A new approach

A long silver chain spun in the air gaining momentum at each second only to lash out, almost slicing a boy in half with the curved blade at its tip.

The chain returned back to its wielder seconds after missing its target. The man expertly rotated the chain around his body and then rotating his body to add extra momentum he swung the chain in one wide arc.

Multiple flowers were ripped to shreds as the target of his assaults barely managed to hop over the blade, his black dagger still clenched in his fist.

Among the cohort members of Mubita, the man who manipulated the chain was the strongest, only second to Mubita himself.

There was no way a child could ever survive a clash with him, talkless of actually defeating him.

And to make matters worse for the boy in this fight he had the advantage, the boy would never really get close enough to use the dagger in his possession.

But there was something strange about the way the boy moved, it was unlike anything he had seen before, somewhat foreign.

"You're really trashing the place you know! You're ruining all the flowers!" The boy said, standing some distance away from the reach of his chains.

"Is that so?"

"Could you stop flinging that thing around? It's dangerous you know!"

He looked sternly at the boy and in an emotionless tone said:

"I'll stop…"

"That's grea–"

"After you are dead."

The boy looked a little surprised.

"Don't you think I'm a little too young to die?" He asked his assailant as he leaped above a chain that once again severed multiple flowers.

"No one is too young to die."

The boy had an unreadable expression that slowly turned to shock but he believed it to be all a ruse to get him to lower his guard, he could tell just from when their blades crashed that although young, this boy did not fear death.

Their weapons collided in an array of strikes sending sparks everywhere as steel met steel.

Luck charged forward as far as the treacherous blade of the dagger would allow him. He struck, aiming for the man's knees but the blade of the dagger just bounced against chain.

The bandit had drawn the chain taut to make it able to block his attack.

The blade came next, streaking back towards Luck's back, he moved to the side in the last second and leaped into the air hoping to have some luck from above but the man was rather skilled.

The chain curved once again changing direction in the air and knocked the boy out of the air wrapping around his body and slamming him to the ground.

Then the blade of the chain came next, coming towards his torso. This time instead of blocking or deflecting it like he had done countless times, Luck instead held onto the chain.

"I guess it's time to try a new method of approach."

The man scoffed.

'A foolish antic.'

The only way grabbing onto the chain would work was if the boy could somehow beat him in a tug of war with the chains which would mean he was somehow stronger than him.

Which he was not… He yanked the chain with all his might, flinging the tiny boy of the boy into the air with ease. He failed to realize that the boy had anticipated this, he had just given the boy enough momentum and he was now charging through the air, straight at him.

He quickly pulled the chain to the side to send him flying to the left but the boy simply let go of the chain, he had a wide stupid grin on his face as he came against him, his dagger aimed for his throat.

The initial attack was not a problem, the actual issue was that the boy was now right next to him, he had lost his distance advantage.

Being this close, he was in the playground of the dagger.

***

Throughout the fight Luck had been conserving his energy as much as he could without dying in the process, simply because unless he found a way to get closer to the chain maniac he couldn't really do anything.

But now the tides of battle had changed.

Luck's movements suddenly changed, becoming more intense, his strikes carried more force and he moved more swiftly. Within seconds the bandit was getting overwhelmed with attacks.

His chain was now useless against Luck since he didn't give him any breathing space to actually swing the destructive thing.

This close to him the weapon became more difficult to use.

That didn't mean he was guaranteed to win because even though he was fast the bandit was still slightly faster, he was strong but the bandit was still stronger, he had battle experience from his past life the man in front of him still had a lot of battles behind his belt as well.

A kick flew in the direction of the man but he easily blocked it with his shin, not stopping Luck jumped and delivered another kick with his other leg and then there was a punch at the man's face, the dagger followed.

Personal space was ignored as they both moved body against body locked in a strange dance of sorts. Luck's dagger struck fervently, each blow potentially lethal while the other man dodged his attack, moving with grace only befitting a seasoned warrior.

It wasn't long before Luck's dagger grazed the lower part of the bandit's cheek, the strike dangerously close to his neck.

But at the same time he seemed to have finally gotten used to fighting this up close because he pulled his chain forward almost embedding the blade in Luck's side and then held onto the blade like a dagger.

There was finally some space between the two, and in that short time the two individuals panted heavily, greedy for every single gulp of air.

Their close tango was nothing short of draining.

Both individuals were marred by slight injuries and bruises although nothing major but they were utterly spent!

Being up close meant that you could easily launch attacks at close range making it difficult to dodge, but that also meant that you had to move extremely fast to dodge all attacks as well.

So in that short time they had spent more energy than they had done throughout the fight.

The man smiled for the first time in their fight as he watched Luck. Strangely Luck felt as though the man was looking at him in a different light.

'What a strange man.'

Then he did something rather unexpected, he began to wrap the chain around his fist and then dislodged the blade from the chain.

The metal blade fell to the floor lost in the field of flowers.

"What did you call it again? Oh yes, "it's time for a new method of approach."

And then the chain began to glow.