I'M OBAMA?!?!

"You take the assassins, I'll take the blade master," I tell Riju, drawing my shotguns.

I can tell she wants to disagree but thinks better of it and simply nods in agreement.

The two assassins make the first move, running toward us. Running isn't the right word. They cartwheel and flip, gallop on all fours, and do handstands as they close the distance.

Their erratic movement isn't just for show tough, they use the unique Yiga duplex bow to shoot in between their jumps, barraging us with arrows.

The first volley reaches us, and Riju deflects the arrows coming her way with her scimitars while I simply snatch two out of the air and tilt my head to the side for the third.

While Riju engages with the two assassins, I attack the blade master, who has been simply walking forward for the duration of the fight.

I start circling around my opponent and test the waters with one of my new ammunition types, Incendiary rounds.

Gouts of hissing flame escape from Jackpot. The blade master dodges the first two shots and starts running towards me, with each step seeming to take up five feet.

To my surprise, the blade master does not draw the long katana on its back, but it instead flicks its hands, materializing two Karambit style knives in its grasp.

It throws these knives at the next two incendiary shots, successfully blocking them, and the Karambits fly back into the moving Yigas' hands like deadly bladed boomerangs .

I only have one more shot before the Blademaster is on me, so I holster one gun in favor of my sword and load the remaining firearm with my next ammunition type.

The blade master is on me, striking forward with its two vicious knives, but instead of trying to shoot it with my gun, I instead lower the weapon and gently squeeze the trigger.

I call this technique shotgun jumping. It uses highly compressed air mana to launch me away from where I'm aiming. In this case, I am shot fifteen feet in the air.

The blade master stares up, confused, but I'm not done.

It's Tronglen' time.

In a flourish of my gauntleted hand, five wires lash out towards the Yiga, carving deadly arcs through the air.

In response, the Blademaster hurls five kunai to deflect the wires, but I push through the lingering Muddlebud in my system to use the water inside the wires to alter their course, dodging the kunai.

The Blademaster attempts to sidestep, but a wire wraps around its leg, and another catches its torso, and in seconds, all five razer sharp wires have connected.

I quickly disconnect the wires, and their other ends wrap around the underside of the bridge, binding the Blademaster to the ground.

Another shotgun jump brings me directly above the Blademaster, and gives me time for a volley of my final ammo type, called Boom Boom.

The name is self-explanatory.

A small concentrated explosion slams into the disabled Blademaster, throwing rocks in shrapnel into the air and forming a small cloud of dust.

I land softly on the ground and look over to Riju's fight to see that she had the upper hand.

As I'm about to sheathe my weapons, the smoke clears, revealing the Blademaster, relatively unharmed, walking toward me.

The Yiga is now surrounded by a violent red aura, and its long sword is finally drawn.

I barely have time to unsheathe Samantha before a barrage of air blades assault me.

I deflect some with my sword, but most land small cuts on my body. Every second that passes, the Blademaster gets closer, and its attacks become more powerful.

The Yiga reaches me, and our swords clash. Each blow we exchange sends jolts of pain up my arms as I desperately grab for all the mana I can access.

A dull headache blurs my vision, and the Yiga lands a heavy kick into my stomach.

I hear the cracking of my ribs and spit out blood as the kick sends me tumbling across the battlefield.

My surroundings darken, and my eyes flutter shut. When I open my eyes, I appear to be floating in a void, with only myself and my mana.

I can feel the destructive energy in my body, and suddenly, it feels so simple. In a single thought, I am able to purge myself of the Muddlebud.

I blink, and upon the opening of my eyes, I'm back on the bridge.

I feel different, though. My body is flooding with mana. My long-dormant birthmarks are glowing stark white, and my eyes leave blue trails in the air as I channel mana into them.

When I pick Samantha up, it feels like she's responding to me, and the saber almost seems to turn a darker shade of midnight black.

I clash with the Blademaster again, we are almost evenly matched, but the Yiga still has an edge over me.

The edge is gone when I'm forced to start using Aqua Slashes, whirls of water form rings around my stikes, crashing into the Yiga like massive waves cracking into the shore.

My attacks are even more effective when I incorporate the occasional stasis into the fight, and after thirty seconds of back and forth across the bridge, the Blademaster teleports away, reappearing farther away along the rock formation.

The blade master raises a single, gloved hand to the sky and, in a flash of blue light, plunges its fist into the ground.

Loud cracking comes from the ground as the earth starts to rumble, and a wall of sharp, jagged spikes rolls toward me.

This is the earthquake technique from the game and is the Blademaster's most powerful method of attack.

I cannot dodge it on the narrow bridge, so I'm forced to face the tsunami of spike head-on, slashing through some and weaving through others.

I leap along the tops of the spikes until I reach the highest one, which I launch myself off of.

A shotgun jump brings me closer to the blade master as I raise my gauntleted hand, channeling electric mana into my fingertips.

My most powerful Electic Grasp ever crashes into the Blademaster head-on, sending his spasming body off the bridge and into the desert below.

I land atop a spike, exhausted, but don't rest for long as my ears pick up short, little breaths from behind me.

There Riju stands, her scimitars clatter to the ground, and her eyes widen.

A long strand of hair blows across my face, and I see that it is stark red.