120 Eyes of Old (1/2)

Yawm dashed towards me, the ground cracking beneath him. I shouted, “Remember, we’re fighting to learn.”

He reached me as I flared my runes. He swatted the back of his hand towards me. It was a wild, unrestrained strike. I bent backwards, the tip of his finger snapping across my armor. He slashed his other hand, a joyful glee in the act. I took another step backwards, my feet sliding as his strike slipped just past my nose.

As his hand pulled backwards, I charged towards him, countering him with a right straight. I struck him with a telekinetic bullet from the punch. It did nothing as the kinetic force dispersed. Yawm laughed,

“Excellent. You’re far more nimble than I imagined you’d be.”

I grinned, “Being able to overpower your enemies is no excuse for being sloppy.”

He raised an eyebrow, “An interesting point of view. I thought you enjoyed playing with food?”

I slammed my fists together, “That’s when I know I’ll win.”

“Hah! It’s good to see I’ve garnered a measurable respect in another warrior’s eyes.”

I activated my new skill, Gravitational Celerity. It used both gravity and antigravity to enhance my movements. I’d never used in combat, so now was the perfect time.

Yawm dashed towards me again, his speed blistering. He struck out with another wide slash. I drilled a left straight into his jaw, interrupting the move. His foot pierced through the ground as he took a step back. I stepped forward, firing two more sharp, compact strikes into his jaw. He lashed out with his left arm.

I ducked under the strike by sinking into the ground as I leaned towards his arm. It passed over my head as I slammed a cracking left hook into his torso. With my telekinetic fields extending my grip, my attack sent him flying away.

He tumbled across the ground, his enormous frame decimating the trees in his way like toothpicks. He rolled back to his feet. He clapped his hands,

“Your well versed in this style of combat. Are you certain you need practice in it?”

I smirked, “It seems like you could use some practice at the very least.”

He laughed before dashing towards me. He reached me like a flash, his pace increasing. He ripped out three rapid slices with his hands. I shifted between the strikes, slowing them with fields of gravity that pulled against his attacks. Yawm needed a grip for his feet at that point. Knowing this, I put my foot under his.

I jerked my foot sideways, throwing his center of gravity off. He fell sideways. I dashed forward, my balance shifting on my feet. With an overhand right, I slammed my fist into his face, pressing him into the ground. A crater formed beneath us before I dashed away. Yawm grabbed for where I was.

As his hand pulled back, I returned with a stomp onto his face. The crater beneath us both deepened. He grabbed for me again, his pace even faster. As he sped up, I minimized my dodges further. Even if I was slower, my techniques were sharper, closing the obvious gap between us.

I lifted my foot for yet another stomp. He bent his neck sideways, my foot puncturing into the dirt beneath him. A root from beneath him wrapped around my foot and pulled me deeper. Yawm stood up while wiping dirt off his shoulders,

“You’re much better than I imagined you’d be. It’s insulting that I’m moving faster yet you’re still dominating our exchanges. I cannot laud this enough. How will you handle this?”

Yawm sliced a quick hook towards my face. I let myself sink into the dirt, dodging his attack. Once under the ground, I reached up and grabbed Yawm’s foot. I dragged him into the dirt, making him slam against a roots of trees. I walked out of the ground, slinging Yawm with a single hand, the earth exploding from his rise.

I swung him around. Yawm’s enormous frame tore the trees apart like a boulder crushing matchsticks. I released him before he tumbled across the ground and regained his footing.

As he stood, he shook off dirt,

“I prefer this kind of sparring. I enjoy how humbling it is. In its own way, I find it motivating. Let’s see if I can catch up to your own prowess, given time.”

Once again he dashed towards me. I charged him, each of us weaving through the trunks of trees. Once we reached each other, Yawm slowed his assault. He reached out with another swipe of his right hand, this one sharper and more restrained. While it lacked the raw power of his old attack, it made him far less vulnerable to a counter.

Still, it wasn’t enough. His swipe scraped against my shoulder as I leaned away from his attack. Molding my armor, I diverted his right hand upwards. I amplified this deflection with a stream of gravity, redirecting his hand upwards. Sparks floated off my armor before I whipped in another attack onto his side.

I held back my full power, letting him keep close this time. It was so that I could dish out more damage and get some practice with my gravity magic. He stayed close, his swipes turning denser and more compact. Within a few hours, he no longer lashed out. His swipes were like an ametuer’s that had tremendous talent.

He finally nailed me with a clean strike after I stomped on a root. When it did land, I bunched myself up, making the impact disperse into my legs. Since I was so grounded, Yawm shoved himself back, throwing himself off balance. He stumbled backwards as I charged him. I stepped on his front foot, making him fall back.

As he fell, I lifted my other foot. I stomped his chest, forcing him against the ground. Throughout my movements, gravity flowed like a liquid to help me move. It was like swimming in currents that pushed me forward and pulled him back. For some reason, using all the skills together just clicked at that moment.

As a crater formed beneath Yawm, a ringing echo spreading through the glass forest. A notification appeared in the side of my vision that explained the sudden ease in using gravity.

Unique Skill gained! You’ve fused the skills Antigravity, Antigravitational Shift, Gravitational Celerity, Antigravity Vortex, and Resourceful into Gravitational Flux. Half of unearned points rewarded for the creation of a unique skill. +205 Tree Points.

Gravity Flux(lvl 1) - By mastering gravity, you move in an ever changing liquid of it. By creating streams of gravity, you reinforce yourself and destabilized enemies. +1% to power of gravity magic on movement.

After landing the attack, I moved my foot off of Yawm’s chest. After this fight, I’d need to check out my trees and work on them. I’ve been so busy learning the cipher and fighting Yawm that I hadn’t been keeping up to date on them. Considering what I was up against, that wasn’t the smartest idea.

I needed to handle Yawm first. I offered him a hand. He grabbed it and pulled himself up,

“And after I finally land a strike against you, it plays in your favor rather than my own. Would you mind explaining for me?”

I shrugged, “You’ll need to ground yourself more when fighting someone who matches you evenly. Otherwise the more stable fighter will absorb your shots and counter immediately. That’s assuming they’re able to take a hit.”

Yawmnodded, “Interesting. I’ve also noticed my own attacks feel...off. Is there a reason for that?”

“Gravity.”

Yawm nodded, “Hmmm...Controlling gravity to throw your opponent off balance and enhance your own techniques. It’s no wonder why you needed us to fight so slowly. Otherwise you’d never get the practice you needed to master such an advanced technique.”

“That’s exactly it.” I opened a hand to him, “You improved since we started too. You were leaving yourself wide open before. Now your hits are more composed. If anything, I’m wondering where you learned to fight like that.”

Yawm glanced up, staring at the light reflecting off the leaves of the trees,

“It could have to do with the competition I’ve been fighting. During warfare, I fought thousands of weaklings. They couldn’t hope to counter or parry my strikes, so I focused on hitting with more power rather than precision. Against a foe that is my equal in skill, well, you’ve already exposed my style of fighting.”

I shrugged, “Then it’s good that you’re getting back in fighting shape.”

Yawm nodded, glancing back down at me,”Indeed it is. Would you mind us continuing at a faster pace? At our current speed, I believe our fights are too unrealistic for actual use.”

I nodded, “Uh, sure.”

Yawm cracked the fingers in his hands, “If anything, exercising my skill is far more difficult when moving in slow motion.”

A bit of cold sweat fell down my forehead, “Yeah, slow motion.”

Yawm took a few steps backwards before leaning over, “Come now, let’s fight with a more visceral touch.”

I raised a finger, “Wait one second. I need to check something out on my status.”

Yawm sighed, “Then I’ll wait until you finish.”

I thanked him before opening up my tree menu. I remembered speccing into Immense, which reminded me why I hadn’t checked out my trees. It required 2,500 points for completion, and I only had put one point into it. With 360 tree points lying around, I poured them into the tree and closed my menu. So much for a power boost before Yawm put his big boy pants on.

Speaking of Yawm, I glanced back up at him. His hand rested against a tree as he closed his eyes. He listened to it, discovering secrets about this world. I couldn’t help but be curious about what a tree might say. Still, I wanted to get this over with eventually, so I interrupted him,

“Yawm, I’m finished.”

Yawm glanced up, his glowing green eyes pulsing. He turned towards me,

“Did you know that the weather of this world is dictated by location rather than time?”

I frowned, “What does that even mean?”

Yawm raised his hands,

“The weather is always like this at this location. It never rains or turns to night here. The only reason there is life here is because we are near an area with eternal rain. If we teleported another fifty miles away from the rain, there would only be a windy, hateful dessert. If we teleported fifty miles towards the rain, we would be in a vast ocean and endless storm.”

Yawm spread out his hands, “We teleported to the most peaceful place on this planet. Imagine that.”

I looked at the ground, seeing the intertwined roots in the dark soil, “Damn. What a weird world.” I set myself into my normal fighting stance while looking up at him, “You ready?”

Yawm leaned over, “Always.”

Right before our second session started, I activated every tool at my disposal. My legendary skill, Force of Nature was rearing at full force. My telekinesis extended my footing. I grounded myself with Gravitational Flux. I extended my perception with Tactile Cognition. I extended outwards with Event Horizon, clustering it over Yawm.

Even with all my precautions, Yawm’s speed and power was unreasonable. He made contact using the same wide strikes that he started with. I couldn’t move fast enough to keep up. His right hand was coming at my side, but I moved like I was underwater when compared with him.

His enormous, clubbing hand slammed against my side. The impact left my ears and eyes ringing from sheer whiplash as I crashed through a dozen trees. Yawm dashed towards me again before I could become stable. Once more, he struck out before I could react to what I was seeing.

His wide strikes didn’t seem so wide anymore. All the openings that were present before evaporated under the might of his raw speed. Yawm didn’t need technique to make his fighting function. He just needed to reach out his hand faster than the opponent could dodge. His strength would handle the rest.