Rematch Within the Storm
Rematch Within the Storm
"A rematch, is it?"
The thought came to her as she considered her chances.
"I'm the one that's battered down and tired instead of that thing, I have Blood Moon though. If it's like before, I could definitely injure it but..."
Her mind might have been cleared up but her body still ached. She gripped her sword and swung it around several times.
"A bit slow", she noticed.
Her heart seemed to be pumping quickly, she felt restless, nervous even.
"Why is it just floating there?"
Ming Yue felt slightly unnerved by its lack of action. It just floated there and did nothing but look down at her. Meanwhile, the clouds kept flashing wildly as pillars of lightning continued to strike down. The smell of blood and ash was powerful, overwhelming her senses.
Despite all of this noise and commotion, the Idol of Chaos was just there, in the middle of it all, unbothered by everything.
"If it's just going to stand there like a sitting duck, I might as well take advantage of it."
Opening her hand up, she raised up just slightly above her head, manifesting over a hundred Storm Lances. Each one of them spun and crackled with power. Staring at the Idol of Chaos, she met its gaze with one of her own, not planning to falter from this trial.
Waving her hand forward, they all flew forward, curving up into the skies and aiming straight for their target. Even under the threat of this barrage, the Idol of Chaos was still unmoving. And so, there was a thunderous boom as they all landed squarely on its body but it was unfazed.
There wasn't even a bruise or scratch on it.
But Ming Yue kept going, shooting out more Storm Lances even mixing in Bursting Gales.
"It has to start moving at some point", she muttered.
The young cultivator just kept it going, bombarding the Idol of Chaos as it was nothing but an easy target. Soon after, she started to walk forward, coming closer and closer until she was within a hundred meters.
And the Idol of Chaos finally moved.
Crossing its cleavers together, it swung out and roared, baring its chest open. The power behind each swing caused tremors and a shockwave that knocked Ming Yue attacks. It then flew down and brandished the cleavers, lightning shot out of them, striking all around her.
"Now it moves!"
She jumped back and flew off, keeping her distance away from her enemy. The Idol of Chaos gave chase, swinging its cleavers wildly. Arcs of lightning flew forward, just narrowly missing her as they continued into the far distance!
"Waning Moon."
Responding in kind, her sword lashed out and arcs of iridescent light flew back. But rather than avoid them, the Idol of Chaos waved its cleavers, practically swatting her attack away.
Not daring to get close to it just yet, Ming Yue did what she could to slow it down, weaken it but it didn't quite seem like anything was working.
"Damn, of all things, it had to be something like this?"
She didn't even have the time or energy to sigh, putting all of her focus onto the Idol of Chaos. It blankly stared back at her, knocking away anything she threw at it. But as Ming Yue was so concentrated on this fight, she wasn't quite paying attention to her surroundings.
And a pillar of lightning suddenly came down!
"Shit."
Barely noticing it on time, Ming Yue dodged the lightning but was struck down by the sheer force of the attack. She fell down, crashing into the hard ground. The impact knocked the air out of her lungs, forcing her to gasp and cough for air.
Raising herself up from the ground, Ming Yue recovered as quickly as she could. But there was barely an opportunity for her to run as the Idol of Chaos arrived.
Raising one side of its arms, two cleavers pointed up at the sky and chopped down right above her. There was no chance to escape now.
However, her hand still gripped tightly onto Blood Moon. Without hesitating, she raised it and swung out, clashing against the two lightning cleavers. Even then, the force behind them was strong, pushing down on Blood Moon.
She braced herself for the attack but it felt like a mountain had been dropped on her. Her arm trembled and her body was in shock, pain echoed all throughout her being. Everything around her seemed to come and go, shifting between darkness and light. She was dizzy, faint, her mind was barely functioning.
That attack alone nearly crippled her.
And the Idol of Chaos raised its cleavers once more, winding up for another devastating attack, perhaps even aiming to make this the final blow.
Ming Yue looked up, just able to make out the silhouette of her enemy. Everything around her was just fading in and out, even the noise had dulled. It was just silent now. The exhaustion came over her like a wave.
"Hah, I'm tired of this, tired of all of this..." she thought, "I can't even feel my body anymore. I can barely even move... I didn't even put up a fight against this damn thing. It's not enough. It's never enough."
At long last, that hesitation, that despair was let loose. Her inner demons were free from their prison, taking hold of her thoughts.
Things just felt tiresome, too much to handle.
Nothing seemed to change.
"Perhaps I should've died with the rest of them. Is there a point in any of this?" she wondered.
The young woman was just alone with her thoughts, surrounded by indescribable darkness. Truly at this moment, she contemplated her life, the life she lived, from her peaceful childhood to her way of wandering. It hadn't been a very long time but she had experienced many things.
But it didn't seem to matter at this point.
She just felt tired, tired of all of this.
But then she heard something in the distance. It was faint, very faint and she suddenly perked up, looking around.
"What's that sound? Where is it coming from?"
Her eyes moved through the darkness, trying to pinpoint where that sound came from but there was nothing to find. The sound grew louder and louder under she finally recognized it and then her eyes found something.
"Crying?"
It was a small figure just a short distance away, curled up and hugging their knees. Her body was trembling and the crying was soft.
"Hongyu?" she called out.
But Ming Yue quickly crossed that thought out, it was a child but it didn't resemble Hongyu in any way. Suddenly face to face, the child looked at her with teary eyes.
"This is me", she realized.
It was her younger self, sad and seemingly heartbroken, but why?
"Where is everyone? Where did they go? What do I do? I'm scared. Father, I wish Father was here."
Ming Yue wanted to help but held back, answering the question instead.
"Father is gone, everyone is gone. It's just us two."
"But... what if you're gone? What will happen then?"
"I... I don't know."
"Please don't leave me, I don't want to be alone here, please."
Seeing her younger self beg, Ming Yue nodded.
"I won't."
"Do you promise?"
"Yes."
The child crawled forward and embraced her older self. Ming Yue was taken aback but wrapped her arms around her.
"I won't leave you, no matter what. I won't let you be alone in this darkness."
Her eyes slowly glowed, filled with renewed determination. She knew now what to do and everything flashed back to the fight!
The Idol of Chaos was just moments away from striking her down.