PreCursive
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Chapter 234 - Challenge at Dawn
🕑 Added 2024-09-20 17:00:11 +0000 UTCI found Venix waiting for me exactly where he said he would. The inn had a small practice yard behind it. I’d even used it a few times for some basic practice, with or without my companions.
He was standing patiently in the middle of it, his four arms crossed and his eyes closed. It didn’t look like the Antium man had moved an inch in hours, with how still he was. I couldn’t even really see his chest rise and fall from breathing.
It was still dark out, as Tarus had yet to cross the horizon. But I could tell, just by the slightest fluctuations in environmental Aether, that he was coming soon.
Out here, it was packed with people who had come to watch the show. They lined both the deck that overlooked the small yard, as well as the balcony above, sitting cross-legged patiently while they were tended to by the staff. It looked to me like most of the residents and guests were taking this duel as morning entertainment.
That included my other companions.
The three of them were waiting just inside the building by the door leading outside. None of them spoke, seemingly unwilling to break the patient silence that filled the atmosphere. Azarus inspected my minimally equipped form and sounded a grunt that sounded vaguely approving, before he clapped my shoulder. Renauld, meanwhile, gave me an enthusiastic thumbs up.
Liora just rolled her eyes, but still gave me a nod in acknowledgment.
None of them attempted to stop me.
This, I think, was just part of Veredenese culture. In a society in which personal strength mattered so much, duels were a very accepted method of resolving conflict between people.
All of them moved to join the crowd, as I stepped off of the veranda and onto the dirt of the practice yard. As soon as my feet thumped onto the earth, Venix opened his eyes and fixed them on me. Slowly, his arms lowered from their crossed positions. One of his upper arms reached up and removed his hat, slinging it beyond me into the waiting crowd. I didn’t blink as the spinning bamboo hate whizzed past me, but I did hear it impact a palm.
“Alrigh’ then,” I heard Azarus say, nonplussed.
I just kept my eyes locked on Venix’s, as I slowly approached him. Eventually, I stopped about ten feet away from the Antium man.
The world was silent around us for a moment, the only sound that of bamboo chimes gently rattling in the wind.
Venix broke the silence first, in his usual manner.
“Mountains tremble still,
Beneath scales, old winds linger-
Turn back from the storm.”
A frown grew on my face, and I shook my head sharply. “No,” I said simply. “I will not. You, more than most, know what this chance means to me.”
Venix nodded then, and rested two of his hands on two of his four blades. I noticed that he wasn’t actually wearing all four of them at the moment, only the two that his chitinous hands rested on. A spike of irritation swept over me at the observation. Was I not good enough to face him, when the swordsman was using all of his blades? I squashed that thought, though. It was a useless thought.
Instead, I copied him, resting one hand on the hilt of Terractus. It wasn’t my preferred weapon, but I wanted to meet the Antium man in his own field of specialization.
Sword to sword.
“If you will not listen to pleas,” Venix said unexpectedly. “Then perhaps you will listen to reason. Gorenzan has taken the lives of warriors who are greater than the both of us. This includes my own former master.”
My brow furrowed at the unexpected segway, as I heard an almost excited murmur arise in the background.
“In much the same way that you were taken as apprentice by the Shadowed Sun,” He continued, causing anoth brief stir from the watching crowd. “I, too, was taken in by a much greater warrior, upon my coming to these isles. By a man of firm conviction and even greater might, known to this land as Gozen of the Twin Fangs.”
That caused a greater reaction from our onlookers. Outright whispers broke out all around us, as shock painted the faces of those I could see. Some of them outright bowed from their sitting positions, at the sound of that name.
I blinked, knocked out of my serious mien by that.
Venix didn’t stop speaking, unbothered by the reaction to his announcement. “I was freshly exiled to this planet, those decades ago, an asset unneeded by the Hive. Upon my arrival to Vereden within the walls of Elderwyck, I blindly stumbled onto the first boat that would take me. I ended up here, in Hinaga. On the rain slicked day of my arrival, my master saved me. I was ready to simply drown in the gutters of this city, before his outstretched hand found mine. I devoted myself to him, completely, from that moment on. I served him faithfully for many, many years, eventually finding worth in the blade he taught me.”
“And then I failed him, when he needed me most.”
The yard went silent, then.
Venix finally broke eye contact with me, looking up at the sky. The horizon was only just starting to shift colors, but the green period had yet to come.
“I served Gozen for over a decade, ever faithful. First as his student, and then as a full samurai, part of his cohort. And then the Imperial court called for a Ryūmetsu Matsuri. Tatsugan was on the brink of reaching his apex, and thus needed to be culled. My master immediately volunteered to be part of the force that would slay the wyrm, and I followed with him. I will not,” He said firmly, looking back down to pierce me with an unexpectedly fierce look. “Describe the battles that followed. I will not speak for my brothers that fell that day. To do so would dishonor them. I will say this. When the time came to slay Tatsugan, my master led the charge. I was injured by that time, and could not fight at his side. Shamefully, I could only watch as my master gave his life selflessly to slay the wyrm. I survived, my honor forever tainted by my inability to follow him into death’s embrace. Upon our return to Hinaga, I petitioned the Emperor for the right to follow him, so I may atone for my failure. I was denied.”
My mouth opened slightly in shock at his words. If…I understood him right, then Venix was saying he had wanted to…
I took a deep breath, suddenly finding it difficult to meet the stoic gaze of the Antium man.
Venix sighed heavily then. “I wandered for years after that, a ronin without a master to call my own. My blade had no will behind it, no cause to call its own. Until eventually, one day, I found myself back in Hinaga. I intended to petition the court once more, but there was a curious contingent being hosted as guests. The Academy of Mystic Arts had come calling, and Greycton of the Shadowed Sun was in attendance. He listened to my shameful plea to the Emperor, and interjected. He would take my life for his own, if I had no further use for it. If I could not muster the will to use my blade for the good of Kawamara, he told me, then it would serve all of Vereden instead. Lost, I saw my master within the Shadowed Sun, and took his hand in much the same manner. I have served him ever since.”
The practice yard grew silent, then, as Venix finished his speech. To my surprise, I thought I heard weeping from some of the onlookers in attendance. Risking a glance over my shoulder, I was surprised to see it was coming from the heckler from last night, the man Lady Saeko had called Yorinobu. Even the proprietress herself was dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.
I took a deep breath then, and turned back around to meet the firm gaze of Venix. “I…see,” I said slowly.
“Perhaps,” Venix said, inclining his head. “Perhaps not. But do you see this? Why I do not wish for you to venture into that den of evil? My master was a near legendary figure in Kawamara, even before his feat in slaying Tatsugan. He neared Greycton’s own might, and was considered a possible candidate for Paragon. And yet, he fell before the wyrm all the same. The danger for us…it is simply too great. Turn back from this path, Nathaniel Hart.”
I was silent for a moment….
Before I firmly shook my head.
“My will has not changed,” I said with finality. “Nor have my intentions, despite the tragedies you speak of. I cannot be dissuaded. The wyrm is not at full strength, even if he has returned. The dangers are not too great for us to brave together. Come with us, Venix,” I said, extending one open hand to the samurai. “If you fear for our lives, then fight at our side. Together, we can overcome this.”
Venix gazed at my hand thoughtfully for a moment, and I momentarily thought I might have swayed him. Eventually, though, he slowly shook his chitinous head.
My heart sank, even though I was unsurprised.
“No,” He said with finality, as Tarus finally crested the horizon behind him. As the world was cast in emerald light, he shifted the hands resting on the pommels of his two swords to their hilts.
And tightened his grip, meeting my eyes.
“Ready yourself, Hart. We shall go to decisive victory.”
I took a deep breath and nodded sharply. I lowered my stance, gripping Terractus as the crowd seemingly held their breath, now that the duel was truly going to happen.
The world went quiet once more, as the green period of the Veredenese morning stretched on. Neither Venix or I moved an inch, nor did we draw our blades.
Slowly, the tint to the morning light began to fade, and as it did, I saw Venix’s hands tighten on the hilts of his weapon.
My eyes narrowed.
The light shifted, and warmth rolled over the land.
I immediately activated Might of the Wyrdwood, drew Terractus, gripped it in both hands, and sprang at Venix in one smooth motion. I cleared the distance in an instant thanks to the enhancement power of my evolved Skill.
The world felt like it had slowed around me, and through that enhanced perception, I thought I heard the audience gasp at the abrupt movement. It could have been that, or…
It could have been how I had started to glow a faint crimson, the light of innumerable phantasmal thorny vines crawling over my entire body. They curled and twined all over my body and robe in undulating waves, occasionally lashing out at the world.
This was the new, secondary effect of Might of the Wyrdwood. A form of active defense, beyond the increased efficiency of the strength the Skill gave me. I’d used it several times now, especially on the Oni Hunt I’d been on. Whenever a hit was directed against me, the vines would bunch up before the impact site to mitigate the hit. And it worked very well. I had gotten up close and personal with an Oni Prime on my hunt, and taken a direct haymaker from the furious monster.
The vines had stopped the hit cold, exploding deliberately on the impact. The creature had been so stunned by that I’d been able to lop his head off.
A far cry from the minimal damage reduction that Thorn Cloak gave me.
Hopefully, it would work well to stop Venix.
I’d find out soon.
Venix met my eyes placidly, in the split second before I reached him. I saw a slight twitch in his right shoulder.
Impact.
In an instant, Venix had drawn the katana on his left hip and interposed it between the two of us to block my blow. The collision of our blades produced a small shockwave that rolled out across the practice yard, kicking up dust and rattling the teacups of the onlookers. Our swords ground against each other for a moment, as I tried to push against his, leaning into the blow suspended in mid-air. Over the point of impact, I could see sparks begin to fly from the crush of our blades, but I paid it no mind.
Venix held me off with one arm along, our eyes locked the entire time.
The moment my feet touched down on the dirt below, I pivoted, lashing out with a scything kick from my right leg, trying to break his root.
He simply raised his lower left arm and blocked it, the impact of the limbs creating another shockwave.
It was a testament to either my growth, or the evolved strength of Might of the Wyrdwood that saw his retaliation.
Saw, but wasn’t able to react to.
Venix’s upper right arm lanced out in a straight punch aimed at my chest. The ethereal vines of my enhancement Skill swarmed in front of my to block it, but it didn’t matter. They exploded at the blow, but the blowback didn’t stop it completely.
His chitinous fist impacted my sternum, and I felt the bone flex.
I think it didn’t shatter only because the blow was mitigated.
Instead, I was blown backward myself. Luckily, I managed to find my bearing in midair, flipping to skid backward in the dirt. I panted in surging adrenaline from how close that was, my eyes wide.
I’d had a glimmer of hope that I might be able to get through this. After all, I had dueled Longstripe back in Elderwyck, and he had supposedly been around the same strength as Venix was. I had nearly eked out a win against the General when I was much weaker.
But that single exchange had robbed me of that notion.
I don’t know why the difference between the two of them was so stark, but I had no chance against Venix.
And yet…
Venix hadn’t moved from his position, even after striking me. It was out of character for him not to follow up like that, in my experience. Instead, he was looking at me thoughtfully. “You truly have grown, Hart,” He acknowledged, sounding almost proud. “You would have died from a blow like that, only months ago. Your dedication is admirable. However,” He said, slowly drawing the second blade on his right hip. “It will not be enough. Concede, and this can be over. There is no shame in submitting to a superior opponent.”
I ground my teeth at his words.
No.
I would feel shame.
I was not going to let this chance slip me by.
If the jaws of defeat were closing in on me, I was just going to have to find a way to pry them open.
I struggled to my feet, getting back into my sword stance, Terractus gripped in both hands. I didn’t say anything to the Antium man, simply meeting his gaze with a glare.
Venix gave a slight sigh and nodded. “I see. We are truly alike, Hart. We both need to learn the lesson…the hard way.” For the first time in the duel, Venix got into a stance himself.
And advanced on me.
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AN:
I was trying to hit a particular tone, here in this one. I wanted to evoke the feeling of a sudden, dramatic monologue that almost resembled something from a stage play. It, in a way, is meant to reflect the influence that Kawamara has had on Venix, even if he was born on Indiqua.
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