Barely a few seconds after Yuri took his fighting stance against his opponent, Ena lunged at him with full speed, saying,
"Show me the great power General Senju was positive would be more efficient in conquest!" he said, eager to fight Yuri.
"Trust me, woman, there is nothing to get excited about. "We lost, you know?" he replied sarcastically as he skillfully blocked all her advances with the sword, while she swung her sword at him endlessly.
Eventually, he tried to counter her attacks with a kick, but she swiftly dodged his attack with ease.
"You better not underestimate me, sweet boy!" She warned, "It would be your last mistake."
"Thanks for the info, woman," he replied flatly, obviously not impressed.
Major Ena arched a brow, gradually getting ticked off by his attitude,
"I'm going to teach you some respect, Fable-Bastard!" she said to him, not liking the look of indifference he was giving during the fight.
"Looking forward to it, woman," he said with a feigned excitement that provoked the female soldier.
So in response, she stopped holding back, as Yuri had proven that he was also a skilled swordsman. His experience fighting as a lead rebel against the Emperor of the Capital City had given him almost unrivalled skills with the sword, and that was why it took the lives of hundreds of soldiers to finally take him down.
Perhaps it was also why General Senju took such great interest in him as a potential member of his "enforcers."
The year of conquest with Master Drey and the others had refined his skills, as he got the chance to fight against and learn from different militaries with different forms of martial art and culture. Given the heightened strength and agility of the fabled Umihebi (Sea Serpent) within him, what could go wrong?
Yuri observed that the female soldier was beginning to get the upper hand in the fight as she was putting more effort into it. So he decided to up his game as well, getting more offensive in his approach.
But even with his improved efforts against his opponent, she was still getting the upper hand in the fight, proving her mastery of the sword was superior to his.
Gradually, he had to take multiple steps backwards to keep himself alive, as her sword seemed to be all over the place. He had to get back into defense, as it became clear to him that this woman was excellent with the sword and he was outmatched.
Eventually, her sword managed to cut through his side, as he did not have enough time to evade her attack, and then she made another cut, and then another, before the next one carved a long bleeding line across his chest.
The impact caused him to scream out in pain, profusely causing blood to spring forth from his chest as he knelt in agony.
Major Ena, however, was not satisfied.
"That last attack would have cut the average person in half!" she said as if she were whining about it until she remembered he was a fableman.
The powerful mass of muscle he had thanks to the power of the Umihebi was able to keep him from getting cut in half by her silver sword.
"Oh well," she said, looking at the bright side, "you won't survive for long anyway." "Your abilities may keep you alive for longer, but it would ultimately just lengthen your misery."
Yuri managed to get up even with the pool of his blood that had formed underneath him due to the severe injuries.
He pointed his sword at her, taking a half-baked fighting stance due to his injuries,
"I could do this all day," he said, wanting to at least die trying.
"Then come at me with all you have," she said to him in a challenging tone.
"...and I'll do the same."
She said this because she wanted to scale herself against him with everything he had in one strike, as she knew he would be too weak to continue fighting normally at this rate, making the fight way less fun for her.
So the two fighters ran at full speed at each other, their swords raised high, giving a loud battle cry right before they clashed and went past each other, causing blood to spring forth from both sides.
......
Tobirama breathed fire at the oncoming army of soldiers that seemed eager to take him down despite the threat level of their opponent.
As if on cue, all the soldiers brought forth their shields, blocking the pouring flames that came from Tobirama's mouth.
Then, from behind the wall of shields, came a peculiar soldier with an abnormally large sword, jumping right over their defenses and coming for him.
Tobirama began pouring flames at the soldier, who simply passed through the blaze like it was nothing and brought down his sword at him.
Tobirama turned ablaze right on time, expecting the enemy's sword to simply pass through him without causing any damage (the same way a blade would pass through fire without causing any damage) as his body now had no density.
But to Tobirama's shock and horror, the sword went right through his shoulder, cutting off his arm in the process.
He screamed out in pain as he watched his arm fall to the ground, far from his body.
The flames went off immediately as Tobirama squirmed and rolled on the ground, cursing and swearing due to the unbearable pain.
He held on to his open joint, with blood everywhere, crying and screaming. The soldier stood right in front of him, not doing anything, as if taking delight in the boy's suffering.
Tobirama was in too much pain to figure out why and how he got defeated like this. He had changed his body into literal fire, which had no density, and yet this strange soldier just cut off his arm like he never transformed in the first place.
In less than a minute, his vision blurred, and he felt his body go numb and cold—as if the very arms of the grim reaper had gotten a hold of him, as he felt his very life force leaving his body.
His despair finally turned into joy and fulfillment—he had finally redeemed himself, freed himself from the guilt of running away from the battle at Langford, and was now going to pass away with no regrets.
"Not bad," he thought, as his eyes closed.