Chapter 60: Chapter 58

“Sandwiches… sandwiches… Here they are! Which do you want, Sid?”
“Smoked jackfruit.”
“Mmm~! Good choice!”
“Arf!”
“Oi! You two are supposed to be watching!”

Yuuji clicked his tongue as the two spectators and their wolf began unpacking a basket of food and setting up a blanket to rest on. Even despite his complaint, neither of them batted an eye, and as Sidheag began munching happily on her meal Elis rifled through the remaining choices.

“Let’s see… Chickpea, tuna mayo, ah! Beef and onion!”
“Elis? Would you mind leaving that for me once we’re finished?”
“O-Oh! I see your name on it now, sorry Val!”

Valeriya showed a hint of a smile as she stood by Yuuji’s side, watching the leisurely scene. With Helios still in the Northern Hemisphere, December was no time for a picnic, but Elis had insisted regardless, and as they were still indoors the air was tepid and comfortable enough.

In Yuuji’s eyes, the only issue was the occasion that they had chosen for the event.

“Just eat after we’ve finished sparring! Val, aren’t you a bit too laid back about this?”
“We’re both capable of holding back appropriately. If Leona were here though, things may have been a little different…”

Out of the blue during lunch, the ice queen had approached him and calmly asked if he was busy after the day’s lessons - as it turned out she had made plans to spar with Leona, but the other girl had something come up and was no longer available. Yuuji dreaded to think of what may be so important that the battle maniac turned down a fight she’d already agreed to, but it wouldn’t make sense to let the scheduled booking for the training area go to waste, so he agreed.

What he hadn’t quite realised was that the so-called ‘judges’ for the match were actually just there to enjoy a meal together, and shockingly, Valeriya even planned on taking part immediately afterwards too. It was nice to see the three of them becoming so close, but he did have some mixed feelings about seriously sparring while being watched as mid-meal entertainment.

“Haa… Let’s get this started then.”
“Very well, I’ll take my position here. Sid, Elis, if you would please?”
“*Nom* *Nom* Mmm. Begin.”

Yuuji shook the image of Sidheag’s barbecue sauce-ridden face from his mind as he focused on the battle at hand.

“...Scáthach. Gáe Bulg.”
“Marena, bring forth the winter’s chill.”

The two of them had already changed into their combat attire, with his black overcoat swaying gently with every motion. As a pillar of gold materialised in his hand, a fearsome spearhead topped its peak, and when he spun the weapon within his palm he felt his movements becoming smoother and more fluid.

Valeriya’s elegant fencer outfit seemed largely unsuited for fighting, but he had seen firsthand how quickly she could defend herself using her spirit, so he knew that she wasn’t simply taking him lightly - this was her true style, and her garb likely played a part in her reaching a state of peak performance.

“Nn?”
“Oh, that’s new!”

The peanut gallery was taken aback by the appearance of Yuuji’s new weapon, as it was the first time any of them had seen him use it. Truthfully, he still wasn’t as confident with the spear as he was with the sword, but he wanted to expand his fighting style, and fighting Valeriya’s piercing stance with one of his own seemed to be a perfect opportunity to do that.

“Gáe Bulg… Cú Chulainn?”

Sidheag whispered quietly to herself as she reached into the recesses of her memory. She was already aware Yuuji had a large back of tricks, but to see him use a weapon spirit from the tales of her homeland still caught her by surprise.

She didn’t have much time to think though, as the two duelists soon clashed on the arena before them.

*TING* *TING* *TING*

Spirit metal and ice clashed as they exchanged fierce blows. There was no intent to kill, but the thrusts were still heavy, and the back-and-forth they were embroiled in only seemed to grow faster.

Yuuji had the range advantage, as well as the barbed spearhead which threatened to trap Valeriya’s blade and wrench it from her grip. Even so, the girl’s nimble steps and beautiful technique seemed to weave between his movements, and while neither had suffered any clear openings, Yuuji was finding himself on the defensive.

Valeriya was an Empowerment spirit user, so her ice was only able to extend from herself rather than be used as an effective projectile, but Yuuji knew for certain that if she had been serious her spirit blade would have been a grave threat. The ice extended from her palm all the way up along the steel of her rapier, and though it stopped at coating the thin blade with a half-centimetre of solid crystal, she could likely extend it further at will and stab an unsuspecting enemy. Without knowing exactly how far her ice could expand before losing its strength he wouldn’t stand much of a chance, and it was possible he would have died multiple times already from this single spar.

It was rare to see an Empowerment user fight with a specific weapon and style. Many became martial artists, or incorporated their spirit into their attacks directly, like how Leona clad her limbs in fire as she fought. Fighting with a spirit-powered weapon was mainly the domain of Conjuration users like Mitra and his bow, or Imbuement users like Gale, but Valeriya was an interesting combination.

From her impeccable form and refined attitude, he reckoned that she must have studied some exclusive combat fencing style that wasn’t publicly available, and her spirit adapted to suit the deep-rooted forms she had drilled into her mind until they were muscle memory. Secret martial arts schools and family-kept combat techniques were commonly seen in the elite houses of the modern world, as many had risen to power using their abilities that only truly shone once the Cataclysm had taken place.

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*TING* *TING* *TING*

“...”
“...”

There was silence between the two of them, as their weapons spoke on their behalf. With his larger polearm, he was far slower to recover from a deflected blow, and even though that only meant a gap of milliseconds in this case, it was more than enough for a master like Valeriya to take advantage of. 

She knocked another of his thrusts away as the barbs skimmed past her arm, barely missing her flesh. A pointed stab came in return, and Yuuji leapt back as he swung the shaft like a club, hoping to force her back to a more comfortable range.

Sensing that the battle was nearing its conclusion, Valeriya didn’t flinch and twirled in place with her blade while the sharp spikes approached, her silver hair fluttering around her shoulders as the air whistled with the blundered strike.

*CLANG*

As it was swiftly redirected, Yuuji’s spear hit the ground, and he winced as a violent tremor passed through his arms and rattled his bones. He didn’t have long to worry about the pain though, as a flash of azure followed the razor-sharp icicle that rocketed towards his unguarded chest.

“..!”

He released his grip on the spear and pulled his arm in close, desperate to defend in time before the blade reached him… but he was too slow. Perhaps it was the frightening speed of his opponent, or the chill from her weapon that had dulled his movements, but alas, the ice-tipped sword halted suddenly as it rested just above the skin of his neck, and he was unable to continue.

“I yield.”
“...”

Valeriya breathed a sigh of relief as she pulled her sword away from his throat, maintaining her icy glare as she looked at him. Her crimson-red eyes were piercing, but she didn’t seem as distant as she was when they first met, and even though her weapon was pressed up to his neck only moments ago he couldn’t shake the feeling that she seemed somewhat happy.

“That was a good fight. I could hardly keep up with you.”
“It’s clear that you favour the sword. Your spear work is still impressive, but you left plenty of openings.”

Yuuji smiled wryly at the backhanded compliment as the cold-tongued beauty turned away from him.

“It seemed to me that you were attempting to use some techniques similar to my own. I can’t teach you the style I use… but if you wanted a few pointers, I suppose I could help.”
“...That would be great. Thanks, Val.”

Though she didn’t look back at him, he could feel that she was attempting to be friendly. Whether or not she was succeeding wasn’t too important - the fact that she was making the effort made him appreciate how she’d begun to change since getting closer to Elis and Sidheag.

“Val, you were so cool! Ah, and Yuuji too!”
“Mmm.”
“Arf!”
“Thank you.”
“...Thanks.”

Somehow, Yuuji felt that being included as an afterthought in that statement was more hurtful than being left out entirely, but he let it go as he followed Valeriya to the makeshift picnic. The spectator stands weren’t an ideal place for a meal, but as they had the whole place to themselves there was plenty of room to sit and eat quite comfortably.

As if it were totally natural, Valeriya perched down on the row behind the other two and began unwrapping her sandwich carefully, and there was a faint glimmer in her eyes as the food was unveiled.

“Yuuji, are you happy with tuna mayo? I wasn’t sure what kind of food you like.”
“...Why am I… Never mind. Yes, that’s fine, thank you.”

Regardless of asking why he even had a sandwich made for him in the first place despite not knowing about the meal, he decided he was best just accepting the food that was offered and not bothering to fight against the room. They were a strange bunch for sure, but they acted with kindness, and he didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth.

“Take a seat, take a seat! There’s some juice at the side, and coffee in the flask.”
“...”

And so, after being defeated in an intense sparring session, Yuuji sat down to join the chatter of the strangely timed winter picnic.

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