One More Time: Rebirth

Inside the cave, the sound of clashing steel echoed. The smell of blood was all over the place. Right now Edge has just finished another battle against a past incarnation and was trying to recover his mana.

Edge had been training inside the cave for an unknown number of days now. He had fought with many of his past incarnations. Each of which was stronger than the last. 

As of now, he was waiting, since the only time the incarnation would change is if Edge was able to beat them. Each incarnation had a different style of fighting and their powers were beyond anything Edge has seen. It was a good thing that there is no concept of death in this cave. After getting mortally wounded your wounds would quickly heal, but the pain and the blood loss were real enough. Edge wasn't able to understand why this was so, but he was grateful for the effect.

To date, Edge had already died at least a hundred times. If not for the special effect of the cave which not only denies death but also helps with blood recovery, Edge would've been long gone. Still after dying multiple times and fighting these overwhelming opponents he had greatly advanced his strength, his mana, and his techniques. 

Compared to before, If it were him now he could easily wipe out a thousand men. With his current mana supply and abilities, he could fight for days without stopping. 

'Alright my mana is about full so the next incarnation should be coming out soon. I wonder what kind of fighter this one would be. It would seem that all of us share the same personality traits but we do have different experiences. Still, there's no mistaking it, all of them were truly the strongest of their eras.'

While Edge was thinking the next incarnation finally arrived before him. The silhouette that was forming looked oddly familiar.

"So it's finally my turn. It's been a long time, I guess for you it has only been a couple of years, but for me, it has been a couple of millennia." 

The one who appeared before Edge was none other than Leonard Tranor. This was the person who for the longest time Edge considered to be the strongest. Just remembering the final strike he was about to unleash against Tsukiyomi made Edge feel a burning excitement. Even after meeting the other incarnations, he still considered Leonard as the strongest of them all. 

"As expected you were one of my past incarnations." 

"Yeah, I already sensed it in at that time I was summoned. Still as expected of one of my reincarnations, you're already this strong. You actually got to the stage where you can face me in battle." Leonard summoned his twin blades as he spoke. 

"Hey before we start, can you tell me among the incarnations how strong are you?" 

"I would like to say I'm the strongest, but there are actually seven guys stronger than me." 

When Edge heard Leo's answer he was surprised, he imagined that Leo would at least be in the top three or top five, but he was actually at the top eight. How terrifying would the other guys be? 

'I can't wait to face them.' Edge couldn't help himself as he smiled a very vicious smile. 

"I can already guess what you're thinking just seeing that smile of yours. Of course, you would have such an idea seeing as you are the same as me. Still, let me warn you now, if you're not able to beat me within a minute then you won't be able to hold on against those stronger than me. Those guys from the top five are the toughest even among us who were considered to be the strongest of our respective eras and universes." 

"If I'm not able to defeat them at the beginning then like all the others before them, I'll just keep on trying until I can finally win." 

"You would think that since you can't really die in this cave, but how about time. The time is still ticking. How long do you think you have stayed in this cave?" 

"...About a month or so." 

"Wrong, you have been in here for a year and a half."

When Edge heard Leo's reply he couldn't believe his ears. It has already been a year and a half since he entered the cave. Yet for him, it felt like such a short time frame. 

"Not seeing the sun and you always doing something might have made you feel like it was just a short time. Do you really think that you could've beaten several past incarnations within the time frame of a month? That's pretty cocky of you... Well, I guess that's a given since we all think that we're the strongest in existence. Back when I was your age I could've probably done it within a month, since all you fought were the incarnations that were ranked at the thousands and the hundreds. But unlike them, I'm on a whole other level." 

Leonard then emitted a heavy aura which was neither mana nor bloodlust. It was as like the sheer force of his presence weighed down on Edge. Sensing this aura made Edge smile as he readied his weapon. 

"Let's stop yapping at each other, and start having FUN!" Leo lowered his swords which were now pointing on the ground. He then showed a similar smile as Edge while slowly walking forward. 

Leonard's stance was full of openings but that was just a ruse. Edge already knew this from the last time he saw Leonard. This stance of Leonard's was inviting Edge to attack and the moment Edge does so he would receive a heavy counter-attack.

'Still waiting around isn't really my style.' Edge also slowly approached Leonard, his hand on the hilt of his sword. Unlike Leonard's two swords which were out of their scabbard Edge's was still sheathed. 

The two were finally within attacking range. In the blink of an eye, the two passed by each other. Leonard used his signature technique 'Fangs of the wolf.' While Edge used his fastest technique, which was 'Moon Edge Style: Moonlit Dance.' 

To an observer, the two of them simply passed by each other, but in that single second hundreds upon hundreds of clashes happened. Leonard had received a tiny cut to his forearm, on the other hand, Edge had several cuts to his body and his legs and arms. It was obvious that Leonard had won the first round.