B2 Ch. 12 Definitely not Sparring

Tilly tripped over his own feet as he followed Ichiro out to the middle of the section of the parade ground.  He couldn't help but look back at the group excitedly talking amongst themselves as the Captain stood off to the side smiling.

“Are you ready?” Ichiro said, turning to face Tilly while resting an easy hand on the hilt of his sword.  Tilly’s eyes were drawn to Ichiro’s sword hand like a magnet,

“Um, don’t we need practice weapons or something?”

“No,”  Ichiro responded simply, his white eyes wide and honest as he rocked back on his heels, in anticipation.

“Simply do your best to attack me. I believe I am more than skilled enough to handle anything you are currently capable of.”  He said slowly, searching the human’s face for what could be the hold-up.

Tilly sighed and slowly pulled his hatchets out of their loops.  Of course this is what ‘sparring’ meant.

“I guess live weapons will heighten the training…”  He grumbled to himself, stalking forward at a crouched walk before he let the natural fear of being stabbed stop him in his tracks.  Tilly was no coward, but charging in adrenalin pumping was one thing.  Choosing to get stabbed for… practice was an entirely different beast.

Hiro’s face brightened once he saw Tilly move forward, but otherwise, his stance stayed completely relaxed.  With a wince of anticipation, Tilly dived forward swinging his hatchets from both directions in his signature opener close combat opener.  He figured if you were holding two weapons, why not swing from two different directions?

Ichiro stepped smoothly to the side and pulled his sword and scabbard out from his sash in one easy motion, knocking away the hatchet in Tilly’s right hand and moving out of range of the other swing.   Everything about his expression and seemingly effortless movements more than convinced Tilly that at least one of them really knew what they were doing.

Ichiro's confidence loosened up Tilly’s movements and he spun with the parry hoping to bring the struck hatchet back around toward Ichiro.  But his plan was completely interrupted by an explosive blow across his back.

The air burst from his lungs as he face-planted into the churned dirt.

“Shit Ichiro! *Cough* Little harsh-”  Tilly growled, pushing up from the ground, but he froze in his movement when Ichiro’s blade whispered free and slid into the ground next to him, nicking the side of his neck.

“Very sorry Jonathan Tillman, but your skill will only improve if you face real bodily harm. I am afraid that each day, we will spar until you're too injured to continue, and then break to allow you to regenerate.”  He said, pulling the sword away slowly, having come to understand that the human simply didn't know what was required to raise a combat skill.

Tilly could hear some of the men to the side sniggering, and he forced himself to drop into his meditative breathing as his blood began to boil at once again being caught off guard by the rules in this place. It would have been fucking nice to know this was going to be a beatdown every day.  But whatever… better to learn lessons here where he would only be maimed than out there where he would be killed for not knowing how all of this worked.

He groaned as he pushed back up to his feet and turned to face Ichiro who had once again sheathed his sword.

“OK.  Does this sort of leveling involve any pointers?”  He growled, touching his neck and looking at the blood that stained his hand.  He was keeping his cool, and the slightly embarrassed look on Ichiro’s face mollified him somewhat.

“Yes, but not tonight.  Simply do everything you can to hit me, you may use your weapons to the full extent of their capabilities.”  Ichiro replied, gesturing for them to continue.

Tilly took a few rapid breaths, the anticipation of very real pain and injury spiking his chemical state.  He had thought he was pretty acclimated to how things were going to be here on Nephesh.  But the juxtaposition of how risk was thought of here and back home was staggering.  All training in this world was ‘learn by doing’.  It was the unanticipated consequence of culture desensitized to most injuries because of the ability of most to heal over time.

Shit… Well, it was time to nut up or shut up.

If he was going to get his ass beaten, he might as well give it his all.

His grip tightened on both the handles of his weapons before he whipped both hatchets at Ichiro as hard as he could, the close quarters only allowing them a single revolution before they each clanged against Ichiro’s reflexively loosed sword.

Tilly spun with the revolution of his second throw and called back the hatchets almost as soon as he heard the clanging parries.  At this point, his axe-throwing skill was sufficient to allow him to immediately release again as he came around, not even needing to consciously aim.

Ichiro had not seen him do anything like this before and was kept momentarily busy deflecting the surprising follow-up throws.  Hoping for this, Tilly was already diving forward after his release fourth release, trying to squeeze the surprise opener for all it was worth.

Ichiro’s movements stayed smooth throughout, and his blade seemed to be in two places at once as he deflected both follow-up throws and brought his blade forward to ward off the charge. But it was just a fraction out of place, as Tilly crashed into him. The blade bit into his shoulder deeply, but through the pain, Tilly was already punching his right hand with his recalled hatchet into Ichiro’s ribs.

The lapin folded over the thrust, dropping his elbow down on the blade and knocking it out of Tilly's hand. Then Tilly was flying through the air, blood spraying from his wound as his chest felt like he had caught a bowling ball thrown at a hundred miles an hour.

He crashed to the ground and rolled over a few times, having lost his hatchets completely,

“Uuugghhh”  TIlly moaned in pain, attempting to get back to his feet, while guarding both his chest and his actively bleeding shoulder.

“Very Good!” Ichiro exclaimed happily while wiping his blade clean of Tilly’s blood and sheathing it. Even with his eyes hooded against the pain, TIlly spotted a small cut on the lapin’s right elbow where he had knocked aside Tilly’s weapon. A fierce smile slashed through the pain on Tilly’s face.

“I aim to plea-Ugh!” He winced, as he felt a vice squeezing down on his chest.

“Savage, with an uncanny feel for timing.  With no finesse or even much knowledge of the use of your weapons, yet you still managed to find some impressively effective combos! You throttle the initiative and refuse to let go.  It is no fluke that you have survived to this point”  He said to himself, ticking off his points on his lightly furred fingers.

“Looks like our Human knows how to take a beating boys!” Captain Achillia shouted goodnaturedly from the troughs.

“Careful captain,” A new voice called from the other side of the section of parade ground.

“I’m not so sure he couldn’t give a beating of his own if he wasn't facing the young Lord!”

Tilly looked over to find Thrustus approaching. His gait and posture remained unchanged, oozing feline grace and menace, his class however showed a surprising new feature

Level 48 Three-Fold Bastion Commander.

“Oh, I was only joking commander and you know it!  I just want this Lot to see that no matter how good you are, beatings are on the menu!”  The captain shouted back in mock outrage.  Threstus nodded back at the reply and then waved the men at the troughs off, the command evident in the gesture.

“Alright, Scum Sacks! Back on the field and in formation!  How are you going to learn to fight, if you can’t even walk!?!”  She shouted, seamlessly transitioning from spectator to officer.  While she gathered up her group, Threstus finished approaching the pair,

“Just received word through Shuji from Lord Hiro.  They have done a circuit and most of our boundary remains unchanged, with the exception of a new mouth at the other end of this valley where the river lets out.”  He said, gesturing along the path of the river to the new break in the surrounding mountains.

“What does this change?”  Tilly grunted through bruised ribs.

“They have spotted some combatants milling in the open landscape beyond the border of our protections.  Currently, they seem to be moving very slowly toward our boundary to investigate.  Hiro is going to leave the Boon area for as short a time as possible to collect intel on the probable enemy.  In anticipation of his findings, we are directing 50% of our building efforts to the gap, it must be defensible as soon as possible.” He recited as if listing off what they were going to eat for dinner.

“Woah, I knew it would be happening fast, but being under threat again so soon… this place is nuts.”  Tilly sighed.

“Such is Nephesh, stagnancy is death here, and the system regulates the balance to make sure everything is always in flux.  We have evolved Epoch after Epoch, moving toward something.  What that thing is… is anyone's guess.”  Ichiro entered gravely, eyeing Tilly with consideration.

“Nonetheless, your mornings will remain unchanged Tillman, although you will be sparring with others as well as Ichiro as soon as we can get the Priestess down from the mountain.  Perhaps in a few days.  Not everyone is able to be as gentile as the young Lord and you will need her healing… as will others in this ragtag bunch soon.”  Threstus said, eyeing Tilly’s injuries critically, the barest hint of a smile playing around his eyes.

“Oh Fuck off!”  Tilly growled swiping at the Commander with one of his hatchets.  Threstus didn't move as the blade cut the air half an inch in front of his face, only allowing his smile to burst forth unrestrained.

“Remember your spirit later this week, when I show you what true dual-wielding is all about.” He winked before turning and jogging off to catch another group commander and update them.

“He is the new Bastion Commander huh? And I see the Bastions didn't change that much after the quest reward.”  Tilly said, turning back to Ichiro, who was watching the new opening to the valley thoughtfully.

“When Linus appointed him earlier this week, they almost came to blows… But it seems he is settling into the role.  The Bastions will be essential as our flagship elite class. I am sure there are some significant internal changes, but it is good that they will be able to keep the name.” He replied without turning his gaze away from the gap, his eyes roving all over the area tracing patterns that no one else could see.

While the lapin was still thinking, Tilly considered his Health and mana:

Health: 76%

Mana: 88%

“Ichiro, I have more in the tank if you are ready to move on to ability combat.”  He ground out reluctantly, as the bleeding from his shoulder slowed.

“No, I have a good feel for your initial style, I imagine not much changes when you include your powers. Range as you approach, close the distance and then inflict as much damage as you can while hoping to soak up any returning strikes…” He spoke, only giving Tilly half his attention.

“Uh… yeah. That sounds about right.”  Tilly answered, his face screwed up at the brief description of all his ‘tricks’.  At his tone, the lapin finally looked away from where his father had set off, offering a conciliatory smile at Tilly,

“Do not worry. Effective and complicated are not the same thing.  We will begin again tomorrow, and I will only help you refine what you have already come up with.  Variation can come after you absolutely master your typical combination.  You are not a duelist, facing countless skilled opponents one on one. We will focus on keeping you alive, and then build out your combat role from there.”

Ichiro eyed the sky, now colored in rich shades of pink and purple, while the surrounding mountains cast long dark shadows on the valley and its inhabitants.

“Come, we will meditate, then eat and you will rest again, even if you are not tired.  Shuji has cited important studies time after time to me that even though we can endure tiredness and hunger much better with increased stats, there are still consequences.  There are diminishing returns on training past a certain point, especially when we are cultivating something far more than skill levels. The longer you live here the more you will come to find that some combatants are empty numbers, barely mastering their abilities, while others squeeze out every bit of potential from their builds.  For them, levels are extremely deceptive.”  He then looked back down from the darkening sky and into Tilly’s eyes, his stare still slightly off putting.

“You will be one such warrior before we are through Jonathan Tillman, mark my words.”