14 The Weapon Triangle

[Morgan Pov]

I was taught many things by my parents, one of them was the importance of promises. They taught me not to make them carelessly, to always be a man of my word. That is why I don't make promises or even definite statements.

It makes me angry when I can't fulfill them. When I make a promise it means I will do everything I can to turn that statement into a fact. If I can't make it happen, then that is a sign of my own incompetence and an overestimation of myself.

Overestimating yourself is probably one of the most embarrassing things you can do to yourself. When you can't back up what you said you can do, words can't describe how stupid you look. The more you try to prove your unfounded words the sadder it looks. Looks of disdain can turn into looks of pity, and it's even worse when they try not to even gaze at you.

While I am more experienced and knowledgeable in dark magic, I also take pride in my skill with using spears and polearms. Improving my magic means overcoming mental barriers and improving my weapon proficiencies means overcoming physical barriers.

Overcoming these barriers is what reassures me, and gives me the confidence to keep forging my path forward. In a world like this, there is no guarantee I will live a long life or even a peaceful life.

I have many regrets from my past life, I do not want to live my second life creating more. So I will continue to struggle, struggle until I make something out of this second chance. I doubt I will get a third chance, the sad truth is most people never get a second chance to make things right.

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"Choose your weapon boy."

He guides me to a bunch of wooden training spears each with different spearheads, all of them are suitable for my size. I guess there are children my age or more size to be more accurate. They have a surprising variety to choose from, wonder why though?

Sacaeans are known for being master swordsmen and mounted marksmen, this is very surprising. Either way, this is fine with me. I can put in a lot of work with any one of these spears. I was able to survive so long against the wolves with a simple DIY spear.

After weighing my options, I decided to use the simple and practical winged spear. The reason I chose this one was to show them I can get the job done with the most readily available spear. While I may like the partisan and halberd, it might be harder to make or find those weapons out on the plains.

"Is this the one you are best at using?"

"No, you don't have the ones I am the best at using."

"Why did you choose this one?"

"If this one breaks, it is easier to find another one like this. Don't worry I know how to use this spear. So, what am I fighting?"

"You will be fighting a couple of opponents, and you will only face the next opponent if you win your previous match."

"I understand."

So I am running a small gauntlet.

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So my first opponent is a kid, he looks about 9 years old. I am guessing they want to see if I am below or above the skill level of my peers, by sending an opponent of this caliber. I don't think this kid is at my level, regardless, I will not hold anything back. I won't let overconfidence be my downfall, I want women to be my downfall.

~What the hell is wrong with you! How did you even get to that thought?~

Shut up, you don't understand the dreams I have! I always wanted to start a family, that was my biggest regret in my past life. And it wasn't for a lack of trying, my love life can be best described as a tragicomedy without a happy ending.

~That doesn't explain the whiplash you gave me from that sudden change in thought.~

The point is I want to have a stable love life and I want to die trying. To be honest, I do not have any dreams I want to chase. Might as well go with something I wanted to do in the past, it is also something I haven't experienced yet. Oh shit! The fight started, got to smoke this kid real quick!

Well, he looks like he has some experience using a sword. However, he will be at a complete disadvantage facing a spearman like me. Since this is a gauntlet, I should conserve as much stamina as I can early on. I get my feet into the proper position, and a shovel grip on my spear.

The best option in this situation is to be aggressive and to exploit his short range. Like every good swordsman, every spearman needs great eyesight and reflexes. To use the length of a spear/polearm effectively, every spearman needs to accurately measure distance.

When you can control the distance, you can control the tempo of the fight. Defense or offense, the engagement will be on my terms, and the outcome is mine to control. Time for ol' reliable, I step forward and go for the standard spear thrust. How will you react to this? Can you keep up?

So you are going to try and push it away. Well, your mistake was pushing in the wrong direction. I can still aim for your head, you turned a simple body shot into a headshot. I just need to cue my spear to finish this, I don't need to use too much strength for this maneuver.

And I stopped the spear right before I reached his face. I am the greatest! Good job me! Thanks for the compliment, me! Oh, it was no problem, I knew I could do it.

~How did you get worse? I thought we were making progress. Do you really take pride in beating an inexperienced child?~

Yes.

~I don't want to touch this subject anymore. Just prepare for your next match.~

"Morgan wins! We will give you some time to prepare for your next opponent."

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"Send in the next opponent!"

I wonder what kind of opponent is next? Their best bet is sending another spearman to combat me. The advantage a polearm has against swords is pretty drastic, they probably want to avoid that situation. Oh, they are sending an axe user this time, he looks around the same age as my last opponent.

This is going to be difficult, this guy is taller and stronger than the last opponent. If I am not careful with my thrusts, he can hook onto the spear shaft and control my movements. Once he does that he can close the distance easily and hit me.

We were pacing around, measuring each other up. He knows not to underestimate me, there goes one of my advantages. He has definitely fought a spearman before, he is constantly shifting his grip. He is changing it according to our distance from each other.

What would be the best approach in this situation? His axe is a fairly decent length, so there goes my advantage with distance. Fuck it, I'm going for it! I raise my spear, get an overhand grip, and position the speartip at a downward angle. I align the wings of my spear to be vertical.

Good, he doesn't have an idea of what I am going for. So unpredictability will be my advantage for this round. Speed will have to be on my side for this to work, and I need the patience to find the right opportunity. Speed, I am speed. Concentrate and wait, I need to set the pace to win.

I see it! I cue my spear aiming near his foot, but he doesn't know that. Just to be sure I have the necessary speed, I use Sorcery Blade to channel magic into my hands, wrists, and weapon. I quickly twist my wrists counterclockwise to align the wings of my spear to be horizontal.

I then pull back as fast I can, I hope this works. I hook onto his ankle and use all the strength I can to attempt to topple him. The sheer speed of my maneuver and the downward angle I am pulling in, makes him fall on his back. I decided to discard my weapon and pounce on him.

I wrestle his weapon out of his hands with my enhanced strength, and once I get a good hold on it, I throw it to the side. I then apply my mother's technique of giving children a good ass-whooping. Aim for the body and not the face. How do I know this technique? Lots of experience.

Let's just say that I deserved it, and I don't regret anything. They should be calling for my victory at this point. I am not using my enhanced strength to hurt him, so I am not doing any real damage. The mental damage though, I mean he just got his ass handed to him by a 5-year-old. This is definitely a huge blow to his pride. I would cry if that happened to me, on the inside of course.

~If that happens, I will never let you live that down.~

I will never let that happen to me. I would rather die than lose to a child.

"Okay, you win! You can stop now! Do you need time to rest?"

"No, let's keep going."

"Send in the next opponent."

Fuck, my next opponent is a spearman.

~His is bigger!~

That doesn't matter, it's all about technique. Give me time and I will show you all! I will have both size and technique, just you wait! When I reach my prime, the world will never be the same! I will accomplish my ultimate goal of corrupting the gene pool!

~Not what I was talking about! You need to chill! I didn't know this was a sensitive subject for you.~

Anyways, this is going to suck, my opponent's weapon is longer and he is taller than me. I may have to cheat to win this bout. I never promised them I wouldn't fire magic at my opponent, and they never said I couldn't do that either. While I was monologuing I was attacked by this side character.

Little does he know, I have a lot of confidence in my defense. A duel between two spears is much like fencing. Lots of partying and riposting, and there is a heavy emphasis on leverage and controlling the angle of the attack.

I lightly parry the thrust and go immediately for a thrust of my own. He immediately raises the end of his spear and switches to an overhand grip. This allows him to have the leverage to redirect the attack. He uses the downward angle of his spear to shift my attack upwards.

When you parry a spear, you only fend off the spearhead. However, that also means you still have to deal with the length of the weapon itself. So in a duel, it is sometimes better to lightly parry, and go for an immediate kill. Positioning and reflexes decide the outcome of the duel.

This guy knows how to work the shaft. Though he is not as good as me. No homo. My body doesn't have the strength or speed to keep up with my reflexes or execute my plans.

~Wait was the reason you chose the spear because of all the jokes you can make with it.~

Yes! I mean no, it's partly the reason.

I know what is coming next, I will lose this if I do not use magic to create an opportunity. Right now his spear is underneath mine, and my spear is tilted upwards. He will try and use the heights and angle to his advantage, he will coil around counterclockwise and fling my spear off using the momentum. When he does that, one of my hands will let go of the spear.

Perfect, all according to the cake.

~It's keikaku you uncultured mongrel, not cake. At least try to remember the word.~

Whatever. I think I have the reflexes to pull this plan off. As soon as he starts to push, I let go of my spear. Hopefully, this maneuver will cause his aim to be slightly off-center. When that happens I will use this opportunity to fire magic at him.

I don't care how much stronger you are than me, you aren't faster than my magic bullet. After killing that one guy, I made this nonlethal spell. I can't have the blood child on my hands this early on. Can it kill people? If I try hard enough.

'Stun'

I don't use a lot of magic power in this attack, so the attack is about as strong as a punch from a child, but I aimed for his stomach. While he was staggered I immediately grip my spear again and immediately tried to trip this kid with the spear wings.

Once he is helpless on the floor. I pounce on him, and before I get the chance to enjoy this. I hear the ref immediately call the match.

"Morgan wins this match!"

"Tch."

~Stop bullying the children.~

Never!!!! What else am I supposed to do for fun? I'm just teaching them not to pick on the weak.

~We need to work out your problems at a later date. Remember the first step, you have to accept you have a problem.~

I don't have a problem, and I am teaching wonderful life lessons.

"Can I give up now, I do not think I can win the next match."

I only got through this match because I had the element of surprise. If I didn't have my magic I would have definitely lost that match. This is the limit of what I can do for now.

~You just don't want to do any more work for today. You lazy bum, you can't hide the truth from me.~

And no one will ever know, I will take this secret to my grave.