Haru sat beside the window that morning in his room, having his usual breakfast. He was still not used to the silver hilt that was lying on the table in front of him. The former pacifist was yet to come to terms with his radical decision and had refrained from using the blue blade since that fateful night. So far, every time he went down to the Rune Knight grounds to practice, he had only used the wooden training sword found there. Except for his partner, no one else in the campus even knows of its existence.

However, Haru knew if he wanted to get better, he needed to practice with the real thing. No wooden sword had the same balance and feel as his lightsabre and the differences were stark. But… He knew his limitations. The healer was new to fighting, let along fighting with a sword. What if he accidentally injured someone while sparring? Nevertheless, he tucked the hilt under his belt before leaving. Maybe that day he would find the courage to use it during the training hours.

The scarlet-haired Knight walked down the barracks and reached the grounds. He promptly picked up the wooden sword and began striking the dummy in the middle. It was still too early; the sun had just risen over the horizon. So, it would seem he was all alone there. Or was he?

WC: 232

Haru was so focused on training that he had failed to notice his partner following him. He promptly began training with the wooden sword, but the hilt pressing against his hip felt a lot more prominent that morning than ever before. He was about to put the wooden sword away and attempt activating the lightsabre for the first time above ground. Just then, he heard footsteps behind him and he turned to see who it was. Realizing it was just Akira, he smiled at her and pulled the hilt out from under his belt.

There was no reason for Akira to be there with him. He knew she was someone who slept her best early in the morning; and yet, there she was as a constant encouragement at his every training session. At least for her sake, he figured he should stop pretending to train and do it for real. Taking a deep breath, he prepared himself to press the button on the hilt. Just when he was about to activate the blade, he saw someone else approach him from the corner of his periphery. Turning towards the newcomer, he immediately recognized the elf. “Sage!” he exclaimed, reciprocating his smile and then hugging him back. He still had the hilt in his hand, and it seemed the blonde elf was as observant and curious as ever.

“Oh! This?” he began, a little sadly, but then cleared his throat to give himself some confidence. If he hated the weapon, he would never be able to connect with it. “It’s a sword I happened upon recently…” he said, this time his tone was neutral. He pointed the hilt away from both his team mates and pressed the button. Immediately, a one-meter long blue mana-blade shone from the outer end of the hilt. He slashed it a couple of times, still away from the two just to be safe, and the blade made a wooshing sound every time he did it. He heard Akira assume the two were going to train together. He hadn’t thought about it until then, but realized it was a wonderful idea.

Turning towards Sage, he began asking his help desperately. “That’s a great idea! Sage… You should know quite a bit about using swords. Would you please spar with me?” he asked.

WC: 384
Lightsabre Activated!

The beginner swordsman was ecstatic when Sage immediately agreed to the spar. “Thank you so much!” he said, bowing to express his gratitude. When Sage began to walk away from him, Haru did so in the opposite direction, to ensure when the fight began the two were at least ten meters away from each other. From all the defending and protecting he had done, Haru had a knack for knowing how well to dodge and knew very well that the further away from the source he was, the easier it would be.

However, so far, the healer had only excelled at giving his opponents the run of the mill with his above-average speed. Now, with a melee weapon like his lightsabre, he needed to find an opening and dash towards his target to be able to do any damage. Running away was no longer an option. This will really be educational, he thought to himself, as his usually lethargic brain tried to come up with a plan. His elven teammate was no pushover; the young man was powerful enough to wield two different elements just like Akira. He knew he would be a fool to underestimate him, and not to mention he was only starting out with his sword.

Haru listened to Akira carefully as she laid out the rules. They seemed fair considering this whole exercise was to help him improve his swordsmanship; so, the more it pushed him to think on his feet with the sword in his hand, the more effective it will be. Haru smiled at Sage as he asked him to show what he got, and nodded. “I’ll try my best, my friend,” he said, raising the sword to his eye-level in front of him like it was a shield. While he may wield a powerful weapon, his mind was still very defensive in nature. Maybe this will battle will change it for the better. When Akira asked if they were ready, Haru nodded and said, “Ready!” He would then wait for Sage to acknowledge too before moving.

Haru moved very carefully in a circle around Sage, keeping a good distance, ready to dash out of any spell that might be slung towards him.

WC: 369
Lightsabre Active!

Haru watched Sage’s movement carefully. He did not expect his elven team mate to charge at him head on. He thought he would use the range of his spells to keep out of Haru’s range, since the healer was only allowed to use the sword. But, it would seem Sage was being a little too considerate and chose to close the gap between the two. Of course, the moment Sage made the slightest move to reach the eight meter distance, Haru’s leg muscles clenched and his immediate instincts were to dash further away. But he quickly realized how running away would do him no good in this fight; so he held his ground. He waited until Sage began his dash. The elf was fast, but it wasn’t something Haru couldn’t cope with.

When Sage closed the gap and twisted his hip for the kick, Haru quickly took a step back to avoid the kick and attempted to slash at the gap between the metal pieces on his armor’s chest and crotch. He did not wish for his blade to even touch Sage’s skin, but only the fabric of his armor. However, as he took the step back to avoid Sage’s kick, he saw him wave his hand and vines crept upon Haru from the ground attempting to bind him. These vines weren’t strong enough to hold him back, but it did enough to put his aim off. So, when he charged forward after the step back to slash at the gap in Sage’s armor, the vines tripped him slightly and he ended up going in deeper than he intended.

Haru’s eyes widened as he saw his hand slash across Sage’s chest. He tried stopping himself, but the momentum was already there. If his lightsabre manages to make contact with Sage’s armor, it would probably completely destroy it, considering his blade did burning damage and the elf’s armor was nature-based. In a final attempt to avoid accidentally injuring his comrade, Haru put his foot down hard and dashed a good five meters to his left in an attempt to counter the momentum he initially had.

WC: 354
Lightsabre Active!

Such heat of the battle was very new to the healer. He had always been on the backlines, shielding and healing the ones who actually fought. There were times when he wondered why a fighter did something so differently from the obviously right thing to do. But being in their shoes for the first time, he realized how difficult it was to make those split-second decisions. And you don’t get all of them right. His decision to dash to his left was not the best one. He might have had a better chance had he remained where he was and took advantage of the close combat scenario. But, it was not a decision he regretted. After all, he did not wish to train his brain to win no matter what. He was fighting his comrade; safety came first.

His elven team mate was smart and quick on his feet. He followed up Haru’s dash with his own and the sudden movement befuddled the newbie swordsman. Was he supposed to dash to his left or right? Or was he supposed to dodge the incoming attack and attempt his own counter-attack? His brain came up with a multitude of possibilities, but decided upon nothing. In all that time, Sage had already cast his spell and a stream of viscous liquid shot out of his index finger straight towards Haru’s leg. The healer’s eyes widened, and he reflexively put up his lightsabre’s blade against the stream, like it was a shield. Of course, the blade wasn’t a shield and all it did was redirect the stream of liquid towards away from his legs, but it hit his upper left shoulder instead. Immediately, he felt his left bicep and shoulder muscles numb down. He realized the implications; had that liquid hit his leg, he would be a sitting duck for Sage.

Haru’s defensive brain screamed at him to dash away from his target. But somewhere in the corner of his head, he knew what to do. He knew this was his chance. His sparring mate had just finished a dash and cast a spell. This would be the ideal time to counter attack. So, pushing away his defensive attitude with much difficulty, he held his ground and slashed at Sage’s leg that was closest to him. It was, after all, the least covered part of his armor. Since Sage had dashed close to Haru and not utilized the range he had, it would be interesting to see how he dodges this attack, if at all.

WC: 421
Lightsabre Active!

Things weren’t going so well for Haru. He wasn’t keeping track of the points until he heard Akira yell it out. As much as he didn’t care about winning with points, he felt a little ashamed when she bellowed ‘Sage 2, Tsuru 0’. It was probably what propelled him to stay after getting hit by the wolfsbane liquid and attempt to strike back. His slash connected, but it didn’t seem like it had much effect on the elf. Despite being hit in the leg, he brushed it off like it was nothing and even managed to jump and follow it up with a kick to him.

Haru was quite surprised at Sage’s resilience. He did not expect him to be so quick with a counter attack and had no time to dash away. However, the feeling on his left hand seemed to be returning and he gained full control of it. So, Haru quickly raised his left hand to block the incoming kick and crouched a bit to brace for the impact. Sage was quite good at targeting the right spots in combat. He went straight for his belly, which if Haru had not seen coming would have sent him flying. However, since Haru spread his legs to keep his balance, he wasn’t sent flying away from where he was like Sage expected. Instead, he hardened his abs and decided to take the hit.

The healer had a plan. He realized dodging and running away was not going to net him points. He had to strike; that was the only way he would learn. So, he stood there and took the kick to his belly. Because he had his left hand to block part of the impact and he braced himself for the kick, it only pushed him a few inches back and he wasn’t sent flying back like Sage expected. This was an instinctively good decision by Haru, because if he had dodged the kick or was pushed away, Sage would have got him with the blinding spell. Luckily, now that the orb of light was thrown behind him, it did not flash and blind the healer.

Haru saw the opportunity he had right then and acted quickly upon it. Just before Sage could pull his leg back from the kick, the red-headed Rune Knight attempted to hold the elf’s leg with his left hand immediately and would pull him down to the ground if he succeeded in getting a hold of him. Since Sage was mid-air, he would be caught off-balance if he got caught. If Haru’s attempt was successful, Sage would probably find himself falling to the ground losing his balance, and Haru would immediately try to nick the elf on his neck with his lightsabre. Of course, he wouldn’t fatally wound his comrade and would only attempt to make a very small cut.

WC: 477
Lightsabre Active!

It would seem Sage had underestimated Haru very much. After the swordsman got a hold of the elf’s leg, the Woodland mage reacted with a flurry of reckless attacks. While he tried to fall forward towards Haru, the former pacifist noticed several openings that he could strike at. First was his left leg that was falling down defencelessly, and next was one of his hands with which he reached to grab Haru. Even if all the weight was pulling the red-headed Knight down a bit, his sword arm was still free and he could have struck the elf’s forearm or the free leg, where his armor covered him the least.

However, Haru had no great precision with his sword and he did not wish to risk injuring Sage. Considering Sage’s weight had made his balance wobbly, he was afraid he might end up slicing too deep if he attempted slashing the sword at Sage’s arm that was on its way to grab him. So, Haru instead swatted the arm that tried to grab him, then lift his leg and would kick straight towards Sage’s stomach, letting go of the leg he was holding just as his kicking leg extended fully. If the kick landed, it would probably send Sage flying backwards and away from Haru. Irrespective, the swordsman would quickly crouch and dash back a good ten meters away from his original position. Even if Sage tried to cast his blinding spell, Haru would be quite far for it to matter.

“I would say that was round one!” he said, smiling at his sparring mate. Before they could go into the next round, however, the trio would be interrupted by a Rune Knight messenger. “Hate to break the party, but important business,” said a short bald man. “Miss Shimada and Mister Akimoto are ordered to be at the headquarters as soon as possible,” he spoke, loud and clear, pointing towards Akira and Haru. The healer sighed and deactivated his lightsabre, before tucking it under his belt. “Well… We shall continue this some other time then. Thank you, again!” he said to Sage with a smile, before bowing out. Nodding at Akira, he followed the short bald man towards the quarters to get further information on their urgent orders.

WC: 375
Lightsabre Deactivated!
-Exit-