Free Web NovelChapter 24: Blades under the moonlight [3]
Clang! Clang! Clang!
We moved like twin harbingers of speed, our clothes snapping against the wind as we tore through the woods.
Even as we ran, our blades never stopped, each of us still aiming for the other’s throat. Wherever we passed, we left sword marks behind, in the earth, in the bark of the trees.
Some trees weren’t so lucky and came crashing down, the ground shaking and dust rising into the air with each fall.
A shadow fell over me. A large tree, severed by one of Ezio’s slashes I had dodged, was now toppling straight toward me.
Pushing mana into my blade, I performed a vertical cut, a curved black arc slicing clean through the trunk. It split in two, each half falling to either side of me with a loud thud.
Without wasting time, I dashed toward Ezio, who now stood on the thick branch of another tree.
"Are you trying to cause deforestation?" I smiled.
"They’ll grow back anyway." Ezio replied.
I ran, planted both feet on the trunk of a tree, crouched, gathered mana into my legs, and launched myself upward.
The moment I landed on the branch, Ezio’s blade was already halfway through a slash aimed at my face. I reacted fast, snapping my head to the side, the blade cutting nothing but air. But just as I thought it had passed, Ezio twisted his wrist mid-swing, redirecting the katana from my face toward my neck.
I threw up my left arm and caught his wrist, stopping the blade just short of my throat.
"You really are strong." I said with a smile, my arm trembling under the sheer strength behind his wrist.
"At the rate you’re growing, I doubt it’ll stay that way for long." Ezio said as I thrust my blade toward his stomach.
He tried to pull his katana back, but I had a grip on his wrist, leaving him to defend with only his free hand.
"Just let me get one hit in. I doubt you’ll die from a scratch like that." I said with a sharp smile.
"You wish."
Ezio threw a punch into the path of my blade, and instead of slicing through, my sword bounced off his skin as if I had struck stone, the impact knocking my arm back.
That was all the opening he needed to drive his other fist toward my exposed stomach.
I wasn’t about to let him land it.
I brought my right knee up and blocked the punch.
Fuck, the pain shot through my knee, but I gritted my teeth and swung my blade down anyway.
As my blade descended toward his trapped right arm, something strange happened. His arm and sword suddenly dissolved into shadow, slipping right out of my grip, then snapped back into solid form once free.
"You bastard, that’s cheating! Using your shadow form?" I snarled, slashing at his neck.
He raised his blade and blocked it with ease. "You keep surprising me. You even know about shadow form. You really did your research on Shadow Guardians."
"Obviously."
We both pulled back for a second before lunging at each other again, one sword aimed at the heart, the other at the neck.
Since the branch was wide enough for both of us, I didn’t have to worry about falling and pushed everything I had into it.
The speed of my slashes climbed with every second, leaving nothing but black arcs hanging in the air. But no matter how fast I pushed myself, Ezio’s speed climbed right along with mine, blocking my katana and striking back, which I blocked in turn.
"I’m picking things up." The moment Ezio said that, his hands moved even faster, his speed easily overtaking mine.
We had been evenly matched a moment ago, but now I was being pushed back. My eyes darted so fast trying to track his sword that they felt ready to pop out of their sockets.
His attacks were getting harder to block, and with every passing second I had fewer chances to attack and was spending more time just trying to survive.
Soon, his katana drew first blood.
A sharp sting bloomed across my right cheek, his blade had caught it.
"Come on, keep blocking, don’t give up yet." Ezio said with a smirk that made it clear he was enjoying himself.
"Easy for you to say!" I poured more mana into my body, strengthening it further and pushing my speed higher.
The clash of our blades grew louder and louder.
Even with the extra mana boosting my body, it didn’t seem like I could keep up with his sword. The man was just too good, too strong.
More cuts opened across my skin as time went on, and this bastard kept targeting my face on purpose, more and more cuts piling up until it was streaked with blood.
Tired of his games, I conjured a wall of darkness between us, blocking his blade and forcing him to pull back.
By the time the wall vanished, I was already wrapped in a cocoon of darkness.
"Heh, why are you hiding, Yves?" Ezio said, chuckling.
"You think I don’t know what you’re doing?! You’re targeting my handsome face on purpose because I called you ugly!" I said.
"No, I’m not."
"Yes, you are."
"Fine, I promise I won’t do it again." Ezio sighed, and I heard him mutter something about noble kids being a pain.
The truth was, I wasn’t hiding because of that. I wanted to try something.
When the cocoon of darkness crumbled away, Ezio saw that I had sheathed my katana and was crouched low, leaning forward, hand resting on the hilt, eyes closed.
"What are yo—"
He didn’t get to finish. In an instant I vanished from where I stood and reappeared right in front of him, katana already drawn, the blade stopping mere inches from his neck.
I had gotten close enough that for a moment it seemed like I had actually caught him off guard.
But my blade stopped. Not against his katana, but caught in his bare hand.
I looked at him, thrown off by the expression on his face.
His eyes were wide with shock as he stared at me.
Huh? Was he really that surprised by the move?
Ezio stayed silent for a moment before asking.
"How...how did you do that?"
"That? You mean the quick draw? I’ve been wanting to try it for a while, it’s one of the core techniques you’re supposed to master with a katana."
Ezio said nothing, just studied my eyes as if looking for something. freewebnøvel.coɱ
I had no idea what, but eventually he sighed and let go of my sword, his hand completely unharmed.
"Never mind. Your quick draw was actually solid. Right stance, right focus. But it still needs work."
"Oh, and I noticed a few flaws in your swordsmanship despite the improvement, so we’ll spend the rest of the night fixing those." Ezio said with a smile that made my expression sour instantly.
For this guy, "fixing" meant beating, and I’d already had more than enough of that at the mansion.
"Hell nah, I’m going to sleep." I said, jumping down, only to be yanked back by the collar.
"Is it money you want? I have plenty, just let me sleep." I tried to bribe him.
"Nope. I’m only doing this because you asked me to train you." He smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes.
"You just want to beat my ass!"
"True, but it’s also part of the training."
With that, I accepted my fate and got beaten up for the rest of the night until I fainted again.
