Concept: World - Chapter 4: Invitation to Battle (3)

That afternoon, Ethel met Yinbing alone in the smallest of the Force training rooms.

"Hmm. You said you can perform full-body Force Enhancement."

"It's not that I don't believe you, but I still need to verify it."

"There's a certain amount of risk involved, so someone has to supervise."

"That's understandable."

"Then let's begin."

Ethel closed his eyes.

Although the memories of his earliest training had long since faded, his body had never forgotten.

He carefully reached toward the deepest part of himself.

Just as blood flowed through veins, Force coursed through the body in much the same way.

Now, he imposed his own will upon that flow.

It felt like untangling a ball of yarn made entirely of liquid.

Carefully, thread by thread, he drew Force out, guiding it along the path he had envisioned.

Gradually, he increased both the amount of Force and its rate of circulation.

The instant the circuit connected from beginning to end—

Ethel opened his eyes.

"Very nice."

Yinbing nodded approvingly.

"That's textbook."

"And pretty fast, too."

"Five seconds."

Everything he had just done had taken only five seconds.

Even then, he'd deliberately slowed himself down to avoid injury.

"And you still rated yourself as below average?"

She laughed.

"Were you comparing yourself to Perfect Ones or something?"

Ironically...

...that might not have been a joke.

"Why are you only this good?"

"Do you think this is enough to honor me?"

"Hello?"

"You're not supposed to merely surpass him."

"You're supposed to grind him beneath your feet."

"Are you even listening?"

"You're nothing more than a tool."

"Hey!"

Yinbing suddenly shouted directly into his ear.

"I'm talking to you!"

Ethel snapped back to reality.

"What happened just now?"

"You completely zoned out."

"If your Force flow hadn't stayed stable, I would've thought you'd gotten dizzy from overloading yourself."

"I'm fine."

He forced a smile.

Yinbing stared at him suspiciously for a few moments before deciding to let it go.

"If you say so."

"But if something's wrong, tell me immediately."

"If anything happens, I'm the one who has to write the incident report."

"That's a huge pain."

"Don't worry."

"I promise nothing will happen."

"Good."

"Then release your full-body enhancement."

"There's no point keeping it active."

"You're just wasting Force."

"Next, channel Force into your weapon."

"You brought one, right?"

"I did."

Ethel raised the pair of daggers he'd chosen that morning.

As Force flowed into them, they emitted a faint glow.

"Perfect."

"Now let's spar."

"They say there's no better practice than a real fight."

"I want to see how well you can use Force in actual combat."

"I thought we weren't sparring until seven days from now."

"That's our Concept match."

"This one is only Force and martial skill."

"No Concepts."

"Besides..."

She grinned.

"You don't really want to spend the afternoon endlessly swinging Force-infused daggers at empty air, do you?"

"...Fair point."

"Then come on!"

"No Concepts, remember!"

"Start whenever you're ready."

Yinbing was already bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet, eager to begin.

Meanwhile, Ethel quietly focused inward.

Mind's Eye... completely shut down.

"Is that really necessary?"

"Fine. I'll do it."

"...Huh?"

Ethel froze.

The sudden reply startled him.

He had always assumed the voice belonging to his Concept only warned him about incoming attacks.

He'd never imagined...

...that it could actually hold a conversation.

"Ready?"

"Oh—yeah."

"I'm ready."

"...Vice Captain."

"Where's your weapon?"

Ethel couldn't help asking.

Yinbing's hands were empty.

She didn't seem to be carrying a weapon anywhere.

Instead, she simply raised both fists.

"My hands are my weapons."

"I fight with Force-enhanced punches."

"Here I come!"

Before she'd even finished speaking—

she was already in front of him.

Her fist slammed squarely into Ethel's stomach.

"Ugh..."

The sudden burst of pain forced a groan from his lips.

At least now he knew.

His Concept really was completely shut off.

"You need to stay focused."

Yinbing looked down at him as he clutched his abdomen.

"On the battlefield, your enemy won't overlook a single opening."

"If I'd infused that punch with Force..."

"...the fight would've ended right there."

There wasn't the slightest hint of sympathy in her voice.

For the first time, Ethel truly understood why she was the vice captain.

He couldn't even blame her for the sneak attack.

Instead...

...it ignited his fighting spirit.

"I'm fine."

"Again!"

"That's the attitude."

"Here I come!"

This time, Ethel could clearly sense the change.

Force surged into Yinbing's fists.

If he took another hit like before—

he wouldn't be getting back up with just a few deep breaths.

Even with his Concept disabled, Ethel still managed to evade every punch.

After all, when he had first begun training years ago...

...his Concept hadn't existed in his life.

The fundamentals drilled into his body back then were barely enough to carry him now.

Dagger in hand, he continuously slipped past Yinbing's attacks, searching for an opening.

"You're dodging every single one."

She smiled.

"Then I'll speed things up."

True to her word, her fists became noticeably faster.

Sharper.

Relentless.

As her combinations continued, Ethel found himself struggling to keep up.

More and more punches grazed his body.

What troubled him even more...

...was that as Yinbing accelerated her assault...

...opportunities to counterattack became increasingly scarce.

Finally—

after narrowly slipping past her right hook—

Ethel circled to her right side.

He struck the moment he judged she wouldn't have time to retract her arm.

To his surprise, Yinbing had never intended to pull it back for defense.

Instead, as she withdrew her right arm, she instantly redirected Force into her elbow—

driving it into the dagger in Ethel's left hand and knocking it aside.

The move caught him off guard.

But he'd expected his first strike to fail.

His real attack had always been his right hand.

Using the momentum from his deflected left arm, his second dagger shot straight toward Yinbing's face.

The last thing Ethel remembered...

...was Yinbing's right arm serving as a screen—

while her left fist came rocketing upward—

straight toward his chin.

Ethel opened his eyes.

The first thing he saw was the training room ceiling.

"You're awake?"

Yinbing was crouching beside him, watching with concern.

Suppressing the throbbing pain in his jaw, Ethel slowly sat up.

"Was that last defense instinctive?"

"Which one?"

He rubbed his chin.

It felt like a massive bruise had already formed.

"The one on your chin."

"I was planning to punch you straight into the infirmary."

"But at the last second, you reinforced your jaw with Force and absorbed about half the impact."

"...I think so."

"...Wait."

"You were planning to send me to the infirmary?"

"Yeah."

Yinbing blinked innocently.

"Is there a problem?"

"...No."

"Good."

"Then let's do it again."

"This time we'll stop before anyone gets knocked unconscious."

She declared her victory with absolute confidence.

Ethel silently added another trait to his evaluation of his vice captain.

Secretly sadistic.

"You dodge really well."

"I was honestly surprised."

"Most newcomers go down the instant I speed up."

As she spoke—

she suddenly threw another punch without warning.

"Oh?"

"That trick won't work on me twice."

Ethel intercepted her fist with one dagger while slashing with the other, forcing Yinbing to retreat.

The moment she stepped back—

he immediately pressed forward.

If he couldn't find an opening during her offense...

...then he'd simply attack before she could begin.

For Ethel, defense had always been his weakest area.

Because of his Concept, he excelled far more at evasion.

Back when his father had first trained him...

...he had never been particularly good at blocking.

His father had simply smiled and told him—

Attack is the best defense.

And with Mind's Eye completely disabled...

abandoning his weakest point altogether was the smartest choice.

Seeing Ethel seize the initiative, Yinbing gave him an approving smile.

He stayed glued to her, twin daggers flashing relentlessly, never allowing her the space to throw a proper punch.

Yinbing tried using footwork to slip outside his range.

Yet somehow...

...he always caught up immediately.

Locked in a fierce close-quarters exchange, Yinbing kept her eyes fixed on his blades, narrowly avoiding each strike.

Meanwhile, she quietly poured a large amount of Force into her right forearm.

When Ethel attacked once more—

she deliberately met the blade head-on with her arm.

"Take the bait..."

That was her plan.

She wanted him to believe she had sacrificed her arm to block.

Normally, an opponent would assume they'd landed a decisive hit, creating a brief opening.

Besides...

most rookies panicked the first time they injured someone.

Even if they didn't...

their weapon usually hesitated for a split second after colliding with something unexpectedly hard.

Instead—

Ethel's blade actually pierced through her reinforced defense, biting slightly into her forearm.

More importantly...

his reaction was nothing like she'd predicted.

He instantly released the dagger with his left hand—

and continued the same motion into a straight punch that slammed into Yinbing's right cheek.

What shocked her most...

...was that after letting go of the dagger—

he transferred the excess Force directly into his fist,

turning it into a fully Force-enhanced punch.

Though she hastily reinforced the side of her face...

getting punched squarely in the jaw still hurt.

Even so, Yinbing retaliated immediately.

Her now-free left fist shot toward Ethel's stomach—

only to be effortlessly dodged.

At the same time...

his returning right hand smoothly caught the falling dagger without missing a beat.

The battle returned to the same rhythm as before—

Ethel attacking relentlessly...

Yinbing searching desperately for a way to break through.

Then...

one subtle movement caught her attention.

Ethel switched the grip on his right-hand dagger.

Instead of a standard grip—

he reversed it.

The blade aimed directly toward her thigh.

As someone who specialized in hand-to-hand combat, Yinbing easily shifted her footing to evade the downward thrust.

Such a large committed attack...

...had to leave an opening.

There it was.

Ethel's right side lay completely exposed after the failed stab.

One punch.

One clean hit.

The match would be over.

Yinbing launched the finishing blow toward his wide-open back.

Yet decades of combat experience made her glance toward the one place that felt...

...wrong.

Only then did she understand why Ethel had used that thrust.

The dagger in his right hand—

which had seemingly missed—

suddenly reversed direction beneath his arm...

...shooting upward toward her from an impossible angle.

Impossible...

under normal circumstances.

But with Force-enhanced wrists—

it was entirely possible.

Only now did Yinbing realize the truth.

The Force she had assumed was infused into the dagger...

had never entered the blade at all.

Every bit of it had remained inside his wrist.

Which meant...

the thrust she'd just dodged had been an ordinary stab—

one that could've been blocked with the tiniest amount of Force.

Even now—

the fight wasn't over.

Yinbing forcibly halted her own punch,

stopping her momentum just enough to evade the flying dagger.

At the same time, her empty right hand shot out—

grabbing Ethel's extended left wrist in an iron grip.

One weapon had already been thrown.

The other arm was completely restrained.

It looked like checkmate.

Except...

the abrupt shift in footing—

combined with the sudden cancellation of her punch—

had left Yinbing's stance far less stable than before.

That...

had been Ethel's true target all along.

A sweeping kick—

combined with the momentum she herself had generated while stopping to dodge the dagger—

sent Yinbing crashing backward onto the floor.

Since she still refused to release his left wrist...

Ethel fell forward with her.

Without even looking—

his right hand effortlessly caught the falling dagger in midair.

The blade stopped only millimeters from Yinbing's face.

Looking into its edge...

she knew.

She had lost.

ns216.73.217.114da2

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