章 17: Duel
Taking a deep breath, I stood up from where I had been stretching out my legs in preparation. Across from me, Saeko did the same, turning to pick up two shinhais from the stand next to her.
"You ready?" She asked, throwing one of the shinhais to me.
Catching the shinhai, I gave it a little spin before resting the tip against the ground the sandy ground. "I'm always ready."
"That's not what I remember from earlier today." She retorted and I smiled, slowly moving forwards as Saeko did the same. Neither of us had assumed any position at all, tips of our shinhai dragging along the ground. "But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now. Don't forget, my grandfather may have seen something in you, but I haven't."
"I doubt that very much. I wouldn't be here if you didn't know why he took an interest in me. Or what he wanted from me." As I said that, both of us came just outside of our shinhais reach and stopped.
Almost simultaneously both of us swung our shinhais up, missing each others chins by a hairsbreadth. Yet even then, both of us moved back but not to avoid being hit, it was to avoid the sand that was coming towards our eyes. You see, as we had dragged our shinhais along the ground, both of us had accumulated sand upon it that we had both used to try and blind the other.
In many sports, such an act would be considered cheating, but this wasn't a competition with rules. Both of us had made it clear that this little duel of ours was to be a no holds barred one.
Such tactics that are considered dirty by many are only expected.
Avoiding the sand, I quickly rushed forwards, Saeko copying my movements and both of us clashed in the middle. Unlike our previous duel in the school Kendo club, we no longer had to hold back. Both of us had been part of a Gu Ritual and both of us had been enhanced because of it. We had purposefully held back to just slightly above average and now there was no need to hold back.
In a matter of seconds, dozens of strikes were exchanged, blocked, parried and neither of us moved an inch. Then we broke apart, putting some distance between us and reassessing.
That first salvo was just the beginning, an opening to a show, the pilot of a new tv series. It was something that enabled both of us to understand how the other would act and react to certain actions made by the other. Then, we would reassess and start again, constantly adapting and the person who adapted the quickest to the others plans would win.
It was strange, in my old life, I would have never considered or even thought of myself as fighting on a level like this. Yet coming to this world had made me make many changes to the way I would do things. Strangely, I enjoyed fighting, a lot more than I ever would have.
And so, when a lull came, I rushed in.
This time things were different as when our shinhai clashed, it was Saeko that stumbled back, eyes widening ever so slightly as she felt the force behind it. I followed up, blade swinging down and Saeko was barely able to manoeuvre her blade in the path of the strike. Even so, she was knocked to her knees, straining to hold my blade up as I pushed down.
"How?" She muttered, face twisting into a frown, a vein pulsing slightly.
"You see, we both did a Gu Ritual and won," I told her, pressing down a little further as my smile widened. "But who said I only ever did or could do one? All you have to know is someone who has connections and well, I met the guy who runs the Gu Rituals."
She let out a grunt as my foot slammed into her chest, she rolling with the momentum and quickly getting back to her feet. I already upon her as soon as she had.
It was a rush for survival on behalf of Saeko at that point, but I would give her this, she did masterfully well. Despite being in Kouh for a great deal of time, she also had a lot of experience in combat. But ultimately, so did I and I held the advantage.
It was only a matter of time till I finished this, she'd make a mistake and I would capitalise.
Mere moments later, that mistake appeared, her constant blocking of strikes meant that her guard would be broken wide open. Then she would have to rectify as quickly as possible to block the next. At this point, she was just unable to put a guard up in time and my shinhai came directly for her temple.
It wouldn't kill her however, it would knock her unconscious.
Yet as my shinhai drew close to her temple, suddenly her speed increased. Blade swinging up almost faster than my eyes could see and suddenly I was sent stumbling back.
Looking at her, my eyes were slightly wide as I looked upon Saeko. "Well then, this is certainly a surprise. "Behind me, the top half of my shinhai clattered against the ground. "Where did this come from?"
"I said I'd give you access to magic as my grandfather promised if you beat me," Saeko smirked, a flash of madness I recognised from the anime shining in her eyes. "What makes you think I didn't take it myself?"
I chuckled lowly. "Very funny." Chucking my broken shinhai to the ground, I shifted back into a low stance. "But if you think I'm going to surrender just because you can enhance your speed and strength with magic, you're sorely mistaken."
"Then by all means, shall we continue?"
"Absolutely."
To describe the difference in speed between Saeko before and now, would be difficult. She in the blink of an eye had closed the distance and was already upon me.
I barely had a moment to tense all of my muscles to recreate the Adamantine Kata: Indestructible before dozens of sword swings almost like a blur to me came. The cuts were only slightly deeper than being shallow, but the sheer fact they were like that meant that if I hadn't performed Indestructible they would have been fatal.
Falling back on the ground, I flipped myself up, Saeko already coming back to finish the job. Luckily I managed to land and steady my feet, quickly using Weeping Willow to parry the strikes, then shifting to Entanglement, the ultimate technique of the Redirection Kata before finishing with a Seagrass Hold, pinning her sword arm under my armpit.
For a moment we stood there doing nothing, just studying one another closely. It would only be a matter of time before both of us would attempt to perform something that would break us out of the hold.
I already had mine prepped and ready.
You see, unlike Saeko, Kendo wasn't my main forte. I was good at it, but nowhere near as good as her. But that meant that in order to fight at her best, she needed to put distance between herself and her opponent so that she could land those strikes. A close-quarters position like ours put her at a serious disadvantage. Even for me, I would need to create a little distance to ensure I could land a punch with maximum force.
However, thanks to Kanoh Agito, I had a technique that didn't require distance and in fact, was best suited at such close distances like this. It was one of the few finishing moves I had incorporated into my Niko Style.
Dragon Shot.
A variation of the one-inch punch that could knock out anyone no matter the distance it was fired at. And I unleashed it directly into Saeko's stomach.
Spittle and blood burst from her mouth, her eyes bulging open in pain as she collapsed to her knees. "You're good Saeko, but I'm better." To give credit where credit was due, she was still conscious. That was better than some people had accomplished after being hit head-on by the Dragon Shot.
To make extra sure that she wouldn't be a threat anymore, I kicked the shinhai away from her hands.
"You've spent all your time here in Kouh, I've spent my time out there. First in the Inside, in numerous Gu Rituals and then in the Kengan Matches. I've faced dozens of highly trained assassins, martial artists, mercenaries and all manner of deadly people. I'm still alive and that difference in combat makes me just...better than you."
Standing up, I stretched my arms above my head. "So, whereabouts do I unlock my magic."
"I've not lost yet." There was a mumble from behind me.
"What was that?"
"I've not lost."
Turning around, I looked to see Saeko rising to her feet on unsteady legs. "I doubt that very much. You can barely stand." Saeko glared at me and I sighed. "Alright. Let's end this as soon as possible."
As I moved forwards, at first I was confident. Why wouldn't I be? Saeko's legs were unsteady and she could barely stand upright. She was in obvious pain, my Dragon Shot having no doubt done some serious damage. Yet as I grew closer, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand upright.
Something was wrong.
And that something became very clear when I noticed a glint in Saeko's eyes. There was nothing overt about her, nothing that would have given her away to the untrained eye. But I was trained, I had learnt to look for even the most minuscule of tells that would reveal someone's true intent.
Just so happened that Saeko's eyes were her biggest tells and I read them like an open book.
Quickly jumping back, I leaned back avoiding the wave of blue-like force that came my way. A magical wave I assumed as that was the most likely, but more importantly, I dodged it by a hairsbreadth.
Pushing myself back up onto my feet and I watched Saeko revealing the broken handle of my shinhai which she seemed to have picked up. She smirked, suddenly seeming completely fine and making sure I was watching, ran her free hand down the edge of the shinhai. From the base of the handle, past the broken end and where her hand continued to go, a glowing blade of magical energy seemed to form.
'Now that's not just fair.' For the first time, my smile ebbed away into a small frown as I shifted back into my stance. "So, how'd you recover so quickly, I know that strike landed."
"Magic!" She gasped out mockingly and despite the situation, my lips twitched up ever so slightly.
"No, seriously."
"Oh, I am serious," Saeko replied. "Used alongside my clan's recovery techniques."
"Meaning you enhanced their effectiveness with magic just like you did with your strength and speed," I concluded, nodding my head at the sense of it. 'Magic is a fucking hack if she recovered that quickly. I can't wait to have it as well.'
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