Spark of War (Progression Fantasy)

El dove down through the air so quickly it was like the rain was falling up towards the sky, Nexin streaking at her side. Plasma wings shone like the sun as he matched her pace, twin swords already ignited in his hands. Ahead of them, the avatar of the Fathom waited calmy as if it didn't even consider them a threat.

The jagged scar down the shellplate on its chest probably should've had it acting more carefully – it was the injury Nexin and Sol had inflicted to mainly keep it out of the battle until now. According to Sol, when he'd found this island and the avatar on it, the beast had been absorbing power straight from the ring. The dark water had been mending the wounds it'd received when it first arrived in Wirock, and that convalescence was what had allowed Sol to escape.

Well, looks like recovery is complete. Too bad.

"Boomers," El said, strumming power into her own sword. "Clear a path to the ring."

She didn't have any more time than that before she and her brother reached the avatar, weapons swinging like each of them intended to end the battle in the first strike. The air practically cracked as El's blade sheared around, an arc of blue plasma trailing her swing. On the other side, Nexin had already stepped to put the monster between them, and his twin swords ignited the air at their passing. Hundreds of small explosions followed his weapons like tails, and everything seemed to slow as El pushed all her strength into making her sword reach the avatar's ugly face before it could react.

In that paused moment, the entity in front of her seemed to turn its head to make eye contact with each of them. It's four, deep-green eyes weighed first her and then Nexin, before its giant crab-claw was suddenly in front of her sword as if it had teleported there.

WHAAAM, her sword struck the impossibly hard shell coated in dark water, while on the other side, the avatar somehow managed to slap both of Nexin's strikes away with one hand. It'd moved so fast, El hadn't even seen the gestures, just the result – Nexin's arms jerked wide, and his chest exposed. With time still strangely slowed, El even saw the avatar's shoulder beginning to twist in preparation for turning and stabbing its claw straight into Nexin's heart.

Not on my watch!

El pushed back at whatever odd power slowed her time – while her sword pulled on the dark water coating the claw. Whichever it was that worked, she felt the pressure around her moving towards normal, and she whipped her own left hand around. Flaring from the back of her wrist, elbow, and shoulder, her claw came across impossibly fast. Jets of blue flame arced it along at speeds that would've ripped her arm straight off without the power of the triple-forged electrum armor, but she'd sing Felps's praise later. For now, she focused on the four detachable blades of coldfire that ripped off her fingers and straight for the avatar's head.

As time and speed snapped back to normal, the green eyes seemed to narrow in displeasure, and the avatar hesitated in its strike against Nexin. Instead, the claw slid forward to place its massive bulk between the close-range attack and its face. Blue flames spit and sparked against the bumpy shell, droplets of dark water spinning away only to get sucked into the streams whirling around her sword.

And, as for Nexin, he hadn't even needed her intervention. A small step took him behind the avatar, his dual swords gone and replaced by a hammer already swinging down at the top of the avatar's head. With a maul nearly as big as he was, Nexin's plasma shone like a second sun, the rain all around continuing to explode in small bursts. Yet, the avatar's right hand jerked into place to catch the hammer-blow.

Rain blasted outward from the force of the impact, but even though the surprise attack didn't work, neither of the siblings slowed. El's sword became a blur of sharp blue arcs, constantly cutting as she probed for any opening. Sword styles came and went as she moved through them, changing from thrusts to slashes, to brutal moves that could barely be called chops. Precision changed to fluidity to strength, but none of her strikes got past that terrible claw. On the other hand, the avatar's counterattacks weren't nearly as oppressive as its defense.

What had completely overwhelmed her the first time she'd encountered the avatar, was now only ridiculously dangerous. She spun and weaved around the nearly stationary avatar, dodging the striking and clasping claw by barely more than a hair's breadth, but that was enough. Flashes of blue frost signalled where she hadn't been quite fast enough, though her frost armor absorbed the hits with barely more than a pressure on her skin.

Opposite her, Nexin somehow always kept himself in position so one of the two of them was in the avatar's blind spot. His weapons changed forms faster than El could keep up with, from swords to spears, to axes and even a bow. He rotated weapons and styles as if they were all part of one inclusive form, and the pressure on the avatar continued to build. They were getting ahead of its defense, their strikes stretching closer and closer to its body before a limb found its way in to parry.

Finally, Nexin slipped his spear past, the plasma flaring as it slammed into the avatar's shoulder with the force of a battering ram. That impact threw off the avatar's claw as it angled into put itself in front of El's sword. A flare of power from the back of her blade took full advantage of the opening, driving her weapon into the avatar's midsection.

Striking the plating that acted almost like a skirt to protect wherever the tentacles connected to the rest of the body, sparks flew while lines of ice like blue lightning wormed their way up the dark water. As for the shell itself, El dragged the plasma edge of her blade across, more sparks flying as the hard material began to part.

"Tentacles," Nexin said simply, and El flared her wings to abort her attack and shoot backward. Not a second too soon, either, as three of the flexible appendages whipped through the air where she'd been like wrecking balls. Without anything like coiled muscle visible beneath the water-covered green flesh, it was hard to judge their power. Still, by the way they cracked like whips and moved fast enough to be little more than a blur, El wasn't in any hurry to find out.

Her disengagement had given the avatar a chance to take back the tempo of the fight, though, and it turned its full attention on Nexin. Across came the claw – which Nexin stepped away from – before the other hand raked towards where he appeared. A greatsword wrought of hardened plasma and braced by both of Nexin's hands blocked the blow, but held him in place long enough for three more tentacles to spear right through him. One in the leg, another in the gut, and the final in his shoulder, the successful attack made the avatar's eyes widen in triumph.

Then narrow in confusion, as the body he'd just stabbed dissipated in smoke like pure sunlight. Nexin had caught it with the old fiery-double trick, and El's brother reappeared behind the monster, his own sword raking hard down its back.

The avatar had barely shifted to the side to avoid taking the sword blow across the back of its head, but the slash still left a deep scar down the back of its shell. At that point, it seemed the Fathom's number one monster had had enough. The dark water on its body and under its tentacles writhed and exploded to life, shooting outward like a dozen extra spearing tentacles. Even as Nexin retreated from the barrage, the watery limbs gave chase, streaking through the air after him no matter which way he turned to run.

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Behind them, even the avatar moved, racing to try to predict Nexin's movements and intercept the man. The sudden maneuver had given the beast the temporary advantage despite the injury it'd taken, and it might've even caught up to Nexin if he was by himself.

But, he wasn't. El stepped herself, appearing between her brother and the streams of dark water, her sword already a blur to meet them. Dark water laced with blue flame trailed her own weapon, and wherever the two liquids met, the fire spread, pulling more Current towards her Spark. High and low, left and right, her sword whipped around as she held her ground. Still, more and more of the spear-like streamers of water assaulted her, attempting to overwhelm her with pure numbers.

Not going to be so easy!

Water splashed out to join the rain as it met her sword, but like how El and Nexin had gotten closer and closer with each attack, the strikes of dark water were gaining ground. So, El did something she hadn't done in weeks – hadn't been able to do – she ignited a sword in her left hand. The rush of her Spark down the channels in her arm was almost blissful compared to the long recovery – not to mention the previous agonizing pain – and blue flames pooled in the palm of her hand.

These flames weren't the same as before, though, feeling heavier. Thicker. They still burst to life in the shape of a second sword, but lines of deep blue ran like liquid veins throughout the blade. If El wasn't fighting for her life, she might've stopped to admire their beauty, but she didn't have that luxury right now. Instead, she immediately went to work with the weapon.

With the power of the triple-forged electrum armor supporting her arm and numbing the pain of the lingering injury, El tore into the coming water with both swords. Faster and faster, she whirled the weapons in front of herself, cutting through every probing strike. The electrum sword in her right hand seemed to be better able to completely dispel the watery attacks, a single cut from it parting multiple limbs of dark water with every swing.

Her pure-flame sword, on the other hand, met with more resistance on each strike, but gobbled down Current like a starving man. That more than the power or edge of the sword disrupted the spears, and for the first time, El moved forward to cut them down even faster.

Neither Nexin for the avatar had been idle during El's interception of the watery attacks, and the two titans clashed with claw and sword a hundred feet away. Every time it tried to send more of its dark water attacks towards Nexin, El stepped into place to fend off the attack – and steal more of the avatar's Current – while Nexin stepped around the avatar's back.

Nexin was clearly still more comfortable with the range and speed of his steps, but every time he used the technique, El felt herself getting more familiar with the power. Whether it was because she was just learning from watching, or from her strange Spark stealing some of the ability, it didn't matter. She was improving. Fast.

Within moments of the engagement – the Boomers living up to their name in the tunnel below – El and Nexin were practically blinking around the avatar. The pace of the fight continued to build as the siblings pushed harder and harder, more of Nexin's strikes making it through to scar the armored shell of the avatar. It wasn't like their defense was perfect, either, with glancing blows slipping through to spark off their respective plasma and frost armors. Still, with El focused on defending against the dark water attacks, Nexin was able to put his full attention on the avatar itself.

"Push," Nexin said, the first vocal communication they'd shared in several minutes of the frantic battle.

So, El did.

Two detachable blades slipped past the reaching tentacles of dark water she intercepted – though one managed to clip her on the side in exchange – then she flared her wings and shot straight up. Less then a heartbeat later, she cut off the flare, spun in the air to change her angle, then flared again, this time straight for the avatar. Behind her, the streams of dark water that'd been constantly trying to impale her snapped around to give chase, like a pack of hungry wolves. Compared to her flare, though, they barely seemed to crawl.

The avatar realized the same thing, and new rivers of water burst off at the source, spearing up to cut her off while Nexin came at it full tilt. The impact of her brother colliding with the avatar sent out of shockwave that disrupted the water enough for El to dash between the new spears without slowing. And then she was at the avatar's back.

Back and across, both of her swords raked the avatar's shoulders, spilling dark water and leaving deep scars in the shell. Then, directly across from her, she met Nexin's eyes as her brother brought his two-handed sword up and around to chop down on the avatar. In response, the creature began bringing both its arms up to block the blow that seemed to carry the weight of the world on it. And, block it would… except El saw it in her brother's eyes. A plan. An opportunity.

And she understood.

Stepping at the same time Nexin did, El swapped places with her brother, her sword coming down to crash into the avatar's upturned arms. Even with all her strength in the blow, it felt like hitting a mountain, the reverberation coiling up her arm and into her shoulder. But, none of that mattered, since it kept the avatar's arms in front of it, and it's green eyes seemed to widen when it realized which of the siblings it was now blocking.

Then the tip of a scorching plasma sword burst from its chest, dark blood splashing out even as it evaporated. The lipless mouth widened in a shriek of pain even as the monster whipped its arms apart – tossing El back like a child – and it spun to lash out at Nexin. With his blade through the beast's chest, he was far to close, and right in line for the claw that came sweeping around.

WHAAAM, there was a collision, and Nexin shot off, though El spotted a shield of cracked plasma on the side where he'd blocked the worst of the blow. Still moving away from the avatar from the force of its throw, El saw the opening, but she was too far away to strike with her sword, and even forming a bow would take too long. What else could she…?

A comment about her wings from the researchers flitted through her mind, and she swept the limbs forward. Like a natural extension of her body, she intuitively knew how to use them, and a push from her Spark fired out a dozen of the triple-forged electrum feathers. Launched with such force each of them whistled through the air, and wreathed in coldfire, the feathers tore into the avatar's exposed back like a volley of knives.

Though most of the blades barely dug more than an inch into the thick shell, at least two of them drove deep into the open wound left by Nexin's sword. Another screech of pain reverberated from the avatar's mouth, and it whipped around to swat at her like it thought she was right behind it. It whiffed at nothing more than empty air, but the move bought both El and Nexin the time they needed to recover themselves.

They had it on the ropes. For all its individual power, it couldn't keep up with their coordination and combined power.

We can do this, as long as nothing changes…

"Nexin," Laze's voice crackled over the communications magic through the Firestorm who were set up as relays. "I don't know if this is a good time, but we need you to start shutting down the ring. Sol's already moving to begin on this end."

"Dealing with the avatar right now," El said.

"I'm sorry," Laze responded, her voice tight like she wasn't telling them something.

"Laze?" El asked, worry spiking for her friend. "Is everything okay there?"

"It… just shut down the ring to make this mean something," Laze said, then the communication magic went silent.

Nexin had reengaged the avatar while El had spoken to her friend, but he still managed to look up and meet her eyes. They both knew the problem – Nexin couldn't fight the avatar and seal the ring at the same time. And, despite the fact they were winning, they hadn't won yet.

Fingers tightening around the hilt of her sword, El looked at the avatar and her brother. Make it mean something, Laze had said. Something had gone wrong. That was the only answer. And now they were fighting just to give them the chance to shut down the rings.

With Nexin, El truly believed they could slowly overwhelm the avatar and strike a fatal blow. If they rushed it, they risked too much.

And… if they were going to risk it anyway, why not go all the way?

"I'll deal with the avatar," El said to her brother, and she saw he'd come to the same conclusion – it was their only option, given the circumstances. And he hated it.

But, they both knew the stakes. Knew what would happen if they failed here with things on Wirock going pear-shaped. They wouldn't get another chance. The Depths would use the Sparks from her friends to rip open the doorway to the Fathom, and then it was all over.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," Nexin said, voice like iron.

"I know you will," El said, then stepped forward to replace Nexin as her brother stepped towards the tunnel.

The avatar realized Nexin had gone to do something else within the blink of an eye, but it seemed content with annihilating El before it went to deal with him.

Lucky me.