“You’re going to teach me more magic?” she asked, perking up excitedly.
“Something like that. How much has Lia taught you about Detection?”
“Oh, I know all about that,” she replied confidently. Her eyes closed, and I felt a thin wave of energy wash over me. “I can tell you how many fingers you’re holding up behind your back. Go on, test me!”
“That’s certainly impressive, but it’s not exactly what I’m looking for.” I waited a few seconds as I watched her bright pink mana flow around the arena, creating a circle around her about ten feet in diameter. “How far away can you see? Can you see the edge of the arena, over there?”
She cracked open one eye to see where I was pointing. “What? No. That’s too far away.”
“Can you walk around while you’re using it?”
Her lips pursed. “I don’t know. I haven’t tried that before.”
“Can you use it while you’re fighting?”
“If I’ve never used it while I’m walking, what makes you think I could use it while I’m fighting?” she asked, clearly annoyed.
“Do you want to find out?” I grinned.
“If it’ll make you stop asking so many questions, yes, I do!” she yelled. She jogged over to her blanket and retrieved the heavy gauntlets, sliding each one on with reverence.
“Lia, can I borrow your sword?” I asked as Marin prepared herself. “This should only take a minute.”
She eyed me suspiciously. “Sure...I guess.” She drew the paired swords from her belt and effortlessly fused them together before holding out the greatsword in both hands. I placed a hand over the grip of the sword and channeled my mana through the blade, and after a moment’s meditation, pulled away a nearly exact copy of my bastard sword. I summoned my blade to my free hand and inspected the two side by side, then nodded happily.
“Alright, Marin, time to show me what you’ve got!” I crowed, flipping the weapons into a reverse grip. “Keep that Detection up for as long as you can.” I pressed the point of each sword into the ground in front of me and leaned forward into an awkward ready stance.
“What are you doing, Lux?” Marin laughed as she took her place opposite me. “You look ridiculous.” We stood in silence as she waited for an answer. When it was clear I didn’t plan to give one, she shrugged. “Fine, mess around if you want to. Just because I’m not great at Detection yet doesn’t mean you can just—”
I balled my legs up beneath me and sprang forward all at once, driving both swords down at her chest from above my head like two scythe-like appendages. The attack caught her entirely by surprise, and I pulled back on the blows at the last second to avoid doing her any serious harm. The blunted weapons caught her in the shoulders and knocked her backwards, and she skidded away with a hiss. “Ow!” she yelled as I hopped away. She growled under her breath and raised her fists to a ready position in front of her, then chanted out her basic suite of combat enhancements.
Her eyes bounced up and down rapidly as she examined my odd, hunched-over stance, scanning for either some shred of familiarity with the style or a clear opening in my guard. After a few moments of analysis, she dashed forward with a raised fist, spinning around me at the last possible moment to put as much distance as possible between her and my blades. As soon as she left my line of sight, I leaned heavily against my swords and kicked back at her with both feet, catching her off guard a second time. My kicks landed center mass and sent her spinning backwards with a gasp, and I used the momentum to flip over my swords like a pole vaulter, righting myself midair to land facing her in my crouched, bestial stance.
“Dammit, Lux!” she coughed as she picked herself up out of the dirt. “I don’t understand what you’re—”
Her complaint was cut short as I launched into an unrelenting series of quick cuts that pushed her on the back foot. My assault was a mixture of rising slashes, wide horizontal sweeps, and downward stabs, each coming from an alternating blade as I used the other to propel myself forward. Her dodges and parries became slower and more unsure with each strike, culminating in one final mistake: a weak attempt to redirect my rising slash allowed my sword to catch her in the armpit, and I followed up with a sweeping blow to her opposite flank. Despite my best efforts to pull my strikes, I could tell by the way she clutched her side that I had cracked at least one of her ribs.
I dropped my swords and immediately halted my advance as she staggered away from me. “Alright; no more,” I called out. “Lia, more healing practice for you.”
Marin glared at me the entire time Lia looked over her injuries, healing both the fractured rib and the multiple deep bruises forming across her chest. That was...disconcerting to watch, Lia told me quietly.
I can’t say it felt great, either, I replied, rolling the fresh ache out of my shoulders, but it’s necessary. Marin needs to experience...whatever that fighting style is, before it’s a life or death situation. Besides, our fight with that thing only lasted thirty seconds. I thought that maybe, if we trained like that for a bit, we could figure out more of the ways it could fight—and more importantly, ways to counter it.
I’m not fighting like that, she said flatly.
You don’t have to. Primes willing, Val will clean up whatever mess Virram made at Shadowmine, and we’ll never have to see one of those things again. I could feel the discomfort at the thought of the monster on the edge of her aura. I know it’s not pleasant to think
