Chapter 10

Art of the Sword

"Grey are you familiar with sword arts?" asked Iris. She stood in their training room. Oswin and Ciara practiced spells in the background. Their voices echoing through the spacious hall.

"I don't know much," said Grey, shaking his head side to side. He had read many books, but not much about swords.

"I have thinking. I have not trained you in any of the weapon arts. I may not be as good as a warrior or rogue, but I know a thing or two about techniques. Would you care to learn?"

Grey smiled. His heart remembering his dream. He had wanted to become a dashing hero, one who slayed dragons and saved princesses from malicious men. He could not hide a little bit of excitement learning things that drove him closer to those ideas.

"I would like to learn," said Grey. "But is my body alright? My yang is not so good."

"I know," said Iris, "but even people with an affinity for yin have techniques available to them. This is a reason why I did not chose a heavy weapon for you, but one that is light and flexible. You remember the sword I bought for you the other day? The rapier?"

"Yes."

"There are five styles which suit that kind of weapon. I shall explain why I wish you to go this path, and you will decide which style is best to cultivate your skill in."

Grey nodded his head.

Iris reached out her hand, and plucked a training sword from a rack in the hall.

"In this world there is a saying that speed is king. Why is this so?"

"If an attack is not swift enough. Then it will not hit and thus cannot hurt anyone. Being able to hit someone and not get hit. Wouldn't you win all fights this way?"

"Clever child," smiled Iris. "This is the reason I gave you that rapier. You need speed, not strength when fighting other opponents of your nature. I shall demonstrate."

Iris took out the wooden sword. Her movements swift and light as water. The sword struck three spots on the floor in front of Grey. As the strikes hit the floor, force was transmitted from all three strikes to a single spot under Grey's feet. He took a step back surprised.

"The Cascading Force Technique. It is a style that specializes in striking weaknesses in one's defense and breaking through by transmitting forces from those strikes to a single point."

Grey could feel a slight indentation beneath his feet. He stepped on the wooden panels, feeling a hole in front of his foot. If that had been his body. He would have surely burst open from the inside.

"Now the second style."

Iris leaped backwards, gliding through the air. This was her 'lightness skill' the ability to make one's weight as light as a feather.

After gaining a considerable distance, her sword hand swayed in a circular motion, rippling through the air. All at once, she flicked her blade. Her sword turning into a blur. Grey could feel a feint gust of wind pass him by. He touched his hair, and found some of it had been cut!

"This is the Chasing Swallow Technique. To be able to reach one's opponent no matter how far they are."

Iris lowered her stance, drawing her sword close to her. Her feet in line. Her arms straight. The air around her became dark and heavy. Power surges from the forceful step of her feet, traveling up her body, and to her sword. The movement happens only for an instant, but in that instant the world seems to stop moving as if frozen in place. Her sword soars through the air. Her body follows at incomparable speed. She stops just short of Grey. Her sword missing the side of his neck, but even as it misses the force is dispersed into the air, launching Grey backwards.

Iris catches him as he falls.

"Shooting Star, Dragon's Lament. The third style. The swiftest attack. The strongest defense. It specializes in powerful thrusts that will blow aside enemies agile enough to avoid it."

Iris placed Grey down.

"The fourth style is best felt. So I shall place your hand near my hilt. Do not move. Just feel the motion with your hands."

She put his hand on her sword. Grey felt the sword in her hand vibrate. It was a gentle, swaying vibration. She moved the sword gracefully down into the floor. The strike didn't meet any resistance. It sank into the ground, and came right up. Grey didn't not even know if it had caused any damage. He felt around the ground with his hands, but could not find the mark where the sword had made.

"Phantom Blade Technique. An attack that bypasses one's defenses by resonating one's mana. It does not work with all things, but in the case of a shield or a block of armor. It will go through as if it were nothing."

Iris moved Grey's hand one more time on her sword.

"The last style is even more difficult to feel. It may even be impossible for you, but its effect is similar to the Phantom Blade."

Iris took out a dagger from inside her robes. She threw it into the air. Iris sucked in her breath. Her hands relaxed. No resistance. No motion. Grey could feel the sword in his hand being guided towards the dagger. It was the gentlest of movements. The subtle bending of her wrist. She hit the dagger squarely on its point. She spun the dagger and flicked it back into the air. She struck it a second time, propelling it towards the wall where it sank so deep that only the end of the hilt could be seen at the end.

"Vanishing Sky Technique. A style devoted to transfer of one's force into other things. To make the weak strong. And the strong weak."

Grey's heart shook a little amazed.

"Am I not able to learn all of them?"

If Grey could combine the range of the Chasing Swallow with the penetrating power of the Phantom Blade. Then would that not mean he could hit anyone at any distance without fear of what they may wear?

"You could," smiled Iris, "but it takes a long time to train in all of them. Is it not better to be good at one thing than to be mediocre in many?"

Iris looked at Grey playfully.

"Although, if you were to become proficient in all five then perhaps people will start calling you a sword prodigy and you would no longer need to worry about being a mage."

"Ah," said Grey, blushing. He had thought about training in the other paths, but had stuck stubbornly to the mage path because of his dead master. If anything else, it may be his stubbornness that was setting him back from his true potential.

"Then may I have time to think about which style I want?" said Grey. He did not want to make a hasty decision. At the same time, he did not want to upset Iris by making her wait a long time. She may get busy later, then how would he chose?

"You may," smiled Iris. "I shall give you until lunch to decide. That is a few hours away. Think deeply."

She walked toward the other children to check on their progress.

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Grey sat in place and thought clearly about which style had the best merits. The Phantom Blade definitely had many advantages. In the case where your opponent is defending well. You could sneak in an unblockable attack that would severely injure them. However, Iris had mentioned it did not work on all things. So there would be cases where this technique would be ineffective.

Against average opponents then surely this move would be certain death, but against experts? Wouldn't they have countermeasures that would make it unviable? Grey did not wish to choose a move that only worked against mediocre opponents. For those people. He should be able to beat them normally. He crossed that technique out of his mind.

The next move he considered was the Cascading Force Technique. It allowed a person to transmit a force through multiple strikes to a location on a person's body. So even if a person was defending as long as you hit something you could deal critical damage to their internal organs. It was similar to the Phantom Blade in that it would most likely bypass armor and other defenses. You would hit them on an inconspicuous place like the gauntlet or shin, and they would collapse having felt pain in their gut.

The only defense that Grey could imagine where it would have difficulty penetrating would be some sort of magical barrier. He remembered from his younger days a few diagrams of mages casting a protective ward around their bodies to deflect physical attacks. Those barriers were not touching the mage's body so even if one were to get hit it would not cause them critical damage. He also felt this technique was very similar to the Vanishing Sky in that both specialized in force transference.

In the case of the Vanishing Sky such a barrier would not pose the same kind of hindrance. One could pick a rock from ground and launch it at the barrier in order to break it by force. The issue was such an attack would be too obvious. Could they not avoid something being thrown at them. Vanishing Sky may be better in terms of raw power, but in terms of versatility. No doubt the Cascading Force was more able to overcome a variety of situations.

He crossed out Vanishing Sky and kept Cascading Force in the back of his mind to consider. He then thought about Shooting Star, Dragon Lament. This attack was all about speed. The speed to attack someone and overcome them. When Grey had witnessed this attack. He had only taken a single breath of air before being flung into the air. In terms of surprise. It was the best of all of the five. Also, it allowed one to close the distance in a fight.

For those foes who lacked close combat capability, wouldn't this be the most useful in putting them at a significant disadvantage? Also, the ability to knock back any form of retaliation made it quite useful in fights where one was faced with more than one opponent. You could attack each individual one at a time, using the winds accompanying your attack to defend against their counters.

The technique, however, did suffer one major drawback. It could only be used one a person that was far away. It was a thrusting force, using momentum to push something forward. The power it needed to generate was just not possible if both fighters were already close together. And given the suddenness and raw strength of the attack it wasn't likely a move that could be used effectively in quick succession.

The winds created by the attack prevented an opponent from attacking you. Then you likewise cannot attack them as the winds would divert your strikes. It was motion that was only useful for a few uses. To penetrate an incredible powerful defense or eliminate an enemy in an instant. Grey kept Shooting Star, Dragon's Lament in the back of his mind.

The last style Grey examined was Chasing Swallow. This move allowed him to hit anyone at any distance. The advantage was not only reach, but subtlety. It was silent. Quick. A person might not even notice they were under attack until they were bruised and bloodied. It also meant that against fast opponents. One would always have a method to attack them with without using too much energy. Balanced and simple.

If there was one thing that worried Grey about Chasing Swallow it was that it did not feel very strong. This may be because of quickness of the sword, but Grey liked to think his sense of touch had gotten much better in these coming years. It was his whole world now. He did not need to see a move to know how strong it was. He could feel it. In the way it shook the ground. In the way it hit his body.

This Chasing Swallow struck but a hair, but compared to the rest of the moves it did not cause Grey fear, but surprise. As if it were a mild discomfort. He felt uneasy choosing it, though his mind could see many of its virtues. So now he had lessened his choices down to three. Chasing Swallow. Shooting Star, Dragon's Lament. Cascading Force. He had a difficult time choosing and began to think about the words Iris had said about each technique to find some advantage one of the styles may have over the other.

To be able to reach no matter how far they are. The swiftest. The strongest. Striking weaknesses and breaking through. To make the weak strong. And the strong weak.

Wait...A contradiction.

Grey thought of what Iris had told him of the Vanishing Sky. It is similar to the Phantom Blade. Similar to Phantom Blade. Not similar to Cascading Force. Grey had compared the move to Cascading Force because both moved force from one place to another, but there was a problem. When Iris performed the motion there was no force in her hand. No strength that could passed to the dagger. She had merely tapped the dagger and it had sank into the wall.

More difficult to feel. It may even be impossible.

The more he thought about it. The more it didn't make sense. She had moved, two times. She had motioned her hand down to catch the dagger. She had bent her wrist to flick the dagger to the wall. There was nothing. Where did the power come from? An uneasiness sank into Grey's chest. If he didn't know how an attack was done, then he wasn't sure how to defend against it. What it was weak against? What was it strong on?

A fear nestled in his heart. It was like that monstrous thing that had come out of his aura. Scary and Uncontrollable. And at the same time there was a beauty to it. That the technique that was the most frightening was not the fanciest, the quickest, or the deadliest. It was the one which one knew nothing about. Of which no defenses or offenses could be made.

Grey stood up, having thought of this deeply. He went to Iris with his mind made up.

"Iris, I have made my decision. I know what style I wish to train in."

Iris stood by a table, drinking some tea.

"Oh, you have made up your mind. What is it?"

"I wish to train in the Vanishing Sky Technique."

"Is that so," smiled Iris. "Good choice."