165 Red Dawn (2/2)

It was remarkable how quickly he was despite the weight of his greatsword and armor, and with a single leap, he bridged the distance between us and put himself with range of striking me down.

I leaped back to avoid his forward thrust, not because I was afraid, but because I was gearing up for a charge of my own.

As my back foot touched the sand, I pushed off it, leaping forward again in the hopes of catching my opponent unaware.

My falchion came snaking forward with blinding speed, and although I succeeded in catching the Dawn Breaker off guard, he managed to block my attack with his greatsword.

We exchanged blows in one, two, and then three successive strikes, all of which we managed to parry or block.

But I was painfully made aware of our differences in strength for each blow that I blocked pushed me back a step or two.

I leaped back a second time, and then, with the distance between us widened, I decided it was the moment to use one of the sword techniques Azuma taught me.

I bent down to my left side and moved my falchion back into sheath position which was the basis for the quick-draw style.

Azuma explained to me that the syncing of your breath and your body was the most important factor in finishing moves. The next instruction was to force your body to tense up like a bow, ready for that single moment to spring forward.

That moment wasn't mine to choose. It was my opponent's decision to make. And while I waited for him to attack, I tensed myself up even more.

It wasn't long, perhaps a fraction of a second before he made his move.

He went into a sword stance of his own. The tip of his greatsword pointed forward as he carried it in both hands while the rest of his body was pulled back to the side in a similar fashion to a Muay Thai fighter's stance.

One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. And then, as if someone had just fired a starter gun, the attack commenced.

The Dawn Breaker charged forward in a thrust that might have skewered me dead if I hadn't struck at the last second.

Here's the thing, Azuma named this awesome move the 'Dragon devouring the sky' which he claimed was far more powerful when one called it out at the top of his lungs right before execution.

Seriously though, just imagining me shouting it out where everyone could hear me made my face go as red as an apple, and so I always imagined I would skip the special-move-calling that was often done in anime and manga.

So imagine my surprise when I did actually shout out the name right before my body uncoiled itself in what I embarrassingly assumed was an unconscious action.

\”Dragon devouring the sky!\” I screamed at the same time as I let out that long breath that I held in this whole time.

I must have been imagining because I really did feel like my breath was even better now than all those times I practiced the move without shouting out its name. Perhaps that was the point of it.

My body uncoiled and I shot outward in a rising slash that arrived just as the Dawn Breaker's sword thrust reached me.

I pivoted my right foot forward and to the right. The rest of my body followed this movement, allowing me to dodge to the right as the sword thrust came my way.

I felt the shadowblade graze my left shoulder and cut deep into its shoulder guard, eliciting a hiss of pain from my lips.

But not even the pain of this new wound was enough to stop my momentum, and with a mighty heave, I sent my shadowblade soaring upward.

At this point, the distance between us was non-existent. Perhaps an inch or two was all that separated us which surely meant I would hit him. But as my falchion continued its upward arc, I could feel the distance between us increasing, almost as if time itself was reversing.

\”You're not getting away!\” I yelled.

And although my proclamation was certainly true, he'd pulled away far enough that I barely manage to knock off his helmet off him.

Long, red hair was blown back by the wind as it was exposed to the desert air. A face shimmering with sweat looked back at me with angry gray eyes and pouty lips.

\”Holy sh*t…\” I cursed in surprise. \”You're a girl!\”