Chapter 463 - Reckless Abandon

Why am I remembering that now…? That was long ago–that's not who I am anymore, Andraste thought. 

"It doesn't matter." 

–He spoke to himself as his heart thumped inside of his chest with a resonance that forced him to stand. As he wiped the sparse blood from his lips, his fringes hung low, looking up to watch as the adolescent approached. 

Nothing changes the fact that right here, right now…I have to win. I am one of the Victorious Seven; losing is unacceptable, Andraste thought. 

"From this moment onward, I'm going to treat you as a proper opponent, Ren Nakamura," Andraste said to himself. 

He watched as the knight held a look of reinforced resolve; one that was absent in his previous frivolity. Seeing such seriousness overtake the member of the Victorious Seven, he immediately held his guard high in preparation for what came next. 

White lightning coiled around Andraste, scaling his body and shrouding it in abundant sparks; through divine light, it mended with his coat, forming a seraphic cloak of pure lightning around his body. 

"Zeus: Divine Overture – Form One: Formless Storm." 

The pale, evanescent energy engrained itself with his body, causing his hair to stand and stiffen as the godly electricity coursed through his body. Through his locks, their pearlescent shade turned to a vibrant, radiant state as digits of electricity traveled forth. 

"Ascension: Set,"  Andraste whispered, cementing the amplification spell further. 

He could recognize it by one look: the spell, by some means, altered the man's physical state–but what he wasn't prepared for, was the speed it came with. 

His enlightened gaze witnessed a blinding fulmination crashing towards him, coming at such speeds that he was given only a brief moment to dodge, jumping in the air. 

The bolt swept through the jungle, melting the surrounding nature and reducing it to molten magma below him. 

"Eyes on me!" 

–Andraste called out, already directly above him as ephemeral bolts trailed from his billowing coat. It was agility that swept through his future sight completely; by all means, it simply surpassed logic. 

Vajra! He commanded from his thoughts. 

All he could do with the sparse time left to react was shroud himself in the hexagonal armor as a fury of sword strikes came from the lightning-clad knight. 

Each curve of his dual-wielded blades etched the steel he held into a formless, snow-white matter that hissed through the rain-filled air. Slashes were accompanied by wild, rampant strands of lightning that sent off in every direction, further desecrating the jungle alongside the natural wind pressure of each strike. 

It's too much–! At this rate, he's going to break through 'Vajra'! He thought. 

Tucking his arms close to his body as he defended against the endless strikes, each collision felt like a pressure being etched into his bones, twisting his flesh and contorting his muscles with the boundless nature of his fulminations. 

Every strike roared through the valley, rending the ground below as the biting air pressure alone bisected plentiful trees. 

"Is this all you can do, Ren Nakamura?! Cower away?!" Andraste yelled out. 

–As he feared, his hexagonal layer of mystical armor cracked, being completely shattered by Andraste's repeated strikes before the next one sent him plummeting back down to the razed jungle floor. 

"Grghh…!" He held his chest, feeling the warmth of his own blood meet his palm in horrifying surplus. 

Looking down at his chest, all he could see was his own crimson essence, running down his body as a large flap of skin hung loose from his body. 

Though he could stifle the bleeding, it was only a temporary bandage; all of the cuts that he halted culminated the stress on his body. 

I have to do something quick–even in full-enlightenment, he's too much. This is the strength of one of the "Victorious Seven"--it doesn't even feel human…no, it's bordering on "divine", he thought. 

As he clapped his hands together at the last moment, he swapped places with a blade of grass–just as a flash of light marked the path of the knight's attack. 

He could hardly call it "reacting" to the incoming attack; it felt more like he moved solely on instinct. 

Andraste's blade pierced into the soil below as he crashed like a fleeting star, leaving a resounding impact that shattered the land and cratered it into submission. 

"You're definitely good at dodging, I'll give you that," Andraste smiled. 

He didn't waste any time as he took advantage of the knight's playful moment, sheathing his blade, and slamming his palms together with enough force that he likely bruised them, "Senju Kannon!" 

Again, he manifested the thousand-arms as they sprawled out from empty space, materializing in a lavish, divine form as he stood his ground. 

Crush him–! He thought. 

With a swipe of his left hand, he commanded hundreds of the thousand arms to ruthlessly aim their might towards the azure-eyed knight. 

They burrowed through the soil, uprooting trees without a second thought as the only motive in his mind was to defeat the man in front of him. 

Desperation held his expression as even though he manifested the thousand-arms, Andraste simply smiled in return. 

Why does this feel so hopeless…? As if despite any attempt I make, I'm fated to lose to him! He thought. 

"I told you, didn't I? The same attack won't work twice." 

–Just then, countless slashes embedded themselves across the multitude of extended, golden arms; etched with the clear, white lightning wielded by the knight. 

"Huh?" He let out in disbelief. 

After an initial silence followed the existence of the slashes, a resounding thunderflash roared through the singed jungle. 

Before his eyes, the five-hundred of the thousand-arms he unleashed towards Andraste were diced into an endless number of cuts, reduced to nothingness via the knight's overwhelming power. 

"Whatever I want to cut, will be cut–don't get it twisted!" Andraste yelled out before leaping into the air instantaneously like a firebolt, "Revel in defeat, at the hands of the Victorious Seven–!"

He watched from down below as Andraste spun around, rearing his blades back as they were coiled with colossal strands of snow-white lightning. The force gathering alone managed to form a temporary tornado that was coiled with his divine fulminations, humming out with a sizzling heat that churned the precipitation into steam. 

Whatever that is, I'll die if I take it head on…! He thought. 

"Zeus: Mountain-Shaper—!" 

Andraste shouted out as he finally swung both of his blades towards the young man down below, carrying with his steel a heavy assortment of rampant lightning. 

Just before he could clasp his palms together to swap places with the red-barked cedar behind the knight, he realized the error of his thought process:

He knows I can swap…! He's not going to just attack wildly while knowing that–that attack is probably guaranteed to hit, one way or another! He realized. 

"Senju Kannon…!" 

He re-manifested the thousand-arms, opting for an unorthodox defense as he shielded himself with the endless, golden arms–wrapping himself tightly in their hands as if a gilded fortress surrounded him. 

It came just in time before the godly thunder rained down; though he couldn't see outside of his hand-made defense, he felt its power through the colossal "boom" that caused his eardrums to ring once the lightning met the ground floor. 

Beneath his soles, he felt the soil vibrate intensely from the divine impact–feeling the stability of the statuesque hands be challenged by the roaring firebolts. 

As if Andraste acted as the coil for the divine lightning, the thunderbolts centered around him whilst ravaging the land below–each collision of the tip of the seraphic bolts and physical matter released a bubbling heat that melted whatever it touched. 

He could feel the statuesque hands being burned, melted, and fractured by the repeated onslaught, doing his best to reinforce their defense as he struggled, gritting his teeth vigorously. 

Hold…! He told himself, no…if I want to win, I have to take the initiative–I can't stay on the backfoot forever! 

"Kṣitigarbha!" 

–As he set his hands together in a divine prayer, he relinquished the thousand-arms, and manifested something in its place. 

Great walls of rock rose from the ground; a dozen, rising in colossal heights, reinforced by divine guidance as the lightning was stifled by the non-conductive material. 

"What?!" Andraste sharply yelled. 

After raising the twelve, grand walls, he felt his body pulsate with a growing strain as blood spurted from his nose, ears, and mouth. 

…I'm reaching my limit…! Heh…I reached my limit a long time ago–I'm well beyond that! He thought. 

Even as his body coaxed him to stop, he slammed his hands together again without hesitation, yelling from the top of his burning lungs, "Nio!" 

With the manifestation of another divine name, the walls crumbled after having absorbed the onslaught of firebolts. Tucked beneath his arms and hanging around his neck as if kept afloat by an unfelt wind, a golden scarf fluttered. 

This time, he took a gamble higher than any other. 

Calling about the name of Nio, his future sight was dulled, and his enlightenment in itself was stifled–however, he embodied the full-strength of the Buddha. 

"Phew…" He breathed out slowly, and in control as he steadied his heart. 

He took an unorthodox stance, as if letting his muscles relax before suddenly flexing them beyond their normal capacity; his body bulked, his veins pressing against his skin as the knight up above watched in confusion. 

As he settled his feet against the soil, lifting his leg and setting it down like a sumo, he cracked the soil beneath as his calves and thighs bulkened. 

If I can't evade his attacks, I'll have to brute force my way through, he surmised.