Passage of Puerulus [BP/UD/Tsu]

Ilona blocked his strike with the hilt of her rapier, stepping to the side and tapping his wrist with the tip. If the rapier had been sharpened, that would have gotten her the victory, but she could tell from Leopold's demeanour that he didn't want to give up.

He seemed desperate... he didn't want to stop, even though Ilona had long proven herself his superior. She hated the idea of having to hurt him, but she would have to test just how tenacious he was. When next he came at her, she would disarm him. Partially to show he was no match for her at all, and partially to see what he would do once his sword would be taken from him.

He came with a forward lunge, to which Ilona brought up her own weapon, mounting the hilt against that of the shortsword, and tilting. Immediately as the sword came free of Leopold's hand, she caught it, tossing it to the side out of their reach and put the tip of her rapier at Leopold's chin. "I believe I win," she said.

Leopold had expected to be parried. He did not expect, however, to be disarmed so readily. These people were dangerous.

But, he still could not lose and he unthinkingly moved his head to the side, lunging straight into a right straight punch. His fist crackled to life with sparks, a dangerous thrust with all of his strength and weight behind it.

Any regular person would probably be floored by it, and even tough sons of guns would at least stagger. But punching Ilona felt like striking a wall.

When he realized that he had just attacked despite her stopping, he gasped and stepped back. He never left an almost boxer-like fighting stance, though. "I-I'm sorry. I just reacted... uh, can we continue?"

He didn't expect that he could catch her off-guard like that again, so anything quite so powerful was off-limits, but he was much more comfortable using his hands and feet, and his movements felt a bit smoother. "...I'm more used to this style anyway..." he mumbled.

Ilona briefly lost her balance in surprise, but as soon as her back foot touched the ground she was back to her stable, composed self. Thankfully her father wasn't here to see that- he would probably redouble her training hours if he had. Realizing that her chest burnt under her chainmail, she briefly touched her hand to it before making a few long, slow swipes in front of her with her rapier.

As she gave a second greeting with the sword, her eyes flitted over to Jayden. He didn't stop the battle, so she didn't either, sidestepping a second punch from the prospective recruit. She didn't immediately counter, instead observing him and continuing to dodge. His movements were a lot less hesitant and clunky now. He still couldn't match the natural agility with which most established HAREONites fought, but it was obvious that this was his fighting style of choice.

Which meant Ilona didn't have to hold back anymore. Her face resumed its passive exterior as she focused on her movements again. Lunging forward, she feinted to the left, preparing to strike right as Leopold would dodge.

Even as he settled into a more natural rhythm, one truth became increasingly evident: this was not working.

Swords didn't work; Leopold was too unskilled with them. Punches didn't work; she was too quick for him to land a solid blow. And with every move he made he knew he grew more and more aware of the fact that she would inevitably outlast him in a battle of attrition. His movements wasted energy, hers did not.

Moreover, those thrusts could be punishingly effective if he allowed them in. He had to find some way to seal them...

Thoughts buzzed through his mind. There must be some sort of weakness in that style. What is her comfort zone? Where can she hit, where can she not? There were no glaringly obvious choices for attack zones. Going backwards? That would be in her favor, with her sword being longer than his arm. Going to the side? She could swipe him as easily as she stabbed, or just pivot. It would be waste of energy. Behind her? Out of the question. He wasn't going to get a chance to do that.

That left only one thing to do: close in. It was a very, very crazy idea, but he thought that it was the soundest thing he'd come up with. The closer he was, the less leverage she'd have to swing or thrust. And even if it did nothing for defense, he'd need to strike quickly if he had any hope of winning.

So when Ilona began to step forward with an attack, Leopold stepped in closer as well, throwing his right arm up and bracing it with his other hand. It would hurt. Might hurt a lot. But he needed more chances to press an assault.

Ilona was no master of hand-to-hand combat. She was a halfway decent archer and a swordswoman to be met, but empty her hands and she was hardly a threat. Still, when Leopold closed the distance between them, lessening the impact she could leave with her rapier, she instinctively brought up a hand to block what she thought was an incoming punch.

This lessened the momentum she had with her rapier, but she still succeeded in landing a hit on Leopold's side. It was hardly debilitating, but Ilona stepped back, creating distance between the two, assumed a passive stance and lowered her rapier, greeting one last time before sheathing it.

She turned to Jayden. "I don't know about you," she said to him, "But I've seen enough. Do we report to captain Denolle, or can you pass judgment right now?"

Jayden was writing things as the fight on, but mainly focussed on his brawler nature, using fists over other weapons. It was very interesting... The only one with any specific fist-fighting experience was Caroline. But one could barely compare anyone to her... He’d shown enough skill in hand to hand to actually hit Ilona a bit, and out of all the HAREON next-gen standards, Ilona was probably the best fighter.

He took all his notes down, so he could give to the captain later. Jayden then opened the gate, giving a small nod to Leo. “Well, that seemed promising. Most people who try to sign up can’t land a hit on a fighter like Ilona. We’ve got about an hour or so until the next and final test. Any questions for then?”

Ilona was about to put the training rapier away when a figure at the edge of the arena caught her eye. Chriselia sat there, and when she saw that Ilona and Leopold were done with their fight, she got up and walked over to them. It was a little frightening that the blonde had not noticed her all this time- how long had she sat there? It wasn't the first time Chriselia proved herself a true stealth expert, but it still freaked Ilona out.

"If the captain's pet and the new guy are done playing around," she said as she reached the others, "He's got a new mission for you and short stuff."

"Can't he send you and Lando?" Ilona asked, putting down the training sword. It was unusual for Captain Denolle to interrupt the assessment of a prospective new member, especially with a mundane mission.

Chriselia shook her head. "I didn't ask. You don't go against the captain. He specifically wanted you two to go to the observatory on Snowhead."

Ilona perked. The observatory? "Professor Oystin's? Why?"

The knife fighter shrugged. "Well I don't bloody know, ask the captain. He wants to see the two of you in his office ASAP. I'll handle the new guy."

Although she was a little nervous to leave Leopold in the hands of HAREON's least pleasant member, Ilona looked to Jayden and gestured that he had to follow her. No time to change into something less sweaty.

Jayden seemed surprised when Chrissy came in, demanding Ilona and Jayden go to Denolle as soon as possible. Jayden nodded, and proceeded to follow Ilona. The two of them were hustling, but Jayden had time to ponder the situation. Snowhead observatory… Wasn’t that the place where Ilona had gone a while back? Had something changed there? Ilona had given him a brief rundown of what had happened on that mission, and everything seemed fairly closed in regards to troubles. Jayden felt his waist and realized he didn’t have his sword. He silently cursed in his mouth, patting Ilona’s shoulder. “You go ahead Ilo, I think I left something back there.”

The swordsman jogged back, a strange lump in his throat. He knew he had it when he left. His chest was hurting… His forehead sweaty… Something was seriously wrong. And then he saw it. Leaning against a tree, sat his sword. Obviously far too unnatural of a position for him to have dropped it. Jayden threw a deku seed against the tree, hearing the loud crack. When everything settled down, nothing had changed. Jayden then cautiously walked over to his blade, picking it up. “That’s HIS, isn’t it?”

Jayden spun around, blade pointed at the neck of a man in light armor. Unfortunately, a blade was also pointed at his. Jayden knew something was up… But as he looked over the appearance of this attacker, his eyes widened. “N-Nae…” Jayden’s hands grasped a Deku seed, hoping to get the jump on the man. Protocol dictated that he had to get away from this man… but could he? Not likely… His only chance was to…

Jayden threw the deku seed down, hopefully blinding both him and his attacker. Ducking low, Jayden swept his blade to the side, hoping to catch the traitor’s legs. Unfortunately, Jayden hit nothing. His heart sank, but he should have expected it. And then a pain in his abdomen. Looking down, the ringing in his head stopped and was replaced by a much more woozy feeling. The man then re-appeared from the trees, landing down right in front of the swordsman. Jayden raised his hand to swing his blade, but his arms went numb, making it a very easy disarm for Nae.

The man held Jayden’s own sword at his throat, and Jayden could do nothing about it. Must have been some type of poison… “I asked… This is your father’s sword, right?” Jayden glared at Nae, but gave a slight nod. “I see. It’s a good blade. I’ve actually used it before.”

Jayden had figured out a while back that his father had been a HAREONite, but knowing Nae? “H-how could you possibly know my father?” Jayden asked, anger passing his lips.

“Well, he taught me how to fight, for one. He also founded HAREON, so I think I’d know the man fairly well.”

Jayden looked up at Nae incredulously. “Y-you’re lying… How could I not know that?”

Nae placed the sword down beside Jayden, leaning against a tree. “Believe me or not, that’s your choice. As for how you couldn’t know that… Captain Denolle keeps a lot hidden from you. Ever wonder why he has you collect dark artifacts?”

Jayden was taken aback. How much did this guy know? “It was… To dispose of them safely and legally…” Nae then quickly started laughing.

“Safely? Legally? Oh my, you’re entirely clueless about the guy. You don't know what Denolle has done. He's broken major laws; both of Nature and legal. When his actions come to light, we're all going to have to pay for his crimes. Some of us are already paying for them.” Nae seemed somewhat sad when this was said, but Jayden had heard enough. He slowly moved towards his feet. “…you’re able to stand? Impressive.”

With a glance to the man, Jayden picked up his sword. “Why haven’t you killed me?” That was what was bugging Jayden. Here was Nae Senal, the most wanted man in HAREON. They said he was a murderous machine, yet here he was, having a conversation with him.

“My mother and your father were god friends. I wouldn’t want to do something my mother would be rolling in her grave for. Besides, without people like you, how are the forces of Hyrule supposed to stand against Ganon? I’m not evil, Jayden. Things have just been confusing. Now… The poison should be wearing off. Go, your friend needs you to help her with a job.”

Jayden felt that his body was indeed responding much better. He didn’t take what Nae said at face value, but there was clearly more going on here than what they’d been told. Wordlessly, in a green image, Nae vanished, leaving Jayden standing alone. Sword in hand, the knight began jogging back towards Ilona, for sure a look of confusion and doubt spreading across his face.

He barely heard the impatient, lighthearted taunt from Ilona as he reached her side. Sometimes, all it takes to start things is a seed. One had indeed been planted within Jayden. A seed of doubt.


-END-