"It's awakened." Lucien warned as soon as his eyes fell on the beast.
The creature towered over them at four meters tall, covered in rotting black flesh that barely clung to its bones. Its lanky arms ended in razor-sharp claws that left deep gashes on the stone. Its canine skull was exposed to the air, with round eyes almost popping out of its sockets.
Nephis nodded without question, white sparks dancing around her as her armour fully materialized.
Two other sleepers ran towards them, weapons in hand. Brom and Ash, Lucien knew them. They were often his only support when a nightmare creature attacked.
Brom was a frontline fighter, wielding a comically large warhammer and clad in dark iron armour. His aspect was connected to vibrations. Lucien grimaced. He had fought the man once, and with one hit, he had been rendered prone. He would prefer not to relive the unpleasant feeling of his entire skeleton vibrating inside his body. It had left him disoriented for hours.
Ash, on the other hand, usually fought from afar. His aspect was connected to the seas, so he couldn't do much on land. But the man was a menace every time it rained. Sadly, the skies were devoid of any clouds at the moment.
Without a word exchanged, Brom charged forward, his warhammer vibrating ever so faintly. Ash grounded himself a few feet away and summoned his bow memory. The plan was simple. Brom would get the attention of the monster, while Ash peppered it from a distance.
As for Lucien, he was supposed to catch it off guard and finish it off with one big hit. But he wasn't going to do that today. No, today he wanted to see what Nephis could do.
A purple sheen momentarily covered his body as he leaped away. He watched as Nephis sprinted forward to engage the abomination side by side with Brom. She adapted to Brom's fighting style scarily fast.
She dodged just as the creature brought down its terrible claws upon her. In the same moment, her sword lashed out, cutting a gash in its elbow. Taking the opportunity, Brom swung his warhammer and smashed into the creature's chest, caving its chest in and sending a thrum of vibrations through its body.
In its disoriented state, it failed to defend itself as Nephis' longsword slashed open its throat.
He'd seen enough; she was clearly not willing to use her aspect in front of them. But still, her swordsmanship was top-notch.
The purple lightning covering him flowed into his hand and then his spear, and time resumed in its natural flow. Only a few seconds had passed in reality, and the creature had already recovered from Brom's blow. It seemed completely unbothered as blood flowed down its chest.
Taking a sharp breath in, Lucien aimed and hurled his spear at it. A sonic boom resonated through the air as the weapon ripped through the air. It hit its mark almost instantly, and the lightning-infused spear pierced its head and stayed there. A moment later, the electricity exploded, killing the monster.
[You have slain an awakened monster, Undead Hound.]
[Your Storm roars wilder.]
As the storm fragments flowed in, he could feel his body getting just a bit stronger.
Moments later, he rejoined the others. Ash had already begun harvesting the meat of the monster, and Brom was busy picking off pieces of meat from his armour. Lucien shared a silent nod with Brom before walking up to Nephis.
"You didn't use your aspect." He commented, though he did not expect to get a proper reply.
Nephis shrugged and answered, "I didn't need to."
He nodded and watched as Ash split up the meat into four portions.
"Can I make a request?"
Nephis slowly turned to face him, "...What?"
"Can you teach me to use the sword?"
He hadn't managed to find anyone in two years who could teach him swordsmanship as well as Effie had taught him the spear.
When she didn't reply, he continued. "In return, I'll teach you to navigate the Dark City."
She nodded at that. "Okay."
Lucien smiled. After two years, he'd finally be able to use his sword memory. After Ash handed them their portion of the meat, Lucien asked:
"When do we begin?"
"Let's store the meat first." She turned back and walked into his hut.
Lucien shared a quick goodbye with the other two and followed her inside. He gave her one of his spare chests, and they stored their spoils inside.
A storm of sparks surrounded his hand, and the Storm blade materialized. The once familiar grip of the weapon had now become a stranger to him.
Nephis shook her head, "Some words will be enough for today."
Lucien frowned a bit, but did as she asked.
Nephis took a moment to formulate her thoughts and then said:
"Mastery of combat can be divided into two aspects. One is body, and the other one is mind. Training the body is not easy, but it is rather simple. All you need is repetition and experience. In a fight, things happen too fast to consider every detail in the moment. That's why your technique must exist in your muscles and bones, so much so that it almost becomes an instinct."
Lucien listened with rapt attention. Effie had just beaten the art of fighting into him; compared to that, this is…different.
"You can achieve initial results through repetition. Then, it must be cemented through experience. The more battle experience you have, the deeper a technique will be assimilated into your body. There is no other way. A thousand hours of training won't be as impactful as one real fight. Only those who survive countless battles can be truly in command of the body."
'That…oddly makes sense.'
One real fight had pushed him further than dozens of sparring sessions with Effie. Hell, he would be willing to bet that most sleepers in the Forgotten Shores were better than any other sleepers simply due to that fact. They had to fight beings much stronger than themselves just to survive, and they had been doing so for years.
Meanwhile, Nephis continued:
"Training the mind, however, is not simple at all. That is because, once you reach a certain level of skill, the mind is where the true combat takes place. The outcome is often decided before your body begins to move. And to master the mind, the first step is to understand the essence of combat. However, very few people truly do."
She looked at him and asked:
"What do you think that essence is?"
Lucien frowned. His first thought was to say "survival". But that wasn't the only reason he fought. He hunted in the Dark City not to survive, but to thrive. It was his greed that took him back there every day, to gain storm fragments and soul shards.
That was his answer; he fought to get stronger, to become better. He raised his head high and said:
"Improvement."
Nephis shook her head.
"No."
Her gaze suddenly turned harsher and colder.
"The essence of combat is murder."
Lucien narrowed his eyes. That was not what he expected. Nephis, however, did not seem to care. In the same calm tone, she continued:
"At the core of it, there is only this: you are trying to kill your opponent, and they are trying to kill you. In the end, one of you will be killed, and the other one will be the killer. Everything else is just noise."
He frowned. That…wasn't wrong. Stripped down to its barest form, combat was about killing your opponent before they kill you.
"Style doesn't matter. Weapons don't matter. Reason and intent do not matter. The only thing that matters is to be the last one standing. In this way, anything you do in combat must be viewed as only serving one of two purposes: either to kill your enemy or to prevent the enemy from killing you."
Nephis lowered her eyes.
"If you can understand that, you will have enough clarity to master the mind."
With that, she turned and walked away, leaving him with his own thoughts.
Lucien did not know if he agreed with her; a battle could not be simplified like that. There was more to it than murder. To think like that was… sad.
However, he did not disagree with everything she said. Repetition to mould the body, experience to temper it, and clarity to master the mind. Those were wise words. Just what had she gone through to think like that?
Even he, who grew up in this godforsaken place, did not think like that. Would he need to change that to be a better fighter?
He shook his head. No, he would not abandon his way of thinking just to get stronger. He'd find his own way to find clarity, no matter how long it takes.
The next day, he took Nephis with him when he went hunting. With her watching his back, he chose not to use his aspect during the fight. Even with that, it went a lot smoother than before. Their attacks were relentless, never giving the nightmare creature a chance to retaliate.
When they returned, Nephis had him summon the Storm blade. She studied it for a while before summoning her own longsword. While it was narrower than the storm blade, it was also longer with an incredibly sharp, symmetrical tip. The whole blade, as well as the simple cross-shaped guard and the pommel, seemed to be made out of silver and reflected the pale morning light. The handle was tightly wrapped in black leather.
In contrast, Lucien's blade was made of a dull grey metal. It was wider to accommodate the hollow channel inside that would fill up with blood once activated. It was almost as long, coming short by an inch or two.
Placing the two side by side, she said:
"While your sword can be used with one hand, it was designed for two. As such, its true potential can only be revealed when using both hands. It specializes in cutting and severing, but you can still thrust with it."
Then she gestured to hers:
"My sword is a bit more versatile. It is created for both cutting and thrusting, and it has a double edge. However, the principle of wielding these two swords is effectively is the same."
She took the sword in both hands, placing one near the guard and another near the pommel. Then, she performed a downward slash.
"They are both leverage-based weapons. When held with two hands, one hand pushes," She pushed the sword down with the hand near the guard. "While the other hand pulls."
The hand near the pommel simultaneously pulled the handle up, giving the blade a tremendous boost in speed.
"This is how you generate force and perform powerful strikes. Now, your turn."
The principle was similar to that of a spear, but the application was different. Lucien breathed in deeply and picked up his sword. He spread his legs apart, grounded himself, and raised the blade. His whole body twisted as he brought the blade down, whistling through the air.
Nephis nodded and gestured at him to do it again. So he did, again, and again, and again. She gave pointers each time, fixing his stance by just a bit, until she was satisfied.
"Good."
A faint smile crept up his face. He was finally getting somewhere with swordsmanship.
"Now do it a thousand more times."
Lucien nodded and performed the slash again. He was no stranger to repetition; it was necessary for the spear, and now for the sword. Soon enough, he fell into a rhythm. Raise, push, pull, twist.
Those same motions, again and again, would be the first step towards swordsmanship. Repetition to mould the body.