"Stalemate."
The word echoed in the clearing, final and absolute.
Jess’ brow furrowed. Celia tilted her head slightly, waiting. Neither spoke.
I let the silence stretch before continuing. "Do you know why?"
A shake of the head. Simultaneous.
I exhaled, gaze shifting between them. "Alright." My focus settled on Jess first.
"You were fast. Almost overwhelming at the start. You tried to corner Celia, force her into a disadvantage before she could adjust. It was a good strategy.. a strong execution, but flawed."
Jess crossed her arms, expression unreadable.
"You focused too much on attack." I took a step closer, my voice even. "You kept pushing, kept pressing, but never once did you take a step back to read her properly. You assud you’d break through before she could respond."
Her eyes flickered with understanding, but I wasn’t done.
"The mont you engage an enemy, you’re not just fighting them.. you’re studying them. A perfect assault isn’t just overwhelming force. It’s calculation. You should have tested her abilities first, drawn out her reactions, learned the extent of her strengths and weaknesses before committing fully."
I saw it then.. the slight shift in her stance, the way her fingers curled slightly at her sides, the subtle way her breath caught.
Jess wasn’t just listening. She was absorbing.
Finally, she nodded. "I understand." Then, her lips quirked into a smirk. "But you do realize my style has always been full offense, right?"
I let out a quiet breath, shaking my head. "I know." My voice was firm but not unkind. "I’m not telling you to change it. I’m telling you to refine it."
She blinked.
"If you fight the sa way every ti, you’ll eventually et soone who can adapt to it," I continued. "And when that happens, if you don’t have anything else to fall back on, you’ll be the one getting cornered."
A mont of silence.
Then, she exhaled, rolling her shoulders. "Alright," she said, her smirk softening into sothing more genuine. "Thanks."
I nodded. "No problem."
Then, I turned to Celia.
She was already grinning.
"You weren’t serious at the start," I said. My tone wasn’t accusatory.. just stating a fact.
Celia gave a sheepish smile, tilting her head. "Sorry about that."
I sighed. "It was a spar, sure. But half-asures won’t help you improve. If that had been a real fight, you wouldn’t have had the luxury of warming up."
She shrugged, but I caught the flicker in her eyes... the understanding beneath the surface.
"You relied too much on observation at first," I continued. "You let Jess take control, let her dictate the pace. That’s dangerous. If your opponent is stronger, you’ll lose before you even get a chance to counter."
Her grin didn’t fade, but it changed... less playful, more thoughtful.
"You have Eagle Gaze," I reminded her. "It lets you see everything, no matter how fast or unpredictable. But sight alone isn’t enough. You need to act. The sooner you adjust, the less control you give away."
Celia nodded slowly.
"Got it."
A beat of silence. Then..
"Well," she said, stretching, "how about a joint spar, then?"
A joint spar,
She glanced at Jess, who raised a brow but didn’t object. Both of them turned to , expectant.
I let the corner of my lips curl slightly.
"No."
They both blinked.
"I want both of you to fight," I said, voice steady. "But not against each other."
I let the words sink in, then took a step forward.
"You’ll be fighting ."
Their eyes widened slightly.
I smiled.
"Whoever gets the upper hand... wins."
*****
"Fight you?", Celia muttered, her head tilting slightly. There was confusion in her eyes at first.. just a flicker, but then understanding settled in.
Her lips parted. "But why?"
I didn’t answer. There was no need for words.
A slow breath escaped as the mist began to spread, curling out across the open field, thickening with each second. The open field spot we were, changed with it.. the tree shadows shifting, outlines blurring, the air itself growing heavier with a quiet, creeping pressure.
Then,
Crack!
The ground beneath my foot split apart as I shifted, lowering my stance, weight pressing into my legs like a coiled spring.
"Just.."
My figure dissolved into mist.
"Survive."
The last word lingered in the air, hanging between us as silence fell.
Jess moved first.
A sharp exhale. A flicker of motion.
Her greatsword materialized in a burst of fla, paradoxical heat warping the space around her, distorting the mist as embers scattered in the air. A blade forged from annihilation itself... red, gold, and deep void-black at its edges. The ground beneath her darkened, scorched from nothing but her presence.
Celia followed.
Ice-blue light crystallized in her grip, forming into a blade that pulsed with an unnatural chill. Frost spread beneath her feet in delicate fractals, creeping outward as her energy took hold, suffocating the very air around it. The mist that reached her edge turned brittle, frozen solid before shattering into dust.
Both of them stood ready.
But I never ca.
A breath. A pause.
Then..
Clang!
Celia reacted first, her blade snapping up just in ti to et my mist sword. tal rang sharp in the air, sparks scattering, ice and fog entwining for a split second.
She smiled slightly.
Jess had already moved, already behind , great sword carving an arc of untad, roaring fla.. fast, rciless, unstoppable.
But..
I was already gone.
Mist. Pure, formless mist.
Her blade passed through nothing but air, cutting only the air I had left behind.
Jess’ sharp gaze snapped to Celia, already looking past her... because she knew.
I had already materialized.
I swung downward, my mist blade slicing through the air, descending straight toward her shoulder.
"Behind!" Jess barked, the warning sharp.. urgent.
But she was already too late.
The blade was coming down.
And then,
Clang!
Celia’s sword snapped up without even looking.
A perfect parry. Fluid. Flawless. A motion she hadn’t seen but had already known.
I dissolved into mist again, the remnants of my form curling around them like ghostly tendrils.
From within, my voice echoed.
"Nice."
No hesitation.
I reford.
My foot touched the ground, weight shifting, and then I was moving.
The fight began again... faster this ti, sharper, more relentless.
Jess lunged, her sword sweeping out in a devastating arc, the very air around it rippling with heat. I sidestepped, mist curling at my feet, body fading as the edge just barely missed .
Before I could retaliate, Celia was already there, her blade striking from the opposite direction, mist freezing in its path.
I twisted mid-air, a narrow escape, landing in a crouch, but Jess was already coming down from above, blade descending like a guillotine.
I dematerialized.
The mont the sword struck, I was mist again, slipping through their attacks like flowing water, reforming only when the openings revealed themselves.
The clash continued... an unending rhythm.
Strike. Parry. Vanish. Counter. Evade.
Jess burned with raw aggression, her attacks unrelenting, every swing ant to kill.
Celia was ice.. controlled, asured, precise. She didn’t need to see . She already knew where I was.
And ?
I was testing them.
The dance of blades, the shifting of mist and frost, the searing flas tearing through the field... every movent was a study. Every reaction was noted.
I was learning... I was adapting.
Then, the mont ca.
I moved.
I dematerialized one last ti, only to reform in the dead center between them, mist sword vanishing from my grasp as I shifted.
Instead,
Boom!
My fist shot forward. Mist energy surged through my arm, a formless force gathered at my knuckles as my punch rocketed toward Jess.
She barely had ti to react.
Her great sword ca up... just a fraction of a second too late.
The impact sent her flying.
She twisted mid-air, body snapping into a controlled motion, feet planting the mont she landed. But before she could adjust.
I was already behind her.
Another punch, already charging.
Mist curled around my fist, condensing, solidifying. The pressure in the air shifted, a crushing weight pressing against her before the blow even ca.
And before I knew it,
Celia was already there.
No hesitation. No delay. She was behind in the instant I had appeared behind Jess.
Jess who was still in the air.. just smiled.
A half-second reaction. A flicker of thought.
And then she turned.
Mid-air. Mid-motion. Omni-directional movent.
The advantage flipped.
Both of them were moving toward at once. Celia’s blade descending, Jess twisting in the air, sword ready to strike from behind.
Perfectly synchronized.
They thought they had .
I couldn’t help but smile.
"A little too late for that."
Then,
Two of my mist clones surged outward from my form.
Figures... echoes of myself, solid and whole.
Both moved in an instant, intercepting.
Jess’ blade was caught.
Celia’s strike was stopped.
A flicker of shock in their eyes.
And then,
"Clones?!"
The words left them almost in sync, realization hitting just a fraction of a second too late.
I let my grin widen, stepping back as the mist swirled once more, curling around us, shifting the battlefield again.
Let’s see how they handle this...
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