It Ends Here - Part 3

Garuda and Yumiko, who no longer viewed him as her father. She would have to battle with just one sword if she didn't have her second one, and she hoped to prevail.

"What is it, Yumiko? You did say you got stronger, didn't you? Does that imply that you will consent to being penalized if you lose?"

Yumiko made the decision that her father would be the only opponent in her ultimate conflict on this island. She quickly turned to confront Garuda with a grave expression after accepting the punishment because of her fighting spirit.

"Any punishment you impose on me, I'll take. As I have stated, I'm done playing the coward. I'll make sure to defeat you if I have to give myself up. Nothing can make me change my mind!"

If she were to lose the battle, Garuda made the terrible penalty that she would detest for the rest of her life. "That's excellent, Yumiko. You must remain on this island and serve under my orders if I prevail in this duel. Any tasks I give you, you'll have to do.

"Tell me then. After today's defeat, are you still prepared to accept your lot in life? If so, then let's get started. This battle shall be won by the first person to hit the ground. Similar to a real warrior, who doesn't lose until the very last moment."

Yumiko inhaled deeply and let her body go. She continued to say, "I'll accept," until she eventually took hold of the hilt of her sword with both hands and asserted herself. "But if I win, I want you to submit and take the penalty of imprisonment. Being a soldier, you wouldn't want to break your oath. Am I correct?"

"Very well, Yumiko. If you somehow win I will make sure to accept the jail as my punishment, but let's hope you can survive this battle."

Yumiko sprinted forward at breakneck speed, slicing diagonally from her right side to her left. Garuda raised his sword and quickly backstepped, bringing the two blades together.

They both quickly drew back their swords and slashed forward. Sparks flew outward as a result of blade collision.

Yumiko was overcome by the intensity of the assault and had to move behind her as Garuda used the occasion to slice diagonally at her neck.

Garuda's blade sent a powerful shockwave over her head and made her belt jiggle as she dove under the cut. Yumiko quickly raised the sword over her head, grasped the handle with both palms, and pushed her left knee into the ground as Garuda swiftly slashed downward.

Yumiko felt the impact of Garuda's blade on top of her knee digging into the ground. She almost fell to the ground because it hurt so much like a huge object had slammed into her knee.

"Are we already down? You're such a pitiful warrior that you literally can hardly stand."

Garuda made sure her arms were trembling while applying pressure on her sword. She had the impression that she was struggling to lift a large weight.

She quickly tightened her grasp on the hilt of her blade as he continued to drive his cutlass into it. Garuda's arm was knocked into the air as she quickly moved the metal across the cutlass while cutting to the side.

The energy from her cut exploded into blue light over their heads, forcing Garuda to retreat as a blue crescent-shaped slash sailed through the air.

She immediately sprung to her feet and darted away from Garuda in the reverse way. She had to brace herself for a lot of weight, so she had to breathe heavily.

"Would you look at that! My formerly well-known daughter did succeed in picking up some sword skills, specifically, an augmentation to your blade. You forming your aura and transferring it into your sword so quickly surprised me. I guess your training paid off in the end!"

Yumiko retained her ground and took a gentle kneeling position. She drew her sword far to the back of her. Blue light began to surround its blade, reaching all the way to her tip. She launched another pure aura crescent-shaped slash in the direction of Garuda while cutting forward diagonally.

From above his head, Garuda poured down his blade, slicing it into the ground. Phase through it, forcing the attack to split in half and move in two directions before accelerating behind him.

Golden light emitted from the tip of his blade continued to grow stronger as it expanded across the full blade. "Let me demonstrate what a true attack should look like for you!" Instantaneously, he swung his cutlass in front of him, upward, and released a considerably broader, larger, and longer crescent. This destructive crescent blitzed over the ground, hacked through it, and threw portions of the ground to the sides.

Yumiko ultimately experienced shock. She didn't have time to avoid, so she used her blade to meet the strike head-on. She moved forward and promptly made sure that the blue color of her sword collided with the carving attack.

She pushed into the onslaught with her blade in an attempt to stop it, but she was barely able to hang on. Her sleeves were really tearing open under the pressure of its unimaginable intensity. The sleeves were virtually falling off her and loosing their stiffness, exposing her skin and the tattoo of a sun she had had earlier stabbed.

She immediately found herself unable to maintain her grip for much longer as she felt the slice grow. It exploded into a huge pulse, and she felt as if she had lost the solid ground beneath her feet as a result.

Unable to regulate her movement in the air, she was carried through the air at breakneck speed, sending her body into a continual spin. She would lose the duel and be required to accept her punishment if she fell flat on her back.

She groned and mustered up enough effort and succeeded in turning her body upright. She hit the ground with both feet after falling then started sliding her soles over the ground backward.

She raised her sword in the air and made sure to thrust the blade into the space between the ground since she was unable to stop sliding in the situation she was in.

Due to the speed at which it was being dragged into the earth, her blade began to carve a line in the ground and was on the verge of splitting apart. She eventually saw a change in her slowing down and managed to gather the strength to face forth.

Garuda said, "Keep your guard up!" as he came tumbling down from a great leap and prepared to strike her head with his cutlass. She quickly yanked the sword out of the dirt and cocked her body to one side.

She quickly flipped onto her shoulders as Garuda cut the earth, unleashing a strong whirlwind that poured out into the air as the ground below it shattered farther away.

Garuda quickly pulled to the side and sprinted after her before she had a chance to even regain her balance. He quickly moved in close proximity to her. She was able to restore enough balance to slice the sword in front of her and block Garuda's blow.

She experienced a tremendous surge of energy as she was unable to resist Garuda's crushing strike. She was forced to spin around on the floor and just managed to keep upright due to the force of his slash.

He attempted to cut off her head before she could spin around properly, but she leveraged twisting to move her blade ahead of her once more.

She attempted to guard the sword, but she lacked the stamina to hold on and the stability on the ground to do it successfully. She was instead launched into the air and off into the distance by his cut.

She could literally feel her body whirling through the air as she was being raked by a strong wind. She felt the power of her back pounding into the wall of the house as her torso was gradually crushed against it.

She slumped forward onto her chest after becoming wedged in the wall with her open arms and legs. She held her chest and fell to the ground on her knees.

"Yumiko, you are totally letting me down. You started out doing so well, but now you can hardly kneel. Just give up; we both know that I will conquer in this duel."

She was sweating profusely from tiredness as she gazed in Garuda's direction. Her body was severely bruised from the active fighting, and she was in intense pain in all of her limbs, especially her back, which had been smashed against the wall.

Yumiko, nevertheless, refused to give up, picking up her sword and raising it with both of her hands before standing back up. "At this moment, there is no way I will give up! I haven't hurt them so much only to fail in the end! I'll defeat you! I'll prove to you that I will overcome you... I promise!"

Garuda pointed his cutlass forward as his chuckle once more grew louder and like a bell ringing.

"Overcome me? There will never be a time when you can defeat me! You already know that I'm beyond your scope of control.

"You're the one who'll be overcome by my own two hands!"

To be continued...