“So, a few rules before you both tear into each other…”
For reasons unknown, Gah had been chosen to be the referee for this weird random battle between two vaguely angry half-brothers. Retvik and Elkay were arguing over the title of “the Conqueror of the Rethianoi”, something to do with the weird bloodline that had spawned both of them. However, while Retvik was a fully blooded part of the Rethianos family, his mother being a Rethianos, as was his grandmother, it turned out that Retvik’s mother was also a cheating bastard, and had accidentally fathered Elkay.
Normally, Retvik and Elkay got on fine. But this title was clearly important to them both. Something about honour and past achievements and who had done more in their mortal lives, who was more powerful. Thanks to some egging on from Eksi and Kaytee, the two Rethianoi had decided to solve their argument with a fight.
Currently, floating above the small lake, Nuh and Gah had erected a platform made from bits of dead Voidborn, which Pah had welded together. This was where the fight was due to take place. After all, Retvik had terrifying fire powers, Elkay could mimic those powers and none of Kal wanted the new Thantir base, which they were currently calling Savepoint, to get damaged.
“Alright, so, first rule, no killing each other. Second rule, no mind-control or using time powers. Life Goddess powers are fair game mostly because you’re bad at using them, Elkay.”
Elkay snarled. Gah ignored him.
“Third rule, no outside interference. This is between you two idiots. Fourth rule, please don’t break anything, apart from each other. Winner is whoever knocks out the other person unconscious first. Got it?”
Retvik grunted and nodded. Elkay hissed and nodded. Satisfied, Gah levitated off the platform.
“Alright. Kick some bottom or tail or whatever. May the best Rethianos win. Although, honestly, Litvir’s the best Rethan here right now since he’s not doing this stupid stuff.”
The two Rethans glared at Gah. Gah clicked, then backed away so they could fight.
Neither of them moved at first. Retvik was armed with a heavy shield and a large, golden sword that rippled with flames, ones that burned hotter than the cosmetic ones that ran up his arms. Elkay was carrying his gunstaff, but he was also oddly armed with a shield as well. Not his own. When word spread about this fight, many of the Thantir had picked a side. Elksia and Tenuk had backed their old friend, while Teekay obviously backed his partner. Akah, normally a more neutral party, had also taken Elkay’s side, mostly because he had a thing about “stubborn hotheads with fire powers”, and he insisted that Elkay borrow his shield.
The first thing to happen was an abrupt increase in temperature. Retvik left molten footprints as he made the first strike, his flaming blade narrowly missing Elkay’s shield as the younger, smaller Rethianos nimbly dodged out of the way. Elkay retaliated by taking to the air, flapping his powerful wings, and firing several shots at Retvik.
“Height will not help you!” Retvik snarled, hurling several fireballs in Elkay’s direction. “Neither will your speed.”
Elkay snarled back. He deflected two fireballs with his shield and absorbed a third. Using this blast of heat, Elkay concentrated and started using Retvik’s fire powers against him. With a wave of his hand, Elkay created a ring of flaming energy, trapping Retvik in place.
Except Retvik clearly didn’t care. The flames didn’t bother him in the slightest. In fact, Retvik blatantly ignored the ring of fire, absorbed some of them then holstered his shield. He put both hands on his gunstaff and focused his flames into a beam of plasma, which Retvik then aimed in Elkay’s direction.
Elkay darted through the air, avoiding the death beam, but Retvik managed to clip his wing, which forced Elkay to land awkwardly on the now melting platform. He dived and ducked around the fiery beam, which Retvik made hotter and thicker, in a bid to hit Elkay’s other wing and keep him grounded. At the same time, Retvik also increased the temperature of the air, making it less dense, rending Elkay unable lift himself up with his wings. Sure, Elkay did manage to get airborne again with his telekinesis, but his time in the air was yet again brief as Retvik knocked him out of the sky by abruptly stopping his beam of fire and throwing his shield at him.
“I was always a warrior!” Retvik hissed as he watched Elkay try to climb to his feet, firing more flaming balls in Elkay’s direction to keep him grounded. “I have fought my entire damn life. Even when Kenon took over, I continued fighting, I gave myself up for him! You though, you grew soft. You became a politician!”
“If it was not for me, you would not have been able to gallivant around as a glorified gladiator!” Elkay tried to counter, but the flames were overwhelming. He had wanted to beat Retvik at his own game, use Retvik’s flame powers against him, but Retvik was simply too strong, he knew himself too well.
“I would have found a way, no matter who was in power.”
“I still fought my way to the top, it took a damned deity serpent threatening an entire city to forcibly stop me!”
“Rethais almost seamlessly took your place! Did we really need you?”
“Rethais learned everything from me! And before you claim that I rode on your victory against the Whenvern, my 471st Legion was there alongside the 270th, fighting against that stupid dragon!”
“You fought along the fringes while I led the damn charge!”
The argument was getting Elkay nowhere. And now that he was essentially grounded, Retvik spotted an advantage. He concentrated a new beam of plasma in Elkay’s direction, but at the same time, Retvik continued to heat the air and melted the ground around Elkay’s feet, rooting him to the spot. Elkay was forced to use his shield to directly block Retvik’s plasma laser, borrowing the ice powers of his fellow Decay Lord to give himself some time to think.
While yes, Retvik did have Elkay pinned and rather stuck, Elkay had one last trick up his sleeve. Admittedly, when it came to the manipulation of fire, Retvik had him beat. Elkay though had access to a wide array of powers. Normally, he could only borrow one person’s abilities at once, but he was about to try something new.
Summoning his remaining strength, Elkay tried to mimic several sets of powers at once. He swiftly used Eksi’s auric telepathy to catch a glimpse of Retvik’s mind, to shout something that would make him lose his temper further, before reaching out and borrowing the most damaging powers he could think of.
“You were going to retire anyway! You were going to put your sword down for Gath, but you never did! You may think you are the better Rethianos, but unlike Rethais and Lysar and Teekay and myself, you let your partner down, you left him! We all left him!”
As predicted, Elkay’s words really pissed Retvik off.
“YOU LEAVE GATH OUT OF THIS! HE WAS BETTER THAN ALL OF US!”
Retvik’s flames abruptly intensified and his beam of plasma started to grow larger, larger than Elkay’s shield, with plumes of lava erupting over the edges and spilling across Elkay’s arms. Realizing it was now or never, Elkay borrowed… someone’s abilities.
The large platform the two Rethans were fighting on suddenly exploded, scattering shards of molten Voidborn plates into both the air and into the small lake below. Both Elkay and Retvik were catapulted into the water, which hissed and bubbled as it cooled the burning metal. However, neither Rethianos was conscious, and they both had to be fished out of the lake by Nuh and Gah, who awkwardly dropped both their unconscious bodies on the pier.
It took a while for anyone to speak, as everyone was quite shocked and surprised.
“Well, I should have suggested Elkay use his own shield rather than giving him mine…” Akah eventually muttered.
Gah floated over and waved his hand, pulling Akah’s now rather tattered and still rather hot shield from the water. Akah cooled the shield down enough to be able to hold it, and sighed, realizing it needed a lot of repairs.
“Yeah, you definitely messed up there…” Phovos tutted in agreement, before frowning. “So, like, they knocked each other out, are neither of them the Conqueror of the Rethianoi then?”
“Guess not!” Eksi laughed as he finished off his box of popcorn. “I think we all learned a few things today though!”
“Like what?” Itaviir asked, not sure whether he was supposed to be impressed or angry at the battle he had just witnessed. The other Tattered Navigators also seemed uncertain, but they had gone over to help Retvik and Elkay up, alongside Elksia and Teekay, who were concerned about their closest friends.
Eksi fell silent for a second, then shrugged. “Well, we learned that Elkay and Retvik are both terrifying when they’re angry, and Retvik’s control of fire is pretty impressive. Litvir was definitely right when he claimed that he’d lose in a fight against an enraged Retvik every time, and I think most of us here would also lose. But, more importantly, we all learned that the real Conqueror of the Rethianoi was Gath Tsoriou, Retvik’s old husband. Void bless his soul.”
Phovos shrugged too. “Honestly, Eksi, you’re often wrong and a cunt about a lot of things, but for once, you’re absolutely right.”
“Either way, this whole fight was stupid, and I am very glad I didn’t get melted in that battle!” Gah suddenly piped up. “Anyway, time to tidy up this mess. We’ve got work in 5 hours…”