Hovering in front of him was his mistblade. The whole blade glowed with the familiar teal, and he felt a deep connection to the weapon. It felt like it was a part of him. Reaching out, Red grasped onto the hilt of the sword. The energy suffusing the blade reconnected itself to him. With the mist in a physical form, he could now retake control of the weapon.
"I was wondering if you'd get anything different, but it seems that your mist simply embodies a sword."
"Get something different?" Red asked, his gaze still fixed on his new weapon.
"Yes. It's rare, but not unheard of. Sometimes a person's mist doesn't form into a sword, but some other type of weapon…such as a spear or an axe. It all depends on the person themself."
Red nodded, "So, how do I unsummon the blade then?"
"It's quite simple. You should just be able to retake control of your mist and pull it back into yourself. The benefit of mistblades is that you don't need to worry about losing any of your mist unless it is damaged. Since it is all formed in one spot, it should be fairly easy to prevent any from escaping."
"I am not going to do that right now."
"Yeah, now that you've summoned it once. It should get easier the next time, and eventually it should become instantaneous. However, for the time being, it'll likely still take you a few minutes. That's still much faster than your first time, though."
Red glanced up. The sun had been peaking when they first began. Now it had already begun its descent. It seemed as if a few hours had passed. Red wasn't sure how that was possible. He surely hadn't been meditating that long… None of that mattered at the moment. He had a new blade.
"Now will you teach me to sword fight or what?"
Derrin gave him a dubious look, "Swordfighting is a lot easier said than done. Even starting at the basics, it won't be as simple as just telling you what to do. There is a reason that in Montrel we start with combat training and then move to summoning a mistblade."
Red stood up and tested, swinging his weapon. He'd never held a sword or any other melee weapon before, and it felt strange to be holding a weapon other than his shockblasters. Despite this, the sword felt flawless in his hand. His mist had created a weapon that worked perfectly for him, even if he didn't know how to use it yet.
"Well, I have to be able to start somewhere."
"Yes, I can give you a tutorial on the basics, but I need to remind you that I won't have a lot of time. Most of the beginner steps require supervision, or you could end up doing everything completely wrong and build the wrong habits.
Red simply nodded. He had anticipated this; it was the reason he was getting advice from Derrin in the first place. Had he simply gone off on his own, it was very likely that he'd have taught himself the wrong things. Once bad habits were ingrained, it became very hard to get rid of them.
"Alright. Turn and face me. The first and most important step with sword combat is not the blade itself, but your footing. If you do not have good footing, it won't matter how skilled you are with the blade."
After doing as instructed, Derrin approached and gave him more fine-tuned details. There wasn't any specific form that he could keep throughout combat. Instead, the goal of combat was to keep himself on his feet. Losing his footing would usually be fatal. As such, remaining standing after taking a blow was crucial.
It was hard to gauge the strength of an enemy swordsman before combat truly began. If they were far stronger, then there was little a person could do to outmaneuver them. That being said, footing could be the very thing that kept him alive behind the onslaught.
"This is the most basic stance that is taught to everyone in Montrel. Keeping your foot slightly back allows for adjustment when under attack. That is key in any engagement, whether that be sword or shockblaster. You always need to be able to maneuver when necessary. This footing allows you to easily pivot back if need be without compromising your blocking powers."
Derrin stepped a few paces away. He held his sword up before Red without unsheathing the weapon. Red raised his own weapon and copied Derrin's instructions. It felt strange at first, but he could understand the value.
"Ready?" Derrin asked.
With a nod, he lashed out. Red tightened his grip on his blade and prepared for the strike. If all went according to plan, he should be able to take the strike without much problem. Of course, that was assuming Derrin didn't put all of his power into the strike. If that happened, he would likely land on his butt.
The strike came faster than he expected. Red was barely able to track Derrin's blow as it fell downward in a straightforward strike. He was experiencing the difference in power level firsthand. Despite Derrin's flawed heart, he was still far faster and stronger than a normal person like himself.
Derrin's strike passed cleanly through his blade.
Neither of them was able to react, as the strike caught him across the chest. The stance had been meant to protect against strikes against the blade. It was not prepared for a powerful blow straight to the chest. Red was sent hurtling backward and crashed into the ground with a crack. He gasped and failed to move off his palace on the ground. His chest burned; he was certain his ribs were bruised underneath his shirt. Remarkably, his sword had remained in his hand, but that was little comfort.
"Red!" Derrin yelled and came rushing to his side.
He coughed, but failed to respond. What the hell just happened? In normal circumstances, the collision would have sent him back a step. Somehow, the blow had passed clean through his blade. It didn't take a genius to realize that was definitely not normal.
Red coughed and felt some air return to his lungs, "What was that…"
Derrin's blade was already back on his belt as he kneeled down beside him, "I…I don't know. My strike passed clean through…Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he waved the man off and struggled onto his side. Pushing himself upright, Red felt an immense pain across his chest. It was definitely bruised. He was lucky there wasn't anything broken, and even luckier that Derrin hadn't used his actual blade.
"What was that?" He asked again.
"Hold out your blade."
Red slowly held his sword upright. Derrin swung at it with his hand…it passed clean through. They both just stared at it for a moment, neither of them sure if what they had seen was real. Surely, they were going insane.
"That doesn't make any sense," Derrin muttered, "I don't even know what to say…that's…I just don't even know. I can tell you one thing, that isn't normal."
With a frown, Red said, "I noticed. Why isn't my blade…a blade? Is it even real? What is even going on right now?"
"I've never seen the like. I don't even know what to say." Derrin waved his hand through Red's blade again, "How is this even possible?"
Red felt his scowl deepen, "So, what you're saying is. This day was essentially a waste of time because my blade isn't even really a blade?"
"Well, no. It is a blade."
"A blade that doesn't do anything!" He shouted.
"I'm just as confused as you are, Red. This is simply unheard of."
Standing, Red turned to him, "Unheard of or not. This was a waste of time."
"I can still teach you…"
"No, it doesn't matter," Red followed Derrin's instructions and released the mistblade. "I should have been doing the stuff that I already knew how to do. This doesn't matter."
"Red, is this about the pirate?"
He stiffened slightly, but turned away, "So what if it is? I need to go fix my guns. I should have just started with that…"
"That man deserved to die. He had it coming. If you hadn't killed him, he would have killed you."
"All the reasoning in the world still doesn't change the fact that I killed him, Derrin. I wouldn't have done that if I were properly prepared. I should have been preparing now; instead, I just wasted the entire day."
Without giving Derrin the chance to reply, Red stormed off across the fort.