EVERNA Ring of Fire

MANTIKEI Part 2

Ever since the true Sthira stopped Vrithra's intentions, Nirya had already drifted away while observing the conversation between the two individuals in that one body.

Arumi and Dhaka have also risen. Dhaka pulls Nirya away from Sthira.

"Follow me, I have a plan" Arumi said.

Nirya's face was full of question marks, but she still ran after Arumi. He wants to believe, facing the human power of the gods, the colleagues who had become his enemy will not harm the girl who is still somewhat innocent about love now.

When out of the throne hall and down the corridor of the Pantikei Labih Palace, Nirya just looked back. It seemed that Sthira continued to chase after him, but the man never cried out, "Don't run, coward!" or something.

"Now!" Suddenly Arumi and Dhaka turn around and attack Sthira. Nirya just turned around and stood on standby in the corridor that only ten people on the side could pass through.

Arumi jumped up, about to clamp Sthira from above. He shot a rain of Eternal Fire Wings arrows, shooting several arrows at once from the Jalabar Arc plus huge flaming prana arrays.

While Dhaka's spear fired a barrage of Flying Stone Strike energy, locking Sthira from the bottom position. Throughout knowledge, any human being is impossible to counteract two very different styles of nature, speed and movement.

The thing is, Sthira is now a god-man. Calmly, he shot out a large streak of lightning from one end of the Vajra spear-gada. The Halilintar Digdaya Cannon shot broke the rain of fire arrows as well as hit Arumi.

Utilizing the open gap above, Sthira shot up very quickly with the added energy from the Thunderbolt Step, leaping over Dhaka who was looking down low. It turned out that his main target was Nirya.

Realizing that, Nirya also deployed the fast-moving stance of Shadow Storm. The girl turned around and ran several times faster than before.

But Sthira had already caught up with Nirya and swung Vajra again.

Intending to give a surprise, Nirya turned around suddenly. He shattered his chain of flakes as strong and as fast as the Wind Split the Clouds towards Sthira's head.

"Curtain!" The wire, the hammering of Sthira first hit Nirya. The girl's body was thrown and hit the door of one of the palace rooms until it collapsed and opened. Nirya continued to float until she fell sprawled on the floor of the room.

Nirya realized bettul, the real Sthira had deliberately allowed herself to escape near-certain death due to challenging the human god. So he should have understood this next action of Sthira.

When the pain all over Nirya's body faded not because it recovered quickly.

As Nirya's eyes grew blurred, she still had time to see the figure of Sthira standing alone in the doorway, not approaching.

Nirya could still hear Sthira's original voice saying, "Don't interfere, Nirya. Run away. Run all the way from this town if you want to survive."

Nirya should have understood the movement of Sthira who left the girl to face the obstacles of the Kalinga soldiers. That was the last he saw just before it went dark.

One thing that Nirya really understands now, Sthira's words were not a warning, but a farewell greeting.

\==oOo==

Everything's lost.

Everything's futile.

There is only darkness and emptiness surrounding the existence of Nirya now.

There is no longer a happy family dream consisting of Nirya, Sthira and their only child.

There is no longer a peaceful future Antapada sentosa, not mired in a prolonged war or curbed by tyranny.

There's only black.

Suddenly, a faint voice gushed.

It was as if the voice was about to reach Nirya's subconscious.

"Niriah... Nirya's..."

Nirya's inner voice responded to the voice of the majestic impressed man, "S-who called me?"

"Ah, thank goodness my mind has finally reached your mind, Nirya. I am Barong, the Great Guard and the caretaker of Mount Idharma." While saying so, Barong appeared as a very sturdy man and golden-haired, long undulating.

Sukma Nirya also appeared with a amazed face. "Jeez, the Ambassador of the Gods! B-but why did you call me?"

Nirya understood now. He was the first to faint and his mind was empty because it was out of reason, so he could hear Barong's inner voice.

"Lantas, why did you call us? Are we not the bearers of disasters who have lost so many lives? Don't we deserve to die here?"

"As I said in Idharma, your intention to restore peace in Antapada is very noble, but your ways are wrong. The problem is, the wrong way is the only way to achieve peace as soon as possible. So I directed the wrong way to the right place, which is the City of Dabongsang and Mount Tubar'e.

After Dabongsang, the Mahesa and the Srisari try to direct you to other places and true mountains. And so, in Yamkora and Dantonu you will destroy even greater sources of disaster and tyranny than the Great War of Antapada. Now, after the real disaster bearer appears and you are desperate, it is time for me to step in to give you guidance and help."

Nirya heaved a sigh of relief. "Ah, thank you. We were overwhelmed by the Vrithra that had possessed Sthira. What clue do you want to give me?"

"Let's remember, Nirya. In Dantonu, you had given Dhaka the Invisible Aksara Gunung Barkajang. Dhaka then managed to exert that magical power. You know why?"

"Dhaka and Barkajang script are both land elements. After all, the loss of the family made the Dhaka prana soar so drastically, that he could use his magical script."

"Absolutely. Well, I'll tell you one secret."

"What secret is that?"

"How to use a supernatural script without losing a family or anything like that. Besides Barkajang, what magical characters do you have now?"

Nirya replied, "Arumi holds the Megaswari Fire Script and the Yamkora Ice Script. Although Mo... Goddess Sasanda lent me the Tubar'e Wind Script."

"Ah, less Water Character, the best lightning conductor, but that's fine. Well, to use the occult script, we have to concentrate our inner thoughts and energies or the supernatural forces, then say the name of the character out loud as a spell to trigger its power."

"Huh? How do we know the names of each of those magical characters?"

"You need to know, the creator of this Invisible Character is the God Session, Arya Manikrama. It arranges the letters in the ancient language in such a way that it forms a single symbol. The letters for the symbol are derived from the name of the mountain on which the key characters are attached."

"J-so the name of the Wind Character in my hand is... Tubar 'e? And I just need to concentrate my energy and name that name alone to use its power?"

The image of Barong's figure nodded.

"Geez!" exclaim Nirya. "If you had told me about it in the first place, Dhaka probably wouldn't have had to lose her family!"

"Nirya! Do you realize how difficult it is to trace your existence on this vast Antapada Peninsula? Stop complaining and get up! Help your friends!"

"Wait for Barong, me...!"

"Rise, Nirya!"

Suddenly, Nirya flinched and rose from a sleeping position to sit down. The palace room whose walls had been broken down on one side so that he no longer fainted or dreamed.

However, were the inner meeting and conversation between Nirya and Barong just a mere mmpi?

Nirya shook herself. Once again, he decided to put logic aside and believe in his "dream. If Barong had spoken to Arumi earlier, Arumi would most likely have followed his logic and ignored the instructions via telepathy long distance aka "dream" it.

With the steps still being dragged, Nirya tried to find her colleagues. But the one along the corridor made Nirya nauseous. The smell of blood was very concentrated, complementing the terrible sight of the soldiers and warriors who were sprawled, scattered like a cluster of dried leaves on the ground.

When he returned to the throne hall, then Nirya was fixated for a moment to see the situation that was plastered before him. Arumi looked sprawled on the floor while groaning in pain.

While Dhaka is now screaming to exert his might, running crashing towards Sthira. Sthira calmly smashed the Vajra Spear towards the opponent. But Dhaka is very "slippery", twisting to the side while ducking as low as possible.

Dhaka's spear then darted from below and aimed at Sthira's hull. The opponent fended off with the Vajra, the tip of the blade of the Commodore Spear as if stuck in the cracks on the rock. Gawat, Dhaka's spear movement has been locked, the Komodorai's defense has been opened very wide.

Beyond a doubt, Dhaka again shouted to exert all his energy. With a single jolt he lifted his spear and threw out Sthira with his weapon in the air. Not stopping there, Dhaka launched a Spear Punjaman String towards the opponent's body.

Hard to move freely in the air, Sthira reflexively fends off her surroundings with Vajra. Without mercy, he became the months of rain of sharp spears.

"Death, firebrand!" Dhaka ended his attack with one of his strongest ultimate stabs. As a result, Sthira slammed uncontrollably back and fell hard, hitting the wooden floor. Sthira's body did not move. Did Dhaka's attack finish him off? To ensure the state of the opponent, the commodore walked forward with a spear ready to be punched again.

But suddenly the sprawled Sthira quickly jumped up. Before Dhaka could react, the opponent had first fired a large streak of lightning from the tip of the Vajra. The Halilintar Digdaya Cannon shot mercilessly hit the mighty Komodo dragon. The high-voltage lightning energy traveled very quickly, so that Dhaka's entire body seemed to be wrapped in lightning striking.

After the firepower ran out, Dhaka stood bent over. Smoke and the rest of the lightning sparks appeared all over his body, smelling like charred flesh as fierce as Nirya's olfactory.

Sthira Tarunaga by Andry Chang