Niagara (4)
Splat—!
Niagara's body slammed down into the water below after taking Aqua's hammer straight to the face.
Splash—!
Aqua crossed her arms and snorted. [Hmph!]
[Chit!] Mandu scurried over to me in a flash.
Climbing all the way up to my shoulder, Mandu proudly lifted its head and gazed at me.
I chuckled softly and stroked its chin.
"Great job. You did well."
[Chit chit!] Mandu let out a little laugh and rubbed its face against my finger.
I turned my head to peer down into the sea.
Aqua stretched her hand toward it.
Ruuuumble—!
A flow of water stirred from below. Aqua was trying to fish Niagara out.
[Eeeek?!] Then, with a small cry, Aqua's hand snapped back in the opposite direction.
"You okay?"
[I'm fine! More importantly, Niagara...!] I could immediately guess what Aqua was about to say.
Ruuuuumble—!
An ominous rumble began emanating from beneath the sea.
'The seawater's gathering in one spot.'
Toward Niagara.
"Even after taking six hits of Purification Agent, he can still muster this much power?"
As expected, he wasn't called a spirit king for nothing.
Aqua peered down into the sea with a worried expression.
[It looks like he's pulling together every last bit of his remaining strength.]
Her final remaining strength.
From those words, I realized where Niagara was drawing this power from.
Spirits possess a force called vital energy, or essence.
For humans, it was akin to stamina or the innate vitality spoken of in legends.
Vital energy was distinct from spirit power; water spirits used it to produce Healing Water.
And that was why they couldn't produce unlimited Healing Water in a short time.
'Once their vital energy runs dry, spirits face annihilation.'
Vital energy was drawn from their very life force.
In other words, Niagara had staked his life on this fight.
[Idiot!] Aqua scowled and shouted.
[The idiot here is you, Aqua.]
Niagara's voice echoed from all directions.
The next instant, I understood why.
Kabooooom—!
The sea itself rose up.
The giantified Niagara was rearing his massive body.
We struggled just to stay afloat amid the seawater being sucked toward him.
[I won't lose either!]
With that cry, Aqua dove beneath the waves.
Ruuuuumble—!
Aqua too began absorbing seawater from every direction, swelling her own body.
I stood atop my Water Shield with Mandu on my shoulder, keeping my distance to avoid getting pulled in.
Suddenly!
Aqua's enormous hand burst through the surface.
Bam!
Niagara's hand emerged almost simultaneously.
The two spirits braced against the surface and hauled up the rest of their bodies.
In an instant, two colossal spirits over ten meters tall stood glaring at each other.
'So the Purification Agent wasn't entirely ineffective.'
Unlike Aqua, whose giant form was pristine, Niagara's body was leaking in spots.
Droplets streamed from his face like sweat, and water dribbled steadily from his jaw, pooling on the surface only to reform repeatedly.
[Niagara! There's no need to go this far!] Aqua bellowed in fury.
It was the anger born of worry and concern for her foe.
Niagara chuckled softly, as if pleased by her rage.
[No. I have more than enough reason.]
I watched their standoff from a safe distance.
[Chit!] Mandu rubbed its face against my cheek and whimpered.
As if asking whether we really didn't need to help.
"No." I stroked Mandu and took in the sight of them both.
"This isn't our place anymore."
I gazed at the king and his successor.
At the foolish father and daughter who could only express their worry and concern this way.
The duel for the spirit king's throne had ended moments ago.
Drawing on vital energy was a last desperate gasp.
Niagara could never beat us now, no matter what he tried.
From here on, it was purely a family quarrel.
Jang Gilsan, Han Areum, and Han Deuri were out on a boat, watching from a good distance away.
With Niagara's fog blanketing the area, it had become impossible to observe from land, so they'd quickly rented a fishing boat.
"Whoa, damn. This is insane?" Han Deuri sighed as he watched the giantified Aqua and Niagara.
"I thought spirit fights were all dainty and small-scale, but this is on another level."
No one replied, but both of the others silently agreed with him.
Han Areum had flinched every time Niagara lunged at Kang Hyunwoo.
"I might've been better off fighting myself."
Han Areum sighed and rested her forehead on her brother's shoulder.
Han Deuri nodded.
"Just sitting back and watching isn't our style."
Jang Gilsan felt the same; spectating didn't suit him either.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
'If only we'd found Sia Clearwater...!'
Kang Hyunwoo had said Sia Clearwater was the key to resolving this smoothly.
His friend had trusted him with fetching that crucial key.
But Jang Gilsan had failed.
His gut boiled with frustration at the fact.
Bzzzzt—!
His phone rang then.
Jang Gilsan snatched it up irritably, without even checking the caller ID.
"Jang Gilsan speaking."
Static crackled a few times from the other end.
-...sir! ...speaking!
"Hello?"
-Executive Director! It's your subordinate!
-We've found her!
He was about to snap back asking what they'd found when realization dawned.
"You found her?!"
His uncharacteristically loud voice made Han Areum and Han Deuri turn to him in surprise.
"Bring her here right now!"
Jang Gilsan stared off toward his friend in the distance.
A spark ignited in his eyes.
The two giant water spirits launched their attacks at each other.
Weapons forged of water flew everywhere, interspersed with the occasional fist.
The size difference between Niagara and Aqua was huge.
Even giantified, Aqua's height only reached Niagara's chest.
But she wasn't losing in power at all.
Thanks to the Purification Agent—and the might of Control and Destructive Power.
Bam—!
Aqua's hammer shattered Niagara's club once more and smashed into his face.
Crumble. Niagara's face collapsed, then regenerated.
Aqua's expression twisted.
Niagara was using his vital energy to repair his body.
He was carving away at his own life just to keep standing.
[Stop it, Niagara!]
In truth, the outcome was already decided.
With the Purification Agent binding his spirit power, there were limits to how much vital energy he could draw.
Yet Aqua couldn't claim a decisive victory because she had no desire to kill Niagara.
'Hyunwoo and I have never once fired a Destruction Orb at Niagara's body.'
Neither I nor Aqua wanted victory at the cost of his death.
'Niagara feels the same—he doesn't want Aqua hurt.'
That's why he'd targeted only me.
Even then, his attacks on me weren't truly lethal.
Part of it was that killing a spirit master harms their contracted spirit, but above all, Niagara was a fundamentally benevolent spirit.
Even now, none of the weapons they hurled at each other had blades.
[Niagara, are you deaf?! Stop!]
[No.]
Niagara gasped out the word.
[I have no intention of stopping.]
[You've already lost! Admit it and withdraw!]
[How could I abandon you and retreat?!]
[Enough! Why do you hate humans so much anyway?! Didn't you once adventure happily with a human spirit master?!]
[That's precisely why I realized it! Humans and spirits only bring each other pain!]
Aqua paused, momentarily stunned by Niagara's blood-curdling cry.
Niagara pointed at me.
[Contracting with humans has put us spirits in mortal danger! We've learned the agony of loss! Didn't you see them too?! The spirits wasting away and dying after losing their masters?!]
Cough. Niagara hacked up a glob of water.
He wiped it away carelessly and bellowed again.
[They're poison to us! Devils in angels' guise, luring us in with the sweet drug of family only to drown and burn us alive!]
Aqua glanced worriedly at the water he'd spat up, then glared fiercely.
[Coward! In the end, you're just rejecting happiness now out of fear of what hasn't even happened!]
[It's sorrow and ruin that will inevitably come! Even their lifespans differ from ours! What will you do after spending decades with that human and he dies? Follow him in death?!]
Aqua's eyes widened in shock as she clamped her mouth shut.
Niagara shook his head, as if to say see?
[You've never even considered that, have you? And yet you still deny that I'm leading you to a better path?]
[...Even so, I will choose my spirit master!]
Niagara shook his head and raised his hand.
A massive water club formed in his grip.
[Connections to the human world never should have existed! I will restore purity and peace to the Spirit Realm!]
Aqua drew a hefty water hammer from the sea in response.
[Connections to the human world are a blessing to all spirits! We can never return to how things were!]
The two spirits, refusing to yield an inch, swung their weapons.
Bam!
The result was the same.
Niagara's club shattered to pieces, and Aqua's hammer smashed into his head.
[Gah!]
Niagara's colossal form lost its balance and slowly toppled backward.
Splash!
A massive wave swept over me.
Aqua quickly reached out and scooped me from the sea.
In the now-calm waters where the wave had subsided, the shrunken Niagara floated unconscious.
Shrinking back to her normal size, Aqua glared at him with fierce eyes.
[Don't get up again!]
But Aqua's wish scattered into vain.
[Not yet... Not yet...]
Niagara rose once more.
His legs trembled pitifully, and one eye was nearly shut.
His form was wretched and tenacious, yet somehow noble.
After all, he was quite literally burning his life to stand in Aqua's way.
[Niagara...!]
Aqua murmured his name in a deeply suppressed voice.
Niagara managed a faint smile through his dying visage.
That smile convinced me.
Our battle would end soon.
One way or another.