The Foolhardies 24 Art Of Submission

"You're Ashley Johnson," I said to the girl standing opposite me on the training mat. "You're Ashley Johnson..."

She was older. More mature looking than the teenager I remembered. Also, more beautiful despite the harsh frown on her face.

"You've said that a few times already, kid," she answered coolly as she curled a lock of brown hair behind her ear. It had been one of the few strands to escape the Katniss Everdeen braid at the back of her head. "I remember you too."

Ashley glanced over at Luca who was also looking back at her with recognition. When her segreen eyes came back to me, they looked me up and down, scrutinizing me from top to bottom.

"You're one of the brothers whose dad died in that car accident," Ashley said. "I see you're still short."

If this girl was trying to pick a fight with me, then she was doing a good job at riling me up. There was no easier way to get me p.i.s.sed than to remind me of my dad and then make a jab at my height immediately afterward.

"You didn't just call me short," I growled.

"Pretty sure I did..." There was a smile playing on her lips as she hefted her round wooden s.h.i.+eld forward to cover her front. Behind this s.h.i.+eld, the shadowblade of Ashley's longsword came to life in a charred blaze. "Enough talk. Either put up or shut up."

"Seriously, I'm getting major anger vibes coming from you..." I went into my usual quick-draw stance with my right hand resting lightly on my falchion while my legs bent forward, my left foot positioned behind the right. "Are you sure fighting's the way to deal with whatever's got you all tense?"

She raised an eyebrow at me. "You haven't been in the Fayne very long, have you? There's usually not this much talking before a test of strength..."

"Yeah, well, this is my first time as a supplicant," I answered. "Wait... what are the rules exactly?"

The answer to my question came from the mouth of the green-lipped s.h.i.+eldmaiden standing just outside the rectangular mat. "This is a test of strength between the supplicant and the chosen s.h.i.+eldmaiden."

She raised a finger on her tattooed hand.

"Victory is not required. You will be judged by both the strength of your arms and your ability to do battle." She sent a glare at her sister s.h.i.+eldmaiden and then to me. "The match ends when there is a clear victor. Leaving the wors.h.i.+p mat before this will automatically disqualify the supplicant.

I glanced down with a raised eyebrow. "This is called a wors.h.i.+p mat?"

"We communicate with the divine through pain," both the green-lipped s.h.i.+eldmaiden and Ashley responded together.

"Yeah... I figured you would say something like that," I smiled because, despite my aversion to battles, there was a part of me that loved the thrill of a match. It was something my dad had engraved into my soul with all that training he pushed onto me and Luca. "Hypothetically, what do I get if I win?"

"You're not going to," Ashley whispered right before she launched herself at me s.h.i.+eld forward like a battering ram.

"Hold on!" I dodged to the right as she came hurtling at me.

This may not have been the wisest choice as her longsword came slicing forward to meet me, and I realized she had baited me into moving into her range. I unsheathed my falchion quickly to meet her sword. Our shadowblades clashed. Sparks flew.

"You didn't say start yet!" I roared at her.

"It is not the supplicant's job to question," Ashley roared back as she sent her sword forward in a thrust. "Only to prove yourself!"

I parried her sword with the flat of my falchion and then I stepped forward so that I could send my blade cras.h.i.+ng into her armor—but I'd forgotten about the s.h.i.+eld on her other hand. It was the same round s.h.i.+eld that crashed into my shoulder and pushed me back.

The distance between us widened, and I figured I would have a moment's respite, but then I saw the s.h.i.+eld come hurtling at me like some deadly frisbee and I could barely repel it with my falchion.

The s.h.i.+eld bounced off my shadowblade and was caught by Ashley as she leaped forward. Her other arm was already swinging down at me with her longsword.

I sent my falchion up to block her shadowblade, and although I was successful in blocking the slash that might have cut me open from the left shoulder down to my waist, I wasn't able to stop the s.h.i.+eld that bashed me on my other side.

Bang!

Ashley shoved me forward, and while this unbalanced me, her s.h.i.+eld came hurtling at me a second time.

Bang!

I gritted my teeth as the wooden s.h.i.+eld struck my shoulder and sent a jolt of pain down my entire left arm.

The s.h.i.+eld bounced off my body and flew back into the hand of the s.h.i.+eldmaiden whose other hand had just thrust her sword at me.

I barely had enough time to twist my body out of her way. "Time out!"

"There is no time out!" she yelled back before throwing her s.h.i.+eld at me a third time.

This time my feet had finally found purchase on the mat, and with an angry retort of, "stop throwing this s.h.i.+eld at me like you're Captain America!" I smacked the incoming s.h.i.+eld down with both hands grasping my falchion's sword hilt.

The impact sent it clattering to the ground between me and Ashley.

Ashley dashed forward with a slash aimed at my throat that was so similar to that time I killed that she-elf commander at the hilltop that I could feel a chill run up my spine.

I parried this attack with my falchion like my life depended on it, which it did. Then I yelled, "Are you trying to kill me?"

"There is no try," she responded while she shoved my shadowblade back with her own shadowblade, and at the same time, stomped on her still rattling s.h.i.+eld with her foot, making it jump up into her outstretched hand. "Only do!"

She slammed the s.h.i.+eld into my face.

Bang!

My head reared back in pain. I felt blood pour down my nose. That wasn't the end of it.

I felt her kick me in the abdomen and the impact sent me cras.h.i.+ng onto the mattress floor. It was only through the instinct brought about by years of practice that allowed me to pull off a rolling maneuver that saved me from my face eating the mat. I pulled myself up quickly expecting another attack, but it hadn't come.

Blood dripped down my nose. I wiped it off with the back of my hand while thinking I'd never been in such a one-sided fight before. Not in all my years of sparring with Luca or even that time I stood toe-to-toe with Azuma. He wasn't nearly this overwhelming.

"Of course he wasn't... I'd used Fool's Insight on him..." I whispered under my breath.

Ashley was standing by the edge of the mat opposite me looking calm and unwinded. She was rapping on her s.h.i.+eld's front with the flat of her sword. It was obviously a taunt.

"Is that thing even made of wood?" I asked, in equal parts frustration and awe. "It doesn't seem to obey the laws of physics..."

"You're in another world and you're talking about human physics?" I heard Luca yell from the sidelines.

"Your brother has a point," Ashley smirked. This smile quickly vanished and was replaced by the deep frown she'd had since she saw me. "Let's go again."

"Wait," I held a hand up while my other hand planted my falchion's sword tip onto the mat for support. "I have to know... why are you so angry?"

She raised an eyebrow at me in the same time as she pointed her sword at my chest. "How'd you get here?"

"We walked from the marketplace," I answered between breaths. I was determined to keep her talking so I could catch a breath. I needed it for what I wanted to do next. "How else?"

"Don't play dumb with me... I know you're a smart kid," she kept her blade vertical and pointed at me. "You're a visere, aren't you?"

I glanced over at Aura who was standing between Luca and Edo, both of whom were looking at me with an exasperated look like they were telling me with their faces that I sucked. Aura, on the other hand, sent me an encouraging smile.

"I knew it," Ashley's voice was a low growl.

I swiveled my head to look at her and found her blade now pointed toward Luca.

"And your brother... is he a visere like you?" she asked.

I shook my head as understanding dawned on me like a light bulb turning on in my brain. "No... he's like you."

She nodded. Her scowl deepened. "So you get it after all..."

I nodded back at her as I reformed my posture, placing both hands on my falchion as I pointed it forward in a traditional Kendo stance.

"You're a slave," I gripped my blade tight as I knew the next attack would come right after these last exchange of words. "How did it happen?"

"My dad sold me off so he could come here and get rich and be far, far away from his debt collectors," she answered flatly. "Just like you and everyone else... coming here seeking glory..."

I understood why she was so mad at me now. She thought I was just like her sleazy father, and anything I said in my defense would fall on deaf ears. So, there was no need for more words. I would set her straight with action instead.

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The moment she took a step forward, I immediately shut my eyes.

I know what you're thinking—what the h.e.l.l was I doing closing my eyes during the decisive clash? It was a simple deduction. Ashley was way better than me in every possible way, and I could only imagine what kind of harsh training she must have gone through to beat the harsh training my dad made me endure when I was younger. I couldn't beat her. Not without using my trump card.

"Oh, great fool, let my sight turn deathly cold that I might turn my foes to stone," I whispered.

The warmth I had once felt from Fool's Insight had transformed into a great and heavy pressure that could only be relieved once I opened my eyes, and all living things within my sight—or at least those I'd targeted—would feel the power bear down on them, rendering them as heavy as stone.

Yes, thanks to the time I spent training in the mana pool and under Great General Darah's guidance my fairy gift had leveled up to include an extra power I dubbed the 'basilisk's eye' because of its effect of temporarily paralyzing whoever I laid my eyes on.

How long the paralysis lasted varied from person to person but it was enough time for me to bypa.s.s Ashley's s.h.i.+eld and longsword, allowing me to send my shadowblade's charred edge right against the skin of her throat. And with my falchion resting on her neck, I said, "I win."