Xion CH17: The Importance Of Planning

A plan that wasn't something I had in mind. I put all my effort into standing and putting up what fight I could; winning never crossed my mind. I thought about it, I was slow, but I was wearing armor. If this was a fight, my goal would be to slow her down or stop her movements to make it easier for me to take advantage of my armor.

My plan was simple; I would force her to strike at my armor and leave herself open. We spared again, and she moved too quickly to counter with tricks of the light. After images appeared open for an attack. The haft of her spear swung toward my face as it had many times. I had taken that same blow from her numerous times since we began. My next move would be to block and counter if I had a shield. The second I blocked the blow, she would have already set up her killing strike.

It made me wonder if using techniques was out of the question. This was a spar, but she clearly used techniques as if they were natural. After images were a staple of the forest tribe warrior tool kit. Instead of blocking, I deflected the blow. I moved with it while aiming the end of my spear. She struck my chest while the end of my spear connected. Unlike myself, she wasn't wearing armor.

"So, you plan to kill me rather than die alone," Mekael said.

I patted my Kevlar vest. "It might not look it, but this can take a lot of punishment. You might break one of my ribs, but I would have skewered you. Armor can make all the difference in a fight." I said.

That simple fact had been true since the dawn of war. Armor that could block the enemy's weapons was an overwhelming advantage. I didn't have to worry about blocking as much and could stab away. Really it didn't matter how many times she hit my chest if the blow was never fatal or even debilitating. Of course, that didn't mean much if she targeted my legs, head, or arms. If I could force her to only target my chest, I would be fine.

I thought about buying more armor as well. There were pants with replicable armor plates. A bulletproof face mask would defiantly help out alone with a helmet with neck protection. When dealing with primitives pointing sticks at me, some armor was a great idea. Unfortunately, my SP had only recently reached the point where I could afford more expensive equipment.

We spared again, and she didn't make any pretenses and targeted my neck, legs, and head. None of her blows were aimed at my torso, but I still had the advantage. Her biggest target was covered in armor, and I could attack freely.

"You should fight as if it was a viable target. Glorael won't let you wear armor in a duel." Mekael said.

We took another break after Mekael thoroughly beat my ass. "You know you're pretty good for someone untrained. If you had a few years to master the basics and grow stronger, I could see you eventually reaching Samael's level. Unfortunately, you don't have a shot at doing that in a week, no matter how talented you are. Why don't you give up on Elorael and find someone else?" Mekael asked.

"She is my friend and stood up for me when I was weak. Loyalty like that must be respected, and what kind of man would I be if I left her to suffer." I said.

"A living one," Mekael said.

I thought about what I was willing to die for. While it sounded cliché, my friend was someone worth it. Normally the only thing worth dying for was my freedom to live my life the way I wanted to, but Elorael was different. She risked everything, including her own freedom, for me. Elorael could have become a warrior of the forest tribe and lived well. But, there was no reason for her to cover for my mistake. So, there was a second thing worth dying for for the first time in my life.

"Maybe my body would live, but I would not. I would be nothing more than a traitor. She sacrificed her freedom for me and resigned herself to a horrible fate. Even if it's impossible to match Samael with a spear with only a week of training, I have to try." I said.

"So, this is about pride. You can't stand being seen as less than worth her sacrifice. But she wouldn't want that if she sacrificed her freedom for you. Elorael most likely wants you to live and be free instead of throwing your life away in a duel." Mekael said.

I stared below at the fleet-footed white-maned unicorns roaming through the forest shod on golden hooves. The forest seemed to sing as they paused to drink from a nearby stream. Some jabbed and bit at each other while foals played. Each was majestic and shining with the same glowing aura that covered Mekael and the other forest elves that mastered breathing constant. I wondered if I would glow as well once I mastered the technique.

We had trained for a few hours, and already I felt some improvements. My body adjusted at a blinding rate due entirely to my healing factor. Without it, training like I did would be impossible. So I decided to abuse my biology to its fullest with weighted training to reach greater heights.

"It's my life to use how I see fit. Even if Elorael gave up her freedom to help me, that doesn't change me." I said.

"Then you leave me no choice. I'm going to run you into the ground every day and impart into you every trick I can. You won't be the best spear fighter in the tribe when we're done, but you will be a dangerous opponent." Mekael said.

"Alright, what are we going to do next?" I asked.

"Training is over for today, so as promised, I will show you how to hunt. I've tracked something large over the past few weeks, and I think we can bring it down." Mekael said.