Getting Prepared

The next morning they went to the university as usual, studied in the classroom and headed to the dueling field to get prepared for their first match in the Lion Cage tournament. Io explains to Alet their strategy to defeat their first opponent, the Goro. The Goro consisted of one person who held a magic wand and the other held a sword. The one who held the magic wand fought from a long distance while the person with the sword as the frontline. After watching the fight recap, Io decided to fight against them using a sword as well. He also asked Alet what is her other weapon beside the sword, she said the sword is a two in one weapon that can change mid fight. Since the rule didn’t mention using a weapon that can be changed is prohibited, he has a plan to use their changeable weapon for the higher difficulties opponents.

Looking at the Goro fight recap, they noticed that their team is fighting with a slow phased tempo. This tempo is a bit of a problem for Alet and Io since they fight with a fast tempo. Io plan is pretty simple, try to attack first and gain advantage from the first damage to the person who held the sword. That way, the person with the magic wand will be free to attack when their frontline weakens. Before they start to use the fight simulation, Io gives Alet some advice if the sword boy ever comes close to her. He said that try to block his attack and only strike back when he tried to get the sword boy's attention. He also said to keep an eye on the magic wand girl, since they will weaken the sword boy, the girl with a magic wand is free to cast her magic at any time.

After discussing their strategy, Io started to test Alet by fighting against him first to make sure that she really can hold the attacks. Standing at the middle of the field, Io runs towards Alet, he tries to mimic their future opponents. He swung his sword from the left rather than from the right and Alet succeeded to block it. Then Io tested her by throwing a stabbing attack just like their first training. This time Alet moved to the side and sent a counter attack. She swung her sword and the attack almost hit Io on the side but he can dodge it.

“That is a good decision. Keep it up!" Said Io as he stood back facing Alet.

He started to attack again. “Alright, time for one of my favorite moves, the shadow step.” He ran towards Alet while moving side to side. Thanks to his physical advantage, once again he looks like blinking.

“What!? How is he blinking? Has he activated his peak again?” Her eyes trying to keep up with his movement. After Io appeared right on her right side, she swung her sword.

“What!? He is gone! Where is he… up… UP!” she realized the situation and she looked up. Her awareness was right, Io is already up in the air with his sword ready to strike. Alet rolled backward and his strike hit the ground. She throws a fireball as he lands, but once again he disappears and shows up on her left. She brings her sword up to block and the sound of two sword hitting can be heard.

“Congrats! You can survive one of my favorite moves. Your decision making is getting sharper.” He draws his sword and they take a break. It’s exhausting for Alet since Io’s attack is two times stronger than the Manushas and the Caplas. But nonetheless she has improved her close range combat.

“Io, what was that move that you just did?” Asked Alet as she drank from her water bottle.

“Oh, I called that shadow step. This move is often pulled by someone who fights with a sword. But if this move is performed by the Manushas or the Caplas, they are going to need their teammate to distract the opponent's attention to the attacker. This will make them look like they are blinking.”.

“But how do you perform it alone? Are you activating your peak state?”.

“Oh yes of course. That state can be activated manually. I believe that other races can do it as long as they stay calm and focused during the fight.”.

“What? I never see one. I just discovered the peak state after seeing you survive my meteor spell.”.

“Pfft yeah right. You also need to have your heart to activate it. Meaning you have to love fighting on the field as well.”.

Alet sat there in silence. She thinks that what Io said was right. She has seen a lot of fighters from any race but none of them ever shows the peak state. After taking a break, Alet decided to train Io next. This time Io will try to block the attack of some projectile typed spell like fireball and water dagger. There are many other forms and only a true spell caster can perform any magic imaginable. For example, the water dagger can also in the form of wind, earth, and fire. Each element has their own difficulties, the wind and the earth element is the hardest. The reason is that the wind is very light, it is very easy to miss the target if you are not strong enough to swing your hand, the wind element will perish before meeting its target. While the earth, if not strong enough, the spells will consume too much energy making the caster tired easily.

Io and Alet stand face to face. She starts with the basics, with the fire and the water elements. She throws fireballs, water dagger and fire dagger toward Io. Io blocks it with great success, but he is almost not ready for the fire dagger.

“A fire dagger? Now that’s interesting.” Io is still blocking Alet’s spell while trying to find a chance to fight back with his recently learned spell, fireballs and water daggers. A moment later, he saw an opportunity. He throws his hand with great strength while casting a fireball. This combination makes his fireball fly with a great velocity. Alet blocks it but her body is slightly thrown backwards. “What a strike! Now try to block this.” Alet uses the dagger throwing motion rapidly.

Io’s eyes widened. “What is she casting? That is a dagger casting move but… It's invisible!” He put his sword up and he can hear an impact sound on his sword. That was a wind element, it is not visible but the air changes as the spell makes its way. Alet throws the wind dagger non-stop, Io is struggling to find a chance to strike back. Once again he performs a shadow step. Alet that can’t keep up with Io’s movement misses her wind dagger. Io throws two fireballs from the right and the left. Alet jumps backward to dodge it.

“Good job! Looks like your accuracy starts to increase.” Said Alet as they stopped their training.

For Alet, it was like a workout to throw those spells. Meanwhile Io have to sweat a lot, casting a projectile spell with a bullseye accuracy is very tiring. He has to move his eyes very fast and act quickly while he has the chance.

“That was an amazing spell! I can’t even see it.” Io sound amazed.

“That was a wind spell. With enough training using fire and water, you can perform it as well.” She started taking her water bottle.

“I can’t wait to be able to cast that as well.” His eyes filled with excitement.

“With that kind of body strength you have, I bet you can master it in no time.”.

“You think so? Well we have to keep training like this.”.

“Yeah, what about the simulation? Are we going to try it now?”.

“Hmmm… Yeah, maybe we can try it after this. I want to take a one day break before our first match.”.

“That’s a great idea. Okay let's give it a try after this.”.

After taking some breaks, they stood up and started the simulation. With two dummy targets shaped like their opponents making it more realistic. As expected, some of the scenarios happened during their simulation like a wind spell were casted and the shadow step just like Io did but it has a bit of different variation. After about three hours, they stopped training and went back home.