"Are you for serious?" I asked, a little hesitant.
"I'm going to go all out. Good luck, Red Hero," she said calmly.
"One blade against two? Isn't that a little unfair?" I said humorously.
"Do your best."
I pulled out my Hero Sword and stared at it for a little bit. I wonder... Was it possible for it to become two swords? I needed something to counter her two blades. None of my other weapons seemed very useful here.
Become two. I thought with all my might.
Split in two!
Become... two! (A/N: This is not the Incarnation System at work.)
The handle increased in length and broke in two. I grabbed a hold of the other handle in my other hand and activated both of them. Instead of two Hero Swords, I got two longer and skinnier triangular blades that were horizontal instead of vertical. The blades were sprouted on both sides, however, one side was much shorter than the other. Perhaps this version of my Hero Sword was meant to be held with an underhand grip? I turned my blades upside down and noticed that this variant of my Hero Sword resembled tonfas, an Okinawan weapon used in martial arts, mostly. I wasn't exactly sure how to use tonfas. I then had to rely on the techniques people used with these things in anime and manga.
"My, my. It seems you surprise me with every duel, Hero," Kuroyukihime said, amused.
"It's my pleasure, Black Lotus," I said.
And with that, the duel began. I activated my thrusters and dashed towards Kuroyukihime with blinding speed. I attempted a stab at Black Lotus and she blocked it with her two blades. My left hand moved in for the next stab while my right left its position. My left strike was also blocked, as well as my right once again. I was stabbing in multiple areas and Black Lotus was blocking them all with such speed! So this was how it felt fighting a level 9 Burst Linker. Black Lotus slashed me away with the force of her two blades. I flew back, but thrusted back forward to recover from the distance. Black Lotus jumped into the air to dodge my incoming strikes.
"You're very relentless!" she said.
"Why would I give you a break?" I asked.
I sensed a smile behind that purple glass of hers. She put her two blades together in an 'x' formation and yelled out a special move.
"Death by Piercing!" she cried.
"Charged Shot!" I shouted back.
Upon activation of her special move, her blades and her purple gems around her body started to glow. I quickly switched my blades to the longer side and charged up my blades. She lunged at me with her two blades glowing purple and I lunged at her with my twin blades glowing green. As we struck, I felt an immense power surge through my body. My twin blades rippled and a shockwave bursted out. Black Lotus noticed it too late and it sent her her flying into a building with an immense force.
"I cancelled your special attack?" I asked, shocked.
Black Lotus charged out of the rubble with amazing speed and hit me with her special move that she failed to used before. I lost 60% of my HP in one hit! I felt like my body was ripped in half, but thankfully, it wasn't. I counterattacked with my Hero Blades, using maneuvers that were unique to using tonfas, and landed a few hits. I ended with a charged shot to send Black Lotus flying backwards again. I looked at her HP bar and saw that I dealt a considerable amount of damage, leaving her also with 60% of her HP left. I deactivated my Hero Blades and merged them back together to reform my Hero Sword.
"Not bad, Hero. But the duel isn't over yet!"
Black Lotus flew towards me and nearly struck me. I barely dodged her blades and dashed towards a crumbling building. Black Lotus followed me with haste, but I was much faster with my thrusters to help me. I dashed up the building and looked behind me to find Black Lotus staring at me, confused as to what I was doing. She knew my gunshots would be useless against her, my shield wouldn't have that big of a range, and that my chain wouldn't help here. She then climbed up a few seconds too late.
I kicked off the building and activated my Hero Sword, holding it face down. I was a few meters above Black Lotus and she was already a meter or two above the ground.
"Rakuretsuzan!" I said.
"What?" she gasped.
Rakuretsuzan was a special move of mine, meaning 'falling fury slash'. My avatar had a large variation of special moves, ranging from ground-effective ones and air-effective ones. Rakuretsuzan was an aerial one that was only powerful if I were at an appropriate height, and this situation, I was. I fell from the sky and landed on Black Lotus, reducing her HP to less than 20%. We crashed into the ground and made a small crater. I pulled my sword out of Black Lotus and prepared myself for the final attack.
But something stopped me.
"Black Lotus... If I defeat you, will you lose all of your points?" I asked.
"No, that only applies to level 9 Burst Linkers fighting against each other," she answered with effort.
Before I could deal the final blow, Black Lotus glowed green and stood back up extremely fast.
"Overdrive! Mode Change: Green!" she said.
I stepped back anxiously, wondering what Kuroyukihime could do. I've never seen her do this before, so I was extremely surprised. In a flash, she struck me in the abdomen, dealing a massive amount of damage. My HP fell below 25% and my left arm was cut off. Despite this, I quickly dashed back and attempted a slash. Black Lotus was faster, however, and sliced my other arm off. I stood still, shocked at her amazing speed and power in this form.
"Not bad, Hero. You nearly got me there, had you not asked me that question," Black Lotus said.
"I was afraid of taking away your Brain Burst," I said, disappointed in the outcome.
"It's alright. It was your first duel with a level 9 Burst Linker..."
"I guess. Nevertheless, it was a very enjoyable duel, Black Lotus."
"It certainly was. I hope to see you become stronger and faster, Hero."
"I definitely will!" I said, before Black Lotus impaled me with her blade.
And with that, the duel was over, with Black Lotus as the victor.