Mature Content Warning: None

Author's Note: Some people have asked for me to allow them more knowledge of what is going on in the world. So, the extra scenes and anecdotal things that I normally leave out will be added in from now on. :)

Chapter 17.1: Special Moves

The world operated via laws thought to be immutable. Everything that existed could be explained in detail with a little effort. Those thoughts were formed thought painstaking trials and study, and many people considered it to be a fact. There was nothing that science, logic, and reason could not explain. However, people often misunderstand the concept

of logic, and that misunderstanding frequently gave rise to hubris in the academic community.

In common usage the concept of logic was not determined to be the most likely scenario. Logic was instead misused as a term, and had come to mean what was possible. True logic would dictate that a continually repeating end result to an action would mean that said action should continue to produce that result. However, most people currently believed logic to mean that anything that was abnormal was not possible.

The concept of normal would soon be turned upon its axis, and a new status quo would be formed. For instance, it was logical to believe that those who died could not return to this world. However, for the occupants of a small church in rural Alabama, logic had taken a flying leap.

“G-grandma Ettie?” asked a middle-aged man. He had the greying hair of a man who had lived a hard life, and the expression of a man who had seen the start of a horror movie.

The naked senior citizen blinked and looked around. She happened to glance over at the coffin nearby and her eyes widened in shock. “Lawd be, I’m dead!”

Screams erupted throughout the church as those who had chosen to attend Ettie Mae Wells’ wake had come face to face with one of the hard naked truths of the new reality. The dead might not stay that way.

It was not just that tiny rural church that had such scenes take place. All over the world, the dead began to rise up naked and ready to live once more. Not all of those who had passed returned to life. It would soon be revealed that the powers that be had finally initialized the token system properly in the waking world. As long as you had a token, you were able to live once more.

***

Blackthorne hopped forward then slashed horizontally with his blade. Sonja casually deflected his powerful strike with her shield, then used his momentary loss of balance to stab forward with her blade. The armored man cried out in surprise when he felt her blade pierce his thigh. She had bypassed his defense and attacked through one of the openings in his armor.

He bled freely from his right thigh, but the battle was not over. Every attack left the attacker open. While Sonja had knocked him off-balance with her shield, she had also left her body open to attack. Her master arced his blade down strongly and she barely managed to get her shield back into place.

The sound of cracking wood was music to Blackthorne’s ears until he realized a terrible truth. His sword had gotten stuck in her shield. It took him only a brief second to pull it free with his strength, but he was left defenseless for that space of time.

A hard stab slid along his throat and blood spurted out on a wide crimson arc. His vitality began to drop rapidly and he was forced to hold his bleeding neck to try and stop the flow of his life’s blood.

Sonja hopped back then said, “That would have been a killing blow if I had not made certain to miss my mark.”

Blackthorne reached into his bag and pulled out some gauze. He quickly held a wad of it up to his neck then hastily began to pull food from his sack. He ate several sandwiches, and a hunk of well-seasoned scorpion meat that had been roasted over a camp fire.

The food was not enough. His vitality continued to drop at a steady pace and he reached a critical point after five minutes. All that he could do at the moment was make an attempt to bolster his vitality while his body healed his various wounds. His blood loss and subsequent vitality loss was higher than his natural regeneration.

After another few minutes the wound on his thigh stopped bleeding, and the heavily bleeding injury to his throat had decreased somewhat. It was not much longer before his vitality held steady. He had reached equilibrium between his regenerative power and the draining effect of the heavy blood loss.

“Good, you’re not going to die.” said Sonja with a friendly smile on her face.

Blackthorne nodded to her then sighed. “That’s five times already. I know you are higher level than I am, but I should be able to at least touch you.”

“You can touch me anytime you like.” replied Sonja cutely.

“You know what I meant.” said Blackthorne. After he said it, a small smile crossed his lips.

Sonja laughed then said, “True enough, still you aren’t bad for a novice. Attacking someone with a shield is hard when you are wielding a one-handed sword.”

“What would you suggest I use then?” asked Blackthorne.

“If you’re going to fight someone at melee who is equipped with a shield, you should use a heavier weapon; something like a heavy flail, war hammer, or a greatsword.” said Sonja.

“A flail? Ah, I see.” said Blackthorne.

“Yes, the added weight will increase the force of your blows. If you strike the shield solidly with a heavy weapon you could break it, or even the arm of the one who is using It.” said the Valkyrie.

Weapon were situational, is what she was saying. Blackthorne nodded to her. It made sense. The world might have changed and now had begun to operate on game-like rules, but certain things still held true. Use the right tool in the right situation.

“So, if would be your suggestion that I learn to use multiple weapons?” asked Blackthorne.

“Yes, though it would be best to choose only a few types and master them. You want to be a mage, so you will need your skill points for your spells.” replied Sonja.

“How is that different from say, a warrior who specializes in weapons?” asked Blackthorne.

Sonja smiled. “A warrior would either choose multiple weapon types and a specific type of armor, or one weapon type only. They would then train exclusively in wielding those weapons so that they could learn to use sub-skills more quickly.”

“So, a swordsman would learn to master only the sword?” asked Blackthorne.

“Yes, but they would master multiple kinds of swords so that they could use any bladed weapon of similar type.” replied Sonja.

“What sort of training would they do?” he asked.

“They would train to use specific sub-skills in one-handed weapons, two-handed weapons, or dual-wielding. After that, they further specialize in short swords, long swords, or great swords.”

Blackthorne nodded. “Do they receive further bonuses for specialization?”

“Of course! A swordsman can hit a little easier with any sword due to the swordsmanship skill. However, a swordsman with sub-skills in wielding...” began Sonja. She thought for a moment then nodded, “say, one-handed short swords would be able to do a lot more damage per attack, and find it much easier to slip past an opponent’s armor.” said Sonja.

She continued, “And they could further specialize in order to use specific sword types such as a rapier or a gladius. That would not only increase their overall damage potential, but they would be able to begin to develop special attacks.”

“Really? Special sword attacks? That’s good to know.” said Blackthorne. It would certainly be useful if he could learn a few of those.

“True masters can even bond with a specific weapon and have greatly increased capacity with it, though that means they would also lose some of their normal bonuses if they wield other weapons.” she said.

“Do you know any special moves?” asked Blackthorne.

“Just one, and it’s not particularly flashy.” she said, a slight hint of color forming on her cheeks.

“I’d love to see your special moves.” said Blackthorne.

Sonja eyed him for a moment then made a cute face. “Don’t tease me, now.”

Blackthorne laughed then rubbed the back of his head. “I make no promises... Now, about your attack.”

Sonja smiled at him for a moment. “Well, it’s a counter move so I would need to be attacked.”

“I’ve pretty much regained my vitality by now. Think I could withstand your might?” he asked with a smile.

“Maybe...” she said in a non-committal tone of voice.

Blackthorne brought up his sword. “Just tell me when.”

“Go ahead.” she said sweetly.

He lunged forward with a powerful overhand arc slash but the moment before he would have hit, Sonja’s shield slammed forward and up. The edge of her shield caught him on the wrist, and a shimmering light flared outward. He lost his grip of his weapon immediately and it went flying away. However, her movement was not complete. While Blackthorne was briefly stunned she charged her shield forward and knocked him back. The movement left him fully exposed for a brief moment.

Sonja’s sword flared with a brilliant light and came whirling around immediately after her successful shield charge. She performed a beautiful diagonal slash across his torso that tore a large gouge in his armor.

Blackthorne was knocked to the ground with great force and he found it hard to breathe. It was as though his ribcage had been crushed with a hammer.

“You should live, master. I held back on the slash as much as possible.” said Sonja, a hint of worry in her voice.

Her master continued to lay on the ground while he gasped for air. He was certain that she had cracked a few of his ribs with that strike.