A/N: Yo, Shonpufi here!
Sorry that I'm posting so late, but once again, I've been busy. But good thing I'm not anymore for the next week!
The college semester just ended, and I managed to rock all my classes. Straight A's for five classes at the same time. I must say that I'm pretty proud of myself, as I've never passed all my courses in a single semester with straight A's.
Also, Like I've said before, fighting scenes aren't really my forte. So if the pacing seems meh, I'm sorry.
Also, GIVE ME YA STONES!!!
-3rd POV-
'Taekwondo and karate?' Meliodas thought in surprise.
So far, he's been on the defensive in this fight.
Not because Yanqing was overpowering him, but because he wanted to test him out.
And from what he's gathered, Yanqing focuses on two main things.
1. he uses Ki mostly, meaning he's a close combat fighter more than anything. High probability that he lacks long-range attacks.
2. Somehow, he knows Karate and Taekwondo; Wukong probably taught it to him.
*CLANG!*
A loud metallic noise resounded from the clash between Meliodas and Yanqing.
Yanqings' swift kicks constantly barraged Meliodas
A faint blue glow radiated from Yanqing, his body pulsing with controlled Ki. He stood barefoot, his eyes locked on Meliodas.
Without another word, they exploded into motion.
Yanqing launched forward, spinning into a tornado kick, the air crackling with Ki. Meliodas parried with his sword, the impact creating a shockwave that cracked the plateau beneath them. Sparks of Ki exploded from the clash.
Yanqing landed gracefully, then vanished.
Meliodas's eyes flicked to the left—Too slow.
Yanqing appeared behind him mid-spin, delivering a devastating hook kick to Meliodas's ribs, glowing blue. Meliodas skidded across the floor until he was able to catch himself.
'Good thing I used [Blut vene], ' Meliodas sighed in relief. Under his clothes, the area where Yanqing had kicked him had glowing blue veins, signifying the Reishi that Meliodas had flowed throughout his veins to reinforce his body against Yanqing's kick.
But despite blocking the hit, Meliodas could still feel that he had received some internal injuries. It was as if the power in Yanqing's kick had been focused in a single point and pierced past his defenses, and then dispersed inside of him. Like some sort of armor-piercing bullet.
"You're fast" Meliodas muttered, sheathing his sword.
[Thousand Divine Cuts]
In the single swift motion of Meliodas's sword unsheathing, a barrage of slashes assaulted Yanqing faster than he could react.
Blood oozed out of the multiple semi-deep cuts that riddled Yanqing's body.
'What was that?!' Yanqing thought as he could feel his own warm blood dripping down his body, coloring his diced-up outfit red.
He didn't even see that attack coming; the sheer speed at which he was sliced was hard for his body to keep up with. The only reason the cuts weren't deeper was because he managed to focus his Ki in a defensive form at the last second.
Pumping Ki through his body again, Yanqing's wounds healed in a matter of seconds.
"Sorry..." Yanqing suddenly apologized, confusing Meliodas.
Yanqing reached towards his sleeves and pulled them up his arms, revealing multiple weights in both arms and wrists.
He began to unstrap them and let them drop to the floor.
*BOOOM!!!*
Large craters formed underneath Yanqing's feet, kicking up a cloud of dust that concealed his figure.
'Shit, he's on some Rock Lee type sh-' Before Meliodas could even finish his though, a swift and violent breeze blew on his face.
'-Duck' Was the thought that followed, and he followed with it.
Meliodas lowered his head, and Yanqing delivered a devastating kick to where Meliodas's head had been before.
*BOOOM!!!*
A loud shockwave reverberated through the air, as if someone had just shot a shotgun right above Meliodas's head.
Following up, Yanqing kicked down, forcing Meliodas to jump to the side.
*BOOM!*
The ground beneath the kick crumbled, leaving an even more massive crater than the ones Yanqing's weights had left behind.
"I will take you seriously from now on," Yanqing declared, his expression no longer cocky but serious.
Meliodas got up from the ground and patted the dust off his body.
"You're just getting serious?" Meliodas asked with a sigh.
'Well, he's Wukong's student after all,' Meliodas thought wryly.
Of course a student of that stupid monkey would be strong!
Meliodas sheathed [Lostvayne] behind him, surprising Yanqing.
"Aren't you a swordsman?" Yanqing asked. To his knowledge, the moment a swordsman lets go of his sword is the moment he's lost.
"I am, I'm merely returning the favor."
Yanqing's spine shivered with chills as Meliodas's voice turned cold and distorted on his last line.
A deep, dark fog with red lightning crackled and covered Meliodas, all to die down a second after, revealing Meliodas in a dark knight armor. A dark curved sword at hand that radiated danger was manifested in his hand as well.
Yanqing's eyes widened in shock "A primal Divinity?!"
Even he who has been the Monkey King's disciple for so long has not reached the first level of Godhood.
But the human, whose lifespan and talents are quite limited, managed to achieve this in such a short time.
Yes, Yanqing was already impressed with the level of power Meliodas had reached, but he never expected him to be at the level of a god.
In fact, he was the first ever human god he had ever met or heard about.
'Oh yeah, I'm basically a god here...' Meliodas thought drily.
From what he had learned from Jingliu, there were basically two levels of being a god.
1. "Primalism" means that you hold a "Primal Divinity." Often, this means that one holds the power to control an element of the world at the conceptual level.
Like with ice, one could possibly "Freeze" time.
Or with fire, one could "burn" and "consume" space-time itself, making the user's attacks unblockable unless one wields a divinity that is greater in power.
And currently, Meliodas himself holds three of them due to the Eikon he wielded.
He was surprised at first when he was told this, but not so much after thinking about it.
In FF 16, specifically the "The Rising Tide" DLC, one of the game's scenes shows us having to walk into a castle that seems to have been stopped in time.
Later, it was revealed that the previous Dominant of Shiva, the Eikon of Ice, had stopped time there with her power of "Ice," meaning that Eikon's powers were, in fact, of the conceptual level.
The second level is "Abstarctism." This stage is when one deepens one's understanding of the world around one, allowing one to control and manipulate abstract concepts such as love, freedom, justice, and knowledge. When one obtains one of these abstract concepts, they are referred to as "Laws."
Something Meliodas hasn't reached... at least not to his knowledge and current capabilities.
But in the end, he currently has 3 of what would be categorized as "Primal Divinities", and has the potential to gain even more since he hasn't obtained all the Eikons yet.
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[A/N: Here's a small list of the Eikons for those who aren't well-versed in FF 16
1. Odin, Eikon of Darkness (Currently in possession)
2. Bahamut, Eikon of Light (Currently in Possession)
3. Leviathan, Eikon of Water (Currently in Possession)
4. Garuda, Eikon of Wind
5. Ramuh, Eikon of Lighting
6. Shiva, Eikong of Ice
7. Titan, Eikon of Earth
8. Phoenix, Eikon of Flames
9. Ifrit, Eikon of Fire
Btw, if you're confused as to why there are two Eikons of fire. It's because they both represent creation and destruction, two sides of the same coin.]
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Meliodas kicked off from the floor, and in a single step, he flash stepped right in front of Yanqing, his arm placed under his armpit as he prepared to slash with [Zantetsuken]
"!!!" Yanqing immediately punched forward. Even if Meliodas had become faster and had managed to get the jump on him, he was still confident he could hit him first before Meliodas cut him from this range.
His fist approached fast. The sheer speed and strength of its approach bent the air around it, creating strong air pressure.
And as Yanqing's fist was about to collide with Meliodas, something that shocked both him and Wukong happened before their very eyes.
[Rift Slip]
[Rift Slip] is one of [Odin's] skills, and surprisingly, not related to its power of darkness.
In-game, it was a skill where you could perfectly dodge, resetting the character's animation, allowing you to get out of animation lock, and also slow down time to get in the perfect attack.
But that's in-game. In real-life application, [Rift Slip] is a technique in which the user dodges with their WHOLE body.
What does this mean?
It means that the user dodges at the molecular level, with every atom in his being moving and flowing around the enemy's attack, creating a blurred effect and making it seem as though the opponent's attack has slipped through the user of [Rift Slip].
But of course, the skill takes a lot of stamina as the user is basically controlling every individual cell in their body to dodge, pulling themselves apart and then back together again.
Yanqing slipped through the blurred Meliodas, confusion keeping his mind still.
And Meliodas took advantage of that.
In a single swift swing, Meliodas's sword swung at Yanqing's neck, stopping only a few inches before cutting his head off his shoulders.
A deafening silence followed.
Meliodas grinned as he looked straight into Yanqing's eyes.
"I win~!"
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A/N: Sorry if the fight was long. If you've been reading my fics for a while, choreographing and pacing fight scenes is what I'm worst at. Once again, I'm more of a drama/slice of life type of writer.
But even so, I do enjoy making these.