"I surrender!" Brand panted for air and held his hand up in the air. He dropped his shattered bone club to the ground.
Lena was holding her spear, glowing with bright orange light.
Spear Aura.
"Great call. She looks like she was ready to kill you just now." Seraphine whispered to him.
Brand nodded in agreement, which caused Lena to tilt her head. She intensified her aura.
"I'm nodding to tell you how genuine I am!" Brand yelled.
Lena dismissed her spear aura and looked at Brand. She sighed and placed her hand on her chest.
"Farah Nur, traveling merchant." She exchanged her greeting once again.
"Brand Essen, young warrior with amnesia." Brand followed suit, placing his hand on his chest.
***
"You know the combat arts of the Emas Tribe as well?" Brand asked.
"I… I've been there before for my trades, and I learnt during the time," Lena stuttered.
"I can't believe it," Brand clapped. "You learned it just by watching their training?"
She seemed not willing to talk further on this topic.
Brand was clearly teasing her; he wouldn't let go, now that he had suspicion of her. She's clearly hiding her identity.
But where's the goat skull? And why was she hiding it?
Brand decided to take the initiative of the conversation.
"I'm searching for my Tribe, and I happened to stumble upon here," Brand told Lena.
Hmm, what's with this uneasy feeling?
"That couldn't be…" Lena was mumbling for a while. "Was the spell not working?"
She seemed to be in distress after hearing what I said. But why do I feel equally distressed?
Her mumbling became softer and softer, and she seemed to be occupied with her thoughts.
Brand could hear her faintly.
'He shouldn't be able to enter here…?'
Why does it feel like Deja Vu?
Although Brand expected her to question his memory, she seemed to be occupied in her own thoughts.
That was disappointing; he had even crafted a story for what he was doing after waking up with amnesia.
It didn't matter; it was better this way.
Brand snapped his finger with force, strands of silver thread tangling between the finger and his open wound.
After the finger hung in the air for a while, the thread stretched further until it snapped. The finger was dropped on the ground.
Brand quickly stepped on it while Lena was still daydreaming. When he lifted his foot, the finger was gone.
The finger has sunk into the sand, morphed into a beetle, and started its mission.
To search for the goat skull buried.
***
"!!!"
Lena was startled when she saw Brand's hand.
"Your finger!" She pointed at his hand. She was shocked at his missing pinky finger.
"It got cut off during the fight, no big deal." He told Lena. "Don't fret about it, injury happens."
Brand cracked his fingers, enjoying the popping sounds. He deliberately did this to show he was unbothered by the detached finger.
"That's a great intimidation!" Seraphine cheered.
'I know, right?'
"If you feel guilty, can you show me your spear thrust again?" Brand asked.
Without saying anything, Lena raised her spear.
"Just once?" She asked.
"Yeah, thanks in advance!"
Lena made a spinning motion with her spear, adding aura onto it gradually, for each time it made a full spin.
After three spins, she thrust ahead, without yelling the skill name. But Brand knew it; it was the same skill she showed during their fight.
"Combat Arts were different than skills," Seraphine told him. "They were passed down through the effort of training."
'If so, if I practiced diligently, I could also do it, right?'
"It's not so simple, though." Seraphine giggled.
'Lena could do it, though.'
Each class or clan has its own prominent skills or arts. Using skills matched to their affinity would result in greater output. But what if they tried to use skills not from their class?
Brand took out a new stick he found from the oasis, and started to mimic the action.
Seraphine had told him something during the fight. "This was not her art."
Brand grinned. If she could do it, why can't he?
He has an angel.
Seraphine traced a cerulean light, guiding Brand with her flight. "Follow exactly, okay." She reminded.
Brand followed the motion traced by Seraphine. Tracing the spear motion left by Lena's Phantom Thrust.
With each swing, he poured mana into it, gradually, following the intensity of Seraphine's light.
He could feel the arc getting wider at a certain angle, and narrower at another. But as the arts were completing, the swinging converged and accumulated at his center of gravity.
Seraphine flew out, signaling the final motion.
The thrust.
"Phantom Thrust!" Brand called out as he performed the final movement of the sequence.
A mirage of sticks was sent out consecutively; each was a solid image, and onlookers would not be able to discern if they were the real thrust or the afterimages.
This was the spear art, Phantom Thrust of the Decay Tribe.