Chapter 01: Dawn of New Beginning (Part 1)

“It’s hard to reach the peak. But once you had reached there, the questions beckoned, how do you maintain it? Show me what you have and who you truly are and perhaps I shall acknowledge you.”

- Selina Mayfair, Captain of the Blizt Elite 1st Squadron of the Third Battalion.

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“Hurry up, Claude!!”

A loud voice echoed throughout the whole courtyard. As the first ray of the sunlight started to shine, piercing the darkness of the night and marking the beginning of a new day; inside a battle courtyard, two silhouettes could be seen facing each other, each with a weapon in their hands, poised to attack.

“What are you waiting for?! Hurry up and strike me already! Or you want me to come over to you instead?!”

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Cehh…

This woman really had no patience for me. I could do with a few moments of strategizing, but then again, would it do any better? I definitely won’t win against her, so I might as well enjoy making this fight a little more worthwhile. But, what should I do? She looked like she wanted this fight to start on already. And she was dead serious about it.

“Selina! If you want to come, just come!!”

I looked at her as I pushed my feet under the earth loosening up some dirt. Without hesitation, Selina came charging towards me with such speed and ferocity. With a wooden sword on her right hand, she swung it towards my head. However, I had something ‘dirt-y’ to greet her.

“Take this!”

I swung my feet towards her, letting fly of the dirt into her face. I repeated the movement a couple of more times; creating a small dirt-screen between us. Thinking that I had my chances, I threw a wooden dagger directly at her. But, she deflected it away to her side with such ease.

“Aren’t you a dirty little fighter? You call yourself a hero throwing dirt across my face?!”

“Heh, looks who’s talking. You were the one who stole that first hit on my back before we start. Besides, I just use some advantages I have over you.”

Right after I finished talking, her wooden sword pierced through the dirt-screen that came to me at a high speed though I dodged it by tumbling backwards. “Advantages over me? What are you talking about, Claude?”

I looked at Selina as she appeared from the dirt-screen. Her face was smeared with dust but nonetheless, her eyes looked sharp and menacing.

“All you have been doing was taunting and trash-talking to me the moment this battle start. You think it will work against someone like me?”

She attacked yet again. I parried her first strike, but she managed to kick the side of my rib. Withholding the pain, I looked at my foe. Selina was both fast and strong. My hand trembled parrying her earlier heavy strike. How could she swing with such ferocity and force with that slim arm of hers? I better not get hit with this any longer or else I was going to get screwed. I touched my back.

Good. Looked like I still have it there. Before the battle started, I was given the choice of my weapon. I took a sword and couple of daggers while Selina equipped herself with a single sword. Now that I have used one dagger, the other I hid it at my back. This dagger would be useful in determining my fate.

As I stood up, Selina came rushing towards me again. She won’t let me rest.

“Come on Claude. Hit me already. You haven’t been doing anything else other than talking and dodging!” It was Selina’s turn to taunt me now. She was dismissive of my earlier trash-talk but one word though made her blew her top right away.

‘Fatass’.

That was the word I used to make her lose all her senses and decided enough was enough. She came towards me like a hungry lioness attacking its prey head-on. Well, I won’t let you have your way with me.

As I continued to parry her attacks, I counted the step that she took with each strike. For every strike that she gave me, she took only half a step. It meant that by the time she took a full step forward, she already launched no less than two attacks on me. She was indeed fast. And her sword strike was no joke either. Every time I tried to parry her attacks, I could hear my wooden sword creaked. Once it broke, it would be game over. Looked like I had no other choice but to attack her now.

Seemed like she finished some sort of a combo to which I managed parried it all. As my right hand trembled from the sheer force of her attacks, I took a few tumble backwards before she could launch her next attack. I looked at her directly into the eyes, “You wanted me to attack you?! Well, though I hate to hit a woman, I’ll grant you your wish.”

I took in a deep breath as I prepared my stance of the First Movement of the Sun Sword.

“Ohh??” Selina was surprised to see my sudden changes.

“Looks like you beginning to take this seriously! So, come on now. Hit me! Don’t let a woman wait for your advances, Claude!” She looked at me mischievously. I was pretty sure that she won’t know what might come and hit her square into her beautiful face and wipe off that mischievous grin. Though she asked for it, still…

Argghh… I wished I could have avoided hitting her in the face, but I could not help it. Babe, please forgive me!

“Selina, here I come. Be prepared.”

As soon as I said that, I lunged forward. I was 10 steps away from her, just enough for me to prepare my attacks before getting a counter hit. As I got near to her and slashed at her, it rendered the air at her side. With each strike, I created a wind blade that blew past her. I was going at full force at her.

Selina parried my first three normal attacks. However, she failed to parry the wind blades that came simultaneously with the attacks. It was an invisible attack and at this distance, was quite impossible to avoid. The wind blades struck both her shoulder and one managed to graze her beautiful dark-brown hair. Suprised, Selina looked at me, with a change of her own stance.

“Impressive Claude!” she looked happy after I attacked her. Was she a masochist? Did she love it when a man was forceful on her? What a weird woman alright.

However, this was just initial three attacks to start the flow stage of my skill. The First Movement has 21 strikes all together with each strike flowed at growing intensity and force. I relentlessly attacked her as I entered the first two stages of the First Movement of the Sun Sword.

Selina tried her best to parried all the normal strikes and the invisible wind blades that came with it. Because of the change in her stance, she could block and dodge all of my attacks. It surprised me for a while but nonetheless, I had an ace up my sleeves.

Lastly, came the attack that made the Movement of the Sun Sword so devastating, the impute strike. Because Selina was busy parrying and dodging all my attacks, she failed to take notice of my movements. And what worst, she also failed to realize that I positioned myself at her blindside. Her look was priceless when she noticed that.

“Sorry, Captain! I wish I would not have hurt your beautiful face, but it’s a check on you!”

I had cornered Selina where I wanted her to be. Finally, I could unleash the final attack of my skill. As my wooden sword swung towards Selina, it unleashed a fiery bladed attack that burned the air around us and hit her point-blank. The victory was mine at last. I let out a wide smile.

“Lightning Blade!”

Suddenly, a crackle of lightning could be seen on her wooden sword. In a split second that even blurred my vision, she parried the impute strike. To my immediate amazement, she diverted the fiery blade attack to her side though just barely. But perhaps it was quite too late for her. The side of her shirt was burnt and her sword was broken in half. The fiery blade that she avoided earlier hit the tree behind and exploded. The force took her out; dropping forward just directly in front of my feet. All were within my plan.

I gave out a mischievous laugh. “Looks like it’s my win, Selina!” It was good that the strike did not hit Selina on her face but nonetheless, I did think it was game over.

“You think so, Claude? Aren’t you proclaiming your victory a little prematurely?” Before I could do anything, Selina suddenly stood up and came at me with a very frightening speed; faster than Sehanie’s arrow. With her broken sword, she swung it towards my neck. Instinctively, I braced myself for the worst; closing my eyes and my left hand to it. I had nowhere else to run nor dodge.

“Checkmate, Claude!” Once I opened my eyes, I could see that her broken sword was a few millimetres away from my neck. Selina then proclaimed her victory while giving me that mischievous grin of hers. “Looks like the win is mine!”

“Really now Captain? What did you say earlier about proclaiming a victory prematurely?”

She was amazed at what I had just said. “What do you mean, Claude?”

“What I mean is this, Selina.” I poked Selina on her right side. “It’s a stalemate!” I let out a hearty laugh. In my left hand was it; the dagger that I hid on my back that I took out the precise moment Selina was coming to me for my neck. The timing was important because she could either dodge my attack if it came earlier or otherwise hit my left hand squarely and rendered my attack useless if it came later.

And my right hand was too shaken to even do anything else. After unleashing the final strike and of course parrying Selina’s powerful attack, my right hand was at its limit and dropped my sword. I could not even lift a finger.

Selina was shocked to feel her side being poked. As she looked toward her right side, she could see that my dagger was poking at her ribs; just an inch away from touching her breasts. Her amazed face immediately changed into one of a pleasant recognition and acknowledgement instead.

Poke-poke. I continued to tease her, poking her ribs and tickling the underside of her breast. I had the look of a perverted man now.

“Hey stop it, Claude!!” Selina pouted. She might be pouting but honestly, she looked very cute at it. I was quite happy to have someone as cute as her as my Captain.

Well, she wasn’t this cute when she dragged me all the way here and being stern even before the sunrise. The evening after the Parade of the Champions, she reminded that she wanted to see me in the main courtyard of the Elemental Circle before dawn. Thinking that it was my first job or a mission, I excitedly and innocently accepted it. Little did I know that the moment I arrived, I was then forcefully and hastily dragged into this place. Selina did not even smile and her facial expression was not her usual happy self. She looked menacing. At that time the bonding session I had planned with us together the night before went up in smoke.

And this was the first time that she cracked into that deliciously charming smile of hers. To see her smiling like that made me felt very happy. Guess it was worth it giving my everything after all. Perhaps that bonding session I had planned was still achievable too.

“Yeah, looks like it’s a stalemate, Claude!” I could see that she was beaming with pride and happiness, a look that even surpassed the intensity of the ray of sunlight that was beginning to descent this place. As she rubbed my head, she let out a loud laugh that break the dawn’s own silence.

“Hmm… Not bad… Not bad at all for my First Lieutenant!” She proudly held me tight with my head wrapped around her right arm.

“O-Ouch, Selina. Please let me go.” I tried to push her arm away, but within that thin and frail arm was somewhat a strength that I could not overcome.

“Let you go?! No, I won’t! Why should I let you go?!” Selina continued to wrestle me. “I’ll never let you go, ever!” And she was dead serious about it. I realized that I might be extremely important to her as I was the only member of her squad.

I looked at Selina as I held her arms from further strangling me. “Well Selina, I ain’t going nowhere. You are my Captain and I’m proud to be your First Lieutenant. Now and forever. “

Cheesy lines I learned from the old geezer on how to make a woman happy. I could see her eyes were moist. Did the lines worked or perhaps the dirt got into her eyes instead?

“Now, could you let your hand go? I’m suffocating.”

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