Diary Entry 4
Arturia and Edward made their way behind Merlin's hut. The two went outside, walking down the creaking stairs and around the building. She drew her sword from its sheath and fell into a combat stance. Edward didn't know how he should position himself. He just stood there, contemplating the best way to fight her.
"Do I use my hunting knife or a stick? ... The gun is out of the question, ,,I don't want to kill her..."
His problems mounted as he realized he mastered neither swordsmanship nor hand-to-hand combat. He didn't notice that he was so deep in thought that he was simply staring at her.
"Excuse me, Mr. Meyers, you are staring. Won't you decide what you wish to use?" Arturia called out to him, but he remained frozen. Seeing this as an opportunity to attack, she took it. She was fast. She raised her sword to strike from above. She was slow. Edward was confused at first as to why, but he accepted it.
He waited until she reached the highest point of her swing, then stepped forward with a large stride to get beneath her. Using her own momentum against her, he catapulted her over himself.
"What the.....?!" She fell onto her back, rolled, and immediately stood up again.
"What was that?..." she asked with wide eyes. Edward didn't know himself, but he knew one thing, ,,it had something to do with Aisha."
"Tell me, Arturia, why are you holding back?" He wanted to provoke her, to make her go all out and show him everything. Arturia took a deep breath, her grip on her sword tightening. Her energetic expression faded, replaced by something cooler and iron like.
The gaze of a warrior.
The wind around them began to vibrate. Merlin, who was still searching for answers inside, noticed the mana and stood up. She went to the window and opened it slightly. She was now watching the fight in its entirety, her curiosity about the battle was greater than her search for answers. There stood the fourteen years old Arturia with the gaze of a warrior, her mana as vast as a dragon's.
"I did not wish to harm you, Mr. Meyers... but if you insist on my full strength, then you shall have it. Do not hold my actions against me as a sign of rudeness!"
Edward could hardly see her now; his breath grew short as the shift made it hard to breathe. He saw that her entire posture had changed; the sword was now tilted downward, held in a firm grip.
"Shit! What have I unleashed?!" Edward thought. He wondered how best to block her. She lunged with incredible speed, the grass at the spot she leapt from bursting away.
Edward blinked for only a second, and suddenly Arturia was in front of him. Instinctively, he pulled out his hunting knife and blocked the side-swipe. The blow was so hard that it sent him flying through several trees.
Merlin smirked slightly.
"He has only himself to blame for that..."
She continued to watch the fight with interest. Edward stood up. His hunting knife now had a small notch in it. He looked at it and got to his feet. He thought: "Wow, if I weren't used to the hard life on a construction site, I'd be lying here knocked out..." He looked forward and had to laugh out of pure disbelief. "Normally only a wrecking ball can do that, but here a fourteen-year-old girl is doing it and using me as the target," he thought as he stood back on the training ground behind Merlin's hut.
Arturia stared at him with worried eyes.
"A knife against a longsword? You are either very brave or completely insane. But your gaze tells me you aren't finished yet. Show me more of the arts of your fallen kingdom!"
Edward grinned slightly. It was more an instinctive act than a planned one. "Trust me, noble lady, when I say it was more instinct than logical action."
"Instinct?" she repeated softly. She looked toward Merlin, who began to gaze at the sky, which was strange. She took a step toward him, bringing her sword back into a mid-position, challenging him to make the next move. "Instinct alone will not save you if the fight drags on. It only shows me who you truly are. Come! Show me how to attack instead of just surviving!"
Edward nodded and ran toward her. He wasn't fast; he ran like any normal person. As he wound up to land a blow, she parried him instantly. She struck his blade with the pommel of her sword. Just as she swung back to strike, Merlin stepped in front but slowly; her blow was also slowed down. Edward was confused because it wasn't like before; something was different.
"Something isn't right here!" he thought.
Time stood still. As he stood up, a voice whispered in his ear:
"Dammit, Edward! You must have left your instinct along with your mind in the old world. You almost got yourself killed before the show even started.
Don't worry I hit the pause button. But don't get used to it."
"You think you're saving history here? I believed the same thing. We're just lab rats in a fucked-up experiment that we can't win. Look at her, look at Merlin! She looks human, but she's just a part of the legend that will swallow us all in the end."
"Hendricks...?! What are you doing here?"
Edward was confused. Not only had time stopped, but his old friend was there.
"That girl there? She's not a knight.... she's a biological weapon with dragon DNA. If she activates her combat-persona's safety mechanism, you won't have a chance for an extraction with that knife of yours."
His voice didn't sound normal, Edward thought.
"Something was wrong with him. Why did he only appear when time stopped? Why is his voice so strange?..."
Edward remained vigilant but felt a sense of nostalgia. He stayed calm as Hendricks explained that he had once been there too, but failed to change the legend.
He walked back and forth in front of Edward. He looked different than before more grumpy and more suspicious. What Edward noticed was his equipment, which looked like his own. Only he was holding an AK 47 in his hand. Edward decided to stand up and looked at Merlin, who was suspended in mid-air.
"How is it possible that you could freeze even a great mage?..."
Hendricks turned, walked away, and dissolved. Black particles were left behind. After a few seconds, he materialized in front of Edward again.