Traitors

Shadow leapt towards Ashborn with suffocating killing intent before on of his hands transformed into a shadow sword.

The man called Ashborn on the other hand, just stood there staring at Shadow attacking him with interest, when Shadow got closer, he took out a knife from his sleeve and parried away his attack.

"Your killing intent is admirable."

*Ting!*

*Ting!*

*Ting!*

Both of them clashed blades and each of their collisions caused sparks to fly everywhere like fireflies. Truly, if this happened during the night, then it would seem as if their fight was a work of art.

Ashborn used his knife to deflect Shadow's haphazard attacks with ease, he even used this time to chat with Shadow.

"Isn't it rude to call your master like that? Sid?"

"Tsk! Shut up! Don't call me by that name, you traitor!"

Shadow gritted his teeth while looking at Ashborn, or more simply, his master.

Ashborn threw several knives at Shadow while retreating backwards. Unfortunately, the knives were useless as they only passed by Shadow's ethereal body.

"Hoo… Looks like your control over that ability has gotten better. But... That's all."

Suddenly, the shadow beneath Ashborn's feet launched itself towards Shadow. The shadow merged with Shadow's shadow and bounded it into the shadow making Shadow's movement restricted.

(PR: The number of "shadows' was already plenty, but then came me, who added more to it. Enjoy your Shadows!)

"Tsk! Damn it!"

Ashborn approached Shadow unhurriedly before stopping 1 meter away from him.

"Did your strength only improve this much, Sid?"

Right after saying that, 4 Shadows suddenly appeared above Ashborn and transformed their hands into shadow blades.

Ashborn raised his head and said in acknowledgement," Hee… Clones, huh? That is a nice upgrade."

The shadows underneath Ashborn's feet spread out while turning themselves into needle like solid objects and impaling the four clones.

Ashborn turned his attention back to Shadow in front of him after the four impaled shadow clones turned into smoke.

He didn't realize that after the shadow clones dispersed, a grenade dropped from where they were.

*BOOM!*

The explosion did not damage Shadow whatsoever because he is in his ethereal state, the shadow restraints binding his body slowly disappeared and he used this chance to jump away from the area of effect of the explosion.

Shadow knew that the explosions is hardly enough to kill Ashborn, much less injure him. That man is a ruthless man who had killed countless people, he was also the one who was said to be the closest to eh Herrscher of Shadow.

"Hmm… Not bad."

Ashborn walked out of the smoke that the explosion produced without much of a damage, even his clothes only have smudge on it and no further damage.

Ashborn suddenly turned his head to the right and paused briefly before saying, "Well … it seems that this game has come to an end. I also have a mission to finish, so…"

The shadow beneath Ashborn spread out once again and swallowed his body slowly. And before being completely swallowed, he looked at Shadow, "See you later, my student… Ciao~"

Seeing that Ashborn has completely sunk in the shadows, Shadow could only click his tongue and spat in annoyance.

"Tsk! That traitor ran away again!"

*Ding!*

Soon after he said that, a communication interface popped up in front of him, he quickly calmed down and took a deep breath before opening the communication interface.

"How's your situation over there, Shadow~?... Hmmm, judging by the look in your face, I guess it didn't go too well."

Shadow only stared at the communication interface, that shows up Dr. Mobius, calmly. He didn't speak a word and it looks like he is in a bad mood.

"Aww, what a boring guy~… Well, I didn't call just for this, I just want to let you know that your mission to keep an eye on Kouro-kun had been completed~, it's time for you to return back to HQ."

"…Alright."

After their brief communication, the screen closed.

Shadow turned his head to the right for a few seconds before transforming into a shadow and leaving,

On the right side, we could see the Hyperion aiming its main cannons to where Shadow was at before.

__

Moments before Shadow and Ashborn fought. Inside Hyperion, Kiana and the others were staring at the sensor screen with a serious expression.

Kiana looked at Theresa and asked anxiously, "Aunt Theresa, have the residents of Shenzhou City been evacuated?"

"Yes. Although it's still just the people from the coast that were evacuated. We can't vacate ethe entirety of the population of Shenzhou because I don't have the authority to." Theresa answered while sounding regretful at the end.

"Headmaster! Scanners have detected large movements near Hyperion!" A staff reported that made everyone turn their heads towards the screen that showed Shadow and Ashborn fighting intensely.

Ayame started at the black robed man(Shadow) with a surprised expression.

"This… This guy's cloak looks very similar to the cloak of the person who made me turn into a Herrscher."

Kiana and the others also looked at Shadow in surprise, that's because Shadow can turn himself ethereal and can even make clones.

"Woah! This guy is really cool!" Kiana's eyes sparkled witnessing Shadow's ability.

"But that person in the red coat seems to have the same ability as well. Moreover, he seemed to have cornered the man in the robe." Himeko remarked seriously.

They didn't notice that Kallen, who was beside them, started shaking after recognizing the man in the red coat, except Mei, "What's the problem, Kallen-san?" Mei asked after noticing Kallen's unstable emotions.

Kallen pointed at the man in the red suit shakily, even her words started stuttering, "T-that person… that person i-is the on who b-burned Sakura's village…"

"What!? That person?" Kiana screamed in surprise, she was surprised that someone from centuries ago is still alive until today.

"Aunt Theresa! Let's attack that person with Hyperion's missiles!"

Theresa agreed and gave out her order, "Aim the artilleries at those two!"

The Hyperion artilleries then turned towards Shadow and Ashborn. Just as Theresa was about to open fire, the person in the red coat suddenly turned his head towards them, his purple eyes shining with a predatory glint.

Their bodies trembled in fear when they were stared at by those eyes.

The person in the red coat then looked at the black robed person and said something before sinking into the shadows.

The robed person remained still for a moment before also disappearing in the shadow.

"…Scary, that was really scary… Those eyes are so scary…" Ayame said shakily (PR: Ayame: I need my Kouronium right now.)

"How can there be someone that strong and scary…" Mei muttered. (PR: Herrscher Mei: Still, he's not as strong as my Kouro.)

Meanwhile, Theresa was deep in her thoughts, 'That person in the suit… with his strength, he should be fairly famous. Yet why haven't I heard of him.?'

Bronya on the other hand, although her condition is more or less the same as the others, "Identifying the person in the red suit, classified as a very dangerous person. Initiate searching for relevant information…"

"How many people has he killed to have such an overbearing aura.?" Himeko muttered anxiously.

It took a while, but they regained their composure and breathed a sigh of relief because the person in the red suit didn't plan to attack them.

Kiana seemed to realize something as she muttered, "that person… his eyes look really similar to Kouro's eyes."

__

Inside Chiyou's stomach.

Kouro and Dark Ji Xuanyuan continued their fight, unknowing of the fight that happened right above them. The ground they were on became a separate battlefield, one was covered with extremely cold blue ice while the other is covered in scorching red flames that blazed up to burn everything in her path.

Dark Ji Xuanyuan stared at Kouro for a moment before saying, "You really are a great human being to be able to wield the power that sword to this degree."

Kouro just tightly gripped the hilt of the sword inn his hands while looking at his status., his clothes already half burnt. (PR: Well now, this could lead to a lot of things, but I think we all know what is more likely to happen. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°))

[HP: 18,732/22,600]

[SP: 1.128/1.548]

[Fatigue: 25]

He then looked at Ji Xuanyuan or rather the horse he was riding.

'I have to get her off her horse. I need too find a way to kill her horse first.' (PR: No! Not the horse. What would Dark Ji Xuanyuan do when she is frustrated if you kill her horse?) (PR; Oh, right. There is Kouro ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).)

Kouro then activated [Sprint] and activated [Elements Drive]'s lightning element.

*Swosh*

Dark Ji Xuanyuan's horse snorted and then jumped high while being enveloped in flames before rushing towards Kouro like a meteor.

Kouro raised his head and stared at the horse without blinking even though his eyes were sore from the heat of the fire.

'3 meters.'

'2 meters.'

"Now!"

Kouro rolled, dodging the fiery hooves of the horse before raising his sword that was covered in lightning and slashed horizontally.

*Ting!*

Kouro's attack was parried, but then he let go of his sword so he was directly slashed by Ji Xuanyuan vertically.

"Urgh!"

Even though Kouro was Injured he smiled instead, He onto Ji Xuanyuan's sword blade which was covered in flames, he then activated [Power Strike] + [Kong(PR: Ming!) is Angry!] making his fists look like they were wearing a red gloves worn by a certain bald person before hitting Ji Xuanyuan hard in the stomach.

"SMASH!"

*BAMM! *

"Argh!! "

The armor that Ji Xuanyuan was wearing shattered and flew flying until it reached Chiyou's heart which was several kilometers away.

*BOOM*

Kouro did it all in just a few seconds so he immediately grabbed his sword and cut off the horse's head instantly.

*Swosh*

The horse snorted weakly before dying and disappearing into dust.

[HP: 10,213/22,600]

[SP: 985/1.548]

[Fatigue: 43]

Ji Xuanyuan looked very badly injured, her hair was falling apart, several bones were broken, but even so she remained weakly standing, her hands gripping the sword so tightly that her fingers turned white before the sword was enveloped in smoldering flames, the intensity of the flames was so high it even surpassed what she used before, she raised her head and looked at Kouro.

Kouro who was also badly injured stared at Ji Xuanyuan from afar, before his sword was enveloped in a chill.

They both knew that this attack was a decisive attack.

Their eyes looked at each other, the golden eyes and purple eyes clashed, the golden eyes suddenly saw a boundless darkness from within those purple eyes that shone brightly like a star and something in the depths of the darkness stared at her.

The two of them limping gradually walked normally before galloping off, towards each other.

Ji Xuanyuan's sword was like a torch that lit up the sky, she pointed her sword forward.

Kouro's sword only looked ordinary, but it was filled with a chilling chill, and something terrifying was mixed in the chill.

400 Meters.

200 Meters.

100 Meters.

10 Meters.

"HHAA!!"

"HYAAA!!"

This last strike, they didn't fight each other and there was no such thing as a sword fight, what became their weapon now was their burning determination and belief!

*STAB! *

(PR: How many "Shadow/s" do you think appeared here?)