The Magician hovered his hand over the wound from the slash. Flames poured out of his hand onto his midsection, closing the wound through the hole in his jacket.

He manipulated the flames that healed him and hung them motionlessly in the air. 

The Magician held his swords up. 

He raised the swords to be parallel to each other, and the flames started climbing, engulfing the katanas.

Magician: (Raising his voice with authority) “You’ve fought well thus far. However, these katanas are to be imbued with the flames of chaos. My Hell Blades will be your demise!”

The swords’ flames erupted, shattering windows on the tallest levels of buildings. A set of large curved blades with thick bases and sharp edges presented itself.

The Magician grinned and tightened his grip. He charged towards the stranger, ready to show him why he was on top.

The initial few slashes from the new blades were blocked, emitting sparks of flame between the clashing swords.

The Magician began to switch his style.

One blade was deflected, and the other was nearing the stranger.

The stranger focused on the incoming blade, so the Magician let go of his other blade and switched his grip while the stranger was distracted.

The stranger parried the incoming attack.

The Magician swung his other sword again, and the stranger anticipated a high strike.

The stranger’s eyes widened as he noticed the change in grip, watching the blade slash his side.

The stranger endured the slash and prepared to block his right side. Knowing that the Magician’s left-hand sword was normally held in a reverse grip, the stranger blocked low.

The Magician swung, but let go of his sword mid-attack and caught it mid-air with a different grip.

Before the stranger could register what happened, he was sliced on his shoulder and forced to prepare a block on his other side. 

Already struggling against the Magician’s pure speed, the stranger now had to focus on his unpredictability too.

Magician: (Speaking with confidence again) “What’s wrong? That’s two hits you’ve taken? Losing track of something?”

The Magician’s tactic of switching grips had created many openings on what was an impenetrable defense.

He repeated the process whenever the stranger wasn’t looking or during an attack.

Each swing flowed naturally into another attack with a different grip. The stranger simply couldn’t keep up.

After suffering several cuts around his body, the stranger was beginning to adapt. The stranger monitored as much as he could at once, watching the Magician’s arms, wrists, waist, and grip changes.

The stranger still showed signs of worry from defending the attacks. 

The stranger waited patiently until he saw both blades closing in at once.

He blocked them with one strong swing of his greatsword.

He carried his momentum into an attack aimed at the Magician’s head.

The Magician halted the greatsword in its path with only one Hell Blade.

The Magician turned his back to the stranger. He held his other Hell Blade in a reverse grip and drove it backwards into the stranger.

The blade pierced through the stranger’s abdomen, and blood gushed out. He was completely frozen and unable to gasp.

Magician: (He slowly pulled the sword out) “You never were a match for me…”

The blade fully left the stranger’s body as he stood defeated. Blood dripped down the stranger’s body; he tried to conserve any remaining strength. The Magician slowly stepped away as he talked to the stranger.

Magician: “When you could have ended this fight early because of my stupidity, you got greedy. You wanted to see me grovel. But now? You are at death’s door. You were a truly great opponent. I do hope to fight again. But prepare for eternal damnation.”

He slashed vertically. Then horizontally. The blades left trails of red light, crossing through space like a branded seal from Hell. 

A bright red cross with flames was formed between the two. 

The Magician struck the cross, and large bursts of flames barreled towards the stranger. The Magician turned his back on the scene, assuming the stranger was banished after being drowned in flames.

Author Note: Hope you enjoyed the initial 5-chapter launch! Just a reminder that new chapters will be posted every Monday & Thursday at 4 pm. Also, if you want to read up to 15 chapters ahead, check out the Patreon here or in my bio: https://www.patreon.com/cw/DivineBattle