Rivers of the Night

To wield lightning as though it was light, and light as though it was lightning. Both carried supreme penetrating strength, and when they were together…

Chi.

Theron twisted his body to the side, his eyes still narrowed.

'No. This is an Echo. How bold.'

Flipping to the side, Theron abandoned his dagger, flipping a palm to pull out another from his spatial ring seamlessly and without missing a single beat.

He hardly landed on the ground before a piercing javelin of light and lightning descended toward him.

Pushing off the flex of his calves and the pressurized burst of his toes, he rolled.

BANG!

The dark, moss-covered stone of the dungeon burst apart, the rumbling of the underground space growing more feverish.

Lightning was an incredibly hard Element to wield and control. It was much like Fire, but even more volatile. Anyone that relied on it knew this well.

Often, many techniques and spells for the Lightning Element used up a great amount of Mana just focusing on directing and guiding the strike or the defense.

And yet, even with all of this wasted Mana, Lightning Mana was still known to be among the very top of offensive Mana.

In a moment of sheer madness, Raiden had chosen to fix this issue. Rather than continuing to waste so much Mana, he fused with an Echo meant only for Light Mancers.

Theoretically, Lightning and Light Mana were very close. But in practice, they were two completely opposing Elements, the latter far more gentle than the other.

Somehow, Raiden had managed to make them work together.

Theron's eyes glowed, and for a moment he praised Raiden in his heart. But for only a moment.

Here was where the real battle began. Since Raiden had decided to take this out, Theron would show him the gap between the two of them in earnest.

BANG!

Theron dodged again, but it didn't slow the pull his soul had on his Blue Pufferfish Echo. The density of his Mana increased severalfold.

Even without the Blue Pufferfish, his Mana already felt like it belonged to a high-tier Silver Mancer. With it, it was simply impossible to fathom it coming from a Silver Mancer at all. If not for the fact he didn't have the aura of Gold Mana, many might assume him to have already crossed that threshold.

Theron struck a fist clenching around his dagger at the ground, flipping his feet over his head and somersaulting to their balls. Crossing his blades over his chest, he took on the third javelin of light and lightning head-on, his feet skidding back until the blades of his shoulders softly touched a stone-cold wall.

With a violent burst, he ripped his dagger and short sword across the body of the javelin, shattering it to pieces.

Raiden's eyes narrowed, his thumb lightly drawing across a spatial ring adorning his finger. Even now, Theron continued to surprise him. How could Water Mana be so dense? He would have thought that he was fighting against a Metal Mancer of some sort.

A spear appeared in Raiden's palm and he took a step forward. His hair stood on end, dancing bolts of yellow and gold making him look akin to a deity descending from the sky above.

He thrust out his spear in quick succession, bolts forming as though afterimages, and yet forming very real attacks nonetheless.

They pincered Theron from all sides, pinning him down in an avalanche of vicious blows.

It was impossible to parry these torrid elemental attacks. They felt like they had no form, no substance, morphing and changing as they pleased. On the one hand, they were as fluid as lightning, and on the other, they were as rigid and straight as light.

But this time, Theron didn't dodge at all.

'That's about enough.'

[Water Clone].

A dozen clones formed in unison, one formed for every one of the thrusts. They didn't even look like real reflections of Theron, looking more like vaguely humanoid outlines.

But when the thrusts of light and lightning struck them…

PENG! PENG! PENG! PENG! PENG!

The blades of gold entered and then began pinging around within the [Water Clones] as though they had lost their way.

Raiden's pupils constricted. Theron had trapped his attack.

Wait!

The Theron he had had his eyes and Third Eye focused on suddenly collapsed into a pool of water.

Danger signs blared in Raiden's mind and he hurried to spin back. He was fast enough, but this was still the wrong move.

One of the [Water Clones] burst apart, the blade of light and lightning within it jetting out faster than it had come before.

BANG!

It collided against Raiden's back. Despite the fact his armor of lightning protected him well, it threw him off balance, causing him to miss Theron's short sword as it cut across his body.

Chi.

Sparks flew and the blade was reflected, but Theron calmly dodged Raiden's follow-up, then drove a shin through the side of Raiden's knee, causing it to buckle.

BANG!

A second [Water Clone] shattered. This time, Raiden had been ready, but Theron's kick to his knee caused him to fail to dodge again.

He stumbled forward, presenting his nose to Theron's knee.

Chi.

More sparks flew.

BANG!

Chi.

BANG!

Chi.

Theron was calm and calculated. It didn't matter how sturdy Raiden's armor was or how lacking his own offensive prowess was.

His [Water Clones] and his real body pinged Raiden around relentlessly, chipping away at him again and again until…

PUCHI!

Theron's blade ripped through Raiden's chest, slashing across, severing skin, and tearing into bone.

Blood splattered in mists of gold Mana.

BANG!

Raiden stumbled further into the slash as the final [Water Clone] shattered, causing him to suffer an even deeper wound.

The scent of death filled Raiden's nostrils. He didn't have the time to pool more Mana into healing his armor, and Theron had a second blade. If he drew it across the same place, this time it would be deep enough to cut his heart in two.

Feeling that weight of death, Raiden became deathly calm, the sparks vanishing from his eyes as a chilliness radiated from him.

Veinsong.