So… Who Won?

I lifted my sword and readied myself, focusing on the flow of manna within me. 'Airsidh's experienced enough to understand what we're trying to do, if I'm fighting with him then even if I fail at least I shouldn't get hurt too bad.' "Let's do this."

He grabbed a sword. "Right, first activate the magic, then take a strike from me. I will build up my force against you slowly until you start to feel the blow. Then try to parry the attack, finally if you can manage that, we will try and duel."

I grimaced. "You want me to just take a beating?"

He rolled his eyes. "The point of this magic is to allow you to take a hit right? What's the point if you can't? It's not like I'm going to hit you that hard, but we need to make sure you can actually hold it through a blow before we try fighting."

My muscles tensed up, already bracing for impact as I let out a sigh. "I guess you're right…" 'Sill… I don't exactly have good memories from training like this.'

"Start the spell and I will begin."

The moment it started my body felt numb. Each blow felt like a dull thud without pain. Eventually, the hits became harder, and harder, until I was hit hard enough that I had to stumble to regain my balance.

"Are you alright?"

The familiar sting from a heavy impact coursed through my shoulder, but it quickly faded. He had hit me hard, harder than I had expected. While I was sure it would bruise, it really wasn't that bad, especially not compared to how it would have felt without the magic.

Before I could reply his next blow was already en route. I quickly paired it, moving his blade to the ground at my side. "I'll live…" I would have gotten mad, if not for how obvious it was he was pulling his swing, not intending to follow through with it.

He punched my opposite shoulder and I staggered backward. "How's that feel? Are you able to maintain focus?"

"Mm… Well enough at least." 'I hope I don't regret those words. Here comes the spar.'

He took several steps back and readied his sword. I did the same. Suddenly feeling a bit nervous.

I knew he wasn't Bhaltair, but he was of similar build, similar height, and strong like him too. 'Last time I fought one of my brothers it didn't end well…' "Let's start out slow, moving at all while using magic is hard, much less trying something like this."

He nodded. "That's fine. You're the boss."

I forced a smile. 'Even if they look similar, they couldn't be more different…' Despite that, the pit I felt in my stomach didn't seem like it was going anyway.

"Siya, relax. I'm not going to fight you for real so you're not in danger of getting hurt like last time, ok?"

His words themselves were comforting, but his voice was cold like he didn't care.

'It's really that obvious I"m nervous?' I took a deep breath. 'He is right though. I've been through worse things sense that fight anyway.' I wiped it from my mind and looked down at my blade, raising it off the ground. "Ready…"

A mischievous grin crossed his face and before I could even take a step he had already closed the distance between us. Despite our agreement to start out slow, he burst forth from his stance at an astonishing speed

My body reacted in time to block the attack, but that was all I could hope for. After blocking his first strike his swift swordsmanship instantly shifted around my guard and struck my shoulder.

I felt the flat of his blade slap my bare skin, stinging, but not being so hard as to leave a bruise. 'He can go that fast and still pull his swings?' I shook out my arm, feeling it start to grow sore from getting hit in the same place. "I thought I said to start out slow…" I grumbled.

Not only did I hold the spell, but I did it at a fast pace, one that mirrored how a real fight might feel. Even if I was a bit annoyed, I would be lying if I said I wasn't happy about that.

"I was." He said bluntly.

'In terms of pure power, he might be more of a monster than Bhaltair…'

I regripped my sword, trying to keep my composure. "It's… faster than I'm used to. Let me get used to it before we speed up."

He nodded and we started again. Same result. He used the exact same move…

After repeating the drill a few dozen times I was running low on energy, but still holding the spell, as evidenced by my skin just turning a bit red, instead of black and blue.

"I think that's good enough for now." He said, lowering his blade.

I took a deep breath, steadying myself, letting it all out as a slow fog, visible in the cold air. "One more."

He paused, but conceded without complaint, readying his sword again.

'You didn't really think I'd let you get away before I landed a hit did you?' He burst towards me and I blocked, freezing time the moment after our swords struck. 'So he's pulling his first hit, almost like a faint.' My eyes could see everything, and without hesitation, I began to twist my body to duck under his next attack.

After dodging, he continued his relentless assault. 'I feel like he might be taking the goal of striking me a bit too seriously…'

I continued to deflect and block his attacks, dodging when I had to, and trying to stay far enough away that I could react to any change-ups he tried.

'If we keep going like this then he's going to get anxious and try something new.' He suddenly shifted his weight, it was subtle, but it was obvious he was transitioning into a kick. 'I knew it.'

I moved my blade, preparing to thrust as I blocked the kick with my hand at the same time, but just before it landed I felt my whole body shudder. The spell unraveled around me and everything felt cold.

I closed my eyes, the sword tip dropping to the ground as I became unable to support it and everything fell still. 'There's… no impact?' I slowly opened my eyes, realizing I had been holding my breath.

He was still frozen right in front of me. Had it not been for the wind blowing across my skin I would have thought I stopped time just before his kick landed.

"Siya…"

"I… Don't feel so good…"

He calmly lowered his leg and resumed a normal posture. "You should be more aware of your body. You're still hurt, if this was a real fight your arm would have just broken again. That's why you froze isn't it?"

I looked down at my arm. I didn't want to admit it, but even when I was two handing my sword I was favoring my right arm heavily, trying to minimize the force that shook through my left hand with each block.

Of course, blocking a strike head-on was how it broke… So even if that would have won me the fight it was hard to follow through…

I still felt shaken as the bloody memories came back, still fresh in my mind, somehow making my arm hurt more.

Lu growled from the sidelines. "Airsidh don't be such a dick. That's not fair and you know it." Hearing my little sister talk like that shook me out of whatever feelings and thoughts I had, but I was still so tired from exhausting my manna that I fell backward, landing on my but and dropping my sword. 

I chuckled. "I guess she gets mad when you win too."

He growled, ignoring my comment as he turned back to her. "Don't call people that! And how am I being a dick anyway?"

She pointed her finger at him. "Sure her arm might have broken but you would be dead! Yet it sounds like you're looking down on her, You're such a prick sometimes!"

He growled again. "At least I'm not a little battle freak!"

'Airsidh… is… yelling…?'

Maara clapped her hands, instantly silencing both of them. "Your sister is right Air."

"I am a prick?" He mumbled with a sad voice as Lu placed her hands on her hips having been reaffirmed. "Yup, a massive one."

I laughed. 'There's no way that's what Mara was trying to say..'

he turned to look at me with puppy eyes. His cold and calculating demeanor was shattered in an instant as if begging me to take his side. 'Is this what he's really like?'

He cleared his throat, his voice steadying. "I am sorry for being mean to you."

I quickly waved my hands back and forth. "No no it's fine you didn't do anything wrong you were just trying to help." Honestly speaking, I kinda felt bad for the poor guy.

Mara let out a groan as she shook her head. "Not about that. She's right that you would be dead right now if this was a real fight."

She walked closer placing a hand on each of our shoulders. "You underestimated her and held back too much. On top of that, you got impatient. If you tried a move like that against your father he would have cut your leg off with how bad the timing was for a kick."

His eyes narrowed, focusing on me as if questioning who won.

"Siya…" She paused. "You did… good…" I was sure she wanted to say something else, but for whatever reason she was holding back. Leaving me with just a bit of awkward praise that, for one reason or another, made me happy. "That's enough for today, let's get back inside."

Just like that all three of us became silent and docile, even Air and Lu who almost seemed at each other's throats, were somehow perfectly content with each other again like nothing had happened.

'For once, they all seem like real people… I guess that's a bit of a weird thing to say, but… Well, I really don't know how else to put it.'