An Unfunny Joke

After having been defeated, I was roused awake and had to endure the whole training. Endure, since after being defeated in such a ridiculous way, I had a tough time not running away to hide underground. I also felt much more tired than usual.

Romuald wasn't making it easier at all.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH," He yelled.

"I will break through my limits! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH," He added, before rolling himself on the ground in laughter.

"S-s-shut up!" I said while jogging on the posts.

The silver lining was that I was definitely getting used to this routine, to the point I could now even talk back. Mostly during static phases.

Still even though I had been defeated, Romuald cheered me up in his own way. Congratulating me for what I had done right, and ruthlessly mocking what I had done wrong.

On the way back, in-between playful jabs of Romuald imitating my awkward failure.

He asked, "What did you say these marks on your hand were again?"

I was a bit out of it. Somehow, I felt a bit more tired than usual. It might just be the embarrassment.

"Kid?"

"Hm.?"

He sighed before deciding it wasn't worth the hassle.

We walked silently home, while I was mildly happy with how I had handled myself this time, surviving for much longer. I still had to admit that it hadn't been much of a fight. More like.. a complex game of tag.

I was unnerved. This time I had noticed that I was slightly better at reading his movement. But I wasn't able to focus enough to even try striking him. No, in retrospect, this whole time I had been on the defensive.

I slapped myself.

I was definitely on the right path since even Romuald was acknowledging it, but just thinking about his smile made me shudder slightly.

When we arrived, we ate and then went to bed, but I couldn't sleep.

There were 3 days left to defeat him and I had absolutely no clue how to do that.

I rolled in bed like that, and contrarily to last night, sleep didn't find me. Romuald greeted me the next day, and I had not slept — my eyes shot.

I performed the morning run and was off my game. For the first time since we had started training, I had done a time that was worse than the prior days.

Romuald shrugged at it, and after that, we trained in the forest.

We then walked towards the water cascade; this haven of peace and my sole place of comfort here. Today, for the first time since that day, I reentered that space.

And as I danced, a voice whispered in my head. 'The flow... follow the flow'

And I executed what was said, muttering to myself, "The flow.. follow the flow"

Time passed… or did it?

Did it matter? The crashes of the water hitting the surface of the pristine water. The fresh fragrance of the luxurious greenery wafting around me.

Even the fresh haze produced by the crashing of the water cooling me down as I moved.

After some time, sometime that felt much longer than the first time, I slowly arose from the trance, enlightened.

"These eyes, the flow... I can fight!"

Romuald, who was close, welcomed me with a slow clap. "Not bad, not bad at all.. You actually held 5 minutes in there. What was different this time?" he asked.

I wasn't quite sure myself, so after scrounging my head for answers, I shrugged. "I don't know… I suppose being so tired made me unable to think anything that'd distract me?"

He chuckled. "Hahaha, I guess that's possible."

"Also, you can fight now? What do you mean?"

"Hahaha don't worry, I will show you!"

This experience had emboldened me; I felt like I had just stumbled over a sudden but much level new technique. This experience had made me realize something.

Until now I knew it, but now I understood what it meant and how I could apply it. I was manaless, but not powerless.

"Mwahahahaha.. I'll make you regret ever casting me away!"

"What a weird kid..." Romuald said as he followed me.

"Well, you'll need at least that to face this world."

[…]

We were now about to fight again. Today, my mindset was much less about defeating him, and more about training my eyes. After all the time I had spent with Romuald, I realized that while his mana reserves weren't as full as even some of my former maids, his speed, battle ability and mana control were all top-notch.

Thus, if my eyes could get used to this speed, I'd have a better chance facing other people.

Which is why for today and tomorrow, no matter how hard a beating I took, I wouldn't retreat. I'd grasp the full extent of his speed with my eyes. If I wanted to defeat him with the forest of posts, I need intel after all.

Still...

This is scary...

"Hey kid, you did fairly well last time. You sure you want to do it that way?" he said.

We were in the empty area delineating by the posts, the tombstone, and the array of rocks. There was nowhere to run away, even if I wanted to.

"Don't worry about me. Give it your all!" I said, showing some false confidence. In my mind, I was shaking.

Fuck.

You've trained that hard, you are strong now...

Calm down — I took a deep breath — you got this.

I took my stance. Much more defensive than last two times. I would rather not have to block. After all, Romuald was a hard hitter, but for now, getting away unscathed was impossible; I'd dodge as much as possible, but contact was unavoidable.

"Eh, since you asked for it." He said as he tensed his muscle. I immediately realized that he had taken it literally.

"NO NO NO, Not like that...."

"I mean..."

"Just go at it like usual... please..." I begged, regretting deeply having spoken boastfully.

"Ah alright," He said teasingly.

Phew.

He lowered his voice and said, "well, not that it…"

Despite pricking my ears, I couldn't hear the last word. Before I could make out what he had said, he released a pressure that was many times greater than the one he had momentarily showed during yesterday's bout. One that even reminded me of father.

"FIGHT!" He yelled, his voice amplified by his mana.

Shit.

He exploded forward, leaving deep imprints on the ground.

Where?

Where?

Where?

I said, continuously looking around. There was no way he'd keep using this predictable pattern in a serious fight. I could feel a light depression of air to my right.

I peeked at my right side. There he was. Like a blur. Ready to slash my head off.

Too fast.

Fuck!

I dropped belly first on the ground. Rolled towards him. And stood up as quickly as I could.

He didn't give me time to adapt as he flew towards me knee first. Still unbalanced, I threw myself back and closely avoided the knee strike. In my fall, I looked at him. At the circulation from his mana core to his different limbs.

Focus. Focus. Focus.

I wasn't really trying to concentrate. This wasn't for my brain, but for my eyes; I wished it would somehow help me see clearer.

He stomped down toward my head.

Reflexively, I leaned my head to the left, and seeing the opportunity, I stabbed my makeshift sword into his ankle. The stick phased through him, as he had already retreated.

My eyes darted from right to left. Jumped back to my feet and felt the surrounding air. Daily qigong practice had made me realize that as subtle as the sensation was from smell, touch, hearing and even taste, they could tell you a lot about your environment.

Isn't he going way too hard?

I had to admit he was still clearly holding back, still this was a much higher level than what I was used to. Still, I couldn't lose focus.

A disturbance in the air, like the tickle of a feather, tipped me off.

Behind!

I let myself fall again and rolled away, and looked up. I noticed he didn't come to me, instead looking at me with a mocking face.

"Fall and roll, fall and roll!"

"Is that your big plan?" Romuald asked.

"Shut up, you coward," I said, ticked off.

Because he was constantly attacking from my blind spots, and then dashing away, I had no time to even look at him. Having to rely on prediction and light air currents to even guess where he was?

"I am not the one doing hit and run."

This was really hypocritical from the mouth of someone who had only days ago resolved to play dirty in order to win. But I was now realizing how much of a pain it was.

"Cheh brat, can't even walk and he wants to run."

And with smooth movements, he changed his gesture.

"Hmmm, you'll regret what you said just now."

He exploded forward again. This time, however, I didn't have to look for him.

Thrust.

I didn't even have time to react. My right shoulder. Dislocated.

"Ack AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRGH!" I belted as I lost my grip on the sword.

"Don't cry yet, I am just starting," He followed up with a downward slash to my right thigh.

Crack.

His sword was just fine.

"AAAAGH" the pain brought tears to my eyes. And I buckled to my knees.

"Next."

"NO! Sorry! I am sorry!" I cried as I laid on the ground, defeated.

"Please... no more..." I said, totally and utterly defeated. I now realized I had taken him too lightly. We had become close, so I forgot discipline. While he had gone hard during our former spars, he had never gone that far.

"No." He said

Before walking, brandishing his sword again and swinging down my left thigh.

It cracked like popcorn.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

"Shut up!"

"You ungrateful brat, this is a world where even commoners will kill you to save their honor."

He swung again, this time at the ankle. Crack.

I grit my teeth. Tears streaming profusely from the pain and the confusion.

Is this for real? Is he going that far because of that?

"And you dared to call me a coward? I let it pass last time. After all, it was in fair game. But you just called me a coward? You fucking waste!"

He said, kicking my rib cage. Crack.

I was sent flying, and with both my legs broken, my right shoulder dislocated and my overall fatigue compounded, I fell like a bag of potato; totally powerless.

The shock had definitely punctured something. As I coughed heapful of blood.

"You idiot, is that all you can do?!"

"Where was that arrogance from before?"

"Maybe you should just die."

Cough

Why..?

I was asking quivering on the ground. Having trouble to even breathe.

Is it really… is it because I called him a coward?

I couldn't believe what was happening; looking back, even before that, this fight had been weird. Even if I was the one who had asked him to give his best, all of his blows had aimed at areas that could kill. And he knew that considering the chart of acupoints he had made me study.

Wh-what is going on?

Something felt eerily off. As if the excuse he had given me was just that, an excuse.

I felt like I was at the center of some huge practical joke. As if the universe, after giving me some hope to escape my dire situation, to become stronger, to stand my ground in this inhospitable world, was pulling the carpet from under me with a smug face. Was I stupid to believe there was some hope for me? Thinking back to it, it was weird in the first place that Romuald was so lenient with me. This was all a joke, was it? Romuald and Alfred are brother after all. They planned for this from the beginning, right? This is going on, right? I am just you guys' plaything, right?

Ahahaha.

AHAHAhahaHaha.

You fuckers.

"YOU FUCKERS!" I shouted in anger and confusion. This was a masquerade, was it? I was fooled.

AHAHAHAHA! Never again.

"YOU FUCKERS!" as I repeated this, at first I felt some unbearable pain in my chest, but it was now numb. "YOU FUCKERS!" every iteration, I coughed some more blood. Every iteration, I could feel energy leaving my body. Every iteration, I could feel my vision going darker and darker. The more angry I became, the more tired I was. I was shaking, my whole body was shaking; my arms even more violently.

"YOU FUCKERS!"

After some time, the anger subsided, replaced by a devouring sadness. There's no way that's real, right..? Is there really no one I can trust?

As the last tear slid from my eye, wetting the already humid soil. I fainted.