The battle between Jake and Heracles continued to rage on. The boy, coated in darkness, charged forward, ready to strike down his opponent, but he wouldn’t get the chance to. As he watched, Heracles lifted his leg up high, the veins in his calf muscles bulging, then he slammed his leg back down hard. When he did, a massive chunk of the ring came up and blocked Jake’s view. The boy was stunned. Then, he saw a sword cutting through the debris, heading straight for him. “Oh shit,” escaped Jake’s lips. The sword was about to slice his head open, and he didn’t have time to react. Jake flinched, expecting the worst, but it never came.
When Jake next opened his eyes, what he saw was a shadowy hand formed from the darkness surrounding him, grabbing Heracles’ blade, stopping his surprise attack in its tracks. “That’s right,” Jake thought. He tightened his grip on Tsubaki as he swung her. “I’m not fighting alone as long as I have her. Then we’re fighting as a team, so I don’t have to be scared.” Jake swung Tsubaki, the mystic sword completely destroying the chunk of the ring used as a distraction. Heracles had jumped back, dodging the attack, then he rushed forward.
The mighty man released attack after attack, not allowing Jake a moment to breathe. All the boy could do was block each strike until he found his opening. But he wasn’t having a hard time; it seemed as if his arms were moving on their own, without him having to think too much. After a while, even Heracles saw how easily Jake was blocking his attacks. When he glanced at Jake’s arms, he saw the shadows covering him, and it all made sense. “So, the sword even increases his physical performance,” Heracles thought. “Well, in that case, how about this?” Heracles quickly lifted, then slammed his foot down, stepping on Jake’s foot hard. Even with Tsubaki’s shadows covering him, Jake felt the foot stomp, and it hurt. He faltered, but only for half of a second. But it was all the time Heracles needed. He instantly released a devastating slash Jake’s way. But like his surprise attack, this strike wouldn’t reach Jake.
Instead of colliding with Jake, Heracles’ blade collided with a wall of shadows that had been formed from the darkness. With how hard he swung his blade, it hitting such a hard surface made the blade crack even more. Seeing this made Heracles curse under his breath. “With another attack prevented,” Tsubaki yelled at Jake, “GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME!” As Jake was swinging her blade up, he shot back, “I KNOW!” Jake’s attack cut Heracles deep in his shoulder, forcing him back a bit, removing his huge foot off of Jake’s. “Holy shit, he landed a second blow!” exclaimed Zack. He and Gabby, still nestled in the arms of Biscuit, the female assistant who only moments before had told the three how hopeless it was for Jake, was now mesmerized by the damage Jake was doing to the man.
“I can’t believe it,” she said while down on her knees. She watched Jake spin in place, then swing his sword. The attack didn’t hit Heracles, but like before, it commanded the darkness that was around him and hit the man with another violent torrent of darkness. “I can’t believe that such a boy would have the power of a mystic blade and the power it holds is contending with a warrior born from Eden,” hearing the woman’s comments made Zack smirk. The worry he felt before was gone without a trace, as if it never existed in the first place. All he could do was be filled with pure joy as he shouted, “KICK HIS ASS, JAKE!”
Jake heard him loud and clear. Zack’s encouraging words resonated in his soul. A small smirk appeared on Jake’s face as he charged forward. Both Jake and Tsubaki prepared to attack Heracles again, but the man snapped back from the last attack, then swung his blade at Jake. The boy saw it coming and ducked under the slash with blinding speed. Then, he thrusted Tsubaki forward, aiming it at Heracles’ head. The warrior was able to dodge just in time, but not without receiving a gash on his cheek. Seeing how close he was to the end, Heracles gritted his teeth, then punched Jake with all his strength in his side. The force of the blow sent Jake flying back, but he was still in this thing. But he couldn’t lie and say that Heracles’ strikes didn’t hurt, even with him covered in Tsubaki’s shadows.
“I can’t keep this up forever. I have to end this now,” Jake thought. When he landed back on the ground, he was ready to take off once more, but he was glued in place with shock as he watched Heracles with his bare hands grabbing a huge chunk of the ring and lifting up. “What is he doing?” Jake thought, but he would soon get his answer as he watched Heracles throw the chunk of. Ring straight at Jake. “Holy shit, is he really that strong! What do we do?” “Isn’t it obvious?” answered Tsubaki. “We slice it down.” Jake was rattled for a moment, but he shook it off as he held Tsubaki with both his hands, then leaped forward. As he came closer to the large projectile, Jake slashed Tsubaki numerous times at high speeds, slicing and dicing the chunk of the ring as if he was prepping vegetables. Tiny pebbles rained down after his attack, but after Jake had cut up the chunk of the ring, he lost sight of Heracles. “Where is he?” he thought. His eyes darted around, but he couldn’t find him. Then he heard a siren scream in his own head, shouting, “BEHIND YOU!” It was the voice of Tsubaki warning Jake. He instantly got ready and swung her around as he turned himself, but it was too little, too late. Before Jake could even turn halfway around, he felt Heracles’s sword stab him in his lower back, and the strike went all the way through. When Jake angled his eyes down, he could see the blade’s tip as his eye bulged from the pain. Blood started to drip from his mouth. “Damn it,” Jake thought. He could hear Heracles chuckling under his breath.
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For a moment, Jake thought it was over. Then, in a flash, the darkness that covered Jake hardened, preventing Heracles from pulling his sword out. Then Tsubaki shouted, giving a command. “NOW, BOY!” Jake understood. He gritted his teeth, fighting through the pain. He lifted Tsubaki, swinging her backwards, like before he was able to command the darkness around him. Once Jake had swung behind him, Heracles was hit dead on with darkness. With this, Jake had fully turned around and slashed at Heracles, but the man dodged, jumping back. Putting distance between the two, Jake was breathing heavily now. His knees felt wobbly, even while using Tsubaki as his support. He had run out of gas 100 miles ago yet was still trucking forward. “Are you alright?” Tsubaki asked. Jake nodded his head. “Yea, I’m peachy.” While standing there, two shadowy hands formed, they reached up and grabbed the sword that was still stabbed into Jake. One went behind while the other went in front. The two hands grabbed the sword then snapped it in half, then proceeded to pull the weapon out of Jake. The action was painful. It made Jake want to scream. He fell to one knee as he used Tsubaki as a cane.
“That man,” Tsubaki thought. “That man used the debris he grabbed as camouflage to get behind and land a devastating strike on the boy. This isn’t good. He won’t be able to last for much longer. We have to end this now.” While still on one knee, Tsubaki spoke to Jake. “Boy, listen closely. We’re going to use a technique of mine.” “We… are…” Jake responded, “Yes, but I need you to be with me. Can you do that?” Jake lifted his head without answering. He simply looked in the direction of Heracles. The man was weaponless but was smiling from ear to ear, ready to continue this battle with his own bare hands if he had to. But at the moment, Jake wasn’t looking at Heracles though. He looked his way; but he didn’t see the man. He was looking through, or better yet, past him. He was looking towards the future. Everything he wanted, desired was past this man, past this obstacle. At the moment, Heracles was the gatekeeper that boldly stood in front of Jake, seeing what could be. Jake got back to his feet as he grabbed his katana with both hands and finally answered her. “Yes, I am with you.” This action impressed Tsubaki, but she didn’t let it show in her voice. “Alright then. First, I want you to focus and pull in all the darkness that surrounds us until it covers my blade.”
Jake did so. He focused as he wordlessly commanded the darkness around him. The shadows became drawn to the sword and started to surround the blade. As Jake was focusing, he noticed how easy it was. It wasn’t like before when he pulled those small streams of darkness out. Back then, he focused so much that it felt as if his brain would explode each and every time. But now, it seemed as easy as drawing breath. And as if she was reading his mind, Tsubaki gave him an answer to his unasked question. “Before, it was difficult because I refused you. Yet you still managed to pull out some of my power, even if it was small. But now, you and I are on the same page, so using my ability is much easier now.” Jake felt a bit of pride hearing those words from Tsubaki. But one thing that she didn’t voice was how Jake using her powers before when she had already seen him as unworthy should have been impossible. But there was no time to think about such things as all the darkness that surrounded Jake was now covering Tsubaki’s blade. When Jake gazed at it, it looked like a thick black liquid coated the blade. This Tsubaki spoke up, “Is a technique of mine. When my blade is covered in shadows, it is called the Dweller In Darkness. But this is not the technique we will use against him.” “It isn’t,” Jake asked.
“No, it is simply the prerequisite. Now get ready, Boy,” Tsubaki commanded.
Immediately, Jake got in a fighting stance. He stared down Heracles for only a moment. Then Tsubaki commanded him to swing.
Now, Jake did as she said while standing in place. He swung the katana. As he did, he felt something come over him. He felt closer to Tsubaki somehow, as if they were on the same wavelength. As he was swinging the blade in unison, both he and Tsubaki shouted the same thing: “Shadow Dragon!”
From the darkness that coated Tsubaki’s blade, a black dragon with a serpent’s body emerged. It had red eyes. When it appeared, it roared. Its roar shook the auditorium along with the bones of all those who were there to witness it. Then it took off towards its target, Heracles. As it neared the man with unspeakable speed, it opened its jaws.