, so I couldn't be lifted off the ground, yet I still needed to fight against the winds threatening to lose my footing.

I look to the right to see Rudeus as he steps out with me. His hair tied together in a knot. He nods at me, then begins using hand gestures to communicate we begin the drills once more.

"That was quick." Celestia was sitting there, in the exact same position as when we left her. After only about two and a half hours, I became comfortable enough to move around freely in that wind. My muscle memory had developed to a point where I didn't really need to think about the wind anymore.

"You would know, because you were watching us the entire time right?" Rudeus said.

"How would I do that? There are all these trees in the way you know?" Celestia said slyly.

"When have a bunch of trees ever stopped you?" Rudeus said.

"Anyways—" Celestia jumps off her feet excitedly. "You guys are ready right? Right!? Let's get going now!" She excitedly starts to run, kicking off a cloud of dirt.

"Hold on a minute, we agreed on six hours right? That means we still have around two hours left—"

"Rudeus." I speak up for the first time. "I agree with her, let's get it done and over with now."

"You…" Rudeus looks at me surprised. So far I've played along with everything, but I hated this feeling. I hated the feeling of being played like a puppet, no knowledge of anything that was going on. Being told to do this, do that.

Sorry Rudeus, even if this is for the worst, I needed to take my destiny into my own hands in some small way.

"I'm having enough doubts already. If I get two more hours to stew on this decision I might end up changing my mind." I said quietly.

"That doesn't sound like the actual reason." He looks at me with his eyebrows raised.

I don't respond. He was right; I was defying him simply for the sake of my pride.

"Well, in any case, you're right, I shouldn't take your determination for granted. Let's get it over and done with."

"Hehehe." Celestia starts giggling. "Interesting, very very interesting. In any case, let's get going already!" Celestia then jumps and runs off like a child.

Rudeus and I look at each other before we begin chasing after her. I put my hand in my pocket one more time, I roll a tiny little bead around my fingers. It landed in my pocket the moment Rudeus threw that rock at Celestia.

Now… What the hell is this?

Celestia stares at us through the roaring wind, her hair flowing freely in the wind. Rudeus and I also had rather long hair, however, we had tied our hair into a tight knot to prevent them from obscuring our vision. Rudeus takes out his sword and runs the edge across his palm spraying the blade with blood. He takes a bandage out of his sleeve after he does this and quickly wraps the injured hand up. A motion that told me that he was used to this ritual.

I hop up and down a couple times, it was strange getting used to the wind but now I couldn't even register the forces. It was like learning how to ride a bicycle, after you learn it you don't really think about balancing.

Celestia rolls up her sleeves, a motion that told us that she was ready for the fight. No words, only actions, for words were lost under this roaring tempest.

Rudeus smiles and calmly walks forward. Despite Rudeus' confidence, I will not follow him immediately. If it looks like that he stands no chance against her. I will run away. I smile a little bit inwardly, that'll show that piece of shit.

A large black shadow envelops my body as I watch the show go down.

I twist my torso on instinct and throw out a blind kick in front of me with that initial twisting motion. I wrangle myself free and see a looming hand flying just past my face, open palm. Celestia! Are you kidding me? She ignored Rudeus! A powerful force reverberates back into my foot as Celestia swats my counterattack away. By sheer luck, I had aimed that kick directly at her head, which managed to stop her before she could continue her assault.

Celestia suddenly leans backwards as Rudeus' blindingly fast blade cuts through the area between us. Rudeus then twists his arm in the middle of his lunge and in a way that seemed to defy physics, changes the momentum of the blade so that it change from a lunge to a slash directly at Celestia's stomach. Celestia throws out her hand in front of the blade's path, and pincers the flat part of the blade between her fingers. The edge of the blade barely touching her skin.

Ah that's right, there's no way we would win if I wasn't taking this seriously either. Forget about holding back to avoid killing Celestia. If I didn't fight to kill either, I would die. A calming sensation suddenly took over my adrenaline filled body. No more thinking. The only thing that matters is defeating the opponent right in front of you. Don't think about the past. Don't think about the future. This is your present.

I followed up Rudeus' strike with a strike of my own, a simple jab aimed straight for her face. She is forced back on the defensive once again as she tilts her head back. However, I open my palm as my fist is flying and grab her throat, just as I do that. Rudeus let's go of the sword and aims a low kick heading directly for her knees.

She suddenly uses her free arm to aim a heavy punch straight at my elbow, forcing my hand off her throat, and meets Rudeus' kick mid-flight with a kick of her own. However, as she does this I could see blood suddenly gushing out of the palm holding the blade in place. She managed to defend against 2 of the attacks, but couldn't keep the blade from slicing into her skin.

Despite the inhabitants of this world being all powerful, it still seemed like conventional logic applied to fighting. It wasn't simply twice as hard to fight two attackers at once, it was nearly impossible if the attackers were even remotely close to your level of skill and strength.

However as both Rudeus and I watch her jump back, we both knew instinctively that if we let her get her bearings and go on the offensive, that the momentum of the battle would quickly shift against us. So at the same time we both jumped forward following her movements, chasing after her, not giving her even a flash of respite.

Rudeus' sword suddenly jerks to a stop, whirling around to lunge straight into his heart. Rudeus eyes widen and he drives his feet back down to the ground. Stopping his momentum dead before blocking the blade with his scabbard.

That's right, Celestia's blood was also on the blade! She managed to apply just a smidge of her anku onto the blade with it. And for a brief moment she had control of the sword. Shit! Am I the only one pursuing her right now then?

Celestia takes advantage of my instant of distraction to blindside me with a fierce knuckle to the neck. I violently sputter blood as I feel the inside of my throat being destroyed. I managed to concentrate a bit of anku around my neck so she didn't punch straight through it, but the damage was still severe.

Without wasting a moment Celestia instantly drops down low and sweeps my feet off the ground. I see a looming fist ready to slam me into the ground as I momentarily hang in midair.

I let go of the Earth and blast away in the wind, dodging her fist by a hair. While mentally preparing myself for the fight. I manage to gain my footing back okay just as Celestia creates a massive explosion of rubble where my body once was.

Is she... Trying to kill me? I had counted on her holding back with me, since she said she didn't want to kill me. Yet... There was no doubt in my mind that that punch was meant to kill.

I grab a hold onto the Earth once again. I immediately fall and roll onto the ground to my footing back. I still in an okay state to fight, even though blood was welling up into my mouth from my throat.

However, this means that Celestia is back on the offensive, and there will likely be no more risky maneuvers like what Celestia did the first time.

The second my feet touched the ground I divert all the anku in my body into my eyes in order to assess the situation. I had flown in a way so that Rudeus and I were now flanking her the front and the side. However, Rudeus was doing something peculiar, he takes a dull red object from the inside of his robe. Rudeus flicks the object straight into his mouth and bites down hard. I could see a very tiny red pop before he closes his mouth.

The dots in my head slowly begin to connect. There's only one thing that liquid could be, blood, but why would he need to ingest his own blood?

...No that's not his blood; it's someone else's.

I could instantly feel Celestia's murderous gaze as soon as he consumed the blood. She seemed to have but forgotten about me and instead focused all her attention on Rudeus. All Rudeus does is let out a toothy smile, the gaps in between his teeth stained in red.

A millisecond later Rudeus jumps at Celestia with a speed even crazier than when Celestia jumped at me. What's going on? I watch as Rudeus and Celestia exchange and dodge blows. Right now, they are equally matched. No, Rudeus is actually forcing Celestia back!

Wait, No! I can't just sit here and watch. I launch off the ground while taking the little bead out of my pocket. I understand what Rudeus has been trying to communicate with me this entire time, the bead was red and smooth just like what Rudeus had. I lift my mask up just enough to bring the bead to my mouth. This is going to be our one chance to take Celestia down.

Celestia suddenly holds her arm up in a desperate attempt to block Rudeus' sword. The blade slices and embeds itself partway into her forearm. However, Celestia, enraged and with completely disregard to the wound, grabs Rudeus by the arm, the sword still embedded in it, and yanks him towards her, as she hits him with a staggering uppercut to the gut, so strong that Rudeus' feet fly off the ground.

A salty metallic taste spreads through my mouth as the capsule of blood breaks. The surge of power collides with my body instantaneously. Launching me to heights I never thought imaginable.

Rudeus gasps blood as he sails through the air, however, he continues controlling the blade, digging it even deeper into Celestia's arm, causing her to cry out and stagger.

Rudeus had created a perfect opening just for me. It was do or die. I have to finish the job or everything would fall apart. Celestia swings her head around as I approach her. Her eyes bloodshot and angry.

She steps towards me preemptively, reaching out with an open palm, ready to grab and throw me just like Rudeus. In response, I dig my bleeding feet deep into the ground, and kick up with all my might. A cascade of rocks burst out from the ground, obscuring the vision between me and Celestia. I then sidestep the incoming hand, and swing around behind Celestia grabbing her head and neck, wrapping my legs around her body.

Here we are; we've done it. All I need to do now is twist as hard as I could and we would get out of here alive. I would snap her neck, killing her instantly. I divert the highly amplified anku in my body into my arms, preparing to end it all.

…

Shit.

Celestia turns, swinging her arm around like a whip, hitting me with a devastating elbow to the ribs. I fly off, black spots dancing across my vision from the pain. Then, in quite the poetic fashion, both me and Rudeus land on the ground at the same time.

I writhe and wheeze on the ground, I had not defended against that last hit at all. The inside of my body was in agony, sharp spikes of shattered ribs had pierced my organs. God damn it, I didn't just cause my death did I?

Despite the deafening wind, a calm silence has taken over the battlefield. I take a look at Rudeus. The cheeky grin on his face had disappeared. The look in his eyes told me that we had lost.

Ah, as I thought. I screwed the whole thing up. I look at the ground in disbelief. Why did I not kill her? Despite my history, I've never been the one to pull the trigger on somebody. I was able to avoid doing it because I was simply too powerful for everybody. But in this situation, it was either my life or her life, why couldn't I do it? As I struggle to comprehend my actions, Celestia stands up, already recovered. She looked ragged, however, neither of us had inflicted a wound strong enough to incapacitate her, while both of us were down hard.

Rudeus did have a plan, and it should have worked. Only I was the one who screwed it up...

I agonizingly shift my body onto my elbow in an attempt to get up, racks of pain emanating through my ribs. My arms wobble under the stress, until they give way and I collapse back on the ground.

Ah man, I don't want to have a conversation with death yet.

I grimace under the pain; struggling to even stay conscious, and then I smile.

Taiga, that was the name I was given three days ago. By a mysterious voice, in a mysterious situation. I will never make my peace with death until I find out more. If I die, I will never accept it and will resist until the bitter end. Come on, strongest person in the world, I'm going to beat you down. I'm not going to die here.

I lift myself off the ground once again. This time, determination fueling me through the pain, with a maniacal smile hidden behind my mask. Fear was really a troublesome, but also useful emotion. The fear of a stronger opponent had been completely squashed by the fear of never finding out who I was.

Here she comes. A looming figure darts towards my location. I bring my right foot forward in a stance ready to defend. I blink. The figure is suddenly right in my face, her arms reaching out to grab me. I try bring my arms up and match her speed; however, fell way short. The front of my shirt lifts up, I could feel like being clenched by a fist. I fly off the ground, getting dragged along like a rag doll. I was too close to slipping away to register what was going on anymore. The wind batters against my face, my hair comes loose and flows freely.

"I don't want to die." I whispered, fully aware that there was nobody to hear me.

Then, the wind dissipates, the dark and dusty sky turns blue, and a pleasant sunlight shines on my face. The world was silent with exception to a faint ringing in my ear. The blurred world shifts back into focus. I was back, I was back inside! A second later Rudeus' limp body flies through the barrier and lands roughly on the grassy dirt ground.

And then finally, Celestia walks through the barrier, her head held down.

She doesn't say or do anything anything except walk away. A silence that said everything I needed to know.

I lie on the ground stunned; she's just going to give up? A small chuckle escapes from my throat, only to immediately sputter up blood.

We win.

And then I pass out.