I feel three presences rapidly coming towards me from my front, back, and left. They were Prince Leonard, Alice, and Kari respectively. 

Using a smokescreen to ambush me, huh?

“Good tactic.”

Not saying anymore, I maneuver through the mist towards where Prince Leonard was.

“Take this!”

Upon seeing me, he covers his sword with mana and releases a barrage of sword attacks at me. 

WHOOSH!

Coating the sword with compressed mana made it crazy sharp so I dodge and parry the attacks while making sure to match my mana level with the mana covering the blade, effectively negating the mana and leaving me to only deal with the blade of the sword. 

It was also during this time that Alice and Kari closed in on me as well.

"[Glacier]!" 

Forming another huge mass of ice on my right to block my route of escape, Alice with her sword slashes at me.

"We got you now! [Sylph Blade]!"

Kari, with a smug smile, shouts as she slashes at my side.

...Things are about to get tricky. I may be a battle-hardened, former hero, but there's no way I can dodge three simultaneous attacks.

I'm not batman. I have no counter button.

So there's only one thing to do…

Dodge and take hits until I can find a way to escape.

***

'He wasn't a hero for nothing! He's a monster!'

After facing off against Marcus so many times, I came to full-heartedly think this.

Although one could sum this up as me tooting my own horn not everyone can take a frontal assault of two A-ranks this easily. 

The only other person I know who can do such a thing is the leader of the Royal Guards, Theodore Tilton. 

Mr. Theo for short. He's an A-rank.

And he, just like Marcus, can defeat all three of us no problem. 

'Haha, while your swordsmanship is improving at an insane rate, the reason I'm able to defeat you guys right now is because you lack experience. Given enough time, you'll easily defeat me.'

Yeah, like he said, given enough time and experience, we can eventually defeat him. 

But here's the thing, he fought each of us one-on-one. We weren't doing group tactics like what we're doing now.

If me, Alice, and Prince Leonard were to face him in a 3 vs 1 match, I'm a hundred percent confident we'd win. And if we didn't, I'd gladly take solace in knowing Mr. Theo won't get off lightly.

Marcus, on the other hand, is different.

This guy, using only the level of B-rank, easily defended himself against us three on multiple occasions. 

This dude's a fucking monster!

Not to mention, each spar is a no holds barred fight so anything and everything can be used as long as we can severely injure him.

'When entering a battle, the very first thing you should think of is how to end it as fast as possible. Aim for the eyes, the ears, hell, grab the family jewels if you need to… While you don't have to necessarily fight like me, I want you to keep this in mind. Think pragmatic. As long as you can kill your opponent in the quickest amount of time and move onto the next one, that's all that matters. So for you to instinctively do that, try it on me. I want you to hone your skills before you go into the battlefield.'

These were the words Marcus said the very first day we started having our sparring matches.

We were hesitant at first but after getting our asses kicked so many times by dirt being thrown in the eyes, sticks being used as swords and giving us bruises, and fake acts being severely hurt, we decided to throw the gloves off as well. 

So under Alice's guidance, we came up with a plan a few days ago.

She was going to act like she wasn't going to participate in this spar while me and Prince Leonard try to wear Marcus down a little. And when he least suspects it, she'd come in with a sneak attack, effectively hurting him.

It was a simple plan.

And like a simple plan, it failed and she had to come in a little early.

If she didn't cast [Glacier] when Marcus and Prince Leonard were going to duke it out with their ocean of flames, we would've lost.

But thankfully, all hope is not lost. 

Because we worked together for so long over these past months, our teamwork is to the point where we can effectively read each other's movements, which is great for this situation since it's now working in our favor.

Under the protection of the mist created by the instantaneous melting of Alice's glacier, we move in on him in a flash. 

Prince Leonard with his mana-covered sword unleashes a barrage of attacks towards Marcus, leaving his side open as he tries to deal with the attacks.

"[Glacier]!"

From behind him and blocking his potential escape route with a huge glacier, came Alice as she swiftly slashed down at his head with her sword. Just like me, she attacked without hesitation.

"We got you now. [Sylph Blade]!"

Covering my sword with wind compressed to the point where it's insanely sharp, I mercilessly slashed at his side.

Three swords. Three directions. Escape route blocked. Oh, yeah, Marcus is done for.

The three attacks connected.

Well, two of them did.

Concluding that Alice's oncoming attack is considered the most lethal, Marcus made a split-second decision and jumped right into mine while simultaneously blocking Prince Leonard's frontal attacks.

Despite my sword making contact with his side, the attack, according to Marcus' standards, didn't leave much of a wound. 

A somewhat deep gash and that was it.

His skin was tough as iron!

I seriously doubt a regular swordsman could damage him.

He told us once we reach a certain level in our [Cycling], our bodies would be tough as steel but as soft as cotton. Which is great since I don't want to have my skin feeling like leather every time I touch it. 

I'm a girl after all, despite being a tomboy.

WHOOSH!

Seeing how her first attack was evaded, Alice went in for another strike. In tandem with her, me and Prince Leonard went in for another attack…

And this time, it didn't bode well for us. More specifically, me.

With superhuman-like moves, Marcus dodged and parried the majority of our attacks and counter-attacked with a mana enhanced kick to my stomach.

WHAM!

I managed to block it but the strength behind the kick forced me back a few feet.

Damn, it hurts!

To make things worse, he's still after me!

Before I could even react, my vision blurred and I felt my body become weightless. 

It didn't take a moment to realize that I was flying in the air...

BOOM!

I crashed into that big glacier of ice. The glacier cracked a little from the impact and the sudden sensation of coldness envelope me.

"Cold!"

I couldn't help yelp as I quickly moved away from the glacier.

Shit, ice is in my armor!

"Marcus!"

I shouted as I glared at Marcus as he was evading the combined attacks of Alice and Prince Leonard.

They were moving along the open area as if they were dancing. 

Whenever Alice attacked, Prince Leonard soon followed. And when Marcus parried an attack, he released attacks of his own. 

This was repeated several times. 

They were going tit-for-tat.

"Shouldn't you be joining in? It looks like he's being pushed back."

Off to the side, leisurely sitting in his chair, King Paul asked with a smile. 

...He had popcorn in his hands.

'Is he treating this as a movie?'

With such thoughts in my head, I shook the broken ice off me, grabbed the sword I dropped, and said.

"Let's do this! Maximum effort! [Tempest Spear]!"

Once again joining the fray, I summon a multitude of spears made out of wind and throw them towards Marcus' back.

Sensing the incoming spears, Marcus immediately jumps out of their trajectory…

"[Phoenix Claw]!"

Before he could land, Prince Leonard slashed a blade of fire his way. He isn't able to dodge it because he's in mid-air.

Not taking this chance for granted, Alice also casts her magic.

"[Ice Needle]!"

As soon as she said that, pieces of ice, the size of sewing needles were formed. 

There were hundreds of them.

"Go!"

Pointing her hands at Marcus, the hundreds of needles made of ice flew towards him.

The combined attacks of those two sent him into the woods with a crash, resulting in a trail of dust and destruction leading to where he was at.

"Haha, damn. I'll admit. You guys are getting good. You're starting to give me a run for my money."

Stepping out of the dust with twigs in his hair, Marcus said as he looked down at his body. His shirt was in tatters, allowing us to see glimpses of his scarred but toned abs as well as his injuries.

He had the gash on his side that I gave him earlier, a slightly red and smoking arm from where he blocked Prince Leonard's recent attack, and a couple of ice needles stuck in him from Alice.

The injuries look painful but it seems like Marcus isn't paying much mind to it.

He isn't even flinching at the pain.

It's probably because he's experienced things far worse. His scarred body can attest to that. When Alice first laid eyes on Marcus' scarred but muscular torso, the first thing she did was burst into tears. At this, Marcus put on a lamenting expression that seemed to say, 'this is why I didn't want to take off my shirt' as he calmed down Alice.

As for me, the moment I saw his upper body, my heart instantly skipped a beat.

He has the ultimate warrior body!

The saying 'chicks dig scars' didn't come from anywhere. I'm part of that group. His whole body is a story waiting to be told!

However, while I may be attracted to his body, if it comes to liking him, I'd probably say no. 

Despite only knowing him for a little over three months, I consider him a good friend and teacher.

Not to mention, someone already has their eyes on them.

Alice.

She doesn't show it much but it's obvious to me that she loves him.

Whenever she'd get a letter from him, her face would brighten up in an instant. Even on her worst of days. And when she would write him back, her face would have a sweet tender smile plastered across it. 

If that isn't love then I don't know what is.

Sigh, I bet her admirers would cry rivers if they found out.

I don't know if Marcus knows her feelings or not. Either way, as her best friend, I'm on team Alice!

"Since you guys caught me by surprise, how about I show you a surprise as well?"

CRACKLE!

All of a sudden, blue lightning started to appear and crackle all over Marcus' body.

"...Eh?"

While all three of us were surprised at this sudden change, Marcus got into a fighting stance. Looking at us, he mumbled something as the lightning around him intensified.

"[Heaven Annihilation Technique: Dance of the Lightning God]!"

***

Author's Note

Sorry, I'm a little late. I had a Florida man incident not too long ago resulting in me getting stitches and my finger in a cast.

Call of the void was real and I drunkenly acted upon.

Smh, I'm a dumbass. And because I'm a dumbass, I'd probably do it again if drunk enough.

Anyways, less about me and more about the chappy. Hope you enjoy it.