Sparring part two

I adjust the blindfold one last time, pulling it tight enough to block out the light but loose enough not to strangle my thoughts. "Hey Ilka, what the hell is the point of this? Do you want her to beat my ass or what?" I mumble, half-seriously and half-annoyed.

Ilka, materializing atop my head and rocking her feet back and forth, seems nonchalant. "Tsk, stop whining. This is a good training method, you need to be able to fight without seeing your opponent."

I grunt in response. "I can already sense her, so what's the big deal?" Is this just another cryptic exercise?

Ilka floats down, hovering in front of me, looking exasperated. "It's not about your senses, dummy. In situations where you can't rely on your basic senses, what are you going to do, huh? What if they use illusions or hide their presence?"

She spins in the air, her form whirling around me. "What you're going to do is train to awaken a deeper understanding of your senses. To be able to react to situations by understanding your surroundings, not just your opponent."

I exhale a slow breath, mulling over her words. "Won't that take a long time to learn?"

Ilka fixes me with a stern look. "Of course it will, but you've got to start somewhere. It's not something you can procrastinate on."

Before I can ponder further on her advice, Mira's impatient voice pierces the silent tension. "Why the hell does it take you so long to tie a blindfold? Let's fight already, for crying out loud!"

"Alright, alright, no need to get angry," I say, centering myself. Dammit, I'm gonna get my ass beat.

"Let's get started," I announce, taking a deep breath to calm my racing heart. I try to focus on my surroundings, mapping out the platform mentally. Ten steps back and I'm off. Twenty steps to the left, fourteen to the right, and twenty-four steps forward to the platform's edge. I can sense Mira's energy as a whole, a buzzing force within the confined space. But the nuances of her body language, her exact stance, the angle of her impending attack—those are shadows, vague and unpredictable.

Mira, clearly agitated by my hesitance, makes the first move. "Tsk, you don't want to attack, huh?" She charges, and I sense the shift in her mana as she accelerates toward me.

A split-second decision. Do I block? Do I dodge? I can sense her nearing, but which way is she aiming? I settle on a defensive stance, praying to the gods of martial arts that I'm making the right choice.

Thwack!

Mira's fist connects squarely with my jaw, sending me stumbling back. A low, appreciative chuckle resonates from Ilka's ethereal form. "Guess you're still a rookie at this sensing in general."

I spit out a bit of blood and refocus. Damn it, that was embarrassing. I sense Mira charging at me again, faster this time. Still blindfolded, I try to sidestep, hoping to at least evade the brunt of her attack.

Crack!

Her foot sweeps into my knee, almost buckling it. A grunt escapes my lips.

Ilka's laughter is downright gleeful now. "You thought you'd dodge that? You really need to sharpen those other senses of yours!"

Mira dances back a few steps, the air thick with her satisfaction. "Who knew that V was such an easy target? This is fun! But are you planning to get your ass beat?"

I can hear the smugness in her voice, and it lights a fire in me. I might be disadvantaged, but I can't let her walk all over me like this. It's time to concentrate, to dig deep and tap into that mysterious well of perception Ilka is always talking about. Fuck, she's not holding back her punches.

Mira charges yet again, this time her aura pulsing with what feels like triumph. I take a calculated risk, shifting my stance at the last moment.

Swish!

And...I miscalculate, her palm strike hitting me square in the chest, knocking the wind out of me and sending me staggering back near the edge of the platform.

Ilka sighs, the spiritual equivalent of shaking her head. "I did warn you, this is going to take time. Today, my dear pupil, you're getting schooled."

"Hey Ilka, come on, give me some advice," I grunt, pulling myself back to a standing position. The platform feels like it's tilting, but I know that's just my disoriented senses messing with me.

Ilka appears beside me, crossing her arms. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. I can't sense mana or aura like I used to. All I can tell you is, stop trying to guess her attacks."

Not helpful, Ilka, not helpful at all.

"Oi, when are you going to get serious? Take off that damn blindfold!" Mira calls out, irritation lacing her voice. She charges at me once again, aiming for my chest.

In a split-second decision, I reach out, grabbing her arm and stopping her strike mid-motion. Channeling all the frustration and adrenaline, I deliver a swift kick to her waist.

Left hook, right kick, uppercut. The realization dawns; I can predict her movements when I physically hold her. Damn it, why hadn't I thought of this before?

Mira grunts, pulling her arm free. As she winds up another punch, I grab her arm again, this time sending a discreet pulse of my mana into her.

"What the hell are you up to?" she backs away, eying me warily.

"Training. Don't mind me," I reply, smirking behind my blindfold.

Haha, this is definitely cheating. By inserting a bit of my mana into her, I get a real-time representation of her body movements. All I have to do is have my mana circulate around her body and I can predict what her next move is. Ilka's gonna flip if she finds out.

"Are you going to keep standing there or what?" Mira burns off my mana with her own, sensing the foreign energy.

Seizing the brief moment of distraction, I rush at her, fully aware that my little cheat will only hold for a few seconds.

She senses the charge, but this time, I'm prepared. I sidestep at the last moment, my mana still lingering enough to give me an inkling of her next move. I duck under her arm and deliver a powerful punch to her midsection.

"For someone who's blindfolded, you're doing suspiciously well, Tsk, Your martial arts is the natural counter to magic arts huh? How does it work tho? You do one thing and halfway through you change the entire style of the attack." Mira gasps, clutching her stomach but still standing strong.

Ilka appears beside me, looking more intrigued than annoyed. "You find a way to cheat?"

I chuckle nervously. "Who, me? Cheat? Never."

She rolls her ethereal eyes. "No no no no! Dammit Kael! Ugh... Fine, but remember, cheats and shortcuts won't help in a real fight. You're missing the point of this exercise... Just listen to me for once, trust me you'll feel completely different when your senses change."

Before I can respond, Mira is on me again. Her punch connects with my shoulder, snapping me back to reality. Maybe Ilka is right. Maybe cheating through this isn't the way. Maybe the real point is to struggle, to fail, and then to learn from those failures.

"You ready for round two?" Mira taunts, her voice tinged with both exhaustion and exhilaration.

I adjust the blindfold, swallowing my pride along with the lump in my throat. "As ready as I'll ever be."

I sigh, "Ilka, if you want me to learn, you better tell me something to work with." Seriously, you expect me to believe you don't have some advice? Bullshit, you just want to see me suffer, don't you?

"Fine... I wanted you to figure it out on your own, but I guess I overestimated your understanding," Ilka huffs, her spectral form shimmering beside me.

Mira runs at me again, her fist hurtling toward my face. I try to take a step back, but I'm not fast enough—her punch still connects. Ugh, what does Ilka mean?

"What do you mean by that, Ilka?" I growl, taking a few staggering steps back. Mira's relentless assault isn't giving me a moment to think.

"Tsk, I'll give you one clue: Mira is not the answer," Ilka cryptically replies.

I raise an eyebrow. "What the hell does she mean by that?"

Mira, clearly enjoying her advantage, charges at me again. Her fist lands squarely on my chest, and my ribs ache with the force. I'm still standing, but that's largely due to my unnatural resilience. Every blow feels like a small victory for her, and I can't let this go on.

"Mira is not the answer?" My mind races as I narrowly dodge another one of Mira's punches. Is Ilka suggesting that I focus less on Mira's movements and more on something else? But what?

Mira comes at me again, aiming for my face. I manage to sidestep just in time, her fist whizzing past my ear. In a split second, my fist shoots out, catching her on the shoulder.

"Yes!" I can't help but celebrate the minor victory, but then it hits me: When I hit her, I wasn't focusing on her at all. I was focused on my own movements, on the air shifting around me, on the feel of the platform under my feet. Is this what Ilka meant?

"You got lucky, hehehe, this is getting fun." Mira grins, regaining her stance.

Maybe I did. But maybe, just maybe, I'm starting to understand what Ilka was getting at. Fuck, why does she have to make this so difficult for me?

Another charge from Mira. This time, I try something different. Instead of focusing on her, I focus on everything else: the wind on my skin, the energy currents in the air, the distant echo of Ilka's chuckle. At the last second, my body moves on its own, and I dodge, my instincts leading me. But Mira is fast—she lands a hit on my arm, making it go numb for a second.

"Come on V! Get serious, I'm tired of waiting." she taunts. "I might knock you out right now if you don't take that damn thing off."

"Damn it!" My mind reels. I'm still missing something; Ilka wouldn't have said what she said if the answer was this straightforward.

As Mira lunges at me once more, her fist flying toward my jaw, a thought surfaces: What if the answer isn't in dodging or even countering her attacks? What if it's in understanding the very nature of conflict, of energy, of intent?

A strange calm descends upon me. When her fist comes, it's like I can see its path, not as a trajectory, but as a flow of intent, energy being transferred from her to me. It's not about Mira at all. It's about the exchange of energy, the push and pull that happens between two forces.

For the first time, I don't dodge or counter. I redirect. My hand gently meets hers midway, pushing her fist just slightly off course so that it misses me.

Mira stumbles past me, thrown off balance. "What the—"

Before she can regain her footing, I take a step forward and gently tap her on the back, injecting a tiny pulse of my own mana into her. "I think I'm getting the hang of this," I say, smirking, though still puzzled and intrigued by whatever deeper lesson Ilka is hinting at.

Ilka floats closer, her eyes meeting mine. "Hmmm.....not bad. But... don't do that again. You're not ready for that lesson, how did you- Never mind, just don't do it again."

Ilka huffs, her sigh echoing in my mind as if she's about to impart some divine wisdom. "I'll tell you before you do something you're not supposed to. Sense the mana around you. You should know this; mana exists everywhere. It moves through an area like a flowing river. Only masters who have reached a certain height can feel this flow. Most people perceive it as just...well, mana."

I manage to dodge another one of Mira's attacks, this one a sweeping kick aimed at my legs, and take the momentary respite to process Ilka's words.

Ilka continues, "When Mira uses aura she becomes a rock in that river of flowing mana. When she's covered in her mana and moves around, the natural flow of energy bends slightly around her. You don't have to sense her but the altered flow she causes. Again, you're not a master so don't try to sense the entire flow of mana, just the small ripple she causes while moving. It's very hard to notice without being blindfolded since you get distracted by all the physical elements you can see."