My First Fight With Aile

Hideo jumped a few metres backwards, with a quick exclamation as dust appeared by the position where he jumped.

“Woah, better stay back from this one.”

“That doesn’t fill me with confidence!” I screamed to him, his lackadaisical attitude somehow setting me more on edge.

Aile bent her knees and held her sword above her shoulder in her right hand, in such a way that it appeared she could lunge at me with dangerous speed.

I had no idea about battle stances or swordplay, so I unintentionally mimicked stances that I had seen in movies and fantasy tv shows back on Earth. I stood upright, with both hands gripped around the base of the sword. If she lunged at me, I thought that both hands would be required to defend. However, this was an oversight, as I failed to take into account her magical power which would surely be far more effective than simply her physical strength.

As expected she charged at me with impressive speed, however I couldn’t sense the use of any magic. She thrust her right arm towards me aggressively, with clearly no intention of holding back.

With nothing but pure reflex, I tilted my sword until it collided with hers and tensed my surprisingly durable muscles to hold my balance. The body I currently inhabited was far physically stronger than my previous body, so my ability to withstand this attack surprised me more than anyone else.

Without a second thought, she recoiled her sword and dashed to the left side of my body, swinging her sword with even more force. Once again, I rotated myself until I managed to block the strike, but I could no longer maintain my footing, being forced backwards several metres.

Before I could stabilise myself, she left my field of vision, having jumped above where I believed to be humanly possible.

I had immediately learned that I was far outclassed in terms of sword skills, so I decided to change my strategy. Rather than defending and parrying with a sword, I thought that it must be more prudent to test my speed against hers and try to dodge.

Before she could reach me with her sword, I forced myself to jump backwards as far as I could, hoping that putting some distance between us would somewhat mitigate my weakness in swordplay.

However, as soon as she landed, she lunged towards me once again, without even taking a second to stabilise herself. I knew that if she struck me here, I would have no defence from the onslaught that would follow and the fight would be over.

While on Earth, I had not felt fear for over a year, so much so that I believed I had become numb to it. However, in the last few days the feeling had emerged within me once more and in this moment, the fight or flight instinct that came with being attacked helped me take a step in the right direction.

I could feel a force surrounding my body. It was so obvious, I didn’t know how I hadn’t noticed it until now. But this invisible, yet constant force filled me with a sense of warmth.

I felt this comforting aura recede away from my body, as I subconsciously concentrated it into my sword, right before Aile’s sword made contact.

When she eventually clashed her sword into mine, the impact was not as great as it had previously been, as if my magic had cushioned the blow. I felt my face shift into a smile, as I finally felt like I was physically progressing.

However, as soon as I blocked her strike, instead of retracting her sword she held it into position, relying on her physical strength and strong form to compete with my magic infused blade. Holding the swords in a stalemate position, she took advantage of her ability to control magic unconsciously.

To be able to compete with me, I surmised that she must have been infusing her sword with magic. However, while I focussed all of my energy into this endeavour, I soon learned that this was not the case for Aile. She slipped under my sword and launched a kick into my stomach, which flipped me onto my back with an overwhelming force.

I grunted and my breath caught in my throat once I made contact with the ground. Instead of continuing her barrage of attacks, Aile stopped and took the time to give me advice.

“It’s a start, to condense magic into your sword, even if it takes your full concentration. But, to win a fight, you need to be able to pass your magic through the sword and release it in a form that’s more effective.”

“Maybe I’d learn faster if I saw you doing that,” I scoffed, feeling that I was being underestimated.

“Maybe you should force me to do it then.”

My defensive tactic had completely failed me in our last interaction, so I decided to test her defensive capabilities.

I ensured that I had channelled magic into my sword, then jumped towards Aile with a two handed grip, swinging downwards with all my strength.

She blocked me with one hand on her sword, but she kept her remaining hand free. Somehow, the strength of her right arm was enough to guard herself from my attack, leaving her left hand open…

She pushed her left hand towards me, likely attempting to grab onto one of my arms to restrain me. However, before she could do so, I pulled my sword back, then switched my strategy once again.

Rather than searching for an opening with my swordplay, I would attack with the intention of disarming her. Hence, I aimed for the hilt of her blade with my next strike, hoping to lodge it out of her hands.

She must have noticed the subtle changes in my intent, as she shifted her centre of balance backwards, and instead used the impact of the collision to repel herself backwards. If she had tried to hold her ground, it wouldn’t have been difficult to disarm her, but with this flexible stance, it was near impossible.

Her decision to be more flexible resulted in more distance between us, which let me build up my next attack.

I had never previously released magic from my sword, but whilst stuck in the mindspace of battle, competing at a high pace for the first time in my life, I felt like I had achieved the mental state that people call ‘the zone’.

Therefore, in a motion which felt natural to me, I aimed my sword towards Aile and proceeded to condense my magic into my sword, in a manner different to before. Previously, I surrounded my sword with magic as a sort of magical barrier. However, when condensing my magic into the tip of my blade, it felt as if the magic would overflow and needed to be released from the sword.

This magic spilled from my sword, chilling my hands which were gripping the sword until I nearly had to release my grip. A block of ice then extended from the tip of my sword towards Aile’s head, attacking while she was still off balance.

I felt torn between my pride in having succeeded in this difficult technique, as well my sudden sense of panic in realising that I had launched a potentially fatal attack towards an enemy who was ill-prepared.

“Oh crap! That’s way too much! I didn’t want to kill her!”

The thin, yet fast icicle rapidly propelled towards Aile, with a much faster pace than I could control.

Aile’s eyes tracked the ice until it reached a distance of about three centimetres from making contact with her face, before her face became enveloped in a red palette. Her sword gained a red outline, which matched the glare in her scarlet eyes.

She immediately raised her sword with lightning quick precision, cutting straight through the icicle. She then closed the distance between us within a second, carving through the icicle as she approached. Streams of steam emerged from the ice from where her blade had cut it, her blade carried such heat that the ice couldn’t even melt into water before becoming steam.

When she had cut through the entire ice shard, she continued, swinging towards my neck. I reflexively blocked with my sword, but she had more than doubled her strength since the last time our blades clashed.

I couldn’t maintain my grip and the sword flew out of my hands. Before I knew it, her sword was hovering next to my neck, the heat from the blade scorching my skin into a red colour.

She had an inherent advantage over my ability, fire is strong against ice, but she still won effortlessly. She glared menacingly at me for a few moments, before lowering her sword and turning her back towards me.

She casually slipped her sword back into the cover and walked away briskly, without a word.

Hideo approached with his hand on his hip, while I still felt dazed from the assault.

“Not bad, your body seems to be remembering how to use magic in a way similar to muscle memory. It was an impressive attack.”

I took a deep breath, as the fearful emotion drained from my face and I returned to my usual, calm expression.

“Yeah, but she didn’t have to attack me so aggressively!”

Hideo stared at me for a few moments longer, before lowering his head and grabbing my arm violently.

“Alright, Benjiro. Let’s have a little chat.”