Chapter 84: The Real Bryson
Sophia brought up a duel, one where the winner would be determined by the one that first draws blood. However, she aimed directly for my eye. Though I could be wrong, I'm pretty sure she wanted to have the point go through the hole in my mask, and thus guarantee that she hit my eye.
I don't remember her being this cruel in the story.
Well, then again, the game wasn't exactly the highest of budgets. When she fought in the game, it was a very basic animation you would probably expect from most games. Considering how many different routes they made, I suppose it would be hard on their budget if everything was high quality. But how reasonable it was didn't exactly help me-
Despite being caught off guard, that wasn't enough to stop me from going for a counterattack. I attempted to slide the sword past and slash at her arm. Yet, she brought back her rapier, then used the base to push against my sword, forcing it away.
In the end, our hilts slammed into each other with a bang.
My hand was trembling while trying to keep her blade away while inching mine closer. While we were close to evenly matched, I still had the advantage, slowly pressing forth. I noticed Sophia's eyes had widened.
She suddenly stopped resisting, leaping backward and continuing to backpedal a few steps.
I narrowed my eyes ever so slightly.
"The condition to win the duel was to draw blood, yet you even went for my eye?"
Sophia flicked her rapier to the side and laughed.
"Oh come on, don't act like you haven't done something like that too. I can tell from your fighting style."
She then clicked her tongue.
"You have absolutely no technique, but still have a general idea of what you're supposed to do. I'm sure that you grew up in the slums and had many fights. Didn't you?"
Well-
I'm not sure if that's true or false if I'm going to be honest. But at least in the context of this world, it was wrong. I similarly let out a chuckle and shrugged my shoulders.
"I could be a noble for all you know. Who's to say I have to come from the slums if this was my fighting style."
She slowly began approaching but wasn't against talking.
"Oh, I never said that you weren't a noble. I've seen plenty of fallen nobles too, but regardless, you must've grown up in the slums if that's how you fight."
'Impudent!'
Huh? Did I say that?
I definitely heard it. But... I'm pretty sure I didn't say that.
"Did you call me impudent?"
Sophia raised an eyebrow.
"Hah? I suppose you could interpret it that way. It appears you really are a fallen noble then."
Huh. So... the only other person it could've been, was me. Or, to be more accurate, the original Bryson.
'Fallen noble?...'
A small smile formed on my face.
"I dunno, but it seems like you made me mad."
Sophia blinked a few times.
"Why did you say that as though you weren't yourself?"
I shrugged my shoulders.
"Maybe I'm not myself."
Sophia looked at me with a confused look, while Nathan glared at me, probably because I was being a little bit too loose-lipped. I held out my sword once more, with my hand out to the side.
While I wasn't too confident about winning after that first exchange, at the very least I wouldn't be caught off guard now. Plus, I now knew that my strength slightly surpassed hers.
I took a deep breath, then-
'You're doing it wrong.'
Bryson spoke up in my head and I noticed a will had guided my limbs. While I felt that I could easily resist it, I decided to just let it happen.
I pulled the sword back and raised it up to my shoulder, with the sharp part of the blade facing the sky. My other hand that was usually free instead went to lightly press against the side of the blade near its center. As for my legs, they spread apart quite far, almost like I was about to kneel.
Sophia raised an eyebrow when she saw this.
"Trying to take a stance now? If you don't understand how to properly use a technique and just blindly copy it, the results will be bad. I'm saying this just because I don't want you to complain about that after you lose."
In response... I said nothing.
If I did try and say something, I could tell that would weaken Bryson's control over the body, and since I wanted to see what he was going to do, I naturally didn't.
This left a few moments of awkward silence, during which Sophia slowly approached.
When she was just two meters away, I wordlessly lunged forth, obviously not because of any action I had made. I felt my hand slide down the blade before it suddenly blurred. Despite still feeling the movement that my muscles made, I didn't really understand what I was doing.
Unlike how I usually fought, my feet began sliding, one reaching out and tracing the path of a semi-circle as my blade shot towards the side of Sophia's neck, gliding over the arm she was using to fight.
Once again, a shocked expression formed on her face, but she didn't actually lose her composure. Instead of backing off, she continued forth with her own rapier while ducking. I felt one of my feet slam into the ground while my body spun.
The blade went over Sophia, but her rapier was similarly dodged, only nicking the outside of my cloak. However, that was apparently not all that Bryson had left. With the arm that wasn't holding the sword, he brought down an elbow, slamming down into Sophia's lowered head.
A loud thud resounded.
The hit connected, making Sophia collapse down to the floor. With that, Bryson then pointed the sword toward her neck. But for good measure, I took over and nicked the side of her arm, since he didn't seem to have the intention to "draw blood" in order to win the duel.
'Hmph. If it wasn't for the fact that you stole my body...'
To be honest, I was kind of baffled by the sudden change. While I had felt some of the techniques that had become muscle memory in this body before, the difference between what I could perform and what the actual Bryson was like a large chasm.
I honestly didn't really understand what he did with the sword. While I'm pretty sure I was at least decent at using it, it seemed quite stupid in front of a pro. Not to mention, I usually only move my feet drastically when I intend on dodging.
But Bryson moved them quite violently, further enhancing his strike and increasing his flexibility in movement. Yet, out of all of that, I was actually surprised at the fact he had used his elbow.
I honestly can't recall if I've ever even done that.
In reality, I'm far more focused on using my hand to grab, so using the elbow doesn't really come naturally. If I was in that situation, instead of the elbow, I would've grabbed her hair.
And realistically, hitting her down like that was far better.
In conclusion, he was better than me at fighting.
...But still, I preferred how I fought more. His way was just a tad bit too clean, in my humble opinion.
Sophia let out a groan as she rubbed the back of her head.
"You would hit a girl like that? What a brute you are..."
I simply rolled my eyes.
"What? So I'm supposed to just not hit you and let you win?"
Sophia clicked her tongue before getting up. She looked at her arm, where I made a tiny nick that she was bleeding from.
"I suppose you are the winner of this duel."
She then took another look at me, like she was inspecting an object. I figured she would stop at some point, but her awkward stare lingered for quite a while.
...Bro, I'm not a jewel that you appraise.
I cleared my throat.
"You said you would be leaving, no?"
A bitter smile formed on her face.
"Yes, yes. I will not go back on my word, despite how much I don't wish to do so. But before I go, I must ask, do you have multiple personalities? Otherwise, I can't explain such a drastic shift between fighting styles."
I felt a strange sense of deja vu. But I didn't stand there to think about the question. Instead, I just shrugged my shoulders.
"I mean, it's probably too much of a jump to say multiple personalities just because I can act two different ways. People are complicated, so it can just be the same personality, no?"
'What? Are you trying to insinuate we are cut from the same cloth? Preposterous!'
I ignored the fact he was talking to me.
Sophia's smile softened somewhat.
"Haha, that is true, that is true... but I must say, you should really learn to combine the advantages of both styles. It's such a waste to only use one and not the other. If I had known that you would just use techniques beforehand, then I could've subdued you far more easily. But I was guarded because of how rough you initially were."
'...Sorry, what are you trying to say? I've practiced my movements for a grand many years! How could they possibly compare to barbarically swinging a sword around?'
I noticed that Bryson was trying to take over to speak on my behalf, but I stopped that, so he could only speak in my thoughts.
"I guess so. Could you actually leave now?"
Sophia let out a sigh and flipped her hair.
"Driving me away as though it isn't a blessing to look upon a pretty girl such as me?"
"Yes."
She chuckled at my bland response.
"My name is Sophia. At the very least you could tell me your name?"
I tilted my head to the side. There was no way in hell I would actually tell her my name.
"...You can call me The Prince of Despair."
It was a rather edgy name, but it was the one that Bryson had originally used, so I just decided to go with it. Sophia didn't seem to be that bothered by the fact I used an alias and waved.
"Very well then, Prince of Despair. I hope to see you and your friend again soon."
She gave a brief glance and Nathan before leaving, for real thankfully. Nathan was staring at me quite hard the entire time.
Once Sophia had essentially had become a dot in the distance, Nathan walked up to me and spoke up in a soft voice, as though the trees had ears.
"So, Bryson's woken up?"
"I guess so."
A small smile formed on my face.
"Hey, why don't we have a chat, you and I?"
...He didn't respond.
It was probably going to be quite difficult to start a conversation with this guy.
This content is taken from fr(e)ewebn(o)vel.𝓬𝓸𝓶