CREED, The Fiery Storm

Te llamaré James

"So that you can win, you have to lose. Even when you lose you shall win."synopsis part 44

          With Windra's substitute in his hand, it was pretty easy for Jim to win his fight even with multiple challengers. Soon, he had all his challengers knocked down and he moved on to the next round-gracefully. As he strolled through the tunnel that led to the next arena, the sword remained unsheathed and a huge wind current whirled around it. After the massive victory, Jim was hoping for a more challenging opponent at the next stage. And as fate would have it, he was not disappointed when he reached the pit stop...

"It's a magnificent hall!" He remarked to his opponent who was and seemed to have been waiting for a while. The hall was truly massive! It seemed to have been built for such an encounter.

"It is indeed. I particularly like the space." His opponent agreed. Jim moved closer to his opponent to confirm his deduction. This simple act was actually very risky and could have been fatal if he was wrong. Fortunately, he was not wrong.

"Call me Jim I'll call you James." He said as he offered his opponent a hand.

"Very well." His opponent responded as he shook Jim's hand, "Though I would have preferred the shorter one."

"I hear you." Jim answered, "Perhaps we should spar for it."

"That's an excellent suggestion!" James agreed, "But sparring isn't an option at this stage."

James unsheathed his sword-his was Windra! Now there were two storms in a room; one against the other.

"Okay then." Jim huffed as he took a stance, "may the better Jim win."

"I will win alright!" James replied jokingly. And that's where the jest stopped as two storms clashed for the title of Jim. Once the battle started, there was no mercy to be expected and none to be shown.

 From the beginning, James held the advantage in the form of Windra. There were two Jims and one Windra. Jim convinced himself that he had a special calling and that was sufficient to put him on level psychological ground with his opponent. The very first time they crossed their blades, the walls and the roof were almost completely blown away! Each one of them held an enormous amount of power but together it was too much! In a battle for their lives, they understood that restraint had to be exercised. The thing about restraint is that it always favours the weaker party. Jim could have held an advantage but James had a trick that could tip the scale in his favour. James held out his sword and generated very fast wind currents from the handle towards the tip. After a while, the wind turned into sparks of lightning. Windra was now a lightning bolt and that's what Jim had to contend with! He had learnt a lot of things in Virrta but electricity was something he had come to dread from his early years on Rael. By shooting wind scythes from his blade, Jim knew he could avoid getting hit by the lightning-or that's what he thought until James began shooting bolts from Windra. The bolts exploded when they came into contact with any object and Jim was said object on more than a few occasions. The wind scythes were not achieving anything! Meanwhile, Jim was getting roasted by the lightning bolts. James was winning so, Jim had to confront his fear of electricity since the only chance he had in this fight was through a physical sword fight.

When James launched his next series of attacks, Jim focused solely on dodging the bolts as he advanced towards him. A number of the lightning bolts hit him but he managed to cross blades with James again at the end of his advancement. After a very short period of contact, Jim's blade gained Windra's lightning properties. James retreated a few steps surprised by the event. Jim immediately fired a gigantic lightning bolt at James! James who had been caught completely off guard considered firing a bolt of equal magnitude but restrained himself after considering the impact two massive lightning bolts would have. There wasn't sufficient time to get out of its way and his blade was basically a lightning bolt so, James chose to take a direct hit from the lightning.

As the smoke from the explosion settled down, James' crouching figure was revealed bleeding from the right of his chest down to the left of the abdomen. The armour had been ripped apart but it had saved James' life. Jim knew that James had saved his life and many others by not defending himself. This fight wasn't fair!-it hadn't been fair from the very beginning.

"Let me have her. Let me have Windra." Jim offered in a bid to make the fight more balanced.

"Are you sure about that?!" James asked even though he knew the answer. They were exactly the same and if James wanted to carry the burden, so did Jim.

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure." Jim confirmed. James wanted to hold on to the burden of power but he knew he could no longer fight like that and Jim would never accept it! They exchanged the blades. The burden of power was now in Jim's hands and he could feel it. It was a very heavy burden; bearing power you cannot use no matter what happens.

Jim didn't want to initiate an attack so, James initiated one when he had recovered some of his strength. The attacks were frail as their author and Jim hardly struggled to repel. James knew that the fight would never end at that rate; he gathered up the remnants of his power and launched a few powerful offenses. From Jim's perspective, it seemed like his opponent had finally recovered his strength. Accordingly, he increased his own efforts and was soon on the offensive. But in truth, it was more of a high power sparring match than a fight. Jim occasionally stabbed at James and he casually blocked the stabs. It was very clear that James wouldn't recover from the massive cut he endured from the lightning bolt but Jim thought he had to give him a chance. Just as on previous occasions, Jim stabbed at James but this time he didn't dodge or block! Windra went straight through his belly and he spat out a mouthful of blood. As he was falling, Jim held him by the hand and let him rest his head on his shoulder.

"Why didn't you block?!" Jim asked emotionally. The injuries James now bore on his body were too serious speaking was almost impossible.

"You-have-won." He whispered faintly. Jim wasn't feeling like a winner at that moment.

"You should have blocked! You're a good guy!" Jim said to James.

"Only-as -good-as-you..." James replied, "good people-die-too! That's –war!!"

"Here-take this..."He added as he handed him his sword. Jim accepted the sword.

"And take-Windra... "

"No! I can't do that!! You'll die!" Jim refused.

"As-long-as-you live...I'll-live too." James explained as he pulled Windra out of his belly and handed her over to Jim. He burst into a blue wave of steam that blew towards Jim and vanished. It's what he had wanted! A more challenging fight and now that he had won one, he wasn't happy about it! Jim was deeply troubled that the better man by him, hadn't won...

Hey!! We are almost coming to the end of the sixth chapter! There will be just four chapters left after this. I can say, the story is nearing its conclusion. Throughout the remaining chapters i'll be tying up loose ends;) That's why i'm requesting you to plot holes if you've noticed any. Thanks for your time, merry Christmas*_*

-Constino