Falin charged toward Lusya as a golden sword materialized in his hands. It sang for Lusya’s throat, but she moved back to avoid it. He was fast. Faster than anyone else she had fought in earnest before. Yet she could manage. She could see his movements and evade his attacks. And, she was sure, she could hit him. She could and would defeat him.
“Miudofay, Lunera.”
Her Blades appeared in her hands. Falin hesitated, eyes wide enough they might have fallen from his skull. She didn’t know whether he was reacting to Miudofay—she had made no effort to conceal her calling its name—her using two Blades at once, or both. It didn’t much matter. Whatever the case was, it left him vulnerable. With that opening, she surged forward and struck with Lunera. As she had expected, however, he recovered from his shock in time to dodge backward. Several ranks lower than Azure or not, he was still a Paladin. This wasn’t going to be quick or easy. So, she followed up with an attack from Miudofay, sending a surge of violet flame through the rift Lunera had created.
Falin reacted quickly. Seeing the flames disappear, he scanned the area around him and saw them coming out behind him. He leaped to the side just in time. Miudofay’s fire devoured a good portion of his cloak, but he was mostly unharmed. His expression somehow managed to get even angrier as he glared at her.
“That woman is worse than I ever could have imagined,” he said.
She had no idea what he was talking about, so she just resumed her attack. She warped next to him and slashed with Miudofay. His sword came up and they clashed, her black sword locked against his gold. With his two-handed grip on his sword and greater physical strength, he could have overpowered her, but she took the opportunity to slash with Lunera rather than give him the chance.
Then there was another sword floating in midair. An identical copy of Falin’s golden weapon stopped Lunera as sure as if he had held it. He shoved back on Miudofay, and the other sword mimicked the motion, pushing back Lunera and forcing Lusya to take a step away. She couldn’t contest his strength. The gap between them in that respect was a little wider than she had expected, and his second sword behaved as if it had his full might behind it. Even if she had been using two hands, she doubted that would have gone much differently.
He chased after her and raised his sword to attack. The floating one continued to mimic his motions. While he raised his sword overhead, the floating one’s angle put it in position to slash horizontally. The ability allowed him to attack from two different angles at once, making blocking or dodging awkward without retreating outright. It was not as powerful or visually impressive as many First Releases, but it was effective.
So, she started to do what she could, moving back out of range. Not a viable tactic in the long term, but she could figure out something better as the fight continued. No, falling back was too obvious. If the way out of his attack was so straightforward, so was the way to cover it, and she was sure a Paladin would not make things so easy. She spared enough of a glance back to confirm the presence of a third sword behind her as she had predicted, just as Falin swung with lightning speed.
She whirled and used all her strength to strike the third sword with Miudofay. She didn’t have the strength to stop the golden sword outright, but she could parry and divert it. There was something odd about the way it behaved in the face of Miudofay clanging against it, but she didn’t have time to ponder it. In the same instant, she threw herself forward and slashed Lunera through the air.
Cold steel bit into her flesh for just a moment before she warped a hundred feet forward and whirled to face Falin again. Warm blood dripped down her back, but it was nothing severe, nor was the pain noteworthy. The main sword had managed a shallow cut on her upper back. A split second slower, and she would have been cut into quarters.
The third sword still hung in the air. It seemed to drift aimlessly in the direction she had hit it for a second, before Falin settled into a ready stance, and both copies imitated him, with the third sword readjusting its position as it did so, so that it was next to him on the opposite side of the other copy.
What did she know so far? He could summon at least two copies of his sword. They imitated his motions and had all his strength behind them. Parrying had affected one somehow, but she still wasn’t sure of the specifics. At the very least, it seemed to have interfered with its function. He could summon them at a seemingly arbitrary distance. There had to be some limit, but it was well out of striking range at the very least. Her overall assessment remained the same: not flashy, but plenty dangerous.
There was no time to think further on the details at the moment. Falin charged at her, three swords poised to strike at three different angles. Rather than try to contend with all those simultaneous strikes, she jumped high into the air and sent a wave of flame from Miudofay down at him. Falin moved out of the way with ease, right into the rift she opened up with Lunera, bringing him in front of her. Only one of the sword copies had made it through too.
Lusya slashed at him with Miudofay wreathed in flame, but he recovered his bearings in an instant and jumped over the blow. As expected of a Paladin’s reaction time, but it was still predictable. She jumped up after him and followed the momentum of her slash into a shockwave-enhanced kick that hit him in the side of the head, sending him tumbling to the side through the air. She had landed her first true blow on a Paladin. A laudable accomplishment, but celebrations would have to wait.
She warped next to him to follow up, but he was quick. He took a hand off his sword to throw a powerful punch into her stomach, launching her away and knocking the air from her lungs. She righted herself and came to a halt as he did the same. Neither moved immediately as they recovered from their last blows. She could stand on air for about thirty seconds now, and she guessed he would be about the same, so they both had some time to consider their next moves.
The copy swords at his side and near the ground vanished. Falin raised the main sword, and two copies appeared in front of her. There was no way that was all there was to it. There was at least one behind her too. So, he could summon at least three copies, and it seemed he could do so at some distance too.
Falin slashed down, and Lusya whirled while striking with Miudofay, sending a wave of violet fire out all around her. As she had suspected, there were two sword copies behind her. All four stopped moving as soon as Miudofay’s flames touched them, floating impotently around her.
A shadow fell over her. He had jumped over her fire and was descending to attack. That itself wasn’t unexpected, but he was coming in faster than she had thought he would. It was all she could do to face him and cross her swords in front of her in time to block his powerful downward strike. Her foothold gave out as the force of the blow sent her down to the ground like a meteor.
She landed hard on her back with a grunt. Falin pushed off a foothold toward the ground, charging at her surrounded by his four copy swords poised to cut off her escape routes. She warped away with Lunera before he hit in an explosion of dirt and dust, and she rolled to her feet to face him.
Before she could think of counterattacking, there was another sword on either side of her. They slashed at her in unison, horizontally at different levels. She wasn’t in any position to do much more than jump and twist to avoid them, so that was what she did. One sword still nicked her thigh, drawing blood. A minor blow, but she could not keep taking minor blows. They would catch up with her sooner or later.
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She righted herself and warped behind him, then whirled and slashed Lunera. He managed to face her and raise his sword to guard, but her sword didn’t touch his. Instead, it cut through space and sent him back about two feet, just enough to be disorienting as she brought down Miudofay and unleashed a torrent of flame big enough to scorch the sky. The last thing she saw of him before he was engulfed was him, eyes wide and teeth gritted, desperately raising his sword in front of him.
When it cleared, it was obvious he had managed to defend. Six swords, with flats facing out to make them broader, were locked together in a makeshift shield, their golden blades warped and distorted, glowing orange after bathing in the heat of Miudofay’s flames, though they were repairing themselves before her eyes already. They parted a moment later to reveal Falin close behind him. His defense had not been perfect. His shield not being airtight had left him with plenty of burns and scorch marks dotting his form, from his boots to his face. The land around him was in ruins. He stood among a sea of ash and scorched dirt where there had once been fertile grassland. But he was alive and in fighting shape. He had probably used a motomancy barrier too, considering the severity, or lack thereof, of his injuries. It hadn’t held out, but it had spared him anything crippling.
On the bright side, she had learned something. It would have served him to summon the maximum number of sword copies for his hasty wall. Ergo, it stood to reason the maximum number was six, for a total of seven blades. She had already observed that external forces—presumably other than what was inherent in striking their target—immobilized the copies briefly. It didn’t even have to be a particularly strong force. Miudofay’s flames imparted little to what they burned, yet they had been sufficient. Though it was also possible there was some threshold of destructive power rather than raw physical force. Either way, she knew some of his Sacred Blade’s weaknesses now. All that was left was to put that knowledge into practice.
Easier said than done. Father’s Miudofay would have incinerated Falin despite his shield. Danfia would have had no problem weaving around hundreds of swords. Yet Lusya was struggling. Maybe she had hit the limit for how powerful motomancy could be for someone as empty as her. Even so, she had to try. If she fell here, she couldn’t do any of the things she needed to.
He charged and was upon her in an instant. He thrust at her, his six copy swords surrounding her to skewer her from all angles. She jumped high into the air to avoid them, then warped him up in front of her and struck with all her strength. One of the advantages of being able to stand on air for prolonged periods was the ability to have proper footing for sword techniques, preventing any loss in strength or precision.
But Falin was quick. He was off-guard for only the smallest fraction of a second, not long enough for her to hit. Then he jumped backward, away from her, completely dodging her attack. He had adjusted to being transported by Lunera so quickly. Much as Azure might have mocked him—and outshone him—he wasn’t a Paladin for nothing.
Lusya leaped forward into a kick, which he caught on his forearm, then used that as purchase to push off and send a wave of flame at him. He jumped over that with ease and raised his sword. His six swords appeared all around her at eclectic angles and positions, making it all but impossible to figure out all their paths before he struck.
So, she didn’t. As he attacked, she threw herself at one and pushed it aside with her crossed swords and warped to the ground. That maneuver let her avoid more than a few scratches, but, even with the warp, it made her movement easy to follow. Falin launched himself down to meet her the next instant, poised to strike. The five sword copies he could still control over encircled her, though their paths were clear enough this time.
That was what she thought, of course. She prepared to push past a sword again, only for it to suddenly change direction. A feint. She had fallen for a feint from six different attacks at once. Predictable as it was, she warped away with Lunera. Sure enough, the sixth copy, now recovered, was right there waiting where she arrived. She struck it with Miudofay before it could attack and whirled. As Falin himself closed in on her. She dodged his sword slash and batted away the copy flanking to try to cut her off in a single smooth motion. Then a punch caught her in the stomach, shooting her away through the air.
He was already moving to capitalize on it. That settled it. This wasn’t a fight she could win with what she was comfortable with. She needed to use every tool at her disposal. It was a risk, but she was going to die anyway if she didn’t take it. This way, she at least gave herself a fighting chance.
Azure had said Lusya’s ability to compartmentalize could be a strength. Time to see how true that was. As Azure would have put it, Lusya built a new wall, though she herself had issues with that analogy. Danfia could use her techniques while holding a casual conversation, but Lusya didn’t need to do that. She threw everything she didn’t need, that might distract her, behind the wall. Doubt, intimidation at fighting a Paladin, pain. She needed timing, but not her sense of time. Who cared how many minutes or hours had passed?
She was ready by the time he reached her. All six swords surrounded her, again at various angles to make them hard to predict. But she knew. From the way he held the main sword and knowing how he had fought thus far, she knew, because anything that might have distracted her or obscured it was tucked away where she couldn’t see it, almost forgotten. She waited for the last possible moment to throw herself back at just the right angle to let her sail harmlessly between copy swords, one passing inches in front of her face above.
Then she kicked off a foot hold to flip around, made a wall behind her, and sprang forward off it, launching herself toward him. She saw him, wide-eyed and reeling, readying to defend and slashed Lunera just as she started moving forward, emerging from behind him to thrust at his heart with Miudofay.
He didn’t have time for a graceful defense or counter. All he could do was throw himself to the side to avoid being skewered, and the sword still bit into his arm as he fled. She used a foothold to turn and jump toward him in a kick. It caught him in the chest with a shockwave, but she didn’t allow it to launch him backward. He crashed right into a wall she had created behind him instead.
To his credit, he recovered in an instant and tried to slash at her, but she created a small barrier in the attack’s path. It wasn’t up to the task of surviving a blow from a Paladin, but it slowed it enough for her to sidestep and lash out with a strike of her own.
Falin threw himself back through her wall and raised his sword. The six copies encircled her, but there was no hesitation about what to do about six attacks at once anymore. She used Miudofay’s flames to disable the three in front of her and ran forward, allowing the others to whiff through empty air when Falin swung. She charged toward him.
He readied a thrust, the three remaining copies taking up positions on either side of her and above. She struck at one to the side with Lunera before he could move, then moved that way and sent Miudofay’s fire back the other way, disabling those two copies right as Falin tried to attack.
Falin smirked as she was almost in range, poised to strike. The first three copies had recovered and were surrounding her. It seemed he thought she had forgotten about them, and he had won. Like Azure had said, Lusya’s walls weren’t infallible. She didn’t need a sense of humor right now, but she found she could appreciate the irony of Falin falling for a feint after almost defeating her with one.
Her next step never hit the ground. She created a low foot hold to jump off of, over all three copies and the main sword as they swung. From above, she sent down a wave of violet flame. Falin’s eyes widened, and he moved to the side to avoid them. Before the flames could hit the ground, she created a rift linking where they would have hit with a spot just to her side, redirecting the fire to surge toward where Falin tried to dodge, forcing him to skid to a halt. Although the heat from Miudofay’s flames fell off with unnatural speed, he was close enough that he flinched at it, reflexively shielding his face.
She kicked off a foothold and launched toward him, Lunera aimed for his throat. He tried to jump back. Lunera’s blade flung blood onto the ground as it finished its arc.
A series of wild, desperate slashes from six swords forced Lusya to retreat. She hadn’t made it in time. She had inflicted only a flesh wound on the front of Falin’s neck. Yet still, he snarled, face red with fury.
“Rage, hatred, and spite,” he said, all the while forcing her to dodge uncontrolled, difficult to predict strikes. None of them came close to hitting her, but the sudden change in his movements made it difficult to find an opening to counterattack. “My dreams cannot be fulfilled on this path. I have brought myself to a place of nothingness. Yet I will never change! Etner Stasio!”