10 YEARS AGO, 10450, SUMMER MONTH 2, DAY 31, YEAR 10,450 SAMURAI COUNTRY NAGASUKE
Skrylla Yokuta stood before the Dragonfly and he had some things going through his mind.
Over the travels, he had read about various Epic Beasts and all, so he knew that the specialty of a Dragonfly was its flight speed.
“Hey buddy, how is it going to be?”
It came out of the woods and was not necessarily searching for him until he ran into it.
Casually flitting to the side, it regarded him before dismissing his presence and danger level for the next moment.
However, he ran towards it again and it now turned its full focus on him.
At this point, Skrylla Yokuta would not say he felt heavy but he would say he felt slower.
Moving his sword felt like he was stuck in the mud.
“Skrylla Yokuta, one of the basic differences between a Late Midnight Unawakened and a Peak Midnight Unawakened is that one can control their aura.”
WHAM!
“You can guess which of them can do that.” In fact, this was why the Mistress was against him fighting it.
“After they learn to sense it, they then use it as a sort of baptism or covering so that they always have it around them.”
He got hit in the chest and flew back at least 10 meters.
“So, not only do you have to contend with suppression, you need to take that fact of cutting through the aura.
You can always come ba-”
Suddenly, the weight vanished and he could freely move again.
Luckily, his sword was already guarding his chest and he was not in the midst of running like before.
So, he blocked it.
But even with a full Sword Wind, his body felt as though it was vibrating.
Hashna Drisnyl Tsuyo-ya stared at him in shock and turned to look back at Karin, Gejiro and Jin.
Had Skrylla Yokuta broken free from that suppression?
THUD!
Still, even though he had blocked against it by striking at its approaching form before it began moving, he had not been able to cut it down.
It was like a wall of wind was all around it.
But the aura was even more intangible than wind.
It was solid, yet invisible.
THUD!
Being repeatedly pushed back should have been annoying, but Skrylla Yokuta was giving off his smile of when he found a suitable challenge.
The Mistress did not understand the situation until, one time, Skrylla Yokuta completely dropped his guard and let it hit him.
WHAM!
Rolling off the ground into a stand he closed his eyes for a brief moment, then smiled and ran towards it again.
Hashna Drisnyl Tsuyo-ya almost leaped forward to his rescue but held her self back.
If he saw it he would have laughed because she thought she was angry at him.
Jin had almost crossed the line his Mistress drew but she let another one fly forth and only got his soles exposed through the sandals that were thinner than when he had worn them in the morning.
WHAM!
Again.
WHAM!
Again.
WHAM!
Again.
WHAM!
Again.
WHAM!
Again.
WHAM!
Skrylla Yokuta was now thoroughly bloodied but his smile was up and then, he closed his eyes for a second.
Then, something surprising happened as he was now behind the Dragonfly.
However, he had passed through it.
No, he had not passed through it as it would be dead because the Insectoid Unawakened looked incensed even though it had animal features.
He had cut its aura.
“He used it as a stepping stone!”
A closer look would show that Skrylla Yokuta was now entirely covered in Sword Wind!
“He is learning from its ability to cover itself in its aura!”
Skrylla Yokuta had entered Sword Surge 1!
Jin laughed, “it was only a matter of time.”
Like the Mistress, Karin was watching in shock as the same question was in their minds.
The Sword Surge 1 dispersed as the Dragonfly came around again.
And this time, though his Translucent Trails showed him a sketchy silhouette on what to do he was hit.
WHAM!!
Now, the Dragonfly seemed to have turned things up by a notch.
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
Skrylla Yokuta was still smiling as he wanted to get more used to the feeling.
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
WHAM!!
One time, he dodged to the side and it hit nothing.
Again and again, it began to miss more than it struck.
Then on one passing, he extended his arm.
So, yes, his sword had reached it.
But the Aura around itself was so dense that it forced the blade to deviate. This chapter was taken from novelping.com without permission.
Still, Skrylla Yokuta was smiling as he rushed at it.
THUD!!
In a full confrontation, he would eventually bend till he redirected it.
THUD!!
Sometimes he rolled under it, but its aura deviated his sword, so he could not reach it.
THUD!!
He felt like he was cutting through paper, though layered over and over.
He came from the side, diagonally right, piercing from below, trying to aim only the wings which he found to have a denser concentration of aura there.
THUD!!
When he ran towards its with a pierce, his shoulder stayed on the *l¹verge of dislocation as he had to add a roll because though it was paused, it almost had 0-time recovery which it would use to buzz back into battle.
THUD!!
One time, he jumped before it could reach and then tried using Gravity to add weight to his attack, but the creature tilted its body as it rose before buzzing away again.
“Buddy, don’t worry.
Things will be alright.”
Wait.
WHAM!
Crashing into him from on high it quickly rose up in a beautiful arc.
Why could he not focus on areas that needed his attention like his limbs.
He knew that he had just entered Surge 1 but his strike to the wings made him feel like it concentrated more aura there.
Maybe that would make them sharper.
Turning a dive into a roll, he looked at the ground and there were slicing marks.
So, he just had to focus the Sword Surge on his extremities?
Well, he just hoped that his opponent was as patient as he was.
Skrylla Yoluta battled the Epic Beast until the hours dragged on.
And it was now Gejiro finally believed what Skrylla Yokuta had told them about his younger days.
His endurance was off the charts, yes he now saw shallow breaths but the boy had been going for at least more than an hour.
The Mistress saw that Skrylla Yokuta had it in his control.
So, she sat on the ground observing the battle like her young apprentices.
When the sun was setting, the Dragonfly hovered in the air before buzzing towards the trees it came from.
“Buddy, we scared it right off.
Haha.”
Skrylla Yokuta looked at his body and then activated Sword Surge 1 to see that it was more than before.
“Let’s go hunting, eh?”
Running into the copse of trees, the Mistress’s voice was ignored.
“WAIT, that is its territory.”
Jin, Karin and Gejiro looked at her before she nodded and they all ran forward.
“Assist him but don’t interfere.”
“I don’t under-”
Gejiro caught off his word when he saw the way she looked at him.
“I understand, ma’am.”
Flitting into the trees, they chased after Skrylla Yokuta.
***
“Where are you?”
Skrylla Yokuta had tried concentrating Sword Surge 1 in specific areas of his body but instead found that the Sword Surge 1 was simply covering his at a faster rate in those areas.
So, he simply continued that way.
He noticed – after jumping on branches, swinging under them and kicking off trees – that he had become nimbler and his range of motion was now increased.
In fact, he could even hear its beating wings.
That is, he was currently slightly annoyed because he could hear the source but not see th-
Insectoid face in his personal space!
But his hand reacted faster than he thought it would.
Still, aura stopped him right before it touched the face.
So that, his sword was stuck before the Beast’s face as he was now carried back.
At some point, it suddenly stopped flying forward which accelerated his backwards movement and slammed his back against a trunk.
Leaves fell off as he shot to his feet and watched the tree have a clean cut through 3/4th of its trunk after he leaped away from its swooping trajectory.
Missing a few more of its advancing, the trees around him lost their branches and trunks to the Unawakened Animal.
Of course, he flitted about the trunks left standing, as well as the branches.
The only improvement that encouraged him was the fact that when them met in mid-air, Skrylla Yokuta’s clashes now sent it back.
But he was avoiding confrontation with the wings and targeted the more tough body
Mmm,
His strikes were still not reaching the main body of the Unawakened best
And, his growth progress did not seem to be fast enough.
“Buddy, don’t worry, we will get through this.”
On one hand he had platforms, but needed Sword Surge 1 and on the other hand, he was facing a Dragonfly that was Unawakened and at the Peak Stage of the Midnight Rank.