Chapter 21: Clearsky (Part 2)

Year 11, Day 27

Ahteus had always given his best. 

When he was born out from the ground in a gem, he knew who he was and where he was, he knew he was an Earth Spirit born from the ground and he knew he was in a world full of death and destruction. But his father, the one who gave him the name Ahteus, was a solid little bit of hope for the future… And now that this world's salvation was being attacked by an endless mob of ants that sought to destroy and devour his pops, he'll bring hell to them! "Listen up, men!" Contrary to his brother Leaf, he his way of fighting is more endurance based- He outlasts his opponent and does not outspeeds or kills them with a few moves, no. He will make them use all their strength, and when they're weak, strike! But this amount of enemies? He's afraid he won't be able to do so, mostly because they have Demonic Qi, a Qi that acts like acid, causing corrosion from the outside and inside. 

So he decided to do something that would destroy as many ants as he possibly could- He jumped upwards at the same time a large pillar of earth pushed him above. Twirling his hammer on his hand, Ahteus gathered and channeled his Earth Qi, Iron Qi, and used two techniques at the same time: [Mountain Weight] and [Meteor Impact], one to increase his defense and weight while the other used his large momentum of his fall to cause an enormous amount of damage, the greater fall, the greater the speed, and therefore increasing the impact and the area of damage.

"Lerooooooy-" His voice echoed, he was falling from above the trees canopy, about 60 to 70 feet in the air thanks to his strong legs and the push he took from the earth pillar he used. He screamed one of the things he saw from his father's memories that he shared while asleep- His dad knew so many things that Ahteus was very, very surprised to learn a lot of new things. For example, he used his Earth Qi to "ground" himself, which meant he used his Earth Qi to pull himself to the ground by increasing the weight of his body alongside the gravitational pull the earth had to his body. 

He manipulated gravity. 

Gravity is a weird concept for him, but thanks to his dad's memories, he could understand it to a basic concept- He knew that everything was affected by it and everything had a field around themselves that was their own personal gravity thing, and that is what Ahteus is trying to learn how to manipulate, because if he does, he'll be able to fly like his siblings! Ever since he was born, Ahteus was bound to the ground, and seeing all of his siblings float was something that made him feel different and even a little bit… defective. If everyone floats and you don't, there must be something wrong with you. 

As his hammer hit the earth and all the weight, momentum, Qi, and power spread outwards in a blasting explosion, Ahteus began to think - His father was an incredible being, able to bring forth many amazing things and much destruction, but he, like Ahteus, was bound to the earth. His roots could be moved, sure, but he couldn't fly like the majority of his children! Then he appeared, his soul manifested out of his tree body and Ahteus saw him float. 

He was like his children. He floated… Only one of them was defectìve, only one of them was weak enough not to protect his sister and in turn have her killed. Only one, and that one was him… He was a mistake- But he could prove himself to be worthy, worthy of his father's gifts and worthy of his father's expectations of him. 

As the dust settled, Ahteus waved his large hammer, and the wave of his hammer moving blew away the dust cloud that surrounded him- Hundreds of thousands of ants, all splashed and crushed by his attack, the ground cracked and a large sinkhole that spread outwardly in about 50 meters, with a depth of about 65 meters (Or a 164 feet long and 213 feet deep, in freedom units). It looked like a meteor had struck and destroyed a large portion of the land! All the ants that survived had injuries ranging from missing half of their body, to losing parts of it- After all, the moment he hit the ground, his gathered Earth Qi spread out and scattered through the land beneath him, and each time it detected even the littlest bit of Earth Qi within the Demonic Qi, it would lash out and try to free the Earth Qi from the boundaries of the Demonic Qi, which caused an explosion inside their insectoid bodies due to the balance between the Demonic and Earth Qi being broken… which, thinking about it, was why Leaf had sent him and Zylph to the same region- Because Zylph would not be affected by his strongest technique. 

"Woo!" Flexing his arms, Ahteus let out an excited shout- He put every ounce of shame, anger, sadness, fear, and worry on each of his strikes, losing himself to the rush of the battle as he felt himself light, light as a feather… He did not see, for he had no eyes outside his body, but I will tell you. Ahteus, at that moment, had a shimmer of purple surrounding his body, making his body light enough for him to be as quick as Zylph but on the ground, the weight of his strikes however, was increased each time he hit another ant. It was faint, barely there, but Ahteus would've noticed if he hadn't lost himself to his desire to destroy and kill these insects. He lashed out his innermost insecurities and used the battle as a way to vent, because he was ashamed of feeling like this when his father was nothing if not supporting and good to him- Why is he feeling like this? He shouldn't. His father went great heights to bring him and his sister back from the dead, he had cracks on his soul! 

He shouldn't be feeling this, he should be glad he's alive… but why does he think it would've been better if he wasn't?

Soaring, Above the Canopy 

Zylph, on the other hand, was battling her own enemies with her [Winds of Change] technique. Her hair was like endless blades, cutting, stabbing, and slashing as many flying ants as she could. Yes, not only there were ground ants, there was also several flying ants- These ants were as big as the ground ones, but they had these large insectoid wings that sprouted out of their abdomen and neck, making them have two pairs of deep amber wings. "Tch." Clicking her tongue, Zylph spread out her arms in a hug-like motion, her back straightened as her hair moved like the wind, lashing, cutting, piercing, and snaring the ants. She had to focus to control each single hair at the same time, so she closed her eyes and relied on her senses, feeling the changes in the wind around her- It all came naturally to her, she was born from the wind and was a part of it! 

"Winds of Change - Endless Blades." 

At her small whisper, her hair started to grow, and grow, and grow- It reached the limit of its growth, reaching a radius around her of 165 meters (or 541 feet, in Freedom units) and it began. Like the name of the technique suggested, each thin hair served as a sharp and powerful blade, cutting the wings of the ants. Why? This was a battle against a large army, and Zylph decided to be smart about it. Beneath her, in about 90 to 100 meters to her left, her brother Ahteus is fighting the land ants. She thought to herself, this was a war, she had to preserve her energy for later too because she has no idea if there will be a stronger opponent! 

"Oh shit." She cursed softly when she felt the large explosion of Qi from where her brother was fighting, the intent of his strikes were extremely heavy for her, and even the Qi from the ground beneath her reacted. Damn, even the Qi in the air around her rippled, like someone had thrown a rock in a still lake, but every 2 seconds or so, and the ripples were getting stronger in their "wave". She felt how it also affected the other ants, because these ants with wings don't have Earth Qi in them… "They have Wind Qi." Why didn't she think like her brother? She grinned as each time one of her hairs touched an ant, she brought the delicate balance between the Wind Qi, a free spirited Qi, and the Demonic Qi, a powerful and destructive Qi… 

The results? It was a wet pop as the regions which the Wind Qi was most concentrated on - the wings and their connection points, the abdomen and the neck - simply burst out as their wings shattered, the Wind Qi finally free to join the atmosphere and be truly free from their confinement and oppressive host.

Because unlike Zylph herself, others have to adapt to the Wind Qi's nature.

Like how Fire Qi Cultivators are quick to anger or easily lash out at others. How Water Qi Cultivators are still as a lake when calm but if provoked can have the anger of a thousand waves in a stormy ocean. How Earth Qi cultivators can be firm and strong with their bodies and minds, able to endure what others cannot, but can also be stubborn or stupidly brave, or simply unable to communicate easily… and how Wind Qi Cultivators have to change as well, for their Qi influences them. They are more of an airhead type, a free spirit going from place to place, or they are a calm breeze in one moment and a fierce tornado on the other. 

Zylph? She is a little bit of all of them, for she is the wind personified.

Her hairs were the breeze, swaying and soft. 

Her eyes were the center of a storm, calm but holding strong and relentless determination.

Her skin was like the clouds, white and soft. 

And most of all, her anger was like the fiercest of hurricanes! 

She felt it and dodged out of the way first, but a part of her hair was cut off, making her lose her connection to it. Immediately, she opened her eyes and stared at the one who cut her hair- A humanoid ant. "You." It said, his pincers clicking he spoke: "Killing my siblings… Destroy!" Although his vocabulary was minimal, Zylph understood it. He had four wings, but they were between his shoulder blades, his carapace thick and strong, enough to protect them from the thin hair, but she still left behind scratch marks! "Very well, let's dance then!" She turned, her whole body following her movement as she used her movement technique [Wind Step], her leg pushing outwards in a pointing motion before she let herself fall in a split, above her head a sharp wind blade flew by, she successfully dodging the first attack of the enemy humanoid ant. Her silver hair retracted, like a silver cloth on a table being pulled in one go- It simply shrunk and returned to her hair's normal size. She pushed her hand forward as from her back, her bow simply came to her hand as if commanded to. 

Her bow was like a sharp spine of a snake, thin but with these ribcages between where her hand held the middle of the bow, and as she pulled the string back, she shot a simple wind arrow towards her enemy. 

And like that, a battle of long ranged attacks started.

Of course she did not neglect the other ants! Each time she shot one arrow to the humanoid Wind Cultivator ant, she let out a barrage of others to the other smaller flying ants, taking out about 12 or 13 of them each time. This clearly angered the humanoid ant, and the strength and frequency of his attacks increased to the point of being a constant dance of Zylph graciously getting out of the way from the blades by simply twirling and dancing through the air, shooting arrows of wind at the same time, while the angry humanoid ant slashed the air in front of his with his large and thin arms, which created the wind blades.

She decided to end this, because it got really boring!

"Wings of Freedom." 

She released a single arrow while using the [Wings of Freedom] technique- The pale silver-white arrow flew forward at a speed comparable to a lightning bolt! In the way, the Qi spread out, making these wings of beautiful white feathers that spread. Each feather was sharp as a blade, and as the arrow flew, it lost these feathers. Each feather touched the singular ants, killing them- The target of the arrow itself was the humanoid ant, who couldn't dodge!

There was no explosion, simply, there was an exhale.

And there were no more ants in the sky that day.

[author] Ahteus has acquired the trait: Depression. [/author]