Return of the Fallen Volume 12 Chapter 59
If the two had eyes, right now Arc and Codex would be glaring at one another hatefully. They had once ore pushed one another to a certain point but unlike the previous times, Kazuki did not stand in their way. He was tired of constantly standing between the two. If they truly wished to fight, then Kazuki would step back and let them handle their own shit. In the end, sometimes it was best for people to just settle things physically.
Arc and Codex were aware of this as well. To suppress one’s frustration and rage time and time again was not healthy and solved nothing. On the contrary, it built resentment among folks, and resentment bred distrust which led to betrayal.
Arc and Codex gathered their respective powers and no more words were exchanged. It was time for action.
The pages within Codex glowed with golden light before a beam of power rippled out. This beam was a deep black surrounded by a golden white light. This attack contained both the power of light and the power of darkness in one.
This power shot across the sky causing the world to lose all color momentarily.
Arc chuckled seeing this.
(Child’s play and nothing more.)
Just as this beam of dark light reached Arc, space bent around Arc and the beam was turned round and shot back toward Codex. The beam came back even faster than it was turned away but Codex held no fear. It shifted its power with a thought and the beam split into two around its book-shaped body.
The beams split and divided hundreds, thousands of times causing Chaotic space to rip open all around them. Codex then used the powerful pulling force from these Chaotic space tears and like a slingshot, its beams orbited the tears for half a cycle before racing at Arc several times faster than Arc had deflected them.
It was quite literally a reverse reverse. Arc had incredible power but without Oriing energy it could not deflect this power for another round. A powerful barrier made of purple lightning materialized and Codex’s beam exploded upon contact. The air in the surrounding million miles shook and ripped apart in every direction. The energy in the atmosphere fed on this excess power from the two mighty Artifacts causing multiple storms to kick up.
Their power pulled in the magical energy form all around, dragging it to the epicenter forcefully. The storms combined into one devastation and within the storm arose a cyclone of every element. Pires of flame, pillars of frozen ice, bolts of plasma heated to the nth degree.
The land was uprooted as if the hand of the almighty released a single breath of chaos upon this world.
In this single exchange, Arc and Codex’s power could have easily destroyed billions of Lower Realms and all life in which they contained. Thankfully they were in a Higher Realm so there was no need for such worry. Still, the world around them trembled and quaked as if it feared the happenings around it.
Codex and Arc did not stop here though. No, this was only the beginning. Several rounds were fought and neither could seem to get the upper hand. It made sense. The two had shared memories with Kazuki and one another. For the most part, they knew what the other knew. Even if their base powers were slightly different, that meant nothing when compared with the other powers they could draw upon. Because they knew what the other was capable of, they also knew exactly what to use to counter the other. In the end, it became a long drawn-out stalemate, where one could not overtake the other.
When it came to their fighting styles, Kazuki could see many flaws between Arc and Codex. They had massive amounts of destructive power. Individually they could handle any God that wasn’t a supreme God but when it came to real combat, the two were stiff in their way of thinking. Neither knew how to fight in a way that was cunning. They simply wailed at one another using everything they had.
It was almost embarrassing. They fought more like children than unfathomable ancient entities. This was because they had no need to fight for the most part. From their experiences, for the most part, their so-called fighting was at the end of a person’s hands. They were used as tools and were not ones to make their own decisions during combat. Could they fight, yes, but they did not have a battle instinct of sorts.
After a while of this back and forth, neither had lost anything but at the same time, neither of them had harmed the other. Kazuki understood if they wished to, they could have used moves to affect the soul of the other but they hadn’t done this. Whether it was because they weren’t truly trying to harm one another or because they knew it was something that once crossed could never be taken back, Kazuki did not know. Either way though, this was over in his eyes. The two had gotten rid of some of the built-up frustration and neither side looked weak or defeated in front of the other.
(No more. You two have put on quite the show, surely you’re done acting like children now right?)
(Who’s acting like a child brat!?)
(Yes Kazuki stop with the disrespect. It’s pressing my nerves to the edge!)
Kazuki eyed them both before looking at the world around him.
(Why don’t the two of you look at this place before you think my judgment or words is anywhere near unfair.)
Arc and Codex knew right away what he was talking about. The world around them for several million miles was left devastated to such a degree it would take billions of years of natural growth before the land could make a full recovery. Sure this was just a random world they were on and they had no ties to it but still, in the grand scheme of things, they had basically ruined this place for others for countless years over their own petty squabble.
Kazuki didn’t actually care about this world. He just thought they should see their own ignorance laid out plain as day before them so they could recognize what they did and if the reason was valid or not.
“Whatever you think about one another or what you think about me. I think you two should remember something very important. At the end of the day, we three are allies. Even though we are allies and we have one another’s backs, there will still be arguments between us. That I have o doubt and at the same time it is only natural to disagree on some things here and there. However, we must recognize that in order to move forward, in order for us to reach our own individual goals, we need one another and we cannot let our anger become…this mess.”
The ground burned and was hot red with molten magma, the air was poisonous with pure magical energy and the tears in Chaotic space were only just now closing.
Codex sighed before agreeing.
(I can see we left rational momentarily. This is not the way allies should handle themselves amongst one another. Next time…I think it’s best we talk it out.)
Kazuki shook his head.
(No, you are misunderstanding. Fighting will happen but there is a time and place. I don’t care if you all want to destroy each other but if you really do, do it someplace that doesn’t drag others into it, it’s the least you can do. Before all of that though you must remember that this allyship may not be a permanent one. You should all be aware of this. There will come a time when one of you really does have a true advantage over the other. When that happens debts and crossings will not have been forgotten between us.)
Codex felt a shiver run through its book spine. Arc on the other hand was feeling confident until Kzuki gave him a side look.
(You as well Arc. You are incredibly confident that once you regain your missing piece you will be this so-called almighty being but your memories are not quite what they should be. You could be misinterpreting your own past and could actually have very little to nothing at all to return to. I’m not saying this is so, just that you never really know what the future holds for us. There’s toe-stepping that will naturally happen between us but let us never cross any lines lest we make enemies amongst ourselves and sabotage everything we strive for.)
This time it was Arc that felt an impact from these words. It was second-guessing itself for a moment before it shook such thoughts away and laughed.
(I have no such thing as self-doubt. I am the one true…I…I may see your point though. Exchanging words and fighting where it’s appropriate, I think I can stick to that. No point in making any enemies amongst ourselves. It would simply be far too annoying to later destroy someone I once called a friend.)
Codex and Kazuki shared a look before Codex chuckled.
(Did you just refer to us as friends? Heh, now I know you’ve lost it.)
Arc went quiet for a moment before getting angry.
(Damn It! You empty book! Can you not be silent for one good moment!)
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