"Phew!" Imuru went and retrieved his sword, rubbing his fingers over his sword, it glimmered with a faint blue-ish purple.
"Hehe…" T1 wiped the blood off his mouth. "Not bad," he said standing up.
Looking up he saw Imuru standing at the break in the wall gazing down at him. "You're something kid! But I hate to say this to ya, you're gonna have to punch harder," T1 said sarcastically.
"Uh-Huh… Noted," Imuru simply replied.
T1 flew up from the alley, up to the top of roof, Imuru following swiftly behind. Chasing the elf, he came to an abrupt stop.
"Let me ask you this kid, wanna see what I was gonna show ya a moment ago?" T1 asked.
Imuru smiled. "Sorry, but I'd prefer not to," He said, brandishing his sword.
A seismic shock reverberated throughout the city, shaking the foundations of the capital. Looking over left, Imuru noticed a silver crystallized glow marching up into the air, clueless of the situation.
T1 snickered to himself, bursting out into loud laughter. "You really haven't weighed the gravity of the situation, have you?" He inquired, arms wildly spread.
Gazing back at T1 nervously, Imuru felt a cold sweat dripping down the side of his face. "I'd like to believe I'm well informed," Imuru replied.
"... Well informed by people that want me killed, but that's all I got going for me at the moment," Imuru thought.
"Well, you're gonna figure it out the hard way," T1 remarked, taking off the roof to the air.
"For what I am—My goal and intentions are righteous."
[[
[[
[-Crystallization-]
With the utilization of his main skill—sub-skill, from the air, small particles shone, and merged with each other, forming 100s of shards. Giving a simple gesture, the shards were sent in motion, promptly creating a sonic boom.
Standing his group, Imuru took the attack head on, precisely deflecting each shard that came his way with ease and precision.
The deflected shards stuck out the ground and surrounding buildings, illuminating softly.
Beneath his feet, Imuru noticed the crystallization of the roof. Swiftly he leapt off back the ground, as the buildings around started to be enveloped completely.
Right behind T1 pointed at Imuru's sword. "Might wanna check that precious weapon of yours."
Imuru took a look at his blade, seeing the signs of crystallization. He grabbed the handle of his blade, as it came ablaze in Belzora.
"Ow." T1 leaned forward curiously. "That's something… A nice Ipsum you got there. You already saw one of mine."
In his palm a shard is summoned and he shattered it creating a sword. "Hehehe! Pretty neat, huh? Let's just pretend I never used it before."
Bursting forward Imuru and T1 clashed blades for a brief second. Overpowering Imuru, T1 forced him back, striking with a straight side slash at the head as Imuru countered with one of his own.
They both clashed blades in a continuous motion, T1 gaining the upper hand, breaking the clash and thrusting his sword at Imuru's head.
Keeping up, Imuru dodged and blocked what he could, getting sliced on his cheek, barely moving his head in the nick of time, before he was able to jump back for some distance.
Not letting up, T1 lounge forward thrusting his blade forward once again. Imuru split by him with a swift twist of his body to the air, landing behind him, as the very pressure from his strike annihilated the buildings that were present ahead.
"Wah?! He has gotten stronger?" Imuru mused. "His strikes are a lot stronger—"
Recurring, the earth around them shook again. This prompted T1 to release his urge. "Kid, kid, kid… I pity you," He said, turning around.
"I-I keep going for much longer—not like this… If this a vessel, his growing strength, could mean, just that, the Lake." Imuru angled his sword vertically leaned.
"Heh, heh… Such a nice kid," T1 thought calmly.
[[
[[
[-Tirential Dominion-]
Raising a finger, above T1 a complex combination of shards are formed, bulging from one another as it grows in size.
Seeing this Imuru smirked. "Alright! Swallowing it up Belzora!!!" Imuru shouted, stretching his hand out. Unleashing his raging flame an outward force and a flash of blue.
The initial force slammed right across his entire body, sweeping him off his feet, sending him flipping back.
As he looked to see the flames completely annihilate his attack, before it could even fully charge.
Not a single fragment was left by Belzora as it broke it all down, returning to Imuru right after, as he closed his hand, with a discharge of purple electricity.
T1 stared god smacked by what he just saw, mouth wide open, sweating dripping all over his face.
"Hot… He has it applied to his blade. It's best to be careful," T1 thought, contemplating his next course of action.
"Time to finish this up, Belzora!!!" With these words, Imuru unleashed his flames once again, covering the entire street in front of him.
T1 grinned and swiftly retreated into an alley, watching the flames go by. "Impressive but—" He froze, his eyes widened with shock.
The raging flame broke up, a part of it turning into the alley for T1. Fast as he could, he leapt to the top of the roof, only to realize he's still being chased.
The flames came down at him, missing him as he leapt over right. Not letting up it came from below, T1 yet again just barely keeping himself from harm's way.
"It's fast… I might have underestimated this—" T1 came to a stop, a raging wall of flame shooting up, blocking his path.
Turning to face the flames raging towards him, he acted fast.
[[
[[
[-Crystallized Domination-]
With a swipe of his arm T1 sent a massive wave of crystallization that consumed the flames.
To the wall of flames that blocked his path, he turned to do the same. In motion, T1 heard a crack behind him and before he could properly confront this, Imuru broke through, slashing him across his stomach.
The wall of flames subsided. T1 shattered a shard in his hand to create his blade, though at this point, Imuru sheathed his sword and collided his fist with T1's face, breaking his nose and a few of teeth.
T1 staggered back, dazed. Deciding to not give him the chance to catch his breath, Imuru walked right up to him, hitting him with a right… left… right, to knock him right on his ass.
"I don't mean to gloat, but it's hard to use my full strength, when I'm trying not to hurt the person you control," Imuru steadily remarked.
"...."
"...."
"R-Really… Is that so…" T1 staggered to his feet panting. "I feel weaker? What the hell?! It hurts… That… A moment ago… It evolved, those flames… Unnatural," He thought, trying to come to terms with what just happened.
He rested a hand on the horizontal wound across his stomach. "This is a mere vessel. I've never felt pain before… This is what it's like?"
T1 held his head back up to Imuru. "Keh-heh… You know I have thousands of more I can control… Injure this all you want, I'll simply jump to another."
"Yep. Really, there's no way I can realistically save anyone…" Imuru replied looking up.
"Saving them?" T1 raised an eyebrow. "That's why you're here? So you think you're some kind of hero?"
"What?! No, no, no, no." Imuru in dramatic panic waved his hand, dismissing T1's assumption.
"Then why, risk your life for this. In hopes of some personal or political gain?" T1 inquired.
Imuru's cheeks flashed red. "N-No… It was to help a friend… I made a promise." Imuru sighed. "Yeah, it's stupid I know… I'd prefer to not be in this situation either… She was full of herself to say the least, but she's a good kid, she doesn't deserve to watch her home burn and have everyone she knows die."
Imuru clenched his fist. "So even if the odds are against me, I made that promise and took this responsibility…" He narrowed his eyes. "I'm not leaving here until I fulfill it."
A wind that sat dormant, finally stirred. It did not howl, but whispered, and with that whisper, the iron-gray canopy began to fray at the edges. Great beams of sunlight, long imprisoned, tore through the gloom like golden spears. They were not gentle, but triumphant, striking the deserted kingdom.
The clouds did not so much part as they dissolved, retreating not in defeat but as if their purpose was finally fulfilled.
Staring at Imuru with quiet amazement, T1 was stunned by his response. "That's it. Just for a promise?… You're really helpless. You better have some good people around you… For your sake."
"Uff!" T1 dropped himself, crossing his legs. "Now then, how about that talk?"