The Prince of Demons

Lux

My body finally recovered from my duel with Ufr as we walked through Ilrymax's territory, which originally was a bit killer on my legs due to all the slopes we were going up and down. How did I properly reinforce my joints to avoid them nearly breaking down from the speed and pivots? Every joint in my body screamed at me for hours on end from dueling that obnoxious moron; I needed to refine my <Techniques> before that particular fight came back around. What was I doing wrong? That was the important question I needed to figure out the answer to. Ikol kept doting on me and getting whatever I wanted despite the fact I was fully healed, which I was not going to put a stop to. Good musclehead. Onilin gave me flak for Ikol and his totally necessary assisting me as I recovered; Vndrglz and Zagzin hid behind Onilin when it came to voicing their opinions which was mildly annoying as they were both also wanting to tease me about it.

I was tapping my paws on the solid rock beneath me, checking to see just how recovered I was. I'm fine, nothing feels out of stiff when I do that and no pain radiates from anywhere. I was relieved now there was no awkward tension or pain in my joints when I hit the ground because I wasn't entirely sure how long it would take me to heal. Before we reached Elijah, I wanted to be able to change directions without making my joints howl in pain. Ufr easily broke my leg with his strength when I tried kicking him as well. How do I avoid that happening again? I kept tapping and kicking the ground with the leg that cracked as I thought that over to verify that my leg had healed properly. My general approach to fighting needed improvement, being honest. It was where my thoughts kept going to at least. What was the best I could do to fix the flaws? I knew from Ikol that brute strength was likely never going to be my strongest suit. I don't want to put on that level of muscle, nor do I believe I have the frame to build that much muscle either. How did I compensate for not being as physically strong? Ufr has too much <Mana> for me to simply <Reinforce> more to overcome it. I was at least faster than them which did help, but I definitely lacked the amount of muscle Miril's children demonstrated.

More <Mana> wouldn't solve the problem because Ufr could do that as well before our rematch, so I needed a different solution. I know I can't rely on being physically stronger than my opponent in future fights; I might be able to rely on generally being faster than my opponent due to my <Light Magic>, but someone like Ikol or Ufr could follow the speed at minimum. Miril might be a good example of what to consider fighting as I thought about how to fight. Ugh, that hurts me mentally. She was the best mental picture unfortunately for trying to come up with a more improved fighting style. I can use <Spells> better than most other <Spirit Beasts> my age. Krahinn entered my mind, and that condescending chuckle of his while nine red eyes looked down on me when he mopped the floor with me using only the most basic <Spells> with virtually no <Mana>. I felt frustrated as each facet I could think of someone leagues better than me at it. I took a deep breath, letting out a massive sigh.

That train of thought isn't helpful. At least it wasn't ultra helpful; it just meant whatever strategy I came up with required not relying on being better than my opponent on a given facet. With some more practice and training I can probably assume my speed is at least at the upper end of beings. <Light Magic> should be the fastest or almost the fastest which I felt was a safe assumption. <Spells> I likely would not be able to compete with someone like Krahinn or Nez but generally do well. Someone like Nautilus or Miril might be difficult to overcome on a <Technique> front. I can likely catch up with those monsters on some fronts, but I should focus on where I could do my best. Speed, <Technique>, and intermittent <Spell> use was my likely path going forward. I can also use them to draw inspiration from, and what I should strive to achieve at least because all of them are good examples.

How would a style using more speed and <Technique> look? Did my fighting technique need some refining as well? I remembered trying to kick Ufr, and the pain in my joints from using the hyper speed <Technique> because I wanted to avoid feeling that again. Regardless my <Mana Reinforcement> needed to be improved; under no circumstances should my bones break that easily. It was probably a combination of my approach and <Mana Reinforcement>. What did I need to do? If I wanted to deal with something like Miril's assault, how would I approach that? <Channel Disruptor> seemed to only anger Miril whenever I attempted to use it on her, so there was a clear flaw with the current version if it only angered her. Miril might be a bit difficult to deal with given she is the next Sovereign; it makes her a great target to try to overcome though.
There had to be some method of using speed and <Technique> to defeat my opponents that were stronger than me. If someone like Hoggdin swung at me, how would I deal with that? Did I have any reference of someone who managed to deal with a direct swing from Hoggdin? Only one came to mind: Nil. He redirected the force back at him.

He rotated on the axis and sent it back to Hoggdin through his sword. Obviously, I couldn't replicate the <Space Magic> he used, but it was a method of dealing with superior force. Not to meet it head on, but to redirect the force back towards the assailant. Maybe use their own force as a weapon against them to an extent. It would definitely work on Ikol, though I didn't have the heart to try and test it on him. Zagzin however, was not going to be so lucky. Now that I had selected my volunteer for practice, I just needed to imagine the method itself. Some method of weaving in and out of their attacks? Did I rotate around and slam my attacks into them? Wait, spears, my tail tips, and pointed attacks did much better when I used hyper speed with them. Deep, piercing stabs using their force to make them go through my opponent. It was something to try now that I had the idea.

"Zagzin!" I chimed happily, wanting to test my new idea.

"What do you need, Lux?" Zagzin inquired with a tone of dread. Sheesh, what was with him?

"I feel when we take a break here in a bit, the two of us should spar." I informed him. I didn't need to turn my head to feel his deadpan stare.

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"What did I do?" Zagzin whimpered. What? The lack of faith in me was hurtful.

"What makes you assume it is a bad thing?" I challenged Zagzin. Onilin, Vndrglz, and Zagzin all had palpable doubt about what I just said.

"You seem so cheerful for a simple spar." Zagzin pointed out. This skepticism was completely unwarranted.

"I am glad to be feeling better." I replied. Ikol was looking at me a bit concerned, clearly wondering if I still was healing.

"I would like to respectfully doubt your claim." Zagzin grumbled. With this level of doubt, it might need to go from a spar to a beating.

"Relax, I do not want to just beat you senseless. I want to practice something, and you are the best practice partner." I assured him. There was a fast mental conversation between the dragons as they debated how likely I was to maim Zagzin.

"Fine." Zagzin conceded with a heavy sigh.

We continued to travel before reaching a good stopping point for lunch. It was a nice and flat clearing in the path on the mountainside with plenty of room for us to spar or sprawl out to relax. I did some light stretching before Zagzin and I took our spots to begin our spar. I wanted to use as little <Mana> as possible in this spar because I needed to practice fighting stronger, faster, better <Technique>, or skilled at <Spells> than me, so I needed to handicap myself a bit to simulate that. Zagzin was the least dangerous in my <Pack> to try this out with thankfully. He does have a few good uses, other than being able to fly. I also made sure to shorten up my <Mana Sensing> to help simulate Zagzin being faster than he actually was. Zagzin rushed me, opening with a compact claw strike. I wove around it, making a sharp spike at the tip of my paw to counter hit Zagzin with. I kept my <Mana Reinforcement> low as well, glancing across his chest with it. He was surprised that his rib cage didn't explode from the force, nor did it go in that deep. It needs to be sharper. Zagzin let out a massive sigh of relief as he now realized I was trying to practice something, not utterly maim him.

"What are you trying to do?" Zagzin checked, feeling where his chest was mildly scuffed from where I hit.

"Practicing a new way of fighting because my current style of fighting needs to be improved." I answered him. I need to innovate on <Channel Disruptor> as well, but my fighting style is the more pressing issue.

Zagzin resumed his attacks with a bit more fervor, throwing in his best mix ups as I duck and wove around them. It was much harder to dodge without using proper <Mana Reinforcement> and detection in order to simulate the speed that I wanted. I kept getting grazed from attacks because I was struggling to dodge him like this due to the fact handicapping myself was more challenging than I initially thought. I knew it would make the fight more even but this a bit much. Something needed to be done with how I had to hit Zagzin if I wanted my attacks to hurt him with substantially less sturdy blows than my opponent. What was I doing wrong? I was cleanly connecting after the fifth or sixth attempt, but even a more direct hit from my <Technique> did little damage. A minor scratch was all I had to show for my effort so far; this was somewhat working though not doing any lasting damage. My attacks were amounting to nothing as far as I was concerned.

What was the correct approach? I needed to do something different; the challenge was I had no idea what that different thing was. Zagzin was steadily getting faster once he realized that I was severely handicapping myself in our spar, but his swings were way too telegraphed to properly connect with me. This is why I wanted to start with Zagzin. Onilin or Vndrglz would be much more threatening with their attack patterns and mix ups. I could sense Onilin's irritation that her brother was struggling to properly connect with me while I was intentionally holding back to try something new; Zagzin was attempting to improve as well despite the fact his swings were still arcing and leaving openings I could easily exploit. What was wrong with my approach? Why was this not working? Were the points not sharp enough? Could I made them even sharper? I feel while the answer to that is yes, it is not the entire problem.

On a particularly wide swing, I ducked the swipe as I hooked my paw into his jaw from the other side. Zagzin looked a bit shaken by the attack, blinking a few times while he processed what happened. So, hitting his jaw he actually felt. I wove around a few more attacks, seeing an opening to stab my paw into his shoulder, piercing much deeper than before because I used the force of his swing as I aimed at a much weaker point in his body. Zagzin began swearing before he began adding <Spells> to try and hit me now. I toned down my<Mana Reinforcement> a little more as I floated around Zagzin's attacks, forming claws of <Mana> to swipe Zagzin with and leaving a nice series of gashes across where I connected. He was reeling in pain, quickly closing the wounds. I am getting the method down at least, though Zagzin needs massive improvement. This won't work on a mightier opponent.

Over the next several minutes, I slowly but surely whittled Zagzin down by occasionally releasing a decisive, sharp blow to him. Onilin was getting palpably irritated by Zagzin's continuing loss against me as he began trying more while I kept increasing the handicap. I was getting the sensation of dodging someone with little warning and not full speed ability to avoid danger, but it was also because he was not overly creative when it came to attacking. Zagzin finally added in a mix up with his tail I could not dodge properly, which stung heavily as I went several feet back. I normally could have shrugged off the attack, but this was time I was not fully reinforced, so waves of pain radiated from where he connected. Hmmm. I quickly healed the damage, wondering if how I was dodging and weaving needed to be improved as well. Zagzin being able to connect is a worrying sign. Maybe I wasn't positioning myself as well as I should've.

There had to be some solution to improve my weaving as well; I also needed a method for figuring out the best spots to strike as I wove around because the consistency of inflicting damage was nowhere near what I would've liked. Zagzin tried rushing me again, now properly mixing up his attacks because he finally had an epiphany on how to more properly use his tail and wings in a fight. Took him long enough. Being on the ground against someone who was able to fly freely felt suffocating to my movement. Zagzin was starting to connect a bit more because his use of the air began to show the advantages of having more angles of attack and maneuverability. I pivoted around his flurry of attacks, trying to think of how to deal with this. I could use <Air Step>. I took to the air, weaving a blow or two around Zagzin as I added in <Air Step> into my movement, pivoting and kicking around in the air to mimic the way of using the air to my advantage since I couldn't fly. That felt pretty good, all the usage of <Air Step> has unintentionally paid off. Zagzin looked irritated as we both got to neutral spacing again, looking ready for round three of our spar.