LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 4: Blade Dance
They both slowly took a few steps towards each other. Returning to their initial staging, each resuming their stances. Neither one was going to underestimate the other and they were both alert after the pain of the first move was out of the way, adrenaline had entered their bodies and their blood was pumping.
Raten again lunged first, a blur of motion, his daggers sliced through the air with lethal precision. Vorden sidestepped, redirecting the attack with a fluid parry, his blades sent a ripple of flame across Raten's path to force him back. He leapt back with ease and his face upon seeing the flames contorted into a scowl. He shook it off quickly. The clash of metal filled the air as their weapons locked together in a fiery cross, Raten now had a feral grin as he pressed forward.
Raten leaned in, his voice calm and mocking: "Predictable as always, brother." A sudden gust of flame from Raten's blade forced Vorden to disengage.
Quickly patting down his shoulder which had caught ablaze Vorden looked back at Raten wide eyed. Raten scoffed and his eyes narrowed. "So you weren't going to tell me that you managed to copy an ability already, on the short walk over, huh? I mean, I never knew you could be so underhanded". When he collided with the red haired young women just a little bit ago, he couldn't help but to copy her ability. He had felt it immediately. The warm fuzzy feeling an ability left in the pit of his stomach. The intensity of the burning was also noticed right away. There was only a few powers that could instantly affect the body passively like that and they were usually elemental abilities. Raten must have done they same when he tried to kiss her hand. "It reminds me of someone" Raten continued "hmmm who could it be... Oh yes! I recall!". His sinister smirk deepened into an absolutely demonic smile. "It reminds me of ME!". Raten let out a full bellied laugh. His head was thrown back, making him look like a mad man.
"How did you figure it out? Before I showed you I mean?" Vorden asked coyly even though he had a rough idea already. Keeping his distance from Raten they began to slowly circle round each other, neither letting the other get too close.
"Man, you've gotten dense in your old age." Raten laughed, shaking his head. Taunting Vorden with his delayed answer.
"We're the same age Raten!" Vorden tried to remain calm. This was after all just a brotherly competition. Besides, he knew what Raten was trying to to do, and he wasn't about to let him get his way. He was trying to get inside Vorden's head.
The brothers continued circled each other, muscles taut, eyes locked like predators sizing each other up. Raten twirled his twin daggers, their edges gleamed, while Vorden tightened his grip on his short swords, holding them in a calculated reverse hold. Flickers of fire ignited and immediately extinguished, bouncing around all over the floor between their feet as tension grew. It was a heated sparring match in the training room, both literally and figuratively, as the brothers pushed each other to the limit. Their contrasting combat styles and personalities made the showdown like a masterclass in hand to hand combat.
The complexity of balancing your own personal fighting style and adjusting it on the fly based on the varied style of your opponent, then actually implementing it successfully is a difficult task as it stands. To be able to modify your strategy with effective execution on a case by case basis is not something that can be perfected by any means other than experience and relentless practical application. Something these guys were both quite familiar with.
The history between them only fueled the intensity.
Raten channeled a sudden burst of fire through his daggers as he slashed in wide arcs that sent blazing crescents flying at Vorden.
Vorden manipulated the swell of flames, redirecting it to launch himself upward landing behind Raten, slashing for a critical hit, but Raten anticipating the move spun around with his daggers ready. A well-placed stroke from Raten cut across Vorden's arm, drawing first blood. Vorden smirked despite the pain, countering with a sweep of Raten's legs, but Raten rolled with the momentum, and sprung up with another dagger swipe that grazed Vorden's other shoulder.
"Damn it!" Vorden knew he needed to get away from those damn blades. He had to think quickly. My arms just can't catch a break today! He thought to himself In frustration at the now throbbing and sharp stings of pain assaulting his arms on either side. He could feel the warm moisture of blood dripping from his wounds and rolling down his arms.
Vorden motioned as if he were about to initiate an overhead attack but instead attempted another sweep of his legs. While this did unbalance him, Raten recovered instantly, using the motion to pivot into a devastating roundhouse kick aimed at Vorden's temple. Seeing the incoming leg, Vorden was prepared and quickly ducked down just as the foot was about to make contact, timing it perfectly he then immediately sprang up and wrapped his forearm around Raten's neck, applying pressure.
His swords had both been dropped and fell to the floor on either side of him when he dropped down to avoid the kick. Raten feeling the arm on his windpipe glanced to his side, seeing that Vorden wasn't within view and confirming that he was the one behind him, he grumbled through the throat obstruction and rolled his eyes.
I should have expected this, he can't possibly think that he can take me down like this. Raten thought and he was more annoyed than anything. He quickly flung both of his daggers across the room one after the other with a bit of force. Each one stuck into the wall with a loud metallic 'thunk' as the tip of both blades sank in to the wall.
Raten produced the motion of when one took a deep inhale and held his breath as he stretched his neck out as far as he could. This action thinned out his neck just slightly, and he then proceeded to dig his hands into the space created between his skin and Vorden's arm and attempted to pry it away from his windpipe. The identical muscular structures were locked in a stalemate. Standing still to the outside world but to the onlookers in the room, those who have been trained in combat themselves were very aware of the outright war of wills at play in front of them.
Eventually Raten managed to wiggle a larger gap and gain a better grasp of Vorden's arm. Vorden felt his hold about to be broken and had to come up with a plan, with his next move. He used all his strength and moved as fast as he could because his idea would only work if he had the element of surprise. Vorden ripped his arm from Raten's neck, pulling it out of his grasp with such force it spun them both around and Vorden used the leverage to push off of Raten, using his upper thigh as a step up and Vorden leaped right over the sweeping kick that Raten tried to deliver making use of the fluid motion Vorden created when he pulled Raten into a spin. Vorden Rotated mid-air to whip a kick of his own downward. Raten then caught his ankle and hurled him into the training room floor with brute force. Vorden took a second to get back to his feet, the last blow took a huge toll on his body. He looked around frantically, hoping to recover one of his weapons from the floor where he had dropped them. To his horror they were nowhere to be seen. He looked all around, nothing.
Seeing this Raten started again with his maniacal laughter. "You seriously thought letting go of your blades was a good idea? You didn't think that I would kick them away? You're a bigger fool than I even realized". Raten just shook his head before he sighed heavily. He looked like somebody had just let all of the air out of his balloon. "It almost takes all the fun out of it..." He added, as he turned and began to walk away.
Vorden hoisted his battered body up on to a knee before rising fully with his head held high. He looked down briefly, in embarrassment. This had not gone at all like he thought it would. Just when he had been thinking that he lost his touch and glanced up in the direction of his brother, he was stunned to see a very wide eyed and yet again terrifyingly smiling Raten charging him at full speed with his fist coiled back, ready to spring directly at Vorden. "I said almost." Raten responded to his brother's unasked question.