“Keep alive people!” Lorry said. “Relinquish all your weapons. Remember, you both choose one of the blunt weapons in the armory.”

I took the short sword. The blade was big enough to hold with both hands

Lyle on the other side gave his sharp blade to Lorry. He went to the armory. His weapon of choice was the same as mine, except he carried his with one arm.

“I said relinquish all weapons,” she directed at Lyle.

Lyle pulls out a revolver from out of his sleeve. He handed the gun to Lorry as well.

While Lyle was busy with Lorry, I spotted a knife jutting out of the armory. I pulled out the knife and hid it while the two weren't looking, it felt right. Donovan noticed right away, but he turned the other way when we met eyes.

“Good on you both.” she said. “You both go to the other side of the arena. When I raise my arm, you both can begin.”

We waited for the signal. He flipped his sword in the air to catch it. I tried remembering how I was to swing a sword. Lorry paused before thrusting her arm up.

Time to begin.

I did not take the initiative, my legs planted themselves on the cement. My hands held onto the blade, looking for a chance to strike.

Yet the opportunity never came.

Lyle propelled his blade with a one-handed strike. My energy took a blow to block the attack. He responded with a slash.

I rolled down on the ground, into safety. There was a distance between me and him. His calm demeanor turned into a scowl. He rushed this time around.

A barrage of blows went my way. Each was as strong as the last. My arms went numb from deflecting. Lyle didn't break a sweat.

There was no opening. I was on the defensive.

I leaped from Lyle's final strike. He ceased his relentless assault.

“I was supposed to go easy on you.?” Lyle said. “I was only going to give you a light beating. Me letting you crawl back to that 1st class of yours,” his tone sounded of disappointment.

He raised his sword, ‘Your stubbornness wouldn't allow even that’. I'm done playing games, hold onto your sword so we can fight properly.”

He's waiting to make sure I'm ready. I raised my short sword in turn.

An aura radiates from his blade. I sensed the same feeling like from Thousand Cuts, albeit lighter. The origin of anima, that is what It meant. An intent that he was using throughout his body.

His behavior clicked in my head. The pure aggression, the lack of care. He sought to humiliate me with an utter defeat.

That’s why he wasn’t allowing me to trade blows, or learn from the spar.

I gave myself a reality of what situation I was in. I must win. Lyle saw me as lesser. Give up now, that was no longer an option.

Think, I have to think. Put his guard down, let him slip up.

I re-held my short sword closer to my body, I gave up on attacking.

Lyle closed the gap. He swung with one hand. I deflected the hit. Both my arms went numb from the impact. If I block again, there won’t be a next time.

My body overextended, that my legs gave out. My bones felt like they were lead.

Lyle attacked again. I no longer had the energy.

There’s no opening.

Lyle corrected his blade with the broadside aimed at me. The metal slammed into my body. I launched into the concrete, far from the arena. My head rested on the floor.

My body sent signals of pain and refused my response. I gritted my teeth as my arms tried picking me up.

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“Stay down, you have nothing to prove,” Lyle said.

Donovan was getting up to break up the match. He saw the writing long ago.

Strength? Skill? Stamina? I have none compared to Lyle. Fighting him was only hurting me. Giving up would be the best for me, however…

My hand waved to Donovan. ‘I'm fine’ was what I signaled. I got up on both feet. They shook, but I must move on.

“I wasn't asking for much,” I held myself up. Have a little back and forth. you wouldn't allow me even that. Assholes like you always have to go out of their way. I'm not standing here while you make a mockery of me,” my wobbly hands gripped the sword.

“You were always going to drag IMPERIAL down,” Lyle stabilized his stance. “Dependency was always a weakness. The way you acted proved that.”

This wasn't a spar, this was a fight for our pride.

Lyle was going to win, I had no doubt.

I sharpened my attention to the knife hidden under my clothes. Why am I weighing to use such an underhanded tactic?

Wasn't I the one who hid it? My mind went back to the knife each time. Keeping the knife was an act of intensity

My heart pounded.

I took a desperate swing as I stepped. My sword flew in the air. If I couldn’t create an opening, I made one.

Lyle met my blade head on. There was no power behind both our attacks, yet he was stronger.

My sword fluttered away, leaving me defenseless. The blade landed on the concrete.

This was the fated outcome. I was outmatched, Donovan knew it too. I barely had the energy left to pick up the sword. Now unarmed, my chances looked grim.

“You're done, you’re through, go hide behind Donovan.” He kicked the ground “For you playing such games, all you had to do was stay down.” Lyle’s words cutted harder than any attack.

Donovan was calling the match. I knew it was happening. Lyle lowered his blade like the spar. The outcome was a foregone conclusion. Lyle relaxed his guard. Why? Pure arrogance, servere underestimation.

A chance for an opening.

I felt the knife under my clothes. Cold to the touch as with the numbness of my hands. It pained me to pull the small blade out, yet I was at my breaking point. my mind went blank. The instincts kicked in.

Nothing, there was nothing I wanted more than seeing Lyle’s face twisted with my final act of revenge. One hit, that’s all I ask.

Lyle waited for Donovan and Dolores, expecting a response. I clenched my teeth and grabbed the knife out in the open.

I can't have it.

Short, rapid breaths. My pupils dilated from focusing on one. central. Point.

I used the last of my last energy for a sprint. The last of my strength held onto the knife. A last desperate charge, and a move that caught Lyle off guard.

He turned his head. his expression warped into shock.

Lyle twisted then stumbled out of range

I struck a nerve. He readjusted himself back to me. With Lyle’s leg, he kicked towards my gut.

I was already spent.

*Thud*

My ears rang as I heard Donovan's muffled footsteps.

There was another pair of feet.

I opened my eyes and saw a silhouette. The ringing and blurring made thinking hard. I noticed that the silhouette standing before me was Lyle.

“You ingenious coward!” Lyle exclaimed.

I crawled away on my back as he followed.

“You can't fight me fairly? Use cowardly tactics on me? There’s no honor, you fucking cat!”

He dragged me by my ears. They hurt worse than when Lyle kicked me. The worst torture I could have possibly got. I felt every single finger wrapped around my ears.

His other hand curled into a fist, tightly clenched to the bone. I longer recalled why I was scared. The instincts took hold.

My ears, my ears, my ears, the voice repeated in my mind

Lyle’s fist bore down on my face. I stared at him, wide eyed. lost in the moment, I closed my eyes for one last time and anticipated…

Nothing, Donovan caught him mid swing.

“Lyle, you are way out of line!” Donovan screamed. An actual scream

The pressure released from my ears. Lyle's hand was bruised, the hand that held onto my ears.

My body shook as I wept

“Donovan I…” Lyle fought pain, but Donovan interrupted him.

“I'm not going to hear it! You caused irreversible damage to your own ally. You were supposed to be IMPERIAL. Only if I saw how little that meant to you,” he whispered.

Lyle looks at me with a kind of realization. My sobs were low, a hum to not be heard.

“Do you have the indecency to defend yourself?” Donovan sounded disgusted. “I’ve heard enough. You get a hundred slashes. Maybe I can begin to know how to deal with you! Dolores, deal with Lyle for me, I have to be with Mekiko.”

Dolores was somber. She grabbed hold of Lyle, I stopped paying attention.

My arms wrapped around Donovan in a hug. I pressed my head into his chest.

“My ears — they hurt,” I said between sobs.

I told less than the whole truth. My body was also in pain. Donovan comforted me. My tears flowed onto his coat.

I don't know if I can look at Donovan the same way. He definitely won't treat me the same.

In the end I lost everything. Cheated, tempted fate. I lost what’s important to me, my respect, my reasoning; my honor.

Weak, pathetic, feral.

Everything has always been different.