The Villain's Sword Is Sharp

The pair didn't head to the training grounds. People could watch their training if they went there, and soon everybody would have information on how they fought. Instead, they headed towards a secluded alleyway. It took just 3 minutes of walking to find a good spot.

They both took positions at opposite sides of the damp, shadowy alley.

Their eyes locked momentarily, then Isaac suggested lightly, "Shall we begin?" and they sprung into action.

Isaac created a sword and dashed forwards with his Snowshoe Anima, while Eva's palms glinted with a thin layer of ice and she sped forwards to meet him. She was also using a movement Anima; a blustery stream of ice blew up around her heels and propelled her forwards. This was the Blown Ice Anima that she'd traded for after the Kirk Village mission.

She still had trouble controlling it, but at least she could move forwards without an issue.

As the 2 approached one another, Isaac swung his sword in a sweeping arc. Eva wanted to dart right and dodge it, but her lack of control over the Blown Ice Anima became a problem. She could only avoid Isaac's blade by leaning back at nearly 90 degrees. The blade sliced just above her body, then she tried to right herself and deliver a palm strike.

However, Isaac was moving too quickly. By the time Eva stood straight again, Isaac had already glided past and manoeuvred into a position behind her. He struck out with his left hand and Eva couldn't avoid.

Isaac knew she wouldn't be able to dodge so he only struck with half his strength. He couldn't injure her too badly – he needed her for sparring after all.

After being hit, Eva spun around. However, she saw that Isaac was in a confident, relaxed pose, not a fighting one. With a soft smile on his face, he asked,

"Shall we try that again?"

The two returned to their starting positions on opposite sides of the alley and engaged in a second spar. That was closely followed by a third, then a fourth...

*************************

Soon the pair had enjoyed 20 short bouts of combat. Isaac had won all of them.

Nevertheless, Eva seemed in high spirits still. No amount of losing could crush her competitive nature and she was raring to go for another spar. Indeed, she was quickly getting used to her movement Anima (though she was far from perfect) and the pair's bouts were beginning to get less one-sided.

However, Eva still wasn't giving Isaac an opportunity to use the Nihility Intent Anima. If he could perfectly dodge all her attacks without it, then why waste the significant amount of Qi it took to use the Anima? At this point, Isaac was beginning to wonder whether asking Eva for a spar had been the right decision.

"Come on. Let's go again."

His thoughts were interrupted and he sighed. If she couldn't get him to use the Nihility Intent Anima by the end of today, he'd find somebody else to spar with or create a completely different method of training.

The two returned to their positions and Isaac noticed a glint in Eva's eyes which differed from her usual competitive glare. They sped towards each other like usual, but Eva slowed down before they met each other. This was a tactic she'd adopted after their first few fights since she had greater agility when travelling at a lower speed.

Isaac didn't change his pace and continued rushing towards her. Without warning, Eva accelerated again and shot towards him as well.

The sudden change of pace made her stumble and nearly fall. It seemed like she'd been trying to surprise Isaac with an unexpected turn of pace, but the execution of her plan was poor. Isaac wondered what she'd expected to happen. She was still a beginner with the Blown Ice Anima, so of course she couldn't rapidly change speeds like that.

He didn't slow down as he sped towards her, intending to finish her off with a simple swipe of his sword. He swung his sword like a club, aiming the flat of his blade at Eva's shoulder.

As the sword began its downwards swing, 2 frosty eyes turned looked at Isaac with a gaze of jubilation. The seemingly off-balance figure suddenly gained a footing and shifted to his right. Isaac was caught by surprise. His sword missed its target and there was a large opening down his right side.

An ice-covered palm snaked into the gap he'd left. If it struck, the duel would be Isaac's loss, but he knew he couldn't avoid it. He deactivated the Snowshoe Anima immediately. Then he used his will to quickly activate the Nihility Intent Anima instead.

Isaac felt a strange power channel into his sword. It had an abnormal quality to it; it seemed chaotic and destructive, but oddly under control at the same time. Isaac knew that sense of control wasn't a part of the energy itself. It was probably the Nihility Intent Anima manipulating the chaotic energy.

Then, without warning, the energy burst out from Isaac's sword all at once. It arced through the air in every direction, almost like an electrical discharge. A field of wild streaks of grey aura spilled everywhere, striking both Eva and the surrounding snow.

However, most of the streaks landed on Isaac. There were crackles and sizzles as the fur on his coat was singed or destroyed by the destructive aura. Thankfully the nihility intent specialised in destroying Qi-based substances rather than materials like fur. It had a limited effect on Isaac's outer garment and he was not injured.

The storm of flashing grey streaks around Isaac's sword nearly blinded Eva as she pushed her palm towards him. Several streaks hit her palm and the ice upon it began to melt anyway.

*Smack* Her palm hit Isaac. Isaac experienced a stinging feeling from the hit and a chilly sensation from her Anima, but that was all. The field had weakened the Anima to the point it lost its freezing effect. Now it was only powerful enough to make things cold.

Isaac sensed the weakness of the palm and deactivated his Nihility Intent Anima. The streaks of grey jumping around his sword began to disappear as it swung towards Eva.

Isaac's unexpected defence had stunned Eva and she barely reacted in time to slip backwards. She evaded Isaac's blade, but she was off-balance and her stance was broken.

Isaac took advantage. He launched a relentless wave of attacks which left her helpless; she was quickly defeated.

After the fight, Isaac went over to check if she was alright,

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt by those rays of light?"

Eva just shook her head and asked,

"What Anima was that?"

"That's a secret."

Even though she denied being hurt by it, Isaac could see a small burn mark on her left arm. It seemed the Nihility Intent Anima did have some potential to do physical harm. However, Isaac was completely unable to direct it.

The moment the intent had left his sword, the element of 'control' given by his Anima vanished. If he wanted to harness the field and control the intent while it was mid-air, then Isaac would need to do so by himself.

Both he and Eva slumped against an alley wall as they took a break, and Isaac inspected the state of his Qi Core. It was only 12% full.

Isaac had used up a significant portion of Qi during their previous fights, but he still had at least 35% left before this bout began. Outside of activating the Nihility Intent Anima, he hadn't done much differently to the other bouts. That meant a single uncontrolled burst of the Anima had cost him about 20% of a full Qi Core!

Isaac's Qi Core was 66.7% full after breaking through into upper stage. That meant he couldn't even use the Anima 4 times! He'd have to practice exerting some control over the intent, otherwise he might start running out of Qi very quickly.

On the other hand, the Anima's power was extremely impressive; it had negated an attack from another Anima of the same Rank. Thought the difference between Isaac's upper stage Qi and Eva's middle stage Qi did play a role, the main factor was simply the immense power of the nihility intent. Isaac looked forwards to using this Anima in the future, especially after he got more comfortable with it.

"Can we take a break for lunch? I'm nearly out of Qi."

Eva interrupted Isaac's thoughts. He hurriedly agreed to her request, then went back to pondering how to effectively use the Nihility Intent Anima. He thought it over for a while longer, then decided to walk home.

Isaac ate a huge lunch, then returned to the alleyway. Eva was there, waiting for him.

The 2 didn't exchange any pleasantries. They immediately faced off against each other and began sparring.

*************************

At the end of his 5th day sparring with Eva, Isaac thanked her for working with him, but told her he'd like to move onto different preparations before the tournament. He wouldn't be coming to spar with her the next day.

Eva easily accepted his statement since she also had other things to do before the tournament.

After passing 5 days practicing with Eva, there were only 4 more days left before the tournament. Obviously the tournament wouldn't just be full of melee fighters, so Isaac wanted to practice against a different kind of opponent: a ranged attacker.

The next morning, Isaac visited Johan to see if he would spar. He took a little bit of convincing, but Isaac eventually persuaded Johan to come and spar.

The pair spent 2 days sparring, and Isaac slowly improved at focusing the nihility intent in a single direction to destroy projectiles or weaken attacks. This meant he didn't waste as much Qi just discharging intent all over the place.

Johan was also pleased with the results of their spars. He was improving with his own new Anima and he was eager to continue their sessions on the third day...