Tear A Path 262 Lucky Me

"So that's how you misdirected me just now." Ode spoke, he pulled out his sword from the ground, having had to use it as brakes to halt his retreat. "They don't make soldiers the same way they used to anymore."

"Well even if that's the case, you're the only person who has pushed me to reveal this move twice in a fight so I guess I have to give you some props for your skill." Looking at Alos now, his posture had changed completely. His rigid stance, holding the sword up in the air at all times had changed into it's completely opposite. Now he seemed a lot more relaxed, legs bending slightly, and when his sword wasn't inches from his neck in the air, it was being dragged on the ground at his side.

His style had changed, Ode thought... well not exactly, it's only that before he had only used one attack from his plethora of moves and that was in that very first attack. He wasn't given any time to cope as Alos began his attack.

Like the start of this battle, Alos swung his sword down heavily smashing part of the ground into powder and flying debris. At first, Ode covered himself from the flying shrapnel with his shield while he moved into a position of attack. But this time, Ode didn't dare to look away, even as some pebble flew at his face, cutting and chipping at it, some even landing near his eye. The actual attack was coming.

Before his eyes, Alos was using his great sword as a pole of sorts to vault over behind him and initiate a swing with the great sword. Having already been hit by this move twice however, Ode was able to dodge this swing without much trouble. That wasn't to say he wasn't astonished though.

One of the great-sword's weaknesses was lack of mobility in it's users legs. Because of the immense weight of the blade, the users were often limited from using moves like dash to close in on their opponent, hence as long as a person didn't enter such a fighters range of attack or didn't get cornered, they were usually relatively safe.

But Alos wasn't using his sword the likes of which others had used it. When he swung that gigantic thing, it would be for either an attack or a step. Yes, as Ode had figured out, he was using the length of his great-sword to cover the distance. When the blade would be at it's full momentum and smashing into the floor, he would leap and use the counter motion to switch positions between the sword and his own body and allowing him to throw another attack without having to first recover his stance.

It was amazing in theory, and even more amazing that Alos had actually been able to refine that theory for battle. Supposedly, such a move should put him at a disadvantage every time his position and his weapon's switched that would be the moment he would be without a guard. And again in theory, it would be the perfect moment to exploit and kill him. But theories weren't as useful in such a fight as Alos was using his great-sword quite proficiently, positioning his landing so that he was in a spot where the opponent would have a hard time reaching before he would be able to swing the sword again.

Even for a veteran like Ode. to enter in such an interval was quite difficult as the moment he missed, he wouldn't be able to withdraw before that sword smashed him into two. It was like trying to enter the hurricane, the safest place was in the eye of the storm, but was anyone confident enough to reach there before the winds inevitably ripped them apart. And if the kid could create a style like this, he didn't believe that he didn't prepare some kind of move for when opponents were actually able to close in during the intervals.

So right now, Ode was forced back into a pa.s.sive stance as Alos began to use his real moves. "Hey old man..." Alos called out while delivering another devastating blow to Ode's shield. "You're quite the monster you know..."

Ode gave a tired look as he responded. "I really don't want to hear that from a guy like you."

"I'm serious, after this battle, win or lose, I have no qualms about you taking up a position." Alos explained. "Even the other captains have never fought me this far, you could probably do so much more than they can if we gave you the same position anyway."

"Heh, lucky me..."Ode replied sarcastically as he deflected another slash.

This time he started with a swing at Ode's side which he easily dodged, but this time Ode wasn't the target. Like it or not, this was the first time Ode had faced this kind of technique, he could hypothesize the moves and weaknesses but unless he truly experienced them on his own he could never be sure.

This 'attack' angled towards the ground as soon as Ode had dodged it, digging itself in. Using his weapon like an anchor, Alos jumped, allowing it's counter momentum to drag him towards Ode. In Ode's mind this made absolutely no sense, if he continued on this path, wouldn't he just slam against his shield or impale himself on his sword. He wasn't in this to hurt anybody, but he knew at this point that putting his defense down would be stupid on his part not to mention insulting to his opponent, so he held his sword and shield up properly to take on Alos's incoming body.

The situation suddenly changed again as before his very eyes, Alos let go of his weapon in mid air, astonishing him and leaving him unprepared for his next move. In one swift motion, Alos kicked the handle of his great sword in the air to shoot him towards the ground, allowing him to slip right under Ode's shield and wedge himself between the shield and Ode's body.

With both his hands on his weapons and Alos sticking so close in between, Ode found himself unable to find a way to hurt the guy in such a position. Alos on the other hand had probably practiced what he was going to do in such a situation. Grabbing onto Ode's weapon and shield, Alos jumped up and kicked at Ode's chest, allowing him to knock Ode back and hold onto his weapon and shield.