The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'-Chapter 517 - The Merciful Blade Is The One Not Seen Coming, But The Cruel One Looms Without Notice
The heiress spoke out about her happiness from that day just before the sound of a loud clap - a bit too loud just for gaining attention, but Rezzue had never really done something forceful like that before. But the field of illusions became only memories of Qat... and she was pretty sure that she wasn’t meant to be seeing even half of the things she was seeing. A lot of the kissings scenes were very private and she *fully intended* to ask for more advice about ’seduction’ later due to a specific two or three were burned into her mind, but-
"Tell me more about this chemistry you think I will like. Then we will go and see if you can show those children a thing or two about their swordsmanship."
"But I had a lesson plan that-"
"I want to see you wield a blade again. These two also didn’t see you that day. Having been married into this family longer than you, I believe you are underestimating the value of allowing them to respect your martial prowess in a way that they completely understand."
Humming in thought, Elua *had* considered that option and it was indeed ’on the schedule’ - if only from the angle of comparative processing. Showing them her skill now, allowing them to feel crushed by the display and using it as fodder to meditate on... and then when they reach Enchanter and gain their Astralisms, start their physical training again while having a quicker mind to latch onto whatever comments she may drop in explanation of heavy blade mechanics...
"First of all, most people tend to think of the corrosion and destruction caused by Acid too much like ’burning’. As if it is just some kind of liquid fire. But that’s not it at all - well, though some reactions can very much catch on fire but that’s beside the point. The reactive chemical is instead acting on an otherwise stable state of a given substance by introducing-"
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"Really? We get to use our blades?!"
Ajoreal seemed extra happy at this news, but Kaland felt quite tempered - and almost suspicious from the moment she appeared. After all, their cousin’s wife was standing there following the Goltbred heiress with an almost far away look in her eyes. Like someone who had been taught forcefully that the world they lived in was far simpler and far more complex than they ever imagined. Of course, the boy could only see it as a student that had just been broken by an instructor.
Deciding correctly that such was the intent behind today’s surprise lesson, the older sibling was not looking forward to whatever the plan was. Even if it meant he would get to swing his weapon for the first time in weeks.
"You can. I’ll allow you your essential warm-up so neither of you can claim you were rusty. And then we will duel."
"...Duel?"
"A practice bout sounds fun! You want to see me against my brother, I guess?"
Giggling so much at Ajoreal that it almost turned into a cackle, the illusionist rapidly shot her hand to the side. Fingers clearly gripped around something in the air that her palm struck beside her. The brunette brushed back her brown bangs as a rippling wave ’erased’ the illusion from where she held the weapon she had designed.
A thirteen inch hilt of black leather wrapped in a spiral of taut sinew, with the first sign of metal being the giant mahogany-toned copper ring pommel. A similar colored metal formed the lunette style crossguard, a thick block of metal ready to catch what could not be parried... and successfully hiding copious amounts of sigilscript etched within its structure.
While she was proud of the functional leatherwork ’artistry’ below, extending from the guard was the blade she was extremely proud of. Retaining the thick, extra long spatha style of the Yecine’s blades, the beryllium copper alloy was browned along the flat of the blade but shiny reddish-gold along the ground and polished edge profiling. However, the twin fullers were something else entirely.
Etched meticulously along their entirety using her ’essence chiseling’ technique, the resulting channels had been stuffed full of both fine and coarse powdered stone. Specifically, malachite and azurite mixed in resin... with the latter’s fine powder given some silver - sourced of course from her dress - into the mix to bring the color closer to a pigeon blue to pair with the mint green.
Poured carefully at the same time, the colors wrapped and spiraled like natural ore veins growing inside the recessed area. Giving the entire blade the quality of a ceremonial relic instead of a true warblade. Something she expected others may also mistake it for in the future, to her benefit.
If something could actually harm it, the metal was more likely to roll than chip. The alloy she used could be heat-treated to temper it closer to the properties of high-carbon steel while also making the metal even less likely to spark. And importantly for a recent cultivator meeting of hers, which is usually how the whimsical schemer decided to plan for things... the entire thing was unable to be magnetized like a iron bearing weapon.
At least, so long as she didn’t run the ritual that would surge energy and turn it into a temporary electromagnet. A trick she knew from experience was useful to throw off that sort of cultivator. Almost like a sudden flash that could blind sight, a sudden burst of their own Element they were fully unprepared for was a great way to buy some distracting seconds.
’So is pulling a giant sword out of nowhere.’
"You’d rather do something that you’ve probably done countless times with each other? No will at all to test yourself against the young woman who passed your family’s little unfair test? Or did you think I could not tell your faults from amid the heat of battle on my own and would need to stand on the sidelines to gather them?"
Resting the flat of the blade on her shoulder, with the sharpened axe-like beveling right against the skin of her neck, the ancient cultivator sneered at her two students that only earned the qualification through nepotism!
"I bet you also think I meant one at a time. You will both fight me at once. And you will lose. And learn. But absolutely lose."
Elua knew she was laying it on thick, but it was another good lesson she was sure they would find a lot of value in. After all, the reason the Yecine were considered dominant enough in the region was the way they held themselves. You looked at one and you felt like they would take you down.
’Battles don’t begin when blades are drawn. In fact, battles are always in motion - with everyone at all times. So getting into someone’s head before a weapon takes it... hm, maybe I *am* being too much.’
Turning to look at Rezzue, El found the woman nodding vigorously with hands clenched into fists at her chest height. So the reincarnator could only shrug... and give at least one of the people there what they wanted.
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His sister-in-law was not a witch. She was a sword-demon. One that made their father seem like he was giving them kindhearted scuffles by allowing them to close any distance. Kaland was pretty sure... that he would never look at any girls or defenseless looking women the same way ever again.
’I guess I’d already thought that after what she did at the competition. After learning our eldest brother was a sister. But it really... sunk in, now.’
The boy was swimming in the cobalt lake three weeks after the day of the duel. From that event until now, both of them were allowed some special compensation in their training thanks to what Elua called a ’massive error of judgement’. Or in other words... after the crying mint eyed girl became far more upset than them after hearing that the two training blades she wrecked were given to them by Qatrand to serve as Exclave-temporary stand-ins for the weapons they had not yet gotten from their family.
’I thought my brother was upset when he saw his blade shear in half. But he didn’t bawl like she did...’
Ajoreal was given a special spot to sit in while he meditated that contained a zone of ionized air which left an indigo glow of static potential wreathing him. He’d gotten over the various losses easy enough after that, especially when being told the space would serve as spiritual training, safe essence accumulation, and also a place to test out his Lightning Element once the breakthrough came.
But Kaland... had only gotten thrown into the lake for his ’spot’ - deep down within it. Not because he pulled a Madrigil and interrupted her! As she explained it (or didn’t), he would know what an Aquatic Physique really was after experiencing it in action. In five seconds of struggle, he went from barely knowing how to swim based on reading a book once to gliding through the water like a human-shaped dolphin.
The physical energy techniques for improving almost every aspect of underwater survivability were all but hardcoded into his body. The first dive, his breath had even lasted a whole four minutes despite the early panic. Now, he had been underwater for nearly thirty-three minutes just floating against a rockface... and staring at the Silver Altar in the distance he had been told not to ’play’ with. Just thinking again, as he had constantly these weeks, about how they had been shown a dim truth.
She’d used their family’s forms - perfectly executed. Every stance by the manual, every transition smooth and restricted to the style they used. Being a cultivator, the weight of her blade hadn’t even slowed her in the slightest... though when he had lifted it afterwards with her permission, the thing seemed to be a fifth or more heavier than his own which somehow stuck in his craw.
Ajoreal had tried to capitalize on an opening early, moving exactly as they’d been drilled to do when fighting alongside another. She’d parried his blade with enough force to send him stumbling, then swept his legs with the flat of the blade without breaking training form. When Kaland committed to the aggressive downward strike from the seventh kata while she was busy with that... she’d stepped back inside his guard and put her pommel against his solar plexus before he could recover.
Twelve seconds, with half of that being their hesitation to approach the girl emitting bloodlust.
The second bout went differently, longer, only because they’d tried to adapt as she criticized the very style she was using without error. That round was when the blade of the youngest brother snapped in half - caught between her dense crossguard and a twist that leveraged on a notch she created when parrying in the first round. Because he’d tried to force through the meet instead of yielding and backing away.
Elua had told him to pick up the broken pieces and sit while finishing with Kaland. His did not come apart in two large pieces, but was still ruined as she bullied him since what followed wasn’t words of comfort or blows held back... neither in his jellied arm muscles or their Yecine pride.
She’d walked them through with an illusory recording of every moment they’d reacted as their training prescribed and explained why each reaction had created an opening for her. Aggressive commitment which their father praised left them overextended. The partnered advances they’d drilled for years together made them predictable. The power-focused strikes that were supposed to overwhelm an opponent... only worked if the opponent was weaker or unprepared for the even match.
The girl stressed that their style assumed they’ll be stronger or meaner than the opponent. And posed the question to them - what happens when they were not?
Worse for them was seeing her sword dance around in confusing paths while she critiqued... making it clear she hadn’t fought like herself from the start. She’d fought like a Yecine intentionally with twice their physical cultivation - and that had been more than enough to dismantle them completely. This implication sat heavier on his shoulders than even the water around him.
Deep inside Kaland’s spirit, he was sure... that against the Copper Blade of the Ogre Fairy, they would not last a single exchange. That is, should his amazing but incredibly terrifying sister-in-law even *bother* to use it.
’Thinking of the hand-to-hand training is going to make me throw up underwater again. I should think happy thoughts. Think... happy... urk!’
