Summoner Sovereign

"Your wood spells may look pretty, but they are useless against me," he sneered.

"Well, I guess I"ll have to try something that will be useful against you then," I remarked nonchalantly as I hopped away. Kufa pursued me relentlessly, swinging his katana in my direction. He shot forward, his body turning into a black blur as he closed in on me.

He never got to reach me.

"!!!"

Capricorn burst out of the ground and slammed into him. Kufa cursed as he twisted in midair and parried the giant goat"s horns, unable to dodge because of his irresistible momentum. He was thrown into the air, but he managed to right himself and slammed his feet against the wall before propelling himself forward once again.

My Constellation spirit wasn"t stupid enough to take him on head-on, not after I witnessed what Kufa did to Taurus (we shared memories, as I said, my Constellation spirits were essentially a part of me, a part of my own psyche). Instead, he stomped his hooves on the ground and conjured several earth spikes that sought to impale the revolving Kufa.

The Samurai swiftly made short work of the protruding obstacles, his blade almost singing as it sliced through the stony spikes. Before he could clear the entire course, however, Capricorn slammed into him from the side, but Kufa"s reflexes saved him. His sword lashed out to connect with my Constellation spirit"s horns.

Spinning around, Kufa unleashed a blue-black energy blast that blew Capricorn back a few steps. Before he could fully recover, I was already on him, delivering a long trail of Sakura petals in his direction. Kufa cursed under his breath as he nimbly deflected as many of the pink petals as he could, swatting the razor-sharp blossoms away to prevent any major injury.

While he was preoccupied with my spell, Capricorn struck him from behind, almost breaking his spine. Kufa grunted as he was thrown forward, but he somehow managed to flip himself and land on both feet. Launching another blue-black energy blast to keep Capricorn at bay, he then spun away from the second barrage of Sakura petals I threw in his direction, his glowing katana slicing a path through them.

He was good, I had to give him that.

When Capricorn charged at him, he decided to meet the giant goat head-on. Kicking off the ground, he surged toward my Constellation spirit. For a moment I thought he was going to cleave Capricorn in half, but Kufa instead chose to jump up at the last moment. Planting his foot on the giant goat"s huge horns, he switched his trajectory and propelled himself in my direction. His figured blurred into a black streak that moving at a speed too fast for the eye to follow. I almost couldn"t keep up with him.

Fortunately, I didn"t have to.

Aries rammed into Kufa from the side, sending him careening toward the edge of the arena. The Samurai vanished in an explosion of debris and powder, his body slumping beneath huge chunks of rock and out of sight. I wasn"t naïve enough to believe that Kufa had been defeated by just that, though. Despite his relative lack of defense – especially when compared to a Paladin such as Eliza Franklin – Kufa Van Peer was definitely a tenacious warrior.

"!!!"

I had to back away when a huge chunk of concrete came flying at my head. It crumbled into dust as it collided with the wall behind me, the vicious impact leaving a crater on the surface. Raising both swords defensively in front of me, I watched as Kufa climbed out of the rubble and wiped the blood from his mouth with his free hand.

"I"m disappointed."

"Really?" I honestly couldn"t care less, but the more Kufa talked, the more time I bought to summon another Constellation spirit or two, or cast a spell. Of course, the same went for Kufa, which was why he carried out the delaying tactics, but that was fine. I couldn"t prevent him from casting a spell, not unless I could cast a spell of my own first.

"Relying on such things to fight…" Kufa glanced from Aries to Capricorn and scowled. "I expected more from a Samurai like you."

"Uh, but I"m not a Samurai?! Don"t go labeling me as one on your own and then whine about it when I don"t meet your expectations."

"I guess you do have a point there." Kufa sighed somewhat exaggeratedly. "But I thought you learned the Miyamoto sword style under your master, so I was expecting more of a sword duel. Not this. Not the spamming of soul beasts. I thought you would have a bit more honor than this."

"What bulls.h.i.+t are you spouting right now?!" I demanded, getting irritated. "You do realize that I"m a summoner, right? I"m not a b.l.o.o.d.y Samurai, I"m a summoner! Of course I"ll be summoning monsters to deal with my opponent! That"s what summoners do! I"m closer to Lute Dragoon than I am to you!"

"Not exactly. I mean, yes, both you and Lute are summoners, but you are different from him. You are definitely not a Dragoon. You"re more of a Samurai who summons than a Dragoon."

"What are you rambling about now?"

"You"re not cavalry. You don"t fight on horseback or on a mount, not like Lute does. If anything, you rely more on the Miyamoto swordsmans.h.i.+p that you learn from your master. I want to see more of that."

"We don"t always get what we want in life," I retorted sourly. At my mental command, Capricorn and Aries moved in. I had enough of listening to his rubbish, and intended to finish him off once and for all.

Kufa might have noticed, or maybe he didn"t. It didn"t matter – either way, he was moving out and rus.h.i.+ng toward me. Aries and Capricorn caught him in a splinter attack – or tried to, but he darted away, using his incredible speed to weave between them and launch himself toward me. Kicking off the ground, he soared up high when he found his path barred by my two large Constellation spirits.

"Scattered War Blade!"

Thrusting his sword forward multiple times, he launched countless of blue-black blades that fanned across the arena and sliced through both Aries and Capricorn. My two Constellation spirits were forced to retreated, battered and bleeding from the ferocious attack.

As they did so, Kufa seized the chance to launch himself at me. Again, he transformed into a black blur that streaked toward me at a speed that no human eye could follow.

"!!!"

Once again, he never reached me. Lupus had appeared right beside him and bit down on him. Kufa twisted away, but this time he was unable to get away, and was forced to deflect the huge wolf"s attack. Lupus"s jaws clamped down on his arm and tore it off.

"Ugh!"

The Samurai staggered away, blood spurting from his stump. As he swung his katana to blast Lupus back, Capricorn and Aries closed in on him, their horns colliding against his body. Fortunately, Kufa was still somehow able to jump up high, spreading his legs and planting his feet on one horn each. Before either Constellation spirit could withdraw, Kufa was already jumping away, leaving a thick trail of blood in retreat.

Only to fall into the trap that I had set up.

"Flower Frenzy."

The deadly maelstrom of razor-sharp petals swallowed him up. For a moment, I thought I had him, but then several blue-black flashes of mana ripped my spell from the inside out.

"He still has this much power, even with one arm?"

I couldn"t help but feel a chill. Kufa managed to jump out of the flowers, and to my surprise, he was completely unscathed – aside from his missing arm, of course.

Aries, Capricorn and Lupus all pounced on him, reacting to my mental command. However, in a series of movements too fast for my eyes to follow, Kufa single-handedly cut them apart with his katana. I watched, dumbstruck, as all three of my ma.s.sive Constellation spirits burst into strips and wisps of mana, their material bodies no longer able to handle the damage.

"This guy…!"

Cursing under my breath, I sent Green Dragon forth. Channeling whatever mana I could into his chibi form, I had him transform back into his ma.s.sive version. The real Green Dragon materialized, stretching out to over twenty meters in length. Letting out a b.e.s.t.i.a.l roar, the divine Celestial Guardian descended upon Kufa, his jaws wide open as if to swallow him whole.

Kufa merely raised his remaining arm and parried Green Dragon"s jaws and fangs with his katana. He didn"t even skid backward – despite the ground behind him blowing up into smithereens from the impact, he firmly held his ground and refused to yield an inch.

With a single arm, he stopped Green Dragon completely in his tracks.

"Impossible…how?! What is with this crazy strength?!"

To my astonishment, I watched the sinister blue-black aura coalesce around Kufa. His previously short black hair lengthened past his shoulders, turning into a ghostly silver-white color. His blue eyes turned red, and he smiled, revealing elongated canines.

With a single stroke, he decapitated Green Dragon, blue-black mana coursing through my Celestial Guardian"s serpentine body and maiming him. Green Dragon vanished in dissipating fumes of ethereal mana, leaving not much of a trace behind.

"The f.u.c.k?! Are you supposed to be a vampire or something?!" I demanded, astounded by the unbelievable scene. "Were you lying when you told me you didn"t watch a.s.sa.s.sins Pride?! You"re completely ripping it off right now!"

"Oh, shut it." Kufa turned to glare at me with those blood-red eyes of his. Then he smirked. "Still, I"m impressed. I didn"t know you possessed some knowledge regarding vampires."

"Why wouldn"t I know about vampires? They"re like one of the most famous monsters in the world."

Even as I grumbled, Kufa ignored me and strode over to where his disembodied arm was. He picked up the severed limb and reconnected it with his stump. Blue-black threads of mana pierced through the flesh and sew the arm back to his stump, reconnecting nerves, skin, blood vessels and bone. Within a few seconds, Kufa had successfully reattached his arm, leaving no sign that it had ever been cut off.

"Good lord, you"re even ripping that particular scene from a.s.sa.s.sins Pride off? Have you no shame? What happens if we become sued for plagiarism?"

Kufa rolled his eyes. "I told you to shut it. I haven"t watched whatever anime you"re talking about. I"m not a nerd or a creepy otaku like you. I"m a cool, emo, stylish edgy guy who loves spouting about being a professional killer and pretending to be an a.s.sa.s.sin, only to behave completely differently and refuse to kill during the story itself."

That only increased my suspicion that he was lying. I never mentioned all that, yet he knew exactly how the protagonists of all these light novels and their manga and anime adaptations acted. This was no mere coincidence.

"So…" Kufa tested his left arm, making sure it was attached properly and he could move it without any ill effects. Seemed like there was no problem at all. As expected, a vampire"s regenerative abilities were on a totally different level. "Do you surrender?"

"No," I replied. "And you still haven"t answered my question."

"I already told you I didn"t watch or read a.s.sa.s.sins Pride…"

"Not that! I mean, are you really a vampire?!"

"Ah, yes. Now that I think about it, I haven"t confirmed it, have I? I only complimented you on knowing about then. Then…yeah, I am a vampire." Kufa"s grin widened, revealing his fangs again. "To be more specific, I"m technically a half-vampire. I"m also half-human."

"How does that work?" Now I was getting confused. "Don"t you transform into a vampire when getting your blood sucked or receiving blood from a vampire? What"s with this half and full thing?"

"You don"t have to know. It"s none of your business, after all."

I really, really wanted to know, but I had the impression that Kufa wouldn"t tell me no matter how much I badgered him. Not to mention, we were still in the middle of a match. He would be too busily pummeling me to answer any of my queries. Right now, Kufa had drawn his sword once more and was charging at me.

"Ugh!"

I parried his strike, but his tremendous strength sent me skidding several meters backward. He kicked me in the solar plexus with such force that I actually threw up some blood as I was sent hurtling across the stage. Slamming against the ground, I rolled to reduce the impact, but as I struggled to my feet I realized I couldn"t stand. My legs shook so violently that I had to lean on both of my swords just to kneel upright.

"Unless you somehow have holy magic, it"s impossible for you to win against a vampire like me." Kufa chuckled as he approached me, the sharp tip of his katana pointed toward my throat. "Well then…do you surrender?"