Chapter 248 - A Battle To Shake The World

As Vritra reared his scale-clad fist back with utmost ferocity, the weight he packed into the building attack caused him to stand only on one foot as his fist carried his upper body back slightly. His fiery, midnight aura embraced his fist before he threw it towards the Monkey King, who responded with a swing of his seraphic pole. 

As the unbreakable object met the unstoppable fist, the clash of such forces split the air down the middle of the territory, sharply flinging through the trees and parting the cedar casually as the two pulled back from one another before approaching once more. 

The same exchange repeated once more, then twice more as the forest groaned beneath the two spirit's tremendous power. With another collision on the cusp of birthing itself into tangible force, this time the black-haired divinity threw his fist not at the golden-furred monkey but towards the world itself, slamming his attack into its crust. 

Digging into the soil, the impact sent an unmatched tremor through the ground, causing the closest trees to tumble over, causing further quakes from their gargantuan forms reuniting with the soil in full. 

"Asura: Burning Lake!"

Following his splendid roar, Vritra's call caused the surrounding soil to protrude unnaturally in over a dozen spots. 

"Oh!"

It was difficult for the frivolous monkey to recognize the rising sensation of heat emanating from beneath the ground as it ran across his soles, only noticing it as steam rose through the cracks in Gaia, hopping from spot to spot while watching the bubbling spots of the soil intently with his golden eyes. 

Only a second after his realization did the maledictions birthed from Vritra's scarred lips make itself known as pillars of midnight flames rose from the rising spots on the ground, unleashing their divine heat throughout the already long desecrated valley. 

Though sharp-tongued and brazen, the movements the Monkey King exhibited, hopping to and from and gliding along the length of his pillar of a weapon, were of utmost grace, evading direct contact with the numerous geysers of anti-divinity flames. 

Just dodging them isn't quite enough though, it seems, Sun Wukong thought. 

The heat found itself into his lungs, making it harder to breathe as he moved swiftly nonetheless. Even if not directly grazing his form, the radiating energy could be felt, encompassing the area in a boundless temperature. 

"If you were anything less than Heaven's Equal, you would be nothing more than cinder to the wind just standing within proximity of my flames."

Landing on his feet as he evaded all of the risen pillars of midnight blaze, Sun Wukong frantically caught his breath--at the cost of inhaling more of the mystical, malevolent air produced by the presence of Vritra's inferno. 

As expected of a rebel of the heavens...these flames are imbued with anti-divinity; breathing in the air coiled with its heat, its smoke--it's a poison, Sun Wukong thought, Even so…

"This is nothing to me; I survived and thrived in a cauldron of unspeakable heat for forty-seven days! Such fire is a mere campfire warmth!"

Caressing his throat as he could feel the accursed smoke of the drought entity's fire dry out the liquids from within him, Sun Wukong smiled nonetheless as the loose ends of his vermilion headband swayed in the fiery winds. 

"If you fell to my first assault, I'd never live down the disappointment of this day, Victorious Buddha!"

"Then try not to fall to mine, Serpent of Drought!"

With his golden irises releasing a vibrant sheen under the prospect of such celestial warfare, Sun Wukong flipped his sable rod between his fingers as the golden ring at the end of its length jingled before he stopped, lowering it as he gripped it with both hands. 

"Ruyi Jingu Bang: The Compliant Golden-Hooped Rod!"

Following his call of its name, a puff of smoke birthed itself into the air, slowly dispersing as Vritra watched with curious eyes as Sun Wukong now held two of the same rods, one in each hand. As the Monkey King, dressed in garments lavish, yet fit for a warrior, took to the air, he glided upon the smoke formed by the towering pillars of somber flames. 

"Extend!"

Allowing the magical weapon to flow behind his back, both forms of it grew in length and width, matching the thickness of a barrel and the length of mighty trees. 

"Show me, Honored Warrior!"

Vritra's passionate, thrilled roar drew his human appearance closer to that of a dragon as his pearly whites sharpened, his serpentine, forked tongue leaving his maw as he puffed his chest out and threw his arms to the air in anticipation. 

Surfing amongst the floor of black smoke that stood just above the battlefield of fire, Sun Wukong raised both of his held, obsidian poles to the air as his magnificent, golden aura parted the dry, suffocating air from him, the shining particles separating him from the deathly scenery. 

"Replicate!"

Commanding his weapon once more, the dense, enormous poles duplicated themselves at his call, manifesting another set of two, hanging amidst the air without the hold of the Monkey King.

Let's witness if you live up to your title of a Divine Slayer, Serpent of Drought! This is my gift to you, to mark the start of an event most glorious--the four-pronged cataclysm of Ruyi Jingu Bang: fifty-four thousand catties! He thought. 

The pressure exuded from the descent of the mystical pillars folded the charred, lifeless trees that spectated the battle, squashing the howling flames as they lowered their unbreakable, lavish form down upon Vritra. 

Stepping further away from his human appearance, Vritra sprouted from his sides two more arms, extending his armor of draconic, divine scales completely over his limbs as he caught the first two pillars. Stopping the falling weight packed with the golden radiance of the Monkey King, Vritra's feet sank into the brittle soil beneath him before catching the next two rods as they slammed against the halted original pair, using his newly sprouted arms to further brace his hold. 

"Ha-ha-ha! Not too shabby, not too shabby at all!"

A wave of force cascaded throughout the territory as the two strengths collided, sinking through the forest as the two young executioners held on tightly to the nearby trees for support under the immense gathering of energy. 

"...I'm starting to think surviving is a hopeful dream!"

"Just keep your eyes ahead!"

Smiling, though still trembling, Manfred couldn't keep his eyes away from the spectacle while Leon slowly grew to appreciate the clash alongside his friend. 

Never did I think in all my years as a boy, sprinting through fields of crop and swinging a wooden sword that I'd witness something like this, Leon thought. 

Buried under the immense, radiating pressure, Vritra's skin took a reddened, stressed hue as his earrings shook. 

"...If you should fall to this attack, my masters, I shall be gravely disappointed…I will accept my failure as being the familiar of such weaklings if that should happen; so try not to die!"

Muttering as he leaned forward under the incredible weight of Sun Wukong's divine poles, Vritra clenched his teeth as an azure blade began to ride from around his feet, rising up into a grandiose flame that swallowed the space beneath the colossal rods. 

"Asura: Pledge of War to The Heavenly!"

Even beneath the hum of the golden aura belonging to the Monkey King shrouding the poles, buried under the vibrations of the clash of strength, Vritra's yell met Sun Wukong's ears without fail as his all-seeing eyes quickly met with the specs of spherical darkness rising from the ground. 

They ranged in size from a grain of rice to the size of pebbles, slowly rising from the decayed soil and into the air, birthing themselves seemingly from the desecrated battlefield into the depths of the forest itself. 

"A counterattack? Interesting!"

As if seeking to solidify his approval, the dozens, if not hundreds of sable dots spread themselves throughout the surrounding space before releasing their forms into volatile, raging darkness before the Monkey King's watchful, shining eyes. 

"Show me not a paltry attack!" 

Through all of my travels, my journey through the world--this is what I sought! Boredom awaits the strong, only cured until they reunite! Wukong thought. 

Shouting out, he watched as the replicated forms of his pole were decimated by the resulting explosions that filled the land, retrieving the original rod as it returned to his hand. It was a show of fireworks presenting a malevolent sable; explosions releasing masses of darkness that did away with anything unfortunate enough to be in range of the blasts. 

Little space was left untouched, resulting in the Monkey King swiftly bouncing to and from as he twisted his body around to avoid the black mass releasing from the volatile orbs, spinning his rod to redirect himself if need be. 

"Don't trick yourself into believing I'll simply watch as you dance around the battlefield!"

Meeting Sun Wukong amidst the abyssal air, Vritra leaped up with all four of his arms readied for combat as his serpentine irises locked onto the golden-haired monkey--and vice versa. 

"Trick myself? That's what you should be worrying yourself over!"

The words backed with laughter from the Monkey King found Vritra puzzled as he sent his fist directly against his opponent, harshly parting the winds as his fist connected, only for the golden-furred, smiling monkey to dissipate into a cloud of divine dust before his eyes. 

"...What is this?!"

Just as Vritra turned around at the call of his instincts, his back was met harshly with the force of Sun Wukong's magical weapon, sending him crashing down against the ground. 

"Deceitful li--!"

Before Vritra could part his harsh words through his gritting teeth as he picked himself up slowly, he was interrupted by a wave of the Monkey King's finger. 

"Forget not who you're fighting! I am a trickster god, it's a fool's errand to expect only what your eyes show you!" 

"If that's how it shall be...I'll be the one to play my hand! I desire nothing less than an all-out battle, bringing us both to the brink of oblivion; if you shall fall to my true strength, you never were a worthy opponent in the first place, Sun Wukong!"

With such combative words expressed from the bowels of his divine essence, Vritra's body unleashed a storm of flames, spiraling around himself as his muscles further filled out and bulked.