Chapter 15 – Seiryu vs. Melfice

Seiryu immediately rushed towards Melfice with his Seirei Bunshu attack. He was going in super fast speed that even Melfice's keen eye could not predict where he was going to come from.

"Which angle is he going to strike?" he thought to himself. "He's pretty fast, I can't predict him…" he added.

In an instant, Seiryu appeared in front of him, still going at a speed that seemed to surpass the gods. He held his stance very firmly as he now attempted to impale Melfice with his katana. Spirit Energy began building up on the outer coating of his blade.

"Seirei Bunshu form 1, side thrust." Seiryu had said as he pushed his sword in front of him.

"Too slow!" Melfice had replied as he deflected the attack by pushing Seiryu's sword on his right side.

"And now you're open to a counter attack." Melfice had said as he readied his Hybrid sword. Spirit Energy built up on the blade as well and in a split second, he attempted to slash Seiryu with his lit blade.

"Firebrand Hybrid Form 1, Ember Tail!" Melfice had said, but as he attempted to slash Seiryu, he noticed that the long haired student had disappeared in front of him which caused his attack to miss. He was widely open to a counter attack and as he looked up in the air, he noticed Seiryu above him with his katana raised above his head.

"What the?! When did he get up there?" Melfice had said in surprise.

"Vertical Cross." Seiryu had said as he again attempted to attack Melfice with one of his signature moves. Thankfully though, Melfice had parried the attack, but not without a price for the earth beneath him had sunk from the impact of Seiryu's attack.

Seiryu jumped away from Melfice and he sheathed his sword as he reverted to his signature battojutsu stance. Melfice still felt the impact of the Vertical Cross as he tried to regain his composure. He shifted to a different stance as well and in an instant his Hybrid blade had split into two. He held on two swords, with one in each hand.

"I guess I have to kick things up a notch Seiryu." He said to him smugly. "I had no idea that you we're this skilled. Chaining two attacks together in rapid succession, you had me fooled. You used your first attack as a springboard to open up my defenses, but still you failed. Nice attempt though." Melfice added.

"He's a top notch swordsman if he noticed that the Seirei Bunshu was just a guard opener. Just who is this guy?" Seiryu thought to himself as he focused on his next attack.

"I guess this is going to be a contest of speed." Melfice had said. "Sword draw attacks tend to be speedy in nature." He added.

"He knew already just from looking at my stance? So he's analytical in combat as well." Seiryu thought to himself.

"Let's just see who really is the faster one between us." Melfice had said.

"Do you ever stop talking?" Seiryu had said and he heard Melfice laugh at him.

"Irritated already? And just as about when I was taking things seriously already…" Melfice had said as he rushed at Seiryu with great speed. The long haired student wasn't left behind either for he had also rushed at his enemy with his battojutsu stance still formed. What Melfice said had been right. This was going to be a contest of who can attack first. Winner takes all and loser ends up injured or worse dead. Seiryu had focused his entirety on his attack.

"I can't lose…" he thought to himself.

"Firebrand Hybrid Form 2, Hell's Flames!" Melfice had said as both of his blades were engulfed in flames.

"Satsujin Ken Battojutsu form, Yakekoge Senko." Seiryu said as he unsheathed his blade in a very fast manner and attempted to slash his body with his flame lit sword. One of Melfice's blades hat caught the impact of the Yakekoge Senko attack and he had stopped it successfully.

"What the?!" Seiryu had said as the other blade of Melfice was beginning to close in on him. Seiryu fortunately had good reaction time and he immediately parried the other blade as he got to a safe distance. Melfice then followed after him and he continued to swing his swords at Seiryu. Seiryu continued to parry Melfice's shots as he was relentless in his assault. One of Melfice's attacks had already sent Seiryu flying in the air and he followed him up there and continued to attack him. Seiryu was only defending himself and Melfice took notice of this. The blue haired student broke away from his attack and set up a move that he thought would be Seiryu's demise.

"Firebrand Hybrid form 2 Extension, Double Cross!" Melfice had said as he did a slash motion and immediately a flame cross was hurling itself towards Seiryu. Immediately the long haired student had taken notice of this as he braced himself for impact.

Seiryu parried the flame cross with his katana with much effort in order to avoid being hit and just as he was about to give out a sigh of relief, Melfice had already appeared behind him.

"Too slow my friend, take this!" Melfice had said as he attempted to slice Seiryu consecutively with both of his blades. Seiryu's reaction time kicked in as he parried one of the blades that Melfice was holding with a big swing to the right and then he followed it up with a kick to the other blade thus opening up Melfice for a counter attack.

"Crap!" the person holding the dual blades said. "No matter though, I already know a way around his signature moves after seeing them." He thought cockily

Seiryu then held his sword slightly upward and he then rushed towards Melfice while his katana was lit with a faint light of spirit energy.

"Probably another Vertical Cross! Heh, I know how to deal with this one now." Melfice thought to himself, but to his surprise, Seiryu rushed at him with a very unparallel speed and take note, this was happening in mid air. In an instant, Seiryu slashed Melfice with his spirit energy driven sword as he went through him in a very fast manner. He landed on the ground while the dual wielder was still in midair.

"What the?!" Melfice said as a burst of spirit energy had engulfed him in the process of the attack. His body fell to the ground along with his dual swords.

"Vertical Cross variation, Mugen No Jigoku Ikari (Infinite Hell's Wrath)" Seiryu had said to him. "Just as the technique implies, it is a variation of the original Vertical Cross, but instead of stunning the enemy upon impact, the blade goes through the body as if it were an intangible object but in the process it messes with the spirit energy flow in the enemy's body which results into the explosion that had happened after the attack.." Seiryu had said. "It is a very lethal move…" he added.

Melfice had tried to get up from the aftermath of the attack as he still held on to his dual blades.

"He has variations. That's what makes him an elite level swordsman. Fooling the enemy that he only has three basic moves, but no more, I won't be fooled anymore. I'll take him out now. For real." Melfice had thought to himself as he had fused his blades again into one. Seiryu had noticed his motion and immediately said:

"Finally taking me seriously huh?"

"You're wrong for I have been fighting seriously all this time. Now I will take it to the next level." He had said as he rushed in a very quick manner to attack Seiryu.

"He's even faster than before…" Seiryu thought to himself as he attempted to parry all the incoming strikes that Melfice was about to let out. The Hybrid wielder immediately appeared in front of him and let out a spinning slash with his sword. Seiryu tried exhaustively to parry his continuous spinning attack but in one instance he had slipped and immediately the spinning attack had again sent Seiryu flying in the air. He was rendered motionless and late to rect as he saw Melfice rushing at him to follow up the first attack.

Melfice had now made his Hybrid sword to glow a fiery red color as he followed up the first attack with a series of slashes. Sixteen to be exact and all of those slashes had hit Seiryu flush in the body. He was falling down from the sky now and he landed on the ground as Melfice followed at him after. His blade still was glowing a fiery red as he thrusted it on the ground and a huge explosion followed after that. The area where Seiryu's body lay down was immediately engulfed in a huge explosion as Melfice landed on the ground safely.

"Firebrand Hybrid Form 3, Efreeta's Berserk" Melfice had said. "Sixteen slashes plus an explosion of a pure fire form. There's no way he could've survived that attack." He added as he began to walk away from the site of the explosion.

"Ugh…." Seiryu had said as he tried to get up from the rubble that lay on top of him. Melfice heard his voice and immediately he was shocked from what he had seen. He saw Seiryu getting up from his strongest attack form. A form that even his topnotch adversaries at Briggs couldn't take when executed perfectly. The long haired student got up as he tossed his sheath to the side.

"Impossible! How could he survive?" Melfice thought to himself as the expression in his face had changed. He became slightly frightened as he readied himself.

"*huff* *huff* good attempt, but no I won't be going down that easily…" Seiryu had said to him as he reverted to a one-handed thrust stance (Seirei Bunshu stance), but his hand was slightly higher than the previous attempt earlier.

"Seirei Bunshu stance? But the right hand is slightly higher than earlier. What do you have under your sleeve?" Melfice thought as he readied to parry the attack.

"This is getting old Seiryu! I know how to parry this attack already!" Melfice had said cockily.

Seiryu had none of it as he dashed with a speed that could surpass the gods. He held his stance firmly and on the other end Melfice prepared to defend the incoming attack. The katana of Seiryu had again been filled with Spirit Energy and when his blade comes into contact with Melfice, it would be sure to end his life immediately.

"His speed, it's not human!" Melfice had said as it was as if he was expecting an incoming torpedo with huge power.

Seiryu thrusted his spirit energy filled sword towards Melfice and the latter had attempted to block it, but as he was trying to push the sword aside he noticed that the force of Seiryu's katana was getting stronger every second.

"What the?! I can't block it!" Melfice had said as he was still trying to block the Seirei Bunshu attack.

In an instant, the blade had made it through Melfice's sword and it had slightly impaled his arm. Melfice groaned in pain as the katana had already pierced his flesh. He felt the spirit energy of Seiryu's blade seeping through his body, and he immediately pulled away from the impaled sword in his arm and attempted to counter with a back-hand slash of his own while Seiryu was still pushing with his Seirei Bunshu attack. Immediately Seiryu had noticed this and ducked under the slash that Melfice had attempted and he instead twisted his sword to regain composure and hit Melfice with it and this had sent the student with the Hybrid flying in the air once more.

Seiryu took his time as he jumped up in the air, higher than Melfice and he immediately hit him with a huge slash when he got up there and sent Melfice falling on the ground. He also landed on the ground as his adversary fell.

"Chain Attack Form 2, Seirei Bunshu True stance and Vertical Cross." Seiryu had said as he held on his sword tightly. He looked around for the sheath and he saw it lying on the ground. Picking up the sheath, he then reverted to a battojutsu stance as he began to feel that Melfice was getting up from his chain attack.

"Chaining attacks, *laughs* you are indeed a topnotch swordsman…" Melfice had said as he got up and he tried to revert back to his fighting stance. "But you forgot one thing… being a warrior doesn't only mean that you have to be good with the sword!" he had shouted as an ancient circular seal form had appeared beneath Melfice's feet.

"What the?!" Seiryu said as he readied himself for an incoming attack. "A summon?"

"Now I will show you, why they call me Firebrand!" Melfice had said as a beast had begun to take form, from the seal that had appeared beneath his feet. He moved back a few inches as the beast began to appear. It was a huge, brutish, tall, muscular monster with a mane of a lion surrounding its head, while its body was filled with paint tattoo marks that seemed to be permanent and on the feet, well it had the feet of a lion, but it was standing on two legs like a human. Its face was fierce like a tiger's and its fangs protruded from the bottom part of its mouth. Its height was about four meters long.

"I call you out, Efreeta!" Melfice had said as Seiryu had a lot on his plate now than just the hybrid sword user.