Grey swordplay 4

The djinn threw herself at me with a piercing battle cry. The weapon in her hand shifted to a glaive, while twin blades spun at my head and hip. I leapt into the air, spinning horizontally with the ground so that the flying swords cut only air above and below me. With the glaive, the djinn cut upward in a short, sharp motion meant to catch me midair, but I didn’t need to have my feet on the ground to react.

I God Stepped behind her, but couldn’t maintain concentration on the summoned aetheric blade in that between-space. The time it took to reform the blade cost me any advantage, giving the djinn time to spin around to find me and then leap over my slash aimed at her waist. I redirected the momentum of my swing into an overhead chop, forcing her to bring up her own weapon—a sword again—to defend.

I leaned into the contact and shoved hard, sending my opponent sliding backwards as I held my sword out to ward off a surprise attack from the weapons that flew unsupported around her.

Triggering God Step, I flashed to her side, then immediately God Stepped again to her opposite side and formed my blade, thrusting it at her chest, but she was already moving, her many blades swinging around to defend from multiple possible angles.

I repeated this several times, each time trying to catch her off guard, attacking from a different direction, but she matched me step for step, neither of us able to land a solid blow against the other.

Then suddenly her weapons vanished and she blinked—not her eyes, but her entire body, like she’d turned momentarily invisible. I let my own sword fade away.

“Are you okay?”

She nodded, but I couldn’t help but think that her form wasn’t as bright as it had been. “I’m afraid our time is running short. We should”—the white blankness vanished, and we were once again standing in the dilapidated stone ruins—“return to your companions.”

The djinn projection was gone, and the voice was now emanating from the crystal at the center of the room. “You have performed well, descendant.”