The Prince of Astoria-Chapter 63: LXIII - The Samurai Versus The Ninja

Senshi Sentinel frowned, "Wait hold, ’Alex’s master’? Is that all the credit I get? You’re an Oregon native, aren’t you? I was the chief hero here for almost eleven years!"

Etienne bit the inside of his lip and thought, "So he knows a bit about me. That’s not good..."

Etienne tried to school his expression and appear neutral, "Sorry, I’ve never been one to keep up with heroes and villains."

Senshi Sentinel placed his hands in his pockets and paced around the empty street, "So I’ve been told. It’s curious...why would someone with no interest in heroism ever choose to be a hero? It’s not exactly the safest or most lucrative career choice."

Etienne growled and kept his eyes fixed on Senshi Sentinel, "That’s none of your concern."

Senshi Sentinel stopped walking and cast a cold glare, "Everything that happens in my state is my concern, prince."

Etienne reached into his jacket, "What did you do to Isatou?"

Senshi Sentinel shrugged his shoulders, "Nothing. She’s a good friend of mine. She wasn’t trembling because of what I did to her. She was terrified because of what I’m going to do to you," He stomped toward Etienne, "You see, Ninjaman, I’m tired of your half-assed excuse for conviction. You don’t want to help people. You don’t even do this for fame or fortune. You have an ulterior motive, a more sinister one, don’t you?"

Etienne kept his hand inside his jacket and moved toward Senshi Sentinel, "Why am I here, Jeremy?"

Senshi Sentinel’s face scrunched, and he shouted, "Because I want you to quit! Because you corrupted the mind of my pupil. He called me yesterday and told me he was quitting heroing. He told me he wasn’t satisfied and he felt restricted, like there are shackles on his arms. Do you want to know the last thing he said to me?"

Senshi Sentinel sighed and pinched his forehead, "He said if he’s going to risk his life fighting crime, he was going to do it his way, not under the constraints of the INHO."

Senshi Sentinel laughed bitterly, "Little Alex said that to me. I wonder where he got those ideas from."

Etienne stopped and shook his head, "You think I taught him that? How does that make sense? I’m a hero too! I work for the INHO myself. Why would I convince him to do that?"

Senshi Sentinel shrugged his shoulders and pursed his lips together. He pulled the sleek black studded kanabo off his back and held it with one hand, "I don’t know. And I don’t care to find out."

Etienne rushed at him and pulled a Totska knife from his hoodie. His body became a blur, and he closed the distance between them in a few seconds.

With his free hand, Senshi Sentinel grabbed an SUV parked nearby and flung it at Etienne at frightening speed.

Etienne lept over it gracefully and lifted the knife above his head to plunge into Senshi Sentinel. Senshi Sentinel swung his kanabo effortlessly and knocked Etienne through a nearby building, sending him careening through a glass front.

Etienne stumbled as he attempted to get to his feet. He watched as Senshi Sentinel stalked towards him. Still unable to get to his feet, Etienne made a sign with his hands, and summoned two clones, one holding a kusarigama and one with a Totska knife. Immediately, the clones launched into an onslaught of attacks, working in tandem to attack different areas of his body. Senshi Sentinel blocked the onslaught of attacks for a while, before dispatching the two clones with a hefty swing of his kanabo.

Senshi Sentinel looked back toward the storefront where Etienne was kneeling but no longer saw him there. In his place, he saw a single shuriken falling to the ground.

Senshi Sentinel snapped his head around and put his hand up, catching Etienne’s blade in his palm.

He smiled wide as trickled down his arm, "I read about your knack for teleporting, but there were no reports about summoning clones. Tricky, tricky. You know you’re supposed to disclose all of your abilities to the INHO, right?"

Etienne snatched his knife out of Etienne’s palm and retreated back, "I’d be a failure of a ninja if I revealed every trick in my bag," Etienne reached back into his jacket, putting his knife away, "Since you know so much about me, how about I ask you a question. Why do you have that weapon? Who are you really?"

Senshi Sentinel’s face beamed with elation, "You get more interesting by the second, Ninjaman. So you’re like me, aren’t you?"

He held his injured palm up, and Etienne watched as his hand healed, revealing a large black circle in the middle of his palm.

"The Setsuna clan’s technique..." Etienne mumbled to himself, "You can...control your chi. Just like me..."

"Are you a disciple of Miyamoto Musashi’s school as well?" Senshi Sentinel asked bluntly.

Etienne, still processing the revelation, shook his head slowly.

"What the hell is he talking about? Isn’t Miyamoto Musashi dead? Or are there more places in the world like Tashiro Island...suspended in time..." Etienne thought to himself.

Senshi Sentinel pulled his kanabo back out and frowned, "That’s interesting. Knowledge about the Setsuna chi release technique is only revealed to members of the Tokugawa shogunate. So you must be a disciple of..."

Etienne lunged and struck Senshi Sentinel in the face, sending him stumbling back several steps.

He gritted his teeth, "That’s enough talking. You said you want to make me quit, right? How do you plan to make that happen?"

Senshi Sentinel swung his kanabo once again, the hefty weapon displacing the air and creating a deep ’whoosh’ sound.

Etienne nimbly ducked under it and pulled his knife back out, stabbing at Senshi Sentinel. Senshi Sentinel was slow to react and did not move in time to block or dodge. Instead of piercing his skin, the blade of the knife bent as soon as it touched him.

Etienne looked up at him in horror, and Senshi Sentinel looked down with a smile.

"Unlike you, I can’t do any special tricks with my chi. No substitutions, no clones. The only thing I can do is create the perfect defense, like I’m wearing a suit of armor. I wonder how you plan to get through that."

Senshi Sentinel slammed his kanabo down onto Etienne’s head, which he dodged at the last second. Etienne tossed the bent knife to the side and attempted to punch Senshi Sentinel in his side. He heard cracks in his knuckles as soon as the punch connected and he backed up, shaking his hand off.

Etienne reached into his hoodie and threw caltrops near Senshi Sentinel’s feet. He pulled out his meteor hammer and unleashed attack after attack from a distance.

Senshi Sentinel didn’t even pretend to be fazed by the attacks from the meteor hammer, letting himself get hit by a few of the attacks before grabbing the chain of the meteor hammer.

"I thought the knife was strange, but now you’re trying to hurt me with this toy?"

The area his hand held onto glowed a bright orange before finally snapping off, and Etienne let go of the meteor hammer.

Etienne scoffed and reached his hand back into his hoodie, "I thought you said you didn’t have any tricks! Are you gonna tell me that’s not some kind of chi based fire attack?"

Senshi Sentinel threw the end of the meteor hammer to the ground, "It’s not. Just like you, I have other tricks up my sleeve besides my samurai training. If I just fight you head-on, this could go on all day, so I think it’s best to pull this out early, don’t you?"

Senshi Sentinel put his kanabo on his back and closed his eyes. He turned his head up toward the sky and mumbled something to himself, quiet enough so Etienne couldn’t hear. Etienne watched him for a few seconds before reaching into his hoodie for another weapon.

Before Etienne could prepare an attack, Senshi Sentinel’s body became engulfed in a pillar of flames. Only his silhouette could be seen through the orange inferno. Etienne jumped back and held his kusarigama in his hands, spinning it quickly.

"Damn it, it feels like everybody can control the elements in this world! What is he about to pull out now?" Etienne thought to himself.

The flame pillar extended into the sky and pierced the clouds. The heat became suffocating, and Etienne retreated back further and covered his face.

After a minute, the flames began to dissipate, and Etienne uncovered his face.

In the middle of the street, Senshi Sentinel stood, now dressed in a flaming kimono and with flaming horns protruding out of his head. His movements were different; every motion and sway of his body was deliberate and controlled, like an animal. His expression was neutral, closer to observant, and his eyes remained fixed on Etienne.

He walked toward Etienne, each step creating a flaming footprint in the ground.

His voice was light, almost feminine, "You called yourself a hero, correct? Let me show you how heroes really fight, Etienne."