Part 47 (2/2)

Two of his sisters dead, and one with only the weakest hold on life. Despair threatened to overwhelm him, but he pushed it back with his newfound light. Despair was pointless; it never got any results.

Still holding the Incarnation's hammer with one hand, he reached out with the other and pointed to two gold-armored soldiers.

They saluted, understanding his unspoken words, and dragged Ilana out of danger. They even took Tamara's body with them, and he reminded himself to thank them for that later. There was no excuse for ingrat.i.tude.

Alin looked up, meeting the Naraka Incarnation's glowing ember eyes.

Revenge, he knew, was just as pointless as despair.

But there was always the virtue that the Incarnation himself wouldn't shut up about: justice.

Right then, Alin had some very definite ideas about how to bring this monster to justice.

The whole process of summoning Elysia had only taken, perhaps, a minute. The Naraka Incarnation kept his hammer in place out of distraction more than anything else.

Now that the spectacle had subsided, he pulled his hammer back, las.h.i.+ng his tail and leaning down to peer into Alin's eyes.

”An Elysia Incarnation,” it rumbled. ”Yes. It's been so longa”

The horrible, ash-skinned mouth twisted itself into a smile.

Alin flooded his body with red light, not bothering to dispel the green s.h.i.+eld around his hand. Once, he wouldn't have been able to maintain that s.h.i.+eld for long. Now it seemed a paltry effort, barely worth his attention.

He gathered up all the superhuman strength of the red light, forming his s.h.i.+elded hand into a fist.

Just as the Incarnation looked like it was about to speak, Alin slammed his s.h.i.+elded fist into its jaw.

The ten-foot Incarnation's face exploded as he shot backwards, shattering the house behind him and falling backwards into its rubble.

On wings of orange light, Alin soared after him, not giving him a moment's rest.

He landed on the Incarnation's chest, bringing his fist down like a hammer-blow on its ribcage.

The Naraka Incarnation howled, and Alin's entire body burst into flames.

The pain wracked Alin's mind; no matter what he had become, he wasn't fireproof, and his armor blazed like an oven.

Somehow, though, the pain was a distant thing. He felt his flesh burning away, and his first thought was: I need that foot. I cannot allow it to burn.

So he summoned the rose light, flooding his body with it. He healed even faster than the Naraka flames could burn him, standing within the flames. Only five minutes ago, he would never have been able to stand the agony.

Now, he stood somewhere beyond such petty concerns.

The head of the Incarnation's hammer caught him in the chest, and would have crumpled his armor except for an instinctive s.h.i.+eld of green that turned the blow at the last instant.

Momentum launched Alin into the sky, but it was the work of a moment to summon orange light to stop in midair.

He hovered there for a moment, looking at the Naraka Incarnation roaring impotently below him.

This was a problem. If he remained in the sky, the Incarnation couldn't follow him. If the Incarnation couldn't follow him, then Alin wouldn't be able to beat it to nothing more than a smear on the ground.

Noanot vengeance, Alin reminded himself. Justice.

Alin wouldn't be able to beat it into a smear on the groundafor justice.

The Incarnation shouted again, and then huge, bat-like wings of ash sprouted from its back. With lumbering sweeps of its giant wings, it somehow managed to gain enough momentum to clear the rooftops of the village.

Alin felt himself smile. There was one problem solved.

The Naraka Incarnation extended one hand. A wave of fire, so intense it seemed almost solid, blasted from its palm.

Alin didn't even move, he just surrounded himself with a ball of green light and let the fire wash harmlessly over him.

When the fire cleared, the Naraka Incarnation was there, swinging a hammer at the top of Alin's s.h.i.+eld. He struck with enough force to level a palace, blasting Alin and his green s.h.i.+eld into the dust.

Alin struck with the power of a meteorite impact, sending rings of dust blasting away from his landing.

Fortunately, the s.h.i.+eld absorbed most of the damage, leaving Alin to stand up mostly unharmed. If he had taken the hit, then he would have had to rebuild his body with the rose light, and that would have wasted precious seconds.

Black lizards the size of ponies shrieked as they ran up to him in a pack, trying to shred his flesh with their needle-sharp teeth.

Alin blasted a wave of gold light outwards, shattering those teeth and most of the other bones in the creatures' bodies.

If they hadn't attacked him, they would have remained alive. It was only correct.

The Incarnation roared above him, diving down with its glowing hammer raised. With the silver light, Alin sensed him long before he saw him, and he simply flew out of the way.

The Incarnation crashed into the ground, blasting himself into a cloud of ash. He re-formed almost instantly, lifting his hammer back up in both hands and letting out a roar.

”I learned something new recently,” Alin said. His voice didn't sound normal, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to care.

”Did you know,” he continued, ”that each Territory has its complement in Elysia? It's true. Naraka represents justice, but what is justice without mercy?”

Alin opened his palm, and an orb of liquid blue light drifted within, like a globe of luminescent water.

The Naraka Incarnation howled and charged, its hammer leading the way.

Tendrils of blue light erupted from Alin's hand, winding around the Incarnation, sliding around and binding its limbs. They leeching away its strength, flowing with pulses of blue light. The Incarnation struggled against the tentacles wrapping its arms and legs, trying in vain to free itself. But the more it fought, the more of its strength flowed through the blue light.

Through the blue light, and into Alin.

When the Naraka Incarnation's thras.h.i.+ng had all but quieted, and it lay, breathing heavily, on the sand of Myria, Alin walked up to its head. He stood over the Incarnation, staring down at its pitiful form.

”You can consider this a mercy,” Alin said.

He summoned the golden sword and brought it down on the Incarnation's skull.

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