EVERNA Ring of Fire

IDHARMA Part 6

“Depends. For sure you have proven that you are much stronger than the other mountain caretakers we have faced, namely Gajahmina, Sabailuha, and even Kamaja. You have knocked out Sthira, the strongest in our team with just one fist, especially if you attack us?”

Barong nodded, his human face smiling, charismatic. “So, are you guys willing to go from here all right and free Wiranata?”

“Yes! We're leaving now. But if you break your promise someday, we'll definitely come hunting you again!” Arumi did not hesitate to point directly at Barong.

Suddenly one loud female voice interjected, “Basic useless pieces!”

All heads turned, all eyes on the interloper. It turns out that she is the beautiful woman who is the leader of the religion as well as the guide of the Sthira team, Ni Luh Widuri. Widuri arrived at the main room of Balairung Saka Cahya with his two student girls.

“Not to fight desperately against Barong until he weakens, you instead let yourself be dictated by him just like that!” waturi. “I think you guys are really tough warriors! I am so sorry to be your guide!”

Sthira who had just recovered from the impact of Barong's punch had gotten up and said, “Wait, so you let us meet Barong first because you knew we would definitely clash with him? You know the strength of the three of us will not be able to defeat one of the strongest magical entities in Antapada, so we are only used as pawns by you?”

Nirya chimed, “It turns out that your ‘mort’ is a fight against Barong, yes?”

Widuri clapped. “Fright, accurate. This proves that you are more capable of tongue-licking than fighting. Unfortunately, your consciousness was too late, and now you must die here, falling into this eternal battle between light and darkness!”

Arumi. “W-Widuri, it turns out you are..!”

Widuri twisted her body with a gurgle, as her legs lifted off the floor. Floating in the air, his form turned almost instantly into an all-black figure with long black hair breaking down to the knees. The black tendrils on her lower body spread out to look like a long dress, completely covering both of her original legs.

“At last you showed up again. This time you came to visit me, not destroy the village or kidnap innocent babies like before... Rangda!” exclaimed Barong, his body is now enveloped in golden white prana whose radiance is felt up to near the walls of the hall.

Ni Luh Widuri's face had now turned into a sinister black. When his mouth opened, there appeared a row of sharp fangs with the two most tip fangs sticking down like snake fangs. When sticking out the tongue, it looks like the tongue is so big and long, the color is as red as blood. His two eyes became red with black lenses, shining straight and brightly towards his eternal enemies.

His voice hissed like a human-snake as he said, “True, this time I, Rangda have broken through the labyrinth and the defense of Sang Barong's palace. Luring you out was a stale way, so I borrowed the strength of my strongest disciples and those three innocent warriors. Prepare, Barong. Today I'll send you back to your Master!”

“Wah, very kind of you, Rangda. For centuries, even through the ages I look forward to the opportunity to return to the Mahesa. But sorry, the only way to get back to her is to exterminate you forever, Rangda! And yes, let me get ready!”

As Barong said so, his entire body seemed to be wrapped in a dazzling white light. Even Rangda, Nirya, Sthira and Arumipun closed their narrowed eyes with their hands.

“Huh, sucks!” Rangda naturally does not like the sunlight and the equivalent like this.

Barong's body light then enlarged and changed shape, then dissolved.

It was then that Nirya opened her eyes and gaped. What he saw was the original form of Barong, which is like a giant white lion.

Barong's current face was exactly that of a lion, far different from his depiction in artworks. The difference with lions in general, a pair of long-pointed fangs like a curved sword blade sticking out of its upper jaw, like a long-fanged tiger in Prehistoric Times.

Barong's body was filled with short white fur. Its body shape is like the body of a Ubanga lion, not long-haired, thick and bear-like in the artwork version. Various gold jewelry tinsel adorn the head, neck, body and even the legs of Barong, perfectly radiating its glory.

Another striking difference is, in the body of Barong there is a pair of eagle wings that are hairy all white. The wings are now folded neatly, and will stretch to a maximum of five times the width of his body if Barong soar and fly.

The eyes of lion Barong stared intently at Rangda, his words were carried, “I will make your soul very tormented, so that you prefer hell to the world, Rangda!”

“Cih! Those vile words came from the lips of Barong, a saint whose mind was exemplified by everyone?” rangda Syndic. “If you fight vilely anyway, what does the world say?”

“Liet me, cruel attitude only I refer to you a, hey queen abomination!”

“’Queen abomination’, you say? What a beautiful compliment, so I must repay you by showing equal abomination! Feel this!” Rangda stretched out both of her claws which were all her fingernails along and pointed daggers.

From behind Rangda's black body darted the array of hitm bullets that were like the Spirit Force Invaded the City. Not only Barong, but bullets loaded with dark energy also targeted Sthira, Nirya and Arumi.

As a counterpoint to Rangda, Barong brushed off the bullets with his pure energy-laden aura. As a result, most of the bullets fell out, and the rest landed on Barong's body. The roar of the Sacred Lion Summoning the Mentari had apparently been read by Rangda in their previous fights. So Rangda has trained his spirit moves to be stronger, even sharp enough to break the Barong style. As a result, it was Barong who was the first to bleed in this clash.

Nirya, like her comrades, dodged the spirit bullets.

Unfortunately, Sthira who was still injured was hit by a human form Barong could not move quickly. Without mercy, two spirit bullets hit him. It was fortunate that Sthira dampened that power with the protective energy of the body and the stalks of Gharma. He survived but was badly injured. He collapsed while vomiting blood.

“Free! Barong and Rangda are too strong! We have to get out of here!” exclaim Nirya.

Arumi nodded in agreement, he moved about to carry Sthira. “Idharma should be our last target! We'll come back here again when we're so much stronger! It's also if our strength can compensate Barong!”

Nirya and Arumi turned their heads, seeing the two rajni leak, the second strongest type of leak under Rangda, overwhelmed Nirya and Arumi, let alone having to protect Sthira behind the two girls.

Nirya herself had just fended off the claws of the rajni leak with her kerambit chain. At the same time, he spun quickly and swung a kerambit to slit the opponent's neck. The intelligent leak lowered his head to dodge, but a second kerambit pierced his upper chest.

“Because of you!” Taking advantage of the opportunity, Nirya deployed the Shadow Storm stance. He flashed so fast that the opponent could only feel a gust of wind, unable to see it. The next moment, the body of the leak rajni was already shackled in chains.

Nirya then buried her second kerambit on the side of the neckline of the leak. Making sure that the leak would not survive, Nirya released her scapegoat shackles and let her opponent stand in limbo in a dying condition.

“Hehee... Don't you know?” ejek the leak rajni. “I've been dead a long time, so can't be killed by anyone!”

Proving his words, the undead-like creature moved forward again. His black claw swung towards Nirya who was not ready and relied on mere reflexes, scraping the upper arm of the girl.

Groaning in pain, Nirya moved away to keep her distance. But the horror did not want to disappear, instead began to spread slowly. How surprised Nirya, seeing the scratched arm part began to turn blue. The nails of Leak Rajni are poisonous. When the poison spread to the heart, the history of Nirya ended.

Haven't had time to cast healing magic, without a second thought Nirya slashed the blue arm. The blood that was blackened from the poison flowed out from that scar.

“My turns finish you!” Leak rajni ran forward, his poisonous nails ready to be plunged into the heart of the opponent.

Nirya who was getting weaker due to the loss of a lot of blood swung her bandit to fend off the spot. But is that enough to ward off the leak's full-powered claws? Nirya's face was pale instantly, death greeting in plain sight.

Suddenly again, the steps of the leak rajni stopped. The ferocious expression on his face disappeared instantly, changing into a blank look. The next moment, it appeared that the head of the leak was shifted from the point of its neck, then fell down and rolled on the floor. Leak rajnipun's body collapsed a moment later, then turned into ash and smoke, never to move again. The next moment, there appeared the perpetrator who was standing with a long dagger whose blade was covered in black blood.

Nirya heaved a sigh of relief. “Thank you very much, Arumi. But... why leak it..”

“I just found out when cutting off the head of my opponent's leak earlier,” replied Arumi. “It turns out that's the only way to kill creatures that can regenerate like leak rajni..”

“... And kecak!” Nirya covered her mouth, gasping. Fortunately he did not know about it when fighting the kecak in the labyrinth. And the reason why “untung” he will see in a moment.

“Come, help me, Nirya!” exclaim Arumi while again carrying Sthira. “I don't think this guy is so heavy!”

“I... hear that..” Sthira's voice made Arumi and Nirya aghast. Not out of fear of the man being offended, but merely they were amazed by the recovery power of Sthira's body which was faster than the average human being.

“Terlarah. Anyway we have to get out of this place now!” said Arumi. “We do not want to be the target of stray attacks two giant digdaya who are fighting it, ‘kan?”

Sthira protests, “But, our mission..!”

“See! Barong deliberately lured Rangda away from us!” Nirya pointed towards the ceiling of Balairung Saka Cahya, which is actually the crater of Mount Idharma. “We can't continue here, Sthira! Realize it!”

While grinding her teeth, Sthira walked towards the entrance. “Huh, we go!” He then ran away, exerting his newly recovered energy.

Not immediately running with his two colleagues, Nirya rebuked towards Barong and Rangda who were fighting fiercely.

At first glance, it was clear that the eyes of the lion Barong were staring at Nirya with a meaningful look. Meaning that everything he said when facing Nirya was true. Rainusa is very weak, and the only way to recover is to free Wiranata, the true king of the wise Rainusa.

And now, that hope lies on the shoulders of Arumi, Sthira and Nirya.

\==oOo==

While running, Nirya who was still quite clear of the right path in the labyrinth of Mount Idharma ran the front, guiding his two colleagues, Sthira and Arumi.

Here and there, there were sounds of fighting. The kecak keeper labyrinth is no longer “mengganggur” team Nirya. Besides because the intention of these three men is not to bring disaster in this place anymore, the kecak are busy fighting against an army of leak who secretly participated in raiding Idharma, following their queen.

Unlike the leak rajni, the form of an ordinary leak is very terrible, both those who are still human-shaped and who live heads that float with the inside of his dangling body, attached to his spine.

Had the Nirya group succeeded in overthrowing Barong, they would not have been allowed to come out alive from Idharma. So, the decision to run away from this battle was the most appropriate one.

Nirya did not bother anymore. With one thought in his head, he had to keep running.

Run.

Image source: Shin Megami Tensei's version of Barong.