My blade clashed against the sword girl again. She was just as quick as ever, and at first, I was faring no better. However, as we fought, Alysia slowly surrendered control, and I began to trust her instincts. As we danced around the boss room, our movements grew smoother and quicker. We slowly grew more comfortable, and my quick attack style merged with her strength, creating something in between.

The more skilled we grew, the more worried the expression on the little girl became. She started to attack more aggressively, using up skills to try to break through us. She glowed once again and then threw all of her weight at Alysia. I could tell that this attack was similar to the one that had broken Alysia the first time. My instinct was to dodge it.historical

“No! I can take it! Meet it head-on!” Alysia urged me.

I didn’t hesitate to defend, raising her glowing blade to meet the little girl’s arm blade. A strike erupted between us. I skidded back a few feet, but the little girl was thrown back farther. I quickly checked out Alysia’s blade to find that there wasn’t the least bit of damage on her. She had managed to deflect the other girl’s attack completely.

“Keep going! Attack!”

I activated Quick Attack and then launched at the little girl. She had been stunned that her attack had thrown her back. She hastily raised her sword arm as I drove Alysia down on her. The blades struck again, and the blade arm shattered. The dungeon master was thrown back, hitting a wall. She let out a grunt as she collapsed to the ground.

“H-how are you doing this?” She demanded while backing away.

Her arm was starting to reform. The both of us decided that we couldn’t allow her to do that. I launched another Quick Attack. I didn’t expect it to be a killing blow, but it would be the first major damage we’d deal to the little girl. I leaped off of a pillar, making the trajectory of my attack unpredictable. As I came at her, the blade she was trying to reform was still unable to finish. It was weak and feeble, and if I shattered it again, there was no telling if she could repair it.

“No!” She screamed out, holding the half-formed blade in front of her desperately.

I gave the attack another bit of power by using another skill, Create Step, to push off the air again. I finalized it with the skill, Accelerate. As the attack bore down on her, a sword came up and met it. The sword pushed back against us with incredible force, but it didn’t cut into Alysia. Rather the force seemed directed at me. The pair of us flew back, but our final blow proved to be too much.

I only was able to focus on the ancient sword blade that I had wielded for a moment before it shattered into a dozen pieces. I landed on my feet and stood up, but I didn’t run forward to attack again. Instead, I watched as the blade pieces fell to the floor. The handle struck last, bouncing several times before landing at the guide’s feet.

She looked down at the parts, a dazed expression on her face. At that point, her blade had had finally returned to just a hand. Her body started to shake, and then she started to bawl her eyes out.

“D-d-daddy! Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!”