Detonation (Shinsou Vaan Osiris vs Felicity Rhyolite)

[Shinsou Vaan Osiris]

Felicity had spoken words of desolation and love. Waves of dark emotions reflected in her face. Regret clung to her. Torrents of need for validation. Tides of self-loathing. Blood and pain. Sorrow. Despair.

The young girl was an absolute hurricane of emotions.

I never taught you anything?

That thought pounded into his heart with the force of a thousand hammers. It seared his mind with the heat of a dozen volcanoes.

No. That’s not it. We all want to believe in something bigger than ourselves. To escape the pressure of that trust, those in whom faith is placed in turn look for someone higher than themselves. And then those people in turn look for someone even stronger. That is how all kings are born. That is how all gods are born.

Something stirred in the depths of his soul. Something not dark, not ugly, but fiery and passionate. Something that burned as a teacher.

The things I taught you can’t be quantified. They can’t be touched, or read, or studied at will. Even as we fight now, you’re learning from me about life. There’s a reason I’m showing you these powers of mine, ones that I wouldn’t even show Storm. Even if you can’t see it from your perspective, Felicity, this is the ultimate trust i can give you. Because…

Conviction soothed Shinsou’s mind.

…I’ve placed my trust in you to take all of that resentment, and loneliness, and hurt, and use it all to beat me in this place. I want you to beat me. I am trusting you to take everything you think you are, and discard it, knowing in your heart that you are so much more. So, surpass me. Grow beyond me. There is no trust higher than that, from a teacher, to a student. To a friend. That is what I have taught you. That is what you’ll learn, even if you have to learn it the hard way.

The hard way was how Felicity wanted to do things, so it seemed. It didn’t grate on Shinsou that she was relentlessly pursuing direct, physical confrontation with the Telgradian, as that was his expectation. No. What annoyed him was that she wasn’t thinking, and that was something he had tried to teach her. Everything Felicity did had either been advertised or predictable; and she was even prepared to go to such lengths that she would even try to rush him from the front, seemingly with no plan other than “hit and hope” with some sort of new, unarmed combat stance he had never seen before.

Shinsou shook his head as she began her very deliberate, very brusk approach across the rubble strewn foyer.

Clearly, I'll have to teach you that you'll never touch me by approaching me head on. I won't let you. You’re too full of openings.

He reacted instinctively and with the proper timing, drawing Enpera from next to his cloak and bringing it across his body just at the right moment. In a blink of an eye, the Telgradian had used his Shadowstep to slip behind Felicity at eight times his normal speed, his magically augmented movements sinuous and unreadable as her fist connected with nothing but air. In his right hand glinted the thirsty sword of Enpera, drawn from where it had been seeded next to him.

Golden eyes flashed as the stroke fell for the kill.