February 2019

Nathan does his desperate best to ward off the blade, using the uneven ground to his advantage as he retreats. The training spear deflects and blocks as he darts left and right, but mostly backward. Seren finally slips past his guard and slices at his face. At the last moment he uses his last resort illusion to try to slip away.

Seren barely slows down and still smacks him across the chin.

“Shit!”

Seren breaks away, looking slightly bored. Nathan checks the helmet for marks but finds none.

“Are you just playing with me?”

“Hum, sorry”

“Nah that’s alright, not why I asked. I was thinking we should up the difficulty for you. Even my ability to confuse doesn’t work on you anymore.”

“Yeah I follow the paths instead of what I think would work. I mean, your illusion is great I can’t trust my senses at all when you do it.”

Seren looks almost apologetic about beating his ass.

“Hey I’m not that insecure. What I was thinking though is to add more randomized elements, like Gwahin could shoot you on occasion. You mentioned that you had tendencies to get lost in the fight.”

“Yeah that sounds good.”

They both turn towards the edge of the field where Gwahin is shooting arrow after arrow at Barrett. The man doesn’t even flinch as he stops them a bare few inches from his face. They are training arrows, with flattened head and a soft tip but still… The man is ice cold.

“Hey guys I was wondering…”

Nathan dips and rolls instinctively as an arrow brushes his side. He had started moving even before Gwahin finished aiming towards him.

“Better. Now why do you interrupt my target practice?”

Not missing a beat, Nathan explains his idea and soon they start fighting again. The difference is obvious, with Seren being much more defensive. The fight is still in her favor but it is not the stomp it used to be, although an arrow to the knee is all it takes to give him the opening he needed. He slips through her defenses and lightly tap her chest piece. She does not react though, apparently the arrows hurt

“Ooooow.”

“Oh! Is this the end of her adventuring career?”

Jericho looks at them amused.

Barrett’s voice freezes the smile on her face.

“If you have enough breath to speak you have enough to start running again.”

“Ow come on old man can you give me a break? It’s like the army in here.”

Silence descends upon the field.

“Uh that kind of was the idea. At least you’re only here during the weekend.”

By general agreement, Jericho keeps studying and only joins them two days a week or less for some basic training, mostly focused on defense and running away. It has become quickly clear that Jerry is no crazed warrior, she is in fact suffering from the freshman fifteen and frequent hangovers.

Grunting, the poor young woman resumes her laps around the clearing.

“Maybe we’re too hard on her.”

“Hey it helps with her pudge.”

‘I HEARD THAT!”

The group chuckes lightly, except Gwahin who stares with a hungry look. Nathan takes a note to restock on meat jerky, you never know.

“Ok so I want to try something. I want to focus on two directions at once, winning and surviving. If I manage that I could focus on one enemy at the time without getting caught off guard.

“That sounds like a good idea, ready when you are.”

Seren adjusts her guard, frowns and then slowly collapses forward face first into the snow.

Ouch.

Barrett and himself move closer and turn her around. She’s blanked.

“Maybe we do need a break.”

Nathan nods and passes him Gwahin’s weird tea. Seren wakes up and forces herself to drink while he checks his phone for messages. To his surprise, there is one from Jin’s personal line.

“I got a job for you.”