The Hundred Blade Art

"Welcome... to my endless dream!"

Akuro felt sweat on his palms. What were they supposed to do against an opponent like this?

Sedori held both hands out towards Akuro and Inari.

"Die."

Every weapon in the room pointed towards them and then flew through the air in their direction. Akuro wasn't worried whether or not he'd die, he was immortal after all,  but he didn't think Inari was. He grit his teeth and focused all of his might into creating a wall of black aura to block the attack, but as it came it began to break through in only a few short moments. A blade shot through the wall straight for Inari, but Akuro jumped in front of her, the sword skewering his leg, forcing him to a kneeling position.

"Akuro!" Inari cried.

"I commend your efforts, but with your incomplete Aura Cloaks you have no chance of defeating me." Sedori spoke, then dashed forward, cutting through Akuro's wall with his golden sword before his foot crashed into his face, slamming him into the ground. Sedori then swung his sword for Inari's head, but she jumped away in time to dodge. Akuro forced himself to stay conscious, grabbing Sedori's leg. He pushed his head against his foot, forcing it up as he grit his teeth.

"I'm not.. done!" He hit his fist against Sedori's knee while pushing the ankle up, resulting in his leg snapping backwards at the joint. Akuro then planted his feet into the ground and pushed off with all of his strength, his head colliding with Sedori's sending him back through the air, rolling to a stop.

Black marks covered Akuro's wounds, healing him as Inari appeared behind Sedori where he came to a stop, her hand raised as aura gathered into her clenched fist and a single tail emerged from her cloak.

"Blessing of the First Tail, Strength!" Inari roared as her fist crashed down on Sedori, but a shield blocked the attack, only to be shattered under the immense force of Inari's fist, her punch following through, making impact in Sedori's face, making his neck snap and his body spiral.

Inari and Akuro stood, panting, watching Sedori's body as he slowly rose to his feet, his wounds healing over and his bones snapping back into place.

"Well, I can't say I was expecting that." He spoke as he tilted his head back and forth. Then he smirked. "This might be more fun than I expected." He raised a clenched fist as his wisps of energy flowed from his Aura Cloak. He then tilted his thumb out to the side, before turning it upside down.

Then the weapons in the chamber burst into motion again, but this time instead of flying for Inari and Akuro they spun in a whirlwind of steel around Sedori. He then began to slowly walk forward, forcing Inari and Akuro to jump back out of the range of the spiraling storm of weapons.

"Do you understand why you're weaker than me?" Sedori asked suddenly, stopping his advance. His Aura Cloak hummed with energy, the ephemeral samurai armor glimmering and illuminating the room, casting a ghostly glow. "It's not just experience. It's your resolve."

"Resolve?" Inari echoed.

"Yes. You have no true reason to fight, and that makes you weak." Sedori spoke, "Without something to fight for, your fighting spirit is not strong enough. Aura can increase exponentially due to emotions, and determination is among the strongest of emotions. Without it you will fail where you could have succeeded."

"We do have resolve!" Akuro roared, "We're still here, aren't we? We are still here, challenging you!"

"If that's true, then tell me this," Sedori turned to him, his eyes narrowing, "What is your reason to fight?"

Akuro glared defiantly back at Sedori, his grip on his scythe tightening. No matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't find an answer.

"Exactly. Your drive is not resolve, the only thing pushing you to fight is stubbornness and pride." Sedori said. "Do you even know why you were reincarnated?"

"To decide mankind's future." Inari answered.

"Wrong." Sedori spoke, "The gods don't care about any of you. Let me tell you the true fate of the Deities, and the reason I despise the gods that made us." Sedori shifted his sword, burrowing its blade into the ground and crossing his arms.

"To create life, the gods had to use parts of themselves." He began, "This cut the power of the gods nearly in half. And the reason they made us? To be their slaves. They needed workers to do their bidding, not just that but we were disposable tools to use in order to test the strength of their enemies or to spy on them. But in the end, the human race became too strong to control, and eventually they broke away from their fate of being the puppets of the gods. Mankind adapted and grew, learning to craft things of their own, and making alliances with the Dragons."

"Dragons?" Akuro asked in surprise.

"Yes. Before humans learned to use the power of aura, they made bonds with the Dragon race, fighting alongside them to combat the demons that walked the earth in flames. But, when the Titans awoke, the Dragon race was wiped out, and humans were left defenseless, until the gods blessed them with the power of aura. Why, do you think, the gods would do this? It's simple. It's because gods gain power every time something dies, and if the humans managed to kill a Titan or slay an army of demons while being killed themselves, then what would that mean?"

Akuro's eyes widened, realizing what Sedori was saying. "The gods use Deities to gain power..."

"Correct. And do you know the fate of every Deity before you, immortal or not?"

"Death..."