Chapter 150: Vanguard (1/2)

Ed never let go of Bella. His right hand was holding Shusui, but his left was glued to her. The old man withdrew his weapon from his spatial ring. A copper colored Labrys appeared in his hand. It was 1.5 meters long and could be used by one-hand. As soon as his hands held it, he swung down at Ed and Bella. Ed disappeared from in front of him, only to appear behind him. He slashed with Shusui, but the man was nimble enough to block it with the Labrys. Ed disappeared once again and was now far away from the man.

”Stay here while I finish him,” Ed told Bella as they were a safe distance away from the man. He also made special preparations to make sure no one would intrude on their fight or target Bella. The man didn't allow them much talk, however, as he rushed towards in an attempt to catch Ed off guard. Ed remained cool and teleported in front of him, blocking his assault. Ed was able to keep up with the man even though his cultivation surpassed his by many levels. After a while, the man was visibly annoyed by this fact.

”Tch, how are you able to do this?!” Every single swing of his Labrys was either dodged or countered by Ed.

”You don't expect me to tell you, right?” Ed smiled as he provoked him with his hand. 'Not like you're a legendary dragon or anything.' Ed thought to himself while continuing his fight. As expected, the man was experienced enough to reach a stalemate with Ed. Ed wasn't injured, but the same was also true for the old man.

”Tch!” The man scoffed at Ed and activated something with his Labrys. He jumped to the back and took a stance. He was standing sideways, his left hand to the front while his right hand which held the Labrys in the back. He swung his weapon with great force, sending a bronze colored flying slash towards Ed. Ed managed to dodge, but he kept a close eye on it, as he felt something was wrong with it. His feeling was spot on. Anything that was touched by the slash looked like it rusted and withered away.

The old man kept sending many slashes, some of them actually aiming at Bella. Of course, Ed wasn't stupid enough to let her out of his protection. He used his Space magic and Shunpo to appear in front of those slashes and send them back at the man. The man was also able to dodge his own slashes at the beginning. But he was being overwhelmed since Ed mixed some of his with them. It looked like the man had enough, as he stopped with his stance. He still looked like he activated something again on his Labrys. The color of the slashes mixed with the color of the weapon.

The man switched back to close combat. Ed dodged his attacks since he noticed that they had the same effect as the slashes.

”You can't do anything!” The man boasted while smiling, but his smile was short lived. Ed casually blocked his weapon, and yet his Shusui didn't rust or wither. Ed used his Armament Haki to protect his weapon. Both of them clashed many times, sending shockwaves in the surrounding area. Their surroundings were eerily quiet except for their fighting. The man couldn't even hear the war going on against Blood sect right now.

”Humph, all your attacks are nothing to me! You'll never have something I haven't seen before in a battle!” The man had great faith in his battle experience. Ed heard him and laughed. The man became irritated due to Ed's laugh and backed away again. It looked like he was preparing a powerful attack. His aura rippled in the air around him causing it to shake. His Labrys now had a red-orange color surrounding it. The color intensified as he targeted Ed.

”Since you've seen everything, this will be a normal sight to you,” Ed told him as he withdrew Muramasa and Ame-No-Murakumo.

”Three swords? It's a weird thing to use but it's not that surprising.” The man scoffed at him again, mocking his ability.

”Who said that it's three swords?” Hearing Ed's words, the man looked surprised, but he focused on his attack instead. By now, the intense light created from the old man's skill surrounded the whole area. It even reached Bella's standing point.

However, even with all the blinding light, only one spot was dark in color. The area surrounding Ed was not affected in the least by the attack of the man. It was black and air didn't move inside of it. Even though the nearby trees were almost torn due to the intensity of the attack, the area surrounding Ed was calm. Suddenly, a figure emerged behind Ed. It was a Three-faced and Six-armed statue.