A Spar

Walking around the mansion was almost like being in a maze, its endless corridors turning ever so often. If not for the memories of Yun practically having spent his entire life here, I would probably have lost myself by now.
Currently, it was early morning, and I was on my way to the Frost Knight building, a separate unit that was meant to be the honing grounds for the knights. It wasn't too far away from the mansion, being just a brisk walk away, yet the unbearable cold even made that walk unbearable. Living in this cold was still quite demanding for me; it was unlike the cold I was used to back in Seoul. Yet, after awakening my first core, it was almost like my body itself had grown stronger, my senses themselves growing sharper, making the cold a lot more bearable compared to my first day here.
From what I had heard from Norman before, Kieran was to arrive within a week, still leaving time for me to try to figure things out on my own accord. Yesterday, due to the guidance I had received from Lyra, I had already managed to figure out how to feed pulse into my core, but converting it into nexus was completely a separate hurdle, one that seemed almost impossible.
Due to this, I was on my way to meet Nathan, to ask for his help. He had been the one who had taught Yun combat and how to use the sword. His teaching was still sitting heavy in my mind, the thrusts, the parries, the different forms that he had drilled into Yun. His teaching had been meticulous, hard, borderline impossible for a child to follow, yet Yun had persisted, waking before everyone every day, honing his body, practising late into the night, all due to one reason that was to not disappoint his father.
Despite being good with the sword, Nathan was also quite good at using his affinity, which was somewhat related to a mixture of stone and earth. Being the leader of the Frost Knights and a Shaped, he was practically the one that trained every knight under the Frost family, and was therefore quite the hard head when it came to teaching. He had always recognized Yun for his steadfast and dedicated attitude to growing stronger, and had vowed to help him whenever needed, yet, he never went soft on his training, drilling Yun even more brutally than he did his own knights.
As I entered what seemed to be a courtyard that was walled from all sides, I was met with the figure of a dozen knights training. Some seemed to be sparring, while others worked on their bodies, as one sole figure stood out amongst them. A burly man wearing heavy steel armor that caught the subtle sun rays falling on them, glistening slightly, having a longsword latched on to his side, his figure almost dwarfing that of mine. He had long brown hair tied back in a ponytail, as a few strands mired in sweat sat on his forehead as he seemed to be overlooking a spar in front of him, his arms crossed in front of him.
As some knights noticed my figure approaching the courtyard, none of them found it surprising, as the previous Yun had practically spent most of his past five years here, sometimes even training along with them. They had all come to respect him for his dedication and his relentless work ethic, and further, all of them had also been bested by him in terms of pure skill. He had quite the talent with the sword, rivalling even that of Nathan if considered on a pure skill basis, which had earned him enough recognition from the knights.
Noticing their gazes, Nathan too turned to look at me, his lips widening in a smile as he saw my approaching figure. "Congratulations on ascending, my lord," he spoke with almost pride, hanging onto his voice as he looked at me with a unique glimmer in his eyes.
"Have you come to work on your sword, my lord, or is it something else?" He asked, his eyes hovering over the mark on my arm as he finished.
"I wanted help with my nexus," I replied, meeting his gaze.
He too seemed to have expected it, as he led the way through the courtyard onto the back, leading me to an indoor training hall that was much like the one in the mansion, only a bit larger. It was practically empty, since the knights were all outside.
"So, how can I help you, my lord? If I am not wrong, Lord Kieran will be coming to mentor you soon," he asked, as he sat down on the floor, cross-legged, waiting for me to do the same.
Following his example, I replied, "Indeed, but since I had spare time, I was hoping to figure out some things on my own."
Closing my eyes, I focused on my core, following the steps I had done yesterday to suction pulse inside. As my focus latched onto the core, the pulse around me seemed to form a vortex as my core greedily sucked onto it. After having demonstrated what I had been able to figure out so far, I opened my eyes to see Nathan staring at me, his eyes wide with surprise.
"My lord, you awakened just the day before, right?" he asked.
As he noticed my questioning nod. He burst out into a crazed laugh. "To think you have already figured out how to refill your core, that too on your own. His excellency was not wrong when he placed his hopes on you."
Noticing my confused expression, he finally came out of his reverie, straightening his posture. "My lord, you already have a grasp on the first step. I don’t think you require much help here; if you use it frequently, you yourself should manage to make it more efficient."
I nodded intently at his words and then tried asking him about the nexus conversion. "Can you teach me how to convert the pulse into nexus? I have been trying to do that, but I can’t figure it out."
Nathan lost himself in deep thought, his voice slow, "My lord, for every ascended, the connection between their affinity and the pulse is unique. For example, the frost system that your family practices, it focuses on simply compressing the pulse within their cores." He continued, "In my case, I have to expand my pulse in order to form stones or control earth."
He stopped, as if trying to remember something, and then added, "From what I know, for shadows, it is something similar, like enveloping their core in pulse, but for you, my lord, since you have a unique affinity, it is up to you to figure it out."
Hearing his words, I could feel my heart slightly drop from the realisation. Figure it out on my own, but I had no idea how to.
Seeing my almost annoyed expression, he muttered, "If I may give you advice, my lord, try thinking in the lines of darkness, what it truly is, that might be a clue to understanding your answer."
It made sense, drawing back to my trial; it had always been about understanding darkness rather than fighting it, so I needed to figure it out first, to understand what was required for darkness to come into existence. Darkness, to begin with, was such a vague concept. Something that came into existence at the absence of light. But then, what was shadow? Why was shadow affinity different from darkness? They should have been the same thing, yet they were not.
Back in the trial, it had been about accepting darkness rather than resisting it, but that didn’t give any clues as to how to produce it. To think about it, how could darkness even exist? Noticing a patch of shadow right by the window, as the sunlight trickled around it, I realized that the so-called darkness around us was not darkness at all, it was simply shadows. For darkness to exist, it could only be possible when there was absolutely no light existing whatsoever, which was impossible. Maybe something like a void, but how could I create a void?
“My lord, would you like to spar for old times’ sake? It can help clear your mind. If I am not wrong, it could take you some time to figure things out, but knowing you, you will sooner or later.”
A spar didn’t sound too bad. Strangely, it was almost as if this body had been itching for one. From the memories, I was already aware of how much of a craze the previous Yun was for the sword. Further, I had one other thing I wanted to try, to make some adjustments to the fighting style that I had now picked up from his memories.
Just the sole thought of it made my finger itch and allowed a smile to creep up on my lips. I didn’t even have to affirm, as Nathan already took that as a yes, walking towards the courtyard. Meeting him outside, I already found him standing there with a sword for me, asking the knights to clear the ring.
At the beginning, Yun used to spar quite a lot with the knights here, but after some time, his talent with the sword had made him a beast enough to disarm even the strongest of knights here, the only exception being Nathan, whom Yun had still never been able to defeat.
I felt it, the euphoria that he used to feel during each spar in his memories, something that I couldn’t quite understand since for me, combat in the streets had always been a way for survival, a necessary evil, yet I couldn’t help but look forward to it weirdly.
Taking the thin blade from Nathan, my fingers latching around the thin handle, it was almost like the sword had been a part of me, an extension of my will, the feeling almost eerie as I could feel it all, all the attacks, the moves, the thrusts, and the parries, all out there for me to execute freely even when I had never done any of them before. It was as if I had been holding the blade my entire life, yet for me it was the first time I had ever held one.
Allowing the weight of the sword to finally settle, I circled back to the edge of the ring, taking the form that instinctively came to me, my eyes latching onto Nathan’s, who seemed to do the same before me, the tip of my blade aimed towards him.
All the knights seemed to have completely stopped what they were doing, surrounding the ring as they watched in eagerness, some even cheering us on, while others looked more intently.
Looking at me with subtle eagerness, his previous playfulness completely exchanged for something more serious, as Nathan gave a brief nod to commence the spar.
I took a deep breath, almost instinctively entering a state of clarity as everything around me blurred with only Nathan’s sole figure taking priority, the sword almost becoming a part of me. Without letting him make the first move, I moved, circling from his side, my blade trailing beside me, waiting for the opportunity to strike.
I knew how Nathan fought, keeping his guard, following his defensive parries with subtle back foot movements, allowing the oppressor to tire out before striking. I could see how Yun had always lost to him, since he had practically been taught by him, all his moves already coming from him, just slightly adapted to fit him better.
But me? I already had different plans. I wanted to merge what I had concocted back in the streets, the way I fought, the experience I had gained to solely survive, no fancy movements, not proper forms or strikes, just pure cold calculation using anything and everything against the opponent, only seeking to defeat them.
Rather than following the footwork, Yun’s body instinctively forced on me, I proceeded with something more erratic, trying to confuse Nathan, whose eyes seemed to trail behind my blade as I tried following from the side. Seeing me approach, he finally made his move, dashing to the opposite side, maintaining distance.
Since he fought using a longsword, close quarters was something that he could never gamble upon; therefore, rather than playing defence, I relentlessly pushed forward, trying to close the gap, yet he kept moving back in big, clean steps, always keeping a few meters of distance between us.
Noticing his tactic, I tried pushing him into the corner of a ring, and before he could sidestep, I dashed towards the other opening, forcing him to give up his escape. With a big grin, he finally moved his blade.
Stopping before the edge of the ring, he let momentum guide his blade, swinging it from behind him in a horizontal arc, aiming to disarm my sword. Knowing that his heavy strike would definitely clatter my sword off my arm rather than meet it head-on, I slightly tilted my blade, forcing his strike’s trajectory to hit the ground. Nathan realized what I had been trying to do, but it was too late, his strike too fast to stop as his blade plunged into the ground.
My hand rattled, even when his attack had barely grazed my sword, my fingers almost going numb, yet I didn’t let go of the opening I had just created.
The thing that I had been banking up most on was the ring itself. The entire courtyard was made of dried mud, after all, almost like coarse sand that crumbled under the feet. And as his sword plunged upon it, it sent mounds of dust and sand flying around, completely obscuring his vision, giving me the opening that I needed.
Sidestepping, I brought my sword in a rightward slash, trying to strike before his neck, clearly meant to end the battle, yet I seemed to have underestimated him.
With his monstrous strength, he let out a grunt, his muscle-packed arms almost bulging as he brought back his sword in the exact opposite direction as before. Physically, it seemed to have been impossible, yet his monstrous physique had allowed him to defy it as his sword cut through the air, forcing me to retreat before my blade could reach him, as I jumped back, creating distance between us.
All of it had barely taken a few seconds, yet I could feel my arms rattling under the force of his attack. But somehow, I felt it, the feeling, the same feeling Yun had in the memories. Letting my left arm hover over my lips, I felt it. I was smiling wildly, enjoying this more than I had ever thought I would. Enjoying a fight, it was almost hypocritical. The very thing that I had hated the most, the only reason I succumbed to it was survival, and now I seemed to be enjoying it, my blood pumping, my heart beating wildly as adrenaline coursed through my body.
I couldn’t even control myself, before my body already was moving towards Nathan, who too seemed to be caught in his own battle frenzy, his grin obvious as he brought his longsword up in a parry, meeting my advance.
I completely tried letting go of the fancy footwork that had been drilled into Yun, entirely foregoing the unnecessary movements in his sword art, as I focused on only one thing, disarming Nathan. I kept the pressure going, each attack connecting to the previous, each strike faster than the previous, my footwork forcing Nathan to step back, yet he kept his guard up, bringing his sword right on time to deflect my attacks. It was almost as if his defence was impenetrable, no matter how I brought my sword, he seemed to parry it right before it hit him, yet I could feel it. I was close. He had been caught off guard by the sudden change in my fighting style, and he was barely clinging on as I kept pushing forward.
Knowing that currently he was on the losing end, Nathan growled as, rather than parrying, he deflected my thrust, forcing an opening on my side, and before I could regain my footing, he kicked my side with his knee, pushing my body back as I stumbled behind, almost falling. His knee had hit my side almost like a battling ram, as the hit seemed to have completely rattled my inside.
As I struggled to regain my bearings, he was already on me, moving with ferocity, as he aimed a thrust near my neck.
I could see it, the blade spitting the air, I could feel it, the wind howling as the attack came towards me, but it was too fast for me to parry.
Fuck, I couldn’t win, I knew it now, it was impossible, yet I wouldn’t lose, at least I would manage a draw.
Bringing my sword right in his trajectory of advance, I managed to thrust it right in time, just barely as it forced him to stop his advance, my sword hovering barely a few inches away from his torso as he came to a standstill. Yet, his sword too glimmered before me, the blade barely an inch away from my neck.
My chest heaved as I forced breath into my lungs, my heart pounding with adrenaline, as the smile on my face grew further.
Nathan too looked at me, his eyes wide as a smile sat on his lips, wide enough for his teeth to be visible.
“It’s a tie!” one of the soldiers yelled from the side as the rest of them seemed to release the collective breaths they seemed to be holding.

Chapter end