True Love's Seventh Kiss

Ch.35 Seven Star Spar

Meanwhile Henry complained about the sound of Marion dry heaving and dry heaved himself. Thinking quickly, Duke Highwall advised him to warm up with a jog to get out of earshot and Henry started his jog with a sprint.

It took Marion a few minutes to pull himself together. But when he did Novak helped him back to his feet and made sure he was okay.

By that time Henry had finished his jog and was doing some basic movements with his swords. Unlike Marion who was happy with sharing his training time between a gun and sword. Henry had some natural talent to wield two swords at the same time. Eager for the opportunity to train a dual wielder Kaliban pushed to get him a matching pair of cutlasses and trained him in a sword style modified from the Fangs of Noireth for the cutlass. Apparently, dual wielders in the territory that Kaliban could train were rare, even though it was one of his preferred styles of fighting.

Marion stood up and accepted a cup of water from Kaliban. He swished it around in his mouth and spit it out. Then he dumped the rest of it on his head and shook out his hair. His black hair was turning a vibrant blue as he spent more time in the forest but since his mother's hair was a powder blue that had a few strands turning violet he wasn't too worried about it. Besides, judging by how many more monsters he had to clear in the forest it was likely that one of Corsair's goals was to have his hair turn solid blue.

Kaliban offered him a towel and Marion used it to wipe off his face. "Alright about that game mom was talking about." Marion asked as he patted his head with the towel.

"It's a very simple game I came up with back in my school days. As you may have learned from your studies, most noble families are made up of those who originally excelled in either Magic or Aura and in rare cases those that can use both. Those who can use both nicknamed as having Hero bloodlines. The First Cliffgard Count was a hero who had many merits in the founding of the empire for example." Novak explained in his traditional educator way.

Gurrand cleared his throat. "Get to the point."

"Yes, well up until the end of my first year at school I actively used both to great effect. And even got a clever nickname as the seventh wonder of the school." Novak explained proudly before his face darkened. "But it came at a price, and I was very sick after pushing myself. It turned out that the hero gene skipped a generation, and it was toxic for me to use both magic and aura."

"A blessing in disguise, since he was only barely passing his other classes." Gurrand remarked. "He stubbornly studied even when he was running a temperature and flirting with Irina at the same time."

"Anyway, I had no problem passing my classes afterward, but I started to feel left behind. After not being able to use Aura, I found out just how hard it was to keep it from slipping out and controlling it while excluding bloodlust. I also noticed that those that could use aura slacked off on technical training. So I made a game that seemed simple, yet gave me the advantage." Novak grinned slyly. "The Seven Star Spar."

*

Kaliban showed up behind him with a chalkboard on wheel.

"Oh, Thank you, Kaliban." Novak said as he took up the chalk.

Marion looked and saw Henry had fallen over on the grass and was trying to catch his breath.

"There is a certain state that happens between two swordsmen of high enough caliber called a sword dance. During a sword dance the two will exchange steel as it is second nature and look as if they are dancing. The Seven star spar is a modified version of the sword dance made into a game and broken down into seven phases." Novak puffed out his chest. "The only reason I was able to develop the Seven Star spar was because I was so good at initiating Sword dance trances with other students."

"Quick bragging." Gurrand picked up Henry and dragged him over, so he didn't miss the lecture.

"The first phase is aggression. As I said before it is hard to limit your Aura and Magic if you are angry or exuding bloodlust. So you must direct your most heightened aggression at the other player without letting any magic or aura out and then attack as aggressively as possible. Since neither should have any aura or magic actively the first person to draw blood is the victor." Novak said.

"Is that what you were doing last night?" Marion asked. "Doesn't that mean you won in like the first move?"

Novak smiled. "Yes, but that doesn't mean the duke didn't want an instant rematch."

"It's your father's signature. To win in the first second and then allow the 'losing player' to ask for a rematch without forcing them to ask." Gurrand said. "It's arrogance at its highest but it always works and then he has every excuse to drag out the sword fight. He is addicted to fighting."

"The second part is technique, while maintaining bloodlust you trade techniques. Performing each move with utmost perfection. At this point you can lose if the other player or a referee calls you out for not performing right." Novak explained.

"He loved fighting so much he would be called on to be a referee because he knew everyone's sword styles, all the moves and could call people out in an unbiased way." Gurrand quipped.

"Those are the perks of growing up with Kaliban who knows them all too." Novak said.

"Guilty of course." Kaliban said shamelessly.

"The third is speed, once you have begun this technical process you find yourself falling into a rhythm with the other player. So the natural course of the game is to pick up speed, faster and faster until you throw them off. This part was also my specialty." Novak said.

Gurrand rolled his eyes as if to say that all of them were his specialty.

"The fourth part. Imitation. At this point if you haven't won the match then you have seen the other player fight to perfection. Now would be the time to imitate them, once you start imitating your opponent's sword style, they must imitate yours or lose. If you can't comprehend the opponent's sword style at this point, then you must be a fool or purposefully ignorant. And I don't know which is worse." Novak shrugged.

"That phrase got him in a lot of trouble with nobles from sword families." Gurrand chuckled

"The fifth part is power. Strike True with no deception, no mana, no aura. You should be trying to knock your opponent over if they block. This was Gurrand's specialty, it was also his bane since it was much harder for him to strike without letting out aura while trying to beat his opponent with all his might." Novak chuckled.

"The Sixth part is complexity. Every sword style has their crowning ultimate move and far too many young spirits don't master it since they rely on aura too much. But a truly complex ultimate move shouldn't need aura to be special otherwise the whole sword style is hollow. It is also the hardest point to control aura because with the increased mastery of this move the easier it is to release aura. In the same token it is incredibly difficult to hold it back. This was the one that Wesker, I mean Marquis Westhold, always struggled with the most since he had practiced his family's style to perfection."

"He still has problems with it to this day. He lost last time we spared because of it." Gurrand remarked.

"And finally. Simplicity. You use the seven most simple movements of your sword style. No sword style should be only flashy moves. There is beauty in simplicity since simply put the way of the sword isn't to impress your opponent, it should kill them. Of course this whole time you should have been maintaining concentration and bloodlust. If for some reason neither of you lose, you go by who maintained their bloodlust at the highest degree and most consistently. If by some stretch of fate, it is too close to gauge you start again and repeat the cycle until one side folds."

"And there is the loophole that caused many to cry and surrender. Your father had a way to match his opponent until they tied, so he could fight longer as if he were trying to absorb his life in combat." Gurrand said.

"Maybe but the six of you who played with me the most were the ones who became Swords Saints before graduating." Novak said proudly as he leaned on his cane.

"You say that as if you personally raised us and it had nothing to do with you actively swinging your sword at us from around corners or running at us with that goddamn smile of yours from halfway across campus." Gurrand cursed.