85 Sparring 2

Waking up to find Natash missing from her spot, Mitsuna karate chopped her pillow out of habit.

Climbing out of her room, she found that Empathy, her teacher was also missing.

'Don't tell me it's going to be another 'fridge incident.'

Walking outside, Mitsuna saw Natash sitting in front of the house.

"Hey, Nat?"

"Morning, yes."

"Where's teacher?"

"...Out."

"Oh, got it. She sure does go out a lot recently."

"She does?"

"Well, she mostly goes out when you are training out there."

As Mitsuna pointed towards the forest with her thumb, Natash stood up.

"You remember, yes?"

"I do. Sparring right?"

Mitsuna stood up and placed her hand on her sword.

"Is that new, yes?"

"Mhm. Teacher got me it yesterday."

Following Natash to a plain with no trees in sight, Mitsuna asked.

"How did you find this place?"

"I didn't find it, I made it."

"You did? During practice?"

"Yes."

"Oh, wow."

In the ground were multiple scratches and a few small craters.

Hopping over a slightly large gash in the ground, Mitsuna failed to notice the drops of blood.

"So how do we do this?"

"Spar like your life is on the line, yes."

"Can you tell me why you wanted to do this in the first place?"

"No..."

Letting out a sigh, Mitsuna spoke.

"Fine, let's make a bet, if I win you tell me why you wanted to do this."

"And if I win, yes?"

"I'll do whatever you want~."

"Anything?"

"Sure, we're friends. I doubt you'll make me do anything illegal or lewd..."

"Pft." Natash let out a small snicker as she wiped a tear from her face.

'I really can't beat her.' she thought as she raised her sword.

"Let's get to it."

"Mhm." Mitsuna mumbled as she got into a stance.

Natash swiped her sword at the ground and kicked up dust and grass.

A moment later, 8 shadows dashed out of the dust.

They all looked exactly like Natash and had the same aura as her.

'Illusions.'

Picking out the one with the most fluent aura that made the most movements, Mitsuna dashed and attacked.

Slashing with her sword, it was blocked.

Seeing no reaction from Natash, Mitsuna felt an impending sense of danger and used Sakura Step.

Seeing one Natash slash another Natash in half and disappear into two pieces of smoke.

Mitsuna looked around for the other 6.

Before she could turn around, 6 shadows jumped up from behind her and attacked.

Feeling a sense of dread, Mitsuna's eyes widened as she quickly used Full Eclipse.

Slashing 2 of the shadows in half, the resulting shockwave created from the Technique pushed the rest away.

Using Sakura Monsoon on her surroundings, the shadows were pushed further away.

'Where's the real one..?'

Seeing a few petals suddenly shred to pieces, Mitsuna jumped back and blocked.

Multiple attacks hit her sword head-on and Mitsuna was launched back.

"Mitsuna. This is a real match. Try your best, yes."

"Fine, Fine."

Activating her skills, Mitsuna got into her stance once again.

Jumping at Natash with all her strength, Mitsuna used Cresent Eclipse.

The Technique was blocked by Natash with her blade shining in a dark violet aura.

Getting her attack parried, Mitsuna breathed in and thrust her blade.

Natash back stepped and swung her blade. Mitsuna was going to block but she felt danger next to her.

Glancing to her right, Mitsuna saw that Natash had multiple upper bodies that all swung their blade right at her neck.

Not knowing which attack to block, Mitsuna noticed a lack of aura in the attacks.

Quickly ducking down, Mitsuna used Full Eclipse.

Feeling that she sliced something, she jumped up and used Sakura Step to move away from her location.

Seeing Natash standing there and holding her stomach in pain, Mitsuna saw the Natash with multiple upper bodies turn to smoke from her peripherals.

"Do I take this as a win?"

"... No."

"I landed a clean hit though, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, yes. Let's keep going."

"You just don't want to lose do you?"

"I haven't gone all out yet. Yes."

Natash's aura changed. It was denser, more violet and more violent.

The attack that Mitsuna landed did not do much damage.

Compared to Natash, she was under-levelled. Although she did have a lot more stats compared to others, Natash also had an amazing bloodline that gave her many more stats compared to the average Jonathan.

Shrugging the damage off, Natash brandished her sword and threw it.

Illusions were created in the air as Mitsuna lost the real sword in the sea of copies.

Natash started running towards her as Mitsuna was preoccupied with the flying swords.

Dodging and parrying as much as she could, Mitsuna managed to only lose some of her clothing as she wasn't cut.

Feeling danger from behind yet again, Mitsuna guessed the worst and made mana thread to block the attack.

As Natash's sword hit the string, Mitsuna realized that she didn't throw it in the first place.

Pulling the thread around Natash's weapon, Mitsuna created heavy blocks of ice at their ends that slowed Natash down for a moment.

Kicking Natash away, Mitsuna used Sakura Monsoon as multiple scratches and slices appeared on Natash's body.

Making copies of her hand starting from her wrist, Natash swung and sliced through the storm.

Seeing this, Mitsuna prepared herself for the next collision of attacks.

'So the illusions can affect other Techniques.'

Switching to a one-handed sword stance, Mitsuna created mana thread from her fingers on her left hand and created spiked orbs of ice at the end of the strings.

Natash also switched to a one-handed sword stance. Her sword and arm started vibrating as another weapon appeared in her right hand, a kama scythe.

'Since when can she do sh*t like that?'

Mitsuna thought as Natash narrowed her eyes.

'This is it.'