CHAPTER 8
THE EIGHTH ENTRY IN THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MASON COURBIS
"A Much-Needed Near-Death Experience"
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"So what you're tellin' me is that you have no formal arms trainin' whatsoever, 's that right?"
"Not exactly with arms, no," I replied. "So yes, I suppose."
Once again, we were back in the ballroom. A weighted mat had been rolled out onto the floor, and for a moment I had a small flashback to my days fighting in tournaments. Before me now stood, the one and only, Boltred Chainbreaker. Given that Boltred was already somewhat aware of my existence, Serin and I thought it best to simply call upon his aid as opposed to dragging anyone else into our plans. The last thing we needed were more liabilities. To his credit, Boltred was a relatively capable and decorated fighter, and had fought alongside my vessel, Kinn Stoneskin, for many years. The only thing that made him less of a viable candidate for my reincarnation, which is a horrifying concept to ponder so lightly, is that he was less magically capable than Kinn. This isn't to say that he was incapable, though his ability and knowledge on the subject were said to be a bit more lacking.
That being said, when I was finally able to see him at his full height, Boltred was clearly a rather imposing man. He stood at perhaps six and a half feet tall, and boasted a rugged, muscular figure that could only be achieved through a rigorous life of training and hard work. He had a strong, square jaw and short curly brown hair atop his head that he kept shaved down on the sides. There was one thing about him that I found off-putting however, though I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
"I also don't have any in-formal arms training either, in case you were wondering." Boltred frowned deeply as I said this.
"... Right. Do you have any kind of combat training?"
"Some, but I'm not exactly... familiar with real combat. Fighting is a rare occurrence in the world I'm from, so I don't have many... life-or-death experiences." As I continued to speak, Boltred continued to grow displeased, and I wasn't exactly sure why.
"Just tell me what you know."
"I was trained in hand-to-hand martial arts. I've mostly sparred against people who are unarmed."
"How good are you?"
"I mastered all of the basics in my school, and generally held my own when sparring. I once survived an encounter when a man attacked me with a knife." As I said that, Boltred just sighed and shook his head.
"How about this; do you think you could beat me?" He gestured broadly towards himself with both hands. This caused me to furrow my brows with mild concern.
"... I... Think I could survive, at least. I'm not sure if I could defeat you." Boltred had already begun stretching and cracking his knuckles before I'd even finished speaking. It seemed as though I wouldn't be able to avoid a test of my skills. I just shook my head and began to loosen up as well.
"We'll see." With no other word of warning, he put up his fists and sprang forwards. His speed was staggering, and almost superhuman. I didn't have much time to think about it however, as in less than a second Boltred appeared inches away from my face. My eyes went wide in shock, and I was only barely able to avoid having my face turned concave as he threw a wild left punch aimed right for my nose. I felt a gust of air blow against me as his fist nearly ripped the skin off my cheek. Quickly, yet carefully, I adopted a fighting stance and hopped to the side in an attempt to remove myself from his reach. As I moved, however, his eyes followed me like a hawk's. Boltred quickly pulled his fist back and sprang towards me once more as he threw a sharp elbow towards my sternum.
Boltred's moves were relentless, but akin to a bar brawler's. Were he a normal person, his undisciplined and telegraphed moves would be easy to deflect and exploit. Boltred, however, was not a normal person by any stretch of the imagination. His body moved faster than what should have been naturally possible, and boasted insane reflexes that could only have been honed through years on the battlefield. Part of my mind began to wonder if he was naturally this fast, or if it was because of some sort of magic, like the strength or speed-enhancement spells that Soras had mentioned some time ago. I very quickly found that the fight began taking up essentially all of my virtual memory, however; I would have to think about it later, if I managed to survive.
The match essentially boiled down to me narrowly dodging stupidly fast attacks from Boltred that felt powerful enough to punch a hole straight through my chest. I was able to read his moves easier as time went on, but I felt a sinking feeling in my gut as my body began to realize just how much time was passing. I had been constantly blocking and dodging for what had to have been over two minutes straight, and I began to feel a bit of strain within my muscles. My breath was growing more ragged and becoming harder to control, and I could tell that I was definitely losing this battle. Boltred, on the other hand, looked perfectly fine. He hadn't even broken a sweat. It was as if he were a tireless force of nature that wanted nothing but to pummel me into a bloody pulp.
"I guess you're not too bad," Boltred said eventually, as one of his fists rocketed towards my head.
"Oh??" This was all I managed to get out as I just barely deflected his attack.
"Yeah," Boltred grunted. "Even Kinn would've taken a hit or two by now." His eyes flared as he said this, and he swiftly repositioned himself for another deadly strike.
"Yeah, well-" A fist just barely grazed my cheekbone as it whizzed past my face at what felt like Mach 5. I took this moment, however, and swiftly grabbed his piston of an arm with both hands. I planted my feet firmly onto the ground and put every ounce of strength into one all-out maneuver as I pulled Boltred over my body and slammed him into the ground. My muscles were screaming out in agony at this point, and I'd nearly lost all control of my breathing. I immediately jumped back and tried to get as much distance between us as possible, somehow still maintaining a fighting stance. From the ground, Boltred groaned softly and rolled his head from side to side. I could hear his neck popping, even from my good distance away from him.
"... Why'd you back off? You gotta finish off your opponent." He almost seemed disappointed. I just furrowed my brows as I tried to get my breathing back in check.
"You... still would've killed me... even from the ground. I can't fight anymore... So I'd have to escape." Boltred just snorted and pushed himself to his feet.
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"... Fine. I guess you aren't useless, at th' very least." He paused for a moment as he rolled his shoulder and thought for a moment. He looked as though he hadn't even felt a thing from that toss; given his superhuman strength and speed, I wouldn't have been surprised if he hadn't. After a moment, he looked back up to me with a serious expression. "... What were you gonna say then, before you threw me?" I paused for a moment as he said this and began to rack my brain as I tried to remember a single errant thought that had appeared in the heat of battle. It came back to me after a few seconds.
"... You said, 'Even Kinn would've taken a hit or two by now.' So I was about to say, 'You probably would have too.' I get the feeling Kinn was a much stronger fighter than I am."
This roused a laugh from Boltred, and for the first time I saw him smile. After a moment he shook his head and hummed softly to himself.
"Yeah. He was." As he said this, his tone shifted once more and he let out a soft sigh. "... It's just a bit fucked, seein' him here now. Even though I know he ain't here."
This caught me off-guard, and I blinked a few times as I looked down to my body. Though, now that he'd mentioned it, it became very obvious that this body wasn't mine after all. My hands balled into fists and I let out a bit of air through my nose.
"... Yeah. I bet."
"It's even in th' way you talk. Th' way you move. It's all wrong."
I stood there in silence for a moment, unsure as to how I should respond. These were things I had been actively trying to avoid thinking about essentially since I had arrived in this world. It took some time, but I was eventually able to find my voice again.
"... I'm sorry that he's gone." I slowly unclenched my hands and allowed them fall to my sides as I let out a soft breath. I steeled my gaze, looked back up to Boltred, and tried to speak as sincerely as I could. "... But I'm grateful he gave me this body. Honestly, I don't think I'd have survived this fight if he hadn't." I then paused for a moment and felt myself let out a small chuckle. "... There were a couple of times where I seriously thought you were going to kill me." Boltred looked up to me at that, still harboring a bit of pain and perhaps anger in his eyes. He scoffed, but let a wry grin break out across his face.
"... That's 'cause I was tryin' to."
Part of me was a little shocked to hear this, but I honestly wasn't surprised. What did surprise me, however, was when I found myself grinning as well. I even started to laugh a bit, and Boltred joined in. We both just stood there for a moment, laughing, though I'm not sure if either of us really understood why.
"S-sorry we're late!" Two sets of footsteps were approaching from down the hall, and both Boltred and I turned to look. Serin and one of her maids were approaching; I was fairly certain it was the maid who'd spoken. Serin had mentioned her earlier that day, and told me she was a fiend named Laixa. She was a bit on the shorter side, with bright red skin and short wavy auburn hair. Supposedly she was rather proficient in healing magic. She was supposed to be here on standby in case one of us got injured, though after the fight I'd just been in, I was almost certain she would only be healing me.
"There were a few matters that required my attention," added Serin as she made her way towards the sparring mat. "My apologies." A bench had been placed nearby for her, and she took a seat there with a soft sigh. "Now that I am here, however, feel free to begin training, or sparring. I will ultimately leave your teaching methods up to you, Boltred; I am simply here to observe, and will only intervene if necessary." She paused at that and looked up to the two of us for a moment, then just to me. Her brows furrowed in confusion. "... Mason, you're sweating quite badly... and why is your face bleeding?"
Both Boltred and I remained silent at that for a moment. Wordlessly, we looked to each other, then looked back to Serin once more. I managed to speak up first.
"... Actually, about that..."
. . .
"YOU DID WHAT?!" Serin's eyes flared as she exclaimed this, not simply with rage, but with small amounts of literal flame as well. It was terrifying.
"Hey, ease up," said Boltred. "I didn't actually kill him. He's not even hurt!"
"Y-yeah, and I think I learned something," I added as I, for some reason, began trying to defend him.
"Mason does not yet understand even BASIC STRENGTH-ENHANCEMENT, and you mean to tell me that you fought him without even ATTEMPTING TO RESTRAIN YOURSELF?"
"Yeah, honestly I was surprised he did that well. Didn't get hit once."
"BECAUSE HE WOULD HAVE DIED IF HE HAD."
"Yeah, exactly."
Clearly furious, Serin pointed an accusatory finger at my face. A shiver went down my spine as I felt her ire focused in my direction.
"Look at his face, Boltred. You merely grazed him once, and there is absolutely no skin left there. He is the descendant of the Archmage. I hardly think it is reasonable or sane for you to attempt to annihilate him upon your first meeting."
At this point, Laixa had somewhat sheepishly attempted to approach me, so I peered down to her for just a moment. I briefly managed to catch a glimpse of her golden eyes through the round lenses of her spectacles before she became embarrassed and quickly turned away while covering her mouth. I placed a hand upon my hip and looked her over for a moment before I returned my attention back to Serin and Boltred, who continued to bicker for quite some time. When I realized they had no intention of stopping anytime soon, I just gave up on them and turned back to Laixa.
"... Pardon me, but... do you happen to have any bandages? I wouldn't want to get blood everywhere." She blinked a couple of times as I said this before she swiftly turned to face me with a wide-eyed panicked expression.
"O-oh! I apologize, I should be administering aid- ah- no, I do not have bandages. I can stop the bleeding, though! P-pardon me..."
Without further warning, she simply leaned in and brought her hand to my cheek. As I watched her do this, it occurred to me just how tall Kinn was. He was nearly Boltred's height, if just a little shorter, which was yet again a foreign feeling to me. As my thoughts returned to the present, I noticed that Laixa was standing on the tips of her toes just to reach my face. I felt a small pang of guilt for making her struggle, so I knelt down before her to lessen the reach. I saw as her red cheeks seemed to flush just slightly, but I decided to ignore it. She then closed her eyes and pressed the tips of her fingers against the side of my face as she began to chant. Slowly, a soft glow began to emit from what I assumed was my wound, and I felt a sensation akin to my skin being tugged shut, as if the flesh were being closed with stitches. A few seconds passed before the glowing stopped, and Laixa opened her eyes once more. I offered her a grin and a single nod.
"Thank you. I feel much better now."
She offered a flustered smile back to me before fishing into a pocket of her apron for a moment and pulling out a small red handkerchief. She reached up to wipe away the blood from my face, then nodded as well.
"O-of course. I am happy to hear it."
I searched her eyes for just a moment more before I stood up once more and approached the still-bickering Boltred and Serin. I stood and listened to them for a good five seconds as I looked between the two, before I loudly cleared my throat. They both paused and turned to face me.
"Time is of the essence. I'd rather learn how to wield some kind of weapon before the sun is down. If anything goes wrong, Laixa will keep me from dying. Can we agree to that?"
Boltred just chuckled at that and folded his arms across his chest. Serin, who still looked quite heated, just huffed and moved to sit back down upon her bench. She crossed one leg over the other and turned her head to the side, looking away from Boltred.
"Fine, though know this; Boltred, if you kill him, I so swear by the Hells that I shall burn you alive."
Boltred then openly laughed and turned to walk across the mat. He picked up a pair of training swords and tossed one in my direction. As I caught mine and he readied his, he grinned at me once more before he responded.
"No promises."