Chronicle of Burden

Chapter 16

The enormous sphere begins to pulse at a steady rhythm, generating shockwaves with each pulse causing both buildings and cavern walls to vibrate at a certain intensity for a few seconds.
Despite the cold light that floods the cavern, the light originating from Shuhadaku of Uriel cancels it out replacing it with its orange color.
Kevin stands still and waits patiently for his opponent to make his move. The Captain's nerves are taut as a bowstring. He tries to think of a strategy, some way that he could stall Kevin while Kallen struggles to free herself or Sakura would wake up. But what could he do against an opponent that took on all three of them at the same time and didn't even waver each time he swung his weapon. Even if Kevin may have taken some damage from Kallen and Sakura, he's far from tired.
All of a sudden Kevin disappears from where he was standing and reappears two feet away from the Captain, ready to swing his greatsword in a powerful downward strike.
The Captain barely reacts in time and dashes backward avoiding the strike but it wasn't enough. As Kevin swung his greatsword downward, he released a blade of fire that covered the distance between him and his target with ease. The Captain draws out Shamash's Blade and uses it to deflect the incoming blade of fire. When his sword came in contact with the blade of fire from Shuhadaku of Uriel, it snapped in half immediately.
The Captain looks at Shamash's Blade, its blade has now turned from orange to bright red, and frequent red-colored lightning bolts are flashing across the blade's length.
Seeing the blade of fire easily broken, Kevin becomes visibly irritated by this person's ability to hinder Shuhadaku of Uriel's power.
Not wasting time, Kevin repeats his earlier move. He closes the distance between him and his target in the blink of an eye but this time he readies a wide attack. The Captain manages to block and deflect the powerful strikes but there's too much force behind them and the Captain has to backstep after each impact or he risks falling over.
As Kevin swings his greatsword, he asks this unknown person the same question he did before while accentuating each word with powerful swings.

Kevin Kaslana: Who. Are. You.

Each time the two swords clash, there is a dazzling spectacle of light and fire taking place as these two rival weapons touch each other even for the briefest of moments.
Shuhadaku of Uriel blazes like a pillar of fire and Kevin is done holding back against this unknown opponent. He swings his greatsword with so much force and speed that his opponent has no time to dodge or evade. The blow knocks the Captain off his feet and sends him flying several feet backward.
The Captain loses his grip on Shamash's Balde, dropping the weapon as he flies into a nearby building, slamming into it with his back before falling to his knees and then flat on the ground.
Gasping for breath, the Captain struggles to get up. His right arm is weak, his vision is blurry, his face stings badly and he can smell that something's been burnt. The Captain manages to get off the ground and looks toward Kevin. He stands tall and looks at the Captain as he struggles to stand up again. The look in his eyes has changed, as something new seems to take root. It is the same look someone who acknowledges his superiority would give others that are lesser. For a brief moment, the Captain breaks eye contact with Kevin as he searches for Shamash's Blade. He soon finds it impaled upright not too far from his location but he doubts Kevin will just let him walk over and pick it up.
As the Captain looks at Kevin something's changed in his eyes. As Kevin turns to face the Captain there is something else that now replaces the sense of superiority. It is a promise. A promise that if he gets up he will die.
The Captain pushes himself to his feet and runs as fast as he can trying to reach Shamash's Blade. Surprisingly, Kevin doesn't react and lets the Captain retrieve his lost weapon. As soon as Shamash's Balde was in the hands of its owner, the Captain faces Kevin and assumes his battle stance.
Kevin is quick to answer his opponent's determination to continue fighting despite the odds he faces. As soon as Kevin reappears within striking range and swings his greatsword. Shamash's Blade ignites and with the aid of the superior strength from his left arm, the Captain manages to block and deflect Kevin's strike, knocking the greatsword backward with unexpected strength.
Kevin quickly recovers from this attack and moves to attack but something was different about his opponent's movements. As the Captain swings his sword using his left arm to guide the weapon, the angle and direction of the incoming blow change unexpectedly, catching Kevin off guard as the incoming strike nearly slips through his defenses.
The Captain's footwork has changed, each time he swings his sword he slides either his foot or his heel towards the side changing the direction of his swings as well as widening his area of dodging incoming blows.
This technique was something that helped the Captain stand up a little longer to a certain formidable blonde-haired girl with blue eyes who was terrifyingly skilled in all fields of combat. This particular technique helped him dodge some of her kicks and punches.
In an unexpected turn of events, the Captain manages to hold his ground against Kevin who fails to land a blow on his opponent. The Captain stays as close as he can to his opponent, this close range prevents Kevin from using his wide arc strikes and limits some of his attacks.
As Kevin tries to take a step back, the Captain quickly reacts and steps on Kevin's left foot holding him in place while thrusting Shamash's Blade at Kevin's head. Leaning to the side, Kevin evades the incoming thrust but still manages to graze the upper part of his left cheek.
As Kevin continues to lean out of the way of the sword, the Captain changes his footing and moves up. This changes the direction of the sword and Kevin suddenly sees the Captain's left arm elbow incoming right in his face. With no time to dodge or defend himself, the elbow hits Kevin square in his right cheek, a strike powerful enough to leave behind a nasty bruise and make him stagger backward a little.
Kevin almost immediately recovers from the blow, a glimmer of anger sparks in his cold eyes as he glares at the Captain. Kevin raises Shuhadaku of Uriel high and slams it into the ground, causing a fan-shaped wave of fire to erupt and turn the stone into lava as it comes in contact with the flames emitted by the greatsword. The Captain manages to evade the wave of fire and close the distance between him and Kevin.
As soon as he was within striking range, the Captain thrusts Shamash's Blade aiming for Kevin's head. Kevin responds with a similar move, thrusting his greatsword forward thinking the length of his weapon would impale his opponent as he made his reckless frontal attack. The edges of the two weapons grind against each other as the Captain ducks low allowing Shuhadaku of Uriel to pass over his head while Kevin leans sideways allowing Shamash's Blade to nearly scratch his chin, red lightning bolts prickling his skin.
All of a sudden, the Captain pulls back Shamash's Blade, pivots on his right foot moving to flank Kevin and tries to perform a spinning strike. Kevin manages to dodge the incoming slash by the skin of his teeth, the fiery blade of his opponent sliced through his coat and nearly left a cut on his abdomen.
Kevin grabs hold of Shuhadaku of Uriel with both of his hands and performs a wide sweeping strike combo. Swinging his fiery greatsword in wide arcs in front of him, forcing his opponent to dodge and step backward. The final strike of the combo move was a downward strike that unleashed a wave of fire on impact, turning the ground to lava. The Captain had no choice but to jump sideways to evade both the floor of lava and the wave of fire, a mistake that cost him everything.
Taking advantage of the Captain being off the ground and too busy dodging the devastating attack, Kevin moved quickly and grabbed hold of the Captain while he was in the air with a vice-like choke.
The Captain dangles a few inches off the ground as Kevin holds him up by the neck with his right hand. He feels how Kevin's fingers are digging into his neck. How his palm tightens around his thyrohyoid and his fingers dig into his jugular.
The Captain struggles to force Kevin's grip loose at least a little and allow him to break free. But the more he struggles or tries to break free, the tighter Kevin squeezes his grip and eventually loses his grip on Shamash's Blade letting the weapon fall to the ground with a loud clatter as he tries to use both of his hands to break free.
Despite the dire situation, he's in and his futile struggle, the Captain begins to smile even as he's nearing unconsciousness from the lack of air and blood in his brain.