Chapter 38: Skyfall
My fist smashes onto Kagutsuchi's avian face, and he screeches as his upper beak cracks. He tries to follow it up with a peck towards my face, but I quickly tilt my head. He stabs through my ear instead, carving out an entire chunk of my head off.
My injury heals in seconds. So does Kagutsuchi's.
He moves more deliberately now. Kagutsuchi knows that I'm somehow able to drain his Divine Energy, and he's doing all he can to stop me from getting another devastating hit like I did before. Not that I'd be able to do the same; I don't have any more 'Explosion' Ofudas stored in what's left of my armor.
He knows better. He's keeping his beaks shut, and he does all he can to keep his eyes away. He no longer uses his feather as projectiles, having seen that small increments of damage will only make me stronger. Instead, he now goes for killing blows. He aims for my neck, my face, and my brain.
I don't let him.
Abruptly, he twists, and suddenly his talons are inches from my forehead. I barely twist out of the way, letting it cut straight down my torso. The cuts heal in moments, and my strength surges as even more corruption from the air is assimilated.
But before I can retaliate, Kagutsuchi flies back with tremendous speed. I lunge after him, hopping across the air. He zips all around, making unnatural turns only made possible by the Vermillion Bird's odd anatomy. I follow right on his tail, and it isn't long before we begin a game of chase.
And then he stops, and I hear his avian neck snap as his head turns towards me, his beak lunging at my neck. The god snapped his own neck to gain an advantage, and I find myself mildly impressed.
The beak inches closer. It's too sudden of a movement, too fast for me to move out of the way.
I smile.
The 'mark' I placed on his beak activates, and suddenly an invisible impact smashes onto Kagutsuchi's beak, sending the beak straight into my lower abdomen. Blood explodes out, and pain floods my veins, but I smile still.
Because again, Kagutsuchi is trapped.
So I pull back one of my arms, and with my nails still sharp and long, I jam my entire head into the god's eye. He lets out a silent scream, and my smile grows as I pull even more Divine Energy into my being. He tries to free himself, but my other hand has a vice grip on his beak, my fingers digging into the cracked surface.
Then, abruptly, I twist. And blasting a cone of Primal Energy from my feet, I send both of us barrelling down, crashing into the dirt and causing the earth to snap and rise. The impact had widened my injury, but I can barely feel it against the overwhelming weight of the Divine Energy I'm taking in.
It takes only a second for Kagutsuchi to thrash free, sending me crashing back. The Divine Energy I stole is nothing compared to that first contact, but I'm still more than satisfied.
I wince as the hole on my stomach begins closing, and before long it's gone, leaving nothing but the splatter of blood on my chest.
Kagutsuchi slowly stands, glaring at me with healed eyes. There's rage there, but I can also feel the caution. He knows I'm no mere mortal-, no, he doesn't know what I am. I'm too abnormal—too dangerous.
This thing I'm fighting might just be a fragment of the original Kagutsuchi, but the fact that I'm still standing is a cause for alarm. At least, for him.
For me? I'm having the time of my life! I can't stop smiling, and I feel all giddy on the inside. I'm not sure how much of it is the thrill and how much of it is me being magically drunk, but it doesn't matter at the moment.
I'm in the face of a god. Nothing else matters right now.
Kagutsuchi screeches as he lunges. He swipes his wing at me, but I leap over it. I twist in the air, and I grit my teeth as I send a kick at his head. He twists his head and tries to peck my neck. I quickly swerve to the left and backhand his lower beak. The strike barely affects him, before another invisible impact smashes onto his beak, sending him staggering back.
Kagutsuchi quickly recovers, expecting me to make use of the opening.
But I don't, and his confusion only grows as he finds me standing still, my feet planted firmly on the ground. He glares at me, trying to find out what it is I'm thinking. I grin back, amused.
It only makes him angrier, and Kagutsuchi screeches as he flies forward, his beak and talons aimed at my head. His attacks land, but they never hit their mark. I swerve and tilt moments before they hit, and instead they stab elsewhere. Cuts and holes begin riddling my body as blood continues to pool beneath my feet.
But I don't move. I don't strike back. I keep evading, swerving barely out of the way as I let my Primal Energy and Ki heal my amounting injuries.
And as I do, he grows more and more frustrated. His attacks come faster, his moves more erratic. I endure it all, evading to keep myself barely alive. More and more blood spills onto the earth below.
Strangely, the puddle of blood soaking my feet hasn't grown any larger. If anything, it's turned slightly smaller.
A minute passes. I haven't struck back once. Kagutsuchi's fury has long boiled over, and he's lost in a furious haze as he attacks with his talons and beak. He's still trying to attack my neck and head—to finally kill this damned undying mortal before him. But I always move out of the way, and his strikes end up making me stronger instead.
The puddle of blood continues to shrink.
Minutes pass. I've slowly been building an instinct against the way Kagutsuchi moves with his avian body, and it shows. He's missing further from his mark, and at times I manage to completely avoid an attack. And it only infuriates the god further.
The puddle shrinks even more.
He's feeling a lot of things right now. Fury is a given. Annoyance as well. There's some reluctant respect there as well; this was the first time a mortal had infuriated him to this extent. But beyond all that, in the deepest recesses of his mind,
I feel fear. He doesn't know what I am anymore. He wants to escape, but in this limited form, he's unable to break past the 'Isolation' barrier hanging above us.
In this frozen moment in time, his consciousness is trapped, locked in this inferior form, facing something he can't understand. And he fears.
The puddle shrinks.
"You know, I don't really have anything-" I lean back. His beak pierces through my chest instead. "-against you. You're pretty alright, all things considered." I swerve to the left, letting his talons wash past my shoulder. "I mean, aside from trying to-" I bring up my arm. His wing smashes against it, and I feel my bones crack. "-kill me and all."
Kagutsuchi screeches, beyond furious, and he makes another daring strike against my head. I easily dodge and slam my fist into his beak. He quickly braces for that second impact, and freezes when it doesn't come.
He quickly moves in for another strike, and it's then that the 'mark' activates. An invisible force slams onto his beak, and he staggers back. He recovers in a fraction of a second.
But he stops. There's something…odd about the scene, and he can't quite find out why. He stares at me for a good second, trying to parse just what it is that's off. Then, he looks at my feet. And his eyes go wide.
The puddle of blood is gone.
In fact, all traces of my blood are gone. Every splatter and drop of red is gone, as if the earth itself had drank the blood as we fought.
I smile apologetically. "Enjoy the show."
Then, harshly, I clap my hands together. And a burst of Primal Energy, Ki, and Divine Energy spills out into the world, seeping into the soil and wafting into the air. The giant roots hiding below drink it all up, just as they did my blood.
The earth begins to tremble. The air itself starts to shake.
Kagutsuchi is quick to move, lunging at me to stab his beak through my brain.
He's too late.
Massive roots rise between he and I. It's several inches thick, and impossibly sturdy. The god's beak only makes it an inch deep, and when he does, he's shocked to find the roots glowing with Divine Energy.
Then the world trembles again, and suddenly the already darkened skies dim even more as towering roots rise from all around. They circle the inside of the 'Isolation' dome, rising towards the sky, forming a twisting cage of roots. It looks almost like a birdcage.
It finally dawns on the god, then.
There's no escape. This form of his isn't strong enough to break through the 'Isolation' barrier, and it certainly isn't strong enough to cut through the divine roots circling us. He is trapped, like a bird caged.
I smile. "Brace yourself," I say, eyes glinting gold as I stare into Kagutsuchi's wide eyes. "This is going to hurt."
At my command, the giant roots descend, rushing down towards the god. Their ends are unnaturally sharp, and the Divine Energy contained will no doubt allow them to pierce through the weakened defenses of the Vermillion Bird.
Kagutsuchi takes off the ground, trying to outrun the roots. And he manages to do so for a while. He flies and swerves around the descending roots, and the divine growth chases after him, cornering him further and further as more roots chase from all sides.
Eventually, inevitably, a root stabs through his wing. His movement is ground to a halt, and he can only screech in pain as more and more roots stab into his body. He tries to thrash free, to use his Divine Energy to bolster the Vermillion Bird's body.
But it's futile. The giant roots cut through the god's avian form, and soon the roots plunge towards the ground, crashing into the soil with a thundering roar. Smoke and dust is sent flying into the air, covering all.
Slowly, the cloud fades, and I come to see Kagutsuchi pinned onto the ground, his body stabbed and pierced by hundreds of roots, each glowing green with Divine Energy.
I move for the first time in minutes, walking up to the downed fragment of a god. He glares at me, his feathers finally catching aflame for the first time in an attempt to burn through the roots. It doesn't work.
"This is going to hurt." I repeat, as I raise my hand over his eyes, showing him the sharpened nails I'd stabbed into his eye.
Kagutsuchi flinches, remembering the agony he felt. He doesn't fear pain, but his avian form certainly does.
My brain, extremely high from all the corruption I'd assimilated and inches away from a catatonic breakdown, finds the sight extremely amusing. And I can only smile wider as I pinch my nails together, holding it just millimeters over his eyes.
I pull my arm back, and then, with three different energies swirling in my flesh, I plunge my hand into Kagutsuchi's avian skull for the third and last time.
Divine Energy begins flooding into me, and the god screams.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Ventus889
Ventus889 I have to say, writing this battle has been some of the most fun I've had in a while. Getting sick sucked, but it gave me time to plan out the battle at least.
Also, thanks to the people who commented all the GIFs with Hashirama. Gave me an idea on how to end the fight.
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