Chapter Text
The air is still inside the Tenshukaku. Ayaka's blade is level, tip pointed towards her God.
The Raiden Shogun waits for her opponent to move, polearm at the ready but unmoving still, like a statue.
Years of training, of ceaseless drills and repetition with the sword have led her to have a chance at a "spar" with the Almighty Raiden Shogun, the progenitor of every single sword and spear art in Inazuma from time immemorial.
She had been invited out of the blue when she was out in the yard practicing. the Shogun herself had personally come to the estate to meet with her brother, something regarding the next ceremony. It must've been dire, for her to come directly, but Ayato said she really just wanted to see how the Kamisato lineage has been doing after all this time.
Ayaka is hard-pressed to believe that, but Ayato has no reason to lie to her about the Shogun's true intentions. Whatever the case may be, she was there to see her do her morning drills. It took her an embarrassingly long time to realize she was being watched, and by her God of all people. That broke her out of the routine, wooden blade halted mid-swing toward the dummy in front of her. Before she could utter anything comprehensive, Raiden had already moved toward the estate's gates.
Was she displeased with the display? Had her form been lacking? did she not put enough power into the strike? maybe her stance is-
"Come to the Tenshukaku, when you have free time. I should like to spar with you, sometimes."
A second passes, and she's gone on her way again.
That had been two days ago. Today, she faces her deity on hallowed grounds.
Her hands are still, but her heartbeat is thundering like a storm above Seirai. Ayaka's mind is a jumbled, nervous mess. Years of battle tactics and dueling knowledge useless, now when she needed them the most. it seems like an eternity has passed since she took up this stance, but still, the Shogun waits, letting her have the first strike.
Ayaka tries to calm her heart, closes her eyes, deep breaths to steady the rhythm. it works, somewhat, but you can only still your heart so much when you face the deity you worship in a duel.
she opens her eyes again and stares at the unmoving figure in front of her. In the back of her mind, Ayaka thinks that she's slighted her God somehow, for taking so long just to start a "spar". she brushes the thought aside and readies her stance.
A moment that stretches for a lifetime, and she dashes forwards like a gale wind, blade carrying her momentum where she lacks strength.
Raiden moves her spear to deflect the strong opener, but it's followed up by another strike angled upwards. This one she sidesteps, and another she deflects once more.
several more flurries later, and Ayaka steps back to recoup. just from that brief exchange alone, she's gained so much insight into how her God fights with her weapons. she doesn't get long to ponder though, as the aforementioned god is suddenly within striking distance, face near enough to hers that she could see the depths of amethyst eyes.
she's forced to make a haphazard block with the flat of her blade, but it doesn't give her enough time to regain her stance. only barely missing the next strike by a hair's breadth, she dodges and blocks on instinct more than anything now.
she must've lost focus at some point in the spar, because her sword got infused with cryo, and Raiden had to backstep away from the oncoming wave of frost coming out of her blade.
Ayaka's face reddened with utter embarrassment at her carelessness, she could feel the heat coming to her cheeks.
"Shogun-sama! I-I'm so sorry! I didn't realize, I just went on instinct a-a-and it just-"
"At ease, Ayaka. All is fine."
Ayaka's shoulder relaxed a bit on hearing that. She hasn't made a grave mistake just yet.
"I will simply counter with my own lightning, since you will be using your frost," Raiden says matter of factly.
Her shoulders tense again, and she can feel the hairs on her neck tingle as the Engulfing Lightning is infused with the purest form of electro she's ever seen on any weapon.
A silent gulp and Ayaka nods. she re-applies her stance, and the fight begins anew.
Fighting with elements adds a whole new dimension to fights, one that only those blessed by the gods are privy to. The fight leaves marks in the hall they're in frozen patches of flooring and traces of lightning strike aplenty. Still, the two continue their fight, but it's evident that the young Kamisato heir is nearing her last leg.
Ayaka's breathing is ragged now, stamina so wholly spent after unleashing so many different elemental skills, all of them countered by Raiden's own. sometimes it's counteracted, sometimes it's overwhelmed, and her deity remains unscathed all the same. Ayaka, hair somewhat disheveled, has gained several bruises ever since the fight started. Some cuts to her clothes here, some skin-deep gashes there. Nothing that would actually put her out of the fight, but it stings all the same.
Throughout the fight, she also realizes that the Raiden Shogun has been holding back on this spar. Ayaka expected this. she expects her God, ruler of lightning and thunder, master of sword and spear, to not give her all in this little spar.
She expected it.
And yet it twists her heart still, to know that her strength does not warrant her deity to take her seriously.
She's known mountains before, on her trek towards becoming a swordswoman, overcoming challenges and expectations.
But here and now, facing a God who's lived for centuries? it feels like she's facing a cliffside from the bottom of a ravine, and she can't see any way up.
Disheartened she may be, the fight still needs to end. Ayaka's accumulated enough cryo on her sword now. Her ace in the hole is ready.
The Shogun is still, waiting for Ayaka to initiate again. As if she knew this next strike will be the decider.
Heh, so be it then.
She quickly sprints and lowers her body to the ground, until she's become cryo itself, dashing with Senho towards the other woman. when she emerges, nary a second has passed, and she's close enough to Raiden to see the details of her face. The clear, unblemished skin. the beautiful lavender braid flowing behind. the widening of her eyes as she unleashes Sometsu and nearly point-blank range.
Her fan materializes just as she hears a crackle of lightning next to her ear. This close to the output of elemental powers, it can't be helped that Ayaka's body gets infused with cryo by her own Sometsu. But this also means she bears the brunt of Raiden's skill as electro clashes with cryo, superconducting her entire being. her body trembles as if bare in a blizzard, and the rushing figure of the Raiden Shogun was the last that she saw before she blacked out.
If her consciousness wasn't muddled with exhaustion, she might've also seen the distraught look that the electro archon wore on her face.