Chapter 209: Without His Bow

The outdoor combat training ground was a maze of heavy wooden barricades and chalked boundary lines.

Arthur stood by the equipment racks, looking at the row of padded training daggers. His left wrist was wrapped securely in the leather bracer Brunhilda had fitted for him, the deep strain throbbing with a dull, persistent ache. He flexed his fingers experimentally, felt the joint pull, and abandoned any thought of picking up a practice bow.

Instructor Morwenna walked down the line of students, stopping when she reached him. She looked at his empty hands, then at his wrist.

"Have you had a healer look at that since the weekend?" Morwenna asked.

"Yes," Arthur said.

"And?"

"She told me to stop hitting things with it."

Morwenna didn’t smile. "Take a training dagger. Right hand only. If you aggravate the joint, I’m failing you for the rotation."

Arthur picked a padded dagger from the rack and gave it a few practice swings. It felt like a toy compared to the Necrotic Dagger.

Morwenna moved to the center of the chalked ring and blew her whistle to get the class’s attention. She read off the afternoon’s two-versus-two matchups.

"Vance and Braveheart," Morwenna called out. "Against Valentine and Cedric. Ring Three. Standard sparring rules, controlled abilities only."

Arthur walked over to Ring Three. Leon was already there, rolling his shoulders and taking a few practice swings with a heavy resin broadsword.

Cedric and Alicia stepped into the opposite side of the ring. Alicia carried a standard resin longsword, her posture perfectly straight, her eyes tracking Leon’s warm-up swings. Cedric held a short wooden casting focus, tapping it lightly against his palm.

Cedric looked at the padded dagger in Arthur’s hand. "No bow today?"

"Wrist," Arthur said.

Cedric grinned. "This might actually be a fair fight, then."

"Don’t get cocky," Arthur warned him.

"I don’t need to be cocky. You brought a knife to a sword fight, and you can only use half your arms."

"Positions," Morwenna shouted from the sidelines.

Arthur stepped into the starting box beside Leon. Normally, he would already be analyzing the angles, picking a firing lane, and calculating how to shoot past his own vanguard. Today, he was just standing behind a swordsman, holding a padded stick.

Morwenna blew her whistle.

Leon closed the distance quickly. He feinted low before bringing his heavy resin blade around in a controlled, driving sweep. Alicia met the strike. She didn’t try to overpower him; she caught the force on the strong part of her blade, redirected the momentum smoothly, and snapped her sword toward Leon’s ribs. Leon twisted, deflecting the counter, and the two of them locked into a fast, highly technical melee exchange.

Arthur sprinted to the right, aiming to flank Cedric while Alicia was occupied.

Cedric raised his casting focus. A translucent, hexagonal barrier of hard blue light snapped into existence, angling directly across Arthur’s path.

Arthur cut around the barrier’s right edge and ducked behind one of the wooden barricades in the middle of the ring, breaking Cedric’s line of sight.

Shadow Step.

Arthur dissolved into dark mist, throwing himself forward through the spatial distortion, aiming for the long shadow cast by the barricade behind Cedric’s left shoulder.

He reformed in the shade, bringing the dagger up for a fast strike.

Cedric was already looking right at him.

They had fought in enough dungeons together for Cedric to know exactly how Arthur moved. Cedric had curved a secondary barrier around his own back the moment Arthur broke line of sight.

Arthur’s dagger smacked harmlessly against the hard light.

Cedric smirked, flicking his wrist. A concussive wave of kinetic force slammed into Arthur’s chest, throwing him backward. Arthur hit the dirt, rolling over his right shoulder to bleed off the momentum and protect his left wrist, and scrambled back behind his wooden barricade before Cedric could pin him down.

Arthur leaned against the wood, catching his breath. He peered around the edge.

Leon was getting pressured. Alicia was a disciplined, methodical fencer, and she was exploiting the fact that Leon was fighting without consistent support. She deflected his heavy strikes and countered with quick, precise thrusts that kept him constantly working to maintain his footing.

Leon retreated another step, bringing his sword up to block a tight thrust.

Arthur glanced toward Cedric, then back at Leon.

Fuck it.

He abandoned the barricade and sprinted back across the ring.

Alicia saw him coming. She adjusted her stance, preparing to catch his dagger on her backswing while keeping Leon pinned.

Arthur threw his weight forward and feinted hard toward her knees, sliding through the dirt.

Alicia dropped her guard to intercept the low attack.

The momentary distraction was all Leon needed. He stepped into the opening and swung his broadsword in a wide, horizontal arc. Alicia was forced to abandon Arthur and throw herself backward to avoid taking a heavy hit to the chest.

"Took you long enough," Leon grunted, recovering his stance.

"I got held up," Arthur said, falling in beside him.

Leon pressed the advantage, driving Alicia back toward the edge of the chalk ring. Cedric was forced to move out of his defensive pocket to support her, throwing kinetic bolts at Leon to slow his advance.

Arthur stayed moving. He circled the engagement, tracking Cedric’s casting motions.

Cedric raised his focus, gathering mana for a concussive blast aimed at Leon’s exposed side.

Alicia lunged at Leon, her resin blade snapping toward his throat. Leon knocked the thrust aside and brought his broadsword around in a horizontal counter.

Cedric abandoned his attack. A blue barrier flashed into place between Leon’s sword and Alicia.

Crack!

The resin blade struck the barrier. Alicia stepped inside Leon’s guard before he could recover.

Arthur was already moving. He’d been circling the engagement, waiting for Cedric to commit his attention elsewhere. The moment the barrier went up, he sprinted toward the caster’s exposed flank.

Cedric turned, trying to bring another barrier around, but Arthur reached him first. The padded dagger struck his ribs.

"Dead," Arthur said.

Cedric sighed, lowering his casting focus. "Yeah. Good hit."

Arthur looked back toward Leon.

Alicia’s resin blade was resting firmly against Leon’s sternum. His broadsword was still raised, caught halfway through recovering from the interrupted swing.

"Dead," Alicia said calmly.

Leon exhaled a long breath and lowered his sword. He tapped Alicia’s blade in acknowledgment and stepped back.

It was just Arthur and Alicia now.

Alicia turned toward him, resetting her grip on her longsword.

Arthur brought his padded dagger up. Silent Knife Technique had made his footwork and weapon transitions much better, but Alicia had a full-length sword and both hands available. He could still use his left arm for balance, but catching a blow or grabbing her with that wrist was out of the question.

Alicia closed the distance in two quick, gliding steps. She feinted high, forcing Arthur to duck, and whipped the blade down toward his thigh.

Arthur twisted away, the resin edge grazing his trousers. He triggered Shadow Step, retreating five yards into the shadow of a barricade near the boundary.

Alicia followed the smoke, keeping the pressure relentless. She used her superior reach to keep him exactly where she wanted him, constantly forcing him backward.

Arthur parried a thrust with the padded dagger, the impact jarring his right arm. He tried to step inside her guard, aiming for her wrist, but she pivoted smoothly, bringing the pommel of her sword down in a tight arc.

Arthur threw himself backward to avoid getting hit in the face. His heel slipped on the churned dirt beside the chalk boundary, throwing him off balance.

Alicia’s blade snapped forward and tapped him firmly on the shoulder.

Morwenna’s whistle blew sharply across the training ground.

"Match," Morwenna called out. "Team Two."

Alicia lowered her sword, her breathing perfectly even. "Good match."

Arthur straightened up, rolling his right shoulder. "I hate fighting you without a bow."

"I know," Alicia smiled. "That’s why I enjoyed it."

Morwenna stopped beside them.

"Vance. Braveheart. What the fuck was that opening?"

Leon started to answer, but she pointed at Arthur.

"You went straight after Cedric without telling your partner. And you—" She turned to Leon. "—engaged Valentine without checking where your support was."

"We nearly recovered," Leon said.

"Nearly." Morwenna looked between them. "You spent half the match fixing a problem you created yourselves."

She pointed toward the equipment racks. "Clear the ring. Next pair."

Arthur let out a breath and walked over to the weapon racks to return his padded dagger. Leon followed him, slotting his resin broadsword into its wooden holder.

Alicia and Cedric joined them a moment later. Cedric tossed Arthur a clean towel from the stack near the benches.

"She’s right, you know," Cedric said, leaning against the rack. "You spent thirty seconds hiding behind a wooden wall trying to figure out how to stab me."

"It eventually worked," Arthur pointed out, wiping the sweat off his face.

"Only because I had to cover Alicia," Cedric countered.

Leon was rubbing his chest where Alicia’s resin blade had hit him. He looked over at her. "How did you slip that parry? I had the angle covered."

"No, you didn’t," Alicia said.

She picked up a spare training sword from the rack. She stepped back, mimicking Leon’s heavy, two-handed grip. "When you step in for a horizontal sweep, you always drop your right elbow slightly to generate more power."

She demonstrated the movement. The dropped elbow exposed a small, momentary gap in her defense.

"Cedric’s barrier caught your blade," Alicia said, lowering the sword. "Your elbow was already down, so I stepped inside before you could bring the sword back."

Leon stared at her. "You’ve been studying my forms."

"I watch you fight," Alicia corrected, though a faint, satisfied smile touched the corner of her mouth. "It pays to know your opponent’s habits."

Arthur tossed his towel into the laundry bin. "It’s nice to know everyone is having so much fun dissecting our fighting styles while I’m stuck with one hand."

"It was very educational," Cedric agreed.

The class period ended, and the rest of the students began clearing out of the practice rings. The late afternoon sun was casting long shadows across the chalk lines as the four of them started walking toward the changing rooms.

Leon rubbed his chest again, looking thoughtfully at the spare training sword still in Alicia’s hand.

"Show me that redirect again," Leon said as they reached the edge of the grounds.

Alicia stopped walking and raised the blade. "Step in."

Arthur watched Leon mirror her stance, completely ignoring the fact that class was over, and decided he was entirely fine leaving them to it.