Chapter 68: Sparring (Patreon)

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Blood flew through the air, and Cayden blinked as some of it splattered across his face, thankfully missing his eyes and leaving his vision unimpeded. He lunged forward, hoping to take advantage of the perceived vulnerability in his opponent’s defenses after the attack, only to grasp at the empty air as his opponent danced away from his claws.

Cayden’s cheeks ached, the corners of his mouth pulled back into something that an observer would be hard-pressed to differentiate between a smile and a snarl. And truthfully, Cayden would also be hard-pressed to tell the difference.

Ignar was everything Cayden remembered from their first fight, and more. He moved with grace and precision, striking out and then stepping away from Cayden with practiced motions and footwork, never allowing himself to fall within range of Cayden’s claws, never losing his balance, and – to Cayden’s eyes – never showing a single vulnerability. The main difference between this and their previous fight was that this time Ignar was accounting for the burst of acceleration Cayden had shown in their previous match by lowering his [Inertia]. Cayden started off this spar at his lowest possible [Inertia], enabling him to respond to the young noble’s movements much quicker, but it was of little use.

“Are you well to continue?” Ignar asked, stepping back from Cayden and slightly lowering his swords.

Cayden wiped away the blood from his face with the back of his hand, unknowingly smearing it over his cheek before nodding. They’d been going for thirty minutes now and he was covered with small cuts, but none of them were large or dangerous enough for him to feel the need to call for a break. This was only a spar, after all, and they weren’t truly trying to hurt each other. While Ignar’s [Echoed Blades] skill couldn’t be dulled, the same wasn’t true for his real blades. Rather than the two insanely sharp silvery blades he wielded in their first match, Ignar fought with two similarly-sized practice swords that wouldn’t have been able to cut somebody even without Cayden’s prodigious defenses. And as Ignar was much more focused on agility and dexterity than he was on the strength of his blows, they weren’t even able to bruise Cayden’s skin.

In pursuit of his opponent’s safety, Cayden wore his sheaths over his claws. Though after their half-hour of dueling, Cayden was regretting it – the safety measure hadn’t been the slightest bit necessary, as Cayden hadn’t once come close to striking his sparring partner, and the sheaths were torn up from how often Cayden had used his claws to deflect the [Echoed Blades]. Many times it felt like he was close, but after Ignar dodged away by the slightest of margins for the hundredth time, Cayden was forced to accept that he had never truly had a chance of hurting Ignar.

Early in the match, Ignar had paused their spar after every few exchanges of blows, checking with Cayden to ensure that he wasn’t seriously injured. It showed the young noble’s consideration, but it was infuriating for Cayden to constantly be asked if he was ‘fine’ while his opponent barely even looked winded. As the match stretched out and Cayden displayed his durability, the pauses came less and less often, though Ignar would still occasionally check on his opponent after a particularly nasty cut from one of his [Echoed Blades].

At first, Cayden drew hope from the constant pauses. Ignar was obviously in good shape, but was his endurance enough to keep up with Cayden’s as the fight dragged on? Maybe his check-ins with Cayden were his way of resting between each exchange.

Yet as the minutes passed, it became clear that that wasn’t the case. Ignar had less strength than Cayden, but it was clear his endurance was up to the challenge of their spar.

Overall, the fight would have been an incredibly frustrating experience, if not for one thing: Cayden could feel himself improving.

[Claw Mastery] had already leveled once, and Cayden felt that it was close to leveling a second time. That wasn’t too surprising, as level one skills always grew quickly and it was a skill Cayden had previously leveled to six. But aside from the improvement in his skills, Cayden could feel the improvement in himself.

It wasn’t anything overt. Cayden doubted anyone looking on would be able to notice a difference. But being the one fighting, Cayden feel it: the minuscule changes in his footwork and reactions that allowed him to dodge a little further out of the way of a slash that clipped him and to come just the slightest bit closer to grabbing his opponent.

Cayden hoped he was getting better overall and not just getting better at fighting Ignar, but at least at this moment, those were one and the same.

Ignar swung his blades in a dizzying pattern that Cayden struggled to follow. They weren’t flashy or wasted movements that Cayden had often seen in swordfights in movies from Earth – Ignar’s arms barely moved, the tip of the sword dancing with each minute flick of his wrists as he advanced towards Cayden. Cayden knew from experience that if he dropped his guard by even the slightest amount, the dancing blades could instantly transition into a dangerous attack. He shuffled backward away from the display, careful to keep his center of mass low and between his feet, and never lifting his feet more than an inch off the ground.

Ignar pursued, his swords darting forward and around erratically. Behind each blow, a silvery blade of light followed, striking forward as the real sword retreated. Over the course of their spar, Cayden had learned more about his opponent’s skill. While Ignar seemed able to manipulate the [Echoed Blades] independently from his own swords, they had some limitations: they weren’t able to move around completely freely, the blades always moving in patterns that reflected what Ignar would have been able to do with his hands holding a real blade. And while the [Echoed Blades] could push further forward beyond Ignar’s real swords without risk, they always originated at the location of Ignar’s real swords.

It still felt impossibly difficult to counter or dodge, but the limitations introduced at least a small amount of predictability to the skilled attacks.

Cayden ignored a thrust that he recognized as a feint, bringing up his forearm to deflect the glowing blade that split off from the real sword at the point closest to Cayden and shuffling back away from the follow-up attack from Ignar’s second sword. No [Echoed Blade] followed this second attack, and Cayden held out hope that Ignar might finally be starting to run out of mana for the skill.

That hope was dashed as Ignar followed up with a flurry of swings, none of them true attacks, but each of them unleashing an [Echoed Blade] that struck at Cayden with impunity. Cayden endured the assault, accepting small nicks on his shoulders and forearms from the skill and only dodging those attacks directed toward his more vulnerable areas. He slowly shuffled backward, forcing Ignar to follow if he wanted to keep up the assault.

And then, after five seconds of constant, slicing [Echoed Blades], Cayden saw it. He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he could picture the next strike by the sword in Ignar’s left hand. He could see the arc it would take. That, unlike the boy’s previous attacks, this one wasn’t a feint to enable an [Echoed Blade]. This was a true attack, directed at Cayden’s thigh. Cayden couldn’t explain it, the single instant of clarity in the midst of the spar – but he instinctively knew he could trust it.

Ignar’s dulled blades couldn’t hurt Cayden. But Cayden had resolved to treat the spar like a real duel, and he knew that Ignar’s true swords were the most dangerous part of his arsenal, the one thing the other boy had that could truly hurt him. But despite the threat it represented, Cayden didn’t dodge back from the attack.

He only had a split second to respond, and though it wouldn’t speed up his reactions, he activated [The Moment] to ensure he timed it correctly. He leaned forward into the slash, accepting the hit on his thigh in exchange for wrapping up the blade with his claws. If this were real, he’d likely barely be able to walk after taking a hit like that from one of Ignar’s swords. But disarming his opponent was one of his only chances to make this a more even match, and Cayden would be willing to take the wound if it meant he gained a shot at winning.

But as his claws closed around the dull edge of the blade, too quickly for Ignar to pull back at his current speed, something changed. Ignar blurred and flew backward over the sand as the sword slipped through Cayden’s grasp, the noble boy appearing an instant later on the far side of the sparring circle.

For a moment they stared at each other, silent as they considered the sudden impressive displays. But Cayden was distracted by a blinking blue light in the corner of his vision, and after a quick glance to make sure Ignar wasn’t about to reengage, he opened his notification.

Blade Sense (passive): Gain an intuitive understanding of the position, trajectory, and intent of all bladed weapons in a small radius.

Cayden looked up from his notification to see his opponent staring off into space with a familiar glassy look in his eyes.

“New skill?” Cayden asked, and Ignar’s eyes came back into focus as he smiled back at him.

“New skill.”

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The rest of their time training together wasn’t quite as intense as the first half had been. [Blade Sense] seemed amazing, if the skill would be able to permanently give him the instincts that he felt in that split-second before Ignar’s attack. But he wasn’t entirely sure which skill to replace with it. [Claw Mastery] was the easy answer, as it was still low-leveled and could be re-learned quickly enough if he changed his mind, but he also was considering replacing [Taunt] or [Mind is a Temple]. [Taunt] was amazing for his current fighting style, but it wouldn’t be nearly as useful if he broke away from his current full-tank build as he had discussed with Elise. And while [Mind is a Temple] was still a relief to have, now that he was a bit further removed from the princess’ [Compulsion] and he’d had time to reflect, it didn’t feel quite as necessary. And frankly, he was getting a little annoyed with the non-stop messages about Instructor Barry’s [Intimidates] during every frontline combat class.

In the end, he decided not to accept the skill right away and give himself some time to consider his options, and Ignar seemed to be in the same boat with his skill. They didn’t share the exact contents of the offered skills, but Cayden assumed the noble’s had something to do with the sudden burst of speed that allowed him to escape Cayden’s grasp there at the end.

Regardless, they spent the second half of their time training together working through different forms rather than sparring, and Ignar was able to prove his expertise even further by pointing out a few sloppy areas in Cayden’s movements.

Their time training together only lasted an hour and a half, but after his improvements and the offer of a new skill, Cayden was excited to schedule additional times to train later in the week, as well as committing to continuing on a weekly basis. And from the look in Ignar’s eyes, the slitherkin felt similarly.

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Cayden walked into the crowded auditorium, navigating around clusters of students until he found Jeremy in a corner, claiming the seat next to his friend.

“You have any idea what this is about?” Cayden asked.

It had only been a day since his spar with Ignar, but after returning to his dorm he had found a note waiting for him from the administration telling him to report to the same auditorium that had held their initial orientation on the following morning. It had been a surprise, as that time was normally reserved for his frontline combat class, but a quick check with Velic had ensured the note’s authenticity. And looking around the auditorium now, it was clear that every other student in his class had received the same message.

“I believe so,” Jeremy responded, but he didn’t elaborate.

“...care to share?” Cayden finally asked, and Jeremy smirked.

“If it’s what I think it is, you’ll find out in a minute either way. Why should I spoil the surprise?”

Cayden just sighed and then chuckled along with his friend. True to Jeremy’s prediction, he didn’t have to wait long before Instructor Blyre stepped onto the stage, the milling students quickly finding their seats and falling into silence.

“Welcome, first years,” the vampire began, and Cayden got a notification from [Mind is a Temple] about the instructor’s [Guiding Hand] skill. “We are two weeks into this semester, and hopefully you have all adjusted to your new schedules. But it is time for us to begin training what will be the focus of your time at this academy for the rest of this year, and a major part of subsequent years.”

She paused and looked out over the students, her gaze swinging across the auditorium as every single student, noble and commoner alike, waited in silence for her following words.

“Team combat.”

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