Chapter 8: Celestial Slice

Blade collided with blade, echoing throughout the field.

Brytehardt and I were sparring against each other while Loona sat by and watched.

I raised my katana above my head and threw it down onto Hardt's left shoulder.

"Haaah!"

Another clash echoed off the rocks and stones nearby as Hardt blocked my swing and countered, thrusting the blunt end on his naginata into my stomach.

"Uff...!"

Although the pain was nullified and absorbed by the games system, it still felt as though a tree had collapsed on my belly.

The force sent me flying into a large stone behind me, causing me to fall forward onto my knee.

Wow, that packed a real punch...

Hardt looked at me concerned, he stood his spear in front of him and spoke.

"Ye sure handled that well, Damai," He murmured, "We keepin' this goin' or ya had enough?"

Stumbling while standing up, I pointed my katana at him.

"Nah... I can tell you're holding back," my knees felt weak all of a sudden, probably because I tanked Hardt's mighty blow, "I appreciate that you still consider me a newbie."

Hardt tilted his head, looking confused, and I coughed, "So don't you dare hold back against me," breathing slowly, the grip on my katana tightened.

Loona sat with her legs crossed, observing mine and Hardt's little sparring match.

"Welp, if ya insist," Hardt pointed the blade of his nagitana towards me, assuming a defensive stance and smirked.

I plunged my left foot to the ground to activate the dashing skill I unlocked recently "Totsugeki" for advancing to the upper class "Ninja Swordsman."

Once the prompt appeared on my HUD, I rested my sword on my left shoulder and pushed off my right leg, racing towards Brytehardt.

"Hyaah!"

Hardt stood firmly in place, meaning he had predicted the trajectory of my slash.

Now's my chance!

Once Hardt was at least 3 yards away, he lunged forward, plunging the spear-headed weapon directly between my eyes.

Suddenly Hardt's movements began slowing down.

This happened before, against the PKer!

The speed of Hardt's sluggish attack gave me enough time to sidestep left and activate my assault skill.

I dropped my arms and slashed upwards bottom left to top center diagonally throwing Brytehardt off balance and threw my sword downwards top center to base right diagonally then continued with three more slashes: bottom-right to mid-left, left to right horizontally then finishing my five-hit slash attack from mid-right to bottom-left tracing the shape of a star.

I was able to do this fluently since the skill "Totsugeki" enhances attack speed 30% for a brief 6 seconds.

Loona watched in awe at my cunning, creative combo, the trajectory of my final slash threw Hardt to the ground.

Today was May 24th, 12:17 GMT +1

"What kinda combo was that?!"

Hardt shouted in amazement, staring at me with the sun flaring in his pupils.

I, Brytehardt, and Loona were in the town café of Tae, a large village south-west of Asuka's central city.

Hardt was still staring at me with an intense, fiery glare.

"Okay, okay," I sighed modestly, "I named that combo: Celestial Slice."

I have no clue what I did, that was the first time I ever did something like that, and it worked!

I sipped my black coffee, trying to cover the embarrassing expression I wore on my face.

Loona stared at me intensely, "That's the first time I saw a combo performed like that," her intense stare continued, "The largest attack combo I've performed is three blunt attacks in a row."

Loona recently switched her weapon of choice from a dagger to a shield and hammer.

"Really now?"

I smiled weakly at her.

Brytehardt looked at me, and Loona then continued chugging his beer.

My mind began to wonder.

If I used Celestial Slice in duels, I bet I'll shoot to the top in no time at all! Then again it might be best to use it as a last resort but perha-

Loona nudged my arm with her elbow to break me from my current brainstorming session.

"Hrm?" I turned my head to face her, "What is it, Loona?"

"Oh, it's nothing really," she shrugged, "but you're currently being challenged by that dark-haired cutie over there."

She pointed behind me, and I turned to face someone who looked awfully familiar.

"Hey!" She squeaked, "You gonna duel me or not, miss?"

I observed the loud girl and made an immediate conclusion based on her face.

"Y-Y-Yuuki?!"

"Hm? Yeah, that's my name," Yuuki wore a blue half jacket over the black chest armor covering a white shirt, the jacket also had two thin, light-steel shoulder guards on both of her arms with two black, rigid leather arm guards hiding her forearms.

"Hey!" Yuuki snapped me out of my lengthy observation, "You haven't answered my question!"

"O-Oh sorry I erm-"

"Yuu! Don't run off without me!"

Another familiar face showed up, a girl wearing a red and white kimono with her hair tied back creeping over her shoulder, jogged towards Yuuki.

"A-And A-Aiko!?"

This was a surprise for me. I knew that both Yuuki and Aiko played Asuka Empire, but their avatars looked so similar to their appearance in Serene Garden.

"Oh, sorry nee-chan," Yuuki giggled and apologized to Aiko, "It's just I overheard that this girl made a 5-hit combo, sorta like those Sword-Skills Merida was talking about the other day."

Aiko sighed at patted Yuuki's head, "Just don't run off like that again, Yuu."

I exited the café Loona and Hardt was.

"Hey!" I casually greeted the twins, "Fancy meeting you two here, eh?"

The two both looked at me with baffled expressions, "We've never met you before, or have we, miss?" Aiko stood in front of Yuuki like a big sister guarding their younger sibling.

Miss? I'm a guy- oh.

Suddenly remembering what I looked like, I slapped my forehead and pointed to the username above me.

Both looked at my avatar name, "You're not Damai nii-chan," Yuuki stated, "You're a girl."

Aiko nudged her twin sister's arm and whispered something to her.

Yuuki then looked at me, my username then back to me again and later burst out laughing.

"You're Damai nii-chan!?" Her laughter began rising in volume.

I sighed.

Not you too...