Thornblade Chronicles - Volume 1

Chapter 10

 Eli's plan had been to arrive at the battlefield early to warm up and train before the impending battle. Ilkama had told him where to find training weapons: ones capable of using glyphs but incapable of dealing lethal damage. Once Eli retrieved a sword for himself, he headed up to the roof.

Upon reaching his destination, Eli found he still had time to train. Though he believed Ilkama would have the same idea, he felt thankful to know he was proven wrong.

Eli thought the battlefield to be too big for a duel between two people, especially if it would go until one was knocked off it. Its durable material and lack of obstacles made it the perfect, indestructible arena; each swordsman could give it his all.

The swordsman's warm-up began with a light jog around the castle's roof. Intending to get energized, Eli's pace was one at which he could converse without losing much breath. When he felt sufficiently warmed up, he stepped onto the arena and practiced his swordsmanship, hoping to increase his attack speed before the battle.

Eli began slashing at the air as though fighting an invisible enemy. If he could tire out his opponent fast enough, the battle could quickly tilt in his favor. However, as the swordsman found his speed plateauing, his curiosity diverted toward the sword skills; Eli began drawing glyphs rapidly and roughly. Questioning the skills' strictness, Eli wished to explore how poorly he could outline a glyph and still have it activate. While the tests were primarily inconclusive, Eli found the changing color to indicate what glyph was used; the requirement for a sword skill was only to draw the glyph, not to see the color change.

This pleased Eli to know, as it meant he could surprise Ilkama in the brief moment before the color changed. Given Ilkama's extensive experience, Eli would have to be sneaky and react quickly if he wished to win. As Eli continued to practice, the interval between when he drew a glyph and used its power diminished.

Hyper-focused on mastering his technique, Eli failed to notice his childhood friend approaching him from behind. Eli's training had dragged him closer to the arena's edge. Before reaching the end, Eli turned to face the other end, though Ilkama quietly jumped out of the way, staying barely out of Eli's field of vision. As Eli charged at nothingness for his next attack, Ilkama quickly jumped in the way, raising his sword high and intercepting Eli's attack. Though shocked about what had just transpired, Eli simply smiled and pushed harder against his opponent's sword.

The battle had begun.

After a brief stalemate, the two swordsmen jumped back. Each could begin an assault as they wished. Though they had not verbally discussed it, each wanted to see what the other could do without using glyphs. However, each searched for an opening in the others' defenses. Eli thought he found one and charged at Ilkama, his sword approaching from above. A glimmer appeared in Ilkama's eyes as he immediately countered with an attack from below. Their swords collided perfectly; a spark appeared as a high-pitched ring echoed across the kingdom. Ilkama, who had been closer to the ground, kicked Eli to the floor.

Without skipping a beat, Eli rolled away before Ilkama could strike him again. Bouncing back up as though nothing had happened, the swordsman sprinted at Ilkama with a head-on approach. Despite Eli's speed giving his adversary little time to react, Ilkama's experience taught him how to think quickly during a battle. His initial response to the lunge had been to parry Eli's attack directly. But as he realized the precision required to parry be too specific, the fear of missing forced him to spin to the side instead, narrowly dodging Eli's jab. However, turning the wrong way, Ilkama was at Eli's mercy. Having anticipated a dodge, Eli slashed the sword in Ilkama's direction as he passed, striking his opponent perfectly in the back of his armor. Ilkama fell to his knees but recovered quickly.