Blade West: Book 1

Chapter 12: Axil

"Hey Ven." I asked him. "Yeah? What's up?" "There was a moment in the battle that I wanted to ask you about." "Go ahead, shoot." Ace started smiling when Ven said shoot, and I wished Ven would've used a different word. 

"When you initiated that...fevor, I think it's called, your body position was in a "all or nothing" form. That massive spear was pointed directly at you, but when you threw that first chakram, you didn't move or change positions. It was almost as if you knew it was going to slice through his spear. The way you were positioned had me kinda worried because if your chakram didn't slice through that spear, you would've been in trouble. But in that moment, you weren't... reckless. You didn't throw that chakram recklessly, but rather, you knew the stakes and you knew the risk. But you had such confidence in your ability that you felt like you didn't need to prepare for a "just in case". How were you able to trust yourself that much?"

"Wowwwwww! You'd better fanboy the same way all over me when I do something awesome." Ace said still kicking around dirt. "Ignore him." Ven said partially laughing. "To answer your question, there were several factors that led to me doing what you saw. Before I start explaining this, I want you to know that most of it comes with experience in battle. As you fight more difficult opponents, you'll be able to gauge the strength you're up against. Sometimes you can tell when a person is holding back, and you know not to do something crazy that might backfire on you. Most times though, you'll know immediately how strong your opponent is after exchanging a few blows. You can tell if they are weaker, or if they are stronger. Based on that judgement, you know whether you can afford to pull off something crazy or whether you should proceed with caution. Actually - now that I'm thinking about it - you already have a sense of that. Remember when you were fighting those 3 or 4 hantens that were surrounded around you? One was on the roof of the house and the others were near you? If I remember correctly, you targeted the one on the house first and not the ones around you. Why did you target that one and not the ones who were closest to you?"

"In that moment I just felt like the ones closest to me weren't really a threat. I mean, they were, but at the same time my priority was the one that was on the roof because it was picking at it." "That's my point. You knew they had the potential to be dangerous, but you weren't too worried about them. You had judged their strength and thought you'd be alright in that moment. That's the battle sense I was talking about. In my fight with that Elite, I made some pretty quick judgements. When the fight first started, I almost immediately knew we were in trouble. I knew even with all of us fighting it, it wouldn't be enough, which is why I released more of my power. It put a drain on my stamina but I felt like our strength levels were the same at that point. There were 2 big turns in that fight: one was you guys and the second was the storm above. You guy s jumping in to keep him distracted and issuing damage helped. But the storm provided an Environmental Boost (E.B.) for me that helped seal the deal." "E.B.?" I asked him. "It's actually what it sounds like." My mom said joining the conversation. "E.B.s are environmental things that you may be able to use to your advantage. Not every Talent can benefit from an E.B./has an E.B. though. For people who have a non-combative Talent, like being able to read super fast, there isn't an E.B. for that. But for someone like Ven who controls electricity, a nearby thunderstorm could amplify his power10-fold." "Precisely. You do have to be careful though. It is very easy to get overwhelmed and overpowered by the environment you're trying to pull energy from. You saw how much power was around me when I used that Fevor...that was enough power to kill that Elite and myself, but I had control over it. That's why I didn't position myself for a "Plan B"; I knew I had more than enough power to take that spear, and that Elite, out."

"E.B.s huh?" I said out loud, but more to myself. "Pretty fascinating stuff right?" Ace said as he walked over and lifted the other half of Ven on his shoulder. "Yeah. Life gets more interesting by the minute with you guys." "Well I am the life of the party you know. You can't be around me and things not get interesting." Ace said. Ven and I simultaneously rolled our eyes. "Okay boys! What next?" My mom asked crossing her arms. "Well Blade?" Ven asked me. "Are you guys really going to make me make the decisions from now on?" "Pretty much." Ace said. "But there are going to be times where you guys are clearly more qualified to make the decision." I countered. "Understandable....but we're not the ones who were chosen. You were. And eventually, you'll be guiding more than just us. Let decisions like this one be good practice for the future decisions you'll have to make." Ven said with a wink.