Forebearer's Staff (3)

"How have you attained such a technique?" Ifayemi asked. Akogun laughed out loud. "I didn't know I was a descendant of the ancient Ifa priests until I wielded the staff. It revealed things I'm capable of. I'm not the same warrior you edged in battle countless times," Akogun said. 

Ifayemi kept a cool head. He analyzed the battle thus far. The first time he used binary binding, Ifayemi's punches had no effect. He must have used the ninth principle of Ifa, Ogunda Meji, to fortify his body from harm. But his last punch did some damage, which meant there was a time limit to using odu ifa with binary binding. That made sense; it was only a shortcut to invoking the principles as they were taught. He just had to figure out how long he could use them and use it to his advantage. He reimagined their battle and calculated the time from when he inscribed the sign to when his last punch struck him, a feat only the likes of the son of the Orisha of Wisdom were capable of. Ten seconds was his answer. He had other questions running through his mind. How many times could he use the same principle consecutively? How long did it take for him to use another principle after ten seconds had elapsed? He calculated five seconds at most. All his thought processes happened in a second owing to the brainpower he inherited from his father. 

"It seems like it's all or nothing now," Ifayemi said. "I wouldn't have wanted it any other way," Akogun responded. "Odu Ifa Olodumare gbomi!" (Principles of Ifa, Olodumare, hear my call!), both men yelled. Their divination tray appeared in their outstretched palms, which they joined together for the tray to sit in perfectly. The opele neck chains around their necks glowed and fell into the divination trays. Their trays hovered onto their left shoulders and remained floating. The sixteen principles of Ifa were at their beck and call. Only high Ifa priests could invoke more than one principle at a time, and both of them were capable of such a feat. It took calculation to pick the right principles to use in battle, depending on the opponent before them. 

Akogun knew he could use any of the principles with binary binding while having two principles fully invoked in his body. Firstly, he needed to fortify his body from harm. The binary binding technique was limited by time, so he chose to fully invoke the ninth principle with his divination tray. "Ogunda Meji kan!" he called out. The opele in his divination tray moved accordingly, and a large spirit came out of his tray and stood behind him. It glowed with a white robe and a demonic face. The spirit dived into Akogun's body. Secondly, he sought to control their field of battle, so he chose the eighth principle. "Okanran meji eji!" he said, and the principle appeared and dived into his body. Ifayemi smiled. Akogun's choices showed his experience in battle. His fortified body also amplified the strength of the principles within him. He was up for one of the toughest battles he had fought in years. 

Ifayemi chose to invoke the fifteenth principle, "Oshe Meji kan," he called. It gave him the ability to mimic the powers of many Orisa. He couldn't use the atmospheric principle because when the same principles clash on the battlefield, it could have devastating effects. In this instance, the forest would be destroyed and the thin barrier between worlds could be damaged. "Irosun Meji eji," he said, calling on the fifth principle which gave him the ability to heal rapidly and not take damage from the same attack twice. 

The stage was set now. Akogun used atmospheric energy to propel himself towards Ifayemi. He reached him in the blink of an eye. He gathered explosive gas from the atmosphere into his palm like a thick ball of cloud and drove it into Ifayemi's chest, who couldn't move out of the way fast enough. The explosion threw Ifayemi yards away, his body knocking down trees as he whizzed through. He smashed into a rocky hill. The explosion was enough to kill him instantly. Ifayemi flexed his muscles and lifted his arms up to free himself from the stone rubble that buried him within the large underground cave beneath the hills. Light shone onto him from the cracked hole from which he fell. His back appeared broken, but it healed instantly. He survived the blast by covering his chest with Ogun's iron forged from the atmosphere. A second later and he would have been dead. "Be mindful of your surroundings," Akogun said, right beside him. When did he get there? Ifayemi thought. He released his breath as Akogun swung his fist at his face, but he caught his fist midair. Their eyes locked intensely. Akogun batted his hand away. Ifayemi had activated his sixth sense with his silent incantation. He needed to keep up with Akogun's movements. They exchanged blows. Ifayemi parried his left punch with his right arm and drove his left elbow into Akogun's jaw, who retaliated with a left knee into Ifayemi's rib section. They raged on at each other. Ifayemi threw multiple jabs at Akogun's chest. The weight of the jabs wiggled his body, but he stood firm and dusted his chest as if it was nothing. Akogun locked his fists together and raised them up to generate force. Ifayemi sought to move away, but the ground crawled up his ankle and held him firmly to the ground. Akogun hammered down the weight of his fists on Ifayemi with a massive force of gravity, which he pulled from the atmosphere, propelling his attack. The impact drove Ifayemi into the ground. He fell on one knee. Pain vibrated through his body. He had raised his arms, coated with Ogun's iron, above his head just in time to avoid a fatal injury. He spat out blood. His body healed instantly. The ground crawled up his body to his abdomen. He couldn't move. 

Akogun drew back his right fist behind his body to generate force. He aimed to decapitate Ifayemi with one blow to end the battle. He threw his punch with the large amount of atmospheric energy at point-blank range. Ifayemi's eyes widened as the impact was imminent. Lightning broke through the cave's ceiling and struck them both. The lightning strike destroyed the ground, flinging Akogun, who skidded across the cave multiple times before crashing into the cave wall. Ifayemi had called on Sango's sky lightning to save himself at the last minute. His body was fully coated with lightning. It connected to the top of his head like a thread to form a constant link that energised his body. One of Sango's favourite techniques. 

Akogun broke himself free from the cave wall. His body levitated with amount of atmospheric energy flowing through him. Ifayemi's body levitated as well with electricity brimming in him. They clashed again. Exchanging devastating attacks and it went on for hours. They clashed in the air. Struck themselves down several times and continued their battle on the ground. Akogun had the upperhand in a hand to hand combat. He was more ferocious. He infused his attacked with the weight of gravity and strength of atmospheric energy. Ifayemi was keeping up with him. He switched between Sango's thunder and Ogun's iron to attack and defend. The cave began to cave in little by little due to the impact of their attacks. The ceiling cracked with every punch, jab, kick and throw they performed. 

Akogun believed he would get his moment to end the battle with one move but Ifayemi narrowly escaped such demise severally in their hotly contested battle. The son of Orunmila knew his attacks were not enough to harm Akogun but his aim was to tire his opponent mentally over time. Binary binding was only a deadly skill to combine with his enormous strength if he kept his wit. Ifayemi knew he was waiting for the right time to combine his powers but he was going to give him the chance. 

The decisive moment was drawing near. Akogun caught Ifayemi off guard with a powerful uppercut that threw him through the cave's ceiling. Ifayemi used Oya's shape-shifting to turn into a falcon mid-air and fly further into the sky. He flew high until he could feel the sun's touch. Akogun was wary of the impending threat that could emanate. He had given Ifayemi time to conjure something, a situation he did not wish to occur. He readied himself, his fingers twitching to bind him out of any sticky situation. 

Ifayemi reverted back to his human form after reaching the height he desired. He could use full incantation without being countered, being so far from Akogun. He capitalized on the opportunity he had created for himself. "Nti enu bawi lafefe ngbo!" (It is what the mouth sayeth that the wind hears), he yelled, wooing the atmosphere to his call, and it reacted. Atmospheric energy dispersed around him, and the sky reverberated with atmospheric shockwaves. "Aiye kole rin koja ki iku ma tele (Life cannot pass by without death on its trail). Agba Babalawo ko le kpofo ki ase ma se (An high ifa priest cannot incant and his will not be done). Bi Ile o le je ile ti omi ko ba si la be e (As the earth cannot be without water underneath it), ki oro mi o jekan pelu otito (let my words be one with reality). Gbomi (Listen), ki agbara emi papo momilara (let spirit power become one with my body). Ko ma yapa si bimosen jabo lati ofurufu, kosi tuka pelu ifaraya bimosenkan le (Let it increase as I fall from the sky, and let it disperse ferociously as I touch the ground). Ki gbogbo emi pare (Let all spirits perish)", Ifayemi incanted. 

He began to drop from the sky, spirit energy engulfing his body. The energy intensified and multiplied as he dropped rapidly, creating sonic booms in his wake. Akogun sensed something approaching from the sky above the cave, unsettling the atmosphere around him. "Arrrghh!" he screamed in pain, feeling his body burn. Ifayemi crashed into the cave, shattering its  attered and blowing it away on impact. Spirit energy exploded and dispersed fiercely, causing everything within a 50-mile radius to wither and die instantly. He looked around, seeing nothing but destruction. The trees and all life within the 50-mile radius had withered and died, but he could not find Akogun's body. His attack was more spiritual than physical, although his drop did pack an explosive punch. However, it was not enough to destroy Akogun's physical form.

One weakness of the ninth principle was its vulnerability to spiritual attacks, and Ifayemi capitalized on it. Nevertheless, he could sense something amiss and looked around for a few seconds, but Akogun's body was nowhere to be found. Suddenly, Akogun attacked Ifayemi from above. "You think you can defeat me?" Akogun said as he launched a kick from above. Ifayemi flipped back to dodge the attack. Akogun had realized that he was performing a spirit dive when he felt the burning sensation in his body, as only spirit energy could cause such harm. He had been anticipating Ifayemi's attempt to exploit this weakness. Before Ifayemi landed, Akogun inscribed the binary code of the 7th principle, Obara Meji, into the atmosphere to teleport himself away from the vicinity. He teleported back just before the binary binding wore out. 

Ifayemi was out to end the battle at this point. Akogun had the same intent as he was getting worn out mentally. "Let us end this", Ifayemi said. "Your end is all I see!", Akogun yelled. Ifayemi conjured a sword from the atmosphere with Ogun's ability and switched to Amadioha's inner lightning technique which gave him the ability to charge up the electricity within his nerves. It gave him the ability to move at lightning speed. In a second, he dealt a hundred slashes on Akogun's body who couldn't move a muscle. But all he suffered were bruises. 

Akogun was wary that Ifayemi could conjure spirit energy at any time with his silent incantation to deliver a deadly blow. With Amadioha's speed in Ifayemi's arsenal, he knew he was vulnerable. He quickly inscribed the third principle, Iwori Meji, into the atmosphere. It gave him foresight. He was no slouch when it comes to speed as well, thus with foresight, he could make Ifayemi's blows and end him with his own in ten seconds. He condensed air into sword and they went at each other again. Akogun kept parrying Ifayemi's lightning slashes as he could see them coming and he even launched attacks of his own which Ifayemi barely escaped with Amadioha's speed. It was a blistering few seconds. Akogun made the decisive move. He batted Ifayemi's sword away and froze the atmosphere around him. Ifayemi could not move a muscle. Akogun conjured explosive gas from a hundred mile radius of the atmosphere at an impossible speed. He compressed it into a shiny ball and directed it at Ifayemi from point blank range. Ifayemi couldn't break free. "If you can't stand with me then be gone!", Akogun yelled. He drove the ball into Ifayemi's chest. 

The explosion incinerated half of the forest. There was nothing but ashes. A massive crater the size of Ibadan was bored into the ground. There was nothing left of Ifayemi's body but ashes. 

Akogun knelt on both knees at the center of the black crater. He was broken by what he had done, but his resolve for what he must do mended him. He had a look of determination on his face as he rose to his feet. There and then, Ifayemi touched his shoulder. He turned to look at his face. It was as if he had seen a ghost. Ifayemi's fist was brimming with spirit energy, and he drove it into Akogun's chest. He spat out blood on impact and fell on both knees again. "How did you survive?" Akogun asked with a face of defeat. "I switched the fifth principle with the sixth principle when you teleported away to escape my spirit dive," Ifayemi said. Of course, Akogun thought. Ifayemi always had the upper hand because he could use Ifa variation to switch his principles during battle twice. He thought he could detect when he did it by watching the glow on his divination tray, but it skipped his mind that he was out of his sight for a few seconds during battle. The sixth principle allows the user to be reborn to the state they were before they died. It was an ability they could use only once in a full moon cycle, therefore once in battle. Akogun felt he had breached that gap in battle prowess with binary binding, but Ifayemi's greatest strength was his intelligence and calculation in battle, which he couldn't match due to his mental fatigue from the prolonged battle. 

"I should have sensed that you were still alive with my eight principles still active," Akogun responded. "Yes, but before you froze me, I released my breath into the atmosphere. I used a silent incantation to alter your perception, with the condition that it activates when the sixth principle activated upon my death. Your foresight was limited because you couldn't cope with combining the principles, so you failed to see me release my breath," Ifayemi said. "Your tenacity is truly remarkable. That blow is enough to kill anyone instantly. I hoped it would end like this because it is not my intention to kill you," Ifayemi said. 

Tears rolled down Akogun's eyes. "You will regret this. Mark my words," he said before falling flat on his face. He was weak. He raised his head suddenly with his willpower. He crawled slowly towards where his wife's body floated. "Abike, my wife," he called while weeping. Ifayemi shut his eyes in pity. He couldn't bear to watch Akogun in the sorrowful state that he was in. "End his life," Orunmila said softly, standing right beside Ifayemi, who was dazed by his presence. Then he wiped the surprise off his face; he knew what his father was capable of more than anyone. "Were you watching all this time?" Ifayemi asked. "You didn't say I could not watch," Orunmila responded with a stroke of his long white beard. "I don't want to end his life, father. He is only a victim of grief. He has done so much for the cause of Olodumare," Ifayemi said. "Today, you lost a brother and gained an enemy. He is consumed by grief to the point that he nearly condemned the world to destruction. There is no way back for him. Besides, everyone must suffer the consequences of their actions. For him, he has learned a dangerous technique. No prison can contain him, and if he masters it, this battle may end differently in the future. The soul of his wife will be lost for eternity after today. He will not forgive you for what you have deprived him of," Orunmila explained. 

"Even though, I must try for the sake of what we shared. We can separate his consciousness from his body, and with time, I can help his consciousness heal before making him whole again," Ifayemi appealed. "If you wish to go that far, then so be it," Orunmila responded. "Thank you, father," Ifayemi said. "I shall return the staff personally. Make sure you give his wife a proper burial," Orunmila said. "Certainly, father, certainly," Ifayemi responded. Akogun lay on the floor unconscious.