"Again!" Kaz begins the third battle in a row between Mingten and me - the second, the one with the tonfas: I lost - this time I am equipped with a pair of daggers.
Since I was on the defensive the other two times at the beginning of the fights, I'm going to try going on the offensive this time.
I run towards Mingten even though I don't think my offensive will work because of the range of the daggers I'm basically forced to get closer in order to make a decent attack.
She blocks one of the daggers with her saber and kicks me in the stomach before I can attack with the other dagger.
Damn, I almost threw up my lunch with that kick. Shouldn't I have already metabolized this with all this movement?
Without giving me time to compose myself, the saber comes towards my waist, I try to block it with both daggers but I end up being suppressed by the speed and weight of the attack.
As I cannot confront the attack, I take a slight jump back, moving away from the saber's reach, I recover my posture before Mingten can make the next attack with the saber. Or that's what I expected.
Instead I had a feeling of deja vu when a cloud of dust rose as soon as I rebalanced, obviously I had the filter activated every moment of the match, the only moments I deactivated it were when I needed to synchronize myself with the flames on the lapis stone, Unfortunately it didn't make any difference this time.
Despite having escaped the cut towards my waist, I was unable to put significant distance between us, so as soon as the dust settled she was already in front of me with the tip of the saber millimeters from my throat.
I raise my hands in surrender, still holding the daggers.
"Do we really need to do more of these practice battles if the result is always going to be the same?" I ask the person responsible for this torment: Kaz.
"For someone who refused to fight, you care a lot about the results of these battles." Mingten speaks with a slight tease as she moves the saber away from my throat.
I still question the belligerent nature of the Synchoners that she and Kaz described.
But who the hell likes to lose?
Even more so when your survival could be at stake.
"I would also like to understand the logic behind this exercise, Mr. Kaz." A new heart rhythm appears in my sixth sense and I look to where Kaz and Talavar are...
Talking? Monitoring us?
Who knows what crazy people think.
Now with Jill, in normal mode instead of tree woman, added to the group of spectators.
"I'm just getting them familiar with armed combat." Kaz responds in a neutral tone of indifference.
As they talk Mingten and I exchange a look and come to a silent agreement to rest while we can.
*****
Just before the clumsy researcher arrived, when I was still getting some information from the sloppy swordsman - and failing - I tried to change the question:
"What about concepts of karma, dharma the enlightened and reincarnation?"
Talavar raises his hand to support his chin and closes his eyes, appearing to be in deep thought.
"I once helped my master-" Talavar interrupts his own speech "My former master, an elder from Wudang. He was in charge of receiving and hosting guests coming from Kunlun, among the guests was the Second Pillar." He pauses, noting that he didn't ask how familiar I am with the Kunlun hierarchy.
"I am aware of the titles given to the strongest members of the nine sects, continue." Since I have already noticed the doubt, I see no reason not to eliminate it.
Said titles in turn tend to follow the same pattern, such as: Seven Swords of Wudang, Eight Guardians of Baekdu and Nine Pillars of Kunlun.
Talavar gives a slight nod and continues with the story:
"As I was one of the few people close to Pilar's age and thus one of the few she felt comfortable enough to talk to normally." Please get to the point, lazy. "In one of these conversations I asked about the origin of the Pillar titles, she said that she didn't know the origin of most of the other titles but she knew the origin of her title itself."
"What would it be?" I rush the sloppy one a little.
"Her title is: Unshakeable. And according to her, it is a translation of Acala, a minor god who protected people's minds with fire and sought to enlighten all people in the world." Without noticing, or ignoring my pleas, Talavar continues to speak at the same pace as before.
Normally I would make at least one comment with a veiled threat, but the name Acala created a whirlwind in my mind.
'I found a trace that could lead me to the origin of all this!' I screamed in my mind and barely managed to not scream out loud.
Around this time I notice Jill approaching the group and the brats throw themselves on the ground, taking any chance they have to rest.
Too bad it won't last long.
I clap my hands to get the brats' attention and with dark amusement, which almost overshadows my paranoia, I end the brats' rest.
"Let's speed things up brats, you won't always have time to rest after a battle."
After my friendly reminder, the two stretch slightly and Baha switches weapons, Katar's pair, and moves on to the next battle.
Before they start training together, I want to see if I can get any more information from the slob.
"Do you have any idea where Acala's belief originated?"
Lavar adjusts his posture a little to sit with his back straight, then he gives up and leans on Jill's legs who were standing behind him.
"No, however during the meeting I told you about there were rumors that the founder of Wudang and the Unshakable share the same homeland." The slovenly man speaks, stretching close to the legs of the clumsy Jill, who moves to the side while Talavar stretches his arms, almost making him fall. He manages to regain his balance and sit with his hands touching the floor.
Even if he fell, he would just lie down on the grass and carry on as if nothing had happened, right?
Leaving these two's antics aside, my mind almost exploded with Talavar's response.
I will have to visit the sects of Nine Skies as soon as possible.
"So, what are the chances of this rumor being true?" I ask, almost failing to hide my excitement about the subject.
"I can't say, but it's true that they were both born in the same region but at different times." Talavar speaks apparently without noticing that I'm doing everything I can to contain the storm in my mind.
"Oh, what is the name of such a land blessed with two geniuses that cross generations, which remains hidden from the public eye?" I ask, composing myself, more or less at least my sarcasm is back.
"It's not that they hide the name of the place: Solim." Talavar begins to speak with a nostalgic tone, probably remembering the conversations he had in Wudang. "Simply no one has any interest in the place as it is not capable of producing or extracting any resources on a large scale, it is just a piece of land on one of Baekrin's moons."
As he spoke, my brain analyzed each new piece of information with all its might, which made me decide to close the questions. If I need to deal with more information, I'm not sure I'll react in time if the brats overdo their training.
Baekrim is a planet in the solar system nicknamed 'God's burial grounds' where most of the legacies of the divine age were found and nicknamed because unlike the other of the eleven worlds no group is influential enough there to act as regents.
The best they can do is occupy and subjugate a planet to serve as an outpost, Baekrim is one of those planets, more specifically the outpost of the junction of 'Nine Heavens' and 'Martial Inheritance': Martial Alliance.
The planet Baekrim itself is under the supervision of the Baek clan, sometimes also referred to as the home of blood and iron.
The reason I know all this is that I've already had my meetings with one of the Baek heirs, very hostile meetings on both sides unfortunately.
But this is a story from a distant past that is almost a past life.
The most important thing is that the name of the region may just be a coincidence, after all, sometimes different languages have similar words with completely different meanings. But I still can't ignore the similarity.
After all, solim/sorim is another name for Shaolin.
After this information, I ended the one-sided question and answer session with Talavar and returned to focusing on the brats' fight.
*******
Mental note to self: two-handed swords are heavy.
Such is the state of my mind while blocking the katar that Baha uses, for some reason he decided to attack with both at the same time from top to bottom, making it possible for me to block both blades at the same time.
Unfortunately, gravity is on his side so it will be my defense that ends up failing if I don't do something to change the situation.
I stimulate one of the rings along the saber, which contains the lapis of electricity, bluish sparks begin to crackle around its edge, unfortunately for me, Bahia jumps back and moves the katar's blades away before the electric current reaches him.
He probably reflexively recoiled at the changes in my breathing, forcing me to admit how irritating his talent can be.
Not that it will make any difference, all he managed was to give me enough space to use my saber...
It wouldn't make a difference normally but apparently I didn't consider how much exhaustion slows down my reaction speed. And Baha obviously noticed my slower pace.
He sets one of his arms on fire and swings it vertically as he continues to increase the flames, in a response that I made more by reflex than thought, I make a horizontal slash with the saber while synchronizing with the air to dissipate the flames in front of me.
Wrong choice.
I realize this fact with bitterness before the dust that I created myself settles, after all I can notice how close Baha is through my 'filter'.
As soon as the dust settles I can actually see Baha on my left side, the side from which my attack with the saber came, keeping both katar close to my neck.
"I surrender." I speak a little happily, despite wanting to raise the point that he only managed to win because I'm exhausted, but it's not like he's had more rest than me. This way I can hold back my childishness.
After all, I still won more times.
"It finally looks like the airhead is learning to use his own strengths to his advantage, and create opportunities in the midst of battle." The drunk old man speaks while slowly clapping for Baha?
Or both of us?
Forget it, not even the gods can understand this maniac's mind.
"Is he insulting me or praising me?" Baha asks as he pulls the blades away from my neck.
"I think both." I respond as I return the saber to its sheath.
Right now, I just want to sleep.