SideQuest!

Video Log #462

"I believe I didn't catch your name." Shinjiro remarked as he walks along the grassy field of the meadows, creating a distance between himself and Julia.

"Julia." the young woman said as she gets in position on the other side of the field. "Julia Cheong. And you?"

"Mikami Shinjiro, former Royal Guard of the White Palace." he replied as his hands glide over the hilt of his sword. "Never have I seen a woman with a warrior's fire within her. I must say that you are quite a curious specimen. Where are you from?"

"Valencia." Julia curtly replied.

"Ahh. The kingdom of floating ships. That explains the attitude. Tell me, what business would a Valencian have on our land?" Shinjiro further inquired.

"Julia, that man is Shinjiro Mikami, the second-in-command of the resistance forces supporting Josen...,or rather, Sev in this case." advised Grace. "According to the document here, his personality is described as a very stubborn conservative. Put simply, he's...not as open-minded as Sev. Even if this is just a test of strength, be on guard. He may not take you as lightly as he had promised."

"Duly noted. Thanks for the heads up, Grace." Julia softly replied as she drew her swords, shifting her attention to her opponent. "If you need to know, my overseer sent me to find Se-...your lord. My instructions are to find him and help him. With what, I honestly don't know. I understand that it's not much to go on, but these were the only orders I received from my overseer before he died. My other superiors threatened to exile me if I fail."

"Not the strongest excuse, but it will do fine." Grace commented.

"Who cares? " Julia softly hissed at Grace.

"Is that so?" Shinjiro reacted, drawing one of his swords. "So, you're fighting for a country that sees you as nothing more than a tool? You're fighting a fool's cause."

"Perhaps." Julia conceded. "But I'm not doing this for them. I'm doing this to honor my overseer's last request...and to be able to return to my friends back at home."

"I see." Shinjiro acknowledged as he assumes an offensive stance, priming his sword for a thrust. "Maybe I misjudged you."

With that said, Shinjiro zoomed in towards Julia, leaving a sonic boom in his wake. He engaged his opponent with three successive thrusts midair, to which Julia responded with a series of parries with her swords. However, as she struck a few hits of her own, her swords didn't seem to connect.

"What the?!" she remarked as her sword went through what seemed like Shinjiro's inky image of himself. Not long after, she felt a sudden breeze blow from her rear. And before she could react, she felt a heavy thump as Shinjiro lands a knee kick to her back, sending her flying through the grass.

"Give the woman a little slack." protested Sev.

"Don't worry, Your Highness..." was Shinjiro's thrifty reply. "I'm just testing her."

Julia recovered by quickly planting her swords to the ground to gain traction and prevent herself from being flown away any further by the force. She then stood up to regain her form.

"Not even a minute has passed and we're off to a wonderful start." Julia taunted as she raised her swords. "Have at you!"

Shinjiro replied with a laugh. "I like your spirit!" He then propelled himself towards Julia once more, to which she countered by summoning a flurry of ghostly daggers towards him with a flick of her hand.

"Pathetic." Shinjiro exclaimed as he swatted down the daggers with a plethora of quick strikes whilst still propelling towards Julia. He then hurled a big sideward swing against Julia, by which the latter managed to block seconds before landing on her head

"Is this what passes for a capable fighter to you?" Shinjiro taunted as he pressed his sword against his struggling opponent. "You can barely hold your own against me. And I'm barely using my streng-"

"Cross Judge!" Julia yelled, the blast sending Shinjiro flying by a few feet. She then used this short window of time to restore her form, and after priming a few ghost daggers into the air, she dashes towards her enemy with the daggers in close pursuit.

"You got sloppy." she teased as she was about to swish her sword against him. However, the strike did not connect...again - and this time, Shinjiro's image dissolved into a blot of blank ink, jetting towards Julia's right flank.

"Not even close, woman." Shinjiro replied as he reformed in the distance, his blade sucking in ink-like energy as he primed it for a powerful sideward cut - an attack that had noticeable similarities to Sev's energy slashes. Noticing this, Julia flicked her hand once more to redirect the movement of the daggers, forcing Shinjiro into defense and interrupting his attack. Julia then takes advantage of the situation and blinked towards her enemy's position to counterattack.

"Too slow." Shinjiro remarked as he dissolved once more into a blot of ink, quickly jumping from one position to the next. Frustrated, Julia chased him with daggers - only to miss miserably.

"Stop that, Julia. You're only wasting your mana. J...just calm down, all right?" Grace advised. "There has to be a way to defeat him."

"Well, if you have any brilliant ideas Grace, now would be the best time to share them." Julia replied as she ran around the field, chasing Shinjiro's ink blob with blows and thrusts.

"You seriously think you can hurt me in this form, Valencian? What a pathetic display..." the black-armored swordsman mocked as he dissolved and reformed. After a few moments of banter between him and his opponent, Shinjiro shifted to his human form and dashed away from Julia, leaving behind a trail of misty ink.

"Let's end this." Shinjiro exclaimed as he plunged his sword to the ground, spawning ink-like tendrils from the grass slithering at a blistering pace towards Julia.

"No! Shinjiro, don't!" yelled Sev as he rushed towards Julia in an attempt to save her.

"Oh, s**t!" Julia cried out as the tendrils overwhelm her with incredible force, crossing her swords in an attempt to block it. But as the ink tendrils were about to pierce her, something strange happened. Whether it was a glitch or perhaps a surprise mechanic in the game is unknown. But what is certain is that as the sharp spikes of ink were about to plunge Julia's body, time began to slow down around Julia until everything eventually grinds to a halt - with the exception of Julia herself.

"Grace, are you seeing this?" Julia exclaimed. But there was no reply. It was as if only Julia was not affected by the phenomenon.

A few moments later, a ghostly apparition of her emerged from her body, sidestepping to the left as if to avoid the spikes. The apparition then dashed towards Shinjiro's location to attack, but instead of swinging its sword, it formed a cross with it as it approached and a bright light shone from the blades, knocking out what seemed to be a smoky apparition of Shinjiro out of his body.

The vision ended with Julia awakening in the meadow, with her running across the field trying to strike the evasive ink blob. "You seriously think you can hurt me in this form, Valencian? What a pathetic display..."Shinjiro remarked as he jumped away from Julia and reformed into his human form.

"What the hell was that?!" Julia said to herself as she retreated from her opponent.

"What the hell is what?" Grace asked, oblivious to what Julia was pertaining to.

"The vision that I just saw. Everything was in slow-motion earlier. You saw it, right? " Julia asked her android.

"I'm sorry, Julia. But I haven't seen anything. I'm just...looking at a pretty normal video feed. Nothing out of the ordinary. Maybe you experienced a bug in the game?" Grace refuted.

"Maybe." Julia conceded. "Strange...it felt real for a second there..."

"Let's end this." Shinjiro exclaimed as he plunges his sword on the ground, summoning the inky tendrils that immediately rushed towards Julia. However, this time the young swordsman reacted differently. "This seems familiar." she commented as the tendrils surged halfway through, forming spikes as it slithered through the grass. It only took a few seconds for the tendrils to close the gap between itself and its target. And with only a few feet away from its victim, the ink tendrils pounced, forming spikes primed to impale Julia...

And then she remembered the vision.

"Not this time, bastard." she muttered as she rolls sideward to dodge just as the tendrils were about to hit. Priming her sword for another lunge, she bolted towards Shinjiro, who taunted her with a smug smile as she was about to swing at him.

"You never learn, do you?" Shinjiro insulted as he confidently stood his ground as he reverted to ink form.

"Hmph. To be honest...I actually did." Julia snickered as she reconsidered her swing and instead crossed her swords. "Cross Judge!"

And with the bright flash of light, Shinjiro was thrown flying across the field like a cannonball. However, Shinjiro immediately managed to mitigate the damage of the attack by cushioning his collision on the ground with a pool of ink, though the force was still sufficient to drag him across the field, leaving a trench-like trail in his wake.

But despite her seemingly defenseless opponent laying on the ground, Julia still held her swords up, as the ink blobs were still slithering around. She is weary that Shinjiro might make another attack out of nowhere.

"It's over, Lady Julia. He lost. Please, you can rest easy now." Sev explained, trying to calm Julia down.

"Wow, Julia. That's...that's pretty impressive. That reaction time is impeccable." commended Grace, who seemed pretty oblivious to the events that happened earlier.

"Arrrgh...I can't feel my back." Shinjiro moaned as the ink pool subsided where he lay. Moments later, his grunts turned into laughs as tries to prop himself up - using his sword as a cane. "I have to say, my lady, you have subverted my every expectation of you."

"You fought well, yourself." Julia praised in return as she sheathes her sword and walks towards her opponent. "Your techniques are...unorthodox to say the least, but overwhelmingly effective."

"The same can be said for you as well." he replied. "Your attacks are simple, yet elegant and...somewhat familiar. Like I felt a certain fondness for it that I cannot really explain."

"I must have made a hell of a first impression, then." Julia remarked as she offered her hand to shake, a gesture that Shinjiro welcomed without hesitation.

"Yes. You definitely did." he agreed as he shook her hand.

"Thank you. I am honored." she replied with a smile as she turns to Sev. "So...your...Highness, what happens now?"

Sev paused for a moment. "We go to Junjo, assemble the troops we have and march towards Manjeoung."

"We?" Julia asked as her lips curled into a smile. "I thought you said this was your own problem?"

"I did. But I changed my mind." he jested back. "I've never seen such resilience in a woman before. I now see your point when you said that my people will come to understand when they see you fight..."

"What are you trying to say?" Julia asked.

He then walked towards her, bearing a smile on his face. "You showed me that even when facing insurmountable odds...with the right dose of resilience, we can win. Perhaps that's the reason your superior sent you to us. I believe that message resonates very well from you, and that is something our people need more than ever."

He then slowly reached out his hand and offered it to the young woman. "Welcome to the resistance, Lady Julia. I hope your stay with us will be worth your while."