Chapter 26)

"Ngh!"

The three soldiers that Morant had summoned brought down their weapons with a heavy swing. Although the sudden attack made me flinch, I was able to just barely dodge their attacks, as it took the soldiers about a second to attack.

As I dodged, I could see Morant behind the three soldiers staring at me with a grin. Just by the short interaction I've had with him during this battle, I already knew he hated my guts, and just wanted to see me lose any way possible.

He would never see it happen.

I shifted my focus back on the three soldiers who were right in front me. The weapons they held were a spear, a sword, and a shield. They didn't seem to have any distinct facial features, and their bodies were emitting a green aura. 

I had no idea how I was going to be able to fight three soldiers, but I had to find a way or else things would end badly for me. 

Pushing myself forward, I moved to strike at the soldier holding the spear first. It seemed like a logical idea to get rid of the soldier who could hit me from a distance, so it would be best to get rid of him first.

To my surprise, the soldier holding the shield blocked my attack, standing in front of me just as I was about to cut the other soldier's body. He had knocked me off my balance by pushing his shield against me, shoving me back. I knew this would leave me vulnerable to an attack, so I had to brace myself and wait for the next move. 

The soldier holding the sword appeared to my right, readying himself to cut my stomach in half. With what little time I had to counter, I used my Essence Projection to create the rippling attack from my blade again. 

As I scraped my katana against the soldier's sword, the energy from the attack managed to knock them back a small distance, leaving me the ability to regain my stance against the other two soldiers. 

I knew now that the soldier with the shield was going to be the most annoying of the bunch, and getting rid of him would give me an advantage against the other two. Though, actually being able to hit him would be a problem, as his massive shield was able to cover most of his body, except for his head. 

That was really the only amount of space I needed. 

Before I could give the soldiers a chance to group up together again, I positioned myself as if I were about to strike the soldiers from a distance. I knew I couldn't pierce through the soldier's shield, so I had to make an accurate and swift slash to their head to be able to defeat them. 

Just as the soldier with the sword was sprinting back towards me, I pushed my right foot forward, launching my katana as I used Essence Projection to send a small slash to soldier's head. 

"Homing Star!"  I shouted, as the small portion of energy that was unleashed from my katana hurled itself at a lightning fast speed. The soldier had no chance to block it's head from the attack, as a split second after the energy was launched, the soldier's head was lopped off, falling to the floor as the soldier's body turned to a green flame, before vanishing completely. 

I looked back at Morant, who had a face full of utter distraught. I knew that I was doing everything that he believed would never be able to happen, and seeing him in disbelief almost made me laugh, which even to myself seemed a little weird. 

The two soldiers did not hesitate to sprint towards me, as I waited once more to launch an attack against them. Now that the soldier with the shield was gone, it would be a lot easier to get rid of the remaining two soldiers. 

The two soldiers leaped into the air, attempting to hit me from atop. I knew I wouldn't be able to dodge the long spear if I could, so I had to stand ground and block them with my katana above me head. 

The force from the two weapons managed to knock my knees to the ground as I was pushing them away with all the power I had to be able to. Surprisingly, the force was actually less than what Barsanti had put me against from his Essence Projection of wind. It seemed like that type of training was actually working in this scenario, as I found myself able to push my self back against the two weapons.

"HGHH!"

As I was able to muster myself from the ground and knock the two soldiers back, I could see Morant walking towards me from the distance with his sword in his hand.

"This ends now, Ogata. You may have found unusual power during this battle, but I no longer wish to lengthen this duel any longer. You've lost."