The Mekai: Endgame

Chapter 4

Beginning of the End

"It's over, Ren- the jig is up!" Ray declared, not taking his eyes off his nemesis.

"Ray? Ray- you're back!" Jerry shouted, leaping to his feet. All of the other Central Kingdom inhabitants shared his enthusiasm with their own looks of excitement and surprise.

"I never truly left," Ray answered. "But now is the time to strike back."

Ren slowly clapped his hands and chuckled. "And here I thought you had given up on life," Ren told Ray. "But then, you never knew when to quit."

"Is that why you can't get rid of me? Or is it because you're just not as good as you thought you were? True, I have never been able to defeat you, but you're in the worst shape. You- the most powerful Mekai alive- couldn't even kill one Mekai, so you used head games. And what's worse is he's just a 'boy'!"

Ren's smirk vanished. "You never knew when to be silent either. I shall remedy that."

He opened his hand and a ball of dark energy materialized in his palm. Dark violet and blue-colored and shrouded in shadow, it emitted a crackling sound. Ren pointed the shadow ball at Ray and it flew from his hand with incredible pace. Ray jumped up and the ball burst on the floor near his feet. Ray ran to one side of the room and Ren released another. He spun around and dodged the ball, barely. Then he narrowly escaped another; the speed of the shadow balls and the sharpness of Ren's aim were impressive, Ray had to admit.

"Is that the best you got, Ren?" Ray taunted. "You couldn't catch a cold with that aim, let alone a moving target!"

Ren stood up and levitated. He dashed across the room and caught up to Ray in a flash. Oops! Ray ran for dear life. Hovering upright, Ren kept up with him, throwing more precise shadow balls. Had Ray been a tad slower, he may have been a pile of ashes. Ren fired another and Ray leaped up and planted his feet on the upper part of the wall.

"What's the matter Ren- getting slow in your old age?" Ray bluffed; he stood on the wall as if he were standing flat on the floor.

Ren responded with a smirk and glided up toward him, moving even faster. Drat! Ray ran along the wall, around the room, and Ren shot a beam variation of the shadow balls at his feet. His ability to levitate kept him close onto Ray until Ray jumped off the wall and hit him with an Angel Palm. Ren recovered and landed on the floor, near Ray.

"I'm going to enjoy every moment of this," he said. He released another shadow ball. Ray let this one get close and kicked the ball behind him with a back-flip; the ball exploded behind him.

"You think showing off will get you anywhere?" Ren chastised. "No matter- it's you and me now, boy."

"Sure about that?" Ray replied. Jerry, John, Yin, and Yang rushed to Ray's side, prepared for battle. Ren's shadow ball released them; Ray strategically kicked the ball to behind him to destroy their cage.

"In case you didn't know," Ray said, "angels travel in groups!"

Ren stood there, unfazed. "Well played," he complimented. He walked over to Pterrol, snapped his fingers, and his teleporting flames took the creature away.

"I shall leave my minions here to play with you," he said.

"Running away again?" Ray nudged.

"I'm simply preparing the way for our final showcase," said Ren. "I believe the time has come to finally settle things between us, so I'll be seeing you soon."

Ren vanished. All of the Gratanites in the throne room charged the Celestials, from all sides. Yin and Yang destroyed those from the sides, Jerry and John combined magic and shield to cover the rear, and Ray dispatched those in the front. With all Gratanites vanquished, Ray began to break the chains and sever the serpents surrounding Kayla and the others. When Ray released Kayla, he tried to speak to her before she embraced him. She squeezed him as tightly as she could and then let him go.