"Akio we're pushing through! Get over here and stay close, or get left behind."
Akio had just finished taking down the second Commando, using the momentum from the knockback in his initial downward diagonal stroke to double his speed as he twirled around, catching the Commando with a backhand side very very few beings had the ability to keep up with. The Commando felled easily, in two pieces no less.
"On my way!" he called back, but as he took the first few steps, another Commando was in front of him, sword aimed in a jab. His eye twitched slightly as he parried the blow and aimed for a neck slice, only to have it interjected by the blade of another Commando. The two resumed their positions next to one another and continued the same fighting tactic they had when he first encountered them. It was back to square one.
"I'll catch up!" Akio waved on Ean and his crew as he resumed combat with the two Shadow Commandos. Their tactics didn't change, and so it was like fortifying his own repetition towards them, although their resistance sure was on the up and up compared to the previous two. Not to mention Akio was beginning to feel slightly fatigued...but only slightly. He had fought roughly three thousand demon king samurai before and this was nothing in comparison with that day.
As the fighting continued, Akio could feel another power inside him. This power...it felt climactic. Like it was building up and waiting to be expelled by some sort of action. Akio didn't know what this power was, but he'd be damned if he didn't take a chance to use it now.
Akio brought the sword in front of him just as a bright pulse of energy shot from his figure and literally evaporated the two Shadow Commandos in a bright wave, dispelling them from this realm. Akio blinked rapidly, his mind racing as he realized what was happening. He was using...light? He never had control over light, never even bothered to touch it. This was the prophecy of Tai Chen to burden, not for him.
So where did it come from?
There were many questions on Akio's mind, but here and now wasn't the place for them. His hand stung slightly from the discharge of light, but he was fine otherwise. He had to catch up to Ean before more Shadow Commandos chose to hound him. Keeping his sword in front of him, he charged into the opening left in the wake of his troops's "wall" Ean directed. The gap was closing and Akio had to be wary not to let the "shadowed" people touch him. Before reaching the exit to the main plaza in the Business District, he couldn't help but examine the carnage taking place in front of them.
If one thought J. R. R. Tolkien's Battle of the Five Armies was epic, it had nothing in comparison to the conglomeration of individuals here. Many dark beings of all kinds and varieties were slaughtering the innocents and the warriors alike, as if it didn't matter to them. The valiant warriors of the Emperor fought back with incredible patriotism and magnificent skill, holding their own for the most part. That wouldn't spare the other innocent lives that the Shadow Army continued to purge, although they were giving it their best effort. Not even the Grey Knights, who currently had their hands full dealing with one superior woman in a dress who wielding two blades that whistled while they worked, could do much to protect this district. Akio even felt the urge to join them in battle, to give the Grey Knights the upper hand by taking on this woman directly. But he felt the pull of fate in the other direction.
"Tell me Ancestors," Akio whispered into the blade, "Are these people doomed?"
The blade held it's own language, one foreign and unidentifiable for anyone except the Hanatori bloodline. To anyone else, it would sound like very vague whispers that sounded like nonsense. Only Akio would her what they said. From the pained look on Akio's face, it wasn't good news.
"These people didn't deserve this fate," he said as he saw one man get tackled and mauled by one of the Shadow Hounds, "You can't expect me to ignore this carnage. I must fight."
The blade whispered back to him. Akio closed his eyes and bit his lip. He was silent for a moment.
"You're right," Akio finally said, a solemn chord in his voice, "The fates of the shadows told me to go with Ean Falcor. For that reason alone, I must. But I will avenge these people one day. I swear it."
With that, he blazed his trail out of the main plaza and towards Ean and company.
Akio's eyes lay upon Ean party a few moments later. He sheathed his sword as he approached and went up to Ean directly. "I made it," he said with a slight nod, "Where is your Cobalt Glaive?"