Vye soared over me and rushed from one building to another. I tried keeping up with her and maintained a good distance behind her. I closed in on her from behind and right before striking, she turned back.

Our blades crossed and with our faces only a few breaths apart she smirked.

“That’s it! That’s more like it, you’re getting better at seizing opportunities!”

Vye continued to praise my small victories, even when my weapons were right in front of her. When we crossed blades or blows it didn’t matter to her. She effortlessly multitasked teaching me while simultaneously kicking my ass.

She delivered a powerful roundhouse kick that swished through the air. I brought my head back and rotated my body, aligning myself with hers. As her leg made its way over me, I brought my leg up for a strike.

“Don’t take me so lightly!”

My leg swished up in a blur of speed and drove itself deep into her stomach without resistance. Vye’s body disappeared like steam in a breeze. It wasn’t her real body.

My eyes darted back and forth and the Vye’s came at me from every angle. There were about five in total, each one exuding the same bloodthirsty stare that she did.

“More clones…Fine, bring them all!”

I bounced from one to another and cut through them all, none of them happened to be her though, not the real her. I ducked and weaved through their attacks and made sure not to make my movements rigid or predictable.

My form had improved too, quite a lot actually. Before training with Vye, I had been slashing and waving my arms around randomly to hit my opponent as best I could. Vye managed to show me some proper fighting techniques through some brutal demonstrations...

It hurt like hell in the moment, having her hit me over and over like that but it burnt it into my memory a lot faster that way. I guess there was some method to her madness looking back at it all.

Her blades lanced through the air in a straight line, aimed at my head. I crossed my chakrams out like an X and once the blades bounced away, my foot followed up with a swift blow that sent the mirage fading away.

“I’m not getting anywhere like this…I need to find the original one.” I found myself with a moment of peace before the next wave of fakes could come for me. “Danger Sense,” I uttered.

The calm air became even quieter, the rusted smell of metal and dried oil raced through my nose all at once. I felt it, heard it and saw it all. My senses were honed to a level that humans just weren’t capable of and because of it, I could tell the difference in the fakes.

There was a subtle but noticeable sound that lingered behind every step they made, like cicadas rustling or grass gliding under a heavy wind. That sound combined with the plain smell of water that rushed at me from the sides, there was no doubt in my mind, that they were both fakes.

I jumped back just before the fakes could reach me and spun my feet out into the air like a top. With one hand on the ground, I spun in a wide rotation and hit both of them with my feet.

The fakes vanished into nothingness and my eyes and ears worked together in unison to locate the figure above me.

Standing on a steel beam on the rooftop opposite me was Vye. We locked eyes for a second and her eyes grew wider.

I guess she didn’t know I had this skill yet, not that it matters now. I have to wrap this up right now!

In one large leap, I crossed off the edge and onto the metal beam that connected between two unfinished structures.

Vye went on the run and ran along the other end of the beam, she looked determined to get to the structure opposite the one I had come from. I had to catch up, if I let her get there first then the chances of me catching up would have turned to zero.

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“I need to catch her. Faster–faster–faster–much faster!”

Muttering to myself, I forced my feet to take long and powerful steps that forced their way past each other. Vye was incredibly fast, even navigating across the thin pathway of those metal beams and structures she made it look effortless.

If it was me a week ago, I would have gone straight for my skills and boosted my speed. I wanted to…even in that moment the thought crossed my mind more times than I cared to count but I refused. Using my head and thinking about it at the moment, I realised it wasn’t a good idea.

Thoughtlessly wasting my mana by activating my skills when I knew I could catch her didn’t seem right to me. It was a really important lesson that Vye had repeated more than anything but I had to trust my body. I began to realise just how right she was and in that moment that felt like an hour, I truly placed all my trust in my abilities.

She was nearing the end.

My eyes drifted to the side where a thick cable connected to the beam from both sides of the structure caught my eye. Every step we took sent waves of vibrations up the cable and resulted in an eerie creak.

I cast out my Chakram and cut the cord closest to me, a moment later the beam shook with a sudden drop from one end. Vye’s movement momentarily stopped as the support behind her gave in and the destination she was headed to, rose further right in front of her.

The beam dropped from the end closest to me and just barely managed to stay airborne without all the cables connected. Any more damage would have destroyed its stability instantly. Vye understood this as much as I did.

She looked back at me and then at the cables above her. The grimace on her face didn’t hide her worry very well.

“So that’s your plan, ay?”

She caught on to my intentions as she followed my eyes to the remaining cable. My hands moved instantly beside my waist as I curled my fingers in response to the blade that flew through the air. Its green hue intensified as the blade darted with sharp turns back and forth to cut the remaining cable clean in half.

The beam shook with a violent rumble as the smaller support cables and rods on its sides gave in and collapsed beneath us.

It all went down.

Vye grabbed onto the first thing she could for support, then when her feet were secured she looked at the figure that flew directly at her.

My remaining chakram flew to her neck but she managed to fend it off with her large dagger, just a second before it could hit her. Her eyes focused on me as we plummeted to the ground, amongst the falling wreckage and scraps.

I hopped along the floating metal and debris until I got close enough. I had no weapons in hand but still, I pressed on. My foot spun through the air and struck from above, Vye managed to dodge it but once she jumped back she was stopped by the massive chunk of stone that free-floated behind her.

All the debris and metal had fallen with us and closed in on the centre of its mess, where we were. Her eyes darted from one corner to the other, assessing the situation calmly. I was pretty nervous as the attacker but Vye had a tranquil aura about her, like nothing bad could possibly happen.

“Not bad Kid, you’ve got me completely trapped.”

I hopped off the floating chunk and dove in with my foot first. Surrounded by white mana, my foot broke through any debris that came its way until—Crash!

Vye dodged my attack and avoided the massive collision that blew the debris into pebbles. She dodged my attacks one after the other, with her chances of escaping narrowed down to the second. We both snuck in glances beneath us and noticed the ground grew larger and clearer by the second.

I had never been that nervous before, I’m sure she felt the pressures of it too. Yeah, that’s what she taught me after all.

No matter how scared you are, no matter how dangerous it is, never let it consume your thoughts. Stay Focused!

Vye’s voice took the stage of my mind as her words kept me focused. They guided my strikes and pushed me out of the way of her blades. Her teachings ran through me with every movement and decision I made.

Suddenly Vye sent her foot up for a powerful kick and I dodged to the side. Just barely avoiding it, I got away from the blow. My back hit the wall and suddenly the debris around me came crashing in on me from every angle imaginable. My body was trapped, while Vye was free to move.

In the span of a few microseconds, the tables were completely reversed and escalated to the worst result I could think of. I tried to stay focused but my breaths ran wild and grew heavier.

She hopped off from one stone to the other and ran along the massive beam until she had cleared it and crossed over to the side of the building safely. Her daggers were plunged into the building wall and secured a spot along its surface where she watched me from.

“Don’t die, kid! I’ll give you a seriously great reward if you manage to win!”

My eyes grew wider but everything around me turned dark. I was trapped in the clump of wreckage that fell along with us, with the ground nearing. Suddenly the massive beam came into view above me as it fell faster than anything else straight towards me.

“Crap!”