Better to try and move past the topic.
It was a logical decision.
Honestly, he did need to suppress his lying urges. Everytime he lies, God gives him a wonderful reward for it. It was at times like this that he remembered his mother's words—
'Lies unveil themselves eventually.'
… Dang, I didn't think I'd miss her this much.
Though, it would've been worse if i didn't.
He thought to himself, but quickly dismissed those feelings, crying in front of a girl felt like the pinnacle of shame to him.
Leaving all that aside, there's a task at hand right now—
His eyes sharpened with focus as he gripped the hilt firmly with both hands. Spreading his legs just a little wider apart, he lowered his upper body.
Interpreting her casual yet unmoving stance as the starting flag, he bolted straight at her.
*Fwosh!*
His mind focused on every minute detail surrounding him.
His footing, his posture, his grip, the tension in his limbs, his breathing, her movements, and even her expressions.
The moment he stepped in a two hand radius around her, his arms lifted up towards the heavens and swung it down with the maximum speed and force he could muster.
The swing was an elegant vertical crescent meant to strike her face with full force, hoping and knowing at the same time that she would block it.
But she remained still.
Why?
Was she that confident?
No! She told you to remain serious! He chanted to himself, his mind seemingly ready, but his heart—
*Thuck!*
…
Huh?
Before the strike could've connected, all it took was a single upward swing from her, which not only just blocked, but blasted the practice sword out of his fist.
The attack was stopped. Effortlessly.
"I told you to take it seriously."
Before Merlin's momentum could even be stopped, he felt something ram into his ankles, stealing away the sensation of the ground.
Confusion was the only thing that filled his mind as his body fell on the compact soil with a heavy thud.
"Ow!" He wailed in pain as his hand shot up to his head, filled with a thumping pain from the impact.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that his brain was hit by a damn hammer. That was how fast he had fallen. "You didn't need to go that hard!"
Adelheid stood silently for a moment and looked down at the wailing excuse of a man. "It was a punishment, that last strike was meant for my temple. But at the last second, you changed the trajectory to my shoulder.
What can I even say to this? Had you not changed your heart there, I would've spared you with only a light hit."
Her one eyebrow arched upward as she folded her arms over her chest. Again, she fell into some sort of another thought before her right arm reached up to cup her lower face, like she was thinking hard about something.
"I can not understand." She spoke in a faint grumbly tone, even when her face was stoic as a rock.
"What now?" Merlin asked, his hand slid down from his head as he pushed his upper body up.
Looking up towards her, it was still pretty dark so he couldn't make out her face perfectly, but from her tone, whatever it was that she couldn't understand must be annoying her a lot.
She opened her mouth to speak, but closed them again. Finally after having thought of a way to say it without messing up, she spoke— "In that second, where you elegantly changed your aim for my face to my shoulder, there was a sharp transition from delusional confidence to hesitation…
No, fear would be a better word to go with."
"....what do you mean by fear?"
"Fear, not in the sense of fear of an impending danger, but in the sense of fearing a decision. How do I describe it?
Just understand, the kind of fear that would make you rethink your choices. As though making the wrong choice would break you." She explained, her voice quieter than her usual impassive self.
"But I won't pry into it, if you don't want to tell me. Just remember—fear is the killer of mind. If, in an actual fight you let your fears overrule. Might as well just prostrate your rear end before your opponent."
"Hey!"
I would never want her as a girlfriend!
He turned his body and pushed against the ground to stand up, his back turned against her.
The pain still lingered faintly. But the moment he stood, Adelheid kicked him in the ass, sending him face-first into the ground.
The grass is tasteless….
Wait, NO!
"What the f*ck?!
"Your fault."
"How?! And stop mind reading me!!!"
"Like I said, I cannot read minds."
Once again, he tried to stand up. The movement too quick for someone who has just been beaten down. All for looking confident and unaffected.
"Owww…" Only for the pain to blow away the act.
"Should I comfort you? Dear alien sir?"
"No need, miss alien to me."
Once again, he readied his sword. Once again.
"Before that, please don't come running straight at me."
Hmm? What's this? Don't tell me—
"I would not want to laugh so early in the morning."
….
What did I even expect? But the taunts feel a bit more…. poisonous. Sharper, if that's the correct word.
Unlike the tone she used that day. Was it really that deep?
Merlin questioned her reaction, never having seen someone being so affected by something he had once done.
It was my fault, I know it well and nicely.
But what can I even do?
"Even if you say that, what else am I supposed to do? I—" haven't ever even touched a sword.
He was about to say, but held back. His tongue felt a little loose today.
See?
"—I haven't done much practice. My basics and physique are good but, all else…?"
"I can see. Just as mediocre as your basics and physique."
She did not just—
The screen popped up.
[Diss track:4]
Motherf*cker!
"Then, we should start from page one. Shouldn't we?"
Her cerulean eyes studied me carefully. It felt very uncomfortable to him, having someone look at his body so observantly.
But then, it's not like she's a random girl checking out this handsome body though~ So I guess it's okay~
She's probably just assessing his potential or what he has to offer in the line of swordsmanship. If he had to answer that, he would say quite a lot.
By the fact that all he could do was all thanks to the acquired reflexes pre-integrated within this body.
He had to thank whoever gave it to him.
But that was what he would do, her conclusion depends entirely on her. His opinion would not hold a candle to the ones of a professional.
Hahhh~
"Then, prepare yourself and try to do your best. I will not be in the offense for now."
"For now feels a bit ominous." Merlin murmured under his breath. He wished Adelheid wouldn't be able to hear it.
Unfortunately.
"Come." She spoke, her voice stern, as she held out her sword and pointed its tip at Merlin. He would be lying if he said she didn't look hella cool.
"Thanks."
"I knew it. You do read minds!"
"I don't."
He placed a hand over his chest and exhaled out all the air he could. With his lungs almost entirely empty, he sucked in a huge breath. To get the maximum amount of oxygen to his muscles, he breathed in until he physically couldn't anymore.
The blue in the sky was slowly being washed away and replaced by the approaching lavender.
Sunrise was near.
For the second time, Merlin took one step forward.
And by the second one, his calves contracted and released into a sudden dash.
This time too, he came at her face-to-face. Again he had come running to her from the front, even when she had specifically told him not to.
Mock me all you want but I know what I have to do!
Adelheid's brow furrowed in mild confusion when Merlin repeated the same mistake again, after she had made the effort to actually try and correct him.
Such behaviour was incredibly vexing to her.
The moment Merlin reached a distance about 2 hands from her, exactly the same as before, the grip on his sword shifted.
Stomping his right foot firmly in the soil before her, he lunged forward.
The sword drew a swift curve through the air, slicing up with an elegant crescent. Its intention screaming the target, her chin.
Adelheid finally decided to move. Faster than he could've reacted, her sword of wood slammed against Merlin's on the flat side with a violent yet precise flow. The force almost sent his sword flying out his, thrown off from its course. Leaving him unable to withdraw his sword.
Open.
With a single foot planted on the earth and the entire body freely thrown forward, he was wide open on all sides.
Taking advantage of his vulnerability, she withdrew her sword and surged forward in a thrusting motion.
For my solar plexus?!
He knew that she was holding back her true speed and strength immensely, yet even against this level of hers, he was failing to match up miserably.
The difference in their mastery of techniques was heaven and hell apart.
Hoping to do anything while playing fair was out of question.
"Knew it!"
With a swift pivot, he turned his upper body around. The thrust missed and grazed against his left rib, which, had he been able to notice, must've felt worse than a stab.
But his senses remained dulled out. His body in a state of flight-or-fight poured everything into maintaining his body at its physical peak.
This was the moment! The only time he has gotten a full opening from Adelheid. Her entire right was unguarded!
Utilising the rotation to its fullest, his sword cleaved through the air. After all the pain she had inflicted on him in this short morning, it was finally his turn!
With the extra speed from the pivot adding on the force to be exerted, his sword charged for the back of…her….head.
Will…she be able to react?
Less than a millisecond's hesitation.
That's all it took.
From the corner of his vision, Merlin saw, but couldn't register it. Her blade swung back and thwacked the back of his hand at speed the human eye couldn't possibly keep up with.
AAHHH!!!
"A—!"
Unable to balance himself, he lost control and plowed into the soil. Luckily only his right hand had been hit—no, it wasn't lucky at all.
But he still held the sword in his left hand.
The moment he crashed into the ground, he instinctively rolled to his left, as the wooden sword thrusted into the soil where his head had been.
"You're trying to kill me or what?!"
Before he could roll any further, she stomped her feet right beside him and stopped him from escaping any further.
The moment his forehead collided with her shoe, he just knew, he's been got.
He winced and then looked up.
The sword hovered just above his eyes.
"Do you yield?" She questioned, no trace of exhaustion in her breathing.
"I do…Holy….fuck….
You're…you said you would…. hahhh….be on the offense…hahh"
"Did I? I
don't recall I did. Even if I had, I think I held back plentifully?" She stepped back and allowed him some freedom.
What a monster.