Chapter Twenty-Three: Makuta and Makuta

Icarax stared at Gali with a malicious gaze. The Toa was deep in concentration, grappling with a decision or her own powers. Perhaps both.

“I must thank you, Toa Nuva,” Icarax gloated. “The battle was everything I hoped for. Sure, the Toa Nuva never stood a chance against me. But you do prove to be quite the challenge, I admit, especially considering you’ve never legitimately battled a Makuta before. And you learn quite fast.”

“Yes, we’ve learned a lot,” Gali grunted. “Many lessons we only had to hear once. Others had to be relearned. A few times. But there’s only one that never seems to stick.”

Icarax sneered. “Which was that?”

“The lesson of defeat.”

A torrent of unfettered ocean erupted from Gali, a maelstrom with the power to flatten all things in its path. As Icarax rushed for cover, he noted that she had risked the lives of her comrades in her single-minded determination to defeat him and obtain the Staff of Artakha.

She would make a fine Makuta yet, Icarax smiled.

“Your demonstration was quaint,” Icarax shouted over the roar, “But I just had my armor polished, and I’d prefer not to get too wet. Until next time, Toa!”

With that, he at once teleported to Mahri Nui…

…and somehow got drenched anyway.

The water did not seep into his airtight armor, but it still manages to thoroughly ruin Icarax’s mood. The instant change in pressure combined with the instant tingling of the Pit mutagen at once alerted him that he would have to leave quickly. There was no telling how Teridax hopes to survive down here, but Icarax knew he had only a limited amount of time until even his existence as gas provides no protection.

Teridax must have realized the same thing because he wasted little time in tracking Icarax down. As the latter waited near Mahri Nui, he soon spotted the approach of a powerful Maxilos robot—evidently Teridax’s answer to Pit mutagen. Somehow unsurprising was the presence of a Toa of Ice at his side.

Icarax handed the Staff to him. The Maxilos head betrayed no emotion as he tested it in his grasp. Satisfied, he attached it in a secure position on his back.

There were no words exchanged. There was no need. Both had known each other for hundreds of thousands of years and disliked each other for nearly as long. And it was with a nod that Teridax indicated the exchange was over.

And as Icarax summoned his energies to teleport back, and as the world fell away around him, he noticed a familiar hulking green and purple figure approaching, whirling and hurling his fiery chains to strike at Makuta. Icarax couldn’t help but smile.

So that’s where Karzahni’s been all this time.