The Moonlight Swordsman

Chapter 383 Chance

Pinned down once more by Yoji's gravitational onslaught, Aizel turned inward. He tapped into his mental core, channeling all its energy to fuel his imagination. 

Visualizing a reality free of crushing forces, he gradually overrode the sensory input his body screamed at him.

Aizel placed his palms and roses slowly. The gravity fought him like quicksand, resisting his ascent.

His mental core drained rapidly against the illusion of freedom from the pressure.

Damn it, I need to get rid of him quickly, or my mental core energy will dry up," He thought.

[We can take advantage of that idiot, Master]

Yeah,"

Aizel swiftly evaluated the situation.

Yoji still had his teleportation circle activated, blinking around the platform as he clashed with Soren.

In spite of the powerful attacks, Soren resolutely wielded his sword, and the air around him was more heavy with gravitational energy.

They seemed unaware of Aizel's condition. Seeing an opening, Aizel spread his hands.

Clouds merged as lightning grew within them, signaling the return of the lingering storm. The murmurs in the background intensified.

Aizel shaped the roiling thunderheads with crackling fingers, crafting an environmental attack on the dueling mages' unprotected backs. 

Using his electrical powers, he shaped the wind and clouds like clay. 

At Aizel's direction, thunder cracked deafeningly as thick lightning bolts bombarded the platform around Yoji and Soren.

A whirling storm of electricity and wind engulfed them in an instant. While continuing their devastating exchange, the two looked suspiciously at the abrupt change in their surroundings.

The lightning storm swelled, arcing wildly through the duo without pause. Blinding strikes kept them hemmed in, destroying terrain dangerously close by.

"Time to rock n roll," Aizel murmured.

The violent crackling of electricity encircled Aizel as he vanished, leaving behind only the outline of his position defined by lingering lightning. 

The next instant, he materialized within a thunderbolt on the opposite side of the platform, conducted instantly through the storm's energy.

Aizel teleported again, arcing lightning-quick into another treacherous tendril nearby.

He moved as if one with the writhing electricity now saturating the air. Where he would appear next was impossible to predict.

Yoji quickly broke off contact with Soren upon seeing Aizel re-weaponize the environment. 

As he cautiously retreated, Yoji watched each of them. He had to be twice vigilant now that he was fighting two enemies.

"SLOW"

Aizel materialized in front of Yoji, his sword already scything down upon him. Yoji countered quickly with his golden magic circle, only for Aizel to detonate into lightning as if he were only a clone.

Yoji quickly swung around and sliced through another copy that was charging up behind him, and its body exploded into lightning.

Out of nowhere, a swarm of identical clones materialized all around Yoji, their electric blades slicing at him from all angles.

Frenziedly fending off the ambush, Yoji's magic circle-powered sword danced, dispersing each clone as their swords clashed. However, more clones were continually appearing, leaving Yoji with little choice but to defend himself from the never-ending lightning attacks. 

Amidst the lightning horde, the real Aizel suddenly struck, stabbing Yoji with the Dragon Fang dagger.

Yoji managed to deflect the dagger, but just as they were about to collide, its power surged, causing Aizel to materialize on Yoji's exposed back, using its shadow ability.

Aizel hit Yoji's spine with a powerful lightning sphere in an instant. It detonated ferociously, catapulting Yoji forward as his clothes and skin charred black.

He smashed craters into the platform, electricity arcing through his convulsing body.

Upon witnessing Yoji fly backward, Soren wasted no time seizing the opportunity. Soren lifted his quivering sword, which was laden with the power of gravity, as Yoji remained in the crater. 

He slashed down just as Yoji vanished in a flare of magic circle light.

Although it simply cut through the air, the hefty blade's impact with the ground was so powerful that it split the platform in two, sending pieces plunging into the chasm below. A considerable chasm opened up around Soren as a result of the missed attack.

The lightning clones reemerged, besieging Yoji once more in a barrage of crackling attacks. Yoji deflected and countered them with smooth sweeps of blade powered by a golden magic circle, eyes alert for the real Aizel among the copies.

Aizel watched Yoji's countered magic circle power usages with great interest, noting the power, speed, and recovery rate of each. 

Both his and Soren's advancements had been thwarted by that golden circle.

We need to finish him off in one move when he can't use that circle," Aizel thought.

[But Master, what about his other circle? That black one, which can cancel the mana itself?]

That will not be a problem; I am certain I can strike him before he even applies that circle, charging like a lightning railgun. What we have to do now is to manipulate him just like we want," 

Aizel, alongside Soren, advanced to engage in the assault. He carefully kept his thoughts and plans, saving them for when the time was right to implement them.

Leaving Aizel to observe from a distance, Soren pressed forward to engage Yoji directly again.

Their combat devolved into a series of bone-jarring smashes as Soren resolutely attempted to penetrate Yoji's defenses, swords slamming furiously against Yoji and his blade powered by magic circles.

To try to overwhelm Yoji's magic circle allocation, Aizel launched a barrage of lightning bolts at his position from the peripheral. 

But if the electric bombardment taxed him, Yoji showed no outward sign.

He kept on exchanging blows that generated shockwaves with Soren, all the while nonchalantly erecting his countermagic circle to deflect Aizel's lightning strikes. He barely looked their way.

Abruptly, Yoji vanished while he was clashing with Soren. 

He reappeared right behind the observing Aizel, catching him completely off guard. A devastating strike slammed between Aizel's shoulders, sending him hurtling into the platform hole below before he had a chance to respond.

Lightning bolts encircled Yoji's body as he traced a dazzling blue magic circle.

With electricity-enhanced speed, he flashed toward Aizel's crash site to capitalize on his advantage. Though Aizel zipped backward defensively, Yoji's lightning-clad hand blurred forward faster.

With a cracking sound, Yoji's blade sliced clean through Aizel's left palm, releasing a shower of blood.

He staggered backward, his right arm clenched over the bleeding cut, as agony engulfed his senses.

With a swift turn of his wrist, Aizel released a barrage of water jet cutters. Yoji, on the other hand, just lifted his glowing shield powered by a golden magic circle. 

Without damaging it, the water strikes splattered on it and immediately lost all forward motion.

After that, the shield flashed, and the caught water missiles abruptly turned around and shot back at the caster.

Just as the diverted water jets were about to impale the ground Aizel had been standing on a heartbeat earlier, he catapulted himself aside. 

Just as Yoji was about to get the upper hand against Aizel, the smashing force of gravity slammed him to his knees. 

High above, Soren hurtled down with fists encased in a spiraling gravity vortex. His sword hung freely, acting as the source of the power that pinned Yoji down.

Just as Soren's meteor punch was about to connect, Yoji traced his dark magic circle. Quickly draining the area's mana, a growing pulse rendered Soren's strike ineffective. Its propellant, gravity, disappeared.

Soren still smashed into the platform where Yoji knelt milliseconds before. But his fist connected with an eruption of fractured flooring rather than the mage he intended. 

Did you note?" Aizel asked meanwhile in his mind.

[Yes, he can use that golden magic circle for 1 minute continuously at any given time. Then he has to wait for some time to use it again.]

That's why he used that black magic circle this time."

Aizel wasted no time taking advantage of Yoji's distraction. As if in response, lightning formed a legion of crackling clones that once again encircled Yoji in the middle of a hail of energy bolts.

He had created them instantly, not allowing even a split-second chance for Yoji to teleport to safety.

As soon as they finished materializing around Yoji, the clones began to attack in a coordinated fashion.

"Again with this trick huh," Yoji said.

Aizel started to flicker through the continuing tempest as his lightning clones relentlessly maintained Yoji's nullification shield, powered by a golden magic circle that rotated constantly to block them.

Aizel was hunting for the ideal opportunity to ambush Yoji as he focused on fending off the onslaught of clones, lightning-warping in quick succession.

In the midst of the storm, Aizel briefly took shape and fired targeted bolts before fading back into the currents, his position remaining unpredictable.

As Yoji braces himself for the never-ending barrage, he sharply watches for Aizel's next move.

Sekki be prepared, we will only get one chance,"

[Yes Master I am prepared]

It will be either him or me, that's all I can think for now. I hope that idiot won't ruin it for me,"