Limitless Path

"Yeah, I think we might need to rethink the last duel, considering that new level," Beth said, glancing at the others.

"I should say so," Bai snorted in response.

"What about everybody against me? I need to test my new weapon skill, anyway," Beth said.

"Who does 'everybody' include?" Bai asked.

"Your team and Sera and Blood against me? That seems fair, based on our previous rules," Beth said.

"It's not fair, but we all have to learn that some way," Sera said.

"What do you mean, Ser?" Beth asked.

"The jump to Master isn't as big as to Grandmaster, and certainly not Sage, but it's a big jump. Blood and I being at Expert won't be able to hold you back much at all, and I'm sorry to say, but Bai and her team will barely be a speedbump or tiny annoyance," Sera explained.

"That doesn't sound…great," Bai said, seemingly to rethink the last match.

"It's good experience," Sera countered Bai's statement. "You just watched one of the greatest swordsmen in the galaxy fight for thirty minutes, and now you have a chance to fight against the person he was fighting, the person he was training, with that person fighting at a handicap. You shouldn't ever throw those kinds of opportunities away."

"You make a good point," Bai said. "I'll go setup the last one. Eight of us, including the wolf girl, versus Beth with the same limits."

"Right," Beth said, moving back around the dueling field to get ready for the last fight. Baelvyr had left, or at least wasn't visible to her anymore, and the previous ref had resumed their place in the ref's box.

They were still fast-tracked, despite the number of people present in the arena, and their fight was up in just a minute. Beth felt a strange edge of nervousness as she walked into the arena, and it wasn't about fighting her companions, about the eyes of the spectators, or any of the other things that might have clouded her head at that moment. It was some edge she had that was telling her there was more to discover about her weapons, and more that she should do. It was like a faint itch at the back of her mind, and she only hoped Baelvyr could help her scratch it tomorrow before it had her going batty.

Beth stepped onto the dueling field across from Bai's team, Sera and Blood both part of that team for this one fight. Beth had her sword in her hand already and stopped in her circle, planting her sword in front of her and waiting, both hands on the hilt and fingers slightly flexing for a second before she went still. She didn't really know it at that time, but her opponents found this quite intimidating, not just now, but for many years to come. All of that was extraneous and for later, however, as right here and now it was all about this one fight. Bai's team had an expanded circle, though it wasn't massive, just enough so they could fit their team without all squashing into each other.

Once everyone was situated and the ref had checked their lines, the ref began the starting sequence. Beth acknowledged the ref with a slight nod and then returned to perfect stillness, watching as Bai's team gave the ref their ready nods before the ref finished their intro and started the countdown. When the countdown was finished and the ref signaled the start, Beth stayed in place, as was her wont, and Bai's team obliged in coming to her. She noted right away that Blood was leading them, causing Sera to adjust her strategy and moved to the front. The two of them didn't directly attack Beth but circled her, intending to attack from an angle from her rear as Bai's team hit her. Beth let them go, understanding the way Blood, in particular, operated very well at this point.

Bai's team reached her just a scant few seconds later, starting their assault as soon as they were within range. That triggered Beth's typical teammates to attack, rushing her and firing out blade waves from their weapons as they quickly crossed the little distance separating them. The attacks all reached her within less than a tenth of a second of each other, and when the first attack was within five feet of her, she finally moved. She stepped forward and to the left, slashing her sword up, right, down, further right, back across, up, and finally out and downward right. Every attack was nullified and the last movement slashed into Bai, easily sliding her attack to the side and pushing her back.

Beth felt like she was experiencing fighting for the first time, almost having an out-of-body experience with the way it felt brand new to fight. She marveled at the sensation even as she deflected both Sera and Blood's attacks and sent Ming flying with a fast backhand swing. While her own teammates could pose her a bit of danger, she was now so far beyond Bai's team that she barely had to try to stymie their best efforts at hitting her. Even when all their skills and their superior stats were counted in, it still felt like she was an adult fighting against children.

She was using most of her concentration to hold off Blood and Sera while also looking for openings to take one of them out or injure them, almost dismissing Bai's team outright. She effortlessly glided through a dozen counters and parries before twisting with surprising speed and at an obtuse angle, sliding her large blade through the gap between Li's helm and chest armor with ease. The man disappeared, and Beth countered a series of rapid attacks, stepping into Bai's team and walking among them as if she was out for a stroll. She had some slight idea of what it must be like for Veren when fighting others, especially people who had not even hit Master yet.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

She didn't take very long after that to chop Bai's team apart, only really slowed down by the attacks from Blood and Sera, the two using their wealth of combat knowledge to jam Beth up the best they could. Still, it was hardly enough, and Bai's team fell one after another, almost like dominoes going in sequence. There was little variation between their eliminations, and the amount of time from one to the next was almost identical, with Beth easily taking them out despite them throwing everything at her. Their use of their Presences slowed her down a bit, causing her to have to be a bit more defensive for a time, but it was like they were trying to hold back the tide with a broom. It quickly fell to Blood and Sera versus Beth, which wasn't really a fair matchup, at least for them. Despite their much higher stats and further increase their humanization added to those same stats, their skills just didn't match up. If they had their other skills, things might have been different, but then again, if Beth had her other skills as well, things would be very different.

In a way, though, she was glad for that last match, as having her stats reduced, skills restricted, and Presence prohibited allowed her to put a lot of focus on her blade work. She still really needed to spend some time with Baelvyr and doing some really focused practice and training, but the buzzing sensation lingering in the back of her brain had almost entirely cleared up by the time she eliminated Sera, the last of the opposing team left standing. Beth gave the uproarious crowd a quick wave a bow after she was declared the winner before thanking Bai and her team. They didn't linger, both sides having much to review and Bai eager to get her team somewhere private and have them all corralled for a while, though mainly she was keeping an eye on Ming. Beth was just as eager to get out of the limelight and take some time to rest, making her excuses quite quickly and getting Blood and Sera moving back down to their suite.

"Food?" asked Sera when they got in.

"Yes, please," Beth replied, collapsing on the couch. Blood also grunted her agreement, and Sera went about making sure they had something to eat. She had to wake Beth up to eat, and the girl passed back out afterwards, Sera cleaning up around the suite a bit, mainly the food prep materials, before she wrapped herself around Beth and also went to sleep.

Beth must have been far more tired than she thought, as she only woke up when the alarm she had set for two hours before their shift start went off. That meant she had just slept for more than nine hours, passing out a little before ten and waking up at seven. She hoped that would be enough time to go over stuff with Baelvyr, but they could always circle up that evening, depending on what his schedule was. She did have to say, she felt a lot better now that she had gotten that sleep, and the lingering feeling of disconnection was now fully gone, at least when she was just sitting around. She might still have a bit of adjustment when she was fighting, but hopefully her mentor could get that hammered out over the next few days.

She woke Sera up by pushing the dragon off of her, rolling upright before getting a pre-cooked meal out of her necklace and sucking it down. Sera rolled over and went back to sleep, Blood on the other side of the couch having not stirred at their movements. Beth threw her CRA clothes on and headed out of the room, not putting her armor on as she didn't know what Baelvyr would have in mind for their training. Fortunately, they were using their typical room, which meant that Beth didn't even have to think to get there, though it was a bit of a walk, considering they were staying in the upper floors of the main building and not the basement of the arena section anymore.

She knocked on the training room door, but just to announce her presence, as she walked in right after, finding Baelvyr in a chair going over some paperwork. He just grunted when he saw it was her, finishing what he was working on while she stretched out in a seat opposite him. All the papers disappeared as soon as he was done, the ogre taking a swig from a massive tankard before that disappeared, too. Beth had never figured out if he had a storage item or if he used a spatial power; she was guessing the second, but it could be really hard to tell what people had.

"So, ya think ya got a handle on things now?" he asked her as he stood.

"Well, not really, but hopefully I can figure it out today," she said.

"Ya got that feel about ya that ya got it mostly figured out," he said, walking over to the training stage. "Come on up and we'll work out the weird shit."

"Right," Beth replied, following him up onto the stage.

Baelvyr took out a greatsword that was scaled to his size, though that meant it was a blade bigger that Beth was tall and nearly as wide as her torso. He flicked it at her, beckoning her to get started, and she charged him, not using anything at first other than her weapon skills. She was pressured by Baelvyr, but it wasn't so bad she couldn't do anything. It was easy to forget at times, but the big guy was at least Grandmaster in a slew of weapons, and Sage in a couple, though Beth was pretty sure he had said in the past he was Grandmaster with swords. Beth felt just a very little bit off, like she wasn't exactly swinging her sword in just the right way, but that was exactly what Baelvyr was working her through. As they clashed and she got a better handle on using her new level of skill, she relaxed into it more comfortably. It was something that was a bit difficult to describe, but it was as if she knew what to do, only to have a hard time doing it. It wasn't a massive difference, but fighting against somebody much more skilled helped her settle that discrepancy.

"Alright, better," Baelvyr said, stopping them. "Take a break; ya still got some time this morning. We'll go a second round."

"Okay," Beth said, getting a quick drink.

"I think ya mostly got it," Baelvyr said once she was ready. "Just use yer skills this round. That'll get ya most of the way there. We can do another round tomorrow once ya have some time to think about what ya need to incorporate still."

"Alright," Beth said. "I feel like I basically got it. It was just a lot, jumping a couple levels to include getting to Master in one go."

"Well, ya got a history of it, if'n what ya told me about that very first trial ya did was true," Baelvyr said. "Ya just need a little bit of time fightin' and yer gonna be good. Now, let's get to it."

Beth went back to it, using her skills now, which was a whole different experience than it had been when she was still at Expert with both her weapon skills. She was able to much more seamlessly blend her attacks together; it was a startling change that getting to Master had made in her combat capabilities. She saw things in a fight that she hadn't seen before, more easily weaving in slashes, stabs, parries, and chops with skills, moving faster at one moment before teleporting the next. The strangest thing of all was how natural it felt, like the sword was really becoming an extension of her body. She flowed from one strike to the next, one block to the next, barely having to think to keep up with Baelvyr's heavy, relentless style of combat. She was even able to start incorporating her fists and feet into the mix after she had really settled into her new skill level, blending the attacks in a simpler and purer way.

"I think ya got it," Baelvyr said, stopping them. "Ya just need to practice a bit more. Come find me sometime tomorrow and we'll go over some more stuff. I'll show ya a couple tricks of handling a weapon now that ya got to Master. We'll work on yer Unarmed later on; would be a huge advantage for ya to get that to Master now that yer other skill is there. Can slow down a little on the swordplay now and focus on yer fists."

"I'll do some training tonight and then find you tomorrow," Beth said with a nod, understanding what he was saying about her skills and what she should be focused on.

"Then get upstairs. Yer almost late," he grumbled, Beth cursing as she checked the time and made her blade disappear.