Ezra Phantoms: The Cursed Sword

6

The fight between me and two gigantic dragons had begun. Obviously, I was the one at a disadvantage. That became painfully clear to me during the beginning of the battle. The dragons kept firing one fireball after another. Keeping all of Phoebe's fighting tips in mind, I read their movements carefully as I tactically dodged every fireball. I was beginning to see a pattern. Every time the dragons fired off a small fireball, there was little to no charge up. Although, when they prepared to fire a big one, their nostrils flared up, and their throats would glow a bright crimson red for a few seconds before it came out. 

I took a mental note of that, and made sure to get ready to evade quickly whenever I noticed them doing that. I also noticed that after firing the big fireballs, they took a minute to gather themselves. Kind of like when a final boss in a game does their really powerful attack, and can be stunned for a few seconds. Just like how in those games if you managed to dodge those attacks, you had an opportunity to do as much damage as possible, it was the same concept in my battle against the two dragons. I just had to dodge, and wait for the best opportunity to strike. 

For a while, I was doing a good job of this, and of keeping my distance. As good as I was doing evading their attacks, I knew I couldn't just dodge forever. I had to get on the offensive, and soon.

After dodging both of their big fireballs, I sprinted as fast as I could to the bottom of one of them before they could fly away. Doing my best to fight through the fear, I slid under the dragon's belly, jumped, and sliced them. The dragon started to roar in pain. I could tell I did some damage. I tried to run away from them so I could regain some distance, but the dragon had swung their tail before I could. Due to me being unable to jump out of the way, the tail wacked me hard in my diaphragm, knocking me back a few meters. I groaned on the ground as I laid there coughing, and holding my stomach. I turned my head a little, and saw Hailee and Alex were watching from afar. Hailee had her hand over her mouth, and was starting to tear up. Alex was just looking away, refusing to see me in any type of pain. I did a thumbs up sign to signify I was okay, but the truth is, I wasn't.

I tried getting up from the ground using my sword as a crutch. I got wacked yet again by another tail attack. This time, it struck me hard in the face. I was on the ground hurt again. They didn't give me a chance to gather myself either. The second I hit the sandy surface, they prepared to fire another onslaught of fireballs. And they weren't the small ones. I did my best to block the attacks with my sword, but the blasts were too powerful. I ended up getting blasted away, and my sword had flung out of my hands. I was truly down for the count at this point. I had cuts everywhere, broken bones, and the only weapon I had to defend myself was out of reach.

"Ezra!" Hailee cried, seeing the blasts hit me. "I'm not letting you die!"

"Me neither!" Alex joined in. The two of them, sprinting faster than I've ever seen them run, got in front of me with their arms spread out.

"What are you guys doing?!" I bellowed. "You're putting yourselves in danger!" They ignored me. They were only focused on the two dragons in front of us.

"If you want to get to him, you'll have to get through us first!" Hailee said, defiantly.

"Yeah!" Alex said, agreeing. Almost looking as if they accepted their challenge, the two dragons fired off streams of blazing flames towards them.

"NOOOOOO!!!" I sobbed. It felt like everything was moving in slow motion. I couldn't make myself get up, but I wanted to do something. I HAD to do something. I couldn't just sit idly by as my best friends were about to get cooked. I started recalling End's remarks from earlier. "YOU'RE SUCH A LITTLE BITCH!" I recalled how useless, and weak I felt as my own mother's life was in danger. How I couldn't do anything, but comply with that dickhead's orders. End's laughter started booming in my head again.

I see you've finally noticed how weak you are without me, End said.

That's not true, I thought.

Yes it is. If you had the sword in your hands right now, you'd have a bigger chance of saving your friends. But you don't, do you?

It's not true, I thought again, with a desperate, defeated tone. End noticed this, and started their mind games.

Admit it, you fool! Without me, you are nothing. You are an ant! A cockroach! A waste of life force! A waste of space! You can't do ANYTHING without ME!! YOU ARE WEAK!!! WEAK!!! WEAAAAAKK!!!

NO. I'M. NOOTTTTTTTT!!!!!

A massive amount of dark energy suddenly exploded around me, and blasted the fire away from Alex and Hailee. Similar to the first time I grabbed the sword, the markings appeared on my body once again. Except this time, the sword wasn't even in my grasp. I didn't know how it was happening, but I felt bigger, faster, and most importantly, stronger. The rage I felt budding inside this whole time from End's statements was being unleashed. All I saw at that moment was red. I wanted to destroy everything in my path.

"Step aside," I said to Alex and Hailee. I heard my own voice, and was shocked. It sounded almost demonic. I could tell that my new appearance, and voice scared them. Despite the fear I knew they were feeling from seeing their best friend in such a scary looking form, they just nodded, and did what I said.

I held out my right arm, and the Cursed Sword flew back into my hand. I could hear End speaking in my head with a proud tone. It was easy to tell that this was exactly what they wanted. To make me so angry and depressed that this would happen.

From the thoughts I've heard, and the feelings I felt, I know you're wondering what exactly this energy is. What you're feeling right now is what you'd call your ki. Everybody has this inside them. Only a certain few can actually bring it out, however. You're one of those few. Not only that, but your ki is a rare one of a kind type of ki. It's called cursed ki-

Shut up, I thought. I don't want to hear you say another word. You can explain to me what this is after I'm done killing these dragons.

Aww, End said. Someone's grumpy.

The dragons, noticing my new fearsome appearance, fired off as many blasts as they could at me. They all directly hit me, but I felt absolutely nothing. I could hear Alex and Hailee yelling worriedly as they hit. They stopped once the smoke dissipated, and saw that I was okay. Enjoying my newfound power, I smirked.

"My turn," I said. In one fell swoop, I launched myself past the dragons, and cut them both. My movements were so quick that it took a minute for my cuts to catch up with time. After I twirled my sword, and sheathed it into its case on my back, the cuts finally appeared. Huge spurts of blood exploded from the dragons, and their heads fell off. I looked back and glanced at my best friends. Their mouths were wide open, and their eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their heads.

"I did it...guys," I said. I was extremely fatigued. I couldn't stand anymore. My new demonic form faded away along with the markings, and I fell to the ground. My vision started getting blurry. Alex and Hailee started running after me, asking if I was okay. That was the last thing I saw before I passed out.