Plans and Squabbles 2

"How would you prefer I swing it," Seth said, "Maybe right through that thick skull of yours?"

Brick exploded with a guttural growl and sprung again, but this time no one stopped him. He closed the distance between Seth and swung with his fist coated in a layer of loose rock, his rock gauntlets still forming.

Seth saw the man's body blur, and he quickly leaned to the right to avoid the Brick's attack. He pulled his dagger from it's sheathe and slashed at Brick's midsection. His blade's edge bounced off on impact like he'd struck a boulder with bad edge alignment. The backlash stripped him off his balance and opened him to a follow-up attack with Brick's left rock gauntlet. But before the attack connected, Ren erected a thin sheet of earth between them that actually defended Brick swing. Seth unceremoniously fell on his ass, eyes wide in shock, staring at his dagger.

He growled, "Stop protecting him. He needs to learn his place. He can't be a part of this team if he doesn't learn!"

"But he's not," Ren said, slowly approaching. "The boy is a borderlander who's fallen on hard times. He came to us for help, and we are providing it." She turned, facing Seth, "He's clearly doing the best he can." Her eyes swiveled and met Brick's. They were cold, with a vague white hue. "He's a guest, not some recruit you can pick fights with. Do you understand?"

Brick slowly nodded, his face slick with sweat. It was rare to witness Ren flare up like this. She was really terrified when she wasn't playful or brutally honest.

Ren walked past Seth with both hands clasped behind her back. "Come along," she commanded. Her eyes matched Sera's, "You too."

She led them to the edge of the training field and wordlessly stared at them, with a gaze so sharp, so icy, it cut through to their souls. Behind her stood a stage with a short melted staircase leading up to its ash- crusted top. Not far behind it were the remnants of a wall and a view of what was left of the town.

Ren tense face flipped over and revealed a wide grin. "That was convincing, wasn't it?"

Seth's eyes widened in confusion, and he turned to Sera, whose face was red from holding in her laugh.

"The way he cracked. He would've pissed his pants if you hadn't let up." Sera managed to say in between half-laughs.

Ren nodded, her lips still wide, "I couldn't help myself. He would have rung your bell had I not spoken up," the last part was directed as Seth.

The smile disappeared from her face, "You need to prove yourself to him, and quickly. You are going into battle with him soon, and you will be facing mages, lots of them. Before he risks his life with you, you need to prove to him and everyone else that you aren't some spoilt magicless noble who inherited an artifact. You might have fought off those beasts, but those are just beasts. You need to learn how to fight mages."

'But I know how to,' he mentally protested at first, but thinking back to his fight with Ren, he amended, 'I knew how to.' Brick was difficult to work with, but his fears were legitimate. Seth was going to be a liability if he couldn't keep up.

"Where do I begin?" he asked, his voice resolute.

"By facing her," Ren gestured to Sera. " I want to see you push yourself to the limit. And when I see what those limits are, I'll train you as best as I can with the short time we have left."

At her words, both of them looked to each other. Sera wore a relaxed gaze, Seth a desperate determination. A familiar thought flashed in both their mind as they starred down each other, 'It isn't going to be like last time.'

Sera stepped forward with her signature smirk, unsheathing both daggers. "I know it's not fair with me having magic, and you not, but I don't care! I'm going to enjoy this. Let's see how that artifact of yours stacks up against real magic."

"You can talk tough all you want. I underestimated you the last time. It won't happen again." Despite his confident words, cold sweat still dripped down his loose shirt. He knew he was no match for her, but he couldn't quite bring himself to admit that, not yet, not while she was still in danger. He gritted his teeth as he slowly unequipped his light armor for the spar, predicting it would most likely get ruined if they both went all out.

Tula skipped over, curious about the exchange, and settled on a stone slab that Ren conjured up. They both watched the youths prepare themselves.

"Who do you think is going to win, "Tula asked, "My money is on Atreus."

"What money, you lost it all gambling, remember," Ren laughed.

"Well, the money I'll make when I win this bet!" she declared in her singsong voice.

"I don't think you understand how gambling works," Ren chuckled, "but I'll still take that action."

The two contestants stepped back several feet, maintaining a fair distance from each other. They glared at each other with palpable enmity, gnashing their teeth, unblinking, as they waited for the Order.

"Begin!"

Seth's feet crushed the Brittle stone floors of the academy dueling stage as he shot forward, estoc in hand. Determined to end the duel in a single strike, he closed the distance with a few wide steps.

Sera saw him approach and fired off wind blades and knives between casts of a wind mobility spell. He hopped over the wind blades and deflected a majority of the knives. But it wasn't long before some nicked him, left and right, with a few digging into his knee, forearm, and chest.

Unfaltering, he pressed forward through the nicks and stabs and delivered a devastating horizontal slash, aiming to break her posture. Several inches from Sera's torso, he felt a strong draft and found that the air resistance was several times thicker. Determined still, he sliced through the air cushion and struck, but when his blow connected, he found that the air resistance had robbed his swing of most of its edge. It bounced off Sera's dagger.

Exploiting his shock at discovering her spell, she fired a wind blade at point-blank range, also aiming to end things immediately; however, Seth dodged in time and distanced himself from her. He moved to the edge of the training field and circled her for some time, trying to read her movements before he dashed towards her and began their exchange again. And for minutes, they repeated this dance.

Whenever their blades clashed, they both felt their muscles groan and bones creak. They found that were almost evenly matched. With Seth's movement stifled by air pressure and Sera exhausting half her stamina casting spells non-stop, both only truly fought with a fraction of their strength and constantly thought up ways to outmaneuver each other.

Seth threw in feints, repurposed bloody throwing knives, and at one point, dual-wielded dagger and estoc, but nothing seemed to work.

Sera, too, grew frustrated and mixed in air cannons spells, along with other powerful wind spells, but she didn't fare any better too, not at first.

During one of their clashes, Sera feinted an air cannon, and when Seth strut to the left to dodge, She stopped her spell activation and sent a large wind blade in his new direction instead. The attack plowed through Seth and sent his wispy frame spiraling several meters across the training stage. Sera grinned and wiped the building perspiration off her brow. She flipped her daggers and channeled wind mana into them; she dashed towards Seth's body.

Tula visibly winced at the sight of Seth's body whipping through the air, "does she have to be so violent. It'll make patching him up that a nightmare." She pouted from where she sat along with Ren spectating the battle.

"We aren't giving you all those merit points to just laze around," Ren said. "That is just a scratch. The real fun is about to begin."

Sera closed in, ready to force a submission with her mana infused dagger. Just as she reached for Seth's unfurled, soot-covered body, he flipped around, hurling the accumulated knives and throwing stars she'd peppered him with earlier. Sera awkwardly cast a large wall of wind to defend, but it was too late. Seth snaked around her shield, and from the side, swung with all his might. Despite falling for his trap, she had enough control to cancel her shield and cast an air cushion that reduced his crushing blow to a mild cut.

She distanced herself from him again with multiple castings of "Wind lift," her movement spell, and their dance began anew. This time with more anger and poison in her eyes. Both their frames exploded into a flurry of slashes and cuts, hurried casts, and sloppy dodges. some of Seth's blow connected with nearly half their strength and Seth found himself taking more than few air cannons to the gut. Each time they broke apart, they dived at each other with more determination and anger.

As the battle drew on, the two grew weary, Seth being the more tired of the two, as he'd spent the night before training. Soon the other members of the Red hornet joined, and they watched them both duel.

"He's not going to get past her defense. She's too well guarded," Raylee commented as she watched Seth roundhouse kick deflate as it struck another wind cushion.

"Hmmph, I was right about him wasn't I. Nothing but trash," Brick sneered, as Seth dropped to a squat to avoid a flitting wind blade.

"I think the boy stands a fair chance. If only he'd use the bow I gave him, with his speed, he'd be able to counter some of those projectiles." Germo said while rubbing his chin.

"I think he's doing great," Tula declared. "In fact, I'm sure he'll come out on top," her eyes were glued to his body, watching his muscles ripple and his movements became more efficient. 'It was only a matter of time,' she thought.

Insightful though they were, their speculations only served as distractions while they were in the heat of battle. Though Seth cared very little for their predictions, he wasn't blind to the realities of the exchange. He was getting slower and more impatient, but so did she. Each wind-enhanced knife throw was easier to dodge, parry, and each air cushion less-resistant. She was running out of mana.

Armed with this information, he closed in one last time, pushing his body just as hard as he did in the forest. He rained down heavy blows on her with his estoc, matching her speed as she blocked and cushioned. Each attack bore down on her heavier than the last, and he could see the cracks in her defense. Just as Sera opened her mouth to chant another her mobility spell to gain distance, he feinted an overhead slash and staggered her with a low kick instead.

Her hasty air cushion failed and her knee buckled under the intense force of the precise kick. Exposed and one knee, Sera could scarcely react before Seth drove his fist into her abdomen, sending her tumbling several feet back. Seth sped after her flailing body like a savage beast.

"I won," Tula rose to her feet with a surprised yelp. She turned to Ren, eyes glinting with greed, "pay up."

Ren smirked and pointed in the direction of the dueling youth, "It's not over yet. "

Just as Sera slammed into the back wall of the training field, Seth pounced, with his blade overhead, eager to finish their duel. With the taste of her breakfast fresh on her tongue, she cast her most powerful spell, a tier two "Air cannon." Air compressed in front of her outstretched hand and shot forward. Seth's eyes widened as a whitish ball of compress air the size of a head crashed into his chest. It plucked him from the air, completely immobilized him. As he laid on the ground gasping for breath, he glimpsed blurry images of Sera standing overhead, with a knife to his throat before his consciousness faded.