The fluorescent lights above flickered erratically as Tetsuya Saito stepped forward, his boots thudding against the linoleum floor.
His cosmic aura shimmered faintly, a blend of starlight and shadow.
From the shadows ahead, a slow, deliberate clap echoed. Amelia Silverheart emerged, her crimson eyes glowing like embers in the dark.
Blood swirled around her hands, forming jagged tendrils that licked the walls. Her smile was cold, venomous.
"You're too late, Cosmic Soldier," she hissed, voice dripping with malice. "This dimension is mine now."
Tetsuya's eyes narrowed, "Not while I'm still breathing." In a flash, he vanished, lightning streaking across the hallway, reappearing inches from Amelia with a Lightning Punch aimed straight at her chest.
She twisted, blood Armor flaring to deflect the blow, but the force sent her skidding back, lockers exploding in sparks behind her.
She wiped blood from her lip, grinning, "Let's see how fast you really are."
Blood Bullets formed mid-air, spinning like crimson daggers. Tetsuya dashed sideways, lightning trailing behind him, dodging each shot with supernatural speed.
He countered with a Lightning Bullets Barrage, illuminating the hallway in a strobe of electric fury. Amelia leapt into the air, her Blood Sword forming in her grip.
She descended with a Blood Slash, aiming to cleave through the floor and trap him in a pool of regenerating blood. Tetsuya raised his own Lightning Sword, the clash of elements sending a shockwave through the hallway as it trembled under the weight of their clash.
Sparks of lightning and splashes of blood painted the walls in chaotic patterns.
Tetsuya's breathing grew heavier, his cosmic energy flickering as Amelia's relentless assault began to overwhelm him.
She darted forward, her Blood Punch Barrage hammering into his defences. Each strike sizzled against his lightning aura, forcing him back step by step.
He raised his Lightning Sword to parry, but her Blood Sword twisted unnaturally, slicing through his guard and grazing his shoulder.
"You're slowing down, Cosmic Soldier," she whispered, her voice echoing unnaturally through the endless corridor. "Your lightning isn't enough."
Tetsuya gritted his teeth, lightning crackling around him as he launched a desperate Lightning Bullets Barrage, filling the air with electric projectiles.
Amelia spun through them, her body regenerating instantly from each hit. Her blood twisted into a shield, absorbing the damage like a living wall.
Suddenly, she vanished, reappearing behind him with a Blood Slash Barrage, each crimson arc slicing through the air with deadly precision.
Tetsuya turned just in time to block the final strike, but the force sent him crashing through a row of lockers, metal and sparks flying.
He groaned, struggling to rise. His power level was immense, but Amelia's regeneration and blood manipulation were proving nearly impossible to counter.
***
The hallway around him warped, lockers melting into pools of blood, the air thick with iron and static.
"You're not the hero this time," Amelia said, floating above him, her blood sword pulsing like a heartbeat.
Tetsuya clenched his fists, lightning crawling up his arms, "I'm not done yet." he staggered to his feet, blood dripping from his wounds, his lightning aura flickering like a dying star.
Amelia hovered above, her blood sword pulsing with power, ready to finish him.
But then, the hallway went silent. Tetsuya closed his eyes. His body began to hum, vibrating with raw cosmic energy. Lightning surged from his core, spiralling around both arms.
With a roar, he summoned a second blade, the Dual Lightning Swords, each crackling with blinding electricity.
"You wanted speed?" he growled. "Let me show you what lightning really looks like." He vanished. Amelia's eyes widened, too late.
Tetsuya reappeared mid-air, spinning like a cyclone of light, and unleashed his ultimate technique: Dual Lightning Sword Slash.
Twin arcs of lightning tore through the hallway, slicing lockers, walls, and even the air itself. Amelia raised her blood shield, but the sheer force shattered it.
The slash struck her full-on, sending her crashing through the endless corridor, her blood sword disintegrating in the storm.
The hallway flickered, reality itself bending under the weight of the attack. Tetsuya landed, both swords still humming, his eyes locked on the smoke where Amelia had fallen. "This ends now."
Amelia's body twitched. Blood pooled beneath her, then surged upward, knitting torn flesh and shattered bone. Her eyes snapped open, glowing brighter than before.
She rose slowly, her silhouette framed by writhing tendrils of blood. "You think that was enough?" she hissed, her voice layered with echoes. "I told you; I don't die."
Tetsuya did not flinch. His grip tightened around both lightning swords, now pulsing like twin stars.
The hallway around them warped, lockers melting into static as his cosmic energy surged, "Then I'll keep striking until you stay down."
He launched forward, faster than thought, Dual Lightning Sword Slash Barrage unleashed.
A storm of slashes tore through the corridor. Each swing of his blades sent arcs of lightning slicing through the air, dozens, hundreds of strikes raining down in a blinding fury.
The hallway lit up like a thunderstorm trapped indoors, the sound of each impact deafening.
Amelia raised her blood shield, but it cracked under the relentless assault. Her regeneration faltered, overwhelmed by the sheer volume of strikes. She screamed, her voice drowned by the roar of lightning.
Slash after slash, Tetsuya carved through her defences, pushing her back, pinning her against the wall of the endless hallway.
Sparks flew. Blood splattered. The very fabric of the dimension trembled.
Finally, with one last cry, he crossed his blades and unleashed a final twin arc, slicing through the air and sending Amelia crashing into the void beyond the hallway.
Silence.
Tetsuya stood alone, lightning fading, swords dissolving into sparks. The hallway flickered, then began to stabilize. Amelia's blood was still. No movement. No regeneration.
"It's over," he whispered.
Tetsuya stood amidst the wreckage, his lightning swords humming softly in the silence. Amelia lay motionless, her blood scattered across the floor like shattered glass.
He exhaled, his body trembling from the barrage he had unleashed.
But then, The blood began to boil.
It slithered back toward her, not in streams, but in spirals, forming glyphs, symbols, runes that glowed with ancient crimson light. The air turned heavy. The hallway darkened.
A low, guttural growl echoed from Amelia's body. "You should've aimed for the brain," she whispered.
Her eyes snapped open, no longer red, but black voids with glowing crimson pupils.
Her body levitated, bones cracking, muscles expanding.
Her skin paled to ghostly white, and her hair flowed like liquid shadow. Her blood sword reformed, now jagged and pulsing like a living creature.
Amelia Silverheart had become her true vampire self.
Tetsuya lunged first, lightning trailing behind him. He swung both swords in a cross slash, but Amelia caught them, with her bare hands.
Blood erupted from her palms, wrapping around the blades and melting them into sparks.
She countered with a Blood Punch that shattered the floor beneath him, sending him flying through lockers. Before he could recover, she was already there, Blood Bullets Barrage raining down like a crimson hailstorm.
Tetsuya rolled, dodged, and summoned his lightning again, but it was slower now. His energy was fading.
He launched a Lightning Bullets Barrage, but Amelia twisted through them, her body regenerating mid-air.
"You're fast," she said, appearing behind him. "But I'm eternal."
She slashed with her Blood Sword, and Tetsuya barely blocked with a hastily formed lightning blade.
The clash sent shockwaves through the hallway, lockers exploding, walls cracking.
Tetsuya knew he could not win with brute force. He closed his eyes, channelling every ounce of his cosmic power. Lightning surged from his body, forming a protective sphere.
He dashed forward, blades reforming, and unleashed a Dual Lightning Sword Slash Barrage again, this time faster, sharper, more precise.
Amelia screamed as the strikes tore through her defences. Her blood shield cracked, her body staggered. But she did not fall.
Instead, she laughed.
"You think you're the only one with a barrage?"
She raised her sword and unleashed her own: Blood Slash Barrage.
Crimson arcs filled the hallway, colliding with Tetsuya's lightning. The two barrages met mid-air, creating a vortex of blood and electricity.
The hallway twisted, lockers flew like shrapnel, and the floor split open into a void.
They clashed in the air, blades meeting again and again. Tetsuya's speed was unmatched, but Amelia's regeneration was relentless.
Every wound he inflicted healed instantly. Every strike she landed drained his energy further.
Amelia grabbed him mid-strike, her blood tendrils wrapping around his limbs.
She pulled him close, her fangs bared, "Let me show you what true immortality feels like."
She bit into his shoulder, draining his energy. Tetsuya screamed, lightning flaring wildly.
In desperation, he summoned one final surge, a lightning explosion that blasted her away, severing the tendrils.
He collapsed to one knee, panting, bleeding, barely holding his swords. Amelia rose from the smoke, her form flickering, unstable.
She was powerful, but the transformation had a cost. Her regeneration slowed. Her blood flickered.
Tetsuya looked up, eyes blazing. "You are not eternal. You are just stubborn." He stood, lightning crawling up his spine, and prepared one final move.