Strings of Fate

Chapter IV

   What is a duel? A duel is just like a dance during a party. Blade dancing is a sport in this world, as there is a beauty within fighting with precise calmness and gentleness.

   I readied one of the wooden swords, pointing one forward while the other pointed down to the ground behind me. I wasn't comfortable with it but I wanted to do this. I took a deep breath.

(A) Meditation Lv. 0 —>> Lv. 1

   I activated passively, calming myself as I detected that Liz did the same. First, it was just a standoff. No one moved until a leaf blew onto the middle of the field. I dashed forward, I sliced up with my leading sword. Uppercut slash. She expertly used the wooden rapier to block.

   She did some type of twisting maneuver disarming my lead sword. I dash back and threw my second sword into the air and caught it with my right hand. I lost one training sword, now I had to figure out how to get it back.

   It landed right behind her. Impaling itself into the ground, I knew she wasn't going to let me retrieve it without a fight. Already, I had made a mistake so I needed to learn from it.

We met each other's attacks without any problems, wood clashing against the wood. I dashed back each time she tried to strike me. I activated Meditation and then activated Shadow Strike. I slashed vertically at her rapier which had been launched away. My wooden sword was now against her neck, just resting against it. I looked at her but she wasn't angry.

"Why'd you use two when you're more skilled with one?" She asked, I pulled the blade down.

   "I wanted to try battling with two but it seems I probably shouldn't."

  "Yeah, can we have one more match!" She said ecstatically.

  I laughed gently, "Alright another. Go get your rapier."

   "Speaking of which, what was that attack you did to me?"

   "You mean Shadow Strike? It's one of my abilities that embeds Shadow Magic into my weapon, making it deal both physical and magical damage."

   "It's powerful, just like Heavy Strike. Did you evolve it from that?" She had bent over to grab her rapier.

   "No, this ability just appeared after that sudden change."

She didn't say anything else after that, she most likely had no idea why I received it as well. "Alright ready?"

I readied my sword once more. The butler lifted his hand into the air. "Match 2, ready! Begin!"

This time she dashed towards me. Instead of defending, I appraised the training sword she was using, because I wanted to break it.

Name: Training Sword - Rapier
          Materials
Iron Wood
Oak Wood
Cow Leather
          Durability: 18/175
          Attributes
             Thin Blade II
             Strong Material II
             Reinforced Material II
             Grip VI
Ecological I

(A) Power Strike Lv. 0 —>> Lv. 1

Then I spun, this confused her but my sword hit hers. I activated Power Strike and I broke the rapier. Sword once again pointed against her throat.

"Normally I go against my father, who's way stronger than me."

"Huh, you too? My father's a swordsman as well strong as well!"