We continued on with our journey after I had spent almost an hour practicing the sword forms and stances in the book. At some point during the practice, the blood bats had actually joined in, flying and moving in the direction I pointed or waved my sword at. It was like I was training them to move in tandem with the way I swung my hand or sword.
I would like to tell you that in that hour, I had learnt enough to be able to hold my own, and to be honest...…..I think I did. Learning how to use a sword again becomes progressively easier when your body remembers and knows how to swing a blade around.
There was a finesse to it that just came naturally, a vampire's body was an enigma none the less, as the strength and speed they're able to bring to bear was almost supernatural. But as a revenant it seemed my change into a vampire from a human had not completed wiped clean the slate and forged it into the very pinnacle of a killing machine. This was an opportunity no doubt, and my still changing vampire body could be taught to acclimate and adapt to muscle memory I had built as a human.
I hit my feet on a rock and had to grit my teeth as I retrained myself from swearing heaven and earth at the unfortunate rock that just seemed to think it was a good day to situate itself right in front of me. For some reason I got really frustrated about it, and swung the short sword in my hand at it while also simultaneously letting my soul energy rush through it.
What followed next probably scared me for life. The rune circle lit up, and coated the entire blade, flowing with the discretion of my soul energy as it ran over the surface of the sword. Then a blue wave of condensed light shot out, rapidly coalescing into a giant depiction of the seal, directly over the point where the hilt and the blade of the sword met. Then another wave flew out of the sword and hit the rock in front of me.
"BANG!!!!!"
A cloud of dust and rubble flew up into the air as I was thrown off my feet. I was deposited twenty feet away from a ground littered with web like cracks and a depression of about three meters wide and one deep. My short sword was laying five feet away from me the giant glowing rune circle disappearing and dissipating into the air as if nothing had happened. Teluna was a few feet away with two short daggers made of pure darkness clutched in his hands, as he looked for what had attacked.
"You should be careful when you're playing with your runes Kael." Teluna chides as the daggers made of smoke like darkness disappeared into nothing.
"Play?.....play your mother!, I almost died!." I screamed at him for no other reason than the fact that he was the only person around who I could scream at.
"Oh, okay. You're still alive aren't you, and from the look of things you're not hurt. So let's get going, we're wasting time."
What the hell was it with this kid, he was so damn annoying. I quickly got back up to my feet as I looked at the damage I had just caused. I gulped because until a few moments ago my feet was a little to close to the point of impact. And then I couldn't help the grin that stretched all over my face.
The effect of a rune could be channeled and shot out in such a manner, it was a welcome discovery, now imagine if I had a bow or a set of daggers. It would be like holding grenades in my hand, not to mention the fact that my sword can shoot the essence of the rune word [BREAK] from a distance away meant I could cause a lot of damage before my enemies got close enough to me. This was an overpowered skill to have, well at least for my level of strength anyway.
I picked up my sword and jogged to catch up with Teluna, and right then and there I sent just a thread of my soul energy coursing through the sword, the rune lit up again, and a bigger phantom of it appeared over the hilt, exactly where my hand was in contact with the sword. I couldn't help the smile that stretched over my face as I attempted a horizontal slash.
"VOOOP!!"
It was the kind of sound you would hear if you flicked or shook a wet cloth in the air. Like the sound of the wind being displaced or something. A blue beam shot out of the sword and got progressively wider stretching from just a three meter crescent moon, to a ten meter moon, moving and tearing a huge trench in the ground for a distance of ten feet before it dissipated into the air.
The damage this time seemed a whole lot more than the first time, which was surprising because I had only used a little of my soul energy as opposed to the first time where the full brunt of my anger and soul energy had been brought to bear. As if in response to my thoughts, I heard a huge crash behind me and quickly Teluna and I turned around, with his daggers of darkness making an appearance again.
The previous point where my sword had left cracks on the ground had caved in, all that was left was a deep hole that even I could not see end of from here. I took a cursory glance at my legs that had been eerily close when that sword came down, then I raised my head to the sky and gave a silent thanks to God for watching after me.
"That's a dangerous move to joke around with." Teluna suddenly spoke up as if to warn me.
"I'm not joking around Teluna, I'm trying to train it. I need to become more conversant with the skill." I explained
"Well can you be a little more silent about it, and break less things." He countered.
I couldn't help the feeling that Teluna was being sarcastic, but with his bland tone and face, I couldn't really tell. But who was here to listen or see me cause this much destruction. But he might be right, or not, there was no other place to train this skill but here. I put the sword back into it's sheath hanging at the side of my body. Then I bent down to pick up some rocks, time for a little experimentation.
At this point I think I have mastered the weaving of the rune [BREAK], all I had to do was touch any surface and the rune would appear in glowing blue script. As far as intent and will goes, I have all in spades, the rune [BREAK] felt as if it was a part of me, something that was a part of my soul itself.
With meant at this point I could weave that rune which ever way I wanted and on whatever I wanted. I called upon my rapidly depleting soul energy, and weaved a circle and [BREAK] unto a walnut sized rock in my hands, then I whipped my hand back and threw it as far as I could. I watched the rock sail through the air, until it finally came down, and then.
"CRAAACCCKKKKK!!!"
"Hahahaha, whoooo that's awesome." I screamed out loud with my hands up in the air.
Teluna turned to look at me with a pointed look on his face, and to be honest I was a little unsettled by it.
"What?" I asked a little defensively.
"I get that you're eager to try out your abilities, but please tread with caution. As long as we're still within the light of the districts, we might still be watched or followed."
His words felt like cold water over my fiery exuberance. He was right though, the way things stood now, meant I had to be extra careful. I should not be taking chances, and with my recently discovered talent of breaking things, I was doing just that. I sneakily placed a few more rocks into the bag that was hanging at my side, and then I pulled the book about basic swordsmanship out. Time to see how good my reading skill was, and if it was possible to read while walking, Teluna was not a conversation inclined partner.
[BASIC STUDY OF THE SWORD AND THE GUIDE TO CREATING YOUR OWN STYLE.]
CHAPTER THREE:
[battle skills, sword styles, sword moves etc., are just fancy ways to slash, pierce and parry. However that does not mean they're entirely useless. In fact they're very important. Most if not all battle skills have a foundation of body movement and muscle placement for more damage, maneuverability and speed.
Of course some of those styles are so colorful and extravagantly named it gives me the creep. But some of those names are well deserved. Because of how flexible the sword is, inspiration for it's styles can come from any thing, even something as mundane as a spoon or a loaf of bread can inspire a sword move. I should know, I've seen someone name his sword style the loaf of despair sword style. (I made it a point to avoid that idiot.)
There are no such styles recorded in this book, instead I will give you the keys required to create and craft your own sword style. The first thing you need to understand is the ability to visualize your sword style, and mostly this comes from your inspiration. Most people rely on sudden enlightenment to create truly fearsome sword skills. Others comes from sheer hard work, or years of repetitive use of the sword in a particular manner or form.
After visualization, muscle training and movement application is required. You need to know which part of the muscle to move, to push, pull, flow, bend, guide and gather to perfectly complement and bring forth the visualization in your mind. Then you have to integrate them with movements, that's why swordsmen make very good dancers. Movements and muscles will have to be combined until they're one and the same, and then energy integration comes next.
Every inspired sword style must have an essence, or element attached to it. The WAY would help with the accumulation and connection to the ether or any of its secondary energy source like Mana, Qi or Chakra. But for those energy to really bring forth the true power of your sword style, you have to understand the essence of what you visualize, and the kind of energy or element that complements your sword style. An example would be someone creating a sword style with the name (unbreakable sword of valor).
The essence of this move lies in the word unbreakable which can be attributed to a whole lot of different things that can't be broken, and valor which in essence means courage. Which means this sword style would be filled with attacking stances, always moving forward, with a powerful defense. Basically we have the essence of a sword move that follows the battle philosophy of offense being the greatest defense.
Once the essence of the sword has been understood, then the feeling of that essence will have to be integrated with every muscle movement made, and every energy form released. And when all that is done, your sword style would have finally been created, and it would be up to you to master it.]