The Unwanted Tamer

The fight began slowly, Stephanie used her sword to hack at the underbrush that blocked her movement as she moved into the jungle, that sprang up in the arena. She had a hard time moving because of how dense the foliage was, and how big all of the plants were. They were all nearly three to four feet tall and that was just the ferns and bushes. The trees loomed over her tall enough that she thought even Malachite could fit under them at his current largest size.

She made slow progress into the environment, but she could hear the sound of another person having similar issues. She wondered why the tournament would put forward an environment like this for a swordsmanship match. She concluded that it was to showcase their skills even when impeded by the environment and other outside factors.

Luckily, it seemed they were getting closer to each other and the actual fighting would begin soon. She was correct because they met a couple minutes later, and their blades clashed. Stephanie's opponent Deria Frosthand was a tall muscular woman. She looked human but with pure white skin marking her as an Icebound, a being made from living Ice. This was the same as Gaia only with ice instead of stone for skin.

They were sturdier than regular humans just based on what their skin was made of. For example, Gaia could take more hits from blades and shrug off the damage even at normal rank but piercing and blunt was harder for her to shrug off. For Deria being made of ice, fire was a weakness as was piercing. This caused Stephanie to take up a stance and style that used more lunging and piercing strikes than slashes.

Stephanie used her shield to block Deria's strikes while using the openings given by that to attack with the tip of her sword. This turned out to be effective because she started to see chunks of ice chipping off from where she was striking. Eventually Deria backpedaled and attacked with a sweeping slash that hit Stephanie's shield hard, knocking her guard away and the woman lunged at Stephanie. She was barely able to parry before the sword struck her, but she did. Her sword ran along the top of Deria's before stopping with her sword's tip resting against the woman's throat.

The judge appeared and separated the two. Announcing the outcome. "Victory for Stephanie Irons! With a great showing by Deria Frosthand. It was a close fight."

Stephanie bowed to Deria who did the same. Both respected each other for their skills and both knew it wasn't luck but quick thinking and reaction time that led to the outcome. Stephanie returned to her waiting room while the next match played out. This match was between two men, one a short stocky fellow, named Valdric, while the other was a lean tall man, named Kowalski. The stocky man wielded a bastard sword and a shield while the other wielded a rapier. The arena this time was a swamp. The match started with the two fighters slowly traversing the swamp.

The swamp wasn't overly deep, only about two and half, to three feet deep, but had flora. The trees were gnarled and twisted into odd angles, the ferns and mosses made the ground slick or difficult to tread and the water made the men uncomfortable. Valdric moved meticulously but slowly, plotting his course through the waters so he had to wade the least distance between drier land. Kowalski started by jumping from "island to island" before just wading in a straight line towards where Valdric started. The two met in the middle, Valdric on dry land and Kowalski wading towards him. The battle started with Kowalski in the water, slowing his footwork, while Valdric had the advantage of being on land, so he wasn't impeded.

The fight continued and Kowalski was able to maneuver himself onto land but slipped on the moss, while not paying attention allowing Valdric to take the win by capitalizing on it and disarming him. It was announced as Valdric's win. She focused during the fight since Valdric was her next opponent and if she beat him either of the next two could be her opponent afterwards.

The next match was between a man and a woman. The man, Kuroko, was exceedingly average to the point that one would likely overlook him in a crowd if not for the massive sword he had on his back. It dwarfed him but he held it like it was a regular sword, so Stephanie guessed it was bound item. The woman Cleo was pretty and plump with a khopesh. Their arena's environment was a beach, or rather sandbar. The arena had been filled with about a foot and a half of water, with miniscule sandy "islands" made up of multiple layers to create the "dry ground."

The two were both beginning in the water, with a sandbar that peaked above the water nearby for each. As soon as the match began both moved only Cleo waded through the water towards Kuroko. Kuroko was having a problem with the environment because he moved exceedingly slowly, his sword being more of a hindrance due to its size. Cleo on the other hand was moving through it like normal and barely changing from a regular stride.

Kuroko finally reached the sand as Cleo approached, he swung his sword towards her missing as she crouched before he slashed down as if attempting to bisect her. He missed again as she hooked his sword in the curve of her khopesh and yanked it sideways. The massive blade, caught in hers ended up stuck. He couldn't retrieve it while she controlled it. He surrendered after a minute of struggling, and she let the sword go.

The match was declared her victory, and she returned to the waiting rooms as two more competitors were called out. These two were weird. One was a woman, Eleanora, wearing what Stephanie could only call underwear and a corset. The other was a man who wore clothes only of white and black with white face paint and white gloves. He did not seem to speak, only using gestures to communicate everything. The gestures usually indicated things that did not exist or were invisible so many believed him to be a mage, but he was introduced as Murmurs the Mime.

Eleanora wielded a shotel while Murmurs didn't appear to carry a weapon. This caused everyone to be confused since this was the swordsmanship tournament, not the solo hunter tournament.. It was at this time that the announcer Miss Natasha made a statement.

"Murmurs weapon is indeed a sword; however, it is a bound item that follows his class's style."

There was silence, and no elaboration. That was all that Natasha stated and the battle started. Their arena was rocky, with multiple hiding places and difficult terrain to navigate. Eleanora sprinted through it towards Murmurs who seemed relaxed and moved his hands like there was a wall in front of him. Eleanora's shotel cut towards him before dinging off of what sounded like metal, when there was nothing there. When her sword struck, there was a slight vibration that made the outline of a cutlass appear before disappearing again.

Stephanie's eyes went wide. The sword was floating perfectly to create a perfect block from Eleanora's attack and when she attacked from a different angle, the sword's orientation had moved to block it perfectly. Then Murmurs took up a stance from his position twenty feet from Eleanora and slashed like he was holding an invisible sword. The blade moved from blocking and slashed her shoulder making a shallow cut. Then he parried a strike she made trying to move the weapon and pressed the blade to her throat. The only evidence of it being a small trickle of blood from where it rested against her jugular.

He did not move to kill and waited for the judge to announce his victory. Then he opened his hand and Eleanora relaxed like the blade had just ceased to exist when he wanted it to. He walked away and back to his room. Stephanie paled at his display, he had a weapon he could essentially conjure whenever and wherever he wanted. He was especially dangerous just for that reason alone.

Luckily for her there was an hour break before the next match so she relaxed and waited. She heard Griff's voice through the party's telepathic link.

"So, what'd you think? They're all strong opponents. Valdric is your next fight and whoever wins in the other match is the opponent for the winner. It looks like the semi-finals will be interesting." He said.

"There's a mime. Why the hells is there a mime here? I hate him. Just because of that. Don't you know they're like my greatest enemy?" Gaia grumbled.

"Why are mimes your-" Fergus started before the realization struck him. "Oh. You're right. They are your natural enemy. They don't talk at all and do weird things using only visuals. Geez, they are your nemesis in every way, aren't they?" He asked.

"Yes! And not to mention that I can barely sense him or that weapon. It's a cutlass isn't it? The mana in it is condensed but dampened and hidden so I can barely sense it's there and only an outline at that. The thing blends into the surroundings." Gaia grumbled again.

"Well, I got a glimpse of it during the fight. It is a cutlass. I don't know how I'd even go about dealing with it though." Stephanie replied.

"I don't either but I don't like him." Gaia said like petulant child.

"It's alright. You don't need to deal with him. Stephanie will do it for us." Fergus said comfortingly.

Stephanie could see him hugging her and rubbing her back as he said that. Gaia slowly losing her petulance, for a smile. Stephanie laughed as she imagined it and based on how Gaia sounded next, she was spot on with her imagination.

"You deal with him for us then, Steph." She said with a smile that could be heard.

"Will attempt, Gaia." She replied smiling herself.

"So how have you guys enjoyed the matches?"

"They've been good. Good job against Deria, she seemed like a strong opponent. Everything's been exciting and fast paced. At least when the fighting actually occurred." Griff replied.

"Yeah, I've enjoyed them. Good job against Deria by the way. It seemed like a close fight." Fergus added.

"It's been alright. It's hard to shape my mana for a long enough period to watch. And the arena makes it hard for me to sense what's happening since everything is full of mana. But I've enjoyed what I've been able to sense so far. I focused on your match though. It was good!" Gaia finished with obvious enthusiasm, but slight pain.

"Don't hurt yourself to watch. I'm fine if you miss one or two as long as you watch the finals, if I make it."

"She won't listen. She's been bobbing between holding her head and looking perfectly fine as she fakes not having a headache. We'll keep an eye on her. We won't let her hurt herself, too much." Griff replied.

"You bet I won't! Now, stop it Gaia. You need to stop shaping your mana for a while. You can watch Stephanie's next match and then no more until the finals, okay?" Fergus asked.

"Fine! Fine. I'll stop." Gaia said as she followed through and retracted her aura.

"Listen to them Gaia. Otherwise I won't do a girls day with you after the tournaments are over." Stephanie warned teasingly.

"Girls day?" Gaia asked hopefully and hesitantly.

"We can do a girls day? Just you and me?" She asked hesitantly again.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Yeah. We can, but only if you listen to the guys when it comes to your mana shaping. Got it?" She asked a bit worried due to how Gaia's voice sounded, almost pleading.

"Got it!" She replied immediately.

Griff whistled before speaking. "I think we have a winner for having tamed Gaia's self-destructive streak."

"Please tell me how you did that?" Fergus asked playfully.

"Stop it! It's just been a long time since, if not the first time, we've done something together with just the two of us." Gaia said embarrassed from Griff's laugh at what was likely her red face.

"Alright. Stop teasing her. I think it's about time for my next match anyway. Gaia be careful, I hope you enjoy the match though." Stephanie said and everyone stopped talking through the link.

"Alright. I'm up against Valdric this time. So, expect sword and shield techniques. Great, so expect to fight someone who fights like I do. Wonderful." She grumbled to herself as she was notified that she needed to head to the arena.

She walked to the arena and heard the spiel from the judge. She agreed and entered arena where she saw Valdric do the same. They stood and waited for the arena to change and the starting call. The arena changed in front of her eyes again. This time it looked like it rose from below it to replace the ground. The arena changed to an area of broken and jagged ground. There were holes and dips, caverns and hills, and many boulders. It was what constituted the term broken or shattered ground.

As she took the terrain in, the starting call rang out. She started moving immediately as the call rang out but went slowly and carefully. Valdric did the same as they moved towards each other, trying to memorize the perilous terrain as they went, so they wouldn't get caught by or on something. They eventually met and they started testing each other. Each attacking with quick probing attacks, testing the others defenses.

Eventually, Valdric was the one to break and attack full force. His sword struck Stephanie's buckler, and she shoved his weapon aside, bringing hers towards him. He did the same, and the fight began in earnest. It wasn't flashy moves or overwhelmingly fast, it was technique and planning their next strikes. Each clash of sword on sword or sword on shield could spell the end of the fight if done incorrectly. The sound of the clashes rang out drawing everyone in, each person waiting for the decisive blow.

The battle continued into a ten-minute slash fest of blocking and clashing blades before Valdric pushed Stephanie back, her foot slipping into a dip and she stumbled backwards. Valdric capitalized on the moment and lunged to try and take the win. Stephanie dropped with the momentum of her trip and brought her sword up under his shield and up to his throat. His blade blocked by her buckler as she had it grow.

"The Victory goes to Stephanie Irons with a display of speed and quick thinking. A great show from both contestants!" The judge announced.

Stephanie slipped her sword down and shook Valdric's hand when he offered it.

"Good job, lass. Didn't even see that comin." He said in a gravelly voice.

"Thank you for the fight. It was great and I learned a lot." Stephanie replied as they shook hands before turning and walking off the arena in their respective directions.

She returned to her room and sat to watch the next match. This one between Cleo and Murmurs. The two walked out like she and Valdric had just done. They took their positions and the arena shifted again. This time it became a mountainside. The ground was sloped with Cleo higher than Murmurs each on a different part of a trail. The trail cut down the middle with a cliff taking one side of the trail and the other being a sheer drop. Cleo started sliding down it towards Murmurs who started slowly walking up it.

Stephanie heard Gaia's grumbling voice through the link. "Stupid mimes and their no sounds nonsense."

She laughed as she watched the match. The two met close to the center of the arena. Cleo kept walking as Murmurs went about his odd movements. He moved like there was a wall in front of him and he couldn't move it. Cleo just kept walking and got within ten feet of him before his face changed. It changed to an angry visage as he switched to a sword stance. Cleo just kept walking like it didn't matter. He started slashing at her and she used her khopesh to block before she slipped it around something and jerked her sword back. Murmurs face changed to one of astonishment as he tried to move his hand, the one he was supposedly using to control his invisible cutlass.

Stephanie focused and saw that in the curve and notch of her khopesh was the faint shimmering outline of Murmurs weapon. It was stuck where it was, unmoving as if frozen in time by her weapon. It wasn't even a strong hold from what Stephanie could see, it looked like something that could be broken out of with even the slightest amount of force or twisting of the blade. Murmurs was pulling with his entire body but his hand, and the weapon were stuck motionless. Stephanie didn't understand why, but the woman or rather girl, now that she looked closer, was holding her weapon softly and comfortably.

Murmurs raised his hand in clear surrender and Cleo slipped her sword in a direction and he could move his hand again. She bowed to him and started leaving. The two left and the result was announced.

"Victory to Cleo Gallahan! May their futures be as strong as their fight was!" The judge announced.

Stephanie just watched on in amazement. Cleo had just caught the invisible weapon like it was nothing and without effort. That made her even more worried about their fight, she wasn't nearly as skilled in swordsmanship as Murmurs. That meant she had even less of a chance against Cleo who could just capture her sword with hers and end the fight that way.

Stephanie realized she had to come up with a completely different style or plan to deal with her. Luckily, she had another hour break before the finals match with Cleo. She started wracking her brain for ideas before tapping into the telepathic link with the party.

"Man, I really thought Murmurs was gonna win. I'm surprised Cleo managed that." Griff states.

"Same here. That was some very strange swordsmanship, but impressive. It was fast and skillful." Fergus added.

"What happened?" Gaia asked.

"Cleo caught Murmurs' invisible cutlass in the hook of her blade trapping it there and winning." Fergus summarizes.

"Oh, isn't that like really hard? Wouldn't that be nearly impossible?" Gaia asked.

"Yes, it would be and is. That's what makes the feat, just that much more impressive. And troubling. I need to come up with a way to fight her. Do you guys have any ideas?" Stephanie asked.

"How about you focus on defense? Stick to defense and wait for her to attack?" Griff suggested.

"No. Striking at all would lead to a loss because of the experience and style difference." Fergus added.

"How about using shield techniques? I mean sword and shield is a style because of them, right? Like a shield bash or other such things, she can't capture your sword if you attack with your shield instead, right? And you can use your sword only when she's off balance." Gaia suggested.

The party thought it over for a minute and Stephanie nearly laughed. "Why didn't I think of that? Sword and shield are a style of swordsmanship. These shield techniques can be considered swordsmanship when in conjunction with a sword. That's brilliant. Thanks Gaia!" Stephanie exclaimed through the bond.

"Alright. I'm gonna think about techniques I can use. Thanks again!" Stephanie said through the link before cutting it for now. She started wracking her brain for techniques that used a shield in the sword and shield style. The main was a shield bash, another was a shield lock, and the final was what she knew as a shielded disarm. The shield lock used the shield and her body to lock the opponents arm between them and hold them there or break the arm, rendering them much weaker if anyone tried to attack. The last a shield disarm. It used the shield's edge to block and subsequently strike the opponents wrist with the edge after deflecting the strike, causing the opponent to drop their weapon.

These were the main three she knew and could use in any sense of confidence. She started practicing with a training dummy that was in the room. It was a magical one that could lean and strike back but not move from its spot. She gave it a wooden sword and began practicing with the different techniques to get familiar with them again. She spent the rest of the hour break doing this and trying to incorporate them into her fighting style.

She saw the notice for her to head to the arena and she did so, after drinking some water. She reached the pit, went through the procedures and entered the arena, seeing Cleo across the way looking at her as she did. They nodded to each other and the arena changed. This time it became a grassy plain. There appeared to be nothing wrong with the terrain, so she started warming up and getting ready for a straight fight.

The starting call rang out, and Stephanie braced herself, but Cleo just started walking towards her leisurely. Stephanie moved closer to the woman slowly her shield up and ready to block if the woman attacked. She didn't even when she was right in front of her. So, Stephanie attacked. She slammed her shield into the woman, which got a surprised gasp from her before she tried to slash with the sword. Cleo's blade whipped towards it and Stephanie retracted her swing as fast as possible, the swords connecting but not getting caught.

It was at this moment that Stephanie saw Cleo's face change from the passive look into one of intrigue. She swung her khopesh at Stephanie who blocked it with her shield which didn't get cut. Cleo's eyes sharpened with more interest, and she picked up her pace. Her attacks became more fluid and faster. They slashed at Stephanie as she blocked and parried a couple times with her sword out of desperation which Cleo used to try and capture it. Stephanie only barely managed to keep her sword from being captured.

She stuck to using her shield bash and tried to catch Cleo's arm between her shield and body, but that was easier said than done. Cleo's movements were fast and hard to predict. The only reason Stephanie hadn't been defeated or hurt yet was because of her Colossal Buckler growing to protect her. It became the size of a tower shield and she used it as a barricade against the onslaught. She started to think of other ideas to deal with her without using the sword much. Her best option was to try and disarm her, which would be difficult.

She focused on trying to figure out the pattern, if there was one, to Cleo's style. As she watched closely, she noticed that there was a slight pattern. It was rare and every other attack seemed to be random outside of these three. They always came in a set of three. A stab, upward slash and downward slash. Specifically, when she aimed for Stephanie's sword. It seemed to be her combo to capture the opponents blade, since she only ever used it when Stephanie's sword was able to be touched with her sword. So, she decided to try something reckless.

She started to attack with her sword more like she was getting tired and desperate. It wasn't hard to act the part because she was, it was the entire reason she came up with this reckless plan. She recklessly attacked with her sword and managed to barely react fast enough to keep her sword from being caught each time. Then she found the moment she thought was best and slammed her shield up and into Cleo's hand as she switched to the downswing. The shield caught Cleo's wrist, jarring it upwards and would have broken it if not for a stone rank's resilience. Stephanie used her sword to pull the front down as her shield hit, making Cleo's grip loosen momentarily from the jarring motion.

Her khopesh went flying from her hand behind Stephanie as she held her sword towards an unarmed Cleo. Cleo was stunned, her face a mixture of shock and admiration for Stephanie's action. She yanked her wrist from above the shield and rubbed it where a purple mark was already forming. She looked between Stephanie and her sword sitting ten feet behind her. She smiled and finally spoke.

"Well done. I believe that makes it my loss. If I may ask, how did you determine when to attack like that?"

"I paid very close attention to your attacks as we fought. You used a three-hit combo whenever you could reach my sword a stab, upward slash and downward slash. I determined that to be the best time to try. It was either that or lose anyway." Stephanie replied honestly.

"Well, thank you. I'll need to work on that from now on. You did well yourself, but you choreograph your attacks with your eyes and conservative use of feints. If you learned to use them more, you'd be a much better swordsman, but I don't believe you're a swordsman at heart. Either way, continue down that road and you'll grow much stronger, that advice works for any melee weapon as well." Cleo stated as she bowed to Stephanie in respect.

Stephanie quickly did the same before the judge called the top four participants onto the stage. Then a pedestal rose and each of the top four were held high but Stephanie was the highest. There were smaller podiums on each one that held something. Stephanie's held a book on blade styles. She touched it and opened it, starting to read. It detailed how the techniques inside worked for any weapon with a blade from a dagger to a halberd. In essence, it was a book perfect for her and her multi-weapon that worked as nearly all of the above depending on her desire. The others let out gasps as they received their rewards before the arena disappeared, the podiums and the pedestals did too. Then the fighters fell to the pit's floor where they were walked around as people cleaned. Each person clutched an item from their podium. They all quickly scattered to find secluded spaces to do whatever they wanted with the items.

Stephanie ran to her room as she started reading. Before thinking and tossing the book on a table inside her portable forge. She left the room and went to her friends to celebrate. Everyone was ecstatic she'd won.

"Congrats Steph!" Gaia yelled when she sensed her approaching.

"Congrats Stephanie." Fergus said.

"Awesome job, congratulations on winning the swordsmanship tournament." Griff stated with a hug. She hugged him back, then they all left to go get a celebratory feast, but not before finding the Baron, baroness, all of Flora and their other friends waiting and they congratulated her as well. They all left to go get food and relax for the night, celebrating a great day and a victory for Stephanie. She'd won an entire tournament, and one that did not focus on her main weapon or skills. She smiled as they ate and returned to the mansion after thoroughly enjoying themselves. The next day would be just as long. The next one was Magic, which meant it was Gaia's turn tomorrow.