The Ogre Strength Fairy and the Eldest 'Son'
Chapter 186 - Don’t Tell Me: The Spear That Can Pierce Anything Is Love?

Chapter 186: Chapter 186 - Don’t Tell Me: The Spear That Can Pierce Anything Is Love?

A pair of newlyweds had moved to the private cultivation room and sat on the floor to eat. Mostly because one of them wanted to show that she had finally hung the copper windchimes from the center rafter. The other didn’t bother to ask any stupid questions about the choice of placement.

Seeing the dull eyes and tiny awkward smile on the cute face as she looked at the wedding gift, the Yecine would have let her hang it in the middle of the doorway if she wanted.

The Goltbred heiress made a happy humming sound while finishing the last bite of spiced curry buns. Qat was aware of her fondness for stronger flavors and brought back a half dozen of the hearty pastries filled with seasoned meat and vegetables.

She ate two herself as promised... so that the obstinate girl would eat the other four.

"I thought the stall might be gone by now, but they were still there. The owner said business has been better than expected with the competition bringing more visitors through the city."

"Mm, lucky for us. I expect he will be moving to the grounds soon."

A lot of small and large business ventures, not to mention the bulk of cultivators participating or interested in the event, would be making the final competition migration soon. The trains would be packed and they would run both earlier and later schedules to move all the people and goods.

Then it will be just as busy when it ends - to move everyone back to where they needed to be during wartime. It was truly a chaotic time all around, even if it was all kept as ordered as possible.

"We should probably work off some of this food before we have dinner at the estate. Any thoughts?"

"Didn’t you say you wanted me to test the mirror more thoroughly?"

"I suppose I did. Though that was mostly because you looked at me strangely when I called it my shield."

The obsidian surface caught afternoon light as it drifted lazily around her. Elua had been idly practicing with it while they ate, furthering the ’field feel’ of using Adhesion upon it. She had gotten a weird look at that phrase too, but Qat didn’t argue back when she compared it to ’muscle memory’ for essence.

"The gardens would be perfect for that. Most of the servants will be busy with indoor tasks right now. We could take a walk around there like old times."

The fragment in the brunette’s chest caught a pulse of ’approval’ from her husband-wife at the suggestion. The location held good memories for them both - especially since planting the growing tree sapling. The tall swordswoman stood and offered her hand.

"Shall we then?"

The smaller teen took the offered help up, though she didn’t actually need it. The mirror settled into a steady location around her lower back as they left the workshop. Of course, no one but the pair of them could actually see its location.

---

Their walk through the city to the estate was unhurried. When they reached the garden, Elua led Qat toward a secluded corner where tall hedges provided some natural privacy. The area was far enough from both the house and any of the common paths that they should remain unbothered.

"This should work for our purposes."

"The location hardly matters when you were going to hide us with your illusion anyway."

The brunette grinned at the blonde’s accurate assumption.

"You’re so very right, but so very wrong. A location for things is important, even when hidden. For instance, if we were to kiss in the dining room with my parents present... would it not bother you even if I said we could not be seen?"

A distortion of intent could be felt rippling through the air as the ancient cultivator wove her illusions around their practice space. The mirror quickly shifted from its place at her back and rushed across to the end of her extended hand.

"Just like that case... it would also bother you to be playing this sort of martial game right out in the street, even if I could promise no one would notice. Frankly, it wouldn’t be my first choice either."

"Putting aside that you just tried to use the same analogy for both kissing and sparring... what do you mean you wouldn’t choose it?"

The reincarnator spun her finger in a circle while causing the mirror to spin on its axis. It wasn’t that the body had no relation to the location of the essence field, but with her level of control she could mostly ignore it. Elua could move herself, manipulate essence, and direct her spirit all at once if needed.

It was just too exhausting to fully do more than two of those things at once. Though she considered that a small price to pay compared to trying to train out the ’switching’ mentality that most young cultivators developed in order to utilize the three energies.

"I don’t like that I am overly fearful of someone stronger than me finding out my secrets... but I also don’t like the thought of growing complacent and getting caught because I overestimate myself."

The Goltbred pulled the mirror back into her hand out of the air and then chucked it in front of the Yecine. It didn’t make much noise as it bounced a few times on the packed earth.

"That’s why this place is better. I’m a lot more certain I won’t get caught by a random passerby here. Just someone that might already be keeping an eye on me."

The swordswoman drew her blade while her pigeon-blue eyes studied the obsidian surface. Due to what was said about its durability, it was with more professional interest than concern. If it was a normal wedding gift, she might even feel bad for what they were about to do.

"Start with a normal strike - none of your Element techniques. I want you to see how it handles basic impacts before we try anything more intense."

Elua stepped away with dull eyes focusing intently on the coming demonstration. She was confident in her beloved’s ability, but mistakes could happen. Fearing that Qat might slip and have the sword ricochet into her leg was a real struggle!

"Here I go."

Qat adjusted her stance and the gifted weapon met the obsidian surface like a hammer. The impact sent a solid shock up her arms - like striking a reinforced stone wall that happened to be mirror-shaped.

A ’pleased’ smile tugged at Elua’s lips as she caught her wife’s evaluating look. The relic of a Divinity had completely absorbed the force of her strike without showing any sign of damage. The ancient cultivator had expected exactly this result - watching Qat discover it was the real pleasure.

"Impressive, isn’t it? The impact doesn’t even mark. Would you like to try something stronger?"

The swordswoman flexed her wrists while the illusionist approached and reached out for the ’new’ tool of hers.

"Just how much can it take?"

"At least more force than I can currently apply to it. Lots of Relics I heard of couldn’t be harmed physically by anything less than a Defier."

The obsidian surface moved with almost unsettling fluid motion as Elua manipulated it to spin and flow around her outstretched arm.

"Go ahead, give me your best normal strike. Knowing that it won’t break, I want you to feel again just how special this relic is."

The blonde hesitated for only a moment, trusting her wife. The obsidian surface caught Qat’s next strike head-on, while the small cultivator maintained its position with pure essence technique. The impact left a dull thud that resonated through the garden air.

’Did the surrounding essence also vibrate?’

"Now, when I do it like this... the force has nowhere to go but away from the impact. Yet, my essence field holds the mirror in place. The cosmos demands an equal reaction somewhere."

The gold-trimmed circle of black hovered in front of the silver dress wearing lecturer. She pointed a small finger on either side of the object, gesturing to visualize the linked chain of forces pushing at each other.

"Most objects would strain under the pressure of being held perfectly still in this way. This relic is special because I can use either method available to me without concern. Swing again, please."

Another strike from the blonde and Elua demonstrated by shifting the mirror to an angled position, letting the next blow glance off with significantly less resistance.

"See the difference? A field holding something still effectively doubles the strain - the original impact plus an opposing force. But if I use it to parry instead... the glancing forces are far less trouble."

Qatrand was very familiar with parrying. During their betrothal, the Goltbred had spent time at the Youth Guild making her fiance learn how to block and parry from almost any angle with her heavy blade.

While she was remembering this, the girl’s dull eyes sparked to life with ’mischief’ as she spun the mirror in a distracting pattern.

"But the best part is, it works just as well for offense."

The obsidian disk swept out in a swift arc as the heiress took a step *away*. It tapped on Qat’s sword arm with just enough force to be noticed. Pigeon-blue eyes widened at what that meant.

"Upper Realm cultivators have to fight each other as if an attack can come from anywhere, at any time, without any tells... is that right?"

"Well, I won’t say there aren’t *any* quirks that any given person won’t develop, but for the most part you are correct. Does that scare or excite you, my fortress?"

The Yecine was quiet for a long time, gripping the sword hilt in both hands.

"Yes. It sounds terrifying and thrilling at the same time."

Elua chuckled. She expected nothing less. The one she loved was a protector, but foremost she was a fighter. A challenger. A candidate for Divinity, like all cultivators.

"Then I guess I can practice with you some. You’ve gained some mastery over waiting for the perfect moment to strike while remaining in defense - but how fast can you recover from those ’decisive’ blows of yours?"

The mirror darted forward twice again, this time just barely brushing each of the tall girl’s shoulders as she withdrew backward.

"With your Element letting you adjust your blade’s weight now, we could work on making those recoveries faster. It’s also time to work more on your point control and thrusts. Though you’ll need to be very precise..."

Mint eyes shone with ’playful’ warning as she started to move the mirror all around her body.

"After all, I’d hate to get scratched or stabbed only because you were too slow pulling back."