Chapter 29: Chapter 29: In The Shadows – Alma’s Voice

 

The beast girl woke up early while it was still dark outside, around four in the morning. Anta wanted to teach her more about magic, how to use it, and how to counter it in battles.

While she paid attention to everything the woman said, Saori couldn’t cast a single spell no matter how easy it was supposed to be.

“I guess teaching magic to someone who’s not a witch isn’t an easy task, maybe impossible, but we still have to try. We’ll do this again tonight, go meet your master, it’s already past six.

Listening to Anta, Saori left and started the next part of her training.

After twenty minutes of intensive sparring with her master, the girl was on her bottom, sweating like a pig, and barely able to control her breathing.

“You’ve got outstanding knowledge and great skill with the sword. But there is always room for improvement even at this level.” Saguro explained to the young girl.

The difference was noticeable, but not great.

More adventurers arrived from the guild to help after the beast and the master finished their first duel.

The guild master pointed the tip of the sword to the girl’s toes and said, “You will not move your feet an inch. Imagine you were trapped and the only thing you can do is defend yourself until help arrives. Don’t attack.”

“Understood.”

The rest of the men unsheathed their swords, looked at each other, nodded, then moved simultaneously.

“Attack her like you mean to kill her. This is training for you all as well because as you are, you will die against someone as skilled as her in real combat.”

Listening to the old-looking man’s advice, the three adventurers attacked her with everything they had, but for three minutes straight they couldn’t touch the beast, resulting in frustration.

“How… is she… not… getting… tired?!” one man let his anger out.

“How… are we… so weak that we cannot even… land a hit?” another adventurer said as he swung his sword left and right.

Instead of feeling overwhelmed and tired to the point of wanting to take a break, Saori was calm, calculated, and not fatigued in the slightest. Why? The others were slowing down.

“This is not even training anymore,” Saori mentioned as she wrapped things up. She knocked them out in seconds when she decided it was enough.

“All right. It looks like we’ll need the whole guild for your training. Why not bring a whole army then? Ha, ha, ha.”

The girl gave him a suspicious look. She could not understand what was funny about this and why he did not take things seriously, or at least, that’s what it looked like.

Sagurou tossed a bag at the girl’s feet. It had the weights from yesterday inside.

“Go up the same hill you did yesterday, but this time don’t take the path, climb the steepest part instead. Also, put the weights around your forearms. Try to get used to them because at tomorrow’s training, we’ll do the same thing, but with them on.”

“Yes, master.” The girl bowed respectfully.

“Also, I left my best sword up there on top. If you find it, it’s yours. That blade slayed more wild animals, curses, criminals, and monsters than you think. It’s a fearsome sword. It even managed to land a hit on the witch of the moon once. Ha, ha, ha. Good old days!”

Saori was confused.

“You know I will find it, right? Why do you give it to me?”

“Let’s just say a little birdy told me that it’s better this way. While a true swordsman can use any blade no matter how old and rusty, a good one will definitely be a great asset and can make the difference in dire situations.”

 

*

 

Another few days passed and the relentless training continued day by day and every night. She also won every match in the village’s tournament so far without struggling.

While the girl was making considerable progress in some areas, she was not seeing any progress in others.

Saori was now faster and she could read other people’s movements better, but she could not understand the slightest bit of magic.

“How many times did I tell you to clear your mind? It’s not rocket science. You overthink it.”

With her eyes closed, Saori was sitting on the bed trying to execute the angry gran’s orders. She knew that the woman was about to scream any moment again, which didn’t help her. It was natural for her to feel people’s rage and Anta was no exception.

A drop of sweat ran down her temple.

“Aaaaa, this is so useless!”

“Can you shut up for a second?” The girl cut her gran short, “Don’t you think you’re overreacting?”

After heavily breathing in, then out, the woman spoke again in a calmer voice:

“I apologize, but this is no time to lose your focus, we never know who may die next or when the world’s end will come. It could be anytime. The faster you grow, the better.”

Saori rolled her eyes for the first time since she woke up back in the secluded mountain village. She was fed up with the lack of patience the old woman was constantly showing.

“Leave the basic spells and teach me how to control the lightning. I might be good with it because I have a lot of energy, right?”

Anta smashed the table in anger using her fist.

“You can’t do what a professional does without learning the basics first. For example, you can’t swing your sword as skillfully as Sagurou after only a few weeks of training.”

“Yes, I can. You just don’t believe in me anymore.”

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“Hours spent every day and not a single ounce of progress you made with magic. I am done.” Gran said as she hurled the notebook toward Saori, who caught it in her hand.

“Maybe, if you give me your wand, I would be able to do it.”

“Wands don’t help with basic spells, idiot!”

The old woman took the stairs down to the first floor and created a wall of floating rocks to restrict Saori from going down after her.

She tripped on the last rung and bumped into a wall.

“I don’t want to see you. Don’t even dare to come down today. If you want to get out, go through the window.”

Having felt that she had enough, the girl answered back, then stuck her tongue out at Anta:

“Who the fuck even needs your help, you fat small penguin?”

 

*

 

A sudden gust of wind forced the window open and the cold air of November barged into the room uninvited.

Surprisingly, the girl didn’t react. Saori was exhausted mentally and physically so badly that she couldn’t be bothered. Sitting on her bed and leaning against the wall, she was snoring quietly.

*Saaaoooriiiiiii.* A voice that clearly didn’t belong to a human called her by her name, but no reply.

Minutes later, after her body got colder and colder, the girl slowly opened her eyes and woke up to the shock of her life. She got so scared for a second that she thought her heart would come out of her chest.

Right there, in front of her, on the same bed, and sitting on her lap, a shadow that looked as if it was her own, smiled at her.

*Finally. You woke up.*

“W-W-Who are you?!” Panicked, the girl tried to stand up but to no avail. The shadow was too heavy and didn’t move.

*I can clone you by moving into your shadow and creating a similar image to your body, like the one you see in front of you.*

“W-W-What?!”

*Hello, Saori. My name is Alma and I am here to guide you. We’ll create our own magic.*

“A-Alma?!”

*Yes. Get up. I will teach you something.*

The shadow that was standing on her a second ago, disappeared as if it was only an illusion.

It was strange and unexpected, but Saori was sure it happened. Alma was the beast living in her body and they had made a pact. If one of them broke it, both would die. It was better for them to have a good relationship and listen to each other. Also, refusing help when she needed it so badly would be a great mistake.

Having made up her mind, she got changed and jumped outside from the second floor.

 

*

 

Saori was in the wild now with her feet shoulder-width apart, in a squat position, slightly leaning forward. She had perfect balance and could disappear from there in the blink of an eye, if, and only if, she would be able to do exactly what the beast inside instructed.

“I know I can pull it off. I managed to get a glimpse at Sagurou cutting through space and time. Now I just need to replicate it, even if it is just for a fraction of a second and it is not a long swing like his, this should work.”

The guild master didn’t want to teach her this move as he thought she wasn’t ready for it, and that it could also lead to irreversible accidents.

Only by perfectly synchronizing with the being inside of her, by doing a sudden swing at an unimaginable speed and separating Alma’s spirit from her body at the right moment, allowing the beast inside to get out of her and create a clone from her shadow, would she be able to make a split in space and time, allowing her real body to teleport into the shadow clone, back in time.

It was a move that will be extremely useful, if not crucial, in many fights to come. To accomplish it, apart from the knowledge and the skill, she needed a body so well trained that it could withstand the shattered space, plus the necessary strength and speed to split it.

With her eyes closed, the girl was so focused on the execution that she could not even hear the wind, the rustling of the leaves, or the barking of the dogs coming from the distant village. It was just her and Alma, the perfect team.

The moon hid behind the clouds as if it was afraid not to get hurt, the wind stood in place, and the grass froze for a fraction of a second, the barking stopped, and a fallen star crossed the night sky faster than one could blink. It was like the universe was stilling just for her. As the world around faded away, the girl exhaled deeply and unleashed her sword in space and time.

Then it happened.

 

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