91 Twister (1/2)
”Do you honestly believe dragging me down to the mud will give you an advantage?” Azuma's eyes glinted with murderous intent as he moved his right foot back and made himself an even narrower target than one could imagine. ”You only hasten the approach of death.”
”When did your words get so flowery?” I asked while feigning calm serenity. Even though deep down inside, my heart was racing like a drumbeat to a K-pop soundtrack. ”Nothing's set in stone… It's not over until the fat lady sings.”
Azuma smiled. It was the kind of smile that turned my blood icy-cold and sent the hairs on the back of my arms standing on end. A foreboding feeling was growing in me. The dude was up to something, and I wasn't going to like it.
My nemesis lowered the pointy end of his spear onto the wet grass. Then he spoke in a series of incoherent gibberish I assumed was a fairy dialect I hadn't discovered yet. It sounded weird enough to come from the fay.
You might be wondering why I didn't take this chance to attack him while he focused on his weird chant. Honestly, there was no opportunity for a sneak attack. It was his eyes. They were like sharp daggers plunging into the depths of my courage, daring me to jump in.
Once Azuma finished his chant, a predictably magical thing happened. Moisture from the wet grass began to rise up from the ground in the form of tiny water droplets which were clearly visible to my enhanced eyesight. These droplets gathered around the shadowblade of Azuma's spear tip, covering it in a liquid coating that glowed like a pale reflection of moonlight against the water's surface.
I recalled my previous fight with Jimmy Jonas and how he used a similar skill to ignite his glaive in flames.
My throat went dry. ”Is that… Augmentare ?” I gulped.
Momentary surprise flitted across Azuma's face before he replied with, ”You know about Elemental Weapons?”
The memory of Jimmy's blood-caked faced flashed across my vision, forcing me to shut my eyes tightly in the hopes of stopping that rewind in my mind. ”Y-yeah... I fought another commander who could use it.” I cleared my throat. ”So... you can use it too.”
”You would too if there was a master to teach you.” Azuma raised his spear level with his shoulders. Both hands grasped tightly onto the pole as he pointed it toward me. ”Sadly, you're out of time.”
The few water droplets that didn't get pulled into the spearhead's shiny new liquid coating floated around it similar to those scenes when astronauts play with their water while in outer space.
”Okay… that's cool,” I whistled appreciatively. That appreciation was short-lived. My next words were, ”Wait, we're skipping the banter?”
In a single leap, Azuma launched himself forward with his spear aimed to strike me down. He moved so quickly that I barely had time to jump forward before our weapons clashed against each other.
Sparks flew as shadowblades met. The sound of metal raking across metal shrieked into my ears combined with an explosive pressure that was no doubt caused by the watery sheath of his spear's tip.
Although it worked well against most enemies at my level, my falchion's absurd cutting power was practically useless against Azuma's higher tier weapon. In fact, I'd go as far to say my sword lost out to his spear in terms of explosive strength. This was clear in how my shadowblade got blown away by the spear thrust boosted by the elemental power he'd harnessed earlier.
Now, in this momentary opening, the old Dean might have gotten himself skewered in the gut. But I've survived countless life and death struggles since my last bout with Azuma, and I'd picked up a thing or two since. So, instead of fighting against my sword arm getting pushed away, I twisted my body and followed the momentum to a full three-hundred-sixty degree clockwise rotation that sent my sword slashing back at Azuma's exposed abs.
Azuma blocked it with the shaft of his spear, but I was prepared for this obvious outcome too.
I twirled around again—this time counter-clockwise—and attacked him on the other side. But Azuma parried this attack with a twirl of his spear, causing our shadowblades to rake across each other once more.