Ch 2.63: Skill

There was no terror, no dread. Elaina didn’t feel threatened by the dull training sword in Koh’s hand, not like her life was in danger anyway, but she knew it was something she couldn’t beat, at least not while hiding her true strength. Still, she had to try, do something.

She raised her own blade up, and Koh pointed hers down, towards the dirt. For moment Elaina thought she’d been messing with herself, as the weapon seemed to lose its life, die even, compared to what it felt like just a moment ago.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Koh said, weapon still aimed at the ground.

Elaina didn’t have a huge competitive streak in her, but she still felt a little bit of thrill at the idea of sparring with Koh, the best fencer in the world as far as she was aware of. She wanted to win, at least one point, and if it took taking advantage of Koh’s hubris to do that, she would.

So she lunged forward, practicing a move Carly had been showing her earlier. Thrust at the neck, but before impact spin the blade, whacking the top of the head. Koh’s blade was still pointed at the ground, useless as Elaina closed in with the feint, as the training sword twisted around, finally clanging with Koh’s blade inches from her target’s head.

“What?” Elaina said out loud, retreating. The blade had been away, too far away to block one moment, the next deflecting the strike.

“That was good,” Koh said, returning her blade to the guardless position from before. “You’re fast. Again.”

Elaina closed her eyes, shaking her head. So Koh was fast, but not inhumanly so. Elaina could definitely get one hit off, just maybe with a different strategy. She raised her sword again, focusing on her opponent’s blade this time. A quick strike to the top of the sword arm would do the trick, not enough range of motion to defend in time. So she prepared bringing her blade up over her left shoulder, swinging down towards Koh’s right.

But her blade didn’t move. She glanced down, seeing Koh’s blade had moved once more, snaking its way in between the back of Elaina’s hand and the guard of her rapier, Koh pinning the hand shut with locked joints.

“Far too telegraphed,” Koh said, stepping back once more. Elaina still felt trapped as Koh moved away, arm still stuck in the air even as the block Koh had done had been released. Elaina could have overpowered Koh in that instance for sure, she realized, but in the moment she had been so lost as to what had even happened that she couldn’t even process how to get out of it.

“I’ll go this time,” Koh said, raising her sword up in a proper stance. “Focus on defending, but if you get a chance to riposte, feel free.”

Riposte. Elaina had heard Carly mention the word, a type of counterattack. She had a feeling that possibility wouldn’t come up though.

Before she could even finish remembering what the word meant though, Koh was on her, the blade alive once more. Elaina brought her sword up to block the first attack, a thrust straight at her chest, but she failed to bring her blade to the right spot, Koh’s sword just barely scraping the metal of Elaina’s own before gently tapping her on the sternum and retreating back to Koh’s side. But no, it wasn’t Elaina’s blade that was in the wrong spot. Koh’s had been on a set path one instant, changing the next, only an inch over, right as Elaina had moved to block.

She was reminded of her fight with Prisma, the way the girl’s blade had moved like a snake. This was almost that, but Koh’s rapier didn’t move like a snake. It moved like a sword would if it were a living creature, slithering when needed, flying when needed, seemingly teleporting when needed, even.

Elaina backed off once more, raising her blade, determined this time. “Start!” she said, trying to say it to herself more than her opponent.

Koh was moving as soon as the word sounded though, darting forward with unbelievable speed. Elaina was ready this time, ready to do whatever it took to block the attack, with all her speed, all her strength, everything but her aspect. But the blade coming at her was unreadable, a blur of iron-colored air, unreactable even with all of Elaina’s advantages as it came up and tapped her on the top of the head.

“Hmm,” Koh said, stepping away and lowering her weapon once more. It seemed to be in the same position as when they started fighting, but Elaina could tell it was different. The sword was pointing at the ground, but this time Koh actually wasn’t fighting, actually wasn’t guarding. Somehow that was even more unnerving, because it meant that when she had seemed helpless before, she really never had been.

“What I heard was right,” she continued. “You’re fast, strong. But you lack the fundamentals. Have you considered taking classes for the longsword, or greatsword even?”

Longsword, greatsword? “No? I just take whatever I’m assigned.”

Koh nodded. “If you’d been training since childhood, you’d be excellent, world class even. Fencing isn’t really useful outside of competition though, but I think you could excel with a larger weapon.”

Elaina finally lowered her weapon, sighing in relief as she realized they were probably done. “My aspect doesn’t really help me with swords though.”

“Neither does Prisma’s, but she trains both anyways. You need to be prepared, in case it happens again.”

“Right,” Elaina said, looking down at the piece of iron in her hands. She remembered that night, how Prisma had came to her rescue with a sword, how even Waine had done the same.

“I’d recommend it, at least the longsword. It’s only once a week.”

“I’ll think about it,” Elaina said, watching as Koh went to place her own training sword back on the equipment rack, pulling her real blade back to her belt as well.

“I… I wanted to thank you as well, Elaina. I heard you fought alongside Ranlit, helped her.”

Elaina’s stomach began to turn. She was still doing her best to ignore that part of that night. “I didn’t do anything useful.”

“That’s not what I heard.” A hand fell on Elaina’s shoulder as she tried her best to look away. “Don’t be ashamed for doing your best.”

The hand on Elaina was meant to be comforting, she knew, but it only burned her. She didn’t want comfort from the best friend of the woman she’d left to die. Thankfully, the hand moved though, as Koh walked off back towards the center of the field.

“That’s all today, class. Now that I’ve seen you all fight, I’ll have detailed improvement plans for next week. You’re dismissed.”

The air was uneasy, no “yes professor” from the students, no acknowledgment at all except a quiet murmuring as the class moved back to the equipment rack as a mass, Carly pushing her way to the front of the pack and making her way towards Elaina in a huff.

“How’d it go?” Elaina asked.

“How did yours go,” Carly said, eyes wide with genuine interest.

Elaina blushed, looking askance at the attention. “You know how it went. Her blade was—”

“Alive?” Carly asked, stifling a little giggle. “I hated fighting her when we were kids. It always scared me.”

“Right.” Elaina lifted her sword once more, testing the weight. It was weightless to her, but the only thing she could think of was how it felt to Ko, and whether or not she could learn to move like Koh did.

“Did she fight you right-handed, or left-handed?”

The question caught Elaina off guard as she hung her rapier back up. “Right-handed… Does she fight left-handed to test people sometimes?”

Carly was the one to look askance this time, biting her lip. “It’s, uhm, kind of the opposite. She only fight’s with it when she’s really serious, but she’s actually left-handed.”