Splatoon Manga: NightRoad

Prince of Twilight

🖤Chapter 55: Ebony

Prince stood across from Ebony as the rest of the two teams stood in the distance. His sub and special wouldn't matter here. The others might have had their battles with their weapons, but Prince sensed that this was going to be a purely swords kind of fight. He held his ground, prepared for what was to happen. Ebony made the first move. He rushed at Prince with incredible speeds, to the point where Prince could only dodge out of the way instead of parry his attack.

Prince turned around as Ebony skidded to a halt, and turned around, running at Prince with both swords ready. This time, Prince managed to parry both with his blades. Seira had taught him that strength would matter, since both blades were shorter than their longer counterparts, and would therefore consist of close/short range slashes. It was now a fight between who could push the blades. Prince and Ebony seemed to have the same strength, so they both jumped back and ran again, swords once again clashing in the middle.

It didn't matter how much they clashed, and from what angle. They always seemed to collide with one another. Even if they tried swinging their blades for another shot, it was always parried. They stood back, huffing from all the energy it took. Prince needed a new plan, and soon. Maybe these breaks would allow him some time to think.

For starters, what was considered "defeat"? Perhaps Ebony being knocked out? Or maybe Prince having so much of an advantage over Ebony that he couldn't do anything? He didn't want to actually "splat" (/kill?) him. After all, this was only mind control, Ebony was still in there. He kept this in mind as he dodged Ebony's shadow fire. He knew Ebony didn't want to fight. If he could just...nullify the effects of the control somehow, it would be over quickly.

But Ebony wouldn't give him time to make a plan. He was everywhere. Prince stood as Ebony began to quickly circle him. He had to pay attention now, as Ebony might strike him when he wasn't expecting it. He noticed that Ebony was staying pretty darn quiet, as if he was hiding something. Maybe he wasn't, maybe that's just how the mind control worked. Maybe Ebony was just trying to focus and couldn't risk him swinging at him while he was talking.

The squidbeak meanwhile, were watching this fight play out. They were all hoping that Prince would be able to do this, but if he couldn't they would gladly take an attempt to fighting Ebony. Even if the others were healed, it didn't matter. They would have won against everyone and they could prove it again if a team fight came up. Emperor meanwhile, was nervously watching his brother, as if anything bad happened, he would immediately run over. He knew Prince shouldn't have to deal with this, but to be fair, everyone else had fought their counterpart one on one.

Ebony watched as Prince observed him, then quickly went for a blade swing. Prince parried it as expected, so he quickly slashed at him with his second sword. Prince hadn't expected this, and was caught off guard. Ebony could hear Emperor's yell and Noir's cheer as he got him. Prince quickly pulled back, and went for a slash. Ebony easily dodged, but Prince took advantage of his positioning, and got him in the back. This earned more shouts and cheers from the "crowd", and Ebony quickly turned around just in time to block Prince's second slash.

Prince went for multiple swings now, breaths increasing in speed from the effort he was putting into this. Ebony, seeing how reckless Prince was being, blocked each swing with only one sword, then threw a burst bomb into Prince's face. This caused Prince to be momentarily blinded, and Ebony took this chance to swing again with both blades, and then punch Prince with a shadow fist. Prince was blown back by the force, and hit a wall of a store near the squidbeak. The squidbeak gasped as they went over to help, but Emperor stopped them (despite regretting it horribly).