Chereads / Pioneer of Ascension / Chapter 14 - Clash

Chapter 14 - Clash

Diores looked to the young boy in front of him, noting the fire within his gaze, and felt glad.

'Thirteen has talent. He's taken to both meditation and unarmed combat quickly and has shown great judgement in his fights. But he's not like Eleven. He lacks any strong desire for cultivation, or any real thirst for power.

Perhaps this could be good for him. Whether he wins or loses, with a little luck, he will attach more importance to his cultivation and the accumulation of power.'

With these thoughts in mind, Diores turned to look at Eleven.

'This one too. If he were to lose now to a healing meta it would do wonders for his inflated ego. Though him winning could turn out for the worst. If that were the case, I'm sure there are other ways.' The instructor thought with a sidelong glance at Four.

Having made his decision, he gave his judgement with a brief nod and an announcement.

"In round three, Eleven and Thirteen will spar." And then, after a second more thought.

Thirteen was glad. He always felt that Instructor Diores, while strict, was the easiest to connect to. 'Unlike Nicholas and Piers, Diores reminds me more of Melia. If Nicholas seems like he's going through the routines, Diores feels like he truly hopes we succeed, even if he's incredibly strict.'

"Fine… let's just do it now" Eleven interrupted Thirteen's thoughts.

"No." Thirteen replied. "Unlike you, I don't enjoy beating someone who's down. I'll wait for the third round to begin so you can rest."

'Plus I could really use a bit longer for my healing attribute to work on this leg.' Thirteen thought to himself. In truth he didn't care much whether Eleven was tired or not, but he really didn't want to lose for his own impatience.

"Hmph, fine." Eleven responded, before being led away by his Helper who still seemed mad at the boy.

"Are you sure about this?" Four asked. "You should have let me deal with him."

"It's fine. Having you fight him would just be overkill" Thirteen asserted, before walking over to Nine and the medic and crouching down.

"How is he?"

"The boy's fine, it's just a cut. Shouldn't leave a scar, but it's going to hurt for a while. I'll have someone take him back to his dorm, so don't worry about a thing." The medic responded.

Breathing a sigh of relief, thirteen stood up again as he tried to get used to his partly numb left leg.

Heading back to where he usually sat, by the flat stones, Thirteen began to ponder what he knew about Eleven's capabilities. "I know he's a qi cultivator and that he's better than most of us with a sword. His cultivation art was called the Cloud Soaring Sword, but I don't know if he'd be able to cultivate it yet, or if it would have any benefits for him without employing the techniques."

Taking a seat, he continued to dissect what that meant. "According to the Head Instructor's lectures, qi cultivation begins with the Awakening stage in which they unblock something called meridians within the body. They sound similar to veins, but exclusively for circulating qi. At the very least, Eleven will have begun to unblock some of his meridians, meaning he will have a small amount of expendable qi.

That qi shouldn't be useful for much at this level, but it's expenditure will increase his capabilities above the ordinary. I don't know if it will make him stronger than me, but I can be sure that they won't have much of it to expend. Since he hasn't raised his innate abilities like a body refiner, once he runs out of qi he won't be my match.

Given that, I just need to prolong this battle and use my superior stamina and innate capabilities to outlast his temporary improvement.

...Maybe I should have just fought him immediately, before he had the chance to regain what he expended."

As Thirteen's thoughts ran wild, Helper Melia approached.

"Kid." She flicked his head to wake him from his thoughts. "What on earth are you playing at, challenging Eleven?"

"I had no choice. Besides, I've thought it through already, it should be fine." Thirteen argued.

"Sigh… you haven't thought through anything. The only sword fights you've had are either with me or other children unskilled in the art. How are you supposed to match someone like Eleven, and with a bad leg at that!" She criticized as she gave a light kick to his shin to make her point.

"I can't feel it. My shin is mostly numb so the pain won't be a problem. I'll just keep my distance and wait for him to run out of steam. By that point, my body refinement should be enough to contest his agility attribute. I told you, I've thought it through."

Looking at his rebellious eyes, Melia simply shook her head. 'As if it's that simple, brat.'

"Fine. Go and fight him, but if you lose, I'm going to make your life a living hell of sword training, understood?"

*gulp* "Fine."

With that, Melia left without turning back, and within a minute, Four returned to the flat stones along with Ten who had just finished her duel and was being caught up on everything that had happened.

Throughout the entire long break, they both bombarded him with whatever advice they could think of, all of which Thirteen did his best to take on board, though he suspected he'd forget it all once the fight began.

Finally, it came time for matches to be announced. Thirteen didn't pay much heed to who his friends were matched against, as he believed that they could beat at least half the other children, and were evenly matched for what remained. 'Except maybe Four… I don't know if anyone can match him before they too awaken a second attribute'.

Standing on his leg, Thirteen did a few hops and stances, concluding that as long as he was careful, it should be fine. Only that faint numbness worried him.

As Thirteen approached Eleven, he felt for the wooden sword at his waist, as if to confirm it was there.

Melia too approached, along with Eleven's helper. "Bow and introduce yourselves" She commanded.

"...Thirteen. Healing."

"Eleven. Agility."

Straightening their backs, Thirteen drew his sword quickly, while Eleven did so slowly.

Eleven's posture was one in which his sword was held flat at head level, with its tip pointed at his foe. Thirteen on the other hand, took a very simple stance taught in the swordplay routines, with his legs spread just right, and both hands down, gripping the sword at roughly 45 degrees.

'No point trying to act more proficient than I am. I'm confident in this stance.' Thirteen thought, as Eleven began to walk in a sideways arc. Thirteen followed suit and soon, the two of them were tracing out a circle, as Eleven tested Thirteens reactions.

Thirteen himself did not test Eleven, lest he reveal a flaw, instead opting to hold back from even reacting, and just readying himself to put distance between them.

'I'll need to draw this out once he begins his assault.'

After a prolonged period without action, Eleven relaxed his shoulders and struck. It was a simple thrust, but its speed was far greater than the testing movements of earlier.

Thirteen's eyes went wide as he leaned to his right, swinging his own sword left with the grace of a baboon, essentially bashing it into Eleven's blade to deflect.

"The sword is not a bludgeon. Avoid using excessive force to defend." Instructor Diores called out, as the helpers took a step back, allowing him to judge the spar.

'Damn' Thirteen cursed inwardly. He knew that was something he was expected to keep in mind, but he couldn't help it in the moment.

Eleven didn't follow up immediately, as Thirteen had unexpectedly retreated, putting space between them.

With a faint idea of Thirteen's plans, Eleven stepped forward. He first swung his blade in a wide motion towards Thirteen's left side, but then, as he saw thirteen ready to make further movements backwards, he lunged forward, turning his swipe into a stab.

With a thud, he made contact with Thirteen's chest.

"Good strike. Point to Eleven." The instructor called.

As Thirteen moved back to the center of their sparring area to begin again, he sorted out his puzzled thoughts while patting his hurt chest. 'He knew I was going to move back. How am I supposed to delay if I can't even get away? Do I really need to try and best him in a straight sword duel?'

"Ready. Fight" called Diores.

This time, Eleven wasted no breath testing Thirteen's reactions, directly lunging forward with his sword held low by his left side, before swinging upwards at Thirteen, making use of the small amount of qi within his body.

As the sword approached at rapid speeds, Thirteen too moved as quickly as he could, moving both his body to dodge, and his sword to deflect. But when their swords made contact, Thirteen felt an incredible shock to his hands and forearms as his sword was pushed upward and sent flying out of grip.

'Come on!' Thirteen screamed at himself. 'Just keep up with him, that's all you need to do!'.

Being disarmed while fighting a swordsman was never good. Though thirteen's knowledge of that fact came more so from the instructors saying as such. In truth, it was a rare thing that someone was able to disarm their opponent in the spars, as most had just begun to learn the sword.

As Thirteen left his sword on the ground and made an unarmed stance, Eleven was growing impatient. 'Pick up the sword idiot, what can you possibly do with those fists?'

Gripping the wooden sword tightly, Eleven prepared to strike again.

'Fine then. I'll beat you anyway.'

Thirteen, after readying his more familiar stance, began to size up his opponent.

'Now is the question, how on earth do I get within striking range? And what is considered a meaningful strike by Eleven if I'm to deflect or defend with my fists?'

Having never fought a sword while unarmed before, Thirteen was a bit blurry on the rules, but assumes as long as he treated the wooden sword like it were real, he should be fine.

Exhaling, Thirteen began to unconsciously change his breathing to match the rhythm he used when he first tried to feel for qi. The rhythm that brought him that state of emptiness.

Taking a lower stance, his facial muscles relaxed, as he began to size up his opponent.