May 14, 2020

  Meanwhile, as all of this was happening, Mara begins to wake up. The logs that she was resting on have either been completely torn apart or have flown away. Her body still aches but it’s manageable for her at least. She fully opens her eyes and sees several blue figures surrounding her. She gasps and flinches back. She then realizes that these are just some of Waldo’s soldiers that he had created. If his soldiers are here, where could Waldo himself be? That’s when she focuses and her entire mind shudders in disbelief. Several meters away from her are two enormous presences of cursed energy. Could they be Waldo and Iravin? But if it’s actually them, how did their power increase by so much in such little time?

  (How? It’s not making any sense. I don’t think I was out for a long time. What happened while I was asleep? How is Waldo doing?)

  She musters up some strength and sits up. All of the soldiers present are staring in one direction. Mara turns her head and looks in that direction as well. What she’s about to see astonishes her. Very far away, she can see two figures in the distance having a stare down. One of them is clad in white while the other is a mix of red and black. Even if she is several meters away from the two of them, their pressure and aura can still be felt.

  (Is that Waldo and Iravin? Why do they look so different? I don’t remember either of them looking like that.)

  Mara musters more strength and tries to stand back up. Her legs shake and she ends up wobbling when she gets up, but she stood up regardless. When she starts taking her first steps towards the two warriors, one of the soldiers places a firm hand on the child’s shoulder. Mara’s jumps in a sudden fright and turns around. The soldier is looking directly at her. It’s not saying or doing anything besides staring into her eyes. It’s like it’s giving a silent warning: Do not approach them. Mara reluctantly takes a couple of steps back and the soldier removes his hand from her shoulder. He returns to staring at the two warriors stand against each other. Mara frowns and looks as well. She assumes that Waldo is the one in white and that Iravin is the other one.

  “I don’t know what happened but… you have to win, Waldo.”

  And so, Mara is now on the sidelines, waiting for the last act of the battle to begin. Suddenly, she and the soldiers turn around. As they turn around, they see humans coming out from the shadows and trees.

  The humans must have come out to see what was causing all of the destruction and tremors. They’re a fairly large group as well. They first see Mara and the odd blue figures next to her.

  “Hey! There’s a girl over there!”

  “What is she doing by herself?”

  “What do you mean? There’s some people right next to her. They’re so blue though. Could it be some kind of armor?”

  “I don’t see anyone.”

  The regular humans could not detect the presence of the shockwave soldiers. However, the sorcerer that were part of the group were able to see them just fine. That’s when they look even further and see Waldo and Iravin standing there. The two of them notice the presence of the humans and face them. The sorcerers gasp and stare at the two monsters.

  “What the hell are those things over there?!”

  “They can’t be ordinary sorcerers! Are they curses?”

  “But cursed spirits don’t look like humanoids!”

  Waldo and Iravin glance at each other. This unwelcome group of humans are certainly causing a ruckus. They’ve interrupted their duel.

  “Are you assuming the exact same course of action, Iravin?”

  “I could be. Perhaps you are too.”

  The group of humans suddenly see Waldo and Iravin walking over in their direction. They begin to panic and the sorcerers urge each other to run away. Meanwhile, Mara looks at Waldo and Iravin with a mix of awe and terror. They have such terrifyingly awesome power. She may just be a new sorcerer, but power like this is incredible to behold. In a flash, Waldo and Iravin seem to do something that Mara is not able to keep track of. That’s when the entire area behind her crumbles. She quickly turns around and sees that the entire group of humans have been decimated.

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  “Now that the pests are out of the way, we shall continue.”

  “Indeed.”

  Waldo and Iravin look at each other again. Instead of standing there, however, they suddenly take to the air. Waldo exhausts some small shockwaves that elevate him. Iravin sprouts wings from his back again. They continue to ascend in the air until they reach a suitable height. Once they do, their energy suddenly spew out. Waldo takes Hades and swings at Iravin. Iravin takes the chains and throws an attack with them. The two weapons collide and cause a ripple of energy to spread out. A large gust of wind is created that blows away anything that isn’t nailed to the ground. Waldo smiles.

  “This is what I’m working with? I couldn’t be more pleased. After all, I am the War Spirit.”

  The battle between War and Cataclysm continues to intensify. It has finally reached the climax. Both Waldo and Iravin are back to fighting on equal ground. They’re like dashing blurs in the sky. They’re moving as fast as lasers and creating devastating ripples in the night sky. Mara can’t keep track of the fighting at all. The two of them are moving too fast for her to watch with her eyes. One second they’re in one place and then they’re in another the next second. Their clashes are also affecting the ground below them as well. If it weren’t for the shockwave soldiers protecting Mara from any collateral damage, she could have gotten very hurt.

  (They’re too strong! If they keep fighting this entire place might become destroyed! I’m glad Waldo is protecting me with his soldiers.)

  Waldo lashes out at Iravin by swinging Hades around. Iravin deflects most of the strikes and lands a clean uppercut on Waldo’s chin. Waldo resists Iravin’s fist and kicks him away, using a shockwave last second to blast him farther away. Iravin grabs the shockwave and sends pulses through it and towards Waldo. Waldo puts Hades in front of him. The pulses are then swiftly absorbed into Hades. Waldo then swings Hades and the pulses are fired right back at Iravin. Iravin puts his arms up and tanks the pulses. His chains and unique energy help in dispelling the pulses’ effects quickly. He whips out his chain and attempts to rope Waldo in. Waldo charges forward and evades the chain. He thrusts Hades and a shockwave is fired. Iravin flies forward, flies under the shockwave, and then reels his fist in. A strange energy surroundings his fist that is different from his cursed energy. Waldo doesn’t think much of it and puts his arms up to block it.

  He learns that that was a mistake. When Waldo gets hit by this mysterious energized punch, his core suddenly rattles. His soul is shifted outside of his body. His eyes widen as he sees his own body floating there in the air.

  (What the hell? Did he just force my soul out of my body? How is that-)

  Then, in the blink of an eye, his soul returns to his body. Waldo gasps and backs away from Iravin.

  “What did you just commit? How are you able to do that?”

  “It’s my Soul Punch. Blocking it won’t do you any good.”

  Waldo’s senses feel heavily disoriented. Having his soul forcefully edit his body and then suddenly come back has some serious consequences. He punches himself in the head in an attempt to regain his senses.

  “So you can manipulate my soul with that Soul Punch, right? Then I’ll just make sure I don’t get hit by it again.”

  “Easier said than done, Waldo.”

  Iravin flies fast towards Waldo. His speed has steadily been increasing since they first started fighting in their new forms. But Waldo’s power has also been going up. The more and more he fights and the more he gets excited, his cursed energy expands increases in power. That is especially true in this “god” form of his. And so, Waldo flies towards Iravin as well. The two of them throw their fist and create a powerful clash. Iravin immediately begins to pile biomass onto his fist for more weight and power. Waldo begins to get pushed back because of this. However, he uses Mulitply right before he’s overwhelmed and turns the tables on Iravin. His punch lands on his face with a massive amount of pressure. Iravin is sent back from the power but quickly stops himself. The armor on his face has only received some scratches and a minor crack.

  (Even after this new level of power, it takes everything I have to even see some damage on his armor. His defense and dexterity is second to none. It might even surpass my own, nay, it is higher than mine. However, I still outclass him in speed and striking strength. I can still come out on top!)

  Waldo aims Hades at Iravin. The weapon begins to glow and morph. All of a sudden, it expands and multiplies into several other copies. The copies of Hades scatter around Iravin or straight up launch themselves towards him. Iravin dodges some of the copies and deflects the others. But in the instant he makes contact with the copies, they detonate and scatter highly compressed shockwaves in all directions. Iravin blocks the shockwaves but I then comes into contact with another copy, which also detonates and scatters. This continues on for several seconds. It looks like something straight out of a pinball machine. Of course, Iravin grows tired of this and adapts to his new situation. He avoids one of the copies and, with the power of his chain, catches it and sends it back at Waldo. Waldo evades the copy of Hades and charges towards Iravin. All of the copies of Hades disperse. Iravin legs suddenly build up biomass and he throws an incredibly deadly kick at Waldo. The kick lands right in the middle of Waldo’s chest. However, Waldo grabs Iravin’s leg and his own leg begins to light up. In an instant, Waldo lands an equally devastating kick on Iravin’s stomach.

  Ruin Counter!

  To Waldo’s surprise, his kick actually causes Iravin’s armor to crack. But to his surprise again, Iravin is staring right at him undeterred. His fist is already clenched and covered in that mysterious energy once again. He throws the punch at Waldo again. However, right before it lands, the energy fluctuates and gets crazy. Something happens the moment it lands.

  The Spirit Crash!