Sakana kept his sword ready as he looked at Alexander. Alexander gazed down at his severed arm with a calm look in his eyes. The arrogance seemed to fade for a moment as his eyes landed on his arm.
"You really did a number on me, ay?" Alexander asked calmly. Sakana softly pushed the hilt with his thumb.
"You gonna talk, or are we gonna fight?" Sakana asked coldly. Alexander looked up and grinned slightly, walking toward Sakana with a confident stride.
"Let me take a wild guess here," Alexander said, twirling his hand around slightly.
"You use the powerful forms, and they did do quite a number on me. That is true, yet I have a feeling you won't be able to pull the same stunt again. Mostly because of your quivering hand and your breathing. It seems like the faster you swing that sword, the more tired you get. Are you already at your limit? Would it be fair to say you might actually just pass out from using forms above the seventh form?" Alexander analyzed the situation, not taking his eyes off Sakana for a moment. The swordsman took in a deep breath, trying his hardest to quell his quivering body. Alexander looked down at his crushed arm once more, and in the blink of an eye, a new arm sprouted from the crushed severed arm. A completely golden arm.
"Hand of Midas," Alexander said. The glow of this arm was even more intense than anything before.
"Usually, this is a coating ability, making my normal hand enhanced, but to be fair. There isn't really an arm or hand anymore, right?" Alexander grinned as he walked toward Sakana.
"I have to slash him!" Sakana shouted, taking a deep breath.
"Water Iaijutsu. First form, leaping fish!" He flew forward.
Sakana's eyes widened as he couldn't move. All he could see was yellow as he had flown forward and his head caught by the golden hand.
"Second form, crescent salmon!" He swung his sword upwards. Alexander merely moved his head to the side, dodging it.
"Golden fist!" He roared as he threw Sakana into the air and then punched him, sending him flying away with incredible force. Sakana came rolling out the wall, coughing out blood. Alexander walked toward him again.
"Nah, you come to me," Alexander said, stomping the ground as a yellow glow moved through his leg and into the ground, making a giant pillar appear under Sakana and sending him flying toward Alexander.
"Batter up!" Alexander grinned as he threw another punch, sending Sakana flying back again. Another pillar rose from the ground and sent Sakana flying back. His body was a ping pong ball, and Alexander was throwing him back and forward.
"Need... to focus." Sakana grabbed his hilt.
"Seventh form, stillwater gerridae stride." Sakana erupted mist around him, but Alexander just smiled, throwing his hand forward. You saw the blue water fly everywhere as the sword collided with the arm, but this time it was stopped and just ricocheted off the arm.
"W-what?" Sakana looked in awe as Alexander just threw one more punch sending him flying into the wall, not even taking the time to throw him back again.
"Surprised?" Alexander asked as he walked toward Sakana.
"You know what arrogance truly means? It means you feel that you are above someone. Do you think I would utilize the strongest of my powers against a runt?" Alexander asked as he stopped walking, slowly sitting down on a throne behind him.
"It would be like a human throwing a catapult boulder at ants. You just don't do that. I used powers in the sense of a flyswatter on you before. Now I brought out the catapult. When an animal suddenly seems life-threatening in the sense of actually wounding me, that's when the human should consider truly powerful weapons. Bring a gun to fight a lion. Bring a flyswatter to fight a fly." Alexander preached his ideology as he swung his legs up, sitting sideways on the chair with a calm expression.
"I thought you were a mere ant, but now it seems you have a bit of bite behind your bark, swordsman." Alexander glanced over at him.
"Yet, you are a mere animal. Nothing to be concerned about." Alexander laughed hysterically, stopping suddenly, turning a single eye down upon Sakana as he closed the other, sweeping some of his hair up between his fingers.
"You said earlier you realized what my power was about, right?" Alexander asked. Sakana coughed as he got up to his feet.
"You are wrong. It's not how small it is, but how much I compress it together." Alexander said.
"This arm is compressed with 80% of my power. Before, I used a mere 20%." Alexander explained, looking at his golden arm.
"W-wait. Didn't you say you went all out? Gun and all?" Sakana asked, coughing out blood.
"I said I brought out a gun, but that's not the most efficient way to kill a lion. A missile would be stronger. But you are not even worthy of the thought." Alexander laughed. Sakana grabbed the hilt of his sword, swaying a bit from side to side as he tried to regain his footing. Alexander reached out his hand, pointing it at Sakana.
"now that you understand, will you kneel or die?" Alexander asked.
"Kneel or die?" Sakana asked.
"Yes. KNEEL!" Alexander roared as yellow light erupted around Sakana, forcing him to kneel.
"Good. You know your place." Alexander swung his legs back, planting time firmly on the ground as he tilted his head slightly, grinning, but his grin faded when he saw it. Sakana wasn't kneeling. He was bowing down, and his feet were slowly getting pressed toward the ground, but they didn't touch the ground. He was pushing against the glow. Sakana then slowly stood up, pressing his body against the yellow glow.
"Oooh?" Alexander looked unamused.
"I will never kneel before anyone other than my master!" Sakana's eyes flared with anger as he grabbed his sword. You could hear the sound of the ocean loudly.
"WATER IAIJUTSU!-" He pulled on the sword, disappearing from sight.
"FOURTH FORM, Toad bubble spring!" He had shot toward the throne. Alexander had moved up his hand to defend from the slash, but there was no sound of anything colliding with his hand. He saw a bubble trail toward him and then straight up, seeing Sakana fly above him.
"Water Iaijutsu. Third form-" He spun around, turning into a whirlwind as he hit the sword against Alexander's arm.
"Torrent pufferbubble!" The sound of the collision echoed in the arena as Alexander's arm was pushed back.
"He used the blunt side of the side to create an impact!" Alexander thought. Sakana let out a cough of blood as he then breathed in hard again.
"Fourth form, toad bubble spring!" He shot straight toward Alexander. Alexander quickly created a wall, but the sound didn't echo again. The bubble trailed was straight for the wall, but at the last moment, shot to the right around the wall, placing Sakana next to Alexander. This happened over a single second. Alexander's arm was still moving back. The wall was still slowly transferring to his right as Sakana's eyes lighted up.
"Water Iaijutsu. Sixth form-" He took a deep breath and swung his sword with all his might, making a giant oceanic sound like a big wave colliding with the sand of a beach.
"Sharktooth slash!" Alexander was hit over his body and sent flying. Sakana took one step forward and then fell forward, stabbing the sword into the ground to keep himself from falling. He then let out a massive cough, and blood leaked out.
"D-damn...Suffocating." Sakana was breathing like he had held his breath for too long.
"You are using your styles in quick succession, must be tiring." Alexander slowly sat up, having a second cut over his chest now, bleeding.
"I am the master swordsman and practicer of the Water Iaijutsu. I can hold my own against you and-" Sakana stood up straight, placing his odachi on his shoulder.
"Still not kneeling." Sakana grinned. Alexander's small grin turned into a wide, almost psychotic grin.
"Hahahahahahahahahahahah." Alexander's laugh echoed over the arena.
"You...Oh, you-" Alexander stopped laughing in an instance, slowly lowering his cold gaze down. The gaze that Alexander had in his eyes made the whole crowd go silent in an instant. All of them, silent. Sakana's legs shivered for a moment, and he swallowed all his words for a moment. The pure intensity that looks carried made the air heavy.
"See, I'm a nice man." Alexander began to walk. The golden eye glowed with such intensity that it was nearly blinding, but even if it was blinding, you could see it—the pure fury and hatred behind that eye. His other eye was covered with his dangling hair.
"A pity. Such a pity." Alexander said as his golden arm of Midas began to glow so powerfully that it was like the sun had come down for a visit.
"I really did like you, but now I won't show any mercy," Alexander said as he moved his hand into the air.
"NO ONE WANTS INSECTS AROUND!" He slammed his fist into the ground as the golden hand of Midas began to shine and slowly turned into a somewhat liquid state, sliding down and entering the ground. Alexander stood up straight as he looked at Sakana.
"When I say kneel-" Alexander said as the air grew heavy and the hair on the back of Sakana's neck stood up.
"I MEAN KNEEL!" Alexander roared as Sakana's body was overwhelmed by the force around him, slamming into the ground. He wasn't even forced into a kneeling position but was just slammed into the ground as the yellow glow pushed him down. Alexander looked at him with an amused grin and then looked up again, forcing Sakana into the air. This was not controlling some shield anymore. The shield was moving at such a speed and force it was the equivalent of controlling matter itself. It was like he controlled gravity.
"Alexander spread out his lone arm as an ocean of yellow glow erupted from his body, flying all around him.
"Center of the universe." He said. Sakana tried to get a hold of his sword, but the glow kept throwing him and his sword around. His movements were guided by the place Alexander was looking. Alexander swung him around, guided by his eyeball. Alexander then looked at the ground, and Sakana was thrown into the ground at such a speed that you heard a massive snap sound.
"Kneeling won't save you anymore," Alexander growled as he moved some hair away from his face, revealing his other intense, angry eye.
"Death will be your retribution!" Alexander roared. Sakana had finally gotten a hold of his sword, coughing out blood as he stood up, trying to grasp the hilt with all his might.
"S-still not kneeling." Sakana managed to growl out. Alexander's eyes sparked even more in anger as the two had once again a staredown.
Slight fear in Damien's eyes as it seemed Alexander finally had gotten completely serious.
