Chapter 66: Spar II

Chapter 66: Chapter 66: Spar II

The air inside the octagonal arena split with the piercing shriek of compressed wind.

"Let’s show him what we’ve got, Wendy! Airstep!"

*YIP!*

The Windrunner Fox exploded from Edward’s left flank, bounding not along the granite flags, but directly into the open air. With its newly learned mobility technique, translucent jade ripples bloomed beneath Wendy’s padded paws, allowing the vulpine to sprint skyward upon invisible platforms of solidified gale. Mid-ascent, its twin tails lashed forward like scythes, hurling two crescent-shaped windblades whistling through the air toward Eric’s blind spots.

High above, Coal needed no command to operate.

*Skystride!*

Detonating into an explosive aerial sprint, Coal intercepted the trajectory of the gale projectiles. His broad obsidian wings flared wide.

*Shadow Clone!*

Five pitch-black phantom duplicates peeled away from his wake. Two decoys absorbed the direct impact of the emerald blades, dispersing into drifting plumes of dark vapor, while the true Coal folded his wings and plummeted like a guided mortar directly toward Wendy’s flight path.

Down on the arena floor, Edward was already closing the distance.

"Don’t blink, country boy!" Edward barked, his twin alloy trench daggers blurring in an emerald frenzy.

During their initial clash in the misty forest of the proving grounds, Edward’s blistering attack speed had completely overwhelmed Eric’s linear defenses. But this arena bout was fundamentally different.

*Advanced Swordsmanship — Major Mastery.*

The blunted training sword in Eric’s hands didn’t merely parry; it flowed with terrifying mastery. Every swing was stripped of wasted kinetic drag, transforming structural defense into immediate, lethal counter-offense.

*CLANG! CLANG-CLANG!*

Showers of bright sparks erupted along the centerline. Eric met every vicious thrust of the paired daggers with tight, microscopic deflections. When Edward attempted to duck beneath his elbows to execute an underhand gut strike, Eric’s boots dissolved into smoky darkness.

*Shadow Steps — Major Mastery.*

There was zero hesitation in Eric’s transition. His silhouette dissolved into three shifting, overlapping afterimages of dark mist, smoothly gliding around Edward’s exposed right flank with supernatural fluidity. The blunted steel whipped horizontally in a decapitating arc, whistling through the pressurized air with terrifying momentum.

"Tch!" Edward’s combat instincts flared in warning. He crossed his daggers behind his right shoulder, barely catching the blunt edge.

*BANG!*

The kinetic shockwave drove Edward skidding five paces across the stone flags. His forearms vibrated with agonizing numbness from the sheer weight behind Eric’s strike.

*His footwork... his sword mastery...* Edward gasped internally, cold panic flickering in his chest. *It’s completely different from the trials! How on earth did he polish his skills to this level in barely a month?!*

Above them, the beast dogfight reached a fever pitch. Wendy darted across invisible aerial footholds, unleashing a concussive gale blast that swept across the dome’s ceiling. But Coal’s aerial maneuverability was peerless. Gliding effortlessly through the turbulent draft with Skystride, Coal banked sharply, his talons igniting with dense, smoky Shadow mana.

*Shadow Talons!*

Coal clipped Wendy’s flank in a high-speed strafe, the kinetic force sending the fox tumbling from the sky to land heavily beside Edward, fur bristling as it panted for breath.

Edward gritted his teeth, the lactic acid burning violently in his lungs. "We go all out, Wendy! Pincer assault!"

Fox and tamer surged forward in unison, emerald wind mana spiraling into a localized vortex that threatened to scour the stone floor.

Eric felt the strain pulling at his calves, but right then, a soothing, crystalline pulse radiated from his right hand.

The *Ring of Tranquility* flared silently against his index finger.

The passive fifty percent boost to stamina and mana regeneration washed through Eric’s core like an icy mountain spring. His racing heart instantly stabilized into an unshakeable rhythm, cognitive clarity sharpened to an absolute edge, and the spent mana within his meridians replenished at a blistering pace. Fatigue simply could not anchor itself to his flesh.

*Coal, suppress the fox!* Eric commanded through the bond.

Coal dove like an obsidian thunderbolt, deploying two fresh shadow clones to harass Wendy from alternating vectors, driving the vulpine away from Edward’s perimeter and completely severing their tactical synchronization.

Left isolated against Eric, Edward unleashed his absolute best infighting sequence, striking high, feinting low, and spinning into a reverse dagger slash that pushed his agility to its absolute ceiling.

Yet Eric read every line of tension in Edward’s shoulders before the blades even cleared their arc.

Leaning beneath the whistling daggers by a hair’s breadth, Eric executed a flawless Shadow Step pivot. He planted his boot directly onto Edward’s lead foot to pin his center of gravity, swept the flat of the practice sword upward to knock the left dagger aside, and twisted his core to drive the heavy alloy pommel hard against Edward’s right wrist.

*CRACK!*

The numbing strike severed the nerve flow to Edward’s fingers; the second dagger slipped from his grip, clattering loudly across the granite.

Before Edward could recover his footing or leap backward, the blunt tip of Eric’s training blade arrived, coming to an absolute, motionless stop dead center against Edward’s throat.

The swirling wind currents died instantly.

A few yards away, Coal stood perched upon a stone rise with his iron beak hovering a fraction of an inch above Wendy’s nose, freezing the defeated fox in place.

Absolute silence gripped Ring #5.

*BZZZZ-CHIME!*

The automated referee construct lowered its mechanical indicator flag, the blue hexagonal barrier dissolving into faint energy embers.

[SPARRING MATCH: CONCLUDED]

Winner: Eric (Combatant A)

Victory Condition: Decisive Disarm / Point Proximity

From the upper spectator gallery, a burst of energetic applause broke out across the railings.

"Holy hell, did you see that pivot?!" the burly senior exclaimed, leaning forward against the brass bar. "The crow tamer dismantled his infighting without taking a single scratch!"

"Pay up, big guy," the female upperclassman grinned, tapping her palm. "I told you that bird tamer had something wicked up his sleeve."

Down on the arena floor, Edward stared blankly at the steel tip hovering against his collarbone, his chest heaving as beads of sweat dripped from his chin. A bitter, rueful smile slowly formed on his lips.

"I lost," Edward breathed, raising his bruised hands in clean surrender.

Eric lowered the practice sword and took a measured step back, exhaling a long, satisfied breath. The cold combat focus in his dark eyes melted away, replaced by an easy, good-natured grin.

He extended his right hand down toward his opponent.

"It was a good match."

Edward blinked up at the outstretched hand, genuinely stunned by the total lack of mockery or spite. A quiet chuckle escaped his throat as he reached out, firmly grasping Eric’s forearm.

"Yeah. You were great," Edward admitted, shaking his head with a wry grimace. "Way better than back in the trials. You’re an absolute freak, you know that?"

Eric gave a firm, powerful pull, easily hoisting Edward back onto his feet.

Standing in the center of the ring, the two freshmen exchanged a solid, mutual handshake, their beasts relaxing beside them under the cheerful shouts and whistles of the upperclassmen echoing across the training complex.