Chương 105: Chapter 110: Nifty Trick

I dashed forward in a burst of speed, my aura propelling me towards the multi-armed aura master. He moved again, his speed was insane. He could move like lightning and stop suddenly, as if the laws of inertia were just a joke to him. But I could see him. I could perceive his movements, his positioning, the only real advantage I could leverage to face his attacks. As we were about to clash I pushed myself to the side with my aura alone.

My feet left the ground for but a fraction of a second only to touch it again and spring forth in a cross punch directed at his chin. He smiled while tracking my attack, contempt clear on his alien visage. As he raised a hand with incredible speed and precision to batter away my fist, I made my own aura swell and slam into his legs. Like a tide sweeping away a ship, I hoped to destabilize his footing. My aura clashed with his own and was left wanting.

As soon as it entered in contact with his aura it got simply pushed aside, gently. The attack slammed uselessly against the floor and a chop hit me in the shoulder, throwing me off balance and making me stumble to the side.

"You are not a fighter, you can't fight for shit," he told me with a sneer.

"Try again." I knew I wasn't a physical fighter, but I knew how to throw a punch. My punch was a feint anyway… but my shoulder was stinging something fierce. Despite my aura protecting me his attacks were strong and left my body weaker than before. A trait perhaps? I had no time to ponder as he came in again, two arms coming in from both left and right, pincering me in between. I instinctively raised my arms to protect myself, pumping more aura into them.

Both strikes hit my forearms, but despite the pain I managed to stop them. After a moment I realized the stupidity of my action, but it was too late. A double palm strike got me in the chest from his other two arms, sending me flying into the wall. I slammed hard, hitting my head and back. Even with the protection of the aura I gasped in pain. The air went out of my lungs in a wheeze, but I couldn't waste time. As I fell down he was already jumping up to meet me with another strike. I sent myself flying higher.

He reached the wall where I was and stepped lightly on it. As I elongated my aura, like a tentacle from a kraken, I increased its size and hardened it, then swung it vertically down to impact him as he reached for me. An orange aura condensed sword came up from below and bisected the tentacle. Part of my aura dissipated as he reached me again. The sword was coming for my neck now. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I pushed myself down while bending backwards.

At the same time I formed a barrier of aura, then I compressed it, then I pushed more out of me and repeated the process. In an instant five layers of hardened aura got interposed between the sword and my neck. They got cut like paper. But they slowed down the sword enough to allow me to bend under the swing. I let my momentum carry me onto the ground. I backflipped terribly, nearly crashing down, but I managed to get back on my feet quickly as I tried to feel his presence near me. There was none.

He was still up in the air, then descended slowly.

"You can already fly, impressive. And your defenses are not too shabby, probably thanks to the fact that your aura skill mutated from a barrier type. But I have to say, you are terrible at everything else." I was breathing hard. In just a handful of exchanges I got more tired than fighting a thousand spiders.

"Yeah… thank you… but nobody ever taught me how to fight, or how to use my skills. I think that managing to survive someone like you, even if diminished to my same stats, is already something. I at least count it as a victory."

"You shouldn't," he said simply.

"I halved your stats after our second exchange, and halved them again after I told you to use only your aura." Fuck! For real? How the hell was he so powerful then? Maybe his traits… and he had to have ridiculously high leveled and evolved skills.

"You had hundreds of years to hone your skills, it's just a week that I got mine!" He tsked at me.

"Complaining about the unfairness of the world is something the weak do. Be better than that and just admit your faults. You are weak. You are untrained and clumsy. You have no idea how to fight properly and you need to do better." Then, as I was about to reply, he smiled and said, "Anyway, I didn't use a single skill since the beginning of our spar, not even my aura skill. That was all me. What do you want to complain about now?" He finished with a laugh. Bullshit… he must be fucking with me.

How did he move like that and use his aura better than me without even a skill to do it? This was ridiculous…

"Oh Great Mother, why is it so refreshing to see the realization on the face of the defeated!" He was enjoying this a tad too much.

"Having fun bullying your trainee?" I asked him as I prepared myself for another bout. He never said the sparring was over. I was sure he would spring back into action in a heartbeat if I dropped my guard. He seemed that kind of guy.

"Oh you have no idea." He used one of his hands to wipe away a tear.

"It's not fun when it happens to you of course, but when finally you can do it to others… well, if you live long enough you'll experience it for yourself."

"Glad to bring you some joy," I told him dryly. It really made me want to punch him in the face. My aura seemed to agree. It responded quickly as I elongated it in a moment and hardened the tip. A finger thick spike of aura reached him in an instant. I put all my will into it, but he bent slightly out of the way. As he was reaching up to seize my spike, I made it flow around his arm and retract while forming hardened teeth on it.

Like a chainsaw it bit into his wrist, but only sparks of grey and orange aura sprayed from the point of contact. No blood.

"Now we are talking! That was a nifty trick, but we can do more, like this!" He stomped the ground. I could feel the vibration in the wooden floor as a thin coat of orange aura covered the whole training hall, from the ground to the ceiling. Everything was orange colored now. I was the only grey element in this dawn colored prison. I was basically surrounded. More than surrounded. I was trapped.