It had been six months since that tumultuous day, so I'd long since settled into a routine.
First thing in the morning, I did some warm up exercises/stretches, and then met up with Charlotte for her daily check of the whole town. I used this time to gain information on whatever I can. Charlotte had ended up being a lot more knowledgeable than I had originally thought --probably just due to her being around for so long.
She explained to me the technique she used the day we met that had caused the whole world to turn into a void. Basically, it's called a Soul Eclipse, and it's when you use your soul to rewrite the laws of the world in a limited area. You establish your own will to gain complete control of everything inside the domain. Apparently, it's almost impossible to counter and so advanced that only a few dozen people can use it in the entire world. Charlotte said that she'd teach me the method to counter it when I got strong enough, but laughed at me when I asked her to just teach me how to do a Soul Eclipse instead.
After walking around with Charlotte, I would usually find a nice secluded place, and practice my blood and body magic there. Charlotte sometimes gave me some pointers if she was feeling bored. After eating lunch, Raya would show up and we would do some light sparring or training. I thought myself old enough that my unusually high skills for my age could be passed off as "just being a prodigy" and not be suspected of any cheating. I had turned eight recently, after all.
Today though, Raya wanted us to be more serious than usual in our sparring.
Raya: [Fight me]
Adam: [Huh? Did I upset you at some point?]
Raya: [No, I just need to know which one of us is stronger. These past months you've gotten stronger at an incredible pace. You're truly a monster to the point that I don't know which of us is stronger anymore.]
When we had first started sparring, she put me on the ground without much effort, but these days it's been a lot more close. Honestly, I was kind of curious too. At this point, I had yet to go all out.
Adam: [Alright, let's set some rules though...]
Eventually we settled on the following: Charlotte would be overseeing it and would stop us if things got too dangerous, we use wooden swords, I'm allowed to use my bandages, and Raya is allowed to carry her "package" on her back but can't use what's inside (Charlotte added this rule for some reason and insisted upon it). Also, the fight only ends when one of us surrenders, is knocked out, or if Charlotte calls it off.
Charlotte: [Ready… Fighto…]
With that unenthusiastic send off, the battle began and Raya instantly made the first move.
Raya: [Faster than the tsunami] –Electric Scales
Raya was a user of lightning Creation magic, and this spell used electricity to increase her speed, defense, and even reaction time. Its main downside was the high and constant mana consumption. After casting it, she charged straight at me.
Adam: [Kiss of sorrow] –Bloodshot
I threw several blood-soaked bandages behind me and pulled myself away from Raya to create some space between us. While doing so, I applied physical Augmentation on my muscles and shot several bullets of blood towards Raya from my fingertip.
Electricity sparking around her, Raya chose to slice through the bullets rather than dodge. Big mistake--my cells would start eating the sword that they were now attached to.
But now Raya was right in front of me.
Raya: –Calm Sweep
A wave of electricity came out from Raya's sword, which I blocked with a wave of blood-soaked bandages. She was a tricky opponent to deal with. Every attack of hers was infused with electricity, which would hurt you even if you blocked or parried it with a sword.
Raya continued her barrage of continuous electric sword swings and I continued blocking with my bandages while trying to find an opening.
Adam: –Burst
I sent a bandage soaked with more blood than usual around Raya to her flank, then exploded the blood inside. This didn't do much damage, especially because Raya had her Electric Scales on, but it was enough to create an opening for me.
I dove in and went for a punch to her abdomen, but she managed to cover her liver with her arm– No matter, this is enough.
Raya was sent flying a few feet as she had jumped backwards to soften the blow. My left hand became numb because I had gotten in direct contact with her. But now that there was some space between us, I could attack more easily.
Adam: [Freely and viciously] –Rivers of Blood
I pulled all of my bandages back and sent a stream of blood towards the off-balance Raya. This spell would constantly attack the opponent from all angles. However, against strong opponents it wouldn't last long because they could simply kill all of the cells, so I rushed in to make the decisive move.
Raya instantly noticed my intentions and charged up a strong lightning discharge to quickly burn the blob of blood flying around her, but I manipulated it to evade and then attack her from behind.
Adam: [Arrow, show me the path forward] –Piercing Shot
The blob grabbed her ankle and I shot the blood I had been compressing in my body straight at Raya. She was forced to block it directly with her sword –Success. Now that I was close to Raya and all of the blood that I had shot out during the battle had been destroyed, she'd assume that she had the advantage and commit to a big attack.
Raya, now holding her wooden sword above her decided to go for a downward swing with all her might and magic.
Raya: [Strength absolute] –Thunder Strike
I decided to take the attack head on and raised my left arm to block the sword. The sound of bones snapping could be heard amongst the thunderclaps from Raya's technique, but pushing onward I used the pommel of my sword to strike Raya's abdomen.
Raya's eyes rolled back into her head when she took my fully augmented attack, and the wooden sword she had been holding was now broken in two while my left wrist hung limply at an unnatural angle.
Normally, people wouldn't be able to tolerate the pain of something like this, but I had used magic to turn off my ability to feel pain for this fight. This technique and healing magic were the new cards that I had gained not too long ago.
As Raya began to fall to the ground, she unconsciously reached towards the package on her back. As soon as she grabbed the handle of the sword through the cloth, the cloth instantly exploded and static electricity completely filled the surroundings.
Raya regained her consciousness and glared at me with electricity in her eyes.
Charlotte: [STOP! Fight's over! It's Adam's win.]
Raya, upset by this, released her grip on the sword on her back and began to argue with Charlotte:
Raya: [WHAT! This is preposterous! The fight has barely just begun and you're calling it off! Much less with Adam as the winner!?]
Charlotte: [The rules said that you could hold the sword on your back, but not use it. You clearly grabbed the handle and started wielding it. Hence, you're disqualified and the win goes to Adam.]
While the two were bickering, I began healing my left arm, which had really started to look rough.
Adam: [So that you may break once more] –Healing... [Yeah, what even is that sword anyways?]
Somehow just realizing now that the sword that she had always kept wrapped was now open and we could see it, Raya became flustered and began panicking.
Raya: [What sword are you even talking about? I've never even met a sword before in my life!]
Pax & Charlotte: […]
A moment of silence for the lost brain cells.
Adam: [Right… Then what's that on your back?]
Raya: [Gah! Stop it!]
Raya started to tear up and I was reminded that I had been fighting against a twelve year old. I felt bad for a second until I remembered that I was technically eight.
Wait, how would I count my age actually…
I mean, I died in my first world when I was 15 and in this world I'm 8, so that would make me 23… But I haven't paid any taxes yet or even had a sip of alcohol before, so I don't really feel like a 23 year old. Besides, I didn't even gain self awareness in this world until around the age of 2… But then again, that would be the same for my first life… You know, I'm just not going to think about it.
Charlotte: […If you're wondering what Raya's been holding on to this whole time, Adam, I'll just tell you. It's the legendary lightning katana passed down through the generations of the Drogo family, Ryuzu's Fang.]
Damn, I could've just asked Charlotte what was in the package this whole time…
Raya was clearly shocked (aha, get it?) that Charlotte could identify the sword. She had her mouth and eyes wide open like some cartoon character. It also seemed like she was considering punching Charlotte to shut her up. Charlotte, however, continued on:
Charlotte: [I'd had my suspicions, but seeing it now definitely confirms it. Apparently one of my masters fought against a previous wielder of the blade a long time ago, but I don't know that much about the sword itself. Could you perhaps… Show us the blade?]
Accepting the situation for what it was, Raya finally decided to stop hiding the sword.
Raya: [Fine, since you guys already know my secret, I'll show it to you. But I'm only taking it out for a second, and you'd better not tell anyone about this!]
After Charlotte and I nodded our heads vigorously, Raya began the process and I got a good look at it for the first time.
It…It was beautiful.
Hoisting the blade above her head, the sun's rays elegantly bounced off the blue and gold sheath. Then, dramatically and with much flair, Raya slowly began unsheathing the blade above her head.
Raya: [BEHOLD, MY TREASURE, MY LOVE, AND MY SOUL! COME FORTH] –RYUZU'S FANG
Now halfway unsheathed, we finally were able to witness this masterpiece of a blade. I personally knew jack shit about swords, but even I could tell that this thing was one-of-a-kind and powerful. Tears formed in the corners of Charlotte's eyes as she took in the majesty of the katana. Thunderclouds began forming overhead, the wind picked up around us, and the entire area became charged with static electricity once more.
Then, all of a sudden, Raya closed the sword back up before even fully unsheathing it. Instantly the clouds, winds, and static electricity vanished. Holding the sword in front of her like a crutch, Raya wobbled a bit. The three of us sat in silence as Raya took deep breaths. That was until Charlotte broke the silence.
Charlotte: [Incredible, to have such power when not even fully unsheathed… So this is the power of a Relic…]
Adam: [What do you mean by Relic?]
Charlotte: […That's not something I'm supposed to be telling people. Just pretend you didn't hear that.]
Raya: [Hey, that's not fair! I showed you my secret so you have to tell me yours!]
Apparently, Raya also didn't know what relics were, even though she was the owner of the sword.
Adam: [Yeah! It's only fair!]
--Not that I had any plans on telling them my secrets. But somehow I knew that Charlotte was just sitting on a lot of important information and lore.
Charlotte: [Eh, I don't know about that…]
Raya: [I'll stop being friends with you if you don't tell me! I hate people who are disingenuous.]
Charlotte: [No, don't do that! I...I'll tell you!]
Charlotte's eyes began to tear up at Raya's comment, and she clutched onto Raya as she conceded.
Damn, Raya is ruthless. Weaponizing her friendship against a lonely little girl to get what she wants...
It's sick, truly. Despicable, even.
Thus, after Raya reassured Charlotte that she would never stop being friends with her, Charlotte began her explanation...