The group's free time was over, and it was now time for their group training session. They decided to start with one-on-one matches to see what everyone could do. They marked an area that would serve as a boundary for the stage. The first person knocked out of the boundary loses the match.

Since Luke hadn't learned a Martial Skill yet, he wasn't going to be participating.

"You may have won your fight at the academy, but don't think that I will be so easy."

Shio and Julian were up first. Julian stood opposite her and prepared to fight. He knew ability could be troublesome if he wasn't careful. He was still excited to see what she could do.

"I was counting on it."

Julian smiled and the match began. Shio was wielding two daggers about a foot long each. She rushed headfirst to where Julian was standing and began slashing her blades towards his chest.

"Someone's headstrong."

Julian's remark irked Shio and she added more force to her slashes. Julian was dodging every swing she made, and she grew increasingly frustrated with the situation.

"Don't get cocky yet!"

Shio turned her daggers upside down and a purple glow began emitting from them.

'Is it her ability activating?'

Julian had yet to see Shio's ability. So he didn't know what it looked like. As he was pondering what he was seeing, Shio charged in again, but this time she was much faster. It even stunned Julian. She was leaving a trail of purple light behind as she ran. She threw a quick jab at Julian's stomach and Julian went to counter it, but when his hand was about to grab her wrist Shio'd blade disappeared and was now aiming for his shoulder. Julian had to fall back before the blade could hit him, ruining his counterattack.

"This is a martial skill. If I'm not mistaken, this one is called Illusion Blade."

Shio smirked proudly.

"I'm surprised that you know it. Illusion Blade is a martial skill that has been passed down through my family. Not very many people know about it."

Illusion Blade was a martial skill that only worked if the practitioner used bladed weapons. It was an offensive type skill that focused on speed and quick thinking. Since Shio had performed the trademark aura skill of Illusion Strike, Phantom Blade, that meant that she had at least broken the second tier. Julian was quite impressed with her talent. Breaking the second tier at her age wasn't too uncommon, but Shio used the aura skill so well that you would think that she had been practicing it since birth.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Color me impressed. You've got beauty and a great talent to add. Your boyfriend is very lucky."

Shio blushed at his statement.

"I don't have a boyfriend. Plus, my love life is none of your business!"

She charged in again for another strike, this time aiming for his throat.

'If it looks like she's aiming for my throat, then her real target is somewhere else.'

Julian didn't go for the counter this time. But waited to see her real strike. Shio's blade was getting closer to his face and Julian realized that he was mistaken. Her blade was only an inch away before Julian had to back away again.

'She didn't use it that time. I let her skill psych me out. Of course, she would change the next attack after showing me her skill.'

Julin was slightly agitated with himself for not thinking straight. He failed to acknowledge that even Shio's mind wasn't as old as his, she wasn't as naive as he previously believed. She must have been trained well. He was going to have to get more serious to beat her. If this were him from his previous timeline, this fight would've ended before it even started, but that wasn't the case right now. He may have a large aura pool at the moment, but he's only broken through the second tier of one martial skill. If he had to guess, he and Shio were almost evenly matched. The one thing he did have over her was his extensive knowledge and combat prowess.

Julian pulled out his box of talismans and took the initiative. He bolted towards her and slapped a talisman that increased his speed on his chest. He would have to be just as fast as her to match her skill. Windbreak was fast, but it was only significant at higher tiers.

Shio also charged in. Their speed was equally fast as they ran. Shio would slash her blades and Julian would dodge. This went on for about a minute until Julian pulled out another talisman and stuck it to his stomach. He prepared this talisman for a situation such as this where his opponent was equal in strength and speed to him. This talisman would gather the natural aura from his surroundings and store it for later use.

Shio was still slashing and Julian was still dodging until the talisman had filled up enough for Julian to use. He let it gather just enough natural aura for one attack. He waited until Shio retracted her blades from an attack and moved in as she was still pulling her blades back. He took the talisman from his stomach and stuck it to his fist and let out a single punch.

Shio didn't have too much time to react and tried to step back. As she did, she felt like she had hit a brick wall behind her. She turned her head to see what she hit, but there was nothing there. Before she could turn back towards Julian, a fist had slammed into her stomach causing her to grimace in pain. The punch had caused her to be thrown into the air, but this time she didn't hit anything and she continued to fly backward. Before she knew it, she landed just outside of the boundary for the stage.

"What did you just do?"

Julian gave her his hand to pull her up.

"It took some quick thinking, but I used your determination against you. While you were focused on hitting me, I was preparing my trap. All of that time I was running around dodging your strikes was so that I could lay down my talismans and form a barrier wall between them. Once we were in position, you couldn't move back to evade my force-boosted strike. After hitting you, I disabled the barrier allowing you to fly right through it and land outside the boundary."

Shio wasn't even angry. She was amazed at how great Julian's thinking skills were. She grabbed his hand and got up to her feet.

"If you wouldn't mind, I would like us to continue to be sparring partners in the future. I feel like I could learn a lot by fighting you."

Julian patted her head and smiled.

"Of course! We're a squad after all. The stronger we all are, the stronger our team as a whole."

Shio blushed as she smiled. The only other person who patted her head like that was her late father. She was weirdly comforted by Julian doing this.

The two of them moved out of the way for the last two to have their match.

Luna and Iris walked into the boundary and gave each other killing stares. To everyone else, this was meant to be a show of skill, but to these two it was much more.

This match would allow the winner to gain Julian's attention. If they won, they might get a pat on the head like Shio. They were both determined to win at all costs!

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