Ch 2.63: Skill


    <span style="font-weight:400">There was no terror, no dread. ina didn’t feel threatened by the dull training sword in Koh’s hand, not like her life was in danger anyway, but she knew it was something she couldn’t beat, at least not while hiding her true strength. Still, she had to try, do something.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She raised her own de up, and Koh pointed hers down, towards the dirt. For moment ina thought she’d been messing with herself, as the weapon seemed to lose its life, die even,pared to what it felt like just a moment ago.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Whenever you’re ready,” Koh said, weapon still aimed at the ground.


    <span style="font-weight:400">ina didn’t have a hugepetitive streak in her, but she still felt a little bit of thrill at the idea of sparring with Koh, the best fencer in the world as far as she was aware of. She wanted to win, at least one point, and if it took taking advantage of Koh’s hubris to do that, she would.


    <span style="font-weight:400">So she lunged forward, practicing a move Carly had been showing her earlier. Thrust at the neck, but before impact spin the de, whacking the top of the head. Koh’s de was still pointed at the ground, useless as ina closed in with the feint, as the training sword twisted around, finally nging with Koh’s de inches from her target’s head.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What?” ina said out loud, retreating. The de had been away, too far away to block one moment, the next deflecting the strike.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That was good,” Koh said, returning her de to the guardless position from before. “You’re fast. Again.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">ina closed her eyes, shaking her head. So Koh was fast, but not inhumanly so. ina could definitely get one hit off, just maybe with a different strategy. She raised her sword again, focusing on her opponent’s de this time. A quick strike to the top of the sword arm would do the trick, not enough range of motion to defend in time. So she prepared bringing her de up over her left shoulder, swinging down towards Koh’s right.


    <span style="font-weight:400">But her de didn’t move. She nced down, seeing Koh’s de had moved once more, snaking its way in between the back of ina’s hand and the guard of her rapier, Koh pinning the hand shut with locked joints.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Far too telegraphed,” Koh said, stepping back once more. ina still felt trapped as Koh moved away, arm still stuck in the air even as the block Koh had done had been released. ina could have overpowered Koh in that instance for sure, she realized, but in the moment she had been so lost as to what had even happened that she couldn’t even process how to get out of it.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’ll go this time,” Koh said, raising her sword up in a proper stance. “Focus on defending, but if you get a chance to riposte, feel free.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Riposte. ina had heard Carly mention the word, a type of counterattack. She had a feeling that possibility wouldn’te up though.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Before she could even finish remembering what the word meant though, Koh was on her, the de alive once more. ina brought her sword up to block the first attack, a thrust straight at her chest, but she failed to bring her de to the right spot, Koh’s sword just barely scraping the metal of ina’s own before gently tapping her on the sternum and retreating back to Koh’s side. But no, it wasn’t ina’s de that was in the wrong spot. Koh’s had been on a set path one instant, changing the next, only an inch over, right as ina had moved to block.


    <span style="font-weight:400">She was reminded of her fight with Prisma, the way the girl’s de had moved like a snake. This was almost that, but Koh’s rapier didn’t move like a snake. It moved like a sword would if it were a living creature, slithering when needed, flying when needed, seemingly teleporting when needed, even.


    <span style="font-weight:400">ina backed off once more, raising her de, determined this time. “Start!” she said, trying to say it to herself more than her opponent.


    <span style="font-weight:400">Koh was moving as soon as the word sounded though, darting forward with unbelievable speed. ina was ready this time, ready to do whatever it took to block the attack, with all her speed, all her strength, everything but her aspect. But the deing at her was unreadable, a blur of iron-colored air, unreactable even with all of ina’s advantages as it came up and tapped her on the top of the head.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Hmm,” Koh said, stepping away and lowering her weapon once more. It seemed to be in the same position as when they started fighting, but ina could tell it was different. The sword was pointing at the ground, but this time Koh actually wasn’t fighting, actually wasn’t guarding. Somehow that was even more unnerving, because it meant that when she had seemed helpless before, she really never had been.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“What I heard was right,” she continued. “You’re fast, strong. But youck the fundamentals. Have you considered taking sses for the longsword, or greatsword even?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Longsword, greatsword? “No? I just take whatever I’m assigned.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Koh nodded. “If you’d been training since childhood, you’d be excellent, world ss even. Fencing isn’t really useful outside ofpetition though, but I think you could excel with arger weapon.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">ina finally lowered her weapon, sighing in relief as she realized they were probably done. “My aspect doesn’t really help me with swords though.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Neither does Prisma’s, but she trains both anyways. You need to be prepared, in case it happens again.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Right,” ina said, looking down at the piece of iron in her hands. She remembered that night, how Prisma had came to her rescue with a sword, how even Waine had done the same.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’d rmend it, at least the longsword. It’s only once a week.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I’ll think about it,” ina said, watching as Koh went to ce her own training sword back on the equipment rack, pulling her real de back to her belt as well.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“I… I wanted to thank you as well, ina. I heard you fought alongside Ranlit, helped her.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">ina’s stomach began to turn. She was still doing her best to ignore that part of that night. “I didn’t do anything useful.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That’s not what I heard.” A hand fell on ina’s shoulder as she tried her best to look away. “Don’t be ashamed for doing your best.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The hand on ina was meant to beforting, she knew, but it only burned her. She didn’t wantfort from the best friend of the woman she’d left to die. Thankfully, the hand moved though, as Koh walked off back towards the center of the field.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“That’s all today, ss. Now that I’ve seen you all fight, I’ll have detailed improvement ns for next week. You’re dismissed.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The air was uneasy, no “yes professor” from the students, no acknowledgment at all except a quiet murmuring as the ss moved back to the equipment rack as a mass, Carly pushing her way to the front of the pack and making her way towards ina in a huff.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“How’d it go?” ina asked.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“How did <i><span style="font-weight:400">yours</i><span style="font-weight:400"> go,” Carly said, eyes wide with genuine interest.


    <span style="font-weight:400">ina blushed, looking askance at the attention. “You know how it went. Her de was—”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Alive?” Carly asked, stifling a little giggle. “I hated fighting her when we were kids. It always scared me.”


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Right.” ina lifted her sword once more, testing the weight. It was weightless to her, but the only thing she could think of was how it felt to Ko, and whether or not she could learn to move like Koh did.


    <span style="font-weight:400">“Did she fight you right-handed, or left-handed?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">The question caught ina off guard as she hung her rapier back up. “Right-handed… Does she fight left-handed to test people sometimes?”


    <span style="font-weight:400">Carly was the one to look askance this time, biting her lip. “It’s, uhm, kind of the opposite. She only fight’s with it when she’s really serious, but she’s actually left-handed.”