POV: Bash
Location: Southern Empire
The cloud he was riding disappeared, he walked towards me with his right hand tightly gripping his sword.
"Let's finish this," he said, "The Shinzin ritta have waited for too long."
Standing face to face with only one meter between us, we pointed our swords at each other, Kowoske's naked upper body highlighted by the moonlight, his white garment only covering the lower path of his body.
My breath was cold against the crisp night, my black cloak covered in dust from my hard landing earlier.
The courtyard we were standing in was bare with no wild grass growing on it, it carried only shattered concrete floor with an uneven distribution of open craters full of dirt.
"Kowoske, you are not a novelty, you are a scumbag like me, killing for your selfish desire," I said.
"A scumbag or a novelty, I would be taking your head," he replied. pointing his sword directly to my neck.
At the same time, we both charged toward each other, he stroked toward my ribs and I countered it, I went for his legs but he blocked it.
Going through repeated strike and counter strike, I found an opening and grabbed his hair, I pulled his head towards me and then slammed it against my knee, his hand pushed against my chest while his bloody nose lifted upwards.
Grabbing my black hair, he brought our heads together, smashing his skull against my forehead.
The impact of our heads colliding with each other made both of us step backward, leaving a distance of three meters between each other.
"You have now done it," he said, holding his blood-sucked nose.
"You dared to make my nose bloody! unforgivable." his vision was fixed on me, his eyes containing deep anger in them.
"We are only getting started," I responded, "Your heart is still beating."
"Don't get cocky," he said, pointing his sword towards me. "You have earned it swordsman dress in black, I would show it to you, my ace card."
Suddenly, he pointed his sword towards the heavens and a wall of white mist appeared behind him, the wall was tall and white, its surface as smooth as a polished metal yet clearly made of mist.
"SWORD ART TECHNIQUE, MIRROR OF THE WORLD," he yelled into the cold night.
The wall of mist behind him turned into a giant mirror, it was clear like still water capable of reflecting light.
From the giant rectangular mirror, clones of Kowoske began to come out, they looked exactly like Kowoske marching all of his description.
They kept coming out and scattering throughout the ruined castle, my eyes remained still as hundreds of copies of Kowoske filled my entire surroundings, circling me with their swords pulled out.
"How am I suppose to fight this many," I whispered.
With the last of the clones emerging from the giant mirror. The mirror disappeared into thin air, showering the ruined castle with light rain.
"Now die," all of the clones said in unison.
From all angles, they attacked me at the same time.
I deflected the first slash then moved my sword in a round arc, my slash hit about five of them in the ribs, and they immediately turned into mist and disappeared.
The sound of three swords slashing towards me from the back alerted me. I jumped into the air then landed on one of the clones, my sword digging its way into the head, before the mist clone disappeared, I jumped away from it then landed my foot in the abdomen of a clone directly in front of me.
More clones surrounded me, one slashed to my eyes, the other to my guts, and over five of them targeted my knees.
"No escape hah," I said. Activating a mini gravitational filled around me.
I was able to crush fifteen of them in that single move but it made no difference, moving my eyes in a circle, there were hundreds more if not thousands of clones attacking me.
My legs ran through the courtyard and I sliced, punched, and even kicked a lot of the clones, making a long zig-zag line with dust trailing my track, over twenty clones disappeared along the route I took.
All the Kowoske's I have hit so far were clones, I could not pin where the real Kowoske is.
"BATTLE ARTS, NEGATIVE," I pushed everything moving along a three-meter radius in the air. I jumped to one of the clones in the air, stab it with a sword then jump to the next one and also stab it.
My mid-air battle technique killed over fifty of the clones, leaving only more room for others to attack me.
Only three percent of my stamina is left, I have killed more than two hundred of them but still, it did not make any difference in the broader picture.
Screaming into the sea of clones. I pulled all the neighboring clones to myself with positive charge then sliced them up in an arc, bathing myself in the mist residue they left behind.
I jumped into the air and landed upside down on a thin wall of air. Staring into the swarm of clones below me, I ten-X my normal weight then slammed right back to the ground. My impact wave eliminating all the clones in that area.
I stood up, panting and gasping for air, my silver sword in my right hand and my other hand empty covered in bruises, "Would this be my last battle," the words left my mouth.
Suddenly, all the clones started speaking in unison again. "resisting is useless, soon you will run out of energy and that's when you will die."
With Kowoske's clones pausing their attacks for the moment, I raised my chin and looked into the night sky, to the stars swimming in the ocean of darkness.
My sword left my hand and a giggle found its way to my lips.
"So this is where I die," I said, Kowoske's clones watching as my sword hit the ground, it made a small ringing sound, landing directly on the dirt crater.