Chapter 58: Communication Error

  The hair in Marcus’ neck stood up and his instincts screamed danger. “So, do you often come here Grace?” He watched Grace warming up, “It is my first time, I overheard Achara talking about you being here.” Great! She only came here for me, Marcus thought.

  He tried to find an excuse to avoid this “sparring”. “I just had my blood drained again. This might not be the best time for a sparring match.” Marcus said but she smiled. “Don’t worry, I will be gentle.” This was what her mouth said, but her eyes said I will cut you into pieces and feed you to my dogs. While Marcus tried to find a way out, she finished stretching and walked closer “Over the last days I have come up with a theory about you and I’m about to find out if I was right.”

  Grace wore heavy armor, a shield and a sword that was definitely enchanted. You could call this the “Kim Standard” for a Paladin. Marcus went into his combat stance but felt nothing but dread. She was a level 70 Paladin and a great one too. He wanted to believe this was a friendly sparring match and she would hold back but her eyes told a different story.

  “Ready?” Grace did not wait for an answer and instead pushed her legs into the ground and instantly accelerated towards Marcus with her shield in front. Marcus clenched his teeth and stepped forward.

  She completely outmatched him but there was a tiny sliver of hope for Marcus. For one, she was a stout Kim fan and copied his fighting style to the T, a style Marcus was very familiar with. The other tiny upside was that she did not know what he was capable off. He stepped right into her charge ready to take the attack and to counter hard. He had not long ago learned that shields did not help against Impulse Hammer and if the impact was hard enough this match might end in one move.

  A fraction of a second before they collided Grace changed her footing and rotated around Marcus, making him miss his counter attack. The edge of her shield hit his back and Marcus could feel an explosion, heat and pain rushed through him but it was only a weak hit.

  He turned and Grace had made some distance and watched him carefully “That did not even faze you!” Marcus could feel that she became more serious and the next hit from Channel Light would hurt a lot more. Channel Light is the foundation of the Paladin. While not the strongest ability it is extremely versatile. The Paladin can form Channel Light on their own body or equipment they hold. It can become something like a weapon enchantment that burns on contact, it can become an aura that burns everything around the Paladin but it can also be compressed into an explosion. The last and most dangerous form for Marcus was, when it was compressed and became something like a plasma blade. Grace could wield a wooden sword and it would cut through him like butter.

  She came at him again and Marcus could barely follow her fast strikes with shield and sword. Paladins have no outstanding attributes, they increase strength, dexterity, vitality and willpower to some amount but that also makes them extremely flexible combatants. Marcus could feel that she was ramping up her speed and the strength of her attacks. Her blade cut deeper and deeper into his heavy armor. He pushed forward and she side stepped him, her blade formed a glowing arc and cut his arm, but Marcus had already turned because he expected that move. He kicked her into the stomach and gave her a lot to think about. Grace was thrown back and needed a second to find her footing.

  She glared at him. Now I really made her mad, Marcus thought.

  Grace charged him again at full speed, no even faster this time, and Marcus only defended. This was it, his chance. He did not interfere with her attack and she would ram her shield into him together with Channel light, one of Kim’s base moves. Until now he had only used Anchor at low power but in this moment he put it up to max. He would break her charge and counter with full power. She came at him as predicted and Marcus prepared for the impact, that never came. Grace stopped centimeters in front of him and for half a second he looked into her smiling face than her sword pierced through his left arm. The powerful blade cut through his body even without Channel Light and a moment later she pulled it back leaving a trail of blood in the sand.

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  Marcus suppressed the pain, he had already felt much worse and her sword had left a clean wound like a scalpel. Grace’s eyes were focused on his wound “That is unbelievable”. The cut vanished in seconds and Marcus stretched his arm to remove that last phantom pains the cut had left.

  “Satisfied?” Marcus said with a cold voice. “More than that, to be honest I did not expect something this grand and I also did not expect you to be this strong. It is hard to believe you are only a bit over level 30.” She was suddenly back to the Grace he knew, the sharp cold eyes had vanished.

  “You could have just asked.” Marcus walked off the field but Grace caught up to him. “Would you have told me?” Marcus didn’t look at her “Yes.” and continued to walk. What did he expect? That he could beat Grace Taylor even in a sparring match where she holds back. That woman was not a phony who had become famous because of her good looks, she was a proper badass. The fight just now was proof of that.

  “I’m sorry.” Grace said with a soft voice and Marcus stopped in surprise. “I thought I had to pull it out of you.” Marcus looked at her and felt truly defeated. “I’m not ready yet, to tell the world.” he said and Grace tilted her head. “It is not only this phenomenal healing ability it is everything. Your fighting style, that truly devastating attack ability and… what would have happened if I had finished my charge?” she asked and Marcus shrug his shoulders. “You would have hit a hard rock and I would have smashed you with all I had.” she laughed and shook her head.

  “You know my fighting style. I realized that the moment you avoided that one attack so skillfully. How come?” Grace asked with honest eyes and Marcus saw no reason to lie. “You pretty much follow the Kim style of fighting and I’m a big fan of his.”, a complicated look wandered over Grace’s face. “You mean I’m a cheap copy of Kim.” and Marcus was again surprised by her. “No, after what I saw today anybody who says that is a moron. You clearly use your own head and adapt and innovate instead of just copying his work. You completely beat me and you did not even use Judgment.” Marcus still felt bitter to what extend she had outmaneuvered him.

  “You know, you have the right to be angry with me. I purposefully played the bad guy to test my theory. Instead you praise me and you are bitter about not beating an enemy nearly 40 levels higher than you.” Grace looked amused. She stretched out a hand and Marcus took it unsure what it meant. “I will keep your secret until you tell the world. But I feel Fighter does not really fit the class I have seen today.”

  Marcus smiled “I think so too. The ginghi call it Titan and I think I will go with that.” and Grace laughed again. “No small ambition here, a Titan, somebody who challenges the gods themselves.” Marcus had not thought about that interpretation before. He had only thought about Titan in the terms of big and strong, titanic, not in the more mythological meaning of the word. Now he wondered what Azaa meant when she chose the name. He should ask her, Marcus thought. Marcus and Grace parted ways without bad blood between them. He had seen a different side of Grace today. She could be hard and unforgiving if she had to. A good trait for a raid leader.

  Marcus returned to the quarters and freshened up, the ginghi had no showers, sadly. Not long after he found the others who looked drained from a day of actual work. Since they had gotten to the city, Marcus had been exempt from his normal duties because of his special circumstances but the rest had to work. “Look the freeloader is here.” Janette was emptying a bottle of water. “Did you have fun playing while we were working to set up communications and protect the incoming food provisions?” She was salty but his day had been not easy either. “Well if you think getting your blood drained and later being beaten and stabbed by Grace is so much fun, you should give it a try too.” Janette’s eyes glowed with interest and Achara looked shocked “She has stabbed you? On purpose?” Marcus sat down with his friends and was happy to have an interesting story to tell.

  “How about you join us tomorrow? We are actually doing something interesting for once. We are going on a “Monster Patrol” with some of the ginghi warriors.” Kou said later that evening. “I bet we can make it so you can first finish your date with Azaa.” Marcus rolled his eyes “It is definitely not a date unless she is a vampire than it would make sense. But I would love to join you. After the beating I got today, I need a victory soon or I lose my self confidence.”

  Janette nodded in understanding “It is a well known male problem, if they have problems to “perform”, they suffer from a lack of self confidence. I heard there is medication that can help.” Marcus took the joke on the chin and threw a water bottle to exorcise the demon.