"What the.. what is happening," he muttered. However, he couldn't hear his own voice, rather he could only hear the sound of a child crying.
'It's the same voice.'
Kazami's vision slowly began to clear up, but what stood before him wasn't Esmeray, but rather a little boy. He was crying under a single warm light as heavy snowfall covered his body.
The image flashed before him momentarily before flashing back to grainy, bread-like texture and slashed a chunk of Kazami's bangs.
"Agh!!" He winced, feeling the full pressure of Esmeray's attack.
His eyes shifted to the left side of his vision, his health bar was slowly dropping down into the yellow zone.
Esmeray licked his lips expectantly.
Kazami spun his body sideways along the edge of the bread sword in an attempt to get closer to his foe. However, his approach was instantly met with a blunt counter attack from the shield, knocking him backwards into a roll.
"That's insane; he's so fast," Kazami murmured through bated breath.
His opponent smirked vilely and dashed towards him, initiating another flurry of attacks.
As he took the last strike of Esmeray's twelve-strike combo, Kazami followed up with a skill deployment: "Level 5 deployment, guard technique, Coiling Choke!"
Kazami's blade quickly twisted its form like it was made of clay, warping around his body to create a defensive iron coil. The tip of the blade continued to wrap around him, eventually looping back towards his foe.
With a metallic shriek, the sword skill left a green trail of light before it struck the centre of his shield. Esmeray stumbled back slightly, pulling his shield off of the sword. It was the first time during the battle that he was able to push him back.
Kazami grunted, 'It feels like I just hit a stone wall. How can jelly be so damn hard.' He groaned, his hand becoming numb from the impact. He was still reeling.
'I couldn't completely pierce the shield, but I felt the feeling of having penetrated his defence. I just need to focus all my attacks on a single point, rather than having them come from different angles.'
Esmeray's health points were reduced slightly, but not enough to decide the fight. The battle was far from over.
"Impressive reaction time… And you were able to damage me." Esmeray shook his head and sighed. "And here I thought I'd be going home unsatisfied."
"More like your defence is too damn tough…" Kazami muttered through gritted teeth, taken over by the adrenaline of battle.
Esmeray charged at him once again, tucking his body behind his shield.
'Tch! He's gonna try and ram into me!' Kazami cast a glance at his sword and gripped its hilt tight. '
It's now or never!'
"Level 1 deployment, amplification technique, Matrix Shift."
The Sentinel Edge shone brightly under the moonlight as radiant energy spilt from Kazami's hands and changed its shape.
The blade of the Sentinel Edge extended forward, as did its hilt, its cylindrical grip lengthening into another blade. The blades of the weapon straightened themselves, now resembling that of a Tsurugi, a double-edged sword.
Gripping the weapon from its middle, Kazami spun it around like the blades on a windmill before returning to his fighting stance.
"Level 6 Deployment, Counter Technique: Twin Headed Trap."
At his command, the blades quivered, like serpents awakening from their slumber. The steel of the blade shot out from each end of the sword, its movements weaving a tapestry of gleaming metal—creating the illusion of a labyrinth.
As the metal bent and stretched, the blades of the weapon whispered incoherently, mimicking the sound of wind chimes, it had its own voice, humming its deadly song.
Kazami's Leere moved, a living being, almost like a celestial dancer performing a ballet of destruction.
"I can hear it," he said amidst a flurry of slashes.
"Something is speaking to me."
The twin blades, coiled and twisted through the air, their paths intertwining and diverging, creating a mesmerising yet perilous maze.
To his adversary, the very fabric of reality had shifted, trapping him in an ever-shifting web of steel and light.
Esmeray pushed forcefully against the brunt of the attack, sending sparks and the echoes of grinding metal flying throughout the cave's moonlit walls. Each blow was traded at blinding speeds with a surgeon's precision.
Every attack that came from Kazami's double-ended sword was perfectly blocked and parried by the gelatinous shield, and each thrust he made for his head was swiftly countered away by the steeled edge of his blade.
He grunted. 'That's insane; he's even capable of parrying counter techniques.'
With each clash of their blades, the arena lit up with flashes of light that appeared and disappeared. Every once in a while, a minor blow made it through Kazami's defence, chipping away slowly but surely at his HP reserves.
He couldn't block everything, and he knew that if this kept up, he would fall first. He had to land a clean hit and break through Esmeray's defences.
With unrelenting swordplay from both sides, the two players kept up a steady torrent of strikes and parries, showing no hesitation in their deadly dance. Kazami's thoughts raced with each swing of his sword, each one a frantic effort to get closer to the truth of this world.
'Ukiyo, Hoyeon—one or not, I hurt her.' His blade hesitated a fraction. 'No more hiding.' The old cowardice flickered; he pressed it down.
Taking advantage of his negligence to the fight, Esmeray drove his bread blade through Kazami's guard, aimed at his shoulder.
As the blade punctured his digital flesh, he was once again shown a vision of a boy crying under the moonlight. The image became more vivid, as if he was watching the scene through a telescope.
The boy sat under a streetlamp, his body trembling from the cold winter air. Snow fell heavily around him, muffling his cries. His thin frame shivered uncontrollably; his hunger was evident in his hollow cheeks and gaunt appearance.
The snowflakes settled on his ragged clothes, soaking through and intensifying his chill. With desperate eyes, the boy reached his hand towards the full moon, his fingers trembling as he whispered, "Please, someone take away this hunger."
As the vision faded, Kazami's focus snapped back to the battle.
He was greeted by the sting of cold 'not-quite steel' as crystals of blood digitised and evaporated from where his skin had been broken. Kazami gritted his teeth and groaned in pain, sweat dripping from his forehead.
Right now, he couldn't afford to care about his mental turmoil. He had to focus, choosing to swallow his guilt and regrets. Letting go of the memories of his life momentarily, he felt his body lightening in exhilaration.
This was the first time he had faced such a strong opponent since being trapped in the Dusk Protocol. Every encounter thus far was against mobs whose attack patterns could easily be predicted after trial and errors. Esmeray, on the other hand, was unlike anything he had experienced before.
Free from his mental burdens, Kazami was now able to concentrate on the fine movements of his body. As his focus and precision deepened, the speed and power of his attacks began to rise.
"I'm not done yet! I have to win! No matter the cost!"
In a single moment, Kazami released every ounce of strength at his disposal, drowning his blade with savagery red.
Disregarding the searing pain in his shoulder, the flurry of blades intensified as the HP of both parties continued to decrease. However, Kazami's health seemed to be dropping significantly faster.
"Tch," the older looking man muttered, breaking his smile. His brow furrowed as he felt Kazami's attacks becoming heavier with each repeated strikes. "Is this your second wind, boy? How charming. But it won't save you."
'What was that? Did he slow down?' Kazami became frustrated again. 'Stop thinking and get doing!'
In an instant, he switched his stance, bringing his sword horizontally across his chest, and launched an assault with his sword: "Level 7 Deployment, Rush Technique Wind Slithering Stroke!"
The face of the double-sided blade began to emanate a blue energy, which slowly became brighter and brighter, eventually creating an illusion of twin cobras rushing towards their prey, Esmeray.
Kazami dashed alongside the illusion, aiming to hide himself to launch a sneak attack on his opponent.
However, as he got closer, he felt a sudden flash of pain in his left shoulder. Without even moving, his foe had countered the attack, driving his blade straight through Kazami's other shoulder.
He cried out as he felt his knees beginning to lose strength. Esmeray looked down on him, knelt closer and whispered in his ear.
"For a moment there I thought you had a plan; I was foolish to think that you could entertain me." His usual smirk crept its way back onto his face as he pulled back.
"You should have kept to your original plan and kept up your defences. Though it wouldn't have made much of a difference anyway, it would have at least bought you more time to ponder your life before the end."
Esmeray swiftly pulled his sword from its place in Kazami's shoulder, dragging specks of digitised blood and flesh with it, causing him to fall to his knees.
"Looks like this was the last course on your menu."
As he began to raise his jelly-like shield high above his head, the moon's reflection shone through its transparent shape, and its form began to alter and expand itself.
Not before long, the shield had completely changed its shape, becoming longer and thinner, like a nail to be hammered into a cut of timber. Its long, pointed shadow loomed over Kazami's head as the moonlight shone through it, drowning the environment in a pinkish-red veil.
Despite being made of jelly, the nail was sharp, and its impressive size would probably even allow it to penetrate a whale.
It hung in the air directly above Kazami's head, its form swaying softly in the stillness of the night sky. Esmeray reached for the nail and gripped it tightly, preparing to put the nail through his opponent's skull.
With all the strength he had left, Kazami lowered his head and began mumbling quieter than a whisper.
"Hm? What was that, dear boy? Are you saying your final words?" He teased, putting one hand to his ear to try and hear Kazami better.
"Don't worry; I'll make sure to relay them to Mai-sama for you. You should be alive enough to speak just a bit louder for me, right?" He laughed before leaning closer.
"Yo…," he murmured. "You…"
"I… I what? Hmm?" Esmeray mocked, slowly growing impatient.
"You… You forgot about dessert, you freaky bastard!" He shouted before slamming his head squarely against his foe, catching him completely off guard.
"Ugh!" Esmeray cried, losing his composure.
He'd been waiting this whole fight for his opponent's cockiness to make him slip up, and he'd just given Kazami the opening he wanted
Springing to a standing position, he prepared himself for a follow-up attack, his head still ringing with screaming pain from where he had been wounded prior.
With lightning-fast speed, he drew his blade back to generate momentum in his swing.
Bending his body low, he dashed forward like a gale, slamming his weapon's flat edge against Esmeray's body, using the remainder of his strength to put as much momentum as he could behind his swing.
"Nine, eight, seven…" Kazami mumbled the cooldown of his stance change. "Six, five, four…"
Esmeray, now somewhat recovered, raised the jelly nail above his head to impale Kazami. The nail did not hit its mark, instead landing in the boy's left shoulder once more.
He bit his lip as a familiar searing pain spread throughout his body again, feeling each and every tear of his skin. Esmeray had hoped to disrupt his opponent's momentum, but his attack could not stop what was already in motion.
"Three, two, one…"
A flashing white light enveloped Kazami's blade before bending its shape. The steel coiled and retracted into a shorter, more compact blade, but its edge became broader and thicker to deal maximum damage.
Kazami swung his blade upwards at the man with pinpoint accuracy at point-blank range, an attack that he thought would surely decide the match.
"Ughh…" Esmeray groaned, holding his chest, now aware of the predicament he was in. His face was wrought with shock.
"You should have taken your own advice… and stayed on the defensive side," Kazami jeered through ragged breaths. He let out a fierce battle cry before moving to spear his enemy' chests.
He was still stunned by the surprise counterattack, would be unable to counter it. Or at least, that was what he wanted him to believe.
His eyes rolled to meet Kazami's. "Careful what you wish for, boy… Things don't always go as planned…" Esmeray muttered through a smirk.
With the snap of his finger, a red light began to shine from beneath Kazami. A colour that resembled the deep red of fresh blood. An explosion roared from below, knocking him a few feet backwards.
Blood flowed from the open cuts littered around Kazami's body as his health drained into the red zone. He groaned in pain as the ringing in his ears continued.
Kazami looked down at his body as he lay flat on the rough, rocky surface of the cave, examining the various wounds he had collected from this battle, including several burn marks that had burned through his clothes, exposing blackened, ashen skin.
He lolled his head back and tried to steady his breathing and regain focus.
"You really thought that would work?" Esmeray murmured, his smile even more intense than before.
"Did you enjoy that? It was a course straight out of a God's Menu. Level 3 deployment, guard technique: Frosted Frenzy Mine."