The Fractured Mage

Chapter 14 - Am Not, Are Too

"Woah!" I exclaimed in alarm, as I narrowly ducked under the horizontal swing of Iris's wooden sword, before letting myself fall back and swinging my feet up as my palms landed on the floor.

Iris swiftly tilted her body back to avoid my heels crashing onto her face, before I used the momentum to backflip, springing back a few paces as I landed, getting some distance.

I grimaced as she immediately shot towards me, driving the wooden sword straight at my face as she closed in on me rapidly. I quickly tilted my head across to evade it, the wooden blade grazing my left cheek and nicking the side of my ear, before I drove my right fist towards her.

As my fist closed in on her chest, she swiftly took one hand off the handle of the wooden sword and grabbed my forearm, stopping my punch before flicking her other wrist and whipping the wooden sword down as I began to drive my knee up towards her waist.

I let out a hiss of pain as she struck my ankle with the wooden sword, slowing down my knee strike just enough for her to spring back and evade it, briefly tightening her grip on my forearm as she jumped back before abruptly letting go, causing me to overbalance forward.

I just barely managed to keep from falling on my face, but she was already zipping in towards me before I could even start to regain my balance, tightening her grip on the handle of her sword as she raised it up high.

"It's over...[Saber Art: Heavy Slash]!" She exclaimed, as she rapidly swung it down towards my head.

I reacted on instinct, extending out my right index finger as I formed a small sphere of Ether and fired it out at her chest. Her eyes widened briefly before she rapidly adjusted her grip on her blade and changed the flow of her swing, slashing it down at my incoming projectile and dissipating it, the wooden sword taking some damage, getting chipped.

I began to spring back to try and get some distance, but she was quick to transition into her next attack, unleashing a rapid, powerful horizontal slash at my torso, which slammed onto the middle of my body, just below my ribs.

I let out a sharp, wheezing gasp as she knocked the wind our of me, as she sent me flying back a few meters, my back hitting the floor with a painful thud. I groaned as I sat up, my body feeling weak as the pain resonated throughout my body...

"Don't move too much for a bit. The strong impacts to your front and then to your back literally rattled your bones and organs, so don't move much till it settles down, you'll probably throw up otherwise," She advised me, walking over as she added, "Also, you're not supposed to use Ether Magic when sparring against me. Granted, I can deal with it, but if you make it a habit, you're not gonna do a very good job of keeping your Class a secret."

"Yeah, I know, I sort of just reacted on instinct. I've been making great progress with my Ether Magic lately, so I kinda couldn't help it," I replied with a pained grimace, as I gingerly rubbed the spot she'd struck with her wooden sword.

"Still though, I have to say, you've improved significantly, and at a pretty impressive rate at that. Your instincts were incredibly dull before, but they've gotten a lot sharper lately. You could probably hold your own against most newbie Ascended Mages at your current level, even without using your Ether Magic. You still can't land a proper hit on me, but I find myself having to take you seriously more often now, I don't have the luxury of holding back as much as I used to. You've been training hard, haven't you? Well done, Topaz," She stated with a nod of approval.

"But you are still holding back, and it takes everything I've got just to force you on the defensive for a moment, let alone actually landing a hit," I sighed with a wry smile.

"True, but I've been an Ascended Mage since I was four, which means I've been training with my Magic for over twelve years. Okay, I technically wasn't allowed to train properly until I was right, since dad's so overprotective. My point is, as far as Ascended Mages go, I'm among the stronger ones. And there's a world of difference between an experienced Ascended Mage and one that's still green," She remarked as she patted my shoulder, before helping me back up.

"I mean, when I'm not using my Ether Magic, Lilac is pretty close to the same level I'm currently at. Well, I am technically stronger than her in terms of raw strength, but she's about the same speed I am and she's a hell of a lot more agile, so we're pretty much even when I'm only using martial arts. With that in mind, I'd say I'm still a ways off from being good enough to pass myself off as an Ascended Mage with solely just hand to hand combat," I surmised objectively.

"Oh, is that so? Hm...are you sure about that? You're able to put up more of a fight against me than she can, I'm quite sure of that. Wait, don't tell me...are you maybe unconsciously pulling your punches against her? You do seem to have developed a bit of a soft spot for her lately...," She mused thoughtfully.

Wait, what?

"H-huh? No, there's no way...you're probably just imagining things," I vehemently shook my head in denial.

"Okay, with that reaction, I'm convinced that I'm right. Still, if you haven't realized it, then you must not be holding back too much...hm, I'd wager that you've been subconsciously lowering yourself to her level whenever you spar against her, and it's a small enough extent that you haven't noticed. Yeah, that's probably what's going on," She nodded, looking pretty sure of her theory.

"Whatever, let's just agree to disagree."

"No, you're definitely in denial. Just admit it, you've got a soft spot for my sister, and as a result, you hold back against her without even realizing it. Aw, how sweet...sounds like someone might be in love, eh?" She smirked teasingly.

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Fine, keep telling yourself that."

"Sure, I will, because it's true."

"Is not."

"Is too-...forget it, this is going nowhere."