BOOM!
BOOM!
The whole base was under the mercy of multiple battles taking place so much so that the enchantments placed on it were barely keeping it from getting destroyed as even one of the battles could have caused its obliteration.
In the giant hall Kagura was still engaged in a battle with Kage there. They had been going at it for a good bit and so far she has taken a bit of damage throughout their battle. They met in the middle causing a burst of wind and they tried to push each other back though the former was putting in more effort than the latter.
As the battle went on she thought back to her discussion with Harumi after her battle with him. The devil slayer was shocked because according to her there was only one person who has ever called her Sensei which was her sister's adopted son. She stated that he had died fighting the high rank demon who took her sister's life during the convergence event. In an act of revenge, she buried his body beside her sister's grave.
"Focus little Kohai." mocked Kage as he managed to cut her cheek a little. "I thought Harumi-sensei would have picked a better replacement."
"Will you just cease your constant talking and just fight!" Kagura gritted her teeth and moved out of the way causing Kage to stumble a bit in which she took the opportunity to quickly deliver a slash but he bent backwards avoiding the attack.
He quickly spun to deliver a double spin kick which she barely managed to counter but jumped out back to create some distance.
"Graviton Slicing Wave!"
Kage sank into his own shadow to avoid the attack and began to travel to Kagura but as she readied a counter attack the shadow split into three different lines confusing.
She quickly regained her composure and began fending off and while she noticed they were weaker.
"Shade Sphere Barrage!" Each of them shot shadow spheres at her.
Kagura was familiar with such techniques in recent months and didn't want to take any chances especially if they do the thing which Salem likes to do so she closed her eyes and concentrated then took a breath.
"Dance of the whirlwind." Using an advanced Wind-cutter style technique she rapidly cut all the shadow orbs in multiple pieces causing them all to disappear..
"Gravity Blade: Earth!" She slammed her sword in the ground causing the gravity of the room to get much heavier causing all the clones to fall to the ground in the air. "Crawl Form" In blinding speeds she sliced all of them causing all of them to disappear but none of them were the real one which she anticipated as from their last encounter she remembered he could withstand her spell.
Her shadow suddenly erupted binding her and before she could take any action Kagura was dragged into the shadow and she found herself in a familiar dark void with lack of oxygen and Kage was flying towards her.
'Weightless Step.' Kagura reduced her gravity and escaped upward but Kage managed to land a good slash on her torso drawing blood. She continued floating till she landed on the roof and stretched out her hand.
Kage came from behind her but like in the forest anticipated this and dodged his attempt to stab her spine.
"ZEPHYR THRUST!" She thrusted her sword into his stomach but Kage activated his shadow intangibility causing the blade to go through him. The attack caused a strong pressure of wind to blast through the wall.
"Did you forget I could do this too." Kage smirked at her but I dropped when the girl looked calm.
"No I didn't but it pays to have good sparring partners. Singularity Palm." She concentrated the gravitational force on her hand and gave him a hard palm strike to the chest, slapping a talisman given to her by Harumi on him and sending him rocketing down to the floor.
"AAHHH!!" Kage screamed as the talismen entered his body and began battling the curse placed on him which corrupted his soul.
"RAAAGGGHH!" Kage's magic burst as he got up and glared at his opponent.
"Shooting Star" Kagura decreased her weight increasing her speed and began bouncing around the walls so fast that he could barely keep up but she kept building momentum. As she bounced around she shot long range slashes at her opponent who was barely blocking and dodging.
'Dammit she's not giving me a chance to concentrate!' Kage gritted his teeth as his shadow diving and intangibility needed a good amount of focus which was basically impossible with this talismen causing disturbances in his mind.
"Strong Form!" She went full speed in a thrusting formation. The impact of the attack destroyed a good amount of the floor.
"Not bad little Kouhai but since you and I have already gone before let's take this to the next level." Kage began to charge up his magic as a gray shadowy aura surrounded him.
'It seems different.' Kagura thought the amount of magic power he was letting out was less than what he did in the forest when he was getting serious. She wondered if he was looking down on her, was it a trick or something else was going on with him.
"SHADOW DEVIL'S PHANTOM FANG!" He shot a huge shadow wave from his hand which the Kagura barely dodged.
"Shadow devil's phantom chains" Seven the clones managed to bind Kagura. "Shadow Devil's Eclipse Blade." Kage covered his blade in purple Shadows and ran towards her ready to deliver the critical blow.
"Gravity Blade: Sky!" She decreased the gravity in the room yet again causing all but her float. "Gravity Blade: Attract." All the clones were pulled towards her via gravitational force and used her flying form to slice and dispel all of them.
Kagura activated her shooting star technique once again she shot up towards him.
"TYPHON BLADE!"
"SHADOW DEVIL'S TEMPEST!"
The two clashed causing sparks and shock-waves to erupt but after a little while Kagura managed to break Kage's blade and slashed him across the chest but it formed a huge crack going all the way to his lower body.
"SHADOW DEVIL'S SECRET ART: ABYSS PLAYGROUND!" Kage clasped his hands to cover the whole room in shadows making it hard for Kagura to see. She tried to sense him but the whole room was giving off the magical signature.
She was starting to envy all her friends who had heightened senses. The best she could do was dash in a random direction to get out of the room.
"SHADOW DEVIL'S PHANTOM FANG!" A wave of shadows managed to land a direct hit on her, sending rolling on the floor and crushing on the walls.
"SHADOW DEVIL'S CLAW" "DARKNESS FIST" "RAGE!"
He finished his brutal on slot of attacks of attacks leaving the teen girl on the floor and with heavy damage.
"You're quite the walking contradiction kohai." Kage's voice echoed throughout the hall.
"W-What are you babbling about now?" She finished her sentenc while struggling to get up than whipped some blood leaking from her nose and spat some out.
"Well how do you expect to get your revenge when you lack the basic intent to kill?"
"How did you…?"
"Oh come on now it's not that hard to figure out. You can say I can see a reflection of myself back during the final days of the convergence. But unlike you I had the real hunger to avenge my master while you look like the type of person who would give up on her ambition on the bat." He appeared behind her.
"Shut up, you don't know anything about me!" She attacked wildly but dodged her moves but disappeared again further frustrating her.
"You have quite the temper, kohai." He dodged the next strike and kneed her stomach followed by a shadow devil's shade claw to her face sending crushing to the ground making cough blood. "Weren't you taught to keep your emotions in check while in battle as your opponent can use them against you.
But back to the topic at hand your main sword style which I presume is the Undrawn long sword style while having slicing capabilities was designed to be a less gruesome method of combat to prevent blood shed, even the way you use wind-cutter it's as non-lethal as possible. If you lack the basic requirement of revenge then you should just give up now as you're weak physically and mentally." He whispered the last part directly in her ear.
"I said enough! " Kagura fully lost her cool leading to her recklessly charging at her opponent and in blind anger unsheathing her blade. Kage disappeared yet again but Kagura attracted him towards her and fully freed her blade.
The attack caused a massive blast destroying everything in its pathway, distorting and dispersing the domain. It burst through all the walls of the base and made a curve on the hillside scarring a bit of the forest.
"Tsh." Kagura gritted her teeth as she looked down in disappointment and sadness while her hands were shaking badly. She had let the man get to her so easily, thus ignoring her late master's advice of keeping ones emotions in check during a battle. To make it worse she had broken the oath to only unsheathe only to strike down Jellal.
Her instincts flared and using her sword she blocked a shadow devil slayer attack but it was too strong and sent her back some feet.
The dust cleared revealing Kage who was now covered in purple shadow demonic armor similar to a shogun and had dark purple tattoos on his face and one remaining arm.
"Nice very nice Kohai. I like that. I guess you do have a little drive in you. You even managed to destroy my blade and I would have been dead if I hadn't activated my devil trigger. I would give you some applause but as you can see that won't be possible"
"I-Impossible!" The girl stepped back as she felt the amount of magical power giving off now was the same as when he fully unleashed it like last time but she still got up ready to continue the fight. 'And Devil Trigger?'
"It see-AAAHHH!!!" Kage went to his knees as the talisman began to take full effect and his body erupted in a purple aura surrounding him yet again and fell to the ground.
'Is it the talisman's effects?' Kagura looked at her opponent but still kept her guard up and began wondering if she should strike while he was in this state but ultimately so it was a cowardly move.
"Hey, what are you waiting for? Do it finish me off!" He exclaimed.
"W-What?" She looked at him in shock.
"I'm not the real Kage, just an echo of a man created by the alchemist with the sole purpose of causing discord to Harum-sensei. I am no man, just a twisted doll mad for the sole purpose of serving Ryuzen's wickedness and destroy my artificial heart as well. Please just put me out of my misery. " He begged and Kagura hesitated a little bit but ultimately steeled her nerves.
"Alright."
"Thank you and might I know you're name."
"Kagura. Kagura Mikazuchi"
"Thank you Kagura-san you despite terrible experiences with each other you still honor this wicked creations request." He closed his eyes awaiting his fate
"Breeze Strike" Unlike her other wind-cutter attacks this one was more softer and calm as she sliced his neck leading his head to fall of his body. She than smashed into his chest removing the artificial heart a cut it into several pieces
"You can rest now warrior and I wish we could have met in different ways " She looked at him in confusion as he might not have been a human but it was the closest she had been to killing someone plus his words about her quest for revenge during their fight were still echoing in her mind.
'Will I ever be strong enough to kill Jellal.' She wondered as he was a wizard saint and they were stated to be the strongest mages in Ishgar. Sure Master Meralla told her that they were just fancy titles which didn't mean much but if there was some truth behind it then she would be able to truly avenge Simon if she couldn't even defeat a mage a Kage's caliber at his full potential.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Ritsu smashing through the wall and landing by her feet. His clothes were a bit tattered, left sleeve was gone and he had some bruises.
"Ritsu-san, can you still stand?" She asked while helping him up.
"Mikazuchi-san I must request for your assistance!" He voiced out a bit tiredly and a giant demonic skeleton burst through the wall.
Author's note
Finally done with this chapter!! I hope you guys enjoyed it and don't be afraid to comment or leave a review.
The next chapter will involve on Ritsu than lean heavily on Morrigan and Harumi's battle against Cerberus.
After that Salem's battle with the Alchemist.