7. The Two Fights at the Market Store
You’re like me.
Bach saw Eliza forming her anima into a weapon: first a round rectangular grip, then an oval hilt, and lastly a long one-edged blade. In her hand, having brought into existence, was a katana.
Someone with a weapon-type ability.
***
A katana, Eliza observed. She could see her reflection on the side of the sword’s polished blade. Her face was flushed, and her expression cheeky with intrigue. Huh…
The grip was rough and secure, the weight was the ideal balance of light and heavy, and the blade—Eliza tested two swings: horizontal and vertical—was sharp enough to slice the air.
Not bad! When was the last time I get to wield a sword? Eliza was excited, raring to get started. This should be interesting! I wonder how I should wield it this time…! So many options to choose from… but I can only pick one! Ugh… Decisions, decisions…
***
“Laissez Vibrer”, that was Bach’s ability: an anima-formed lyre that could create sound blows.
There were two common distinctions regarding weapon-type ability: 1. The user’s anima would take physical form; 2. The weapon would have itself a quirk. (In Bach’s case, 1. the lyre; 2. the sound blows.)
With that in mind, Bach knew that caution was necessary. His opponent’s anima had taken physical form, a katana; but its quirk remained unknown to him. It could be that her ability was simply the creation of a katana and nothing more, but there was no way for him to know for sure unless the fight progressed.
… For now, I’ll stick to the plan and observe.
Bach stepped back away from Eliza, increasing the distance between them, ready to strum his lyre.
***
Bang!
Gunshot roared inside the market store’s dining room.
In response to Shuri’s offense, Quin had defended by lifting and hiding behind the dining table. There was a jagged hole in the wood, created by the shot; and, through it, Shuri could see Quin’s observant stare.
She’s still alive.
This course of event, Shuri deemed, was unnatural.
The fact that she could lift the table easily with one hand was strange. More so when she kept the table steadily elevated from the ground. How was that possible with her slim build?
Could this be…
Wham! sounded a kick.
The table traveled toward Shuri. Its trajectory, she noticed, defied gravity; the course was perfectly straight without any decline in its arc even though its speed moderate. Shuri ducked to the side and dodged.
Blam. The table hit the wall.
No matter how Shuri had perceived it, this whole situation had struck her as—
Shuri looked up; in that dining room where the area was small and contained, she had lost sight of her opponent.
—unnatural.
‘!’ In an instant, Quin had vanished without a trace.
Shuri turned her head and scanned the surroundings. In that quick moment, she couldn’t pinpoint what else went missing, but the room was emptier than before.
In the corner of her eyes, Shuri spotted a shifting shadow on the floor cast from above. She looked up toward the roof and saw all that had disappeared: Quin, Tavar, and two chairs, all of them floating above.
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Quin was upside down, her feet seemingly rested on the ceiling, and she was literally looking down on Shuri.
***
Iai.
When it came to wielding a sword, a katana especially, that was the name of the move that Eliza wanted to wield. The movement entailed unsheathing a sword and transitioning immediately into a slash; often used to prioritize speed at the beginning of a fight. Which would mean that in the current stage of the fight between Eliza against Bach, where the katana was already unsheathed and an immediate slash with no theatrics would be preferred, the move would be a burden.
However, Eliza had figured that in this fight, an iai—specifically an original iai of her own creation—would grant her a satisfying victory.
Definitely not because it sounds cool and interesting. Definitely… Okay, maybe mostly… But I’m not reckless! It’s practical in this fight!
Tring!
Eliza dodged the linear sound blow by stepping to the side. She might be distracted by her new weapon, but she wasn’t thoughtless enough to forget that she was still in a fight against Bach. At this point, she was getting used to keeping track of him swinging his arm to strum the lyre and to moving on shaky grounds. Her body had warmed up plenty and was moving precisely according to her will.
Alright, she thought.
She grabbed hold of the floor with her bare feet and bent her legs like compressed springs.
Let’s go.
Eliza pressed on the foothold, cracking the floor in the process, and made an explosive dash.
Tring! Bach responded immediately by strumming his lyre, delivering a sound blow.
Previously, Eliza had dashed in a straight path toward Bach, which required her to kill her speed to sidestep and dodge. This time, she had dashed in a slanted path, which meant that she only needed to shift her gears to dodge.
Eliza upped her speed, and the sound blow missed.
‘!’ Bach’s brows raised, surprised by the approach.
Like that, without giving Bach a chance to unleash a second linear sound blow, Eliza already had him in her katana’s range. All that was left now was to unleash the move she had in mind. Aria didn’t give me a sheath, but my iai isn’t any normal iai!
Eliza swung her katana.
Bach strummed the strings of his lyre.
Stab! Trang!
In that clash, Bach’s spherical sound had hit her, and Eliza’s katana… didn’t reach him. He remained standing, perfectly unharmed. The victor was already determined from this outcome. A look into his eyes, into the expression that was conveyed with his gesture: wide open eyelids, and shrunk pupils, and it was clear who the victor was.
He—stood before her; the distance between them didn’t increase by a centimeter.
Eliza had stabbed the floor with her katana, had planted the blade deep into the ground, and had received the spherical sound blow in full. She was affected by the damage, but the spherical sound blow didn’t hurt as much as the linear sound blow. More importantly, due to having a sword to hold on to, she wasn’t blown away.
She kept herself in place, and he remained within her katana’s range.
Eliza smiled.
***
“Skyblessed”, a property-type ability. Quin’s anima had a property that could defy gravity, and when she coated an object or subject with her anima, she could cause them to float. Quin knew not about anima, but she had been able to use Skyblessed long enough that she could use the ability according to her will.
Inside the market store’s dining room, floating near the ceiling above and being unreachable, Quin had control over the initiative in this fight against Shuri.
Quin flicked a chair toward Shuri, letting gravity take hold and crashing it down.
Krash!
Shuri dodged by stepping to the side. Having seen her path, Quin flicked the other chair, and this time dived down along with it.
Krash! The chair hit the floor. Shuri had dodged again, but this time Quin was there to intercept her path.
‘!’ Shuri, knife in hand, swung the blade.
Quin, seeing the trajectory of the attack, hit her opponent’s forearm with an arm-chop, causing her to drop the knife.
‘So, you can fight,’ she remarked. She chose to take stock and backstepped to gain distance, but her feet had pressed on nothing. Shuri noticed that Quin was suddenly shorter. Only to realize that she was floating.
‘Wha-?’ she struggled by wriggling her limbs, but the movement did nothing for her. She remained suspended in the air, a foreign realm where she could do nothing. ‘Put me down!!’
Having rendered her enemy unable to fight, Quin—she felt this appropriate to close the curtain—crossed her legs backward and curtsied.
***
“Aria”, a hybrid-type ability, one that had her own awareness and consciousness. Upon being called, Aria might give a weapon of her choice that would cater to her own interest for Eliza to wield.
Eliza had no way of knowing beforehand about the weapon Aria might give (if any). Additionally, due to restrictions, Eliza couldn’t use weapons which weren’t provided by Aria. She rarely wielded a sword; hence, was excited when she had gotten a katana in this fight against Bach.
Eliza smiled. I’ll show you my iai!
Understanding that he was disadvantageous at this range, Bach backstepped.
Eliza had been hit by the spherical sound blow and was standing on shaky grounds, but she could determine where forward was with her instinct and could take one straight step toward her opponent.
Thus, she advanced and chased him, keeping the distance within range for just the duration of a step.
The ground… is my sheath!
Eliza held the grip firmly, twisted her upper body, unsheathed the blade from the ground, and swung the katana, unleashing her very own form of iai.
Slash!
Eliza halved his lyre and sliced Bach’s torso.
‘…’ Bach couldn’t help but smile as he fell backwards, ‘Formidable.’ Blam!
‘Thanks.’ Eliza dismissed her katana; with a smile, ‘That was interesting.’