Echoes of Fire and Shadows
Chapter 71: A Sibling’s Quarrel.
-----Cassandra's POV-----
A loud clashing of steel echoed through the ancestral training grounds of my family's manor. A luxurious manor surrounded by nothing but lush greenery, protected by some ancient dark stone walls built by our ancestors, with a small town a few kilometers down the main road after going through the portcullis. This place was the sanctuary of the Oriana Household.
Said echoes were the product of my sword colliding against my little sister's spear.
The moment the two of us set foot upon this imaginary replica of our home, we both activated our [Fighting Spirit] and began fighting without saying a word.
My younger sister, despite being a year younger than me, has always been a powerful opponent and a reliable training partner. I've lost count of how many times we have fought each other ever since we were young children.
One could argue that since I'm the oldest of us two, I should be stronger than Reina, but that argument can be easily disproved by the fact that Reina is constantly improving herself.
This could easily be the day when she could claim victory over me again. I have been able to consistently defeat her in every duel during the last month, but that can be easily changed today, since losing is something that pisses Reina off to no end.
"..."
"..."
There was no need for words between us during our duels. We already knew what the other was thinking from the beginning.
Whether it was a faint or a direct attack, we could both predict each other's moves to such an extent that it was almost impossible to surprise each other.
"Eat this!" I shouted as I brought my sword down upon my little sister.
"I will not fall for it again." She said calmly as she blocked my attack with the shaft of her spear.
Reina then quickly moved her spear to the side, making my blade slide down across the spear just before she tried to stab me with said spear.
"Whoopsie daisy!" I said as I twisted my body before the tip of the spear could reach me. I avoided the attack by a hair's breadth, but unfortunately my uniform was grazed and damaged by the spear. "And I will NOT fall for that one again, Reina." I said before grabbing her spear with all the strength I could muster to stop her from fighting back.
Within a moment of that, I quickly slashed Reina horizontally, aiming at her neck.
Without saying a word, Reina was able to release her spear from my grasp with her overwhelming physical strength and also responded to my attack swiftly, again using the shaft to block my sword.
"Oh my, you didn't fall for this one either… Your dear older sister might need to start putting some actual effort this time.” I smiled before pushing Reina and jumping back to get some distance. “I suppose this should be good enough to be called a warm-up.” After taking a good look at my sister, I decided to remove my eye patch in order to get serious.
"That was a shorter warm up than usual." My sister replied after quickly regaining a stable footing.
"What can I say, Reina? I just got the perfect reason to be motivated." I smiled before taking off my eye patch and putting it in my pocket. "He's watching our battle, after all." I opened my right eye to reveal my [Evil Eye of Insight].
The fact that Julius was watching made me want to show off everything I got.
Hehehe… I can't wait to face him in battle. And Felicia too. Maybe I'll even face Neris, Zoe, and Myria as well! How thrilling!
"I agree. I'm also feeling motivated, Cassie. I hope you don't mind if I give my all in order to show off a little." Reina said with a sparkle in her eyes. There was no doubt that she was excited about this battle too.
"I would be offended otherwise." I laughed before tightening my grip on my weapon.
After that exchange, there was no need for us to exchange words anymore. It was time to let our weapons do the talking for us. And true to that statement, in the most Oriana fashion, my little sister decided to take the initiative after readying her spear and propelling herself forward towards me.
Naturally, the only thing I could do was to match her excitement and meet her in battle. With my sword in hand, I charged forward to challenge my sister to a thrilling clash of steel. Neither of us would go down in this fight without giving each other the fight of our lives.
That was and always has been the way of House Oriana. Every single one of us live for the thrill of battle and to serve the Goddess. Nothing more and nothing less. As such, not giving your all during a duel is the most disrespectful thing someone can do against a member of our household. Even more so if it comes from someone of our family.
Our weapons were about to meet once more in a clash… From above, my sister’s spear, Dawn, descended upon me at incredible speeds, threatening to cut off my head with a single strike, while I rapidly raised my Dusk to stop her attack.
The moment both of our ancient weapons collided against one another, sparks were sent flying in all directions, while the sounds of the metal clash echoed through the patio of our family’s manor.
Just like us, the weapons we held in our hands could be called ‘sisters’ as they were crafted by the founder of house Oriana in the distant past. These are two of the many treasured weapons of our family, but it is said that both weapons were made with the fragments of a star that fell from the sky. My sister’s ivory-colored spear Dawn and my ebony Dusk were handed down to us by our father after our first battle.
I wonder… How many times have we made these weapons clash ever since we received them?
Without giving me any quarter, my sister pushed my blade aside with the shaft of Dawn before thrusting it at me.
I swiftly dodged her attack in time, but that was just one of many more to come. My sister immediately started to thrust her weapon at me relentlessly without giving me a chance to counterattack.
(This is a new pattern… Not that difficult, to be honest. Left, right, left, down, up, right, right, left…) I thought while skillfully dodging all of Reina’s thrusts.
Me dodging each and all of Reina’s attacks didn’t deter her in the slightest, she simply intensified her barrage of attacks, even going as far as adding attacks from below and above and also sweeping her spear at me at random intervals in an attempt to confuse me. Still, I didn’t particularly care as I already knew my little sister enough to predict her actions and on top of that, I was using my [Evil Eye of Insight].
To some it might appear that I have some remarkable dodging skills, which is arguably true to some extent, but the reality is that this demonstration of my evasive skills is all thanks to my [Evil Eye of Insight].
Many think that [Evil Eye of Insight] give the user the ability to see the future like the [Evil Eyes of Foresight] do, but that is a complete misconception of its abilities. What the [Evil Eye of Insight] actually does is to give me complete awareness of everything surrounding me down to the smallest of details.
The way my opponent's muscles twitched before they moved, the way that they were breathing, the way that they were standing, the direction which they were looking in or the possible directions they might look at… What I’m trying to say with this is that the power of my Evil Eye is to grant me a full understanding of my opponent. That being said, I can accurately predict what my opponent might do before they even try.
This power combined with the knowledge I already had of my little sister makes me almost untouchable for her. But… That doesn’t mean that she’s unable to win against me, as she has done it many times in the past.
(Now it is left, right, down, up-right, left, down-right, left, thrust, thrust, thrust… Yep, that one is a favorite of hers.) I thought while nimbly dodging all of her attacks.
Reina still seemed completely unfazed about being unable to hit. She was actually smiling a little, clearly enjoying herself.
Despite all the positives things I’ve said about my Evil Eye, there are still some huge downsides to using this kind of power, both physical and mental. When it comes to physical downsides, the most notable ones would be a huge decrease in stamina and losing my right eye’s sight and abilities temporarily after abusing my powers. As of now, I can only manage to use my Evil Eye for six and a half minutes. As for the mental downsides, the greatest one would be the fact that I get some serious and painful headaches thanks to the amount of information my mind needs to process.
This power is a clear double-edged sword. A power that should not be used all willy-nilly, but a power that because of my honor and beliefs as a member of the Oriana Household, I must use.
“Away with you.” Reina said with a deadpan expression before swinging her spear down to the ground. Since Dawn was filled to the brim with Earth Haki and with Reina’s superior physical strength, it was easy for her to split the ground below us apart. Shards of stone were sent flying everywhere immediately after that.
Thanks to my Evil Eye, I was easily able to jump back and gain some distance from here before my little sister could smash the ground.
“You thought it would be that easy, dear sister?” I said with a grin as I used Dusk to deflect some of the stones while dodging everything else, a feat only possible thanks to my Evil Eye.
This, however, was Reina’s aim. To make me shift my focus from her and seize the opportunity to launch a quick attack.
“I only need one moment to leave you wide open, then it will become very easy.” She said without any hesitation in her voice before thrusting her spear once more, aiming to stab me in the stomach.
There was only one obvious acting I could take in response… I decided to stop deflecting the stone shards and quickly moved to use Dusk to block Reina’s attack with Dawn. She had set me up nicely… I was going to take damage no matter what I did, so I had to choose the option that would guarantee my survival.
As a consequence of my choice, several of the shards collided against my body, mainly in my arms, shoulders and some on my legs before Dawn and Dusk could meet in another clash of steel… Sparks were sent flying once more as the tip of Reina’s spear crashed against my blade.
Unfortunately for me, I was also sent flying back by Reina, as I had messed up my footing after getting hit by the stones. That, combined with Reina’s absurd strength, it was impossible for me to survive that clash unscathed…
I had to use wind magic to stabilize and slow myself down before landing on the ground several meters away from Reina.
As I glanced down, I could only see that my uniform was in shambles and that my bracelet was filled with cracks pretty much everywhere…
Jeez… Reina’s physical strength is so absurd sometimes… Had she actually managed to stab me there, I would have been done for. What a thrilling situation!
“I see someone has been taking her training seriously. Jeez… Now I can see why you were so confident when you said that you were going to get rid of me in front of Julius.” I acted confidently as if Reina’s attacks had done nothing to me.
“It is easy to get past the power of that eye of yours, older sister. I just need to overwhelm you.” Reina said while pointing her ivory-colored spear at me.
She’s really not playing around this time… I can’t give her an opportunity like that again…
“Oh my, is that so? I wonder if I will give you such an opportunity once more.” I smiled at Reina while taking a stance with my blade in my left hand. Dusk immediately shone with a bright red color as I filled it with Fire Haki. “How about we make this duel more interesting, Reina? The winner of this battle will get to fight Julius first after the tournament, how does that sound?” My smile grew wider as I tried to entice Reina and distract her from what I was planning.
“Sounds like a fair deal. I suppose there’s no harm in accepting that. After all, I am a bit impatient to test the skills of that cute little animal. He has to be strong if he is to become my husband.” My sister’s eyes shone as she happily nodded her head. Her usual expressionless face usually makes people to think that she’s crazy, especially when she’s like this.
“I can see that you’re really infatuated with him, aren’t you?” I couldn’t help but laugh as I walked toward my sister. I was being so cautious that I didn’t even blink once in order not to miss any of her movements.
“The same could be said about you. Didn’t you talk about your older sister privilege or how you wouldn’t mind becoming his wife number three while trying to take him from me...” Reina’s tone became one of annoyance as she filled with spear with Fire Haki as well. The tip of her spear started to shine with a bright red color, same as my blade.
“I wonder about that. I might be infatuated with him too. Or maybe not.” I replied playfully as I continued to carefully close the distance between us.
The meeting with Julius, the new adoptive son of the Skull Crusher, did not go as I had expected. I had seen him fight Felicia during the preliminaries and knew that he was somewhat strong, but I wasn’t particularly interested because of how young he looked. It was only when the results of how many people he had managed to eliminate were announced, I just had to meet him.
It is difficult to explain, but everything about him was weird… I’m not going to lie, Julius very much exceeded my expectations and by far, that’s for sure. I could barely notice it during our handshake, but he had a lot more strength hidden than what he gave during the preliminaries and his first match. But that is the point, I’m trying to make…
My actual point is that he was more charming that I expected him to be… And more intelligent and logical, too. Yeah, he was cute, but that is to be expected of a younger kid, but he was showing an intellect and an understanding that you would not normally expect from someone his age, which was something that deeply impressed me.
But the weirdest thing happened after we had introduced ourselves to him and moved our table to his, there was a moment when he suddenly started cheering a girl called Myria, the daughter of a baron. The moment he started talking to her, there was a strange glow all around him… For some reason, I could no longer look at anyone but him. I couldn’t focus on anything but his gorgeous smile and how good it looked on his little face…
Ever since that moment, I haven’t been able to think of anyone other than him. It was as if my mind and heat had been suddenly taken over by a spell, making me unable to get him out of my thoughts…
I had never been particularly interested in boys… I mean, I did like some, but I stopped liking them as soon as I found out that they were weaker than I was, so I have never really felt in love… This time it feels way different from those times, so I wouldn’t know if this is just a little crush or if I really love him.
There’s one thing clear for me, despite how confusing was meeting… Myria was not the only one who got motivated by his words and that charming and gorgeous smile of his.
Gods… I can’t wait to fight him after this is over… I want to fight him so badly!
“I’m not sure. How about if you try to beat me first, and then I might tell you?” I smiled while raising Dusk and moving my body to the side to use a hanging left guard, holding my blade downwards.
“I don’t think it is necessary. You know me as well as I know you, Cassie.” Reina shook her head before fueling Dawn with more of her mana. “But if that is what you want, then that’s what you’ll get.” She held her spear above her head, taking a more defensive posture.
“Very well! Let us continue this battle, my dear sister!” I shouted before dashing at my opponent.
In the blink of an eye, I closed the distance between my little sister and I and swung my sword at her neck. She swiftly blocked my attack without issue, and as she did, flames danced all around us the moment our blades clashed.
“It seems this might take longer than I expected!” I smiled confidently as I stared at my sister.
“I won’t be defeated so easily. I will win this one, Cassie.” For the first time in a while, my sister had actually smiled.
After that small exchange, it was needless to say that the battle between us raged on, and it only became more and more intense as time went on, with the two of us unable to determine a winner.
thanks for the chapter I've said it before take your time your health and well being are more important take a break if you need it let it flow if you force it you'll hate your own story and not want to complete it.
you are one of my favorite writers on this site but Hiatus away if it helps you with life.
Thanks for reading man!
@GodlyKamui All good my friend I've been a fan since your first book on this site
Sup... did the girls mention HAKI... as in THAT HAKI??
Fun fact: Infusing your weapon or limbs with the elements or elemental power is called Haki in this world. I believe this was explained in the earlier chapters. So no, it is not that kind of Haki.