Chapter 27)

Morant continued to walk towards me, as the two soldiers behind him held their weapons ready to attack me at any moment. 

Behind Morant, I could see the flashes of the green flame from the deceased soldier I had cut the head off of, as the flame slowly rebuilt the shape of the soldier, before gradually fleshing out its body before returning back to its original state. As soon as the soldier had regenerated itself, it began to walk alongside the other two soldiers behind Morant.

Undead soldiers who can revive themselves from the dead? What more can this guy pull up from his ass?

I noticed Barsanti and Iris along the side of the grass field, watching as Morant slowly made his way towards my ground. 

"Hey, Barsanti!" I yelled, trying to get his attention. "Isn't this just supposed to be a duel?! Why is he actually trying to kill me?!"

"In an actual battle, you won't have the leisure of being able to actually quit!" Barsanti yelled back. "Besides, you're actually learning from this battle! Trust me, you won't actually die!"

Great, that sounds so reassuring as I three flaming soldiers and one psychopath actually trying to kill me. 

"You're a fool for leaving yourself open, Ogata!" Morant suddenly barged in, as I rapidly turned around to his blade right next to my neck. I had to focus energy on my blade to counter his crazed attack, which ended up in both of our swords cutting into the ground. Before I could get my sword up, Morant kicked me in the stomach, his foot engulfed in green flames, staggering me backwards into the ground. 

It felt like literal hell was inside of my stomach, as I could feel the intense heat from his kick inside my body, he was coming right back towards me to land another blow.

Fine, if he wants to play dirty, I'll have to get right back at him.

As Morant flung his blade towards my chest, I managed to twist my body around, my katana grazing his sword's blade just enough for it to not hit me. With the little time I had to hit him, I focused essence onto my fist, as I lunged forward with all my might to punch him in the chest. 

"Ough?!" He grunted, as the force from my punch sent him flying back, ultimately leaving him laying on the ground. I could see him struggling to get up, as he clenched the area where I had hit him with a tight fist. I saw this as a time to attack him again, before I quickly realized that the three soldiers Morant had were still trying to fight me.

The three soldiers, who were some distance behind Morant, had finally caught up to the both of us, as I could see them lifting their weapons to attack me again. They were side by side to each other, a perfect chance for me to land another attack on them to finish them off for a while.

"Waning Flash!" I yelled, as the staggering force from my blade created a rippling amount of essence, just enough for the energy to cut right through the soldiers bodies, leaving them scattered in the grass. It was only a matter of time before they would start regenerating again, so I began to run towards Morant, who was still trying to lift himself up when I had punched him.

"Who do you think you are, damnit...?" He shouted as I was still running towards him. "Who do you think you are...?!"

I leapt up from the ground, focusing energy onto my feet to boost me into the air as I swung my sword down, creating an abundant amount of energy alongside me. Crackling, dark red energy swallowed my katana, as the only thing I focused on was finally finishing Morant.

"I'LL KILL YOU, GOD DAMNIT I'LL KILL YOU! YOU WERE NEVER DESTINED TO BE THE HERO I WAS!"

He jumped up as large, green flames encircled his surrounding. His blade erupted with flames as well, as he quickly forged a stance, his sword low and ready to attack me when I was close. 

"HAGHHH!" We both yelled. As we came closer together, our swords began to clash and shake with intense fervor, as the pressure from our essence began to shake the ground. It was only a matter of time before one of us would end up killing the other.

"HNGHH!" We grunted, as we struggled intensely to press forward with our attacks. The energy around us slowly began to spark and flash to the point where I could practically only see Morant's face and blade and nothing else.

At that point, an explosion occurred between our two attacks, leaving us both in smoke, unable to tell what had happened.

It was only until I felt something on my hand that I knew what the outcome from our battle was.