Sparring (2)

As Lance backed away and stepped back, he felt a strong gust of wind pass by him, leaving a mark on the tree behind him.

The cause of this is the condensed wind mana at the tip of Leisha's rapier.

As her rapier's thrust end its path, the condensed wind at the tip launches forward, creating a wind extension that continued the trajectory of the initial thrust.

The mark left on the tree is a testament of how powerful the attack is.

If Lance hadn't stopped midway, there's no doubt he would have gotten hit by that.

"Oh? You dodged it." Is what Leisha said with a fake amazement.

She realized that Lance isn't listening to her. Although her brother is wide open, she didn't dare to attack him because she's watching his trouble expression with ecstasy.

She's waiting patiently for Lance to come back to the present.

Lance didn't reply. He felt annoyed.

He remembers about the last four months.

Him, Luke, and Leisha have different training regimens solely based on their attributes and fighting differences.

As a royalty, their top priority is to protect the kingdom and its citizens from external threats, which means becoming strong is essential.

For that very reason, they were trained the moment they received the goddess blessings.

He has two teachers; his father, Benedict, who has the same wild fighting style and attribute as him, and Arnel, the squad leader present here.

Benedict can't be a full-time teacher of him because of his responsibilities as a king. As a result, Arnel steps in to fill the role.

Although he is a swordsman with earth attribute, he was chosen to become Lance's substitute teacher because of his act now, think later, and adjust approach to fighting.

A style suited for Lance's personality.

The triplets never seen each other during training nor talk about when they meet for some odd reason. Lance always wonders how his improvement compare to the other two.

But he never ask them, or rather, simply asking them wouldn't satisfy him.

The sparring session today is meant exactly to answer his question.

Lance is proud he has two amazing and strong teachers. He has this idea that he must make them proud by besting every competitor he would ever face.

He was excited before the fight to showcase his ability, what's more, Voltaire is watching from the sidelines.

He wants to looks cool as much as possible in front of his little brother.

(Lance doesn't have younger siblings other than Voltaire or a younger relatives, so he assumed that all infants possessed the ability to comprehend their surroundings with the same acuity as his little brother, Voltaire.)

However, as the fight dragged on, he started to feel a growing sense of unease.

His tricks weren't effective as he had hoped, and his opponent was dodging and countering with ease.

The tree behind him stood tall and proud, but the mark on its trunk is a reminder of how powerful his sister is.

Sweat started to trickle down his face as he realized that he might not win this fight if he continues to show-off instead of actually fighting Leisha seriously.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves, and focused on his opponent.

The next moment, he holds his sword with both hands.

His right arm is feeling the pain but there's a support nearby so it should be fine. Probably...

What's more, he wants to win this little sparring badly. It's his first official match.

His sword started emanating crimson flame once more.

On the other hand, Leisha, who was watching over him, grinned and did the same, enveloping her rapier with wind.

Lance decided to stop overthinking every attack. This might be dangerous especially against his cunning sister, but he understand that he has better firepower than her.

Additionally, his instincts and adaptability in a fight is occasionally getting praised from both his father, and Arnel.

'Surely, they have never been wrong, and to proved that is to show it now.' Lance thought.

Just one hit. If he managed to land a hit, this sparring match would swing in his favor.

He steeled himself and pressed forward, but Leisha also move forward closing the distance between them even more.

He was taken aback for a moment, but quickly regained his composure.

Until...

They're both close enough to their striking range.

Leisha is the first one to attack with a quick stab enhanced with wind like she did earlier.

Lance parried her rapier to the side and immediately swing his scorching sword vertically.

Due to her agility, Leisha returned to her stance and blocked it.

She attacks and Lance attacks on his own until the two change blows continuously.

*Cling Clang*

The clash of the two blades reverberated through the training ground.

It's a familiar and thrilling sound for those who engaged in fighting with the way of the swords.

The two might be kids, but the skill and technique already surpassed the level for their age.

Leisha and Lance are like partner in a dance the way they move with such synergy.

The calming but swift wind of Leisha and the scorching flame of Lance are on full harmony trying to overpowered one another.

Despite the onslaught of attacks, only the tip of Leisha's rapier making contact.

Although she has now the upper hand, Leisha opted to toy with Lance by repeatedly poking at his injure arm.

Her incredible observations helps her to master Lance's attack pattern. If she wanted to, she can end the fight at any moment now.

'A little more... I want to see the hopelessness in his face.' Having the advantage, she confidently thought.

Even though he's taking a beating, Lance refuses to lose hope and keep fighting.

Every desperate swing, he notices how Leisha would react with precision as if she's reading him like a book.

'Why I can't hit her? Sure, she's faster but that's not it... I feel like I am the problem. It's not because I'm weak. Father said I'm strong for my age.

'Is it because of my expression like the butler said earlier? But I'm sure I'm not making the same mistake.

'She keeps parrying my sword and dodging to my right every time I swing my sword down, and stabs my wounded arm with that irritating rapier.

'Or, step backwards where my sword and flame can't reach her when I'm swinging sideways, and attack me with that extending thrust.

'Her attack pattern is too simple and yet, she's always one step ahead of me... Attack pattern? She's just reacting to mine... So, that means my attack pattern is the issue.

'I think I will find that out.'

Lance then thrust his sword forward as if to imitate Leisha. Although it didn't extend like his sister attacks.

It's the first time he did it in this match, and as he expected, Leisha reacted differently to it.

She stepped back five meters away and stopped in her tracks looking dumbfounded, at least, for a moment.

Lance grinned, feeling a sense of satisfaction. At last, he had managed to surprise his sister with that simple attack.

However, his triumph is short-lived as Leisha quickly recovered and charged towards him without a second thought.

Lance thrust his sword once more but Leisha just smacked it with her rapier to her right side, and now preparing to attack aiming at her usual target.

Receiving that same attack on the same place over and over again, Lance finally adjusted, and now was able to defend his right arm and avoid the attack by spinning to the direction his sword got parried.

He uses the momentum when he spun to strike a vertical swing which Leisha blocked firmly.

That attack of Lance had twice the force because of the spin, and he can make it stronger if he enhanced it with his flame, so he decided to attack again while Leisha is struggling with the previous one.

Lance drew back his sword and swing downward immediately. It was enhanced by his raging flame and when he thought this attack is going to be more successful than the attack before...

Using her wind-enhanced rapier, Leisha swung upward and successfully blocked Lance's attack blowing its fire.

'Whenever Leisha uses wind to enhance her rapier, she gains the upper hand in our exchanges. She can easily deflect my fire attacks in any direction she chooses, making them useless.'

Lance thought, finally admitting he won't beat Leisha with his attribute firepower.

He decided to end this sparring with just his swordsmanship realizing he won't beat Leisha with his attribute firepower.

With determination in his eyes, he took a deep breath and steeled himself for his last wave of attacks.

Despite knowing that Leisha has a higher chance of winning this friendly battle, Lance moves forward.

...And then a downward swing aimed at Leisha.

Leisha blocked it like she always does but her brother is already preparing for the next attack before she could counter.

This time it's an upward swing aimed at her chin. She moves backwards a little bit just barely dodging it.

She also thrust her rapier toward Lance while she's dodging showing her incredible flexibility.

It hit Lance's already badly injured right shoulder.

Leisha couldn't help but smile slightly as she observed Lance's face twisted in agony.

'This would surely end this fight.'

...Or so everyone thought.

However, to Leisha's surprise, Lance continues to press forward he even holds his sword more tightly than ever.

Lance attack once more, and again, and again...

Continuously swinging his sword in all directions, making it unpredictable for Leisha's despite her insane observation skills.

Leisha faced her brothers' relentless attacks with composure and skill, blocking and dodging them with just a hair's breadth to spare.

However, a sign that the sparring is starting to favor Lance is now showing as Leisha is slowly backing away on each attack of Lance.

Until...

A small drop of blood trickled down Leisha's cheek as the tip of her brother's sword finally scraped her.

When Lance's saw it, a genuine smile came out from his face.

'I got her! I've finally landed a hit on her. Now, it's my chance to strike back!'

He excitedly thought to himself.

He launches an attack again before Leisha could recover, or so that was his plan.

But he stopped midway upon seeing Leisha dropping her rapier and raising both of her hand.

"What are you doing?"

Lance asked in confusion.

"I surrender. You won."

Leisha replied meekly.