It Ends Here - Part 5

"Dear, Yumiko. You've been attempting to defeat me all this time, but you can't be sure you'll succeed. I'm a person with a lot of potential who will go above and beyond to get the task done." Garuda worked hard. He took a serious stance from Yumiko's perspective. "However, you do not. Recall how your blood behaved in Muro's experiments. I assure you that you will get the answer if you join me."

She took a long breath, shifted the blade to the side, and pointed the tip at the ground. "My blood is no longer important to me, and I have lost interest in joining you to find that one solution. Instead of worrying about any disaster that happened to me for all these years, I'd rather lock you up and aid those in need."

Garuda grinned as he observed Yumiko's aura beginning to emerge from her physical form. The most brilliant diamond, which was blue, was gradually growing brighter as it illuminated the night that was soon closing in upon Castlemania's inhabitants.

"I swore an oath to beat you. There's no turning back now, and even if I falter, I won't ever change my mind! If I lose today, I will beat you the next. That's how this works! No more holding back!!"

She took her first step forward, tilting the sword's blade behind as she ran ahead of her. Garuda snorted as he readied himself for another direct confrontation. The sword was raised and moved to the side by him.

Yumiko leaped into the air and got ready to cut down with a devastating descent. Garuda adopted a strong posture and swung his sword upward, clashing with the other sword.

Both soldiers kept putting weight against each other as an orange flame flared from the metals' tips. Their faces were incredibly tight, and Yumiko intensified the ferocity of her slash.

Garuda used to be able to effortlessly block Yumiko's slash, but this time, due to his physical weakness, Yumiko loudly yelled with her battle cry and fiercely sliced down. Garuda's cutlass was forced into the ground as she slashed his frontal body with her own.

It caused a serious wound, and as he was bleeding, he could feel her pressure mounting. When it reached its peak ferocity, a strong blue pulse burst across the landscape.

Garuda was pushed back on his shoes as a result of not being able to resist the vibration. He made an effort to remain still, but his soles were moving too quickly for him to control across the uneven floor.

He only came to a stop a little distance from Yumiko's battered body.

She faced him, tensing her muscles as she breathed laboriously out of exhaustion. She managed to defeat Garuda's own with just one slash, putting life into it. Garuda was stunned by Yumiko's sharp gain in power.

He then experienced a severe ache in his chest, and he immediately realized that he had been wounded twice—once by Elliott and once by Yumiko. He bled more than usual because the two wounds were crossing over one another.

"I did it! For the first time, I was able to wound you!" she exclaimed, panting, "What do you think of those apples? You didn't really believe your young kid could cut you, did you?"

Garuda held his two deep wounds while muttering incoherently in pain. He appeared to be enraged that his daughter was truly able to injure her own father.

"You can only make a simple cut, is that all? This can only be recovered in a split second. Yumiko, come on, give me your best shot!"

He appeared to be worn out because he was still unable to prevail. He shredded his jacket and threw it into the air, roaring in his head as the wind carried it away. Yumiko could readily see his two wounds and his ripped, muscular torso.

"It's time for me to get serious! I'll only demonstrate your disconnection from my power. You'll quickly come to the realization that you can never defeat your father since he is beyond your reach."

Garuda roared once more and quickly raised his cutlass over his head, where a circle of golden light began to slowly form above the tip of the blade.

"If you manage to survive this attack, I'll be damned!" He immediately boosted the brightness of the light and sent long, golden lines into the air. They began to shape a huge blade of pure light. He chuckled aloud, resonating across the arena, "You may think this is simply child's play, but this strike may equal the power, if not overcome that of an Excalibur!"

Yumiko's entire body had been engulfed in the sun's brightness-equaling golden glow. Yumiko noticed the golden blade clearly as it shot higher into the air, past the rooftops of houses, and started to spew light rays, but she was unable to come up with a plan of action to deal with it.

"This light will make it clear to you how drastically different we are from one another. I only employ this attack when necessary or against targets I genuinely want to eliminate." He yelled, "and surprise, one of those individuals is you. It's time for you to recognize the real path you should take!"

"Glorious King Slash! A perfect name for somebody who'll rule this place!!"

Garuda finally sliced down with all of his power. His laugh was almost drowned out by the ray's energy noises before he slammed the cutlass' point into the earth.

He suddenly launched a tremendous, tower-sized slice over the uneven ground that began to drive and ram its way through the ruinous area. With its fire, it melted the grass around it as it darted at such an unbelievable rate before slicing through the floor's subfloor.

As it drew nearer, Yumiko's body was lighted more and more, making it hard for her to dodge the strike or move out of the way at that distance.

Yumiko noticed the slice moving in closer and closer, and her eyes began to shake. She raised her sword behind her and began to march forward right away. When it struck the enormous golden slash, its blue-lit blade flashed.

She gripped tightly as the golden energy rushed through her body. Its force persisted in shining brightly, and its tracks persisted in ripping her clothes—from sleeves to uniform—to shreds.

She could feel her feet starting to slip slightly on the ground. Her entire body was powerless to repel it. The energy of the attack was too much for her to withstand, and it eventually cut through her protective blade.

When it eventually swallowed her whole, her sword immediately began grinding into her own chest, slowly scraping into her skin and beginning to pierce.

After her entire body had been cast in shadow in the center of the golden light, she finally caved. Together with the enormous golden cut, her body was launched through the air and directly into the tallest building.

She felt as though her entire body had begun to be cut further and deeper into her body as soon as her back hit the wall. She yelled in agony while profusely soaking wet from the heat.

The stones and the area around it were immediately destroyed as the slash then burst into a tremendous light explosion, pulsating into a shockwave that vibrated in a chain.

Garuda shouted aloud when he saw that Yumiko's body had been entirely crushed when the explosion eventually subsided. "Although you had high hopes of success, you ultimately fell short splendidly! You repeatedly hurt your body in vain, but now that you've been knocked to the ground, you can finally relate to a warrior!"

He quickly ran out of words as he cast a glance forward. Yumiko's entire body had fallen to her front rather than her back. Garuda saw the first warrior ever to survive the assault without collapsing onto their backs.

But the cuts to her body were endless. As she continued to maintain a rigid hold on the sword's handle, she began to bleed from her forehead, limbs, and entire body. The shocked and composed Garuda said, "Well, I'll be damned." Yumiko was observed carefully crawling back up onto her knees while utilizing her left arm.

Despite having her entire body beaten into a pulp, she cautiously grasped the sword's handle and then slowly began to rise up, trembling.

"I swore... That I will... beat you... A warrior keeps their oath... if I can't... even do that... then I'm definitely not a warrior...

"I've learned... a lot ever since this... battle took place... it was all because of her... that... that I had a chance to regain... my composure... confidence...

"... she... was the only person... who supported me through these whole two days... if I don't prove to her that I can beat a stronger opponent... someone... such as you... then I had no rights to ask for her help."

Finally, she stood up straight on both feet and held the sword in front of her with both hands. "She taught me that no one should ever be left alone, and if she's working hard to take down Muro, then I'll work just as hard to take down you."

Garuda was so shocked that he dropped his weapon. "I was mistaken. You grew in actuality. You do possess a warrior's resolve, but it doesn't give you clearance to confront opponents you are confident won't be able to overcome. You need to be aware that it will result in your death."

"I don't give a rat's ass! So be it if I die and yet vanquish you! At least I'll succeed in something you were never able to!

"May it be my final stand... May it be the time of young year of my death... I *WILL* defeat you!!"

Yumiko's eyes shone brilliantly, just like the full blue moon's tones. She was immersed in a body of blue that extended from her entire being all the way to the tip of the sword, rising in a huge loop like an unquenchable flame.

As she began to send blue shockwaves down the underground tunnel of rocks, the earth beneath her feet began to collapse and tear to the sides, with the ground erupting on the sides and falling rocks continuing to shoot into the air.

Garuda grinned broadly and took up his cutlass as he realized right away that his daughter wasn't weak in the least. "Fine! Let this be the last assault! Whoever collapses on their backs is the winner! Show me the power you have hidden within of you!"

His entire body and sword began to sparkle with gold, much like Yumiko. He raised his full soul to the point where his golden aura blitzed to every side as its golden rays continued to flare to the sides like the sun rays.

When Yumiko's blue eyes met his gleaming golden ones, both of them immediately tightened their hold on their weapon. Yumiko was looking ahead with a solemn face while Garuda's laughter echoed outside of his mouth.

They simultaneously yelled, "This is where it ends," and sped off in opposite directions. Both left behind distinct light trails that lighted the surrounds.

The floor behind them and beneath them was destroyed by their velocity.

They both let out roars of battle as Yumiko's tattoo on her left shoulder started to glow blue. Both slashed their blades forward simultaneously as they came face to face.

The swords collided, sending their bodies flying behind one another as they stood in an assault stance with their backs pointed to one another.

Yumiko was breathing heavily, and their bodies were as still as a rock. Unlike Garuda, Yumiko's vision began to blur as she retreated slowly toward the ground in preparation for a loss if she fell on her back.

"Yumiko, I'll acknowledge it. You're a real warrior who will inevitably turn into a real soldier..." she put her left foot on the ground behind her as soon as she heard her father's voice, stopping before her back hit the floor.

The horror finally ended as Garuda's muffled laugh reached her ears. Garuda's body gave up trying to stand, and he collapsed to the ground on his back.

"You win... Yumiko..." he began to speak before eventually losing unconscious and letting go of his cutlass. He was on the floor, smiling while unconscious, showing that he still harbored sentiments for his own daughter.

Yumiko initially felt awful, although knowing that this was the only way to put an end to this. She struggled to stand up as her entire body was exposed and covered with blood and scratches. She was sobbing and covered in tears.

"I need to find... T-Tim..." before she could get up to him, she stumbled over her feet, fell to the ground on her stomach, and eventually passed out in a pool of blood.

Her final remarks were. "Please... Tim... beat, Muro for our... people..."

To be continued...