PreCursive

  This wasn’t going well. The duel had only been underway for two minutes, so far, and I was already on the back foot.

  After his little decration, Venix had stopped pying with me. I got the impression he wasn’t b to hold back the strength in his blows as he sought to e. He wasn’t going full force, I think, but he was no longer holding back.

  The results were predictable.

  I was getting my ass hao me.

  I grit my teeth and dodged out of the way of his right bde, only to o interpose Terractus in an immediate bloy left. The force of the blow from Venix’s left bde was enough to break my stance, sendiaggering in the dirt and dust of the inn’s practice yard. I didn’t evehe ce to recover my root before the Antium man on me again.

  His chitinous, sandal-cd foot rocketed out into a front kick that hit me right in the face, blowing right through my defensive vihe force was great enough that I felt my nose break and blood start to flow from it, even as I was sent flying backward in a flip. I grit my teeth in mid-air, and in a split seove, threw out a hand and cast out a Thrapple.

  The length of crimson thorn sailed straight at my assaint, as I touched down upon the earth below, not far from the ring of surrounding watchers. I hoped the ued move would be enough to surprise Venix, at the very least. At best, I wao rapidly re-eh him.

  It didn’t work.

  Venix didn’t even blink before I saw him activate something of his own, holding up two fingers from his lht arm in front of him. I didn’t know what it was, but a brief shimmer of steel erupted in front of him. My length of viered into it, and was immediately shredded.

  Ah.

  I…think that was a Cultivator Art, judging by the faint impression of Ki I could feel in the air. I didn’t see those often.

  I took a deep breath and upped the ante myself. I had initially only activated Might of the Wyrdwood at only about fifteen pert strength. Not…because I didn’t want to be strong enough to stand toe to toe with Venix. Not at all.

  But because the Skill was to for me to use fortably.

  In my testing, I’d discovered that the strength multiplication effect of the evolved Skill was far, far greater than Sylvan Vigor’s had been. To the point that I had felt severe soul strain bearing down on me when I had tried to use it at the same level. I had nearly passed out when I pushed the Skill to even forty pert. I’d felt the crystalline branches of my soul tree creak and groan from the strain, and had to hastily deactivate the Skill before I hurt it.

  I think this was another case of my Virtues just not being high enough to support my Skills, in much the same way that I’d lost my middle ring.

  But…I think I could push myself just a bit harder.

  I carefully ked up the Skill to twenty pert, as Venix dismissed his Art and advane once more. Shuddering at the resulting rush of power that ran through me, I put the sensation aside and sprang forward, Terractus poised to my side in a chopping blow.

  In the split sed before impact, I saw Venix’s chitinous eyebrow raise in mild surprise.

  Before he blocked the blow one handed with his left katana.

  The few moments were a dizzyingly fast whirlwind of exges betweewo of us. Every time I tried to strike out against the Antium, he would blod then try and terattack. Usually, with his other bde. With my enha Skill ked up higher, I just barely had the ability to react to these blows in time.

  Usually.

  The impact of those blocks was still enough to send shockwaves through my entire body. heless, I grit my teeth and bore through it.

  Something I noticed, though, was that he was no longer usiher of his two lower arms. They were crossed together across his chest, unmoving in all of our exges.

  The sight of them only made my frustration grer.

  Was I not good enough, for Venix to even use all of his arms? It was the equivalent of fighting a Human with one arm tied behind his back, aill holding me off easily.

  It made me want to be reckless.

  I ked Might of the Wyrdwood up another five pert, a my bones creak even more within my body.

  If not for another reason.

  My speed and strength increased even more, and my blows fell upon Venix with even more power.

  He noticed.

  Not enough to ge the tide. But he noticed.

  “A worthy effort,” Venix said evenly, blog arike from me with the ringing sound of g steel. He never relented, even as he spoke to me in the middle of battle. “You fight far above what your level would indicate, Hart. Your training has been paying off.”

  I panted heavily, dodging and weaving and blog desperately. “Thanks….I…think…” I mao pant out.

  Oddly, he stopped in his assault then, withdrawing his bdes. I staggered backwards, feeling the strain of holding Wyrdwood at only one-fourth of its potential and gasping for breath. I don’t know why he had stopped, but I appreciated the breather, even through my frustration with him.

  “Your form has not suffered, either, for your increased strength,” He tinued, not responding to my words. “In fact, it has truly improved, since our ing to these isles. Tell me, have you achieved General ons Proficy yet?”

  I eyed Venix oddly, still panting, but eventually nodded. “I…have…”.

  And I wasn’t lying.

  I hadn’t ed my ons training and had stuck to the pn Baldric had id out for me, all those months ago.

  Spear, Longsword, Kave, Longbow, Shortbow, and Throwing.

  I’d put iime with both Azarus, and the local tutors within Hinaga, to level all of those Proficys to the max of seven. It had been a pain in the ass, but it had been worth it.

  It had takehree months of daily practice, to one degree or ao finally achieve that.

  Ohe final one had been dohat being Throwing Proficy, I’d gotten a pop-up on my Status about bining them. In an echo of how simple it had been to evolve Sylvan Vigor, all I’d had to do was select those seven Talent’s and hit firm.

  And so I’d finally achieved what Baldric had set out for me.

  The resulting on sehat General on Proficy was…odd, to say the least. I now had an instinctive ability to handle on types I’d never even trained with. Not to a great degree, to be frank, but enough to fight. The first time I had picked up a fork, of all things, and sensed how to ha in battle I had nearly choked on my dinner. However, even with all of that, I had noticed that I was still far better with the seven I had actually trained with. I suppose that might be why it mattered what seven Talent's you fed into the General ons Skill.

  But I no longer had to level seven different Talent’s to get better with them. Just the one.

  “An even worthier aplishment,” Venix uedly praised me, dipping his head briefly. I blinked in surprise, as he tinued. “I have known warriors who have taken double or even triple the length of time to achieve such a thing. Talented ones, at that. To gain General ons Profi only five months of dedicated practice towards that goal is impressive indeed.”

  A brief murmur of agreement ran through the crowd, and I felt a flush of embarrassment run through me. I…wasn’t used to public praise, in this manner. It made me a bit… self-scious.

  Might have been a tributing factor to why I was so eager to get out of Herztal, now that I thought of it.

  Venix’s posture uedly hardened and he raised his right bde to point straight at me. “But you are still holding back,” He said, eyes narrowed. “Fight me at your full potential. Put that bde away. It is a side-arm for you, at best, and you have yet to unleash your true power. You know of what I speak.”

  Another fre of anger ran through me at his words. Not…about Terractus. He was right about that. I might have trained enough with the longsword to be fortable with it, but the bde wasn’t where I was more fortable.

  I sheathed it and reached behind me for one of my daggers. Drawing it, I thumbed the activation switch causing the hilt to expand, leavih the full length of one of my spears. Only the ohough.

  At heart, I think I would always be a spearman.

  But I didn’t mentally reach for the other thing he was talking about.

  Venix scoffed across from me. “Cease your dithering!” He barked, suddenly furious in a way I had never seen from the samurai. The Antium exploded forward, faster than he had moved iire duel.

  My eyes didn’t even have time to fully widen at the level he had just escated to. I desperately ma my spear up into a blog position before both of his bdes crashed down on it.

  Despite the increased strength from Might of the Wyrdwood, I couldn’t withstand the force of it. Even my spear flexed from the collision, creaking ominously in a way I had never heard from my Oninite onry.

  I lost my footing, crashing down to one khe sheer weight pressing down on me was enough that I think my kneecap ht fttened, nearly shattering.

  The air in my lungs was driven out of me all at once as I desperately held on.

  Leaning down towards me over our crossed ons, Venix spoke. “Despite all your advas,” He said in a low tone. “You ot tinue in this manner. You run from the curse that was inflicted on you, never allowing yourself to face it head-on. Even now, when it is the only thing that presents a path toward victory, you are hesitant. Do not be. You must seize this affli by the throat and make it your own, or else you might as well give up now.”

  I ground my teeth together both uhe weight of Venix’s swords…

  And his recriminations.

  “It’s not that simple,” I hissed through a ched jaw.

  Venix pushed down harder, nearly sending me down ft on my back. “It is,” He insisted. “You may not have asked for or sought your curse, but it is yours now. It will be your willpower that earns you mastery of your fate, and your willpower alone. I pass these words down to you now, as they were to me.”

  I swear I saw a faint white gloear then, shining from behind the Antium man’s pound eyes.

  “It is never over, while will remains,” Venix said, in the fiercest tone I’d ever heard from him. vi dripped from every word he spoke, and I somehow khat these words rested at the core of who he was.

  Something…something about what he said reached me then. I…

  I…

  Alright.

  I briefly closed my eyes, before fring them open wildly. I met Venix’s own slightly glowing eyes. “Fihen,” I snarled. “You want all of me?! Then here I e!”

  Vis Maledicta Exactoris.

  In an instant, a fsh of pitch-bck, corrosive mist swept over the ey of my body. Venix had to leap back from it in order to keep from being scalded. While underh it…

  I ged.

  I didn’t wait a moment to adapt to my newly monstrous form, after I had switched to monstrous Skill form I’d been cursed by Rhazal with.

  Instead, I leapt out of the mist with a roar that echoed out of my ged, reptilian throat. I ropelled forward by my pair of batlike wings now growing out of my back, covered i-bck scales. I spun my spear in my cwed hands rapidly enough that it sounded like the bdes of a helicopter cutting the air, before the on crashed into Venix’s crossed katana’s.

  This time, it was he who was knocked back from the force of the blow.

  I was…a bit surprised by that, through the rage now c through my veins. I hadn’t thought my enharength in this form was enough to stagger someone as strong as Venix was. But I retained just enough awareo see that Might of the Wyrdwood was still active, the crimson vines crawling all over my reptilian scales. The Skills seemed to be w together.

  But the drain on me was enormous. This strength…it might be enough to wihe duel, but I don’t think I could keep both Skills running for more than ahirty seds at most.

  I had to act fast.

  Luckily, I had an idea.

  Croug, I fpped my wings downward as hard as I could, sending me skyrocketing into the air. I had never actually practiced flying in this form, sidering my reluce to use the Skill, so I was incredibly unsteady. But I wasly trying to take a leisurely pleasure flight.

  Instead, I wao dive.

  At the apex of my leap, perhaps several hundred feet into the air, I angled myself downward to see the distant practice yard of the inn. Below me, I could see the watg patrons had leaped to their feet to point up at me iher amazement or fear. Among them, I could see my panions easily, thanks to my enhanced eyesight in this form.

  Azarus and Liora were still sitting, drinking their tea, and looking uned. Meanwhile, Renauld had joihe other patrons and was on his feet. Uhem, he seemed to be whooping iement.

  But it was Venix that caught my eye the most. The Antium samurai had regained his footing and was looking up at me. I thought I saw the barest trace of a smile cross his chitinous features before they firmed. He set his feet, and then oddly enough, sheathed his two katanas.

  Instead of fag me with bde in hands, he instead opened wide all four arms, and across the distaween us, met my eyes.

  The taunt that I could see in his set my blood alight.

  I snarled, airely monstrous sound that echoed across the rooftops around us.

  And folded my wings, falling into a dive directly at Venix, the point of my spear aimed straight at him.

  It only took moments to reach Venix, and in the split sed before my spear tore through him, he cpped all four of his hands together.

  Directly onto the bde of my spear.

  In an instant, I halted in midair, suspended by the point of my spear bde that Venix had impossibly caught.

  Despite the severity of the situation, I couldn’t help but gape a mouthful of sharpeeeth at the maneuver.

  Venix smirked at me.

  And then twisted, still holding the bde of my spear, throwing me off to the side.

  As I impacted the dirt of the yard, my grip on both Vis Maledicta Exactoris and Might of the Wyrdwood slipped. I reverted to my normal human(ish) self, lying motionless in the dirt at my own failure.

  I closed my eyes in resignation, frustrated for…many reasons.

  Before they flew back open wide in shock at the words that peed the dust cloud I y in.

  “I cede.”