“Wow this really is spacious, a bit bare bones though.” Kallad looked around the sparring grounds. There was a stage that seemed able to change size based on the settings that were available in a booth off to the side. There was a place for spectators to watch the fights. As opposed to the training grounds, there were indoor and outdoor sparring grounds. Jin recalled that the guild didn’t want just anyone to be able to watch fights between warriors. The indoor sparring grounds were typically reserved for VIPs or booked out in advance. They charged a premium for people unrelated to the fights to come and watch.

Kallad turned his daughter who came up with the idea to spar with Rai in the first place, “How do you want to do this Sin?”

She looked at Rai and asked him, “Can you use magic to fight?”

Rai shook his head, “I’ve only learned the basics of magic from my aunt.”

Sin sighed, “Fine, we’ll fight without magic.” Though she was a little disappointed. Sin wanted to see this lightning magic the boy was supposedly capable of.

Sindyl went to the stands to find weapons she would be familiar with. Jin and Kallad sat in the spectators’ seating area.

Kallad nodded towards Rai, “Who taught the boy to fight?”

Jin stared blankly back at Kallad, “Who do you think? His mother has nary a violent bone in her body, and his aunt is a pure mage.”

“Ah. Well, I better prepare for the eventual tears that Sin’ll shed after she loses. She’s been trained to fight well, but she relies on magic far too much. In a fair fight without any magic, she’s lacking. If the boy fights anything like you, then the fight is already over.”

“Relax, he’s only been learning for a couple months. Rai’s a creative fighter. But he thinks too much, the fight might be closer than you think. In fact, I think he’ll lose.”

“You think he’ll lose? Why would you think that way as his teacher?”

“Because I know his weaknesses. I can help him fix those weaknesses, but it would be better for him if he learned to fix them himself. He’ll win if he takes my advice.”

Kallad stared at Jin for a moment, “... I’ll never truly understand how you think, Sword Dancer. Is he going to pick a weapon?”

“He already has it with him.”

Kallad eyed Jin curiously.

As if on cue, Sin returned to the stage with two wooden daggers, each with a slight curve to them. “Are you going to pick a weapon then? Or will you fight with your bare hands.” It came across with a mocking tone.

Rai looked at her for a moment, then reached inside his seals. How did he even predict this, to tell me to bring the sparring katana with me. It appeared from thin air; Rai’s wooden sparring katana manifested with white lightning sprouting from the space it appeared in. Rai grabbed it from where it was held in the air, suspended by the white lightning it was engulfed by.

Kallad let out a low whistle, “Now that’s flashy.”

Sin was stunned, “What kind of storage magic is that? It’s so... violent.”

Rai didn’t know how to answer the question, so he got into fighting stance instead. The same one Jin told him to start off with, a defensive stance that would allow him to gauge his opponents’ strengths or weaknesses based on how they attack him.

Putting aside the matter of Rai’s electrifying storage, Sin followed suit, getting into stance. She slowly approached Rai, trying to find weaknesses in his defence, just like her battle tutor told her to. She couldn’t use magic, so she couldn’t just open with a long range spell to throw her opponent off guard as she melded with the shadows. Neither could she use her clones, how annoying.

Rai stood, firm on the ground. His blade was in both of his hands, and for some reason he was shaking. I’m really not used to fighting anyone that’s not the old man. Why am I so anxious though, this is way more nerve wracking than I thought it would be. He was distracted by his thoughts.

He’s distracted. Sin attacked, opening the bout with a dash towards Rai’s left side, which was typically the weakside for an average fighter according to her tutor. She aimed to stab under his lower left rib.

Rai snapped back to reality, realising that this was a real fight. He focused; Jin taught him to defend against low strikes like this one. Swivelling on his right foot just as Sin was about to land the hit, he turned. As Sin was dashing past him, he was now facing her.

Swish!

Rai’s sword came down in a vertical arc, grazing Sin’s side as she managed to pivot away from the strike. He felt a shallow connection.

She dashed backwards, to reset and look for another opportunity. Checking the left side of her abdomen, she felt pain but no broken bones. Just a graze then. Suddenly Rai was right in front of her. His eyes felt different from before.

His focus was now entirely on the fight, and he limited his thoughts to simple words or phrases to avoid thinking too much like when he was tested by Jin. Rai followed up on Sin’s defensive dash by dashing towards her, unleashing a flurry of strikes.

Sin raised her daggers in defence, she knew that her weapons were smaller and weaker than the unfamiliar sword Rai was using. She followed her tutor’s teachings and parried the strikes instead of outright blocking them, but they came at her too fast. How... He’s faster than me?

Rai continued the pressure, taking steps forward with forward slashes and stabs. He would intermittently dash to and from either side with horizontal slashes to throw Sin off balance. The onslaught lasted for a minute before Rai switched up his strategy. He felt like Sin was worn down from having to parry that many strikes, so he started to fight more creatively. He now held the sword with one hand, forcing her to parry his sword strikes, and dodge his kicks and punches.

He switched his tactic. I can’t keep up with him. Sin felt something she hadn’t felt in a long time. Fear. The fear of losing was all too foreign to her, and caused cracks in her armour. What happens if I lose? Will dad get mad?

Rai took advantage. His stamina and endurance was abnormally high for a boy his age, probably because of all the farm work and physically demanding chores he had to do. He spotted an opening, Sin seemed distracted by something, so he used the same move he tried on Jin.

His blade came flying directly at her face while she was off balance, forcing her to block it outright with both of her daggers. Rai twisted his blade, bringing Sin’s hands together. Rai kicked her daggers out of her hands as he did a backflip. When he landed he dashed forward and spun on the ground, sweeping Sin off her feet by kicking her ankles with his spinning leg. He landed in a crouched position behind her. She fell backwards onto his hand. He held her body up with his left hand and had his katana’s point digging into her back, signifying the end of the spar. Her daggers which were knocked out of her hands landed shortly afterwards on either side of the two with a clack  as they bounced on the ground.

Sin couldn’t believe it. What just happened. I couldn’t even see half of those movements. He didn’t use any magic? He doesn’t even have as many tutors like I do, or mana formation circles like we have in the palace. How is he this strong... For the first time in her life, Sin was defeated. Her eyes started to feel heavy.

I did it? Did I do it? I think I did it. Holy shit I did it! Wait mum doesn’t like that word, I shouldn’t think it. Did Jin see that? I hope he saw that! Rai looked over to the old man, to see him returning Rai’s gaze with a wide smile. He’d never seen the Jin smile like that before. Is he proud of me? I wanna tell mum all about this.

“I thought you said he’d lose.” Kallad sounded frustrated about his daughter’s loss, but he knew from Jin’s words that this would be better for her development.

Jin winked at Kallad, “Well, he took my advice, so he won.” He was often a humble man, but he was proud of Rai for overcoming one of his weaknesses in this fight. Jin wasn’t going to try to downplay that accomplishment for the sake of modesty.

Kallad seemed frustrated for a moment, but he looked calmer as he sighed, “He looked like you, you know. Those movements are unique to the Sword Dancer. Even if he’s only using one sword, any veteran warrior who fought back in the Elder Wars would recognise that fighting style.” Kallad seemed to be warning Jin. “Your execution order was sudden, and unjust. There are still some in the council who would have your head Jin.”

Jin didn’t visibly react, “... I’m aware.” Jin pondered about teaching Rai to fight, but he made the decision to teach him and chose to stick with it. “For as many people that want my head, there are ten times as many who saw the injustice behind the decision.”

Kallad shrugged, “You’re right, I’ll do my best to keep it all quiet.”

Rai stood up, helping Sin gain her balance back. She turned to him with eyes that were redder than normal and streaks of tears flowing down her face. “It.. was a... good fight. Thank you.. for acc-hic- accepting the challenge.” She choked out her words through her tears. She bowed deeply, as was the custom for any loser of a spar, which she was taught by her tutor. Rai could see tears falling from her face onto the ground.

He returned the bow for a few moments, then grabbed her shoulder and raised her back into a standing position. Rai’d never felt someone shiver this much.

“Let’s be friends then!” He declared with a goofily large grin.

Sin was thrown off guard. Friends? My only friends are the maids and servants, and my tutors. After a moment of consideration, she returned his goofy grin with a goofy grin of her own, her tears weren’t as harshly flowing now.

Kallad looked surprised, then whispered to Jin, “She’s not throwing a tantrum? Right about now is when I’d expect her to throw a tantrum, since things didn’t go the way she wanted.”

Jin whispered back sarcastically, “Maybe your daughter is growing faster than you think.”

Kallad turned to Jin, “How do you always have something to say. Who even are you, Sword Dancer?”

Jin looked at Kallad deadpan, “I’m just a farmer, and a father.”

Kallad looked at him for a moment. Then he burst out in laughter.

Rai and Sin looked over at the commotion, then looked at each other. They also started laughing.