Ranvir send another Sand Barrage high into the sky. The bird dodges this one better than his previous attack. Feathers were still falling unpredictably through the rough winds of their fight. His side was a single burning tear of vibrant red pain, but he could endure. Ranvir persisted, throwing another attack.

After the bird’s massive use of mana, it was too exhausted to continue fighting on its previous level. Ranvir wasn’t in top shape either, but he technically didn’t need to move to use his Abilities or techniques. So, with one hand cradling his side and the other hanging limp, he’d thrown the entirety of the beach and much of the sand under the water at his opponent.

The bird was tiring. It hadn’t caught on to the one fact that should be most important to it at the moment. Sand should be raining down over the entire region. Yet, only a few stray streams here and there, though they were growing more frequent.

Ranvir threw another burst, this time to the sensation of two alarms. The bird’s alarm as it rushed to dodge and Loce’s alarm as it stretched to encapsulate this new cone of beige dirt. The storm locust reached its breaking point, as Ranvir could not feed it enough power to keep everything aloft.

Drifts started pouring down from the new gritty sky. Ranvir began his Sand Strike and enveloped himself in space. Appearing above the bird, above the clouds of sand, he gathered it to him. His current build wasn’t designed to use sand directly as much as they pulled on underlying principles of the material. Perhaps only Sand Barrage was truly meant to use sand like he was now. He’d need to rehash and change his Abilities at a later time. For now, they worked.

He hauled with his power, drawing the slow spinning clouds of insect and dirt towards him. L0ce helped, his presence lingering within it, overemphasizing the sheer scale of his Ability. For a few moments, it would appear on a scale that would dwarf even the bird’s strongest attack. An ability on the scale of the mountain and lake. Even if it was an illusion, it was a powerful one.

Grains and grit ground against his garb as he fell through the vortexing cloud. The bird’s tether-sense found him and screeched. He didn’t need to speak animal to understand the raw panic within that voice. He didn’t even need to see it. Using the very sand he was falling through to guide his trajectory, he sped towards his enemy.

Careening through the rough cloud cover, he burst free, pulling it along behind him. Locking eyes with the bird, he grinned. His body was on fire. It sang with notes of piercing white and blue and gold, excitement and joy, intermingling with low basso notes of red and orange, underlining the experience with pain.

Ranvir screamed and lifted his one arm, howling with unspent energy as he rushed towards the bird. A bond snapped together. Ranvir and the bird’s soul humming in harmony and connection. Understanding. The bird had been prey, turned around the fight and become predator, yet now it would feed him.

It should’ve been a glorious victory.

Instead, it put the lid on the moment. Sighing, Ranvir let his Ability collapse. Loce, sensing his intentions, followed suit and retreated into his body, leaving the rest of the sand cover to fall.

They slammed together, less like clashing titans and more like a child slapping two rocks against each other, because his friend got called back to help with his sisters, so he had no one to play with.

The bird let out a slightly perplexed squawk before righting itself. Ranvir grabbed it by the scruff of its neck. This close, he could easily make out the puffy, almost mane-like quality of the feathers.

Frowning to himself, Ranvir considered. Shouldn’t he be happy to have won? Why would he feel so deflated from a victory? That was what he’d been looking for the entire time, right? Part of him had been looking for a good fight, something to get his blood up. But he’d gotten that. The way the bird had turned the tables on him… he shook his head, turning his attention on something else instead.

And inadvertently found his answer.

The new bond that had grown, almost strumming along with a slight harmony between them. At the moment, he could feel it growing closer, strengthening. They touched down gently, and he pulled open his emergency pocket. It took a moment of searching before he found the little clay bottle. Pulling out two bone-restoration pills, he popped them into his mouth. The mana within, bone, set to work on his ribs immediately.

Less effective than a proper healer, more effective than natural recovery. They weren’t cheap but were necessary to a Sentinel’s regular functions, as such, the organization had a few connections to get them at a discount.

Ranvir patted the bird on the chest, finding his bond with it resonating with defeat. He clapped it on its neck, where it connected with its torso, just above his own head. Now that it wasn’t flying, it had a hunched over look. Leaning forwards slightly, its neck bending back on itself, drawing into its mane of feathers. It cawed low and stepped away from him.

As elegant as the bird had been in the sky, it didn’t translate to the ground. Not that it moved poorly, it simply didn’t compare to its natural grace in the air. In the air it was dancing with the wind, cruising on its drafts, and ruling its storms. On the ground, it skulked. Sneaking about like it was in a play. It was almost comical considering its massive size.

Ranvir returned his focus to the bond. The king of the mountain wasn’t taking its loss well. The sheer strength of his attack, combined with surviving its own, had sent it into a panic and the world had responded. Ranvir had to admit, the reaction had been quick. It was almost like it didn’t want them to actually hurt each other. It had finished the bond before he’d even had a chance to consider, though he’d chosen before attacking.

Delving into their connection, Ranvir found their struggle had created a resonance which was even now burying itself into each of their souls. He couldn’t track the bird farther than the bond, which gave him a location but no insight into its soul. In his own, however, he saw clearly how it was digging towards his center.

With a flicker of will, Ranvir helped it along. He didn’t have a ton of space left. Tether-space with its reinforced walls took up its fair share, Amanaris took up a little less. But that was still twice the amount of space anyone Ranvir’d ever met had spent and the bond, he could already sense, would take up more space than either of his previous powers.

Shoving them aside, Ranvir made room and connected with the growing bond. Nothing happened, power didn’t flow. It didn’t absorb the storm within. It didn’t even cause much of a reaction. If it wasn’t for the bond stopping its movement and relaxing, Ranvir would’ve thought he’d failed somehow.

He had failed, though. He just wasn’t sure how. So he dove in closer. What was the bond actually doing? Nothing, it wasn’t doing anything. Just sitting there. Am I going to wait for it to mature before I can get rid of the storm mana? Ranvir shut his eyes and breathed in deeply. Fucking shit.

Then something caught his attention. A minor part of the bond, he’d thought it inconsequential if not for the slightest twinge coming from the other end and ending at this spot.

A reader? Ranvir frowned at the image it conjured as he interpreted it. A reaction system? Before he could question it any further, it sent out a ping through the bond. A response system! He realized, eyes widening as he looked to the bird. He couldn’t get the exact response from its side, but he realized what was happening.

“It’s a bond!” he slapped himself on the forehead. The bird, who’d been sheltering itself from the falling sand under the double protection of a tree, and its wing gave him an odd look. “It’s a bond!” he said louder and smiled. A two-way connection. He’d finished his connection early, but it was still waiting for the bird to finish.

Which it did a moment later.

Ranvir gasped as a vacuum built in his spirit. The room he’d created changed. Intention and will force upon it functions in masses he couldn’t parse. As it did, the storm mana within his spirit, drenching him, body and soul, was ripped away.

The bird, a vulture, Ranvir recognized suddenly, cocked its head and rocked back. Far enough that its head knocked against the tree, shaking sand loose and causing it to hunch back over.

Ranvir smiled and laughed as his soul finally cleansed itself, ridding him of the tainted anima. With this change came others. Ranvir coughed slightly, feeling suddenly like there was a bit of liquid in his throat. Then harder, until he doubled over. Reflexively, he covered his mouth. Straightening a moment later, his hand was covered in a spray of water.

“Huh,” he muttered as a sound caught his ear. Footsteps and murmurs. The bird and he had landed a few hundred meters from the village, but apparently they were coming to him.

Tentatively, Ranvir attempted to brush the water off his body, but the bond-space was still changing and there appeared to be no mana within it yet. He turned to the vulture. “Well, looks like I’ll have to go meet the locals,” he grinned to himself. They’d thought him a god before, but now that he’d actually bonded, perhaps they’d reconsider?