Part 19~Miran

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There was something different with Riecca’s Miran. Jale noticed that the blade was gone, instead now there was a gaping hole. The shape was slightly different from the handblade, although it still had a gauntlet like feature. He could feel magic amassed at the hole. Suddenly a ball of compressed air came bursting out of the hole. Jale evaded it, but he did not realize that Riecca had shot another one. This time he barely dodged and he was hit in the stomach by the third shot. It did not pierce through him or explode. However, it was painful, like he had been punched hard.

Jale dropped to his knees, feeling intense pain in his stomach. What the hell is that? He could not help but think what kind of weapon did the elf girl used. He felt a little bit of regret. If he had known that he had stolen that kind of weapon, he would have used it, instead of leaving it in the treasure chamber.

“That’s a cool weapon Riecca,” Drake said.

“Blaster Miran. It shoots compressed air,” Riecca explained, to both Drake and Jale.

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Antagonists

Jale Othor

• The leader of the bandit group that terrorized the path between Heaton and Burqua.
• Element : Energy and Water
• Style : Twin swords, hybrid of melee and magic.

Rejj Vipretounge

• An unknown man that suddenly rose high in the ranks of the bandit group led by Jale. Seemed to have fought a Swift before Drake. He had been training hard, inventing new techniques and learning new skills just to defeat one that wields the Sharpwind.
• Element : Mystic, poison
• Style : Melee, with poison coated spear.

Part 18~ Miran

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Jale had wanted to wait until she was out of breath. However a windslash broke the water prison. The large droplet burst and Riecca dropped to her knees, coughing, catching her breath. Jale looked at the direction which the slash came from. Drake had already finished dealing with the bandits. The landslide had buried almost all of the hideout.

“A slash that can even cut water. You are a good swordsman indeed,” Jale said.

“You’re not bad yourself,” Drake said.

“Where’s the other one that caused this landslide? Do you think you can face me by yourselves?”

“He used too much of his mana to cause this landslide. I think the two of us are enough,” Drake answered.

Jale laughed at Drake. “Good! Good! I’ve never been this excited before. Come on!” he shouted. He tightened his grip on his two swords. He lifted his right sword. A ball of pure energy amassed at the tip of the sword. He pointed the sword to Drake. “Arcane Bolt!” he shouted.

The ball of energy flew towards Drake. Drake slashed at it, cutting even the Arcane Bolt. Drake ran towards Jale. Riecca noticed that Drake had attacked. She charged too. Jale received their combined attacks well. He used each swords to parry Drake and Riecca. He jumped a step back and pirouetted, swinging both swords. Drake blocked the attack, while Riecca evaded. Drake continued attacking Jale. While both of them were locked in a duel, Riecca changed Blade Miran to Twin Star Miran. She threw one of the glaives towards the two men. Drake crouched suddenly, Jale then saw the glaive coming at him. He parried it with his left hand. Drake did not let him relax. He continued his attacks. Jale was overwhelmed.

Drake sidestepped, and another glaive flew towards Jale. He arched sideways to dodge it. Drake used this chance to plant a kick in Jale stomach, throwing Jale to the ground. Just as he got up, Drake was already in front of him. He blocked the first two of Drake’s Triple Slash, but the last one slashed him on his torso. He drove both of his swords down, forcing Drake to step back. Just as he tried to relax for a bit, Riecca charged from his right side.

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Part 17~ Miran

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The surrounding bandits were shocked. Their second in command was defeated. They stood speechless for a moment. Drake did not wait for them. He charged towards the end of the camp, killing the bandits standing in his way. Jale shouted at the bandits to give chase. Drake ran towards the end of the camp, towards a dead end.

Jale felt that something was wrong. He sensed a trap. He stopped and ran back, while ordering the rest to stop and turn back. But he was too late. From the top of the valley cliff, Morjac gave a loud cry and slammed his axe to the ground. The valley shook and suddenly the walls of the valley crumbled, causing a landslide.

As big slabs of stones rained down the base, Drake turned around and ran towards the exit, attacking the panicked bandits. Jale was already near the exit, safe from the rain of stones. He looked at Drake charging at him, killing his subordinates as he ran. Jale felt deep hatred for this boy who had so suddenly attacked his camp, though he did admit that the boy had skills.

He felt something approaching at high speed from the left. He drew his swords and blocked the first glaive. He parried the second glaive away. The glaives flew towards an elf girl running towards him. She caught the glaives, brought them together and suddenly the glaives shone. As she came closer, the glaives were gone. A sword attached to a gauntlet had replaced it.

Riecca attacked. Jale blocked all of her attacks. He countered but it was blocked by the gauntlet. So the gauntlet acts as somewhat like a shield, he thought. He had one more sword, so he thrusted forward. Riecca jumped back. Jale moved a few steps back. He pointed his left sword at Riecca.

“Water Cage!” he exclaimed. Suddenly water droplets appeared out of thin air around Riecca. The water droplets surrounded her and massed together. Riecca let a surprised cry out, but she immediately closed her mouth. She was suddenly inside a large water droplet. She could not breathe.

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Part 16~ Miran

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Drake and Rejj stared at each other, both waiting for the other to make the first move. Rejj was the impatient one. He gave a warcry and attacked. Drake blocked the blade of the spear with his own blade. Rejj laughed. “Rust Acid! Say goodbye to your Sharpwind!!”

Drake was stunned by Rejj’s words. He tried to draw Sharpwind away, but Rejj kept on applying pressure. Drake was worried for the first time. His sword. His family treasure. Destroyed. He looked at the meeting point of the two blades. They had struggled for quite some time, with the two blades touching each other. However, something was strange. The black blade of Sharpwind still shone, showing no signs of rusting.

“What the hell?” Rejj muttered in disbelief.

Drake noticed that Rejj seemed occupied by the fact that the Sharpwind was still intact. He used this chance to kick Rejj away from him, giving them space.

“I don’t understand! It should have been destroyed! I learnt this technique just to destroy it!!!” Rejj screamed in frustration.

“Seems like you learnt wrongly. Time to finish this!” Drake said. Relieved.

“Don’t think you’ve won yet. I still have my other new technique!” Rejj said as he spinned his spear again. “No matter how fast you are, you cannot penetrate!”

The spinning was indeed fast. Rejj had practiced this move just to face a Swift. Any other fighter would have difficulty in breaking the defense. But not Drake. He trained with his father every day. His father’s movement was fast and his eyes had gotten used to slowing fast movements. He focused his eyes on the spear. In time, he could see the movement of the spear clearly. He approached Rejj, sword ready. He aimed at the right chest. Not yet. Not yet. He waited until he was close enough. Then as he saw an opening, now!, he striked. His blade penetrated through the spins, pierced right through Rejj’s right chest.

Blood poured out of Rejj’s chest. He was shocked. More than that, he was in pain. He stared at Drake in disbelief; that he lost to another Swift again. This time the price was his life, not just scars. He dropped to his knees, Drake withdrew his blade from his chest and he dropped to the ground. Dead.

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Part 15~ Miran

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Rejj sensed Drake’s hesitation. He laughed, “If you’re not going to attack, then I will!” Rejj jumped, pointed the spear towards Drake and lunged down. Drake jumped away, Rejj did not ease his attacks. Drake was forced to step back. Suddenly he felt a sword coming at him from behind. He leaped to his right, saw that the bandits forming the circle had their weapons ready. They were forming a cage and were preventing Drake from leaving it. Rejj laughed again, readied his spear and charged. With a wall of humans behind him, Drake was cornered. Rejj stabbed his spear, Drake twisted his waist and avoided the sharp end. It struck one of the bandits.

Drake turned to see the effect of the stab. The poor guy’s face was pale. His leather armor where the spear pierced was melted; smoke effervescence was seen. It was as if acid had been splashed around the area. Rejj pulled his spear free and faced Drake.

“How do you like that?” Rejj mocked.

“What the hell is that?” Drake asked. “Who ARE you?!?”

“Rejj Vipretounge. Element Mystic. I am a poison specialist.”

Poison. So that’s what caused the armor to melt. Drake had read about the mystic element before. The specialization differed from people to people; paralysis, stone, charm and curse were some of the effects. Of course poison was one of them too. He could not afford to be wounded by Rejj’s spear. Not even a scratch.

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Part 14~ Miran

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Drake stood about ten feet away from Rejj, the Sharpwind ready by his hand. Rejj took his weapon out. It has been slung at his back, wrapped in cloth so that nobody knew what his weapon looked like. Rejj unwrapped his weapon. It was a spear.

“Now, with this spear, I will crush you,” Rejj said.

The other bandits had already formed a circle around them. It seemed that Jale had let Rejj do this his own way. Drake shifted his gaze to Rejj’s spear. Rejj had really been anticipating for this fight. A spear had advantageous in length. However, that did not mean that Rejj would dominate. Drake had practiced facing opponents with spears before.

Drake made the first move. He zigzagged towards Rejj. With his speed, none of the bandits seemed to be able to determine his movements. He launched a slash at Rejj, which was blocked. Then he launched a series of three continuous slashes. Rejj parried all the attacks while taking a few steps back. He needed to maintain distance as that was his advantage towards sword users.

Rejj jumped back, jab his spear towards Drake as he landed. It was not fast enough; Drake twisted his body to dodge it. Another jab of the spear, Drake dodged it again. Everything that Rejj delivered to Drake was futile; Drake dodged all of them. The fight lasted for a few minutes, with both sides not using any magic. It seemed like a fair fight.

Drake felt that he had had enough warm-ups, that it was time to get serious. He got into a new stance. Rejj sensed that Drake had already gotten serious. “Ha! Use your signature Swift Strike. I have been waiting for this! Prepare!” Rejj shouted. Then he started spinning his spear continuously. Drake was surprised at Rejj’s move. A smart move. Now Drake could not afford to strike blindly; if his attack were parried, the momentum and the force of the spin would disarm or unbalance him, providing an opening for Rejj to counter.

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Part 13~ Miran

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Drake saw the group of bandit entered the camp. It was time for him to step out and show himself. The plan was to draw the entire group to him and then Morjac would cause a landslide. While the bandits were distracted by the landslide, Drake would attack. Morjac, Riecca and Xola would then ambush the bandits, taking them by surprise. However, it did not turn out exactly as planned. Somehow the bandits were cautious. And now this man was shouting at him. Challenging him. The plan had changed.

From his look, Drake had guessed that the man was Rejj, the mysterious right hand man. Rejj seemed to know him or maybe his family, as he shouted Drake’s family name. The scars were caused by a sword… Could it be Sharpwind? He must’ve recognized it… Drake looked at Sharpwind. Maybe Dad fought with him before and won?

“I challenge you! One on one. Are you scared?” Rejj shouted again.

Drake thought of what he should do. The other bandits would not charge at him. The plan had to be changed. He slipped his left hand behind his back and gave a signal for Morjac to wait. Now, he would need to defeat Rejj first before the rest of the bandits would be lured to the trap.

“Who are you? How do I know you?” Drake shouted back and started walking forward.

Rejj noticed Drake’s movement and laughed in excitement. “Yes!! That’s what I expected. A Swift is not a coward after all.”

“How do you know my family?”

“I have fought with one of you. Maybe your father, uncle or whatever. I don’t care. But today, you die!”

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Part 12~ Miran

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Jale and the rest of the bandits were on the way back to their camp after another successful raid. The mercenaries hired to guard the caravan heading to Burqua were of no match to his gang. He was anticipating a nice nap when he arrived home. Rejj suddenly came to his side, and whispered, “I have a feeling that something’s not right at our camp.”

“Huh? But Gourth would have sent the signal,” Jale said.

“I have a feeling,” Rejj said solemnly and stared at Jale.

Jale stared back at Rejj. He had learnt to rely on Rejj and when he looked at those expressionless eyes, sometimes he wondered why he trusted Rejj. However, Rejj had proven himself worthy and loyal.

“Boys!!” Jale shouted at the rest of the group. “Get ready to fight when we get back!”

The bandits were confused, but they did not say anything else. They knew they had to do what they were ordered to. Jale Othor was a terrifying leader.

The bandits arrived at their camp prepared for action. The hideout was empty and quiet. No sign of life was seen. “I smell blood…,” Rejj said suddenly. He stepped forward and studied the camp. Then he saw someone standing at the far side of the entrance, near the end of the camp. A figure stood alone, his sword in his right hand.

“Who the hell is that?” Jale said.

“I don’t know. But that sword…,” Rejj said. Thinking.

“That sword!!! The Sharpwind!” Rejj barked suddenly. He started laughing wildly. Even Jale was surprised to see him like that. Rejj rubbed the scar he had always flaunted. “The Sharpwind! Finally I’m going to get my revenge!” Rejj said loudly.

“What?!?” Jale asked. Confused.

“I have a history with that sword. Although, the owner looks different. But that sword! There’s no mistaking it. That is the Sharpwind!” Rejj was talking to himself.

“Swift!!!” Rejj shouted across the camp. “You are going to die!!!”

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Part 11~ Miran

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“What is that weapon?” Drake asked.

“It’s called Miran, an enchanted weapon,” Riecca answered.

She walked to the dead bandit and took the other glaive. She held them side by side and said another phrase in old language. The glaives shone again and shapeshifted again. They turned to become a glowing orb.

“Whoa!” Drake exclaimed. Astonished.

“Everything alright in here?” Morjac said as he entered the tent. “What is that?” he said when he saw the orb. It was so strange and mystically beautiful that Drake and Morjac could help but stare at the mysterious orb.

“It’s a special weapon that can only be used by people who has no element. It has been with my family for generations, always being used by Lenleafs who had no elemental abilities,” Riecca explained.

“Being elementless does not mean we have no magical prowess. That is why we use magical weapons when we fight,” she said. “But not everyone can use Miran. This is a unique weapon.”

“With that around, I think we can take on the bandit leader when he comes back,” Morjac said. “We now have a surprise too.”

“Yes! I think I have a plan,” Drake said.

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