Location: Terra Colony Andromeda
North Sector - Training Field Septa
Time: 1442
January 31, 2050
As Arielle filled the air with flashes of bright blue bolts, Ikki braced and pulled up his katana, Kuroken. After deflecting and scattering the projectiles he ducked low to evade the ones that came around and tailed him. Cutting them down he spun to clash against the swords of energy in his way. Adjusting his posture as they dived like falcons slicing the air, he masterfully timed his parries, swiping them to the left and right.
Focusing his attention to his other blade, his shorter katana, Shiroken, he channeled core energy through his palms to increase his speed tenfold for a split second. He blurred as he closed the distance and appeared above Arielle with Shiroken’s edge held high in an intent strike aimed for her wrists.
But Arielle was tougher and still leagues above him in terms of core affinity and overall abilities. Thickening her defensive aura, she slapped away the attack. Ikki’s grasp on his weapon faltered, though he wasn’t done just yet. His grip tightened around Kuroken as he wrenched back his control and landed with an amount of fluidity as he transitioned to the next attack. Activating Kuroken’s ability, his strength grew as he bent low to dodge a following high kick from Arielle. Sudden pain, as if his bones were breaking, struck like a nail in his brain that drilled down his spine.
Ikki gritted through the backlash of his abilities, desperately thrusting Kuroken from his irregular crouched posture. The blow struck true, catching Arielle in the center of her chest, yet not a single strip of cloth was torn from her crop top. Her aura took most of the damage, but the momentum behind Ikki’s attack threw her back several meters, her heels skidding harshly against the rough dirt.
Ikki intended to leap at her. As his knees bent, the continuous pain assailing his nerves were too much to bear. His attempt to chase became a staggered step as he breathed a heavy cough. No.. Not yet! Move! His mind screamed to gather strength, to force himself to overcome the hurdles of his meager core affinity. But he couldn’t, and that was a sore weight that stuck in his stomach.
“Brother!” Shisuki called out, directing two of her water constructs towards Arielle to cover him. “Pull back and recover.”
Ikki nodded, exhaling as he finally caught his breath and examined the situation. Group Beta’s Trainees and the remaining students in their team were scattered across the battlefield, belaying and aggroing Arielle’s constructs. Each one of them were like extensions of herself, able to fight as individuals, similar to how Shisuki’s could. Currently, only Ikki, Shisuki, and Stella remained able to face her.
Expecting reinforcement from the rest their forces, such as Storm 2 and 5, wasn’t viable as they too were busy belaying the constructs at their rear. If either group failed to defeat the enemy in front of them then they were finished, and this war games exercise would be their loss. They had to win, right here, right now, there was no backing down.
Shisuki, off a few meters to Arielle’s flank, was held up by a group of floating energy swords. 15 in total, all of them could seemingly move independent of each other which made them a handful to keep track of. At the moment they were prioritizing to get in the way of Shisuki’s attempts to coordinate. They forced her to use her water constructs to bait and switch the hunting swords. She was keeping up, and diverting a good amount of pressure off Ikki and Stella.
Each of her constructs had exact replications of her features so they were very human-like. Whatever method these swords used to track their targets; Arielle was going to have a hard time locking on to the real one. The real problem at hand that Ikki could see was that his sister’s control of her constructs required a substantial amount of attention, more than Arielle needed for her own, so right now their most experienced fighter was locked down while the opponent had room to spare to deal with Ikki and Stella.
Ikki wasn’t sure if he could take down Arielle on his own, though Stella kept the support going from the rear with her conjured fireballs. It may not have been the best use of her firepower, but it could perhaps provide Ikki a fighting chance. Eking out a win seemed possible if he played this right. Still, in his opinion, it was a long shot.
A part of him wanted to argue the decision his sister had made. Shisuki, as their assigned leader of the team, had relegated Ikki to be the attacker and for Stella to be his support in light of the recent accomplishment she had achieved in helping to corner Arielle. While their earlier coordinated counter had failed, it did amount to eliminating their opponent’s aerial mobility.
Shaking the last phantom sensations of pain out of his arms, Ikki moved to engage Arielle as Stella’s fireballs flew overhead to open the way. This would be a test, a measure of if he could match up. Ash and dust exploded up in clumps and clouds around Arielle as Ikki executed one of his sword techniques, Iken Style: Second Sword - Sundering Wing.
Stepping lightly as he leaned forward to quicken his pace, the noise of his movements melded with the wind. Arielle swept her arm, widely, the limb alit in elongating sparking blue lightning. Her charged whip-like swing hit only air as Ikki leaned back then spun on his heel at the exact moment he needed to. Arielle twisted her wrist to bring the strike around, but again she hit only air. Ikki moved with immense fluidity and the practiced motions of a master swordsman. He closed the gap and countered with a rush of sword strikes aimed for Arielle’s left shoulder, trying to disable her dominant hand.
His sword technique, Sundering Wing, was one of the sword forms Ikki had developed on his own. Its use was to extend the reach of his katanas by permeating them in core energy so that their total length could have an unexpected reach when he found range to be his disadvantage. With how cautious Arielle was, it was a good move to counter her strategy of keeping her distance, though landing a clean hit was proving to be tricky.
Ikki's opponent was skilled, no doubt about that, and Arielle also knew her way around a sword. The way she shifted her hips forward as she drew her shoulders back, while perfectly maintaining her balance, bought her enough distance so that the tips of Ikki’s blades glanced rather than cut into her. What was supposed to be a disability attack left nothing more than a dent in her protective aura that would quickly recover.
Arielle then deftly somersaulted backwards on one hand as she threw two sparks of energy with the other. At the last second, Ikki deflected one though took a near miss that stung the left side of his head with a blistering of heat.
“Flame! Come to me!” Stella’s voice rang out behind him. “And Strike!”
Three fireballs fell upon Arielle, exploding into a cone shaped blaze. Arielle raised energy barriers with the wave of her hand then distanced herself further. Ikki grimaced, this was getting them nowhere. Even with his years of swordsmanship, Arielle was the better fighter. Her outstanding martial ability in countering up close, her solid defensive aura, and durable energy barriers, were the perfect counters to close range fighters like him.
If only I had more core energy.
Ikki felt a pang of indignation well in him. He let it pass, not allowing it to leak into this moment. Right now, he needed to be calm and think. He knew that his own strength couldn’t break through Arielle’s defenses, not if she kept her distance. The thought of using his trump card to break through was viable, but doing so was risky.
One Blade of Hell, Ikki’s strongest technique that boosted all of his abilities beyond the normal constraints of his current core affinity, could be easily countered since the effects of it only lasted for at most a minute. And he’d have to make the most of that minute. If he failed to down his opponent in that time, he’d be left vulnerable to the technique’s backlash. At best he would fall unconscious, at worst he would go into cardiac arrest. Deciding not to risk it, he sighed. There was a better way to break this deadlock, and he knew just who to ask.
Forced to retreat as Arielle fired a scattered shot of energy bolts, he spoke into his comm. “Stella, I have an idea, switch roles with me.”
For a moment there was no reply, then a green status light pinged in the corner of Ikki’s HUD.
“I’m on it,” Stella said. “Back me up just like we practiced.”
“Understood,” Ikki changed targets and struck out toward the incoming energy bolts. “I can keep up, so go all out.”
“Belay that!” Shisuki ordered for them to stop, obviously somewhat irritated by how her little brother had superseded the chain of command. “Ikki, what in the world are you..”
“Just trust me,” Ikki said. “She can do this.. We.. can do this. I know we can.”
By the way Shisuki huffed, he was sure she held some concern. There was some kind of friction his sister had with Stella. He knew that it wasn’t of real concern. It had nothing to do with why she had sidelined Stella. Ikki, for all his life, was knowledgeable of how level headed Shisuki was, while it did slip at times, she was still the most adept to lead and to make the hard decisions.
So no, she wasn’t letting petty personal thoughts get in the way and understood that Stella had the power to overwhelm Arielle. Ikki surmised that she just didn’t trust Stella enough to team up with in a fight, he could sense her hesitation to give her orders or relegate a task.
That was granted, this battle had a lot on the line. This would all be their first step towards becoming an explorer and Shisuki, the ever-loving big sister she was, no doubt wanted to support her little brother’s stupid dream. So, she possibly didn’t want what she saw to be an outsider to mess things up for them. But Ikki wanted to show her otherwise, that his sister’s assumption wasn't true.
After living with Stella as a roommate for the past month, and training together, he had grasped how proficient she was. And, to him, what she could do was astounding for a mystic type explorer. She wasn’t a backliner, a support, no.. she deserved to be at the front, in the thick of it.
Stella flew in a single bound, covering a hundred meters in less than a second. The wind kicked up in her wake was so violent that the floating energy swords flattered and wobbled. Arielle was startled to find a flaming greatsword fall on her like it was the sword of damocles. She tensed, crossing her arms over her head. Their resulting clash shook the air as each of Stella’s following hits resounded like thunder. The two exchanged a back and forth of blocks, strikes, and slashes.
The fight drew to extreme close range. Stella used her shorter stature to force Arielle into an uncomfortable position. When Arielle attempted to get away, Stella’s swift reaction time, coupled with the longer reach of her greatsword, caught her before she could gain any real ground. Arielle, forced to come to blows, matched Stella's strength by thickening the coat of aura around her arms. Dull blue sparks flew through the air, each clash sounding of metal striking metal. The fight was even, yet only on the surface.
A minute in, the momentum began to slowly fall in Stella’s favor as the signs of exhaustion slowed Arielle’s reactions. Stella was well rested, and her injuries had been healed by Dahlia. On the other hand, Arielle was probably at half her real capacity. Ikki could only guess at how truly strong she was. There were still signs she was reeling from whatever Itsuki had hit her with a couple hours ago.
The first to break away their exchange of blows was Arielle. In a moment where Stella’s movements slowed due to her weapon’s great heft, she paced a few meters away to reach for a device on her waist belt. Without any need for words from Stella, Ikki closed in before Arielle could make the next move. His katanas cut through the air with a soundless howl. Arielle, of course, blocked and easily pushed Ikki away, only to then be struck by Stella a moment later. One after the other, Ikki and Stella flawlessly switched between each other, attacking in a coordination of waves.
Arielle noticeably grew annoyed and admiring of their teamwork, their timing had to be perfect to be so in sync. “Looks like you two have some good chemistry,” She said. “It seems we have some good and irregular ones in this year’s batch.”
“Thanks,” Stella said as she blocked a bolt of energy that sparked off her red armguard. “You’re not so bad yourself.”
Arielle smiled. “And the same goes for your manifest armor. Impressive, and to think I’d be complimented by a princess, guess I can cross that off my list.” She ducked as Ikki swiped at her. “And you’ve been working hard, I can tell that you’ve trained with him.”
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Ikki nodded. “Yes, but not as much as you.” He pulled his katana into a guard as Arielle’s high kick came in. He redirected the momentum of her strike, letting it blow him back to give Stella room.
Arielle grimaced as the heat of Stella’s sword pressed her back. “Let’s see how far you two can go.”
She fired a shockwave of energy from right palm to push Stella back, then quickly charged electricity down the length of her arms. Snaking ropes of energy slithered from her palms in wavering lines of jagged blue that zapped the ground in a rippling of strikes. Ikki weaved through them while Stella changed her weapon back into axe form and smashed them away. Both ropes of electricity grew longer as Arielle made her own opportunity to gain a few meters of space.
Ikki gave Stella a look and she immediately reacted.
“Arise my flame!” She plunged her flaming sword’s golden length into the ground, then shouted, “Burn my enemies to ash! Chase and Soar!”
With a crack, the dirt under her split and trailed forward towards Arielle. A glowing line of red flames rose up into the air like a gushing cascade of pillars. Too slow to get away in time, Arielle was caught in an eruption of flames that swallowed her from the bottom up. For a second, Ikki thought it was over. The flames receded and were replaced by kicked up clouds of ash and dust.
“Not yet! Look, over there!” Shisuki shouted over their comms and indicated the still floating energy swords. “Focus Ikki, this isn’t over.”
Ikki immediately realized what she meant as he caught sight of three new floating energy swords emerging from the wake of Stella’s attack. The trio of blades rushed for Stella, catching her unaware. Ikki jumped in the way to protect her and parried them away. Stella soon understood as well and withdrew her impaled sword into a natural ready stance.
Ahead of them, bolts of energy flew out from the cover of smoke and stray clouds of debris. Too fast to evade or deflect, Stella let each of them break against her armored chest plate and greaves. A lance of static scarred itself across her red armor, assailing her senses with an uncontrollable jitter.
Through her wavering vision, Stella saw something big lunge out of the cloud of debris with a trail of thin ash behind it. Eager to take initiative, she overcame her momentary stun and leapt to strike with her sword lit ablaze. The blow was clean, too clean. Realizing she had struck a human shaped figure of energy; her mistake became clear.
“A construct.” Stella clicked her tongue in regret, she should’ve known. She expected to take an attack she couldn’t react to, yet it didn’t come. But why? If I’m not her target, then who.. Alarm crossed her eyes as she spun towards Ikki, “Watch out!”
She didn’t need to say it, Ikki was already moving. Having used his Hyperion eye to get a read of the situation, he saw the incoming stream of energy bolts zipping at him. Strangely, they seemingly came out of nowhere. With no time to find the source he settled himself and evaded to the best of his ability.
The countless bolts soon overwhelmed him, and when evasion was impossible, he glided the bolts off the edges of his katanas. Bullets were easy enough to handle so these bolts were moving in slow motion to him, but the weight of each one proved troublesome. His arms strained, both to keep his grip on his weapons and to fight against the increasing amount of pain building from the backlash of his ability.
For a second, a spot of shimmering air caught Ikki’s eye. He was about to call out but was too slow to react in time. Arielle’s figure emerged charging at him from out of thin air, as if she had just been invisible only a second ago. Was this another of her abilities, a kind of cloaking? If so, they needed to be careful.
Ikki cursed to himself as she drew closer, he couldn’t move out of the way in time. The limits of what he could do were starting to show, and it was proving to be increasingly difficult to breathe. Arielle, with long hair glowing with the aura of a rainbow, swung a charged arm of electricity down upon him. Stella came to his relief and managed to block then repel the blow.
“Get away from him!” Shisuki rushed in shouting with a venomous tone. At her control, two of her water constructs came at Arielle from behind.
Arielle grinned, lifting one of her long legs to bring it right down with her heel pounding the hardened dirt. A shockwave of energy pulsed, disintegrating Shisuki’s constructs into sprays of water and threw Ikki and Stella back. The 15 energy swords occupying Shisuki’s constructs swayed away as they turned their sights on Stella and Ikki. Acting swiftly, Shisuki commanded her water constructs to intercept, then rushed to face Arielle herself. Thanks to her, Ikki and Stella had time to find their bearings.
Arielle, caught on the backfoot from Shisuki’s attacks, expanded a wall of energy barriers between them. The moment Shisuki disengaged, Arielle’s figure melted into the background, her skin and attire becoming transparent with the environment. Losing sight of her, Shisuki retreated to join with Stella and Ikki.
“Where is she?” Stella asked, her weapon at the ready and putting her back to the others. “Does anyone sense her?”
Shisuki shook her head, scanning the surroundings urgently. “No, it must be some kind of cloaking. I’ve seen a few, but regrettably this one is a first for me. Our HUDs can’t seem to track her, there isn’t even a heat signature.”
“Then what do we do?” Stella glanced at Shisuki, yearning for an answer.
Ikki suddenly rushed to push Stella out of the way. She was startled, then realized Ikki had deflected a bolt of energy that had flown so fast that almost none of them could’ve seen it coming. A heartbeat later, more of them were coming in fast from every direction. Stella conjured a barrier of her core energy to cover their flank. It was too small to encompass them since she hadn’t practiced barrier conjugation, but it was sturdy thanks to her abundance of core energy. Shisuki and Ikki covered her back, cutting bolt after bolt into particles of blue energy.
“Careful,” Ikki said. “She’s accelerating her energy bolts somehow. They don’t home in on you anymore, but they're incredibly fast.”
“Can you tell where they’re coming from?” Shisuki asked.
“No, not right now.” Ikki glanced around, trying to make out that shimmer he had seen before. “I’d need to use my Hyperion eye technique to locate her, but I won’t be able to block these bolts when I do.”
“Then we’ll cover you, Ikki,” Stella said, straining to expand her barrier of core energy. “When you spot her, I can break her defenses, and then one of you can go in for the kill.”
“Don’t forget about the energy swords,” Shisuki added. “We need to focus on those too, so I’ll take those like before,” She then glanced at Ikki. “Brother, can you land the blow? Do you still have enough core energy?”
Ikki nodded. “Just enough, but I can’t make any mistakes. This will be risky.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll have your back and I’m willing to take a chance,” Shisuki assured him. “How about you Stella?”
Stella scoffed, “Of course! I am not an idiot to think that we can’t win.”
Shisuki almost sneered at her, she restrained the urge to reprimand her for her cockiness. “Then we have our plan,” She moved to flank Ikki. “When you locate her, send me a signal. We’ll then go on my mark.”
Stella and Ikki acknowledged with a ping over their comms. Stella drew closer to Ikki on his other flank, her barrier catching bolts that flashed off of it with a zap. Ikki sheathed his katanas and relaxed his entire body. He took in every sound filling his ears, every vibration he felt on his skin, all the smells in the air, and the smallest of physical details of the scenery around him.
The onslaught of bolts increased, and Arielle’s energy swords joined in, swooping down on them and aiming for Ikki. Shisuki and Stella threw them back, clashing sword to sword. Ikki felt his own breath echo in his ears and heard the rising struggle of his teammates.
Almost, almost there. He caught the inkling of a presence, still unclear, though in a direction he could put to. He turned his head to the left and then right a few times, then finally settled on the left. At his ten o’clock, a ripple of air, so momentary that it seemed like a mirage, cemented his theory. There, right there.
Silently he marked the location in his HUD and sent a signal to Shisuki. She didn’t reply. After knocking down two of the slashing energy swords, she slammed the butt of her weapon’s hilt to her palm. An aqua green glow spilled from her, and in seconds an ocean of mist permeated the air.
Arielle, bordering the edge of the mist from her cloaked position 200 meters away, watched as the three fell out of sight from her HUD. She engaged her enhanced contact lenses infrared and counted 20 readings that came up as she intercepted the chatter on their comms. She had been listening closely, planning how to counter them.
So it’s going to be a surprise attack. Arielle surmised. And Ikki’s going to be one to take me down. Interesting, but it’s not going to work now that I know.
She highlighted the figure that had the broadest of shoulders and the closest likeness to the previous scans she had made of Ikki. She then controlled her floating energy swords to close in on him. Predictably, multiple readings with Shisuki’s exact physical profiles intercepted, throwing themselves in the line of fire. Ikki was closing in on the right while Stella approached rapidly from the left.
A flaming slash emerged from the left most border of the encroaching mist. One of Arielle’s barriers caught it but shattered by the sheer power Stella wielded. The girl was so insanely powerful that it just didn’t seem fair. All in all, there was nothing she could do to mitigate this disadvantage in power, so she sacrificed barrier after barrier to keep Stella’s attacks at bay.
Arielle then heard an intercepted signal, A voice was speaking over their comm, an order. [Now! Do it Now!] By the tone it was Shisuki’s voice.
Immediately, Stella stopped in her tracks. A rising reading of core energy warranted a decision Arielle had no choice in. Arielle put a substantial amount of her remaining core energy into a barrier that would keep her from the incoming danger. Getting it up just in time, a torrent of flames roared out from the mist. Blocking the full brunt of what she believed to be Stella’s Crimson Dragon technique was a struggle, nevertheless, Arielle made it through.
Ikki’s highlighted figure was then seconds away from coming into close range. Behind him, Shisuki was in tow as his support, so she prepped three of her floating energy swords to engage when the time was right. When Arielle saw that Ikki was just about to emerge from the mist, she dashed and thrusted a charged palm strike in a preemptive counter. She watched as Ikki’s face came into view and changed to a surprised look of shock, then pain. A wave of energy pulsed from her hand as it wreaked havoc on his insides. He fell back, a silent cry on his lips as a trickle of blood ran down from the corners of his mouth.
Shisuki jumped out from behind him, raging. “How dare you!” With a piercing scream she attacked.
The blow knocked Arielle down, her defensive aura thinning further. She recovered a moment later with leeway from her energy swords that fell upon Shisuki. Arielle then turned to dissipating mist that revealed Stella readying her greatsword. One down.. Only two more to..
A new tension suddenly crawled on her skin, interrupting her focus. She noticed the small smile on Shisuki’s lips and the fading presence of where Ikki had been lying on the ground. She looked over and her eyes widened at the pooling puddle of water surrounding his body as his features dripped away. A warning rang in her HUD, telling her that a mass of energy was growing behind her. She spun on her heels and conjured a barrier as fast as she could. But it was too late.
By the time she realized that the Ikki she had downed was a fake, the real Ikki was in position behind her and already unleashing a technique she had never seen. She caught sight of him in the middle of his leap with only a remaining meter of distance between them. Wielding a black and white odachi humming with an inordinate amount of power, he was a flash of light that passed her like a shooting star. She felt the strike, and it was unexpectedly light. A glance? Yet it had such power.
A bout of nausea hit Arielle as all her senses were drowned by the shattering of her defensive aura. She shook herself and swung to face Ikki, raising a shaking hand with a conjured bolt of energy at the ready. She was stopped dead as the tip of a blade touched her throat and her neck strained as her chin went up.
“Surrender.” Ikki said with a commanding tone as black and white energy emanated from him like a second shadow. “I don’t want this to end in bloodshed.”
Arielle blinked, then smiled. “Agreed. I think I’ve taken this far enough.” She closed her eyes and sighed. “You win.. Congrats, you freaking brats.”
Ikki nodded, drew his weapon away, and turned it back into its original forms as he sheathed them. He breathed a heavy sigh as the energy around him dissipated. A grunt pain escaped him as if a headache had overcome him.
“You going to be alright?” Arielle asked, stepping close to see if she could help.
“I’m fine.” Ikki rasped. “I just.. need.. To..” His voice grew faint as his eyes rolled up into his head and he fell forward.
“Hey! Hold on kid! Keep it together!” Arielle reached and caught him, but.. just not in the way she wanted. “Uh? Um?” An awkward mood welled in the air as she held Ikki up with his face resting between her breasts.
A disapproving growl rumbled from Shisuki as she glared daggers at Arielle. “What in the world are you doing to my brother!” She demanded. “Let him go! You damn vixen!”
“Yeah!” Stella shouted, throwing her lot in. “Just what are you trying to pull!”
Arielle blinked several times in bewilderment. “Uh.. What the heck are you two on about? He was passing out, so what? Was I supposed to let him fall on his face?”
Stella frowned and Shisuki only hardened her glare.
Then it hit Arielle. Oh.. so it’s like that. She gazed down at Ikki, then grinned at Shisuki. Pushing the limit, she patted Ikki’s head. Clear murderous rage boiled over Shisuki’s cheeks as she drew her blade as if ready to cut Arielle down.
Stella was much the same, except the hint of red on her cheeks were more of a blushing or immensely jealous maiden. Arielle chuckled to herself. Talk about a lucky man. She pulled Ikki off of her and passed him over to Stella since that would probably cause the most interesting of reactions.
And it did.
Shisuki bursted into hysteria, trying to wrench her brother away. Stella clutched Ikki tighter, not letting go no matter how much Shisuki tried. Arielle felt like bursting into laughter, but she kept it in.. well.. As best as she could. And she made sure to record this. Taking out a pair of glasses, she put them on and tapped the side of the frame to engage its recording feature.
Now this is comedy gold.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/g0c3tSqm/1719046978250.jpg]
"Ara Ara"