Chương 41: Fight

The girls didn't waste any time posing after they agreed to a fight. Well, Aleya certainly didn't. Her legs sprang as she thrust towards Rosalyn, her sword poised for a high swing. My aunt, however, remained in her original spot, looking unimpressed. It was only when Aleya was ten paces away that Rosalyn's influence spread forward. Thin blue threads of essence leapt from her form almost instantly, weaving together to form a jagged ice projectile before hurtling towards Aleya.

The Magistratus's daughter had no choice but to lurch sideways, avoiding being blasted by the attack. Unfortunately for her, the icy assault was only just beginning. Under my stupefied gaze, eight thick braids of essence threaded out from my aunt's fingers. Each braid was composed of eight threads, and each braid formed its own jagged ice arrow before she thrust them at her opponent, her arms moving fluidly.

I was amazed at how easily my aunt was able to trace Aleya's movements and adjust her area of influence along.

"Blighted ashes!" Aleya cursed before bolting into a dash in the other direction, undoing all the distance she had covered. Even then, she barely avoided the ice arrows. Her sword movements were as fluid as her footwork, but even that couldn't protect her from all the projectiles coming at her simultaneously. One of them smashed into her leg, though thankfully it didn't pierce her. The weave shattered, disintegrating the ice on contact. The impact did throw off her balance, with a groan of the pain that followed.

Aleya gritted her teeth in grim determination and lunged to her feet. Her pupils narrowed, glowing with a reddish glint. In the time it took her to do that, Rosalyn had already formed another collection of ice arrows, still standing in her original spot. The ice attacks shot towards Aleya once again, but this time she managed far better than before. Her lean form flowed through the air, either dodging the projectiles or breaking them apart with her sword. With each movement, she drew closer to Rosalyn.

That seemed to be of no concern to my aunt. There wasn't even the slightest twitch in her expression. In the next instant, I realised why. The Weight she exhibited so far doubled, and her ice arrows radiated a far more menacing power, accelerating towards her opponent. It was almost too swift for me to notice it, but it looked like she used the Empower weave on her ice arrows.

"Your Heightened Perception lets you anticipate my attacks," Rosalyn said, a quirk at the corner of her lips.

"Let's see if your body can keep up with your anticipation." More than a dozen ice attacks shot out one after another, their trajectories shifting as Rosalyn deliberately controlled their movements.

"I could avoid them all without missing a beat," Priam snorted from behind us. I paid him no attention. Priam always wanted to be the centre of attention. It might have been true that his gift would let him dodge the attacks more easily than his sister, but it would exhaust him far more quickly too. Aleya, however, was more determined and far more cautious. Her high physical attributes had saved her so far, but the way she was weaving through the attacks meant she would exhaust herself in no time.

No matter what she did, no matter how close she came to landing a blow on my aunt, she was forced to cut her attacks short as another projectile would appear out of nowhere, throwing her plans into jeopardy. In the end, she had no choice but to take a blow for it. Aleya took it to her abdomen, rising above the jagged ice to thrust at Rosalyn, her sword aimed at my aunt's shoulder. Before the sword could connect, however, my aunt's figure shot upward, vaulting over Aleya.

In the blink of an eye, she was ten paces away. I released a breath I hadn't realised I was holding. That was telekinesis, right? No, not just that—there was some wind shaping involved that helped propel her body backwards. I saw her thrust two collections of threads against the ground to propel herself upward, but it was only with wind shaping that she managed to pull off such a manoeuvre. Aleya's expression couldn't be any sourer.

In an instant, Rosalyn had undone all her hard work, resetting the sparring match to the beginning. Only this time, Aleya was nearly spent, whereas my aunt still looked strong.

"It's actually poor practice for a Shaper to fight from a fixed position," Rosalyn said, holding her arm forward as thin strands of essence sprang up, weaving together to form a large ice sword.

"You're going to fight me with swordsmanship now?" Aleya asked, arching a brow.

"That confident?" My aunt peered at her opponent, taking her stance.

"I suppose you could call it confidence," she said.

"I may not have practised traditional swordsmanship extensively, but I've learned to turn that into an advantage, not a hindrance. So to answer your question, no, I won't be fighting with just swordsmanship." This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. A breeze rose around her, swelling into gales of wind that lifted her off the ground. I watched in manic fascination at all the weaves she implemented as she thrust towards Aleya.

Their swords clashed, sending sparks of essence into the air. Although the ice sword looked fragile compared to Aleya's steel, it withstood the exchange. Within seconds, they traded dozens of blows, their forms bursting through the clearing, taking full advantage of the space. Neither wanted to lose to the other. At least, that's how it appeared to an outsider. Rosalyn was not a conventional swordsman. Her movements were enhanced by wind shaping and telekinesis, augmenting both her balance and agility.

She had incorporated her shaping skills into her swordplay, putting Aleya on the defensive. Even with her superior physical attributes, Aleya couldn't hold out much longer. Once Rosalyn utilized gusts of wind to hamper Aleya's movements, their spar was decided. Her limbs grew painfully sluggish as wind and telekinetic weaves impeded her every motion. It didn't take long to force Aleya to the ground, with Rose standing tall over her, blue ice sword pointing at her neck.

"Do you want to see more?" my aunt asked. Aleya panted, her face flushed with exhaustion.

"I didn't think I'd win, but—" She faltered.

"I at least thought I would land a blow or two before having to admit defeat." Rosalyn snorted.

"Mother would probably oust me from the family line if a common-class Augmenter managed to land a blow on me." Aleya narrowed her eyes.

"I'm not dismissing your efforts," she clarified.

"But you are a common Augmenter, whereas I reached Noble Class a year ago. Other than my physical prowess being a bit weaker, you have nothing on me." Aleya's lips quivered, but she couldn't deny any of it. All the imperiousness Rose had mustered wilted as she looked around before returning her gaze to her defeated opponent.

"Don't be too hard on yourself." She patted Aleya on the shoulder.

"I'm older than you and vastly more experienced. Your forms are good, and your swordsmanship is solid too. You just need to get stronger."

"What do I need to improve to stand a chance?" Aleya asked.

"To defeat me?" Rosalyn cocked an eyebrow.

"Or just to land a blow?" Without waiting for Aleya's answer, she continued, "If it's the former, then you'd probably need to be vastly ahead of me in the Paths… Hmm, maybe you could do it. We Shapers do advance slowly compared to the Augmenters." Aleya appeared completely flabbergasted, unsure of how to respond.

"But if you just want to land a blow, then start training for real. It looks like you don't have much fighting experience, especially against opponents with varying gifts and abilities. Perhaps you should train under some knights for a season or two."

"Knights?" Aleya echoed.

"I don't think Father would allow it." Call it vanity, but it was frowned upon for nobles—even for Equites-class nobles, who weren't at the top of the pyramid—to squire under just any knights. It would be different if the knight were their patron lord or someone famous like Emil Thorgen. But the chances of that coming true were lower than the probability of getting admitted into the Oracle Academy.

"Then you'll have to convince him," Rose said as if defying tradition were the easiest thing in the world.

"There are some good Equites knight families, like the Cassia, Ballona, or the Aeneas who are more like a knight order than a clan. They're all in the good graces of the Emperor. Training under them wouldn't blemish your family's name any more than turning out to be mediocre would." She paused, her gaze turning contemplative.

"But of course, you'll need to consider all this if you're certain the academy is your goal. I've seen many students enter the academy only to become completely lost, unsure of what direction to take. Many noble sons and daughters join under the pressure of their parents, with no idea what to do with themselves. Nobody wants that, not after all the hard work it takes. And there's also the matter of advancing to the Noble Class." The mention of advancing made Aleya look distraught.

She had always been a confident girl. There was a liveliness, a spontaneity about her. But now, all that confidence wilted as all the facts lay bare before her. She was ranked first among the upperclassmen in the institution, far ahead of second place, as far as I knew. If she didn't stand a chance at the Oracle Academy, who did?

"You're not confident about reaching Noble Class in time?" Rosalyn narrowed her eyes.

"Advancing by next year's admission test will be near impossible," Aleya admitted.

"I think I have a fair chance of making it in eight seasons, but that would leave only one chance at cracking the academy test."

"How many seasons has it been since your Awakening?" Aleya did a quick calculation.

"This is the eleventh season, counting this one."

"Hmm," my aunt mused.

"Essence tonics can save a couple of seasons of hard work, but overusing them can do more harm than good. Still, they're not inherently bad. You could take two high-grade ones in a season and maintain a solid foundation."

"It's so costly, though. Father only lets Priam have two a season. For me, I…" Aleya trailed off.

"Wait, where is Priam?" I turned, realising the blond-haired boy was no longer with us. When did he leave? I'd been so engrossed in their battle and all this new information that I hadn't even noticed his absence.

"That boy!" Aleya grumbled.

"I swear he'll be the end of me one day."

"Where could he have wandered off to?"

"You all wait here. I'll go find him," Aleya said.

"He knows his way around, so he probably hasn't gone too far. I hope!" With that, she bolted off in one direction, not waiting for our reply.

"Let's go look for him as well," my aunt said, gesturing for us to follow. I watched as she extended her influence outward, manipulating its shape. At first, it appeared oval, but she quickly shifted it into two arrows that shot over a hundred metres ahead and backward. Even my Fractal Sight couldn't follow its full range. Then she did something even more surprising. Rosalyn didn't need to revert to the oval shape to control the arrow.

Instead, she moved it like the hands of a clock, scanning the area in all directions. While I wasn't sure if influence could actually detect anything—besides letting the Shaper extend their essence—I didn't question her. Rosalyn was Noble Class, and perhaps there was a trick to Influence manipulation that allowed her to detect things in her surroundings. Her mastery over the art certainly left no room to question her capabilities.

"I found something," she said after a couple of minutes.

"Hmm, that looks like their shapes…" Her expression shifted abruptly.

"There's something after them…" She turned to us, a frown tracing on her brows.

"Alright, Arilyn, Eran, Diana! Stay behind me. No matter what happens, don't run off on your own. Got that?" Only after making sure we were on the same page, she started running in the direction she'd detected something amiss. It wasn't long before we saw Aleya racing towards us, Priam in her arms. Behind them, dozens of large bat-like creatures chased, letting out twisted high pitched screeches.

"Stay behind me!" my aunt cried as her figure rose up into the air.

"Blighted ashes! And I thought this vacation would be completely peaceful."