Chapter 24)

Alright, so what are my options to survive an attack that is definitely going to kill me? 

Well, I could just wing it and try to block whatever comes from his sword with mine, but i'm pretty sure with the amount of flames emitting from his sword that the attack will be too big for me to guard against. Check that one off the list.

I can try and just evade the attack altogether, but I have no idea how fast it's going to be. I know I can at least somewhat hold myself against his quick attacks, but whatever is coming next has to be faster than before. Scratch that one off.

It wasn't until just now when I had seconds to remember what Barsanti taught me earlier today. I'm pretty sure I got the hang of the whole Essence Projection thing, but I wasn't sure how I could use that to hold up against Morant. Maybe I could focus my essence onto my sword. This was the first time I had tried something like this, but it was worth a shot to survive. 

"This is the end, so called 'hero'! Disappear from this world!" I could hear Morant shout, but I didn't really care what he had to say in the short moment I had to infuse my essence into my katana. It was a strange feeling, sort of like getting goosebumps all over your body, but right after that feeling left, I could see the strange energy that was in my hands earlier.

It caused my blade to pulse with dark red energy, like electric bolts snapping across my sword. Looking at my blade felt like looking at your phone for too long, it strained my eyes and I shifted my eyes towards Morant, who looked like he was ready to finish me off right about now.

"Reaping Swirl!" Morant shouted, his voice echoing. I had no idea what Reaping Swirl meant. Maybe it was some sort of name for an attack? I should probably give my attack a name too, if I can think of one.

Morant launched his large sword forward, creating a large circle of green flames to fly towards me. It was actually terrifying to look at, as a large amount of green, flaming skulls pierced me with their hollow eyes, their mouths wide open as if to swallow me whole. 

No way I would let that happen.

As I could see the green flames come closer and closer, I shifted my stance and held my katana up high. Hell if I knew any proper ways of holding a sword, or using magical powers to defend myself, but I couldn't just die like that. I wouldn't let myself die like that.

I waited just until I could feel the intense heat of the flames up against my skin. It was scorching, I thought I would pass out from the heat any moment now, but it was the perfect time to attack, I knew it was. 

Lashing my sword downwards, the intense crackling and pulsing from my katana suddenly bursted forward, a ray of black and red energy forcing itself from my blade, the sound it made was like something you'd hear from a speaker with the bass on max, it was so loud I swear I would go deaf. 

"Waning Flash!" I shouted. I came up with the name in the brink of the moment, but I thought it sounded pretty cool. The name sort of resembled what had unleashed from my sword, a curved, intense amount of energy that rivaled Morant's attack. The tip of the curve was covered in the electrifying red energy, but the other energy that surrounded it was almost pitch black, like a shadow was covering it, but I knew just from staring at it that it was an almost strange amount of energy. 

A screeching sound emerged when our attacks collided. It sounded haunting, like a million souls screaming in terror. I thought I was going insane, but I had realized that that sound was from the flaming skulls that began to disintegrate from the amount of pressure. 

I couldn't tell where Morant was between all of this. For all I know he could of been behind me the moment he unleashed his attack, and he was waiting for me to turn around and look at my face with satisfaction. Letting him get the better of me was something I wasn't going to let happen, but surviving this was my priority.

A short moment passed before I could tell that somehow, in someway, that I was actually winning this encounter. The flaming skulls of the attack began to disappear into the sky one after another, and the energy from my attack began to push forward, engulfing the green flames into itself. Was it getting stronger? I had no idea.

It was only until the screeching sounds of the skulls faltered did I realize that I survived the attack. I couldn't feel the heat from the flames anymore, just the intense amount of pressure that was between me and Morant. Once the final flames from his attack died out, the energy from my attack flew forward into the distance, exploding in the sky like a firework. It was amazing to look at. 

I could finally see Morant as the explosion of my attack created a sudden burst of wind flying towards both of us. He looked completely perplexed, like everything that could of went wrong had gone wrong. 

"Y-you...!" He sputtered, gripping his sword so hard that it looked like it was shaking in his hand.

"I think it's time we finished this already, Morant."