“Somebody’s popular.”
Ryuna couldn’t help but smile at Kizzy’s comment as she shut the door to their room behind her. She had just spent the past few minutes playing with the twins, and just minutes before that, the village baker had stopped by the house to gift her with a fresh cake he had made just for her.
“Everyone here seems really sweet,” she responded, zipping off her jacket and tossing it onto the dresser. “I don’t think it has anything to do with me specifically.”
Kizzy side-eyed Ryuna as the latter started doing stretches. “Sure it doesn’t.”
Giggling, Ryuna walked over to Kizzy’s bed and took a seat. Peeling her annoyed eyes up from her magazine, Kizzy let out a “What.” It didn’t even sound like a proper question.
“You don’t like to hang out with people much, do ya?”
“No way. I loooove people. Aren’t they just the best.”
“I feel ya, girl. I don’t really like being around people much, either.”
Kizzy’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve been here for a day and you’re already besties with half the village.”
Ryuna shrugged her shoulders. “Well, sometimes you gotta do shit you don’t like to get shit you do like.” She then hopped out of the bed and bent over to sift through her duffel bag. She pulled out some sort of glass bottle, then returned to Kizzy’s bed. “Wanna share?”
“What is that?”
Turning the bottle around to read the label, Ryuna answered, “Lion Soul. The guy at the market said it’s supposed to be some really expensive stuff from Leotera.”
“You got that from Rit? He hordes everything that isn’t crappy, so how’d you get it? Are you rich or something?”
“Nope, didn’t cost me a thing!” Ryuna replied, popping the bottle open. “Just gotta flutter your eyes at him and poke your hip out a little. Try it! You’re cute! I’m sure you could get some stuff for yourself.”
“No.”
Ryuna brought the bottle up to her nose and took a whiff. She felt a sudden punch hit her nostrils, followed by a sonic explosion echoing around her skull. “Whoa…..!” Looking over at Kizzy, she asked, “You ever drink before?”
The Welcan girl shook her head. “Not allowed to yet.”
“Really? What’s the drinking age here?”
“There is none,” Kizzy said. “But you can’t drink until you start a family.”
“That’s….a weird rule. Back home, you just have to be twenty.”
Ryuna slipped the bottle between her lips and took a swig. “Wow….that is good! Want some?”
Kizzy didn’t answer, but when Ryuna caught her eye glancing over at the bottle, she didn’t need to. “I’m not gonna snitch, dude, relax! C’mon, take a sip!”
With a nod, Kizzy took the bottle and gulped. And then, the instant the liquor finished sliding down her throat, a booming burp and a puff of red flames exploded from her mouth, temporarily bathing the room in its glow.
After taking a moment to reorient herself, she looked over to Ryuna. “….That was awesome.”
Ryuna bursted into laughter, nearly toppling over backwards. Meanwhile, Kizzy took another drink. In exchange for it, she had to cough up another flaming burp.
“Dude, are you an Energizer?” Ryuna asked as she watched the red embers plume from the girl’s mouth a second time, recognizing the telltale signs.
“A….what?”
“Has nobody told you?” A negative head shake. “It’s when your body produces a type of energy, like, in your case, fire, it looks like. Have you ever, like, made fire around you? Like on accident or something?”
This time, the head nod was affirmatory. “Yeah, I think so? When I was little, I tried to pet another kid’s cat, but I burned it and it scratched me.”
“You didn’t try to find out what happened? Did no one tell you?”
“No….I just thought it was cuz cats are evil or something.”
Ryuna retrieved the Lion’s Soul bottle and took another swig before stepping back over to her own bed. “Well, now that you know, you can try training at it,” she said, setting the bottle on the dresser and sliding under the covers. “Fire’s a pretty common energy signature, but it’s also pretty dangerous, so you should definitely try to get it under control. When I get back tomorrow, I’ll train with you. Deal?”
“Ugh….That sounds like work.”
* * * *
ULTRA DRAGON
* * * *
Once again, Ryuna volunteered to kick off the day’s duels, tossing out a few quick jabs to get herself warmed up.
“Would anyone like to challenge Ryuna in the first duel of the day?” the woman called out.
Ryuna began to scan the room. Nobody seemed to be stepping forward. On the one hand, she felt pleased with herself for having intimidated them all with her performance the day before, but on the other, she also felt more than a little annoyed. Not only was this hesitation a waste of time and holding up the day’s matches, it was also a display of utter cowardice. How could any of them stand to not accept the challenge? she asked herself. What kinda fighter isn’t itching to fight?
Did they really think they deserved to call themselves her competition when they were this scared?
But just as Ryuna huffed out her annoyance through her nostrils, a challenger finally stepped forward, as though that little action had been his activation method. “I’ll face her.”
She recognized him from the day before as Cheng, as he had requested to use a wooden training sword in his duel.
And in a repeat of that duel, the monastery woman looked over at Ryuna and asked, “Are you comfortable allowing Cheng to duel with a training sword?”
“Sure,” she said, answering to Cheng directly rather than the woman. “Hell, you can use your actual sword if you want, dude. A little blood would make these matches more exciting, right?”
“The training sword will be fine,” the woman said with a sigh.
This time around, Ryuna opted to hang back at the start of the fight, rather than rush in. She wasn’t afraid of Cheng or anything, but she hadn’t fought very many swordfighters, and thus needed a bit of time to figure out a game plan.
Cheng mirrored her early match patience, his muscles calmly positioning into his usual stance — feet shoulder-width apart, sword held at a diagonal angle across the center of his body.
Both fighters kept their eyes locked on one another, as moving away from the other’s gaze would either signal cowardice or their next move.
Realizing Cheng wasn’t going to make the first move, and also feeling antsy from the inactivity, Ryuna made the first move, dashing forward to close the distance. Cheng was ready, taking a smooth sidestep and angling his sword to block the incoming kick from below.
Predicting what was coming next, Cheng twirled the sword around in a half-circle just in time to deflect Ryuna’s palm thrust. He then twisted back around and thrust his elbow backward to catch her in the stomach.
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Ryuna stumbled back from the attack and immediately ducked into a near-split, narrowly avoiding the horizontal follow-up swing. With no time to think things through, her instincts took over, and she spun her foot around in a leg sweep, catching Cheng’s ankle and sending him tumbling forward.
The swordsman adjusted his fall into a forward roll and turned around, blocking a three-hit assault before taking a quick swing to put some distance between himself and Ryuna.
“You’re pretty quick with that thing,” Ryuna commented, watching as Cheng returned to his original stance. “I didn’t think you’d be able to block when I got in close.”
Though he tried to maintain his fierce expression, Cheng couldn’t help but crack a smile at the compliment. “What you are witnessing is the highest caliber of Chao-on swordsmanship.”
“Never heard of it,” Ryuna replied.
The smile disappeared. “Well now you have. And you will not forget it once it defeats you.”
Cheng rushed in and slashed from multiple directions in a frenzy. Ryuna quickly stepped back, throwing out her arms in time with each swing to deflect it away from her.
However, her retreating parries did not last long, as she was soon backed up towards the crowd, and, when they dispersed, the wall. Were she to be pressured against the wall, she would become quick prey for Cheng.
Knowing she needed to switch from defense to offense fast, she hopped backward and planted her foot on the wall behind her, pushing off of it and sailing up and over Cheng’s head. He swung the wooden sword in pursuit of her as she arced over him, but Ryuna knew her jump was far enough to keep her completely safe from it.
That is, until she felt the sword slap her across the shoulder, throwing her to the side.
“What the-?!” she hissed to herself, clutching at her shoulder to confirm that it had indeed been hit. “That shouldn’t’ve reached….!”
Cheng approached her once more, but slow and steady. In fact, he wasn’t even in his usual stance. There was swagger and cockiness in his walk this time. As he looked down at Ryuna, he said, “Nice try. But you cannot escape a Chao-on swing, not even with your circus tricks.”
Dusting herself off, Ryuna put her hands back up in front of her. “Yeah yeah. How ‘bout you chow on your teeth when I punch ‘em down your throat?”
“Fool! You will never be able to catch me.”
The two combatants charged at one another, each executing their own combinations. Ryuna’s fists stabbed at Cheng’s face four times in the blink of an eye, but the swordsman somehow managed to dodge each one while simultaneously chopping the sword down towards Ryuna’s neck.
Ryuna slipped her head and shoulders away from the attack before springing back up to continue throwing a barrage at her opponent, but all she struck was either wood or air.
She began to feel her frustration from earlier bubble up inside her. Why wasn’t anything working? How was he fast enough to maneuver a weapon so fast in such a tight window around his body?
Was this just the reality of the caliber of competition she was up against? Up until this point, she had trounced just about everyone she stepped into the ring with — were they not all that impressive in the first place?
Anger took over her for a brief moment as she spun into a backfist. In that same instance, she felt the chi within her body burst into her hand. She hadn’t been ready for it, which caused her to feel an explosion of pain course through her entire right arm before it was rendered completely numb. “Shit!”
Cheng took advantage, slamming his shoulder into Ryuna before clubbing the wooden sword against the small of her back. She was sent flying forward face-first into the floor.
But rather than hit the ground and take the fall, Ryuna rotated into a roll and sprang back up. She knew Cheng would close the distance and swing at her once more to finish her off, so she instead dived away, far out of his range.
And yet, the sword somehow caught her ankle during her escape.
As she skidded to a stop, Ryuna narrowed her eyes at the swordsman. “Okay, buddy….Something’s definitely up. There’s no way you should’ve hit me with that.” Ordinarily, the strength of that strike would have broken her ankle for sure, but while the chi coursing through her had hampered her arm, it was now providing relief to her leg, keeping it safe from injury.
“I am no ordinary swordsman,” Cheng responded, his face once more lighting up in a smile. “You stand against none other than Cheng Chao-on: master of the Chao-on sword style! Defeat is only natural!”
And then, when Cheng twirled the sword around in a showcase of flair before returning to his default stance, Ryuna found the answer. From the corner of her eye, she noticed a slight….distortion in the tip of the sword as Cheng whirled it in circles. As though it were momentarily no longer a solid block of wood, and instead it was….liquid.
“Ohhhhh, now I get it….”
“What?”
Ryuna giggled. “You’re using a Water Install! Frickin’ duh! No wonder your movements are so fluid!”
The instant she saw Cheng’s brow furrow, she knew that was it.
“You popped it before you came to the monastery, didn’t you?” she asked. “I didn’t see you trigger it during our match, so I wasn’t even thinking about Installs, but it’s so obvious now!”
An awkward murmur began to circulate around the crowd of onlookers. The monastery woman stepped forward to capture everyone’s attention. “Would you like to request this match be canceled, Ryuna? Installs are allowed in the duels, but because he activated it prior to the duel-”
“Nah, it’s fine,” Ryuna responded, to the surprise of many in the room. “It’s not a big deal. I just feel stupid for not realizing it sooner.”
Having cracked the case, Ryuna felt her annoyance from before die down, and her confidence return. It was such a simple trick, really: the Water Install, when placed into the Body Slot, allowed one’s body to move and flow like water — one could reposition more quickly, angle themselves in directions that were ordinarily impossible, and, as evidenced in this duel, extend one’s reach through liquifying a limb or a sword.
Cheng had been using the Water Install to do just that — make his movements smoother, which is what had allowed him to flow so well when up close despite carrying a long weapon. Not only that, he had also been using it to extend the reach of his sword, which is how he had managed to catch Ryuna during her jumps. If she had seen him activate the Install during battle, she would have been prepared for such maneuvers, but since he had done so beforehand, the thought hadn’t even crossed her mind.
“Alright, you sneaky little fucker,” Ryuna said, patting her palms against her cheeks and hopping in place. “That was a pretty good trick, but lemme show you how to really use an Install!”
She clenched her hands into fists and positioned them in front of her stomach. Taking a deep breath, she pounded her knuckles together. Upon connection, a deep, echoing voice exploded out from within her:
EARTH!
An orange-brown light flowed across her entire body. Though nothing changed outwardly about her, internally, she could feel the effects of the Earth Install take hold.
Cheng’s eyes narrowed. An Earth Install set into the Body Slot would no doubt increase Ryuna’s resilience, allowing her to remain steady when struck, and perhaps even stave off physical pain much more potently than usual. However, that alone would certainly not be able to stop Cheng, so either she had some kind of trick up her sleeve, or she was banking on tanking a hit to give herself a window of counterattacking.
Preparing himself for either one, Cheng approached. And, now that he no longer needed to hide the fact that he was using a Water Install, he was able to put even more ULTRA Force into it. As he swung his sword, the weapon extended to three times its usual length, whipping across Ryuna from far outside of her own range.
She held her arm up steady, blocking the swing head-on. The sword liquified as it made contact with her sturdy arm, like a tidal wave crashing against the rocks of a coastline.
So that was indeed her angle: use the sturdiness provided by the Earth Install to withstand the enhanced slashes of the Water Install to try to create an opening to counter.
In that case, Cheng decided his best course of action was to stay at long range and not allow her to pull off her counterattack. Of course, he wouldn’t be able to stay too far out of her range, as the distance the sword had to travel would alert her to each one. He had to strike her more quickly — she was likely slower now because of the Earth Install, so he needed to outpace her.
Cheng liquified the bottom of his feet, sliding forward along the ground in a hurry. He slashed from multiple angles as he closed the gap, not expecting to strike Ryuna, but for the purposes of keeping her arms busy blocking.
As he closed the gap, he kicked off of the floor and curved his body at an impossible angle, liquifying for a brief instance as he did. This allowed him to circle around Ryuna in a mere second, and there was nothing she could do to stop it, as his body was no longer beholden to physics as a normal body would be.
That maneuver gave him the right angle. He liquified the sword to properly build momentum in the tight space between him and Ryuna, resolidified it at the apex, then swung.
Ryuna ducked low, avoiding the slash, but Cheng was prepared to flow into a second or even third swing, and it would no doubt be quicker than Ryuna’s next action could possibly be.
But Ryuna’s duck was not simply to evade the slash. Indeed, her true plan was to slam her fist into the floor. The impact opened a crater in the ground, and the air around the monastery was soon flooded with the sound of a mountain landslide.
As her fist struck the floor, a chunk of the latter exploded upwards like shrapnel. The pieces of stone and concrete collided with Cheng’s body, and, more importantly, against his wrists.
Cheng gasped out in pain as the rock forced him to release his grip on the weapon. Now that he was wide open, Ryuna thrust her palm into his chest with enough might to send him flying dozens of feet across the room, crashing into the wall.
In the same motion, she brought her hands up to chest level, one over the other as though she were cradling something between them. The spiritual voice from before returned once more, exploding out from within her.
WATER!
Ryuna held her arm out, catching the wooden training sword before it could hit the floor. A blue light flowed across her skin and down into the sword, which completely broke down into water.
She flowed the water around her body gathering it all into one palm. She held her left arm out in the direction of Cheng, then shaped her hand into a finger gun.
After she pulled the trigger, a ball of water soared across the room. Just as Cheng began to shake the dizziness from the impact off of him, the ball collided with his face, bursting into a big splash of wetness.
He collapsed to the floor, fully defeated.
“Bang,” Ryuna said with a smile. She then brought her finger gun up to her lips and blew.