Ashna bolted forward, breaking the silence. She leaped high into the air, and I watched as energy began to flow around her hammer. It looked as though she had achieved adept hammer energy. This was a feat in and of itself among stormhammers, but it wasn't anything for me to worry about.
Weapon energy was classified into six different stages: novice, intermediate, adept, advanced, master, and legendary. Novice weapon energy is something that most humans had with one or several weapons by the end of the first season. From there, we started to pick up geniuses who had advanced to Adept by the second stage. Some grew to Advanced or even Master by the third stage, and there were a few who reached legendary by the fourth stage. I was a late bloomer, but my hard work kept me in the middle of the pack.
Weapon energy takes a while to build at first, but once you become proficient with one, it becomes easier to learn others. I had dabbled in several weapon energy types but pursued sword energy as it was what I was most comfortable with. The only other weapon I'd be good at using would be a dagger. Due to the similarities between swords and daggers, I had very little trouble bringing my dagger energy to the advanced level.
Before my last life, I was well on my way to reaching master sword energy and had even expected to achieve it sometime within the first month of the final season. Even though I don't have the power right now, it doesn't change the fact that I am leagues above much of my competition. I still need to be wary, though, as there are monsters who exist among the Veldans and Alorae who have not made their appearance yet.
"I'll give you three moves."
Ashna raised an eyebrow at my provocation. "Do you believe yourself to be my senior?"
I smiled. "You will know after our blades clash."
"You will regret underestimating me, human."
Ashna raised her hammer, and torrents of hammer energy flooded outward. She swept her hammer across the ground and forced a tidal wave of dirt to fly in my direction. This was expected, as I had seen this kind of fighting from the stormhammers before. In my experience, this dirt was a distraction. The dirt was angled in a way to make it favorable for one to dodge to the right, which would be the instinctive response for most fighters.
Unfortunately for her, I already know her tactics. I rose my blade up and expelled a small amount of advanced sword energy from the flat of my blade to disperse the dirt the moment it was about to hit me. I smiled as I saw Ashna in the exact position I expected her to be, preemptively striking the location where I would have dodged.
"That's one; you have two more." I dug my sword into the ground and leaned on it as I looked over at the large, green-skinned woman.
Ashna let out a hearty laugh as she placed a hand on her hip. "You know of the stormhammer tactics? Have you fought us before?"
"Of course not. I just read movements well." I held out my hand and waved for her to continue with her moves.
"I refuse to lose. If you weren't an enemy worth so much glory, I would spare you and request spars."
Ashna lunged forward, another expected move of the Veldan's Stormhammer Legion. I knew of several other tactics she could have tried, but it makes sense to go with brute force if I countered her first tactic so casually. This woman wanted to feel out my strength to determine what kind of finishing move she could use as her last strike.
I met her hammer with my sword, blocking directly but making a show to look as though her strike was effective. I shifted my weight and let her knock me back several meters, leaving a very showy rut in the dirt from where my feet dug in against the force. I could have blocked her strike without breaking a sweat, but I was curious as to what her final move would be. Adept hammer energy wasn't a joke, but I knew it would not be enough to handle me, regardless of her final move.
"That's two. You have one strike left before I can fight back."
Ashna nodded, her face serious now. "I understand, but you won't get that chance."
I watched as she activated a skill. Her body glowed with a ferocious red energy that would have given the Verdant Leviathan a run for its money. She built up adept hammer energy in her warhammer as she began to spin it around from a strap affixed to its handle, like Thor would spin Mjolnir in the Avengers movies.
"Shit, that's pretty cool."
When the energy reached its peak, she threw the warhammer at me, which rocketed towards me at the speed of a bullet. Thanks to my high mind stat, I could see it coming without any issue. I raised my blade and activated my advanced sword energy, coating it in a dark red glow. Once my weapon was sufficiently coated, I carefully angled the blade and deflected the hammer into the ground, where it impacted under me. I jumped at just the right moment and disappeared into the huge explosion of dirt.
Using my inflated agility stat, I vanished from Ashna's sight and appeared behind her back with my sword pressed against the back of her neck. I watched as she slowly raised her hands in the universal sign of surrender.
"Do you yield?"
"I yield. The Veldans will honor the duel."
I smiled and sheathed my blade. The name Ashna wasn't one that I recalled from my last life, but for some reason I couldn't help but see something familiar from her. She was also very beautiful, which was rare for a Veldan, so I would have definitely remembered her from the past. "You're skilled; how long have you been in the Stormhammer Legion?"
Ashna extended her hand and summoned her hammer in a very Thor-like way, which was fucking cool. She turned to me and hooked her hammer to her belt before responding. "I am the daughter of At'tok Krosfah, leader of the Stormhammer Legion. I have been serving for only one year under the command of my father."
"Shit."