Rivers of the Night

Chapter 870: The Opposite

Lines of indigo radiated from Theron’s body like the solar flares of a pulsing sun. His hair danced, his weapons glowing in the depth of darkness as his Mana bloomed.

BOOM.

Macie ripped her way out, her scythe seething as though it was burning away the very essence of existence itself. She shot forward, and in the blink of an eye, she had closed the distance.

Theron’s body sank down, space cracking beneath his feet as his weight was pushed beyond an extreme.

He blocked the swinging scythe as though he were a steel wall, the reverberating impact shaking the foundation of the world. The chaos of the collapsing Heaven’s Gate seemed to fall on deaf ears in the midst of the battle, and the warriors who followed Macie seemed to quickly realize that even if they did want to help, there would be no chance to do so at all.

This was a battle on a completely different level.

Theron’s dagger flashed. He parried the scythe’s blade away from his body with a twist of his sword-wielding hand’s wrist, jabbing toward Macie’s liver.

A tendril of darkness wiggled out from her, his attack missing as that entire side of her body seemed to vanish in a spiraling fog.

Her body solidified around Theron’s wrist, a squelching mess that should have ripped her very being in two with pain alone writhing through her. And yet, she didn’t even flinch as she used her own flesh to tie Theron down.

Her eyes erupted with power and Theron barely leaned his head away from a pair of violet bolts of lightning that shot from her eyes.

He could tell instantly that this wasn’t Lightning Mana, though. At least not directly. It seemed that Macie’s grasp of Mana had accelerated beyond reason in these last two years…

Just like his.

Theron responded in kind.

Roaring waves churned into being around him. As though violent sound waves were dancing beneath their surface, the salty ocean waters shook as though even the fluidity of water wouldn’t be able to stop them from bursting at the seams.

Electricity sparked, wild arcs of lightning jetting out from Theron’s eyes.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

Theron’s lightning gaze and Macie’s met, the two violently separating as their ocular attacks exploded on contact.

Theron’s hand came free, covered in Macie’s blood, and yet the latter was only licking blood from the corner of her lips. She quickly glanced at the oceans of water around her and her grin deepened.

A worthy opponent, indeed.

The aura of death began to radiate from her.

With a step, darkness swallowed the world beneath them. A pair of raven wings extended from her back, shattering her upper robes and leaving nothing behind but bands of white that covered her chest.

The hole at her side where Theron’s hand had gone through quickly mended itself as though her flesh had become lines of wiggling tentacles.

Then she covered the distance between them.

Lightning sang, darkness clashing as waters churned.

However, Theron’s lightning was no normal lightning.

With a shudder, Theron’s Primordial Earth projection appeared, and suddenly it was like the two were standing on solid ground rather than in the depths of space.

Everything about Theron suddenly became anchored, and his lightning turned a searing shade of white that contrasted against the quickly blackening lightning of Matriarch Macie.

Every arc of his blade came with another bolt, streaking, jagged lines that almost looked like the fragmented glass of space itself trailed his every strike.

His arms blurred, his feet continuously advancing and then retreating in a dance that embodied the chaos of the churning waters around him.

Macie was continuously forced to block, her initiative falling further and further behind.

“He’s winning…” Ameridia said softly.

“She’s improving…” Messo replied just as gently.

An explosion separated Theron and Macie for just the briefest moments before they exploded forth once more. Macie’s scythe spun in her hands, the oozing light of death spilling out into everything in her surroundings. It ate away at Theron’s lightning, at his waters, at his very Mana and life force.

But from Theron’s eyes, one would have never thought that he noticed at all. He pressed, and pressed, and then pressed more, his blades moving faster, sharper, more skilled.

He knocked off rust he hadn’t even known he had been wearing.

After so long fighting against beasts, his tactics against humans had faltered. But his attack style had become more instinctive, relying more on nature and its presence, embodying his Mana in more than just how he used energy, but in how he followed its flow.

His Dark Mana attacks came in wispy and hard to track, disappearing into the shadows and swallowing whole everything they came into contact with.

His Water Mana attacks came in sharp at times, fluid at others, defensive sometimes, and then harsh and cold at others.

His movements embodied chaos within order, and even as Macie’s control and Mana output seemed to increase…

“So is he…” Ameridia replied.

Mana exploded out from Theron and a roar left his lips. The image of a lion painted in royal blues, dark blacks, and wispy gold and white streaks of lightning appeared in the skies.

In his first fight after he had affirmed his path, Theron had no intention of losing. He would never lose to this woman.

Macie embodied everything he didn’t want to be. She had allowed the death of Sadie to consume her, to swallow up any kindness she had once had, to lead her down a path of destruction, of endless death, of meaningless chaos.

He would be the opposite of this.

He could understand her, but it was because he understood her that he knew she had no place in this world.

She would always be a reminder of who he didn’t want to be.

His short sword descended from the skies, crashing upon her scythe with such strength that Macie was forced forward with more momentum than she was ready for.

He sidestepped it, driving an elbow right into her nose with enough strength that she felt her skull shatter.