*
A B grade aura vs an A grade aura. Common sense would dictate that the A grade win due to the superior quantity and density of magical particles that they possess... But Kaede was more like an A grade contained in a B grade well. While she is significantly weaker than before, she wouldn't be paralysed by someone's aura alone.
'Once I get moving at high speeds, the oppression effect of her aura will be diminished anyway. For now... I'll sever it!' (Kaede)
'... You are climbing your way up. But even with a superior weapon like the void rapier, you are still not there. You are weaker than the real Kaori, be careful. ' (Grail)
Grail spoke in her usual solemn voice. If Kaede had all of Kaori's memories, she would have thought Grail sounded more like an AI, an artificial intelligence made out of magical circuits like a fully spiritual being. But she didn't, she got used to Grail's tone of voice. There was no other that would make her feel more secure.
'Alright.' (Kaede)
She declared. Her chest burned with her own spirit, she summons her void rapier. Her left hand simulates the scabbard and her right hand pulls out the handle, its thin blade extends at the opening of the 'scabbard' before ending off with a preliminary swing.
The air is sliced in half, causing a large vacuum to exist before being filled back up by the surrounding air. The air crashing onto one another gave off a bass boosted sound. At high speeds, one wouldn't even be able to hear sound unless the opponent produced 'fast sound'.
Barius similarly forms a simple western blade out of water, it was double sided and became thinner as it stretched further. Taking that as the cue, Kaede leaps in. Her body shifts her right side forward and she points the tip of her rapier straight forward, executing a simple but powerful thrust. Her wrist rotates with her waist, her body slices through air and sound without much resistance, her rapier 'moves' through any obstacle between her and Barius.
Barius keeps her calm, she swings her sword forward and strikes the rapier right at the tip. They clash against one another vigorously, though it seemed like they had stopped moving, that one move by Barius had produced enough force to shut down Kaede's rush. They were pushing their blades with all of their strength, metal clanging against metal, sparks raining at the centre like a little rain of light.
Kaede's right arm trembled, her veins convulsing under her skin and her muscle tissue budged inside her fist. However she kept her cool, her eyes gazed at Barius's face with frightening clarity, observing for the next opening for her to exploit. As if no matter the situation, she was confident that she could find a way to climb back up, to create an advantage if she didn't have one.
Barius having experienced this very inquisitive gaze many times, knew exactly how to throw her off. She pretends not to notice it, faking an opening by staring at her right.
'My left? It could be a feint... The way she gives off this signal was too obvious... Too easy...' (Kaede)
The moment Kaede focuses her guard on her left, waiting to receive the next attack, Barius instead slips under and reaches Kaede's right. Her body posture was low, ready to swing a solid attack by using her entire body's weight as support. A half baked guard wouldn't be able to keep up at all.
'No... This isn't it either. From that distance... It's gotta be...!!' (Kaede)
She jumps backwards, barely escaping the super swift transition from a wide swing to a quick thrust by Barius. The tip of her blade pierces her skin, a burning sensation enters her body but she grits her teeth, reasoning that she's been through worse. For some reason, she had always been in the middle of conflict. As such, the experience from fighting the Progenitor, the Demon King and now the Star of perfection, Barius, it was too much for one to live properly.
But she wouldn't complain no matter what. After all... 'Kaori has been through worse!' With her inherited memories of Kaori alone, she could never understand how Kaori felt since her memories were of a third person perspective. She didn't feel what Kaori felt, but only visually observed what she went through... Even so, it was absurd. How could anyone live like that? These were her earnest feelings having observed Kaori's memories for the first time...
Back in the middle of nowhere after the progenitor fight, she had plenty of time to think and review Kaori's memories as she crawled back to civilisation. What the hell did she do in her past life to earn this? Did she offend some god before The Great Disaster? And yet... How can she continue to smile...?
Many would lament her lack of emotions if all she could do was smile with empty feelings after The Great Disaster... But it was also impressive at the same time... That she could take so much pain and still move forward while staying the same. Anyone else would be forced to adapt to this world... And that would mean lowering one's expectations and standards so they wouldn't be disappointed when the world was harsh on them. When they get a short hand, they wouldn't cry or lash out.
... Did Kaori have developmental issues? Or was she lacking in some other way?
"Are you done daydreaming?" (Barius)
She swung to the right. Barius had cut some of her chest with the very first thrust, but she didn't pull out. Instead she opt to do more damage by swinging into the right. Kaede attempted to dodge by twisting her body back, reducing the depth of the cut, but the sword of water still managed to leave a shallow cut.
"Fuuh~" (Kaede)
She crouched in a single swift motion, summoning countless void rapiers in the air that swung at random trajectories. Some of the rapiers trusted straight, while others were swinging. It may look random, but her gradient detecting passive allows her to read gradients in an instant and decide the optimal move. The majority of the calculating was still done by Kaede, but the passive allowed her to read massive amounts of information at once and decide from there, optimising the floating rapiers to cover as much area as possible.
Composite technique, void storm.
With a single swing, Barius extends her water blade and crushes the air in the way... Causing all the gradients to drop to 0.
Every rapier disintegrated when struck by the shock wave except for the one held in her hand, Kaede managed to block it and protect her body with it.
"... When spreading out your magic, the individual pieces of it become weaker. It goes against the entire point of using a sword...
Your magic stat is your lowest stat, that's why you condense it into a reusable sword... Why would you keep thinning out your strength? " (Barius)
She underestimated Kaori, Kaede assumed that the sole premise that she knew about Kaede's abilities made her more superior as she could innovate on it and improve them. But if she misread the core principals of why these techniques existed, then this would be a tough hill to surmount. A lack of understanding in one's own abilities was more destructive then not knowing the opponent's.
It was a hard hurdle to pass now that she had an inkling to Kaori's abilities. If her conjecture is right, then Kaori was an extremely skilled fighter. It felt like a dark cloud was now covering her vision, forcing her to step in Kaori's shadow.
She bent her legs down, leaping at maximum speed. Her body moved fiercely, mowing down the air. Her fingers dance around her sword, as if searching for something important. Her rapier slams against Barius's blade, taking advantage of its lightness she quickly retracts her rapier before slamming Barius's blade a few more times.
'It's nothing new.' (Kaede)
'Yeah. After all, you've always been trying to learn from her footsteps.' (Grail)
Something new that doesn't detract from the old, something that seemed like common sense yet still manages to act as a significant change. She takes advantage of the rapier's light built and its unrealistic durability to repeatedly smash the opponent's weapon with a barrage. A real rapier would have snapped from the resistance.
Barius times it perfectly, swing her blade down right as the rapier tries to collide into it once more, this time the pointed edge of Barius's water blade slices at the rapier. One hand on the handle, the other on the pommel of the rapier, Kaede exerts pressure onto the pommel with one hand while twisting the handle around with the other. Whipping the rapier around Barius's counterattack, Barius is unperturbed and makes use of the opening.
Realisation hit Kaede too late, she was a step too slow and Barius exploits the free space to make the same move as Kaede. She twists her blade but not as drastically as Kaede did, merely adjusting the trajectory of her weapon by a few degrees before thrusting straight into Kaede's flesh. After she had adjusted her weapon, Kaede also had enough space after pulling off her earlier maneuver, she thrusts it into Barius as well.
Barius was a step ahead, she side steps and avoids the thrust entirely, ripping out her own blade with all her strength.
"GAAAAHGGHHH!!!" (Kaede)
'... Even if she's only B grade... The only way to have defeat an S grade back then was with skill... What's wrong?' (Barius)
Barius had reconfigured herself to only operate with B grade speed, so that the spar would be fair. Even then, Kaede was still struggling to land a single hit. What was going on? She couldn't fathom the large disparity in skill or technique.
Kaede ignores the wound once more, clenching her teeth to abate her suffering, she goes for a simple attack, a straight thrust. Barius blocks it with her sword, Kaede lands her rapier on the sword and uses it as a pivot to spin her body around her rapier. Shifting her body forward in one go while a second rapier materialises in her other hand, aiming at Barius's shoulder. Barius reacts to the second surprise rapier in time, cocking her head back and materialising a second blade to barely parry it a few cm away from her shoulder.
Kaede walks back slowly, blocking her left side with both her blades, while Barius stands on the spot and prepositions her weapons for the next attack. Their very attack styles shone in stark contrast, with Kaede being particularly disadvantaged.
While Barius draws in the opponent and let's them initiate the next move, she controls their subsequent attacks to her advantage through controlling the space and pace of battle. Kaede rushes in to push a frontal assault, exploiting her rapier's light weight and long reach to repeatedly barrage the opponent until they have no more space to breath. It plays completely smoothly into Barius's moves, giving the illusion of a perfect defence, while in actuality she is influencing the opponent's attack instead.
At this point it was too late, even if Kaede noticed these key points of opposition, she wouldn't be able to do anything against the flow of battle that Barius had created. She was injured and the pain had seared itself into her body.
This time Barius went on the offensive, a slight smirk manifests at the corner of her lips. It seemed like Kaede was playing into her hands, that was the gist of it that Barius was convinced of. While that was technically true, it was impossible to say if Kaede had given it her all. If it was possible for Kaede to be stronger, be smarter and be better than that? Would that potential be considered her full power? She couldn't tap into this potential so she didn't have the answer.
But this was the exact situation that needed the answer. As such, she wanted to create it herself. She can not trace Kaori's footsteps, the rain had washed away its tracks and time has eroded it beyond recognition. She must chisel it on her own, discover her own panacea.
She would use everything at her grasp. Slamming her rapier into Barius's sword from the right once more, she immediately launches a kick into her abdomen. The force travels from her other foot to the centre of her body, then to her attacking foot and finally disperses into Barius's flesh. Barius endures it with sheer will, she attempts to swing her blade in retaliation but she was too slow compared to Kaede's rapier.
Each time Barius tries to retaliate, it lands on her rapier, blocking every attack with quick precision. I've been so naive, only ever using what I've been given, expecting the world to keel over for me. I use Kaori's body, her powers, her techniques, her fighting style, Grail-chan. I've only ever taken and never gave.
But thanks to Barius my eyes are now open. I couldn't be more grateful for this revelation. Barius represented the inevitability of limits. That one day I would sooner run out of things to take than survive it through these naive lenses.
What could I ever do if I had come across such a situation and my enemy wasn't someone trustworthy like Barius?
Like how she had given me openings to attack and lure me into, I can also attack by giving. I'LL GIVE EVERY BIT OF MYSELF THERE IS AND MAKE SURE YOU DROWN IN THIS MISTAKE OF YOURS!!!
'Grail!' (Kaede)
'Was just thinking the same thing.' (Grail)
'Let's win. Give everything you have, and I will too.' (Kaede)
They draw upon once more the trust built on mutually assured destruction.