Ike drove his spear deep into the jagged rocks and braced himself against the torrent pounding on his body. He briefly glanced over his shoulder; seeing Vyswe'eyaga being swept away, but he tore his eyes forward before he started second-guessing himself.
The water receded, and he caught the water spirit's, Mami Wata's, blue eyes narrowing ever so slightly when her gaze fell upon him. "Why did thou linger, boy? Did thou not see that I sought to save thine life?"
His eyebrow twitched faintly. This being's voice made him on edge; it was like a chorus of women speaking in unison, each word carrying a subtle weight of power. He could feel it in the air, prickling his skin. The sensation was familiar—comparable to his impressions when close to formidable sorcerers and warriors he had crossed paths with on some occassions. Yet this spirit's presence was immeasurably greater, as if he stood before a 'higher being', as Vyswe'eyaga had said.
"Why, you ask?"
That was an excellent question indeed. Why had he chosen to face an opponent who so clearly outmatched him in strength, who wielded powers beyond his comprehension? Why embark upon such a perilous journey at all? Why endanger his life so needlessly—was it for the thrill, to test himself, or out of mere curiosity?
No, it was none of those. If he were to answer truthfully, though, the sole purpose behind everything he had done to this point was for…
"He is a hindrance."
"I took thee not for such a fool," she said after a pause. "Alas, 'tis too late to flee now." She turned her attention back to the impaled giant. With a grunt, he lifted his arm and, in a single cleaving motion, severed the tip of the icicle and freed himself from its hold.
Ike had never seen anything quite like that. This giant was unrestrained power personified, and the suffocating aura of bloodlust pressed heavily against him. In the blink of an eye, the gaping wound in the giant's stomach sealed shut, and the giant cracked his neck with absolute nonchalance—this irritated Ike greatly.
"Despite your weakened state, you still pack a punch—I'll grant you that, Lady of the Sea." Then the giant turned his head toward Ike, a wolfish grin spreading across his face, forcing Ike to stand on guard. "Oh, you stayed. Now is it bravery or foolishness?" He laughed as if he had said something funny, his voice reverberating like a thunderous roar.
"You shall not go any farther than here, scourge, you shall not impede on the Champion's duty who heralds your kind's doom… As it was prophesied."
The giant's expression turned into something obscure and dreadful, then exploded into laughter. "Oh, so it was her? My, it looks like I made a serious plunder by letting her go," he shrugs; "I will find her soon enough, anyway. Wherever she goes, I will track her scent and kill her."
Ike felt anger rise from the pit of his stomach, but quickly reined it in. His face became a mask of calm and determination as he said, "You will not lay a finger on her."
The giant smirked, dismissing his words with effortless disdain. For long seconds, no one moved—the air itself seemed to crackle with tension. Then, the faint sound of a single drop striking a puddle shattered the silence, and in that instant, everyone moved, and the cave exploded.
Ike barely had time to advance before the giant swung his weapon—a curved blade affixed to a chain—at him. Ike was about to parry the strike but felt the sheer weight behind it and sidestepped instead. The earth beside him burst apart in a furious spray of water and shattered stone.
At that same moment, Mami Wata unleashed a torrent that hardened into jagged ice, slicing toward the giant's flank. For an instant, it seemed the blow might land. But the giant twisted with unnerving speed, his chain whipping around to shatter the frozen assault into glittering shards.
The curved blade spun back toward Ike, the chain hissing through the air like a serpent. He raised his spear to deflect, but the impact rattled his arms and faltered his strength against the giant's relentless force. The impact catapulted him into a wall.
Mami Wata surged forth, waves crashing around her as she met the giant head-on. Water coiled into spears and shields, striking against the chain-blade in a furious rhythm. The chamber filled with the roar of colliding elements—steel against water, chain against ice.
Ike circled, searching for openings, darting in with quick thrusts that opened several wounds—only to watch them seal shut before he was brushed aside by their foe. The Lady's strikes carried the weight of oceans, forcing the giant to shift his footing, yet every wound she carved sealed almost instantly, mocking her efforts.
The battle became a relentless cycle: the giant's curved blade carving arcs of destruction, Ike's spear flashing in desperate defiance, and Mami Wata's torrents rising and breaking like tides against a cliff. The battle grew so ferocious that the chamber itself began to collapse, hurling them into the adjoining cavern. Ike's breath grew ragged, his arms heavy, while the Lady of the Sea pressed on, her power flickering but unyielding.
And through it all, the giant fought with a terrible joy, each swing of his weapon a declaration that he was power, and that no tide nor fragile swing of a spear could hope to drown him.
Ike had long deduced that the giant was not as invulnerable as he appeared. Every injury he weathered healed in a heartbeat, yes, but there were some attacks that he did bother to block—those aimed at his neck and heart. Meaning those areas were his weak points, and perhaps, if struck with enough force or precision, they could bring the monster down. The realization burned in Ike's mind and his determination grew, though it was tempered by the daunting truth: landing such a blow against a foe who moved with both brute strength and uncanny speed would prove a difficult task. Still, it was a weakness, however slight, and Ike knew that in battles such as this, even the smallest crack could be pried open into victory.
And as the ferocious exchange continued, Ike had not felt this inept in combat for a long time. He had grown so used to being the strongest in the room, but now that he was witnessing this clash between behemoths, he was reminded and humbled that he was just a big fish in a small pond.
He stopped counting the number of close-calls he encountered while facing the giant—each of his opponent's attacks being lethally precise and carrying the force of several mountains combined. He managed to get out unscathed every time, half thanks to his instincts and reflexes, and the other half thanks to Mami Wata pressuring the giant into making mistakes, thereby saving his life.
A single, self-deprecating laugh escaped his lips, slightly shaking his head. If that crazed hag could see him right now, she would tear into him for his naïveté and stupidity… then devise the most hellish training drill imaginable before thrashing him mercilessly in a spar.
He found solace in knowing he could at least ease some of the burden from the Lady's shoulder by providing distractions when he could. Yet, despite their cooperation and having the numeric advantage, the scale of the fight seemed completely tipped in the giant's favour. He easily swatted any of Ike's attacks and instantly healed from any wound the Lady inflicted on him. To an outside observer, the clash might have seemed a stalemate, but Ike felt exhaustion creeping in with every passing second—something he had forgotten the feeling of—and despite Mami Wata's fierce onslaughts, she had apparently not been at the prime of her game from the get-go, and the injury she received earlier was starting to affect her.
"You are tougher than I gave you credit for, human." The giant announced, countering another of Ike's thrusts before heaving his massive frame into a thunderous leap and narrowly evading the Lady's frozen barrage. "I like it, maybe I am going to keep you."
One corner of Ike's lip raised in disgust but didn't answer. The Lady attacked once more, summoning towering columns of water that crashed down like falling hammers, forcing the giant to stagger back beneath their weight.
That is when Ike spotted another opening. Without wasting a breath, he sprung to action, the point of his spear aimed straight at the giant's throat.
He noticed him—but far too late—and before he could evade, Ike's blade swept in a horizontal arc, rending his impossibly tough skin as blood burst out in violent sprays. Ike had no time to rejoice; his eyes widened in horror as the giant clamped down on the hand clutching his spear, the death grip crushing bone to splinters. With a flick of his wrist, the giant revealed a gleaming dagger, retaliating with a slash of his own.
If that blade were to strike him, Ike would be cleaved in half. There was no escape, no time to dodge. Every scenario he imagined ended the same: the weapon carving too deep, the wound fatal, leaving him with no chance to lessen the blow.
This was it. This was the end.
But like a spark of hope into the abyss, his salvation flared before him. A dense fog of blue light manifested before him and coalesced into a honeycomb-patterned shield between him and the giant. Sadly enough, the shield was neither thick nor strong enough to withstand the might of the giant.
But that was all Ike needed.
For half a fraction of a second, his opponent's momentum was interrupted, granting Ike the chance to swing back. The shield shattered on contact with the dagger, which descended upon him like thunder and cut him open. In the next instant, jets of water surged forth, slamming into the giant and driving him back as Ike collapsed into a puddle, turning red from his blood.
Ike stared above with a bloody smile, half delirious from having survived and half writhing in pain from the terrible wound. He almost didn't believe it. He was so infinitely thankful to Vyswe'eyaga for giving him that medallion; a talisman he had completely dismissed at first, thinking such a trinket could never be of use to someone like him. If she were here, he would kiss her right there and then, everything else be damned.
"Thou hast done enough now." Mami Wata said soothingly, he felt his body rise, coming face to face with her as she examined the state of his body. "Thou have been grievously wounded, but as has our foe."
A guttural grunt erupted, and Ike turned toward the sound to find the giant getting back to his feet. Gaping wounds marred his thighs, left shoulder, and left chest… close to where his heart would be. The guy was in a ruinous state, blood so dark it seemed almost black streaming down his body. More importantly, none of his wounds were healing anymore; the giant opened his mouth, disbelief painted on his paling face, but only an incomprehensible gurgling came out. His eyes literally blazed a furious crimson as he glared murderously at Ike.
Mami Wata's voice took back his attention. "I give thee thanks for thy aid; in mine affliction I could not have struck so mortal a blow without thy hand. The task of ending him shall be mine alone; now go."
Before Ike could process her words, a torrent of water took him away.