The grounds were turned into a battlefield. Craters defaced the once clear field. Plumes of smoke rose from locations grenades had exploded. There were gashes along the ground as well, from the slashes of swords as Tao and Seohyun tried to best each other at swordplay.

Tao! Duck!

Tao did as instructed; he splayed his legs, ducking low to the ground. King appeared behind him, opened his jaws and released a blast of energy. Seohyun, wise to the attack, sidestepped and backed away.

“The Glory of Twelve Powers. I didn’t know such a weapon existed on EXO Planet. Majesty had some tricks up her sleeve.”

She had attacked Tao when she summoned twenty blades, holding nothing back. King had instructed Tao to use the power of water next. Instantaneously, after pronouncing the word water, Tao changed forms. He took on a liquid state, along with the sword and King. Seohyun hacked and slashed at their liquid forms to no avail. Tao and King just kept reforming back into their original watery shapes.

Tao found he could still move as if he were solid even after in his watery state. He backed away, called forth the power of the mind and summoned twenty psychic swords to aid him. He also returned to his normal state, not liquid anymore. King warned the boy that the more swords were summoned, the harder it was to control them.

“Don’t worry. Even when I was on Earth, this kind of thing was my specialty. I have more control and patience than most humans.” Tao had replied casually.

Seohyun attacked once more, her blades dancing in the air. Tao stood his ground and waited for Seohyun to reach him. He parried her katar-like hands with his sword while all twenty of his spectral swords parried the robot’s own arsenal.

They were locked in a tight sword fight, a dangerous dance of blades, for quite a while. Seohyun showed no signs of tiring. Nor did Tao. King wanted to aim a blast at the robot but they were moving so fast that he was afraid he might hit Tao instead of Seohyun.

Finally, they broke their contact and jumped back, away from each other. Seohyun re-equipped and cradled what looked like a machine gun. Her blades vanished.

Next, try to use the power of the dragon!

Reciting the words he needed, he felt his senses awaken and his strength double, or maybe even triple.

The robot opened fire. Tao and King ran on opposite sides. Tao to the left and King to the right. Tao ran faster than usual. His speed was enhanced as well. Seohyun stopped firing for a second to summon a second gun. Tao took this opportunity to dash forward and engage her in close combat. King knew of Tao’s plan and fired a blast of energy towards Seohyun as a diversion. The robot jumped back to avoid it. Tao reached her before she even landed from her evasive jump. She turned to look at Tao but it was a little too late.

“Lightning.” Tao whispered and he slashed at Seohyun, aiming for her waist. The robot’s legs released a stream of fire changing her course mid-air. Tao’s blade managed to hack off half of her left arm instead, an electric spittle sounded as his blade sank and went through her arm.

The robot did a one-hand backflip away from the pair.

Nice job!

“How!?” Seohyun’s voice was shrill and harsh and her face showed both the expressions of anger and surprise. “My body is made of the toughest substance!” She looked down at her left arm, now only half the length it used to be.

Tao didn’t answer but eyed the robot, sword raised.

“You’re going to pay!!” The robot screamed and materialized a bazooka in her right hand. Floating funnels also appeared above her. She aimed the bazooka at Tao and fired. Tao used the power of the dragon and sped to his left, evading the shot. The funnels homed on him, keeping their ends pointed at him. Then the funnels shot laser-like beams of energy at Tao. Tao managed to avoid all of them but one funnel had calculated the location Tao was going to next and fired there. Tao only managed to stop just in time to avoid getting hit but the explosion blew him back. He tumbled across the ground.

Tao! King released a blast of energy towards Seohyun. Her bazooka disappeared and out came a huge shield in front of her, blocking the attack.

King was already beside Tao, pushing him up.

Are you okay?

I am. Nothing serious.

Well, just in case. The power of rebirth will give you enhanced regeneration. It won’t heal you as fast as Lay can but it helps.

I’ll remember that. I advise you tell me the remaining secrets of the sword while we’re on the move. The more I know about the limitations of the sword, the more I can maximize its potentials.

Understood.

Seohyun had re-armed herself with a bazooka again, the shield gone. She fired two quick shots. King and Tao evaded.

The power of fire. All your strikes will be explosive.

King rolled sideways, evading a shot from the bazooka.

The power of light. The light around you will bend, rendering you invisible.

Tao somersaulted as Seohyun fired three quick shots from the bazooka. It seemed like the thing didn’t need to reload. King tried to fire a shot of energy at her but she beat him to it and fired first.

The power of ice. The air around you super-chills anything that comes near you.

Seohyun laughed, shooting non-stop at the two.

“Die! Die! Die!” there was smoke everywhere, making it harder for Tao to see, but he retained a mental note of where Seohyun was.

Lastly, the power of time. Whenever you activate it, an after image of yourself will appear where you activated the power and mimic your last move during that time.

Got it.

Seohyun stopped shooting for a bit. She was surrounded in smoke. King couldn’t see her. Nor could Tao.

She could have moved from her previous location. Keep an eye ou---

King’s train of thought was disturbed when three missiles rocketed towards him, one straight at him and two to both his sides. He had no time to jump. He tried to back step but only managed to avoid the direct impact. The force of the explosion threw him into the air, knocking him back a few feet.

King? … King!

The same missiles whistled towards Tao. He had activated the power of the dragon that time, heightening his senses. He had heard the missiles coming and was prepared for them. He back flipped five times in a ridiculous speed, evading the missile and its explosion.

“Time to end this!” Seohyun laughed once again.

“Time to end this.” Tao whispered.

“Wind.” Tao ran sides ways and started slashing his sword, sending air blades towards the general direction of Seohyun. The smoke cleared enough as the wind slices ran along the ground towards Seohyun. She materialized a shield to protect her.

“Dragon.” Tao stopped slashing immediately and dashed forward. In a second, he was beside Seohyun. Seohyun, also prepared, had materialized a blade in her hand and sliced at Tao but felt her joints hardening.

“Ice.”

She managed only to swing her sword halfway when her arm wouldn’t move anymore.

“Earth.” Tao dipped his sword into the ground. A pillar of earth erupted underneath Seohyun, catapulting her into the sky. At the same time, Tao had thrown the sword upward.

“Space.”

Tao reappeared beside the sword. He grabbed it and sliced at the robot. A shield appearing between them.

“Lightning.” The sword sliced the shield clean in half. Seohyun’s eyes widened and her face contorted with rage.

As she was falling, she materialized a machine gun and aimed at Tao.

“Mind.”

Two spectral swords appeared near the gun and sliced it in half.

Tao dived down, tucking his arms in so he fell faster. He reached Seohyun just before they were about to hit the ground.

“Water.” He tackled the robot in mid-air and then turned liquid. The robot hit the ground and water splashed, frying her circuits a little.

“W-why… Y-y-you!!” Seohyun still managed to get up.

“Light.” Tao disappeared right after reforming from his watery state.

“Where are you, you little c-c-cretin!” Seohyun materialized a massive blade and swung it sideways in a full 360 degrees. Tao ducked just in time and re-appeared. “There you are!” Her voice sounded like a radio that had broken.

“Time.” Tao, still crouched low to the ground, tried to swipe at Seohyun’s legs. The robot lifted a leg to avoid the attack. Tao leaped above Seohyun, attempting to slice her head. She moved forward to avoid the attack but found that her leg was attacked. She looked down to see a second Tao had sliced at her leg then disappear. The real Tao landed behind her.

She toppled and crashed to the ground, now missing her left leg.

“Y-you’ll … *bzzt… pay for.. th-th-this..zzzz!” Tao stepped over to the robot. Her back was to the ground and she faced Tao. The boy pointed the sword at her chest.

“Fire.” He prodded the sword edge at the robot and a huge explosion issued. When Tao retrieved the sword, the explosion had died down. Where the robot had been, nothing but a blackened crater was left.

Tao walked over to King, who was lying on the ground a few ways back, and put a hand on the wolf-sized dog.

“Rebirth.” Tao felt his strength return, slowly but surely. Energy flowed from the sword to him and to King. The dog’s eyes fluttered open.

Tao! Where is she?

She’s finished.

W-what!?

See for youself.

King got up and looked at where Tao pointed.

Wow. What did you do?

Tao smiled and sheathed his sword.

“Long story.”

King looked at him with a puzzled look. He then began to shrink back to his original form.

I never would have thought someone could wield The Glory of Twelve so skillfully. Majesty was right to have given it to you. So, what do you think of the sword?

Tao put his hand to his chin and thought for a moment. Then he shrugged.

Meh. It’s not that big a deal. I’ve seen better swords. He winked at the dog and the dog laughed in his mind.

[A/N]

This whole chapter is just pure Tao awesomeness. I just hope you guys can imagine this the way I imagine it. TAT

Tell me what you think??

Much love! <3