Blade Dance

"Are you happy now?" Jack grunted before stabbing the sword in the ground and stretch a little.

"I am !" Laena smiled before turning and repeating a training sequence. Her movements were graceful and her sword whistled as she moved it around. Her footsteps were well thoughts and she timed her breathes well, allowing her to continue for a longer time without being tired. After a few minutes she dropped her weapon and sat while wiping off her sweat with the back of her hand.

Noticing that Jack had watched her all along, she first felt quite embarrassed but thought about it for a few seconds. 'Why am I this uneasy...? It's not the first time he spectates my training sessions after all. I wonder what he thinks of my swordsmanship...' She first thought then asked him about it between two heavy breathes.

"You have a very clean and beautiful style." He replied while playing with his short beard. "This was what interested me when we first met after all. However, there are still many small mistakes that you do." Seeing her curious face, he explained his observations.

"You waste a lot of stamina on small details. You strike too hard and thus have to stop your weapon's momentum with your arms, you needlessly move you waist sometimes and many other things. I am no weapon master but these are the things I notice when I compare your moves to people I knew."

"Really...? How could I improve this then?" The elf asked while thinking about what he said.

"No idea. Practice I guess." Jack shrugged while Laena grunted of frustration since she knew how hard she would have to work to correct those habits.

"Well then, enough chitchat. Ready for a spar with our real swords young elf?" He proposed while showing his wolfish grin.

"Uuuh.. Yes but isn't it a bit dangerous ?" Laena replied while getting up and dusting her clothes.

"It is if you don't dodge or parry correctly." Jack laughed before making a taunting gesture and saying : "Come at me seriously because I'll do the same."

Nodding, the elf swordswoman got into a stance and her teacher did the same. Facing each other with a few meters separating them, they both locked their eyes and Laena noticed that she had started to smile like him while her heart slowly beat faster. An instant later they both rushed toward the other and Jack drew the first blood with a crazy move : He had lunged forward recklessly while aiming at the young elf's stomach, forcing her to twist her body and interrupt her charge if she didn't want to be turned into a kebab.

She still got a small cut on her left flank and her surprise allowed Jack to recover his footing and bring his blade closer to his body. Understanding what he meant by "Fight seriously" Laena's eyes darkened a little as she feinted a downward strike before turning it into a lunge aimed at Jack's lungs. He hardly deviated the blow with his sword's pommel but this allowed him to turn his torso and let her blade cut only through his skin.

Jumping back, he smiled ferociously at his student and saw her concentration glowing in her eyes. Nodding in acknowledgment, he rushed toward her and tried to surprise her with an upward slash. However, she had seen it coming and simply sidestepped his attack before striking his now open flank.

Frowning as he heard her sword whistle, Jack stomped on the ground and threw himself in the opposite direction. This allowed him to avoid the attack after having rolled on the ground and jumped back on his feet. He got up just in time to see a flash of silver and raised his white sword in order to stop her blade from claiming his life.

Hearing the noises of the metal clashing with something else, Evelyn stopped her training a little and thought that anyway a pause wouldn't be that bad since she felt that she was reaching her limits. Turning around a tree she saw some bloodstains on it and quickly panicked while drawing her dagger.

'Is it an enemy attack? Why are they still fighting then?'

Then, she saw that it was simply her teacher and her friend who were fighting like they wanted to kill each other as she turned her head toward the noise. They were both covered by many small cuts, dirt and their own blood but were still exchanging strikes.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Evelyn asked, dumbfounded. Since they didn't answer nor give her any attention she screamed her question again and they finally stopped. They both looked at her wondering what she wanted and kept their blades risen against their sparring partner to show that they were still ready to continue.

"Wh-why are you two fighting ?" She said now that they were focused on her.

"We're sparring young one, it's different." Jack explained.

"... Sparring is a big word when you try to kill me with every move." Laena grumpily retorted.

"You nearly got me a few times too you know." The immortal chuckled before stabbing his sword in the ground and sitting on a nearby fallen tree's trunk.

"You are telling me that you were sparring like this...? Look at you, you are covered by wounds !" Evelyn sighed.

"These are but flesh wounds, don't worry young one." Jack grunted while stretching his painful body.

"You are still bleeding out pretty badly since you've been hit so many times." Laena sneered before wincing because she tried to make a move which stretched one of her cuts.

"Yes but while you've only grazed my skin I inflicted you deeper gashes."The immortal taunted back while removing his shirt and bandaging his wounds. This allowed the girls to notice that his muscles had grown quite a bit since the first time they met him. He still had the same silhouette but now they were way more detailed than before. Whistling quietly, he finished to cover himself with bandages and chugged down a bottle of healing potion.

"Why are you two staring at me like that?" He said while raising an eyebrow after having put on his t-shirt.

"I was just amazed by your nonchalance and the way you treat your wounds every time." Laena said while turning around and doing the same.

"I'll help you, don't move." Evelyn said to the elf who gently smiled and nodded while covering her chest with her arms. The young girl worked quickly and cleaned the wounds before applying bandages on them. Laena also frowned when she drank her potion, the herbal taste reminding her of a night where she drank too much.

Sighing while she felt the exhaustion hitting her, the elf asked her teacher :

"Was it really necessary to fight ourselves like this?"

"Necessary, I don't think so. Interesting though, yes." Jack smiled while making the bloodstains crawl away from his clothing by animating his own blood. "It's only by fighting close battles that you progress and it was quite enjoyable to train my swordsmanship this way."

"Enjoyable for you maybe but not for me." Laena grunted while smiling a little. It was true that she felt the same feeling that she had gotten while fighting the orcs during their practice and that retrospectively, being forced to focus herself that much was quite an enjoyable feeling.

However, she did not want to admit it because she feared that her teacher would repeat this every time and pouted a little on their way back toward the city after Jack removed her blood from her armor too. They would also have to repair their clothes but the price wasn't something too troublesome for them after having seen the stash of stolen golds their teacher had.

Since they were quite tired physically they decided to call it a day and went back to the city while the girls trained their magic a little more. After focusing on a stone in her hand for ten long minutes without any results Laena remembered herself of the runes on her teacher's sword and asked him about it.

"The ones on the blade are a small upgrade which is applied on it when I channel mana through it but the massive one on the pommel is a relay for a spell." Jack said while scratching his head.

"A relay? And you didn't explain anything you know." Laena frowned.

"Well, you know that you need to weave spells for them to be more powerful? The writings I've done are like molds for my mana in order to complete it nearly instantly. The ones on the blade keep the mana lingering in them while the pommel is more like an already drown bow ready to shoot at will. The effe-"

"Oh, you mean a crossbow?" The elf interrupted him with a small nod.

"A what?" Jack replied with confusion visible on his face.

For the girls this was a new sight since he was usually knowledgeable about everything. Even Evelyn knew what it was since it had been used by a hunter in her village. After having heard what it was supposed to be thanks to their explanations, the immortal expressed his thoughts :

"Honestly, the number of artifact and magic items in this era is pitiful. I guess that since the Humanity forgot how to use magic properly they started to develop other technologies and gave birth to such weapons. It's quite good actually, I never thought that I would be impressed again." He concluded while laughing.

The party went back toward the city in good mood as they chatted along the way and dropped their clothes to the tailor, buying new ones in the process. Jack had taken another black pant and shirt without really changing his style. Laena bought a beautiful and light dark blue dress which made her look way more feminine. Her leather armor needed reparations too anyway so she decided to dress like a civilian until then. Evelyn also looked at a few robes even if she didn't need to buy new clothing but nothing really grabbed her attention.

They happily left the shop, dropped Laena's armor to the next one and went on their way toward their inn to fill their hungry stomachs. Pushing the door, they saw that the place was relatively empty since the sun was till quite high. However, someone they knew and whose face made Jack nearly rip the door off its hinges was there sitting and waved at them when they entered.

'What the hell is this stupid paladin doing here?' The immortal roared in his mind while gesturing so Laena understood that she had to talk. 'Have we been spied on or stalked...?' He thought while reviewing his memories to try to find something standing out.

"Hey Leon, what bring you here?" The elf then said while being quite surprised since they had never told him where they slept.

"Don't be so stiff guys, come and sit around. Its good to see you again!" The joyful paladin said while pointing the empty chairs in front of him. Judging the empty pints in front of him, Jack understood that he had been drinking while waiting them for a certain time. Glancing in the room while sitting since he couldn't stand that happy idiot's face, he noticed a mana signature he knew.

It was coming from somebody with a cloak sitting at a table in the corner. Shady adventurers like this weren't uncommon so he didn't notice it instantly but the Thunder mana coming from her betrayed her cover. 'We've definitely been spied on. I wonder what she's doing there though.' He sighed and prepared himself to go on a hunt later.

"Yes, it's good to see you again." Evelyn smiled gently, lightening Jack's mood while he was thinking about the best way to find and make the spies disappear. Laena followed with a grin too and Leon explained :

"I came to find you since I heard you will join us on our holy mission."