
The floor was Anna’s new friend.
So were Aria’s fists.
“You’re distracted,” Aria said while offering Anna her hand.
Anna clicked her tongue. “I mean, how can I not be?”
Elyanthra went to the academy! So, so many things could be happening as they were just throwing fists at each other! Was she in trouble? Was she talking to Alisha? Did she even get to Earth without a hitch?
So many things!
“Focus.”
Like she even had a chance, even if she wasn’t distracted. Aria was the strongest melee fighter Anna had ever seen, and that was without any sort of amplification. Throw in enhancements and Demonification, then she was practically a martial god.
“I think you just like beating me up,” Anna said as she straightened her clothes. “Poor me.”
“I do,” came her instant reply.
“Hey!” Anna accusingly pointed. “Watch your back, young lady—I bite!”
However, she was curious about who would win in a serious fight.
Who was she kidding? Aria would beat her up. At least, unless Anna decided to do something with her apex sigil—but that was still not something she could use as an ordinary weapon.
“I want you to,” Aria said. She returned to her fighting posture, her arms raised and legs positioned to maneuver; somewhat of a boxing stance. “You need to be capable of controlling imbuement, even if your focus is being disturbed.”
Which brought her to the day’s training purpose. Aria reasonably said that they would be fighting far more active, unpredictable opponents in the future—normal foes and corrupted.
It was in such moments that the biggest flaw of her absurdly high purity revealed itself.
Anna hadn’t considered it, but a quick bout with Aria revealed that she easily lost control of her imbuements if a fight got too complicated. In other words, if she couldn’t easily dodge the blows.
Fighting the accursed was straightforward—they couldn’t keep up with her enhancements. She could effortlessly dodge and weave through their attacks, all while commanding her imbued objects to fight alongside her. It hardly required any effort. But if the battle became too intense and her imbued objects failed to land instant kills, her focus would waver.
The moment her mind faltered, her control over them would slip. She hadn’t experienced it yet, but Aria revealed that flaw the moment she let loose on Anna.
It didn’t help that she was also distracted by other things!
“Okay, okay!” Anna said. She once again activated her imbuement on the wooden practice sword, having it hovering in the air beside her.
She barely had time to reach her stance before Aria darted forward, closing the gap instantly.
Aria’s fists came in quick bursts—sharp jabs aimed at Anna’s head to test her reflexes. She dodged them each with a quick twist of her head and quick steps to move around.
Wind rushed past her ears like Aria was keen on blowing her head right off.
But Aria was just so fast, and each blow felt like it carried the weight of a bull as they whizzed past her cheeks.
That was where the difficulty came in. Anna’s focus was split between evading and directing her wooden sword. Even during that, controlling was difficult. It was like Anna’s mind was actively divided in two.
Aria’s blows were incomparable to the accursed’s, whose blows she effortlessly dodged!
Another jab came in fast, and Anna twisted her body around and lashed her wooden sword out at Aria’s side. But Aria twisted her footwork fluid and slipped past it.
It was like she just knew when and where Anna was going to swing before she even twitched.
“Keep it steady!” Aria said, her voice cutting through the rapid exchange. She feinted a left hook, forcing Anna to duck low, only to pivot into a swift kick aimed at her midsection.
Too fast.
Anna winced as her barrier flared in response, absorbing the impact with a pulse. The momentary lapse caused the floating sword to falter, wobbling in the air as Anna scrambled to regain control.
Not possible.
The sword clattered against the ground, her mana dissipating.
Aria gave Anna a moment to steady herself, her stance relaxed but ready to pounce again.
“How do you even do that?” Anna asked.
“I watch.”
She touched it, and the wooden sword snapped back into position, hovering steady beside her.
As if that was the cue, Aria lunged forward again.
Her movements were unpredictable—a mix of feints and real strikes meant to throw Anna off and maximize her focus. Anna danced back, sidestepping a punch and swinging her sword to block a sweeping kick.
Feeling Aria’s leg hit her sword made Anna smirk, even though it nearly sent the blade into her body. If Aria was at full enhancements, it would have been lost right there.
But Aria retaliated, twisting her body around and launching a hook aimed at Anna’s head.
Again, she dodged it and pulled her sword upward.
She tried again, sending the sword flying toward Aria’s shoulder as she charged forward.
The blade thrust, but Aria’s reflexes were far too quick. She sidestepped, the sword missing her by inches.
Anna clicked her tongue—she was breathing heavily from the strain. She was getting winded. The strain of controlling the sword while dodging Aria’s relentless movements was taking its toll on her control.
Well, why not try for one more exchange!
“I’m not done yet!” Anna lunged forward on her own that time, her sword flying from behind as she met Aria in the center of the sparring room.
Aria let it happen, meeting Anna’s flurry of strikes with fluid movements and perfectly timed dodges.
Her sword zipped alongside her, slashing and stabbing in rapid succession, aiming to corner Aria with the relentless assault.
Nothing landed on Aria. A step back here, a sidestep there—she never stopped moving, slipping just out of reach as Anna pressed on
The sword sliced through empty air, its momentum nearly throwing it off course before Anna corrected it, while her fists met only empty air once more.
Too frustrating.
Perhaps it showed because Aria’s eyes squinted for a moment before she once again bolted forward, catching Anna off guard as she weaved between another sword strike.
Anna jumped back, but she wasn’t fast enough. She panted as her heart accelerated and sweat dripped from her head.
Multiple jabs were dodged while moving backward.
She brought her sword backward from behind, but Aria ducked and swung her feet at Anna’s legs.
Again, too fast. And Anna was getting weaker as the exhaustion set in. She nearly fell over as her barrier rippled across her lower legs, only for a fast hand to snap out and catch her.
“You’re so damn strong!” Anna exclaimed.
Aria pulled her up. “Whenever your focus is split between two things that would normally require your full attention, one will waver.”
“Is that even something I can overcome?” Anna said, panting as the sword clattered against the ground.
How could she possibly overcome it? Ordinarily, she’d avoid melee combat at all. But there would undoubtedly be times when that wasn’t possible.
“No, but it can be alleviated—your focus is wrong.”
Aria’s ring disappeared.
“What?” Anna dispersed her own ring and fell to the ground for a much-needed rest. Her breath was still quick, so she controlled it.
“Your goal in a melee should be to create distance,” Aria said, joining Anna by sitting across from her. “You never tried to break away and even charged me.”
“Well… I thought I might as well try.”
She wasn’t really that good at combining movements. Ideally, she would swing the sword simultaneously with her physical strikes and in unpredictable ways.
But it felt like throwing two punches at the same time without perfect direction on either.
“If I was an enemy, you would have died.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Anna sighed. “I do have some ideas, but I need more options for attacking and distance-keeping.”
“Something that makes getting close dangerous,” Aria added. “Watershell, Flamelash, Rock Ring—sigils such as those.”
“I wonder if something like that exists.”
She really needed to get back to Bastion and peruse their official record of sigils!
Actually, it was odd that they hadn’t gotten any combat unattuned other than imbuement. Was it a racial thing? Maybe Elven accursed just got better odds.
“Everything exists in some form,” Aria said. “For now, you can make do with many weapons at your side and a change in your combat style.”
“Well, I do have that shield.”
The one with a bladed edge from the labyrinth. Aria couldn’t absorb it for Armament, and it was a waste to have it collect dust! She had a few other weapons stored from there, too.
“It’s a decent shield.”
“But it would probably get destroyed pretty quickly if I used it like that.”
“We can have tools crafted for you, and you can use whips, chains, and other items that can stay attached to you.”
“That’s a good idea, actually!”
If she had a few whips attached to a belt, wouldn’t she basically have a non-elemental version of Flamelash? Or maybe she had a chain floating around her like Watershell.
She really wasn’t using her imbuement to its maximum potential! But she had only been fighting simple enemies, so she never really had to explore it further.
“What about Golemancy?” Aria asked. She stood up, offering Anna a hand to do the same.
“Depends.” Anna took it, and Aria pulled her upward. Anna released a deep breath—it felt like they had been there for hours! “If Gromak comes with them, I might get a golem before the assault.”
Realistically untrue, but grandiose words felt good.
“He will.”
“Probably.”
She could hardly wait! They should be back soon since Elyanthra only needed to speak to one person before she immediately returned.
“We will… see them again,” Aria muttered.
“Tell me about it,” Anna said. She chuckled at the prospect.
It had almost been a year since she last saw Gromak! She missed his stupid sarcasm and crude sense of humor. Even Alisha and Jaxon were up there.
Although that was going to be an interesting conversation. Alisha had better be prepared to answer some questions!
“Gromak saved my life,” Aria said. “I would have been killed that day if he hadn’t taken the phone and diverted the inspector”
She told her about that, too. But they were closer even before Gromak did that for her—since Aria was a child.
“Well, let’s look forward to their arrival over a nice… well, an acceptable meal!”
The same food every day had long gotten stale, even if it was supposedly incredibly nutritious.
“I’ll cook something,” Aria said, already heading toward the exit.
“Yay, more meat-thing and fruit!”
Anna stored her practice sword and joined Aria.
But they should have known better than to expect a calm day.
They froze before they reached the door.
Something seemed to press on Anna’s body like a heavy hand was pushing against her.
“What—”
It felt like someone was watching her, too—a gaze of urgency. And a gaze she recognized.
“Zeruphirin is… calling us,” Aria said.
Anna’s heart fell at what that meant. “L-let’s go.”
How could they possibly know?
They reached the communion room quickly, and they wasted no time touching the stone.
Powerful mana seemed to blanket Anna, but she felt nothing happening. Rather, it felt like something was attempting to poke at her head!
“What is this?” Aria asked, her hands feeling her head. “Something is attempting to—
“It is my folly,” Zeruphirin’s voice rang in her head his rumbly tone sounding… tired. “I did not believe they would attack so soon, not when our power remains an unknown to them.”
“Zeruphirin?!” Anna shouted.
Aria clearly heard it too.
“A horde of extreme magnitude approaches my domain just as they are entering the forest,” Zerupihirin said. “You must defend until Elyanthra arrives—I am sorry.”
“What are we supposed to do?!”
But no response came.
They were attacking him, too? Extreme amounts?
“The feeling is gone,” Aria said, her tone grim and brows slightly furrowed. “We… are being attacked.”
“W-what…”
What were they going to do alone against an entire army?!
TFTC!