Lightning Is the Only Way

"My name is Jeros. What's yours?" Jeros said as he readied his humongous bone blade. He did a couple of small jumps to warm up and swung his sword to the left and right.

Gravis saw how gracefully and quickly Jeros moved his sword and realized that this fight would not be easy. "I'm Gravis," he said.

"Gravis, a good name! Alright, let's start. Be careful!" Jeros shouted as he shot forward and chopped at Gravis.

'Fast!' Gravis shouted in his mind. Jeros was faster than a low-grade demonic beast. Gravis always had to preplan his actions against such opponents, because his own speed could not compare. Yet, this time, he fought a human with such speed and power, not a monster.

Gravis wanted to test his opponent's strength and blocked the humongous sword with his saber.

BOOM!

Gravis' whole body shook, and the power of the strike buried him up to his knees into the ground, the street breaking in the process. His entire body ached, and he felt like his whole body was churning on the inside.

"Oh, that's impressive," Jeros said with surprise. "I didn't use my full strength, but you still managed to block my strike." Jeros jumped back. "Your muscles are definitely not tempered yet, but you could still block a casual strike from me. That's really impressive."

Gravis jumped out of the hole and limbered up his stiff muscles. After some seconds, where Jeros just waited for Gravis to finish, Gravis readied himself again. "Alright, we can continue." Gravis' eyes narrowed. "Now, this fight will become different."

Jeros laughed loudly. "I'm looking forward to it," he shouted as he shot forward again, doing the same chop as before. Gravis was prepared and raised his saber again in a block. Yet, this time, he was not blocking but parrying. A parry was more challenging to pull off than a block. Gravis had to redirect parts of the enemy's strength to change the course of the attack.

ground.

Jeros' arms moved very quickly, and even though they were further away from his face than the saber at the beginning, they quickly

the side sharply. Just in time, Jeros' other arm swung the sword diagonally upwards. Even

CLANK!

its trajectory slightly. While it continued swinging, Gravis crouched under the

time, Jeros slapped the

SHINK!

the saber in the last moment. Jeros had slapped the saber's sharp edge, and

at his bleeding hand in

the same moves twice," Jeros heard Gravis shout, who had jumped

quickly figured out why. Gravis was moving like he already knew what his opponent would do. Just

yet it's incredibly effective. With my experience, I can tell that this is not some martial art. Those moves were created by yourself in multiple serious fights. You definitely have more fighting experience than me," he

themselves in shock. Their boss was already in his thirties and had fought a lot of battles. His fighting experience was extensive. Yet,

Jeros could glean so many things from two simple exchanges. Gravis knew that Jeros probably had a lot of fighting

you learned martial arts before?"

weapon usage. Ever since then, I have only fought. If you asked me how I would train, I wouldn't even be

it, it also feels more like I am fighting a beast. This is

Jeros, he would learn more things about himself. An opponent who didn't want to kill him and had enough fighting experience was rare.

because I was afraid you would get seriously injured. Now, I'm going to use my full power," Jeros shouted and then shot forward. He swung

the swing. He blocked it with his saber and jumped a little. The swing of