The Seventh Spirit

by Adam-Clay Webb

  A thick beam of dense, bright power bolted towards Mike fiercely and swiftly, leaving very little possibility for escape. Evasion wasn’t Mike’s game plan nonetheless. He stretched his left hand out to where Electron was standing smugly, gathering power probably to make the finishing move. Mike also moved his right hand outward to the incoming current. There was a loud, bright clash as the massively energetic beam struck Mike’s palm. The power visibly flowed through the Ionide and was conducted straight through his left palm. Electron could not escape. He barely saw it coming. The impact was terrible. The electricity was so strong that it had the power to demolecularize almost anything. It struck Electron, and in a bright blast, simply deleted him from existence. Well, he wasn’t totally gone; bits of metal were scattered about the place, still buzzing about with the strong electricity.

  ***

  Wordless, Kizer stared down at the crystal ball with bewilderment in his eyes.

  “Lord Kizer, that demon is completely obliterated,” Oga reported. But Kizer needed no report.

  ***

  “You are in the presence of a godly power… Pay your respects and make this interesting,” Mike said to Proton in a blithe tone.

  ***

  A despising look wrinkled Kizer’s face as he watched the powerful and arrogant boy scoff at the enemy before him. “Oga, give it everything!” Kizer commanded. “Send all our remaining spirits to the lightning maker! I don’t care how many might get trapped in the vial – we’ll sort that out in due time.”

  ***

  A slight, almost unperceivable smirk came upon the Ionide’s face as he saw black shadows descend from the skies and enter the man before him. Some of the spirits flew straight toward the vial that the sorcerers were still labouring to keep at work. The cocky Ionide sat and yawned, watching power delve into the lightning maker. A wretched darkness orbited the black-eyed creature, and the pressure of its aura cracked the ground beneath it. With a roar of black power, the alien hurled, in a few seconds, maybe a hundred shadowballs at Mike.

  ***

  “Something is amiss… This kind of speed is unattainable in the Legend State… Oga, is this magic?”

  ***

  As fast as they were coming at him, with movements rapid enough to dazzle the eye, Mike slapped away each shadowball, making sure that none could touch Lex or Zen. Black explosions were everywhere in a ten mile radius as shadowballs were scattered. With the speed of the blue-fired Azar, Mike finally ran up to Proton where there was a slight opening. A heavily spiked fist connected without fail, breaking through the shields of darkness and current, two elements only prodigious geniuses could make work together. His fist rammed into a hull made of a material far inferior to Mike’s armour. Proton flew back quickly, skating back and tearing up the ground beneath him. Still going back with the force of Mike’s fist, the lightning maker found himself into the air, eight black wings now at his disposal.

  In a red cloud of mana, Star and Clover appeared close by.

  “Lex!” Clover called out, running to him. “What’s going on?!” She sounded frightened. She looked up at the winged lightning maker in the air a little distance off, black electricity surrounding him. “Mike, you’re here!” she rang out.

  “Princess, do me a favour and get everyone out of here. Things might get messy if you guys get in the way.”

  “Get in your way?!” Star came in. “Do you know how--”

  “Get Lex somewhere safe until he is ready,” Mike cut in, his eyes still fixed on the enemy. “Make sure he’s safe.”

  “He’s right!” Clover agreed. “Let’s go, Star. Mike can hold his own. Trust me.” Clover ran over to the unconscious Zen and looked down at her.

  “Here goes… Mass teleportation!” Star commanded, slamming her hand on the ground, and a red light surrounded her, Clover, Lex and Zen. They disappeared with the red cuboid in a jiffy.

  “Excellent. Now I can wrap this up without dividing my attention,” Mike said. As Proton fired rapid, bigger-than-usual shadowballs at Mike, the Ionide began his counterattack, ejecting tens of long, swiftly moving spikes, ignoring the shadowballs, seeing there was no one there to protect. The black spheres banged against Mike’s Iodium with no effect other than noise and darkness. Shadowy streaks shot out from the aura around Proton, tearing through the approaching spikes. The same streaks shot off toward Mike. With fast, even stylish movements, the Ionide dodged each attack, reaching nearer to Proton with each step. Proton lowered himself to attempt close combat. Never a good move against an Ionide. “Gotcha!” He grabbed on to the neck of the black-eyed man, trying to push through a spike, but there was no penetration. Proton pushed his palm against Mike’s chest and black electricity struck him, making him skate back quickly. As the attack ended, Mike rushed off toward the enemy again, the silver in his eyes in no way inferior to the darkness in Proton’s.

  ***

  Kizer watched the fight intently, quite impressed with the Ionide’s body and his ability to manipulate it perfectly. Not even this calibre lightning has an effect on him… Could he have surpassed even my son, the first?”

  ***

  With a roar of sheer strength, Mike blasted Proton with rapid succession, finally making shallow dents in his hull. With darkness and black lightning wrapped around his entire body, Proton struck back. His long range techniques were useless against Mike’s armour. Proton’s right fist buzzed with immense black electricity, and he sent it slamming against Mike’s unbreakable chest. Mike grabbed on to Proton’s head, redirecting the current to shock him, throwing him off the ground for a moment. Mike morphed his arms into massive spikes that could challenge even Blade’s legendary sword. The Ionide swung them fiercely at Proton’s chest, making shallow slices. Electricity sparked from the cut areas as he moved back on the defence. Mike continued pressing on to him, seeing he was making progress slowly but surely.

  ***

  “Oga, it seems we are pushed to this… Create a tera bomb,” Kizer told the god of magic.

  “But Lord Kizer—”

  “Don’t tell me about stability, Oga. You are a wise and powerful man, so find a way to get it done. This boy speaks of having a godlike power… Let us show him the true meaning of power.”

  “If you want to show him real power—”

  “Nonsense, dear Oga – the king and his right hand must stay behind the scenes and use pawns for their bidding. The less power we are forced to display, the more control we have of the game.”

  ***

  Mike looked up at Proton, who was still a few meters in the air. “Come at me, you coward!” the Ionide dared, stretching his arms out toward the airborne man. Proton held his hands above his head, gathering the dark matter of many shadowballs. Mike shot spikes at the suspended man rapidly, but thin black streaks tore through them and blasted down at Mike. The boy jumped and skipped, finding it quite bothersome to be on the defensive, unable to land an attack. As Mike was kept busy evading the shadowy attacks, Proton’s sphere was transformed into a shadow shell. Still, more energy was being forced into it. Black lightning shot down toward Mike, accompanying the shadowy streaks. A bolt of current struck Mike in the chest, flinging him back roughly. The unscratched boy toppled over, redirecting the current through his body, shooting it through his feet before he landed on his back. The streak missed Proton narrowly. Mike hissed, rising quickly to evade more incoming streaks of powerful energies.

  Minutes of swift evasion and occasional hits passed, and the black sphere was reaching quite a threatening level. The Ionide looked up at the massive ball, which was a few inches above Proton’s open palms. The sphere soon began to have a significant effect on its surrounding. Even in the Legend State, Mike could feel the ominous pressure that was in the air. The ground beneath the hovering Proton shook and tore apart, making it even more difficult for Mike to dodge the constant attacks. Still, the spikes he sent up at the enemy continued to be shattered by the black streaks or redirected by the strong currents.

 
; “Damn it!” the annoyed boy gave out. Bolts of black lightning wrapped around him, and shadowballs, which were materialized by shadowy hands that came forth from the aura around Proton, blasted him, but that wasn’t Mike’s problem – Mike couldn’t hit back. What the hell? The whole place is coming apart! Mike watched as large pieces of earth ascended from the shaking ground and rose up to the gigantic sphere, being pulled into it and consumed by its power. He could no longer evade the incoming attacks. He felt a scarily strong force pulling him toward the black sphere. Because of the sphere’s unusually high density, its gravitational pull had become quite significant. Plants all around for hundreds of miles turned brown and wilted as the greedy orb absorbed their life energy, to make it even stronger.

  Soon, the orb had become self-sustained, and Proton’s job was merely to keep it stable. Black electricity buzzed about it in abundance as the tera bomb, one of Trium’s most deadly attacks, stole energy from everything around it. Even Mike began to feel slightly pale as the dense ball of hellish power grew larger and denser. Black lightning enveloped Proton’s feet, and he ascended with great effort, moving slowly upward, struggling to keep the highly energetic and unsafely pressured ball together. The annoying and miniscule attacks had finally seized, and Mike stood still on the wrecked ground, gazing upward, excited to test his durability against what he knew would be no ordinary attack.

  ***

  “He’s just standing there,” Kizer said to himself. “Is he that sure of himself? Unbelievable… It seems he does think he can survive this attack… Or maybe he knows he cannot escape it…” Kizer, the man hailed as the god of elements by history, was truly amazed by this boy. Mike stood confidently, his arms raised above him, beckoning to his enemy to hurry and do his thing. “To call this kind of damnation down on yourself…You must be either incredibly stupid or incredibly strong…”

  ***

  Hundreds of sudden attacks rushed down toward Mike from Proton’s aura of darkness. The black streaks, like hungry snakes, along with thick bolts of nasty black lightning flew down at Mike. The Ionide, though, with his level of confidence, did not attempt to evade or challenge the attacks. He maintained his stance and his cocky smirk, his hands still beckoning to the enemy in taunt and dare. The black streaks that rushed down at Mike wrapped themselves around him tightly, but there was no resistance or fighting back. He knew those minor strings were there to bind him so that the massive attack would hit him directly, and that was Mike’s plan as well. From the horde of chaining streaks, Mike looked up at the giant black sphere with no fear at all.

  His hands still resting on the energetic membrane of the sphere that resembled a black sun, Proton flew up and went around to the top of the sphere. With a single surge, Proton released practically all the energy left inside him. With a cry of strain, the android sent the sphere of death and horror down at the lone Ionide. Though high the sphere was, it blotted out nearly the entire sky from where Mike stood. It could be seen from many miles away. The sphere rocketed down at a speed that would make escape impossible for Mike. Mike looked up at the falling meteor of power with great thrill and anticipation.

  The sphere struck the earth with phenomenal power. For millennia, the planet had not suffered such a blast, such heart-wrenching and ghastly and overwhelming power. There was an earthquake spanning for hundreds of miles in every direction, ripping up small forests and triggering several tsunamis, tearing down buildings and towers, killing thousands. Waves of dark energy pulsated across land, river and sea, and there was a deafening sound that no word could capture. What appeared to be a sudden moonless, starless night fell over hundreds of miles. A crater as big as a city was etched deep into the solid earth. Oga looked down at the disastrous effects of a single attack through Proton’s eyes. Kizer watched with a simper of satisfaction from the crystal ball before him.

  As the dense black fog of waste dark matter slowly scattered and the strange sound eased, Proton, drained of vigour, fell to the ground, landing on hands and feet, black electrical energy still buzzing about him, his eyes still glowing darkly.

  Kizer stared down with an expressions of ecstatic thrill. Oga seemed slightly worried. Standing in the deep crater which was still hot and burning with a black mist almost settled in it, was the lone Ionide, who was supposed to have been atomized by the unworldly power of the tera bomb, one of Trium’s nastiest attacks. With a look of disappointment on his face, the boy stood with his arms folded at his chest. There was no sign of damage or injury to him, no sign of effect whatsoever from the blast that shook the continent. Mike looked straight ahead at the barely standing Proton. The Ionide crouched slightly, his eyes still glowing, and his right fist and feet wrapped in a silvery aura, with the power of the ancient race.

  “I must punish you for wasting my time… That attack was quite disappointing,” Mike said in a disdainful, derisive voice. “Let’s see how well you can handle my attack.” The boy clenched his fist tightly.

  With a powerful step that sent cracks meters deep into the earth, he sped off toward Proton with a speed that even angels wondered at. His entire body seemed to be wrapped in the silver glow as he moved in a flash.

  “ION BLAST!”

  The boy’s fist struck the android of an alloy tougher than steel with a force that was beyond its calculation. The glowing fist ran straight through the black-eyed Proton, and the pulse of energy that rippled through his body sent hefty cracks everywhere. The silvery glow that Mike wore slowly vanished, and so did the darkness in Proton’s eyes.

  ***

  Kizer looked down at Mike and the defeated Proton with a smirk, quite impressed and interested in what he saw. “This youth seems to possess the strength and the arrogance of all his ancestors combined,” Kizer said. “The Ionide race has certainly outdone itself, producing a child who in just moments destroyed two of my most powerful pieces on the board.” The man tossed another black piece from before him. “He might even be in league with the power that the Icemaker will now have to use to stand against the true power of darkness… Oga, send down the final power piece and end this war… Destroy everything.”

  Chapter 39: The Writers

  Mike cast his eyes skyward, narrowing them in wonder. He saw in the sky a tiny speck of black, and from it, he saw waves of black energy pulsating. He felt the crater beneath him shake wildly, like it was afraid, like it knew just what was coming down. As the thing descended, it seemed to be a black comet wearing a long black tail, ripples of darkness still shockwaving from it. Mike trailed it with his eyes as he saw it make a landing probably fifty miles ahead. He crouched suddenly in fright as the earth beneath him tore apart. A sudden darkness fell upon the hemisphere, and spread to cover the whole world.

  Clover grabbed Star quickly, fearing she had suddenly gone blind, even though she had experienced such a sudden descent of darkness times before. Star fired up bright mana about her hands, which struggled to cut through the hard darkness. The earth beneath them finally relaxed. They stood guard over Lex and Zen.

  “That boy, could he still be alive?” Star asked, “I just felt a sudden energy that far surpasses that of the other enemies.” Clover looked down at Lex. His eyes were closed, and there was a grim look on his face. “Clover, we have to go help him,” Star insisted.

  “Well you stay here – we can’t leave Lex alone.”

  “Hmmm… I can taste the power of this one,” Mike said to himself. The other two were pathetically weak compared to whatever this thing is… A smirk appeared on his face. Finally, something that might be worth my time… Something to test my strength. He snickered with excitement. His face changed suddenly as he spun around. But—When—A few meters before him was a strange-looking being —but not an entirely unfamiliar one— a man made of darkness. A man, who in essence, was power. He was faceless, and twelve massive wings protruded from his back. He stood there, apparently facing the tight-fisted Ionide, who was ready and waiting to battle. The earth was still trembling beneath his feet. Thou
gh there was no visible black cloak around this enemy, the tension of his aura was still more terrible than that of the others. Stones and rocks were lifted from the ground and remained suspended, being crushed by pressure.

  “Ionide…” a voice came from the demon. “Run away…” Mike wondered what to make of this. Finally, he came to the understanding that the enemy was taunting him and belittling his strength.

  Again, his eyes and right fist and feet took on a silver glow, reflecting the power of arguably the greatest race in the history of mankind. He crouched a bit, a serious look on his face, no smirk, no sneering look. He could tell that this enemy was different from the others.

  “You’re the one who will be running away,” Mike declared bravely, and moved off toward the man of darkness. “Ion Blast!” he roared, sending his most powerful attack at the enemy straightway. The scene became even more wrecked as pulses of force emanated from the impact. After a second, Mike was still standing in confusion. The man’s shadowy hand had easily gripped Mike’s glowing fist, and the demon hadn’t been pushed back a single millimetre. Mike stared at the thing’s face, just noticing its vague eyes. They were an even deeper black than the rest of him, and they somehow terrified the Ionide. As he stared into them, he felt a hollow feeling, like he was staring at death itself.

  The demon slowly stretched his left hand out toward Mike and touched his chest. The impact flung Mike back forcefully with seemingly no logic at all. The Ionide landed and rolled, but quickly returned to his feet, still skating back. The silver glow from his eyes and fist and feet faded, and he looked down at his damaged armour. Pieces of him were scattered about, and he felt an immense loss of energy.