The air warped around them, bending like molten glass. White sigils spiraled around Eiden in rapid, blinking patterns while green runes pulsed around Yajin like a steady, divine heartbeat. Their auras pressed against each other, distorting the very atmosphere.
Yajin grinned, all three eyes narrowing. "Let's see if you can keep up, Eiden."
Eiden raised both blades, his white aura swirling like a burgeoning storm, and then they vanished. A thunderous crack split the air as they reappeared mid-charge, blades colliding in a violent burst of white and green radiance. The shockwave blasted outward, flattening the dead grass in a perfect ring as sparks of divine energy scattered like falling meteors.
Yajin swung the Sword of Judgement in a brutal arc, but Eiden flash-stepped aside, reappearing behind him in a blink. His katana slashed across Yajin's back, leaving a burning trail of light down his spine.
Yajin snarled, "Shit—!" He spun, swinging his massive blade with enough force to split a mountain, but Eiden ducked beneath the strike. The wind of the blade ripped a trench into the earth behind him, but Eiden remained untouched. He countered instantly, thrusting the longsword along his arm toward Yajin's ribs.
Yajin blocked with the flat of his blade, sparks exploding between them. "Spells won't save you," he growled. "This blade nullifies everything."
Eiden smirked. "Who said I'd use spells?"
He vanished again. Yajin's three eyes darted around, searching the haze. "Where the hell—"
Suddenly, three identical Eidens appeared around him—left, right, and behind—moving in perfect synchronization. Yajin snarled at the "cheap tricks" and swung through the left clone, which dissolved into light. But the right clone slashed his thigh, drawing glowing green blood. Yajin roared, cleaving the right clone in half, but the real Eiden appeared behind him, his katana already descending.
Steel met divine steel. Sparks flew as Eiden pressed forward, pushing Yajin back step by step. Yajin's aura flared violently. "ENOUGH!"
A burst of green energy blasted Eiden away, but he flipped mid-air and landed on his feet. As Yajin charged with a downward strike, Eiden crossed his blades, catching the blow cleanly. The force sent him sliding backward, his heels carving deep trenches into the earth.
"You hit like a child," Eiden gritted out.
"And you bleed like anyone else," Yajin countered.
The fight devolved into a blur of speed. Eiden used five clones to circle Yajin, opening small cuts across his limbs. Yajin roared, "SHOW YOURSELF!" and Eiden descended from above like a falling star. The impact detonated like a bomb, sending shockwaves across the plains and staggering Yajin.
They clashed mid-air, neither giving ground. Eiden slashed Yajin's chest; Yajin punched Eiden's ribs. The shockwave sent Eiden to the dirt, but he shot back up instantly, driving a knee into Yajin's jaw. They landed together in a crater of shattered stone.
"You're… starting to piss me off," Yajin muttered, rising slowly. He slammed his free hand into the ground, and emerald spires lanced upward in a jagged circle, but Eiden cut through them as if they were glass.
"Hold still!" Yajin snarled, launching an Emerald Barrage of light spears. Eiden flash-stepped through the storm, his white sigils flaring as he redirected his momentum at impossible angles. He reappeared above Yajin for a "Celestial Descent," his blades crashing down.
Yajin intercepted the strike, his arms trembling. "You're slowing down," Eiden noted.
Yajin's veins crawled with green light. "Then I'll stop holding back." He activated his "Tri-Sight Severance." The world dimmed and frozen lines of green light traced the air, marking paths only Yajin could see. He moved with sharpened speed, his blade carving through space, but Eiden refused to retreat. He stepped directly into the predicted path, twisting his body so the Sword of Judgement passed within a hair's breadth of his chest. His katana carved across Yajin's forearm, fracturing the lines of prediction.
Eiden pressed the advantage. High, low, diagonal—his rhythm was relentless. Cuts opened across Yajin's shoulder, thigh, and ribs.
"I'M NOT LOSING TO YOU!" Yajin screamed, reaching toward the sky. An emerald point ignited in the clouds. Eiden ignored the omen, slipping inside Yajin's guard to drive a knee into his gut before carving two deep, burning lines across his torso.
Yajin staggered, gasping. His grip faltered, and the Sword of Judgement hit the ground with a heavy thud. He fell to his knees. Eiden approached, planting his katanas into the earth and grabbing Yajin by the hair, pulling his head back to embed the longsword through his chest.
Yajin winced, but a faint, bloody chuckle escaped him. "You… should've watched the skies…"
A streak of green light tore down from the heavens, striking Eiden with brutal force and knocking him onto his back. The weapon snapped back into the sky in a flash. Eiden exhaled sharply, tearing a glowing blade from his own side and flinging it away. He forced himself upright, his aura flickering like broken lightning.
Yajin watched from his knees, his three eyes wide with disbelief that Eiden was still moving. Eiden dragged his arm, the embedded longsword carving a glowing line through the dirt. When he reached Yajin, he lifted his free blade and delivered a clean, final impact to Yajin's forearm.
The force made Yajin's posture collapse. His head dropped forward, the life leaving his stance. His aura sputtered in weak, uneven pulses.
Yajin let out a low, rattling exhale—half-laugh, half-groan. "You… You are a traitor…" He paused, a tremor shaking his frame. "I once saw you as a friend."
The words hung in the silence. Yajin's body swayed once, then collapsed fully, his strength spent upon the shattered earth.