Obsidiana: Part Three
Ryvr stood on the roof of the building surrounding the courtyard. He was wearing his longcoat and the two swords at his hip. He dropped down, picking up Carmilla, and jumped to the roof, setting her down as Rosario swatted at the small circling dragon below. “What's wrong with him?” Carmilla, terrified, said, “I don't know, he has a plainly visible venous mana reaction. Paulida and I came out to the courtyard expecting to get out of here, but he was like that.” “What's the status on Paulida and the gunslinger?” Carmilla sat up. Ryvr handed her a small vial. She drank it, and her arm began to regrow. “Paulida is pinned to the wall but otherwise ok for the moment, we will need to be ready to stem the bleeding and stitch him back up when we pull him off. Senarre is nowhere to be found; assume the worst.” Ryvr stepped forward, balancing on the edge of the roof. “I'm not a fan of assuming the worst in any situation, but unfortunately, it comes with the job, ill take care of this from here.” “How did you know?” Ryvr turned to her and cracked his neck. “You know, one of the key parts of being a commander is operational success, right? Can't send my men to die by environmental hazards, the enemy, or in this case, the hands of their own.” Carmilla looked at him. “Are you going to fight him?” Ryvr smiled a half-grin. “I'm gonna test some theories. What polarity is your magic?” Carmilla, looking confused, said, “Dark, what’s that got to do with it?” Ryvr stepped forward, hanging one foot off the edge of the roof. “Just testing some theories is all.”
He took a small metal needle from his longcoat’s pocket and threw it at the Archdemon's torso, calling down a bolt of blue-white lightning, incinerating the demon in an instant. A portal of burning brimstone smelling of rotten eggs materialized on the ground, spitting out a woman's body, covered in a thick mucous. “Theory one complete, now for two.” he watched as Rosario ignored the woman, and he scratched his chin. “Alright then, we got a functional hypothesis here,” he dashed downwards, picked up the woman's body, and went back up to Carmilla. “Please check her up and down, please, and I think you should probably try to fix up that leg injury on her first, infection, and bleeding would not be the most optimal,” he dashed down into the courtyard where Rosario was swatting at the dragon. Ryvr called out, “Fēngbào cháo.” The small scaled dragon flew back to him, curling up around his neck and shoulders like a shawl. “Don't tell your mother, but I'll get you some treats later.” The little dragon purred like a cat and coughed out a series of electrical sparks from its mouth. Rosario began walking towards Paulida, pinned against the wall. Ryvr placed his hand on his shoulder. “Why don't we just call it here and go home, baby brother?” Rosario swung the longsword at his brother, and Ryvr stopped it with the back of his hand, standing calmly. “Welp i guess I'll fight you now, please don't be upset if I beat you, be upset, sound like a plan, baby brother?”
Rosario pulled back and held out his hand, summoning forth the massive fanged mouth, and fired a fireball at Ryvr. Ryvr placed his hand on the eastern-style blade at the hip, breaking the seal on the wave-patterned tsuba and saya with his thumb in one smooth movement. In the exertion of movement, a massive dragon composed of water swallowed the fireball, like a morsel, and then turned to steam. The sword clicked back into the saya.
Ryvr raised his hand to his head and brushed a small strand of his hair that fell out of its braid behind his ear. He crossed his arms. “Baby brother, I think it's time to stop now, if that's all you have, that is.” Rosario rushed him through the screen of the steam. He blocked every strike with the back of his hand every time. Rosario stomped the ground, sending a rapidly growing wave of black stones rushing towards his brother. Ryvr pulled on his shortsword and dragged it in an arc on the ground, and a wave of ice crystals flowed on the ground towards Rosario. The black stones and ice crystals met in the middle, crashing into each other like armies on a battlefield. The ice wave crushed the black stones and impacted the empowered Rosario with the wave, and sent him flying through the stone walls of the building. He stood walking out of the dust. Ryvr said, “You're pretty durable, brother, then in that case you won't mind me doing this.” Ryvr held out his hand with five fingers extended. “I'm guessing maybe five percent should be enough to end this, well, test this, and then readjust the output based on the outcome.” A dragon composed of sparking golden mana descended from the heavens, roaring its mouth agape, and crashed into Rosario.
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The golden dragon turned to black stone and then exploded into dust. Rosario held out his hand, and a dragon composed of jagged black stones exploded from the heavens, roaring, aiming for Ryvr. Ryvr smiled and said, “I wish you were stronger, brother; this would be a truly exhilarating fight.” Ryvr jumped up, running along the black stone dragon's scales with one sword, cutting it as he ran. He somersaulted off the tail and threw both of his blades into the ground, and while falling upside down in front of his brother, he pointed up, making his hand in the shape of a gun and said, “Triboelectric dance.” A mote of gold mana left his hand at high speed, flying into the clouds above. “I'm sorry, baby brother, perhaps a seven percent strength should be enough, but do be warned, the electric funeral hurts like a bitch.” Ryvr held his hand out flat. “Prostrate yourself before the god of storms.” A heavenly dragon turned night into day, and the landscape lit up as a dragon roared out of the clouds. The dragon descended from the heavens and clashed with the black stone dragon. They struggled for a moment before the heavenly dragon crashed to the ground around Rosario before extinguishing itself, returning to the darkness of night that was there mere moments ago. All of the black stone in the environment began to disintegrate.
Ryvr picked up both of his swords, flourishing them, walking towards his brother, lying flat on his back. He stepped over his brother and pushed his tattered shirt out of the way with the two blades. He placed the blades on his chest edges flat and said jokingly, “Clear.” He circulated his sparking electric mana through the blades, and Rosario shot up venous patterns gone, his eyes back to their normal green. He rubbed his chest, feeling where the two blades had been mere moments ago. “Holy fucking shit, that hurt. Did I get kicked by a horse?” Ryvr crouched down, making eye contact with his brother. “You went apeshit, killed the entire garrison, and almost killed Paulida and Carmilla.” Rosario stumbled to his feet. “What happened here? Where's Senarre?” Ryvr walked over to Paulida, who was pinned to the wall, and pulled the sword out. He cracked a vial in his hands and tossed the fluid onto the point where he had been impaled into the wall. The wound foamed up. “You'll be ok for now, when we get back to Lorategia ill have Itzel stitch you and Carmilla back up.” Paulida nodded, and Ryvr turned back to Rosario. “She seems fine, just unresponsive. We'll get her cleaned up and changed back in Lorategia, too.” Ryvr walked to the center of the courtyard, stepping around the viscera. He raised two fingers to his neck and said, “Kian, we are ready for pickup.” Carmilla dropped down from the roof with Senarre on her back. “She seems stable for now. I treated the leg wound as best as I could for now. I'm dying to know, did you stop his heart with that attack?” Ryvr turned to look at her. “I forced his heart to beat erratically, and then I stopped the chaotic activity by jolting it with a high-energy shock.” Carmilla looked amazed. “So you forced him to undergo Vfib, then fixed it?” Ryvr shook his head and said, “I suppose that would be correct.”
“You know your stuff, then Ryvr.” Carmilla said, “Where did you learn that?” Ryvr feigned embarrassment and said, “Itzel has some interesting ideas of Foreplay.”
The ride back to Lorategia was quiet as Carmilla quizzed Ryvr about the functionality of his magic and medical knowledge. Rosario sat quietly and alone. Paulida hobbled over and sat next to him, and put his hand on his back. “You did well, kid.” He looked up to Paulida and said, “No, I hurt you guys.” Paulida tapped the foamed area on his chest. “I'm tougher than that. I let you get a hit in so you wouldn't feel bad.” “no i hurt you guys thats not ok.” Paulida patted him on the back. “Remember, I told her that her life was more important than the mission?” Rosario shook his head. Paulida said, “Well, you stopped the demon from taking her, therefore securing her, so you did well, you carried out my orders.” “Thanks for trying to make me feel better,” Paulida said, looking down at the wound on Rosario’s chest. “That hurt? I'm sure Carmilla can patch you up with something.” Rosario tapped at the line on his chest. “No, it's a scar; it healed itself really fast, I think. The last thing I remember before my brother shocked me was the screaming skulls and the obsidian butterfly, and how I felt I was afraid, angry, my stomach in a knot.”