Book 3. The Long Journey. Chapter 14. Too Strong, As Expected.

“Ready or not, here I come,” Yin warned lightheartedly and took a step forward, his foot sending lightning dancing all over the ground. He smiled, then attacked as the first one, intending to seize the initiative as he would always do. He raised the blade in his right hand and swung it downwards, putting a fair bit of weight behind the blow.

Tares guarded with his longsword in time, but to his shock, the clash of the blades ended up being accompanied by a creaking, shattering sound. He couldn’t help but glance at his weapon, only to discover that its blade has indeed cracked and a little bit of it even fell off!

“That’s a high-grade blade! What are this kid’s swords made of?!” Tares thought in alarm and immediately began retreating. At this rate his longsword would fall to pieces after just a few more exchanges; possibly in just one more if Yin managed to hit the same spot one more time. If his weapon crumbled, then given Yin’s speed he wouldn’t have time to take out a spare one from his interspatial ring; not like it would hold out for any longer than his main one anyway.

Tares intended to back off and launch an attack of his own, what was the only reasonable way left to him in this situation… but how could Yin simply allow him to create a distance for free? He pursued Tares and kept slashing out with his twin sword, not minding that the flames covering Tares’s longsword were scorching his hands. There was some pain, but his body was durable. Compared to how badly he got hurt when fighting with Laien for the first time, this kind of pain was nothing.

“Hrm?” Yin frowned slightly, his instincts telling him that Tares was preparing to do something dangerous. His battle sense was incredibly acute, so he still had enough time to take an action before Tares would gather enough Qi to launch his attack. He could have prepared to dodge immediately, but he chose to instead seize the opportunity. He pulled one of his swords back, then thrust it forward in a very strange, neither piercing nor slashing manner. The Elemental Sword of Lightning; Thunder!

With a bit of luck, Tares managed to try and defend with his longsword just in the nick of time. Yet, the blade of his weapon shattered under the force of Yin’s sword art; all it managed to accomplish was to diverge its course slightly. The sword thus slashed at the side of his stomach, cutting through it with ease and leaving a huge, potentially lethal wound.

Everyone gasped at this scene, but Tares clenched his teeth and finished gathering the massive amount of Qi in his left hand and struck out with his fist at the same moment Yin’s sword was cutting through his flesh. He didn’t expect Yin to make such a great use of the small opening he revealed before unleashing a huge attack, but now that he got hurt he couldn’t possibly back off without trying! It was his last chance and as far as he was concerned, even Yin with his speed shouldn’t be capable of dodging a counter-blow from this distance!

Not caring about the possibility of killing Yin, Tares sent a full-strength blow at him, his fist wrapped in a web of rust-colored flames. The next split-second he executed the attack, but his fist swished through nothing but air and a few leftover sparks of lightning. His pupils constricted as he just barely noticed a blur pass by his side; he sensed a grave danger from behind and wanted to react; alas, his body wasn’t fast enough and he didn’t possess any techniques that could make up for it.

Half a second later, Tares breathed with relief. Thankfully a follow-up attack didn’t come; he had been spared by a kid, what he considered to be fairly humiliating, but also quite lucky considering he had struck with abandon just the exchange before. He couldn’t help but smirk at himself mockingly because of this thought; the blood of Ishtar it was, no one could possibly question it.

He wanted to congratulate Yin, but the moment he turned the pain in his side increased many times over. He grabbed his stomach, his face turning pale as he began coughing up blood. The wound in his side was over ten centimeters deep; the only reason his guts hadn’t spilled on the ground yet was because his body as a martial master of the third rank was exceptionally sturdy. Despite that sturdiness though, if he were to not be treated soon, he would almost certainly die of blood loss.

“Laien, would you mind lending us a hand?” Yin called out while scratching the back of his head, appearing to be a bit troubled. He held a comfortable advantage in this duel against Tares, but he ended up acting as if it was a real fight. It was mainly because of how Tares attacked him, with killing intent and all… but he still wasn’t happy with the end result.

“No need,” Tares said stubbornly while clutching the wound on the side of his stomach with both hands. “We have a healer employed for cases like that,” he stated but had trouble moving even by a step. He only now noticed that there was a second kind of pain in his body, one which wasn’t centered and was less intensive. He quickly understood its source; Yin’s blow carried the lightning element with it. After the lightning struck his innards, all his muscles were assaulted by it and became much less responsive to his will. To think he hadn’t noticed it sooner… fighting against a lightning-element practitioner was a scary thing. The first clean wound would usually mean the end, huh?

“Yeah, I can see the ‘no need’,” Laien said with a chuckle as he approached Tares. “It’s a practice for me too, so just let me heal you,” he added helplessly, seeing the stubborn expression on Tares’s face. Were all Iron nights so thick-headed to refuse help when it was being offered?

Tares munched at his teeth, but gave up and gave Laien an ‘okay, thanks’ kind of look. He looked how Laien put his hand close to his stomach and created quite a bit of water, which soon covered the area where his wound was. The pain instantly lessened, though he couldn’t tell if bleeding also stopped immediately. The few times he required healing he wasn’t conscious so it was the first time he could actually watch a light or water element practitioner at work.

“Remove your hands,” Laien said calmly, what Tares obeyed after a second of hesitation. The man was perhaps worried his guts would spill or something… but when he saw his wound closing and healing in the span of mere few seconds, he couldn’t not be impressed. For soldiers being hurt was a normal thing and thus most of them knew a little more about healing, be it by Qi, spiritual energy or conventional medicine than average practitioners. The rate at which Laien was healing him… it was something even a spiritual master of the third or fourth rank should be hard pressed to achieve.

“Done,” Laien said contentedly after about thirty seconds. He looked briefly at the few people who approached in the meanwhile; the group of which included Lucin, Teira and their fathers. He had a strange feeling they were all looking at him in a really… well, strange way, but he shook his head and decided not to pay it much mind at the moment. He was used to feeling amazed gazes upon his body, but the looks those guys had in their eyes and on their faces was more than that, and it was a bit scary. Amusing admittedly, but also a bit strange and scary.

Instead of pondering over the impression he and Yin made of those Iron Knights, he took three steps and walked up to Yin. He quickly noticed something, after what he smiled helplessly and grabbed Yin’s hands. He produced some water from his spiritual energy and healed the burns on his hands and forearms, then let go and looked him in the eye with a merry smile.

“Thanks,” Yin said gratefully and smiled back at Laien. “So, is it our turn now?” he inquired, impatient to finally have a proper spar with Laien. It was fun to fight with those random people, but in the end, he would gain most from fighting Laien, and it was much more fun too.

“Yeah, let’s do it,” Laien agreed immediately and gave Tares a meaningful glance; it would be nice if he vacated the training field with everyone to give them the necessary space.

The man understood instantly and laughed loudly. “The boy healed me up perfectly, no need to worry. Come, let’s give the kids some space and watch the duel between the two blessed by the God’s Blood,” he said heartily, his words adding to the conviction everyone came to have.

No doubts the news of two exceptionally talented kids said to be carrying the blood of Ishtar would spread throughout the military of the Iron Fort by the morning, and if not then by the next evening when everyone would being meeting at dinner before the daily training routine.

“Want to go all out?” Laien asked wryly. He, of course, could have suggested not using their insights too, just like the other time, but he wanted to show those guys here what the two of them were truly capable of. And well, he also wanted to have one more serious fight against Yin.

“You sure?” Yin asked with a slight smile. He wouldn’t make a huge blunder like the first time and get caught in Laien’s wide-range magic. Did Laien have a plan of some sorts, or did he simply intend to hold out for as long as possible?

“Yeah, I’m sure” Laien confirmed with a laugh and smiled at Yin in a meaningful way. Now that the spiritual bond between the two of them had grown stronger, the danger of going too far in a duel should be greatly reduced. Serious wounds would still be a possibility, but it would be extremely unlikely for anything fatal to occur.

“Mm, I won’t be holding back then,” Yin said roused his Qi, what soon was followed by Laien controlling and releasing his spiritual energy. The two of them kept looking each other in the eye; they smirked simultaneously and focused on the Principle of Energy. This time not only the omnicolored orbs of the essence of the Aspects stirred within their souls, but also sole, identical golden runes appeared within them, bursting with ancient power.

The ephemeral surge of energy burst forth from their bodies, creating a strong gust of wind which seemed to cause the air and the ground it passed through to tremble as if space itself had become unstable. The increase in the boys’ strength was apparent, and it caused the few dozen soldiers watching to reveal helpless and shocked expressions on their faces. Those two boys… even though they had battled martial masters of theirs, they were still holding back at that time? Just how freakishly powerful were those two?

“Blood of Ishtar?” Tares asked with a laugh. “To me, it seems like they are children of Ishtar himself, not just the possessors of the God’s Blood,” he said what he first meant as a joke, but soon afterward shook his head. If he didn’t know better, he really would be ready to believe his own words. The only people comparable to those two were the characters of legends and tales and yet, they were right there, before his eyes.

“I wish I got to fight one of them,” Teira said with a quiet sigh. If the two really were leaving tomorrow Laien mentioned to Lucin, then he probably missed this one precious opportunity while his father, Lucin and even Lucin’s father got to fight them. How unfair could life sometimes be!

Laien focused his who attention to Yin’s movements. He waited for his friend to make the first move, to attack him, and when Yin did so he reacted without delay. The tranquil, calm water flowed along with the movements of his spear as he readied himself to defend and at the same time, his spiritual energy in the air began molding itself into many finger-sized spikes of ice.

“Catch it, do not take the force head-on, deflect it and concentrate on the next sword,” the unconscious thoughts passed through Laien’s mind as he successfully caught Yin’s first strike in the torrents of Water Flow technique. Regrettably, the pure physical difference between him and Yin was too huge to overcome; especially when Yin’s skill with the twin swords was no less, if not higher than his skill with the spear.

He didn’t have enough time to attempt to defend from the second sword… but for that purpose, he began shaping the spikes beforehand. He sent them flying at Yin from both sides, dodging out of Yin’s sword way to the best of his ability. He sensed a hit on amusement from Yin, who smirked and effortlessly executed the Lightning Step movement art. Taking this mutual exchange of blows wouldn’t have ended well for him, so he simply chose to avoid it.

“No time to turn around, but…” Laien closed his eyes and focused on his spiritual sense, which he had long ago unwittingly merged with his aura as all spiritual practitioners did. His foundation of the Aspect of Awareness was already half-complete, so he could make out Yin’s movements, the shape of his body… even the way the strands of his hair moved in the gust of wind after he stopped behind his back. He couldn’t help but smile; instead of doing what he used to do and creating a barrier of ice, he attempted to emulate the Water Flow technique… just without the spear.

Yin was honestly startled when instead of meeting a defense of ice, his slash got swept in a splash of water which nearly pulled the sword out of his hand after making him miss Laien’s body. He sent more Qi into the blade and caused the lightning to surge, then hurriedly pulled the sword back, out of the grasps of water. “Damn!” he called out inwardly; although this action took him a very brief moment, another series of finger-sized spikes had already formed around him. His expressions flinching a little, he once again disappeared in the flash of white lightning, although this time he chose to retreat by ten meters instead of continuing his offensive.

He saw Laien turning around and smiling at him cheekily; he could tell he was being asked ‘how’s that, eh?’ and what much could he say… it was already nerve-racking enough to fight Laien when he focused on the powerful spells and one-hit one-kill attacks, but this version of fighting style which focused on precise control and relied on ascertaining the situation was perhaps even more troublesome to face. On one hand, it wouldn’t enable Laien to win in any way not involving a major screw-up from his side, but on the other… he wouldn’t have an easy way to beat him either.

The Lightning Step movement art was powerful and very useful, but it did strain one’s body to a certain extent even when not used consecutively. With his current physical strength, he would be able to use it relatively safely only two times in quick succession while in the overall fight… it would be best if he didn’t go beyond twenty executions. When comparing that to how little spiritual energy Laien was expending with each exchange, he would truly be hard pressed to find a good way to obtain victory.

As Yin pondered the way he should attack and Laien waited for him to come, the fifty plus spectators gasped. This brief exchange lasted just about one second; from Yin jumping forward, slashing once, then using his movement art to reposition himself and trying to attack the second time, before being forced to get his sword free and retreat from another series of ice spikes coming his way; but the level of techniques displayed, the speed they were being released and the way the lethality of each and every one of them… everything about those two boys way out of this world.

“Makes you happy those two are on our side,” Lars pointed out with a helpless chuckle. He doubted he would be able to last one exchange with either of those two if they really went at it with the intent to kill him, what was scarier considering the two were but twelve-year-old boys. How strong would they be at their coming of age ceremony? Or in ten, or twenty years? It was scary to even think about.

“The future of our country looks bright,” Tam added with a strong nod. With youngsters like those, they would be able to not only defend their own lands but also have a fair shot at conquering the south and making their long-cherished dream come true!

“Rudford’s disciple is one thing,” Tares said in a clear, relatively loud voice. “But the other boy isn’t a citizen of our Kingdom. In fact, we don’t know where he is from,” he reminded, a bit worried that everyone, including him, had forgotten themselves and eagerly assumed Yin as one of their own. To carelessly grant so much influence to an outsider was a very dangerous thing.

“He isn’t?” Lars asked with a slight frown. Just like everyone, he had learned that Yin was a part of the seventh Prince’s camp in this generation’s game of thrones, but now that he thought about it... Yin really had popped up from nowhere. He appeared to be good friends with Laien, but who could say if he would put this friendship of his above the allegiance to his home country?

Yin took a deep breath, just about now finally deciding upon the kind of approach he wanted to take. He attacked Laien once again, this time unhesitatingly leading with the Thunder sword art. As expected, Laien wasn’t able to block the attack fully despite assisting himself with quite a bit of spiritual energy; his sword pierced right through the water which attempted to obstruct its way and forced its way past Laien’s spear to then cut a wound around his chest; not a deep one, but not a shallow one either.

“Not dodging this time, sorry,” Yin thought and smiled as the spikes of ice took shape around him. He slashed out with his other sword, consecutively using the Thunder sword art.

Laien panicked just a little and attempted to defend with magic, but he had little time to gather enough spiritual energy. He managed to manifest quite a bit of water though, but he once again got slashed; this time on the side of the stomach. As for Yin, he used the moment when he lost focus to take the ice spikes head-on and ended up only with some torn clothes and a few scratches all over his body.

Laien cursed inwardly, but a smile didn’t go away from his lips. He already began healing the two wounds he got from Yin and at the same time, tried to grab his arm with the water he had slashed through. Yin, however, realized what was going on and used his movement art to dodge, then pressed on with the relentless attack.

The two of them battled intensely, exchanging well over a dozen of blows in the span of time not much longer than ten seconds. Yin managed to get himself a cut throughout his stomach on one occasion when he was careless and tried to press an attack too far… but compared to the number of wounds Laien got he was quite well-off. Despite his newly gained defensive skills, Yin slashed and cut him eight times; what served to deplete his reservoir of spiritual energy all the faster as he was forced to keep healing himself.

Without any apparent signal nor any words exchanged, the two of them suddenly stopped fighting and simply smirked at each other. “You win, again,” Laien said with a little sigh. He put his spear back into the black gold interspatial ring and approached Yin, then put his right hand on his stomach. He used up the last remaining bits of his spiritual energy to heal both his own last few wounds and the cut he gave Yin and in the process ended up overexerting himself even more than he already had. He tried to keep his balance, but the world blurred and twisted in his eyes.

He staggered and leaned against Yin, then laughed weakly. Be it going all-out or trying to overwhelm Yin with precise control, he couldn't win with either approach. To make matters worse, Yin had beaten him without using his emerald lightning… just how long would it take him to reach his level?

“Want me to carry you back like a princess?” Yin asked with a wide smile, ignoring the timid ruckus coming from the people who spectated their little duel.

Laien laughed weakly in response to Yin’s question. He didn’t want to eat a recovery pill, so it would take him at least half an hour until he would being feeling decently again. The problem was he didn’t quite feel like spending this time with those people who had such fanatical looks in their eyes. “I appreciate the offer, but spare me the embarrassment…” he said with a laugh, truth to be told enjoying this moment of utter exhaustion. Even though his head felt as if it was about to crack in two, he knew it was a proof that he had given his best. He was satisfied, at least for today.

“Then help me out a little, don’t just fall asleep right away,” Yin said with a smirk and turned around, then with a little help got Laien onto his back. Both of them couldn’t stop themselves from grinning; this situation was pretty amusing as far as they were concerned.

“You guys leaving already?” Teira asked when Yin carried Laien into the terrace. He really hoped the two would stay for a bit longer.

“Yeah, we’ve got enough for today,” Yin replied without beating around the bush. He didn’t stop to listen to the praises of the adults, but his behavior wasn’t met with scorn. To the Iron Knights, it was natural that those of great strength would walk their own ways. The soldiers needed to obey the rules… while the powerful ones were the people who created the rules.

“They show us such an amazing fight then immediately leave, geez,” Tares said while shaking his head.

“Lieutenant,” Lars spoke up with a smile. “If those two really are leaving tomorrow, how about making it so they won’t forget the time in the Iron Fort so easily?” he suggested, thinking it would be nice if those two had good memories from their time here.

“Ho?” Tares raised an eyebrow, not all that opposed to doing something interesting once in a while. “Pray tell,” he said with a laugh. Although it would be hard to prepare anything too big, he could pull a few strings here and there as an officer of a fairly high rank.

“Well, I don’t really have anything specific in mind,” Lars admitted, realizing that the vague idea he had in mind would be pretty hard to execute and could very well come out as awkward.

“Um,” one of the three boys who until now stayed in the back and kept quiet gathered his courage and stepped forward. “If you want to do something nice for them, then I know what would be good,” he said without stuttering, what in itself was quite an achievement considering how nervous he was.

Tares frowned. He had, of course, noticed the three troods the boys brought with them, but as long as they stayed in the back he wouldn’t say anything against their presence here. Now, however, he felt quite displeased to be talked to be a son of a traitor.

The youth sensed what was about to come and grew even more nervous; he took a step back, just about to storm out of the place, but just then someone else spoke up.

“Let him say it if he’s got an interesting idea,” Lucin supported, moving up to Tares’s side. His words caused quite a surprise, but when his cousin spoke up as the next one everyone’s eyes seemingly bulged out; didn’t Teira lose his elder brother because of those troods’ fathers?

“If he’s got something sensible to say it won’t hurt to listen,” Teira added from himself and exchanged a brief look with Lucin. Both of them then glanced at the entrance; since it was Laien and Yin who told them to give those troods a chance, they would do just that without any false pretense. They had already agreed with Laien’s points before they learned how strong he and Yin were; now they respected and valued their opinions even more.

“Ugh,” Tares shook his head, not too entertained by this unexpected development. “Fine, but he’d better have a sensible idea if he wants to speak it,” he agreed grudgingly, but only since the ones asking were the top young talents of their Iron Fort.

Had he known how Laien and Yin would have reacted were he to dismiss this boy’s idea without listening to it though, how startled would he be?

The youth swallowed nervously, really hoping that what he thought of was good enough. He took a deep breath as to avoid stuttering, then laid out his idea.

---

“Your control over magic is scary,” Yin pointed out as the two of them were walking through the dark corridors of the castle. “Anyone ever told you that? Spiritual practitioners aren’t supposed to be able to do things you do with their spells, even with the Guardian, or maybe especially with it,” he said with a resigned laugh. He might have won without going all-out today, but it was really hard to keep up with all the precise and deadly attacks coming from all directions.

“You think so? It always was normal to me,” Laien said lazily, hugging Yin as he rested on his back. “If they could use only long-winded spells, then wouldn’t they be much weaker than martial practitioners?”

“That’s the point,” Yin said and chuckled, appearing to be rather amused. “Spiritual practitioners are weaker than martial practitioners in one-on-one fights. You’re the freak here,” he said and laughed again.

“Good for me then,” Laien said with a grin, deciding not to overthink the situation too much. He was strong; it was all that mattered at the moment.

“Say, want to take a bath before we go to sleep?” Yin asked around the time they came close to their room.

“I’m way too tired to use magic, so yeah,” Laien responded lightheartedly. Yet, how could he not tell what Yin was thinking about in the back of his mind? He smirked a little and hugged Yin more closely; he was pretty sure that Yin smiled wryly too.

---

The night passed quickly and in the morning of the next day, what woke the two of them up was the sound of someone’s fist knocking on the door.

“Can you please wake up already or am I going to need to break this door in?” Ruan called out helplessly. He had been trying to wake those two up for the past five minutes, but so far there was no response. Were they really planning to be late to the breakfast with the General Agnes?