Chapter 68: The Chronicle

Sora and Brainiac stood opposite each other in tense silence. At least that was the case for Brainiac, Sora had yet to stand from his seating position on the rock.

"Unlike you, I have no need to rely on petty schemes. To win a battle, you need to possess one of two things. Superior intellect and superior strength." Brainiac began, taking a step forward.

Sora's eyes were closed as the alien stepped towards him, the pads on his metallic body glowing a light purple as he walked.

"In this case, I have both!" He announced as metallic tendrils extended from his back, tearing through the air towards Sora.

Sora's eyes snapped open, his eternal mangekyo sharingan activated as he blurred away from the rock, the metal tendrils tearing through the rock like paper as it passed it.

He blurred into existence in front of Brainiac, Kusanagi in hand and on its way to the alien's head. Brainiac quickly moved backwards as the lone tendril he didn't send forward, deflected the blade.

Seeing this, Sora jumped away. Seeing an opportunity to end the fight quickly, the claw at the end of the tendril opened up, shooting a purple beam towards him as he was still airborne.

[Counter]!

Slashing his sword through the purple beam, it was reflected back at over 10 times the initial power.

Withdrawing all the tendrils, Brainiac used them to push himself away from the path of the reflected blast. The offworlder narrowed his eyes at Sora who now landed some distance away.

Sora took a quick breath, his cheeks puffing up as he expelled a large stream of flames in front of him. Just before the flames reached Brainiac, his eyes caught a forcefield that was erected around the alien, shielding him from the heat.

'Do you think that'll be enough?' He thought, still expelling flames from his lips.

'Amaterasu!'

His eyes opened a fraction wider as the stream of flames he spewed was contaminated with the black flames, the sea of flames turning black as it spread.

Brainiac couldn't help but marvel at the heat he felt even through his shield. It was like he was taking the full brunt of the flames without actually touching it.

Nevertheless, Sora wasn't done.

'Inferno Style: Flame Control!' He thought, pushing more chakra as he stopped spewing flames, the existing black flames swirling around Brainiac in a tornado of black flames before loudly imploding on itself.

*BOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!*

Standing in front of the point of implosion as the black flames still burnt the ground, Sora clicked his teeth as he spotted Brainiac's figure through the smoke caused by the explosion.

"Most impressive. I do not recall the human species possessing this kind of power. Even the so called 'metahumans' fall short to this. Are you truly human, or are you something else?" Brainiac asked as he walked out of the smoke before shaking his head.

"No matter. I'll have ample time to study your genetic makeup." Brain 'assured' with a calculating look on his face.

"Hn. I knew you'd survive that but I didn't think it'd be with such little damage." Sora said nonchalantly but inwardly he grimaced a bit.

He started out strongly to figure out just how durable Brainiac was when standing against his attacks but didn't expect him to walk out with no injuries other than a few misshapen parts of his metallic body that distorted due to the heat but quickly restored itself.

'Not exactly unscathed.' He thought, his eyes narrowing as he caught a tiny part of Brainiac's green face regenerate skin, probably being burnt from the heat.

If not for his sharingan being active, he would have missed it.

His eyes accurately caught Brainiac's form as he blitzed towards him with his fist extended to blow through him.

[Conjuration: Tsunami]!

Quickly jumping back, Sora stretched his open palm towards Brainiac as a large torrent of water gushed out, engulfing him but the alien didn't stop his advance, simply continuing through the water.

'[Evocation:Icy Breath]' Sora thought as an icy mist left his lips, flowing into the rapidly gushing liquid, freezing it instantly.

It held onto for a second before Brainiac burst through it. As the ice shattered, Sora met Brainiac head on, just barely dodging the punch while thrusting his sword towards his plated chest.

"Hmph! Foolish!" Brainiac muttered as the sword get closer to his chest. Just before it made contact with him, it light up in lightning, humming and chirping audibly as it's penetration ability was increased many folds.

His eyes widened as he jumped back to dodge but partially failed as the tip of the sword tore through his armor like a hot knife through butter before he could fully escape it.

'Damn it!' Sora cursed as Brainiac jumped back, thrusting his other hand that chirped with lightning forward towards the retreating alien.

A blade of solid lightning speared forward, closing in quickly on Brainiac who just barely dodged it as it burned past the side of his face.

Not relenting in the slightest, he swung his hand that controlled the lightning, aiming to cut through Brainiac's head only for a forcefield to erect itself around him.

Cutting off the flow of chakra, he grit his teeth in frustration as he watched the cut on Brainiac's face heal quickly.

"It seems I underestimated you, child. Even Superman didn't injure me this much on our first fight. A shame you'll die here." Brainiac monologued as his palm stretched outward, shooting a purple beam at Sora.

[Counter]!

Immediately sending it back, he found Brainiac in front of him, the thrusters at his back and his natural speed pushing him faster than Sora could react.

The obviously powerful fist crashed into Sora, smashing him into the ground, the concrete shattering from the force of the punch.

*BOOMM!*

The dust settled as Brainiac lifted his fist from the downed boy's chest, standing to his full height as the boy remained unmoving and lifeless.

"You fought well but it is I who is superior. Lower species like yours should learn to know their superiors. Maybe this would have been avoide-" He was interrupted from his speech as Sora's body disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What!?" He exclaimed as a pair of hands shot out from the ground beneath him, pulling him into the ground.

Sora stood far away, hidden by the blowing sand and solid illusion he erected. His purple partial Susano'o surrounded him as its skeletal hand held a bow made it the same energy as the Susano'o while the other held an arrow of pure lightning , the arrow pulled back to the best of its ability.

The lightning arrow was then shrouded by black flames that burned around it, raising its power.

"Got you!" He said as the skeletal hand released the arrow, letting it fly quickly towards Brainiac, whose top half was stuck in the floor.

Brainiac attempt to shield himself with a forcefield but it was easily cut through, shattering not more than a second after impact.

*BOOOMMMMM!*

The explosion was even greater than the previous ones as the shockwave spread out wide, even reaching him as he braced himself.

His skeletal avatar took most of the shock, allowing him to stay standing. He watched with rapt attention as the explosion slowly died down.

'The power in that punch…' He intentionally avoided staying too close to Brainiac during the bout earlier. If he could physically fight toe to toe with Superman then his strength was something to fear.

When he engulfed Brainiac in ice, he took that moment to switch out with a clone and put some distance to prepare his attack. He had another clone hide in the ground to immobilize him for when he was ready.

'If that hit me, it wouldn't be a pretty sight.' He thought with a grimace.

Though he was sure he'd survive with how much he had evolved which increased his durability massively, he didn't want to test his luck.

He watched as the explosion died down and a large crater was revealed in the place of the explosion.

As he took a step forward, he felt a force pull him from his feet towards the crater. His entire being was pulled quickly as an injured Brainiac stood with his outstretched hand, Sora flying towards him.

The suddenness of the pull caught him off guard but he managed to compose himself quickly. Just as Brainiac's fingers wrapped around his neck, he disappeared, appearing behind the alien, kusanagi cutting into his back as Sora quickly jumped away before he could retaliate.

*cough!* *cough!*

The sound of Brainiac coughing could be heard as the alien spat out a bit of blood. His armor was completely shredded at this point, leaving him with a black skintight suit underneath that was torn and burnt in many places.

"Ho….You're still alive after that?" Sora asked mockingly as Brainiac grit his teeth.

"You will pay for that!" Brainiac swore, drawing a sarcastic chuckle from Sora.

"You certainly don't look like you're in the best condition to make anyone do anything. The great Brainiac lowered so far by a mere human. Though I'll give you credit." Sora said as he sheathed his sword to Brainiac's surprise.

'I still have more than enough chakra.' He thought, feeling his reserves as he stretched his hand out.

"It's been a very long time since I've been able to let loose." He said as a brown book appeared in his outstretched hand.

The book had a red glowing gem at the center of the cover as it flowed with power. Brainiac could feel the power emanating out of it.

'The Chronicle…' The weapon he had spent so much time and energy on. It embodied his drive for learning and also possessed the attack power necessary to enable him put it to good use.

"Try not to die too quickly. I want to test this thoroughly.' Sora said as his feet left the ground, his body levitating into the air, not pausing until he was over fifteen foot in the air.