Infinite Journey: Dark Souls

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Sparks of light drifted past Xiao Yan's gently upturned lips, swirling around her and igniting tiny flames on her body, seemingly celebrating her victory.

As the light faded, a campfire emerged from it, and a figure slowly walked out.

"Congratulations, Flame."

The illusory arm, passing through the scattering of light, stopped in front of her.

"Ah, I did it."

Xiao Yan chuckled softly and reached out her hand to the arm.

One is real, the other is illusory; their hands clasp together, yet pass right through each other.

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Flame's Intelligence Compilation Manual

Information regarding the battle:

Additional notes on shield parrying: The success rate of a shield parry depends on the shield used, the timing of the parry, and the power imbalance between the parryer and the attacker. The last factor has the highest priority; that is, if the power imbalance is too great, even if the shield is powerful and the timing of the parry is perfect, a successful parry will not be possible, and the attacker will instead exploit the opening.

Stun: A vulnerability, a state where one is unable to react after being attacked. Generally speaking, the more powerful the attack, the easier it is to cause stun. Having repeatedly pierced the Judge's defenses head-on, it's clear that thrusting attacks are less likely to cause stun.

PS: Yunxi: Congratulations to Xiaoyan (744486102) for winning the Ash Judgement! I'm begging for recommendations and favorites! (?*?ω?)?

PS1: I revised this chapter again; I feel like I'm almost completely burned out...

Chapter Six: Parrying Doesn't Always Require a Shield

They lit a campfire, sat down in front of it, and Xiao Yan squinted her eyes, enjoying the feeling of the flames bathing her whole body. A lazy expression also appeared on Sanwu's face.

Zhi was instantly charmed. Sure enough, when a girl with no personality traits suddenly makes such a girlish gesture, there is a very strong contrast that makes her even cuter.

I got Xiaoyan's lazy expression!

"I have a feeling you're thinking something rude."

"No, no~ I just think Homura is really cute right now~"

While carefully saving Xiaoyan's rare emoticons, Zhi fired a straight shot, hoping to get the next rare emoticon.

"Adorable... that's an adjective that's long gone from my mind."

The straight shot she aimed for missed. Xiaoyan didn't perform as expected at all; instead, she embraced her laziness and lay back down on the ground.

"Hey... Origami, how does it feel to have your wish fulfilled?"

Just as she was lamenting that she hadn't been able to get the shy little flame's expression, Zhi was stunned when she heard this question with a leisurely tone.

"I guess I was so, so satisfied that I felt a little empty."

Xiaoyan seemed to be simply confiding in someone; she didn't wait for Zhi's reply and continued talking to herself.

"I haven't felt this way in a long time—that I've given everything and finally succeeded. You know what? I've been going through countless cycles of trying to fulfill my wishes, failing and failing repeatedly. In all those cycles, I never experienced the joy of success, only the regret of repeated failures."

"It's been so long, so long that I've almost forgotten what joy really is. So, in that moment of success just now, I was even grateful that I was born into this world. Even though I've experienced death time and time again in this world, even though I'm now forever separated from my own world, even though I may have to travel a long way to realize the deepest desire in my heart, I'm starting to think that being born into this world isn't so bad after all."

"At least, I tried, I did it, and I believe I can do it again!"

Xiao Yan stretched out her palm towards the sky... no, towards another world beyond the sky, and then clenched it tightly. At that moment, purple flames danced in her palm.

"Alright! Looks like I can't stand still any longer."

With a gentle smile, Zhi listened quietly to Xiaoyan's story, and then suddenly jumped up and stretched.

As Xiaoyan made up her mind, she discovered that she seemed to have found a reason to continue living in this world.

"Homura-chan, let me tell you, after your wish is fulfilled, you will feel very satisfied, so satisfied that there is no room for emptiness to creep in."

"It's a wonderful feeling, and I sincerely hope that one day... no, sooner or later you will be able to enjoy that moment of happiness."

Zhi pulled back her hands, which she had been stretching, as if she were holding something in her arms. She circled the campfire twice, then walked towards the exit of the arena on her own.

"Well then, see you at the next campfire."

She took two steps with a flourish, then tilted her head back and looked back at a 45-degree angle.

"Oh, and if you're going to the Firelink Shrine, remember to take that spiral sword with you!"

As the words fell, the phantom figure dressed in a bright red kimono slowly disappeared.

"Happiness...?"

Watching the phantom disappear, Xiao Yan sat up from the ground and stared at the campfire, lost in thought.

"Indeed, only by fulfilling one's wishes can one achieve true happiness; this small success is far from enough to fill my emptiness—it's time to continue down this path. Now that I know there is hope ahead, even I am starting to look forward to the scenery along the way."

Leaning on her longsword, Xiao Yan stood up and gazed at the road stretching out from the arena.

"Then let's take the Spiral Sword and set off."

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The journey to the Firelink Shrine wasn't long; she just had to follow the road leading out of the arena. She vaguely remembered seeing this winding road from afar at the first bonfire, so the tower and temple-like structure she saw then must have been the Firelink Shrine that Zhi had mentioned.

As she cleared away the scattered gravediggers along the road, she recalled the route she had inadvertently glimpsed earlier.

"Speaking of which, after defeating the Judge, dealing with these gravekeepers feels much easier."

She easily dealt with the gravediggers using shield parries and backstabs. Suddenly, she felt confident that she could take them down even if all five gravediggers attacked her at once.

"It's probably related to the current situation."

She observed the flames emanating from her body. During the battle just now, she felt her body was much lighter, and even without using magic to enhance it, she could still perform like her enhanced physical abilities.

"Is this what they call embers? I should have asked Zhi earlier."

Having made some guesses about this situation, she stopped in a hurry to investigate further and focused on heading towards the sacrificial site.

After taking down two more gravediggers, she realized she had strayed from the main road and arrived at a fork in the road to the left of a sacrificial site. If she followed the wall on the right, she could probably reach the sacrificial site directly; but on the left, there was a narrow path along the cliff edge that vaguely led to the tower.

"Should we explore this area first?"

She was thinking about it with some hesitation.

"Let's take a look first. In case we miss something important, we'll be laughed at by that guy again next time we meet."

However, she forgot what she had encountered in a crevice in the rocks.

She maintained at least a minimum level of vigilance, shield in her left hand, and slowly walked down the path.

As a result, she alerted a powerful enemy.

He was a man as thin as a skeleton, shirtless with only a tattered cloth tied around his waist, but this shabby appearance could not conceal the cold glint of the sharp blade in his hand.

"Tachi?"

The familiar design, the exquisite blade, and the wielder's practiced stance made her feel as if she were in an ancient battlefield in her own world.

"It seems that the native inhabitants of this world cannot communicate with each other."

As the man slowly approached with a mid-level stance, she finally realized that in this world, the normal etiquette was to strike without saying a word when encountering a stranger.

She also raised her shield and went to meet them.

Speaking of katanas, one naturally thinks of the famous draw-and-slash technique. In the literature of her original world, this skill was touted as something divine. However, she had never seen anyone actually use this skill. None of the magical girls she knew before used katanas, which instantly made her very interested in this battle.

The swordsman, however, disregarded her interest and immediately launched a jumping slash upon getting close.

Calmly rolling away, Xiao Yan got up and tried to follow up with a backstab, but he rolled away again.

Oh, so the local residents here also know how to do somersaults.

Xiao Yan silently memorized this information, and continued to circle around him at a leisurely pace.

But the katana-wielder didn't have that patience. He sheathed his katana back into its scabbard and assumed an iaido stance.

coming!

He suddenly lunged forward with quick, shallow steps, a gleaming blade flashing from his waist.

With a very obvious stance and exceptionally precise movements, Xiao Yan felt that this ultimate technique was indeed as described in the book—splendid yet deadly.

She casually swung her shield, deflecting the iaido attack, and skillfully thrust her longsword into his chest.

With a forceful pry, the swordsman fell out, covered in blood.

"When people are about the same size, it feels much easier to deal with them."

Observing the obvious stiffness that the sword-wielding man experienced under the attack, she thought with a heavy heart of the Judge who had withstood her attacks and relentlessly killed her.

As the swordsman stood up, she decided to carry on the tradition of chasing swords, stepping back into a bow stance, pulling her longsword behind her to gather strength, and then thrusting it out the instant he finished standing.

The charged attack hit successfully, and the swordsman staggered. She seized the opportunity and followed up with two more sword strikes.

However, she didn't notice that the swordsman was still in the iaido stance. Just as she was about to strike with her second sword, the drawn blade didn't come towards her body. Instead, it was placed directly against her longsword, using the force of the iaido to deflect her sword to the side.

Xiaoyan was shocked. She thought about how she dealt with those poor guys after successfully countering with her shield, and she had a premonition that she was about to become one of those poor guys.

Sure enough, the next moment, the katana pierced straight into her heart.

YOU DIED

"What the hell? Why can't I kill him by stabbing him once, but I die from being stabbed in the heart... No, it's normal to die from being stabbed in the heart. Are these guys not human after all?"

Reborn at the campfire of the Ashen Tribunal, Little Flame rubbed her chest, muttering to herself in annoyance.

"I was careless. I should have thought of that earlier. If I can use the same techniques as an enemy of the same size as myself, they can definitely use them too. That means I have to take rolling, shield parrying, and backstabs into account in the battle. Speaking of which, that guy parried with a knife, right? Does he not need a shield to parry?"

After sorting out her battle strategy, Xiaoyan decided to try again. After all, she didn't know much about fighting between "same kind" enemies, and trying a few more times should be more helpful when encountering similar enemies in the future.

She soon arrived at the location of the katana-wielding man again. However, while clearing out the gravediggers, she noticed that the burning flames on her body seemed to have disappeared, and her physique had returned to its pre-enhancement state. She couldn't help but become even more curious about the embers.

She suppressed her curiosity, straightened her posture, and began to challenge the katana-wielding man again.

After the two of them had been dancing for a while, she realized that this katana-wielding man's swordsmanship was not as complicated as in the novel. He had simply refined the techniques of iaido, katana, thrusting, and kesa-giri. But because of this, each of these attacks was concise and powerful, just like the katana he wielded. After being honed through countless trials, the sheer light it created when swung was awe-inspiring.

The simple yet varied sword techniques caused her considerable trouble in parrying, especially since she knew that her opponent could also parry and dared not swing her sword easily. The battle became a game of skill, which slowed down the pace of the fight.

During this time, she successfully countered twice, but failed to kill him either time. So she labeled these creatures, who were exactly like humans, as non-humans.

After taking two parries, the katana-wielding guy became much more cautious, his aggressive desire lessened, but every time he attacked, he targeted her right side, where she couldn't parry. Meanwhile, Xiao Yan, who had only recently mastered the longsword, was immediately at a disadvantage in the skill contest.

He rolled to his feet and unleashed a Kesa-zan (a type of sword strike). After Homura parried with her longsword, he retreated, sheathed his sword, and crouched down to circle around to Homura's right side, delivering another Iai-zan. As Homura rolled, he followed up with a jumping slash towards her rising position.