“I wanna see a bit more from you. No spiritual energy this time, I’ll only block, and I’ll go a bit easier. All I want is to see how long it takes you to hit me once.”

Action Pact

The Invasion

Story by Connor Perry

Demon Hunter

8

She once again waits for a moment, to give the impression she’s evaluating his stance and position. In reality, she is just not ready to counter his movements again.

She decides not to waste too much time, and runs towards Allan. She lifts her wooden sword up as she approaches, which transitions into a strike as soon as she is within distance. Her mind’s eye guessed correctly, Allan not only perfectly dodges, but doesn’t even move in the slightest.

Pori continually swings left and right, up and down, side to side, and with due diligence she is able to break Allan’s defense for the slightest moment. Taking this opportunity, she is able to hit Allan in the torso, this time not holding back as payment for sending her flying earlier. The result is Allan getting pushed around just a tiny bit, almost as if by a child. Pori is surprised her effort was so futile, at least in her mind.

“That … was … good. You have some real skills already!” Allan puts the wooden sword down.

“Is that it?” Pori asks.

“Well, for that exercise. I just wanted to show you the type of skills we here at SIHO must utilize each day. With your already acquired skills, I could see you learning our style in just a few weeks.”

“Awesome. What else will we be doing today, Master?”

“For now I suggest we work on that offense some more. You already seem to have a good rhythm, putting a SIHO fighter on their defense, all of that is quite impressive. But, we could make it better. How much experience do you have with sword fighting?”

“Well, I learned from my grandpa. He’s always been heavily dedicated to martial arts, and the usage of swords. From a young age he taught me how to use a sword, albeit just a little.”

“Your grandpa sounds like an interesting man,” says Allan. “Perhaps maybe he would be interested in a job here?” He and Pori exchange a laugh, shaking it off as a joke.

“Hahaha, I’ll let him know.” Pori chuckles along.

“Great. So as I was saying, let’s start with the offensive. Speed and precision is key for pushing your opponent, and that itself is also important. You want to be able to lead the fight if you are fighting offensively, which is why you must move quicker, and be more cunning.”

“Right..”

“So what I want you to do is get used to running with your sword.”

Pori pauses for a moment. “What.”

“Yeah, if you can run with it on your back, you’re much closer to being able to run with it out.”

“I guess..?”

“Trust me, it works, and we can also try weights too, now get going.”

Pori starts running with a seven pound metal longsword strapped to her back, while Supervisor Kim Naia enters to pay Allan a visit.

“Allan, we’ve encountered an oddity on the far end of town. You’ve been asked to help investigate it.”

“I’m in the middle of my thing here,” Allan complains.

“Wasn’t my order, they said they wanted it done.” Kim seems serious.

“Fine.” Allan shrugs his shoulders in defeat and whistles to Pori, telling her class is dismissed for the day.

“Aww they want you to leave now?” Pori seems genuinely upset at having to leave so soon.

“Yeah they don’t have enough people so they want me to do it. I guess just try running more often outside of work, it will really help you increase your endurance.”

“Okay, thank you!”

“You seem to be quite good from what I’ve heard,” Kim Naia speaks to Pori as the girl turns to grab her stuff, “I suggest you work incredibly hard to become a good fighter,” she slants her eyes, “otherwise it might cost you your life.”

With that foreboding message, Pori biked home in dread.

She returned home to see her grandpa standing in the living room watching old martial arts videos. Even in his old age he was still an avid practitioner of fighting. Last year he turned 70, and just one month later would go on to win the World Taekwondo Championship of 2043. Still though, as much as he loves his videos, he loves seeing Pori come home more.

“It’s great to see you again my dear. They sent you home early today, didn’t they?”

“Yeah, my teacher had something to do, he said.”

“Interesting..” Carter walks towards the kitchen a bit, then asks, almost begging, “can I make you some food?”

“No! I can make it myself!” Pori insists.

“So you actually haven’t told me that much about your job,” Carter takes a sip of this water, “what is it that you’re doing.”

Pori just now realizes she actually has no idea how she’s going to break to her grandpa that her job is fighting demons. She almost just wants to tell him she became part of the police force or something, but knew that keeping that lie going would get tiring.

“Have you ever heard of SIHO?”

Carter suddenly seems to get sad. He raises his head. “Aw, I was hoping you would go get a normal job.”

“Huh? But they pay me really well!” Pori says, “and they teach me to fight too! I figured you’d like that.”

“I like that you’re interested in working with them, Pori,” her grandfather adds, “but it’s dangerous work.”

“I know, I think I can handle it!”

“But the enemy is a lot more powerful than you think Pori.” Her grandfather walks over to her, and invites her to walk with him. "Come Pori, I want to tell you some of the things I've learned about demons during my long life."