Chapter 30)

"Slow down, Iris!" I yelled, as I had to sprint to keep up with her. It seemed as though she was just jogging, but her speed was fast.

"We can't waste any time if we are going to save these people! I heard screams at the end of the alley, if we aren't there soon the nightmares will kill the survivors!" Iris said.

Nearing the end of the alley, it was apparent that a group of people were trying their hardest to keep the nightmares away, as I could see them taunting and mimicking the small group. 

"I got this! Stand back, Ogata!" Iris shouted, as she leapt from the alleyway. The nightmares turned towards her with their claws ready to attack. Stopping the first nightmare in her path with her eye, she prepared to slash them her sword.

"Blind reach!" She said, as her sword began to illuminate with essence. As she swung her sword, a large amount of essence created the shape of a blade, making her reach even farther than it was. 

With her long blade, she was able to slice the heads of all four nightmares in her path, as their black particles all instantly fled into the air. 

"Ogata, go into the next alleyway! I heard people screaming, I'll help these people find cover!" Iris told me, as she began to find the people cover from the nightmares. 

"Got it!" I said, as I began to run into the alleyway, beginning to hear the screams of the people. 

The sky above me was starting to become crowded with dark clouds, shadowing the blue sky and sun and leaving the area in a gloomy darkness. The dark atmosphere made it difficult to see through the darkness, but I had to fight through it.

As I ran through the alleyway, I could see a man and a woman who were trying to flee from a group of nightmares.  Preparing to unleash my sword, I readied my attack.

"Waning Slash!" I yelled, as the concentrated essence from my sword crackled, cutting through the nightmares with ease, killing them instantly. 

Unfortunately I had used a little too much power in the attack, as from the aftermath I noticed that I caused some damage to the buildings nearby. Not thinking too much of it, I moved in to assure that the people I had saved were safe.

"Are you okay?" I asked them, as they began to nod without saying anything. 

"Alright, well let me help you guys-"

"Behind you!" The woman said, as I could feel a powerful burst of wind reach behind my back. Instinctively parrying whatever had attacked me with my sword, I turned around and knocked it back.

"Run! Get out of here quickly!" I told the couple, as they began to run the opposite way of where the nightmare had attacked me from, which was enormous. 

Almost the size of one of the buildings in the area, it's large hand tried to attack me from behind, but luckily due to it being slow, I was able to react quick enough and dodge it.

"Alright big guy, it's time for round two!" I yelled as I began to run towards the giant nightmare, roaring as it swung towards my body. 

Dodging the nightmare's claws, I was able to leap onto its arm using essence to boost me. Cutting into its skin, it screeched in terror, trying to flick me off as if I were some sort of small mosquito that had bitten it. 

Running towards the nightmare's shoulder, I made my way towards its neck where I was going to attack it from. 

Leaping into the air and facing the nightmare's front, I readied my sword to unleash a huge amount of essence.

"Homing Star!" I yelled, as the essence from my sword began to cut away at the nightmare's thick neck. Roaring in pain, the nightmare picked at the essence that surrounded his neck, as I fell down towards the ground, dodging the nightmare's erratic movements due to the wound I had given it.

Almost as if harboring a deep hatred towards me, it gave up trying to release the essence from its neck, and instead the massive nightmare began to bellow, as a beam of darkness erupted from its mouth.

Knowing that trying to block the nightmare's attack would kill me, I had to run around its body in order to evade its attack, which seemed to follow my every move. It felt like hell was right behind my back wherever I went as the nightmare's attack had finally ended.

Its neck was noticeably weakened due to my previous attack, and I knew that I would have to slash it from there one more time to defeat the nightmare once and for all, but getting back up towards its neck was going to be difficult, as the nightmare kept swinging its hands and trying to stomp me flat.

I knew I had to injure one of the nightmare's other body parts, so I began to ready my sword to slash it's hand.

"Waning Slash!" I shouted, as the essence from my blade instantly cut off the nightmare's arm, unleashing thick amounts of black particles into the sky. 

Roaring in pain, the nightmare began to cover its wound, as I knew that this was my only opportunity to attack its neck.

Running up towards the nightmare's arm, I made my way up its shoulder again as I stood atop its back, jumping into the air and moving my sword in the sky.

"Homing Star!" I yelled for the last time, as the essence from my blade was just enough to cut the nightmare's head cleanly in half, as its body tumbled downwards into the ground, before the nightmare began to burst into black particles, disappearing into the air. 

"Haah... Hahh..." Panting from the amount of energy it took to defeat the nightmare, I used my sword to support my body to regain my composure. 

After regaining my energy, I figured that I would go support Iris again, as she must have been still helping the group of people she had saved.

Running back into the alleyway, I hurried towards Iris, as the sky became darker and darker as time passed.