The Black Dragon

Twin Blades

With the end of the first match, about half an hour goes by, giving Zato time to get his wounds healed and catch his breath. The half-hour flies by, and in no time at all, Zato returns to the arena fully healed and ready to face his final opponent.

"And here he is! Returning to the arena, Zato!" Baron shouts as Zato faces the opposing entrance hall. "And his opponent the fourth child of Mitsuki Cero, The Star of the Youth!" Barron shouts as an intense and powerful aura erupts from the entrance hall. Once that aura hits Zato, a cold sweat runs down his face, and his sacred gear appears on his arm out of instinct. "You all know him, the next head of the Cero Clan, Indigo Cero!" Upon his name being spoken, the boy emerges from the shadowy hallway and slowly walks into the arena. Indigo glances at Zato before extending his hands as a red magic seal appears before his right hand, and a white magic seal appears before his left.

"Release." With that simple word, the seals shatter, and out from the red seal is a katana with a white handle; from the white seal is a similar katana but with a red handle.

Seeing this, Xenovia's eyes widen with a mixture of shock and amazement. "Those swords, he summoned them the same way I summoned Durandal," Xenovia says as Hinata nods.

"Yeah, I guess that means you already know why that's the case?" Hinata asks as Xenovia gulps before speaking again.

"You mean those swords are just as strong as Durandal, and he can wield them together?" Xenovia asks a slight tremble in his voice.

 Hinata nods as Barron exits the arena before raising his hand. "Begin!"

Indigo and Zato charge at one another, and with his sword's superior reach, Indigo strikes first. He swings his red-handled blade, and it goes right through Zato's neck, but instead of blood smoke, it appears from the wound before the rest of Zato fades away into smoke. Eyes widening Indigo looks down to see that Zato had ducked under his swing at the last moment. 

"To think you're already at that level of martial arts." Raidou comments 

Moving Quickly Zato attempts to sweep Indigo's legs, but just like Zato, Zato's kick goes right through Indigo's legs with a trail of smoke following Zato's leg. A blade comes down but yet again strikes an afterimage of smoke. As Indigo lands, Zato throws a powerful right hook, but the result is the safe as the last few attacks. Suddenly, the two rapidly trade attacks back and forth, but each attack misses with the target dodging at the last minute as the exchange of attack continues with neither fighter giving an inch.

"Impressive." Shiryu comments as he watches from a shadowy corridor.

"Even some of the more experienced fighters don't have foresight that good," Chie says with a whistle.

"Incredible," Koneko says in shock at the raw display of skills on display.

"When it comes to martial arts, Zato has already reached his peak. His big drawbacks are his lack of experience, neglect of the abilities his sacred gear gives him, and his struggle against more supernatural combatants." Zen explains as the tide of battle begins to tip 

Zato moves back as he just barely dodges the red handle blade but as he sees the white handle blade coming toward he moves his head to the left and the sword brushes past his head as Zato moves to make some distance between them a faint trickle of blood runs down his cheek.

Seeing this, Indigo smirks as his blade glows green for a moment, and then unbeknownst to Zato, this cut also glows green before erupting into a much more grievous wound. Blood erupts from the wound that was once thin and shallow like a paper cut it now looks like Indigo had stabbed the entire tip of his sword into Zato's cheek.

"What just happened?" Rias asks while leaning over the edge to try and see the fight better. "The blade bearly touched?" 

"It's the abilities of that sword," Hinata says as the group looks toward her.

"What do you mean?" Asia questions

"I assume you kids are aware of the white and red dragon emperor. Well, before the great war, Ichiro Cero Mitsuki's firstborn fought those dragons. Not at the same, but of course, but while he didn't win those fights, he left alive and with a fang from each. He then spent the next three years of his life forging those fangs into two blades. And those are the same swords that Indigo is using." Hinata explains. "Don't get the wrong idea, though compared to the sacred gears of the same dragons, those swords are the dollar store version. Each blade needs to make physical contact with the target for the ability to be used minus Indigo boosting his own abilities, there's a twenty-second delay between uses, and ironically enough each blade can only use said abilities 20 times a day." Hinata continues.

"So he must have boosted the wound he inflicted on Zato to increase its severity," Kiba explains. "Not good even with the physical contact restriction, the two seem to be equal or Indigo might even be faster than Zato so even the smallest wound could be turned into a game-changing one," Kiba states as he looks into the arena a bead of sweat running down his face.

"Plus, if that sword has the red dragon's power, the other must have the white dragon's abilities." Xenovia chimes in.

"But there's a limit to how much he can use it. If he is even stronger than Zato, maybe Zato can stall out his uses." Asia suggests but is quickly shut down.

"Unlikely, combined he has forty uses of his ability and since it needs to make physical contact there's no way for Zato to get him to waste them and in a one, on one fight forty is a way bigger number than it appears to be," Koneko explains as Asia sinks into her seat.

Back in the arena, Indigo rushes Zato, who prepares to move to keep the distance between in order to devise a plan. However, after a few steps, he slashes the air, and suddenly, Zato is within his slashing range. Eyes widening Zato watches as Indigo swings his boosting Katana at his side. Zato just nearly dodges under it by bending backward. In all honestly, if it wasn't for his space-consuming ability that blows probably would have hit and ended the match. As his hands hit the ground, Zato's muscles tense up as he lifts the lower half of his body off the ground and delivers a powerful kick that indigo blocks with his other blade.

The sheer force of the kick sends Indigo a few feet back, and Zato gets back to his feet, and the two fights glare at one another. Both know that holding back isn't an option and that they'll need every piece of their arsenals in order to win.