Fists and Roses, Part Thirteen

{Friday}

One more day was all that was left before Rin's debut at the Arena. One more day of training her ass off to make sure she was ready. She had no idea who she'd be fighting, but whoever they were, she wanted to give them a hard fight.

At the very least, she wanted to avoid getting knocked out and embarrassed in front of a full spectating audience. Then, after that, depending on how she did, she would decide whether she'd keep at it or not. For now, though, it definitely seemed promising.

During the morning, Rin woke up to an empty room, as Elisa wasn't at her bed. Well, a nearly empty room, as Rin yawned and went up to Xhez's bag.

"Hey," she greeted the sprite after opening it up. However, the sprite was still asleep. She tapped on the bag and Xhez stirred just a little, but as far as Rin could see from above, she refused to wake up.

[Hm. Guess that sprite sleep cycle is hitting hard today. Alright, I'll ask if she wants to come with me into the city later.]

With that out of the way, it was time to get ready for the day. She took a bath, put on some training clothes, and quickly walked up to the Meditation Center.

Maria was standing outside the room though, with her back pressed to a wall. When she noticed Rin arriving, she smiled.

"Hello."

"Good morning," Rin replied with a smile of her own. "So, what are we doing today?"

"For now, we're going to be doing the same as before. Practicing reading your opponents, expanding on your Essence, and general sparring. Later, however," she tilted her head, "we'll be doing something different. Come in, let's get started."

Doing just that, their training picked up right where it left off.

Sara wasn't here today, so Maria filled the role of sparring partner. With that being the case, today's training session was far more akin to everything they'd done so far. During one sequence, however, something strange happened.

It happened when they began to work on Rin's Essence. Maria instructed Rin to allow Essence to run through her body, but in short spurts. It was a new step in their sparring that she hadn't introduced before.

Rin was concerned that she wouldn't be able to get much training done if she did this, but Maria told her to trust her and Rin did, as her teacher said she'd see the point later.

As the two of them were fighting, the room felt like it was getting darker. Maria threw a slow punch and Rin dodged out of the way of it, blinking a few times to make sure nothing was in her eyes. But, no, the light from the outside felt like it had been dimmed, and around Maria's body was a golden aura, contrasting heavily with the sudden darkness.

However, as soon as everything around her had changed, it all went back to normal.

"... Hm?" Maria paused, holding a fist in front of her. "Are you alright?"

Rin shook her head and stepped back.

"What did you do?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" Maria asked, appearing confused.

"Everything got darker," Rin replied, feeling breathless all of a sudden. "Everything except you."

At that, Maria's eyes widened.

"What did you see?" She asked all of a sudden. "Was there anything around me?"

"Yeah, you were almost covered in, like, gold."

"..." Maria pulled back. "Oh my."

"So, what was that about?"

"Are you still seeing me like that?"

"Nah, it was only there for about a second," Rin replied. "Everything's back to normal, though."

"I see..." Maria nodded slowly, a smile spreading on her face. "You might be more talented than you thought."

"What was that?" Rin asked, as her curiosity rose.

"What you saw was a glimpse into a specific Essence ability, called the Fighter's Aura," Maria explained. "Here, I'll show you," she said, closing her eyes.

Then, Maria stood straighter. With her feet pressed together and her hands behind her back, she took a deep breath and lowered her head. Then, she brought it back up and when her eyes opened, they were bright, glowing gold, with small black diamond-shaped symbols surrounding her pupils.

"Holy crap," Rin muttered.

"It is something you are supposed to unlock later on as you continue to hone your body and Essence," she said, as she closed her eyes and opened them again, and they went back to normal. "It allows a fighter to see the Essence inside their opponent."

"Oh, uh, what does that do for you?"

"Well, if we were in a real fight, and all of a sudden you saw my Essence flare-up, it would mean that I'm likely going for a more powerful attack. Or, if you see that my body is entirely devoid of Essence, it could present an opportunity for an attack of your own. Anyway," she said, "getting little glimpses of it here and there does happen, but I never imagined that would happen this early for you."

"So, I'm not a talentless piece of trash?" Rin asked, with a growing smile.

"Uh, no," Maria raised a brow at her. "Was that really something you needed confirmation for?"

Rin shrugged.

"It's good to know for sure, I guess."

---

Several hours later, after some lunch, when their training session was done, they walked out of the Academy and Rin couldn't shake that grin off her face. Between what had happened today and the fight tomorrow, she felt like she was meant to be on this path.

[Maybe this sort of thing is my calling,] she wondered. [We'll see, I guess.]

The streets of Libera buzzed in a way that almost mirrored how excited Rin felt about everything. On the way, she and Maria remained largely in comfortable silence, before they walked up to the Arena's building. There was already a line of people outside, a short one but a line all the same. Everyone in that line gasped when they saw Maria approaching.

Rin saw that and smiled a little.

[Imagine people having this reaction when they see me. Nah, that's impossible.]

Even the guard at the front appeared a little shaken.

"M-Maria!"

"Greetings," the Rank S adventurer said. "Are there any fights booked for today?"

"Yes, yes, ma'am, in about twenty minutes."

"Good, good. May I?"

"Of course."

Without hesitation, she was allowed in. As Rin followed behind her, the impressed stares of everyone around them even managed to make Rin herself feel a little embarrassed, though she wasn't the focus of them.

Now, on the third time she'd come here, she was moving up to the seats at the side of the stage, with Maria, as they waited for the fighting to start.

"Does it never get overwhelming?" Rin asked, then. "All the stares, I mean."

"Not really," Maria shrugged. "I... This feels somewhat embarrassing to say, but I don't really go out much outside of what I do around the Academy. Training you, training the other students, I don't spend much time outside soaking in the shocked looks."

"Hm. I'd absolutely take a walk around the city every day, just for the ego boost," Rin chuckled.

"Hehehe," that made Maria laugh a little. "Someday, you'll get there."

"I hope."

A few minutes later, that voice on the microphone started up. It called out the names of the two sweaty shirtless dudes who walked out onto the stage, as Rin leaned forward to try to get a closer look.

"Keep an eye out for those techniques I mentioned," Maria told her, as they got ready to fight. "Reading, measuring, the patterns in these fights. They are nowhere near as mindless as people believe."

Nodding, Rin tried to do just that.

The guy on the microphone let them know they could start then, and the fists started flying.

Showing Rin a small glimpse into what she could expect tomorrow.