Chapter 45 - Second Draft

Chapter 45 - LOT

Jack stared at the wooden sword in his hand, and then at the girl standing around 10 meters away from him in exasperation.

He was actually going to have a spar against this girl, literally just hours before the Clan Tournament.

Despite his initial protest, the officials here had cleared the way for the spar, even going so far as to provide them with wooden swords, and creating a circle of space. Several of the new recruits and guards were now standing around, waiting for the duel to begin.

One of the Overseers was personally serving as referee.

“Remember. No fatal attacks are allowed, and you are to cease fighting as soon as someone surrenders!” It was the Overseer of the 3rd District, apparently, one Jack didn’t recognize. He looked to be in his mid 30s, wearing the same fancy red plated armor as the other Overseers. His face was stern and rigid as he looked at Jack and at Arial.

The way the officials and guards moved out of their way to help Arial finally helped Jack recognize who she was.

Arial Burnheart, the daughter of Ayalda Burnheart, a man also known as the White Lion. One of the Burn Lords of the Magma Clan.

Arial was 16 years old, and already able to adeptly manipulate fire through her Natural Ability. Her true talent, however, lied in swordplay. She had personally received training from the Meteor Swordmaster, one of the Seventeen, and a member of the Magma Clan.

In the Magma Clan’s younger generation, she was ranked second in terms of skill with swordplay despite her young age. She was also known for her love of fighting, and for sparring with people at the drop of a hat. Her nickname, the ‘Furious Phoenix’ came about as a result.

Jack knew all this thanks to Irone. The noble had shared information with him on who was competing in the Clan Tournament, especially those that were notable.

While she was only ranked second in terms of sword skill, that wasn’t a reason to look down on her. Arial was considered a genius when it came to swordplay, especially in recent years. The first ranked warrior, however, was an abnormality. The leader of the Magma Clan younger generation, Kenneth Raie.

Jack had been warned to avoid interacting with him. Apparently he was a problem child of the Magma Clan. Kind of like how Liren was a bit of a problem child in the eyes of the Space Clan. But much darker.

“Alright.” Jack shrugged. Since the fight was unavoidable, he might as well take the opportunity to practice.

This would be the first time he had ever faced off against a sworduser that had trained under one of the Seventeen.

“Begin!”

Jack didn’t slow down time. Instead, he allowed it to run forward as normal. He would only make use of his Natural Ability towards the end of the fight, he decided.

Instead, he wanted to get the full experience of fighting a talented sworduser. In the future, the opponents he would be facing would be fast enough to react to him even with time slowed down. He could treat this like practice for that.

Jack stepped forward tentatively, holding a light wooden sword out in front of him. The blue glow of Spirit covered his body, enhancing his strength. He kept his eyes fully focused on Arial, watching her closely.

Arial gave Jack a friendly smile, a sharp gleam appearing in her eyes as she began walking forward, her sword at her waist.

“I’ve trained for eight years now under the Meteor Swordmaster. While my results weren’t as high as I wanted, I’ve learned a thing or two.” She said, giving a slight bow to Jack.

“This is the first move of the Meteor Sword lineage, Heavy Burst.” She took up a stance in front of Jack, raising the wooden sword high above her head. As she did so, a warm burst of red light began to shine around the blade. She appeared to have used some type of technique like Jack’s Sundering Strike, where one used Spirit to enhance their attack.

Jack bowed slightly in return. She looked at him expectantly, as if waiting for him to respond.

He shrugged. Just because she announced her move and master didn’t mean he would. The Sundering Sword Monarch was long gone from this world, as were his techniques, as far as Jack knew. He would only be inviting trouble if he were to reveal it. Especially from the Golden Flame Clan, the Clan that technically this inheritance belonged to.

Finally, the smile came off her face and she glared at him petulantly. Her body than transformed into a blur as she dashed forward, leading

WHOOSH

It had been a long time since Jack had fought someone without slowing down time. Despite that, the feeling of control and body precision Jack had trained after so many years did not fail him. The girl before him was fast, and moved at least twice as fast as Jack could normally.

In terms of attack speed, however, Jack figured they were about equal.

CLANG

SMASH

Jack’s sword rang off and deflected the glowing red blade from Arial. Instead of trying to block it directly, he tapped it to the side, using a precise strike to redirect the impact.

For good reason, too, he felt. When his clade collided with hers, he felt as if he was trying to stop a small mountain. Even just redirecting the strike had taken his full strength.

A small explosion of wooden shrapnel shrouded the deck. Apparently even the specially made deck of the Flame Galleon couldn’t fully withstand the impact of the strike.

Jack jumped back several meters, spinning on his feet as he turned to face the girl calmly.

WHOOSH

WHOOSH

CLANG

CLANG

The girl chased after him, launching the strike over and over. Each time, Jack skillfully deflected the strike, trying to get a feel for the style and for the girl.

“Wow, look at them go!”

“Such swordplay! That new recruit has quite the skill! He should be able to last at least a few more blows!”

“Indeed!”

“Ooh, that’s the legendary Heavy Thrust from the Meteor Swordmaster! I’ve seen a few other disciples do it during the interclan challenge!”

The onlookers around the sparring circle talked amongst themselves, adding a casual background of chatter as if this was a normal occurrence. As far as Jack knew, maybe it was an everyday occurrence. He’d done research on the Magma Clan, but as for the day-to-day livings of the clan, he knew little.

He was once more reminded how his mental image of them as all evil oppressors… didn’t seem quite right. He had never had much interaction with them, despite living so long in the Magma Lands. While cities were rare in the Magma Lands, Roren City, the city he had visited for his Hunter Association missions, was considered one of the smallest, and few Magma Clan members would visit or live there.

At the least, Jack had never interacted with any before. It wasn’t that unusual. The Magma Clan was massive, but so was the territory controlled by them. Unless their was an issue or problem, they wouldn’t normally dispatch members to cities on the scale of Roren City, beyond collecting taxes.

In terms of physique, Arial definitely outmatched him. She was a young elite of the Magma Clan, and had probably been eating rare medicines and getting the best treatment from day one. She had to be two or three times as strong as Jack was, despite being a girl, and was clearly faster.

The only reason their attack speed was on even footing was because of Jack’s obsessive training and focus. There was almost never a day where he didn’t spend several hours in his Slowed State practicing, even on his journey here.

If they had been on an equal footing, physique wise, Jack would have had no trouble facing her strikes. Now, however, Jack was forced on the defensive, unable to launch a strike of his own. Every time he took a split second to gather the energy for the Sunder the Earth technique, the girl interrupted him, not giving him a chance.

While she might have seemed a bit childish, her eyes were deadly serious as she pursued him, not giving him an instant of pause.

‘Hmm.’ He grumbled internally, frustrated. Was he really this dependent on his Natural Ability? Such that he couldn’t even match up against an elite of a Great Clan in pure swordsmanship without it?

His heart wavered for the briefest instant.

In that instant, the girl leapt into the air as she charged at him, yelling aloud,

“Starry Slash!”

It seemed she had been biding her time, waiting to unleash this strike.

The fact that she yelled her techniques out loud before she did them made Jack smile, though, despite his inner turmoil. There actually were people that did that.

The girl’s wooden sword took on a glowy, white light. Small cracks appeared in the wood, indicating that it wasn’t able to handle such energy, and was liable to shatter. The sword blurred forward, cutting towards Jack.

‘No. It’s not that I can’t match up in swordsmanship. I have faith in myself. I simply haven’t had all the opportunities to increase my strength that they have.’ His mind raced ahead of him as he watched the girl’s blade zone in on the wooden sword he held in front of him.

‘That doesn’t mean I won’t have those chances in the future. Anyone can become strong as long as they do not give up.’

‘As for my Natural Ability…’ His eyes gleamed.

‘It is mine, and my own. It is as much my strength as anything else.’

The girl’s sword was only a few inches away when Jack blinked.

The world slowed to 1/5th it’s normal speed. Jack went further, and slowed it to 1/10th, watching as the color in the world faded slightly. The Time Essence in his soul writhed, eagerly boiling up. He wasn’t worried about being discovered. From an onlookers perspective, it would just look as if he was moving fast.

Her blurringly fast strike suddenly slowed to one Jack could easily pick out. There were several white points, in the pattern of a star, at the tip of her wooden blade. Each point was pulsing towards another point. He didn’t understand it at all, but assumed it was part of her technique.

Jack deftly, moved his wooden blade forward, adjusting it till it precisely struck one of the cracks in her sword. As he did so, he sidestepped to the left, putting his body just out of range of the attack.

He felt his sword collide with the girl’s sword, feeling the impact shudder down his arm. He moved carefully to redirect the force, letting it slide past his sword. As it did, his wooden sword fell to pieces, shattering. The girl’s sword collapsed too, however, a white beat of energy slashing into the deck of the courtyard.

Jack released his Slowed State, letting the world return to normal. He didn’t want to waste any Time Essence. The amount he had spent was small, enough to easily recover before the Tournament, but it never hurt to be careful.

WHOOSH

BOOM

As time returned to normal, the energy slash slammed into the deck, throwing up shards of wood. Jack leapt backwards with it, letting go of his wooden sword as it exploded into shrapnel.

Arial paused, standing there looking at the hilt of her wooden sword, and then at the floor in shock. She then turned to Jack in astonishment.

A similar look was shared by all those watching. Of the officials and guards, not a single one had expected anything other than Jack to get defeated. The Furious Phoenix was known to be unrelenting in her spars.

“So… I guess we call it a tie?” Jack said, giving her a cheeky smile.

“I…” The girl paused, seemingly at a loss as to what to do.

She took a second glance at the hilt, and then tossed it behind her, giving him a winning smile, clapping her hands together.

“That was wonderful! How splendid! Let’s actually be friends!”

..

“She tied? Really?” Ayalda looked at the official that was reporting to him in astonishment.

“Yes sir. The recruit Jack was able to swiftly deflect her attacks, and eventually both their swords shattered. They agreed to a draw, probably in the interests of conserving strength for the Clan Tournament.” The same tall official responded, nodding towards the blonde haired Burn Lord.

“She also uh…” The official stuttered for a moment before continuing,

“She also seems to be quite enchanted with his swordplay. She’s asking for lessons right now.”

“Ahahahaha.” Ayadla burst out laughing. Several of his trusted generals, all sitting around the table, joined him, filling the tense room with cheer.

“The damned minx. Let her do as she pleases. See to it, though, that this Jack is given the best standing as a new recruit in the clan. Divert a hundre- no, two hundred High Grade Spirit Crystals for him. As a sworduser, I’m sure he’ll find them useful. Toss in a pair of Light Pills too.” His eyes carried with a great deal of cheer. As he spoke, however, a sharpness formed in them.

“Also, Gaven,” He motioned to side. Immediately, a small man that had been standing off near the wall, in full red leather armor, with a burning heart emblazoned in the center, stepped forward. He wore a full leather red mask that covered everything except for his eyes.

“Maintain a full watch on this boy while he is with my daughter. If he should do anything suspicious… take him down immediately. Tell Deven you’ll be replacing him for the next few days, and have Deven come in here.” His eyes were cold as he finished speaking.

“As you command, my lord.” A quiet, coarse voice responded, and the red figure vanished, exiting the room so quickly he appeared to teleport.