“It’s a Defensive Lance”

  Larna looked at his weapon, still surprised by its big size. Defensive Lance was an appropriate term for it.

  Larna grabbed the lance with his right hand. It rose above his head, as if trying to stab the sky. With the other, he lifted a colossal shield. It had a rectangular shape, and it was slightly shorter than Larna.

  “How can I be lifting this?”

  He had not become so strong. The lance and shield were made of pure iron. Just the shield would surely weigh more than him.

  “Everyone could use it… even a baby,” Vale pointed out, probably because of Larna's shocked face.

  Larna looked dumbfounded at Vale, entertaining the idea of a toddler using a lance ten times his size.

  But he didn't doubt it was possible. After all, Battle was a technology-powered simulation, not reality.

  “Weapons adjust their weight to their user’s strength. So even massive weapons like that can be used by anyone.” Vale scratched his head. “Even so, almost all the professional users of ‘heavy’ weapons that I’ve seen are very muscular.”

  “I suppose you still have to take the attacks,” Larna said based on his own experience. He remembered his Battle with Vale, and how his shield was constantly pushed away by Vale’s slashes. “Staying firm is a difficult task.”

  Vale nodded and locked his hands behind his head. He was looking down the hill when his eyes widened briefly. “Perfect!” He gestured with his head. “There are two battlers down the hill. Come, Larna, let's try your new weapon.” He said, already walking in their direction.

  Larna narrowed his eyes and saw the blurry shape of two people.

  A lot of people who frequented this place weren’t battlers, but these kinds of people usually didn’t wield weapons.

  And these guys did it. One had a red metallic scythe on his back, while the other carried a silver sword.

  It would be a good practice. Larna knew it, and still… he lingered in place. Are we going to just stand on their path and challenge them? Battle was a game, or a sport, in which you fight with weapons against someone else. The idea of doing that with a stranger was uncomfortable.

  Vale turned, noticing Laran wasn't following him. He stared him with a deadpan face at Larna, who was stuck on his hesitation.

  “C’mon, just go!” Vale said, pulling Larna’s arm.

  The inclination of the hill forced Larna to keep running to not falling, and the inertia made the fate of stopping impossible.

  “Why are you doubting? Just don’t hesitate!” Vale said with a grin, running at his side.

  Larna grimaced at him. He carried the ‘don’t hesitate’ phrase to its maximum exponent!

  But he was right. Now that Larna was running, he didn’t want to stop. He wanted to challenge another battler and test his new weapon.

  When they reached the main path, Larna rested on his knees and breathed as if he had been below water for two minutes.

  It was necessary to run nonstop?! We could have called them!

  Vale was sitting on the pavement. He haphazardly breathed with his nose and mouth.

  “Hey, you two… wait!” Vale yelled, using the little air in his lungs.

  The two guys turned back with a confused face, which only grew intense when they saw two teenagers almost dying of tiredness.

  “You two are battlers, right?” Vale asked, rising from the floor. When both guys nodded, he seemed to have recovered all his energy. “Great! Larna, who you want to challenge.”

  “Hum…” Larna looked at the two guys, and they looked back at him, waiting for an answer.

  It wasn’t so awkward if they wanted to battle, too, at least.

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  But Larna's heart didn't have a chance to relax as it raced, not knowing which opponent to choose. He just knew he didn’t want to pick the one that Vale wanted to fight.

  “Y-You first.”

  Vale narrowed his eyes at Larna before quickly pointing at one of the guys.

  “I’ve been itching to fight a scythe user again.”

  The scythe user put his hand on his face and did a pose. “I’ll show you the scythe’s power!”

  Larna narrowed as he looked at the two opponents. What a pair.

  Larna looked away at the sword user. His black hair looked as if he had been electrocuted. Impression that just grew stronger because of his scientific-like clothes.

  They stood silent, looking at each other, until Larna couldn't resist the awkwardness anymore. What's the matter with this guy? He walked with the masked one, so he couldn’t be very normal.

  Wait. The same applies to me for getting along with Vale?

  “You look like a beginner,” the sword user said, his voice flat.

  Larna internally stepped back by that affirmation. Just by the looks, the sword’s user didn’t seem like a rookie. Maybe he didn’t want to lose his time. It was understandable.

  “Yes. I’m a newbie to real battle. So if you don’t want to lose your time…”

  “I don't mind.”

  Larna widened his eyes and smiled slightly, having expected the opposite answer. But his smile didn't last long…

  “I just have a condition.”

  “Hmm?”

  “If you lose, you have to give your number,” the weirdo simply said.

  Larna smiled, not knowing how to react. He started to feel unease. The guy’s eyes were fixed on him, as if watching his insides.

  This is turning strange. He didn’t want to be in contact with someone like that.

  “Err…s-sorry but—”

  “Do you like to look at the sky?” the weirdo asked.

  What? What kind of question is that? Wait… Larna’s mind grew serene.

  He didn’t know what answer to expect for the question he was going to ask.

  “Sorry, what’s your Battle name?”

  The weirdo sighed.“It’s Analyzer. “You also ask for the test, I suppose? I created it as a lesson, but it's just giving me headaches.”

  Larna's right eye twitched like. He had found him, the guy he cursed, the creator of that dumb ‘Ideal Weapons Test’.

  Larna’s doubts faded. There was no way he wouldn’t battle this guy.

  “Yeah, I love to look at the sky. Now, let’s begin.”

  The guy’s detached face didn’t change a bit. His pupils dilated as he grew cautious of every detail.

  Any pop-up screen asked for Larna's confirmation to start the battle. Probably the system could discern his obvious answer.

  The world crystallized, everything around stopped in time and took on a glossy texture, every surface mirroring the two battlers.

  Larna took a step forward, feeling the heaviness of his new weapon. And trusted his lance towards his opponent.

  The time seemed to slow down as he watched Analyzer walking to the side, getting away from the lance’s trajectory.

  Larna grounded his feet and, through gritted teeth, managed to stop his lance on time.

  He wouldn’t lose against that fool.

  He stepped to the side and rotated his body. The lance started to move in a weeping diagonal attack that would crush anything on his path.

  But again, the weird guy seemed to be capable of seeing the future as he kneeled and was already resting downwards on the floor.

  The lance passed above him, its wake shaking the weirdo’s tangled hair.

  It was a powerful attack, but the guy showed no sign of relief at having dodged it, nor any other emotion. His face was indifferent as he pushed himself to his feet and walked towards Larna.

  What’s going on? It is as if he could see the futur—

  Analyzer unsheathed his sword and sprinted towards Larna, interrupting his thoughts. He wasn’t too fast, but Larna’s lance was slower. He will have to protect himself until a chance appears.

  The weirdo raised his sword—an unmistakable sign of a coming attack.

  “I can see the future too!” Larna slammed his enormous shield against the crystalline floor, cracking it with the impact.

  The shield was enormous and thick. It was impossible to go through it…

  Analyzer seemed to have realized this, too, as he moved around the shield. His hands up, still gripping his gray sword.

  A cold ran down Larna's spine as his grip on the shield and lance strengthened. He knew it. His attacks were too slow to do something now.

  Analyzer looked down at him. This time, his face wasn’t neutral. He was frowning, rage ran through his eyes, and every wrinkle on his face.

  “Sadly, I can’t see the future,” he said, his voice reflecting calmed resentment. “But I can see through people.”

  Then he brought his sword down.