The girl stared at him in silence for a few seconds. The whips that had come together to form the sword finished consolidating. The sword of black energy remained connected to the girl's aura by a thick cord of darkness.
"You… will acknowledge me now… won't you…?" the spirit said, giving a faint exhale at the end of the sentence.
Sekai stayed silent and simply glared back at her. The boy then tightened his grip on the hilt of his sword.
Five whips shot out from the spirit and began attacking Sekai. He dodged them with difficulty, but as soon as he avoided them, the whips wrapped around his body.
"Damn it! " Sekai growled through his teeth.
He used his sword to start cutting the whips restraining him. Then, he noticed a black blade flying toward him.
CLANG!
By instinct, and barely in time, the boy managed to knock aside the black blade thrown by the spirit. However, before he could recover, Clarus was already in front of him.
"What the—"
Before he could finish his sentence, the spirit grabbed its sword again and swung down at him with a vertical strike.
CLANG!
Sekai blocked with his sword held horizontally—just barely—but he was still being pushed back, the spirit forcing its blade down toward him with overwhelming strength.
He threw the sword… then pulled himself toward it using the link he has with it…? Sekai thought as he struggled against the pressure.
"Clarus… Clarus… Who was that again…? Oh yeah! He never managed to become a knight and ended up killed by Lancelot. But… wasn't there something else about him?" Jessyka muttered from the bleachers, deep in thought.
Clarus pressed down on Sekai, who was trying with all his strength to hold the blade back. Then the spirit summoned five more whips—these ones twisting around themselves until they formed spikes.
"DAMMIT!!" Sekai shouted.
Clarus prepared to impale Sekai with the spikes. The boy looked over at Jessyka on the stands, still thinking.
I got it! he thought.
Sekai spat directly in the spirit's face. For a few moments, Clarus faltered and eased the pressure on the sword. Sekai used that instant to hurl himself to the side, barely escaping the spikes.
"Ah! Not pretty, but it worked…"
He rolled clumsily across the floor and landed on his back. The spikes slammed into the gym floor, shattering it. After that, Clarus retracted them.
While the spirit regained balance, Sekai got up and took position again.
I need to do something about those whips, or I'll get cornered again… he thought, staring intently at the dark-aura girl.
The spirit stabilized and glared back at him.
"All right, let's try that again." Sekai said, tightening his grip on his sword.
Clarus dashed forward, this time sprinting straight at him. As it approached, the spirit formed five whips again, turning them into spikes and aiming them at Sekai. Instead of blocking, the boy narrowly dodged and countered with a rising slash, hoping to catch Clarus mid-charge.
"Grrr—!" the spirit growled and jumped backward.
While airborne, Clarus threw the sword again.
"Hehe," Sekai smirked.
Instead of trying to block the blade, Sekai stepped to the right.
"AAAAHHH!" the spirit cried out.
Predicting that the spirit would teleport to the sword again, Sekai avoided it and thrust his own blade upward, trying to impale Clarus the moment he appeared. He couldn't run the spirit through completely, but he did manage to slash deeply across the left side of its abdomen.
Clarus created five whips and used them to propel itself away from Sekai.
"AAAH…! AA—AH…!" the spirit clutched its abdomen, showing clear signs of pain.
Looks like his limit is fifteen whips… He must've used ten to forge that black sword, and now he's only making five to fight… but even so, this is a pain to deal with… Sekai thought.
"AAH… AAH…" the spirit gasped, breathing hard.
"I'm not letting you recover!"
Sekai rushed in. Clarus tried to summon five whips again for defense, but Sekai sliced through them instantly, the whips burning away in the air.
"I've had enough of this annoying crap!" Sekai shouted as he cut them.
The spirit widened its eyes and took a defensive stance. Clarus and Sekai clashed in a flurry of sword strikes, but Sekai clearly had the advantage. He wasn't able to land a killing blow, but he slashed the spirit repeatedly—left arm, right arm, legs, cheeks—marking Clarus with cut after cut.
"Ah… k-key… ah… knight…"
"All right, let's finish this, spirit."
"I… have a name…"
"What…?"
"I… have a name…" the spirit repeated. "My name… is Clarus."
CLANG!
"AAAAHHHH!"
Sekai lunged forward and disarmed the spirit with a thrust. During the stab, Sekai's sword sliced through the right side of Clarus's abdomen.
The spirit's sword fell beside it, and Clarus dropped to its knees.
"Well, whatever your name is. Let's finish this already—you need to release this girl." Sekai raised his sword, ready to strike the final blow.
Clarus lifted its head, looking upward as visions from a distant past flashed through its mind. A man clad in red armor—his face hidden—stood over him with a raised sword in the exact same posture as Sekai. The two images overlapped, present and past blending as one.
"No..! No…! NOOOOO!!" Clarus screamed.
A surge of energy blasted Sekai backward, flinging him several meters across the gym floor.
"AAAH!" Sekai groaned.
He lifted his head, still on the ground, and stared at Clarus. The spirit began to float, the darkness around the girl thickening. Now both of its eyes were glowing white.
"I have a name… I have a name… I HAVE A NAME!!"
The black aura surged, as if restoring its strength. Ten whips formed again and melded into a second sword in its left hand.
"What the—" Sekai watched, stunned. The spirit had fully recovered.
Clarus lowered slowly until its feet touched the floor again. Then the spirit pulled its other fallen sword into its right hand.
"I have a name. My name is Clarus!" it declared, its voice far clearer—more human.
Sekai got to his feet and raised his blade again.
"Yeah… I think I'm screwed now…" he said with a nervous half-smile.