The Moonlight Swordsman

Henry watched the young guy fight toe-to-toe with a fire mage, despite the fact that Aizel has only been learning about mana for five days. Henry was both amazed and inspired by the young man's determination and perseverance.

"Why the fuck am I acting like a crazy when I should be helping Aizel?" Henry stood up and began to consider how he might assist Aizel in this predicament. Even if he doesn't know how to use mana, he might be able to assist him.

Meanwhile, Aizel stood in his inside sword stance, looking up at the blazing spears floating over Larisa.

He began manipulating mana in his legs to increase speed; in his weapon to make it more sharp and durable; and lastly, in his eyes.

"This is going to be painful, enhancing three separate parts at the same time." Aizel thought while Larisa started commencing her attack.

"Crimson Spears of Death!" yelled Larisa, sweeping her hands in the direction of Aizel. The spears started shooting at Aizel one by one, with such speed that they appeared to be bullets fired from a gun.

Aizel concentrated his mana on his eyes and began evading spears with a speed boost. He was still having trouble avoiding the spears because they were coming at him so fast.

By manipulating mana towards his eyes, Aizel was able to discern the trajectory of the approaching spears. But it was still difficult to focus on three different areas.

He also began slashing some of the spears with his sword, but there were so many that it made little difference. Derbis flew everywhere as the spears blasted into the cave.

"It's only a matter of time before you lose, so surrender now, and I might as well start treating you better from now on." Larisa murmured this while licking her lips and watching Aizel, who was dancing around, attempting to evade her fire spears.

"Shit, this isn't working; dammit, I should use that, but the question is whether I'll be able to use it." Aizel was thinking about fantasy novel techniques, which he was able to apply in his dream today, but it requires real focus and imagination to reproduce using mana. Even he is unsure whether it will work.

"Oh, here goes nothing." Aizel thought as he focused all of his attention on his sword, imagining numerous invisible cutting slashes in the air.

Aizel had already gotten the hint about using mana in the previous several days, and he was now using it to perform a complicated technique.

He gripped his sword backwards with both hands as the air around Aizel became so sharp that the incoming spears began splitting in two, one by one.

"Face this technique from Mount Hua Sect, bitch." Aizel said while swinging his sword in the horizontal direction with both hands from left to right while shouting, " Falling embrace." (1)

In a short second, countless invisible slashes split every flaming spear. Larisa's technique was completely destroyed by a single swing. Meanwhile, Aizel began panting heavily, indicating that the attack had taken a toll on him, and pain began to develop in his head. "Man, not now," Aizel mumbled under his breath, trying to refocus on the fight.

"You are a tricky one," Larisa replied while showing no emotion, quickly appearing beside Aizel with her flaming sword, prepared to stab his heart.

Aizel attempted to parry it, but instead of piercing his heart, it pierced his shoulder. Aizel hurriedly took a step backward, his pierced shoulder still scorching from the flames on the sword.

Aizel could feel the stinging feeling that was now frying his shoulder, but before he could think about it, the ground beneath him began to sparkle, and blazing pillars began to appear one by one.

Aizel began dodging the pillars one by one, increasing his speed with mana, but just as he began to relax, a small but concentrated fireball pierced his back. That was so rapid that he couldn't see it clearly even when directing mana towards his eyes. Larisa was going all out on him.

"Ahhhhhhh... fuck, I'm screwed." Aizel said in panic. Larisa quickly closed the gap between them as she shouted. "Playtime is over."

She started concentrating on another fireball, but suddenly an arrow pierced her shoulder from the back.

Larisa quickly moved sideways, looking for the culprit. Henry was standing behind a boulder, holding a bow, and preparing to launch another arrow.

"Well done, old man." Aizel yelled as he hurriedly rushed beside Larisa, plainly not wanting to waste that advantage.

Aizel started swinging his sword madly and clearly wanted to build pressure while Larisa was trying to defend herself with her sword. Another arrow flew towards Larisa, but this time she was prepared for it.

She produced a blazing spear with one hand and a concentrated fireball with the other. The blazing spear shattered the arrow, while the fireball held Aizel at bay.

She summoned the thin wires from nowhere while directing concentrated heat at them, transforming them into a heat ray. Larisa manipulated those glazing wires towards Aizel.

"What the heck is that?" Aizel began racing backwards, evidently avoiding being trapped in it.

Yet, the wires moved so swiftly that they formed a net prepared to catch the prey.

"Do you think this is enough to catch me?" Aizel yelled while bending on one leg, eyes closed, and started swinging in circles like a ballerina.

The sharpness generated by his sword in circles began to form multiple invisible slashes into a tornado, which chopped wires into tiny bits.

A searing ache came in his head again, but Aizel disregarded it and began racing towards Larisa.

But what he saw caused him to sway on his knees. Larisa was right beside Henry, her swords piercing him from behind while blood dripped from his chest and mouth.

"Hehehe...*cough* he coughed blood again while speaking softly. "This is the end for me, Aizel *cough*th...th...th..then please find my daughter and tell her that I loved her very much and died like a warrior." Larisa pushed Henry aside, refocusing her attention on Aizel. The old man's body dropped to the ground without showing any motion.

Meanwhile, Aizel was in turmoil; he wasn't particularly close to Henry, but the old man was extremely helpful. He was able to fight Larisa because of him, but he was now dead.

And the culprit was standing right in front of her, a wide grin on her face.

"Laaaaarissssssaaaaaaaaaaaa....."

Author Note:

(1) Falling embrace - Well it's not an official technique of Mount Hua Sect, I just used it as a reference that Aizel used while imagining from his world fantasy novels.