My thumb pressed against the hilt of my sword, dislodging it from its sheath. My right hand slowly moved to the handle and gripped tightly, still waiting on pulling the katana out in its entirety.

The light at my back shot into the sky in a brilliant display, slowly turning the depressing purple-ish sky a bright blue. The change was moving slowly but surely, like a drop of oil spreading over the top of a bowl of water.

In the distance, a familiar metallic ring echoed. I took a deep breath in expectation.

At the edge of the plateau, an angry and shield bearing samurai flew through the air. He shot straight up, but with another metallic clang and shockwave of orange energy, Eizo propelled himself towards us.

Eizo was dogmatic and so loyal that he would even kill himself overextending to follow orders. In terms of replacing me as the highest-ranking samurai in the shogunate, I gave the Shogun credit for his choice. Although with how the Doctor poisoned the Shogun, I doubt he even had the mental ability to accept the credit I gave him. With that, I wondered why Eizo even continued to fight. The Doctor had fully usurped the Shogun, turned him mad, and half yokai... Perhaps the Doctor kept him from seeing the Shogun, or perhaps he simply wanted to follow through his orders of killing me.

In any case, it didn't matter what his motives were, Eizo was still trying to kill us all and disrupt the light from returning.

We had to protect the light. Protect Amaterasu. Nowhere to run this time and nothing to do but face our hunters directly.

Eizo landed almost thirty feet away from our group and started running through the snow. He seemed angrier than usual, and seeing that he had separated from the group showed that he didn't think support was necessary. Even though we had three ember wielders on our team, one ember wielder that was willing to push his power to the point of death was more than favorable for the solitary samurai.

We spent the time Eizo took approaching to get into the best position we could. Anzen was best to counter Eizo, so he took the front. Lee could use his foresight well in battle, so he and I stood behind to support Anzen. Hayato was a good defender. I trusted him more than anyone to keep Amaterasu from harm's way. Sora stayed back with Hayato as well, keeping his sightline on the horizon for the inevitable wave of footsoldiers.

Halfway through his sprint, Eizo used his ember. This time, his legs shook with energy and he was propelled from them rather than his shields. Instead of the metallic clanging of the iron rims of his wooden shields smashing together, it was a sonic boom. Eizo was even neglecting using his Vices, he had much less control over his ember, but his power was stronger and now he had access to all parts of his body, not just his arms.

It was unexpected as he flew wildly towards Anzen. Anzen was fast enough to put his arms up in defense, but Eizo's incoming punch with all the momentum of his shockwaves was far too much.

The iron lined shield collided with Anzen's arms with enough force to break them, sending Anzen flying backward with Eizo.

They were close enough for me and Lee to run and aide Anzen, but Eizo simply put his shields together again and sent us both skidding far away through the snow. Once I was able to pull myself out of my cold and wet crater I looked back to the battle at hand. Anzen had gotten Eizo off of him, but his arms were already turning an ugly bluish purple. we all knew he wouldn't be able to throw a punch without doing more damage to himself than Eizo.

Eizo tried to seize his opportunity and threw a punch towards Anzen, who took a step backward with every attempted blow. Anzen growled in frustration as he continued to back up. Eizo wasn't going to hit Anzen with such short jabs, so he started to swing farther out. As he made himself more vulnerable, Anzen's expression changed from looking like a cornered animal to the dastardly and cunning look he made when a dirty solution came to his mind.

Eizo threw a punch as wide as he could in an attempt to reach Anzen, leaving a straight path from the ground to his jaw. Anzen's foot found that path and kicked him. Before Eizo even had a chance to stumble backward Anzen threw his foot down, letting his heel collide with Eizo's mouth yet another time. With a grin, Anzen continued through his ingenious solution, all before Eizo had a chance to defend himself.

Sliding a small bit forward, Anzen spun himself in a circle to gain all the more momentum in his attack. He hit Eizo squarely on the side of the head, leaving him staggered for one more attack.

Anzen turned to his side and kicked out with all the energy left in his body directed solely at Eizo's abdomen, sending him through the air and on his back.

There was silence for a moment as Anzen walked over to finish the job. As he reached Eizo, it seemed like he was the one being tricked. Anzen raised his leg to drop the final blow on Eizo, but with the sound of metallic clanging, he was sent spiraling through the air instead.

Eizo jumped to his feet and ran for him. Anzen was in the middle of standing, so he had no way to dodge, and with his broken arms, he had no way to defend. Eizo knew better than to give him any chance to turn the battle around for his favor, so instead, Eizo raised Anzen by the front of his kimono and sent him flying with the strongest shockwave he could create.

Anzen flew through the air towards the beam of light shooting out of the summit, but Hayato was keeping watch over the fight. Anzen created a portal in his path as Hayato created another next to him and Amaterasu. The beam of light was undisturbed and Anzen was safe, but that left it to Lee and myself to finish Eizo.

I finally pushed myself from the snow and got to my feet. Lee and I both ran for Eizo as he steadily walked towards Amaterasu and the summit.

After much running, Lee closed his eyes and immediately opened them, shouting. "Duck!"

I did so and jumped into the snow. Eizo screamed in some mix of pain and effort and an orange glow surrounded him. An ear-piercing boom shot through my head as I felt the force coat my body like a stone blanket. Snow flew out in all directions as Eizo's unidirectional shockwave made an enormous crater.

Both Lee and myself were thoroughly dug into the snowy walls of the crater. The snow of the summit was hard, almost ice. When stepping on it, one wouldn't think that the snow went so deep, but seeing that the crater Eizo had just made was at least four feet into the snow, it was deeper than you would think.

I pulled free from my indentation in the snow and brushed the icy slickness of the handle of my sword. Through my training, I had learned to instinctively grip harder to my sword in situations like the one we had both experienced, but Lee did not have the same habits. He dug through the snow looking for his sword as Eizo approached me.

He shot through the air with a shockwave again, giving him more force in his incoming swing than any normal person could muster. I held up my sword and sidestepped at the same time, letting the shield brawling samurai simply slide past me and into the snow he had formed around us.

By the time I turned, Eizo had already pushed himself out of his indentation and was swinging towards me again. I began to step backward and dodge, but I realized there was little room to move back without hindering Lee from participating. Instead, I barely dodged Eizo's attack by leaning backward, and then grabbed him by his kimono and kept leaning back.

I rolled onto my back and held Eizo in the air with both my hands and feet. With a bit of struggle, I continued my momentum and threw him backward. Afterward, I rocked forwards and got on my feet, the sound of metal clashing wood could already be heard.

Turning, I saw Lee swinging and Eizo blocking. Lee's strikes were clumsy and amateurishly placed, he must have been saving his foresight for a better opportunity. Lee wouldn't get that opportunity, though, as Eizo glanced at me back on my feet and shot himself backward, switching positioning mid-air to punch me. I suppose I did throw him off of a two-story balcony once.

I sidestepped and dodged him again. He had a lot more force, but much less accuracy by throwing himself through the air like that. Eizo did at least make sure he wouldn't find himself planted in the snow again and used a shockwave to cancel his momentum.

Lee was on one side, I was on the other. Eizo was in the middle, intent on getting a punch in before Lee arrived.

I blocked his shielded punch with my sword. Hearing the metal rimming on his shield clash with my sword made me wince. It was bad practice to hit metal on metal, but it was either that or take the punch myself.

Lee arrived, but Eizo simply raised a hand in his direction and shot another shockwave. Initially, Lee slid on the slick ground, but after a moment he landed on his back. Eizo pulled his weight to his right, so I instinctively ducked right. Before he raised his right hand, Eizo set off another shockwave at his left side, swinging a punch from the opposite direction with devastating force. I had already committed to dodging a swing from his right, so I had no defense as his shield collided with my jaw.

I stumbled back. Lee was back on his feet and getting close once more. Eizo turned and threw a punch towards Lee, but Lee simply ducked under his fist.

As Lee rose, he swung his sword upward, hitting Eizo's unprotected upper arm. Eizo swung with his other arm, but Lee punched with his off-hand and with expert precision hit Eizo in the crook of his elbow, making his attack fall flat.

Lee sliced his sword up again, making a shallow gash up Eizo's abdomen and chest. After that, Eizo realized something was irregular. He held his shields for pure defense as Lee continued his ceaseless attacks. Eizo's shields chipped and splintered as Lee furiously continued with complete precision.

When he was using his foresight, Lee had deadly accuracy and perfect planning. While he was normally clumsy and lacked self-confidence, he completely switched to the opposite when using his ember. All of that perfect planning and precision came together as Lee gave one final sweeping blow across both shields, sending them both shattering in all directions, leaving nothing on Eizo's arms but pieces of wood hanging to defenseless leather straps.

Lee's expression went from focused to unsure, meaning he must have run out of time. Eizo noticed this as well as me and took his opportunity. Lee swung forward but it was too late as Eizo kicked him with a shockwave blast, sending him out of the crater and into the distance.

Just the two of us. Every fight of ours ended in an unsatisfying conclusion. It was time to finally find the real victor and settle this.

We were two men loyal to the core for their respective ideals, crossing paths, with neither willing to concede.

Only one will survive.