Luis vs Ace, Part 1

As my katana collides with Ace's Cursed Power, I can feel all of his bloodlust… his hatred benign directed towards me. This…must be what Nick meant when he said that advanced users of Cursed Power Burst can impose their will into their attacks, and not just their Burst.

"Things could have been different, you know," I say through grit teeth, struggling to golf my ground against Ace. "You could have joined the Slayer Organization instead of following an evil man. But now…you've gone too far. You assaulted me, kidnapped me, hurt my friends, took Ella's eye, forced me to kill Nick, harmed my family, and worse of all…YOU KILLED MY CAT YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

"I love that gleam in your eyes, Luis Tramontana!" Ace bellows. "You aren't here out of any duty as a Pro Slayer, or a desire to protect your friends. You're here because you love the battle, and you can't get enough. It gets your blood pumping, doesn't it?!"

"I'm here to stop King and your goals as a Pro Slayer," I answer. "But I'm here to fight you out of revenge. Not as a Pro Slayer, not as the Blue Demon, as Luis Tramontana! I'm going to kill you, Ace! As of right now…that's the only reason I got as strong as I did!"

"Then use your anger to strike me down, Luis Tramontana!" Ace cackles as he retracts his sword away from mine, and brings it into the air. Ace then slices his Cursed Power blade downwards, and I counter by spinning around and slicing my blade towards Ace, then thrusting my katana towards his gut, to which Ace blocks with his Cursed Power sword.

"What's up with this new sword?" I ask through grit teeth, still struggling against Ace's Cursed Power blade.

"This is my Cursed Ability; Blacksmith," Ace answers. "By using it, I can construct any weapon that I desire out of my Cursed Power. It's about ten times as strong as when I simply reinforce my bamboo sword with my Cursed Power."

"So you mean to tell me that you fought me, fought Nick, and fought my friends… all without using your Cursed Ability?" I ask.

"Exacalty," Ace answers.

"Well then…I can't afford to hold back," I reply, causing Ace's singular eye to widen. "Blue Demon."

A rush of dark blue Cursed Power explodes out of my body, sending Ace flying away from me as I enter my Blue Demon form. In response, Ace quickly scrambles to his feet and activates his own Cursed Power Burst, and our two Cursed Powers begin to battle it out, struggling for dominance, Ace's light blue against my dark blue. Ace directs all of his determination and deviation towards me, while I direct all of my hatred and bloodshed towards him. The trees around us sway and the ground beneath our feet shatters, due to the intense pressure. Our two Cursed Power Bursts cancel each other out completely.

The signal for our final battle to begin.

"Wind Control: Wind Blade!" I shout as I prepare my Wind Blade then recklessly charge Ace out of anger, bloodlust oozing out of every pore in my body.

In response, Ace reinforces his Cursed Power sword with even more Cursed Power and slashes towards me horizontally as I slash my Wind Blade towards Ace vertically, our two swords clashing again.

But Ace's sword is able to overpower my own, this will imposed in his sword overwhelming my regular Cursed Power, and Ace knocks my sword away from him, before snap-kicking me in the chest, sending my stumbling backwards. "Be gone from my sight," Ace orders as he clutches his Cursed Power sword tightly between both of his hands, then slices it towards me, sending shockwaves of Cursed Power and air flying towards me and slamming into me, sending me flying backwards dozens of feet. My back then slams into a tree behind me, causing my vision to go back as I see stars. When I can see again, I look up to see that Ace has leaped into the air above me, and is currently in the midst of falling towards me.

Ace clutches his Cursed Power sword with both hands as he holds its blade down towards me. As Ace falls, he stabs the Cursed Power blade downwards. Quickly, I scramble back up to my feet and hop out of the way to dodge, just in time for Ace's Cursed Power sword to stab into the ground where I just was, causing the entire ground to tremble as mighty cracks open up in the Earth.

"Don't run from me, Luis Tramontana!" Ace shouts as he pulls the Cursed Power blade of his sword out of the ground then slices it towards me. I bring my katana up vertically to block Ace's horizontal swing, dragging the blade of my katana against Ace's as sparks fly from the impact. When close enough, I pivot my frog foot before spinning around and using the momentum to slash my katana towards Ace, who swiftly ducks under my attack then counters by popping back up to his feet and jabbing my elbow with the hilt of his Cursed Power sword, causing the grub on my own katana to weaken. Ace then begins his Cursed Power sword into the air again and slices it downwards, so I hop backwards to dodge.

I slide both of the dark blue sweat bands off of my right wrist and toss them to the ground. I then unravel the blue cloth wrapped around my sheath and tie it around my bare right wrist instead, leaving some slack between the cloth tied to my wrists and the cloth tied to my katana. I then grab my katana by the coth and bring it into the air, spinning it around in circles while preparing a Wind Blade.

"Extend-o-Blade: Crescent-Moon Slash!" I shout as I bring my katana down to the side then swing it towards Ace via the cloth while also extending the range of my sword with my Extend-o-Blade, sending circular saw blades of wind and Cursed Power flying towards Ace, who counters by slicing clean through them with his Cursed Power sword.

"Extend-o-Blade: Crescent-Moon Blade!" I shout as I prepare my Wind Blade and swing my katana forwards by holding onto its cloth. As my katana flies outwards, I extend its blade out swiftly, extending outwards swiftly. I then yank by blue cloth to the side, swinging my extended katana Wind Blade towards Ace, who counters with a slash from his own Cursed Power sword, our two attacks canceling each other out.

"I need to…be able to do that too.." I pant. "Cursed Power Burst is used to cancel out the opponent's bloodlust, it must be the same for Cursed Power Burst attacks…"

Ace then reinforces his entire body with Cursed Power and dashes towards me, faster than I can react. Ace then jabs me a couple dozen tims with his Cursed Power sword in my chest, before striking me across the chest with an upwards slash, tearing open my shirt and hoodie, and revealing the wicked scar given to me by Ace the last time we met.

"I did that to you, didn't I?" Ace asks.

"Yeah, and I ought to repay you," I answer as I grasp my katana tightly between both of my hands, prepare a Wind Blade, then slash downwards, slicing Ace across the chest as well.

As Ace slashes his Cursed Power sword towards me again, I activate my Air Control to defend, and by reading Ace's movements, I'm able to dodge and counter his lightning-fast reflexes and attacks. Ace and I must have dished out and countered hundreds of sword attacks from one another in that brief exchange alone.

I can feel Ace's bloodlust in each one of his attacks, as if Ace is attacking me with his will-imposed Cursed Power Burst.

"Your raw sword fighting skills have improved, Luis Tramnatana," Ace remarks.

"Thanks, I had a good teacher," I reply.

"But I haven't even shown you the extent of my Blacksmith," Ace continues.

"And I haven't even shown you the extent of my training!" I shout as I slice my katana towards Ace, extending its blade in the process. "Extend-o-Blade!"

"Blacksmith: Shield," Ace replies as the blade of his Cursed Power sword molds itself into the shape of a shield, attaching to the broken-off hilt of Ace's bamboo sword, like Austin's gunsmith. My Extend-o-Blade clangs against Ace's shield, but bounces right off of it with so much of a scratch, so I retract my extended katana blade back to its usual length.

"Blacksmith: Rapier," Ace says as his Cursed Power shield reconfigures itself into the form of a lance. Ace then reinforces his entire body with Cursed Power and charges me. Once in front of me, Ace jabs his Cursed Power rapier towards me dozens of times, which I dodge by using my Air Control to read Ace's movements.