Flow

< Upgrade has been approved. God System Ability unlocked: Flow >

A well of energy forced its way up from beneath Jun's feet and gushed upwards toward the sky.

"Oh, what is this?!" said Jun. He could feel energy rushing throughout his very being - it felt like he WAS energy at this point.

This...this rush is incredible! He thought.

"What is the meaning of this??" Athos yelled out as he watched Jun get absorbed into the energy.

The light slowly faded and revealed Jun, bent over forwards looking at his hands. His eyes were glowing from the infusion of energy. He could feel that something was different.

< Upgrade finalized. Slayer Satori Jun, your connection has been strengthened and you may use your new ability >

Jun fully stood up and looked at his sword as if he was analyzing it for the first time. "Flow..." He whispered to himself.

"It matters not, I'm ending this now." Athos said as he held his newly formed double bladed sword out in front of him. "Behold the power of Phantom, Ravager of the Wicked!"

A white glow cloaked over both of the blades, but Jun felt no spike in energy as it did so. Be ready for anything, Jun thought.

Jun took his sword stance and instinctively went to sheathe his sword until he remembered it was blasted somewhere else moments ago. Not to mention, his sword arm was injured from the dagger. He tossed his sword to his left hand instead.

Using your non-dominant hand? You might as well just give up now, Athos thought. Your technique will suffer and not to mention your sheathe is gone. The odds are very much against you now, swordsman.

Athos took off towards Jun and this time in a zigzag pattern to throw him off. Jun held his sword out in front of him as he locked onto Athos's quick speed. He knew if he even blinked he would instantly lose track of him.

Calm yourself, Jun. He thought. There's no telling if he can increase his speed even more, so I have to just track him as best I can. Focus. Sharpen your blade. A dull blade will only bring misfortune. Harness that feeling at the back of your mind...harness flow!

Athos swung his double ended sword at Jun which he was able to clearly see the whole time. Jun reactively parried the sword.

Athos quickly used the momentum from the rebound to swing the bottom blade up towards Jun's right side.

"Shit!" Jun yelled as he forced every muscle to swing his blade to meet Athos's as quick as possible. With a margin of mere milliseconds, Jun was able to barely catch up to the next attack. Right before the swords clashed, the blade of Athos's sword suddenly vanished as it swung right through Jun's blade.

"Was...that supposed to happen?" Jun said confused.

"It can take a second sometimes." Athos replied.

"For what-"

Out of nowhere, Jun was suddenly slashed across his back from a blind spot attack.

"What..the.." The damage was even more so because Jun was unguarded against the attack so he felt every inch of it. He fell forward on one knee as the pain seeped in.

Athos stood before him with a smirk on his face. "And there it is."

What was that attack?? Jun thought. He could feel the pain radiating from his back as well as the deep sting of the holy energy.

"Phantom is unlike any other blessed weapon. See this energy?" He held up his sword to show the white energy it was cloaked in. "As long as it's coated in this particular energy, it can swing between dimensions."

"It can WHAT?" Jun asked, surprised.

"At anytime I can swing my sword and the blade will enter a special dimension that only it can, allowing the blade to re-enter our dimension during the same attack from any place I wish. In this case, I had my swing re-enter from behind you."

"But...where is the-" Jun stopped as he saw the blade was now back on the sword. "How did it do that?" Jun asked as he tried to buy time to recover what little he could. All angels loved to talk about themselves he had learned by now.

"Think of the sword like a homing beacon. After the attack, it dissipates into energy and reforms on the sword."

Athos held his blade up with the bottom pointing straight down at Jun. "But I think that's enough stalling. Now feast, Phantom." He plunged the sword straight down towards Jun.

Move Jun! Move!! He yelled in his mind as he tried to force his weakened body off the ground before the final blow landed.

< Flow >

"Gah!" Athos suddenly fell over forwards as a streak of yellow fluid flew through the air from his chest.

"W-what?!" Athos called out. His eye flew to his peripheral as he saw Jun with his back to him several feet away and his sword held up high as if he had just finished a swing.

Jun looked most surprised of all.

"Wait..how did I..." He mumbled to himself.

Athos caught himself with his sword before falling to the ground. He looked down at his chest and saw a nice deep cut all the way across his chest that was leaking the angelic yellow blood.

I don't understand, I had him down on the ground while he writhe in pain! Athos thought. How did he just vanish AND swing his sword?? I...I didn't see any of it...

"Ugh!" Jun's back throbbed and made him buckle slightly. "That's a nasty attack of his...I definitely can't take anymore of that. A dimension cutting blade? And he said I was cheating."

Jun turned to face Athos as he did the same.

"You're just full of surprises, Satori Jun. Such an attack with your left hand no less." Athos said with venom.

What Athos didn't know was that Jun was ambidextrous when it came to wielding a sword - he had been trained at an early age to be equally proficient with both hands.

Right before his blade came upon me I heard that voice again, Jun thought. It said..."Flow". That's the ability it gave me. Perhaps that was what just happened...I'll have to try it again to be sure.

Jun chuckled as a bead of sweat ran down the side of his forehead. With that ability of his, his attacks could truly come from any angle, he thought. But seems like I might have something quite handy as well.

"Testing out a new ability during a life and death battle. Jayden's idiocy might be rubbing off on me."

The final curtain was about to finally drop on their battle as it was about to enter its most intense phase yet.