The dummy’s fist clashed with my pole with a thundering crash, the shockwave shaking the room with its power. My flames were doused by the compressed wind that buffeted me, but I replaced them instantly with more.

Eventually, though, I lost the contest of strength and was thrown back a few steps. The dummy followed up immediately, throwing hooks left and right that I hastily defended. The thing was leagues faster than the B-ranked dummy, but I had expected it. The lady warned me that there was a qualitative jump from B to A in ranking. The gap wasn’t something just any adventurer could overcome – even if they spent their entire lives trying to.

Flames were thrown around as I pushed my body to keep up with the dummy’s incredible speed, managing to block each of the thing’s swings only just barely. Every hit pushed me back a step, the dummy’s body a flash as it twisted its torso with every strike.

It was as frustrating as I’d remembered, being on the receiving end of an onslaught of attacks, helpless to counter. It had been a long time since I’d felt the feeling, as I’d long since dominated the animals of the forest.

But beyond the frustration, there was a bubbling excitement at the prospect of fighting something much stronger than me. It was a challenge, of course, but it was one I lived for, and one I hadn't experienced in far too long.

As I limbered up in the fight, I got better and better at handling the dummy’s swift attacks, until I finally figured a way out for myself. I pushed back against the dummy’s punch, knocking it off kilter just long enough for me to duck down and swipe at the thing’s legs.

I aimed my kick at the dummy’s knee joint, and the force was just enough to bend the thing in a little. I followed with an uppercut jab with the tip of my pole, pushing up out of my crouch with my entire body weight behind the strike. The force lifted the dummy off its feet and threw it up a meter before I brought my pole down with as much force as I could muster. The pole caught the dummy’s torso and threw it down to the floor with a crash.

Immediately, I doused the thing in a blast of flames, engulfing its entire body in bright orange. But, as if my flames were only a tickle for it, the dummy lunged off the ground and at me through the flames. I reacted entirely by instinct, stepping back and out of the way just as its fingers clasped onto the spot I’d been in.

The dummy didn't stop there, though, lunging forward again with a longer stride than I had thought possible for it. It was in front of me before I could even blink, its fingers squeezing around my neck and closing off my breath in an instant.

Experience kicked in at the moment, and I spurned the panic that threatened to take control. My mind raced a million miles a minute, and I chose the riskiest path I had before me, committing to it with the few seconds of consciousness I had remaining. I reached out my finger, pointing it at the dummy’s face, and began to draw, tracing out the lines I knew better than the back of my hand. The lines I’d almost gone insane repeating, over and over and over again. All for moments just like these.

My body practically did the work for me as the darkness closed in on my vision and my thinking muddled in my head. Just before I lost it, I saw the rune take shape, shining with that strange power to control a bit of the universe.

With a strained, wild grin, I punched out at the face of the dummy with as much force as I could muster, my fist crashing through the floating rune, shattering it like a mirror before traveling through and striking the head of the dummy. My fist carried behind it a force far beyond what any B-ranked human could be capable of with just physical strength.

The wood of the dummy’s forehead splintered under the immense force of the shockwave that trailed after my punch. The weight of the strike snapped the thing’s head back before sending the entire body flying back like a ragdoll tossed.

I fell to the floor as the thing flew, my neck freed and my lungs granted the air they’d been begging for. I breathed in desperate, ragged gasps as I dragged in as much air as I could, fighting back against the unconsciousness that had almost succeeded in claiming me.

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Dimly, I registered the lady clapping in amazement at the power of my Arte, but I was so out of it I could hardly focus on the sound. By the time I returned somewhat back to a normal state, though, I didn’t have the luxury of turning to the woman, as the impossibly resilient dummy had already returned to its feet and was rushing at me.

Its face was splintered, with a crack running down the length of its blank face, but it was far from done, it seemed.

Still, I was just about ready to go again, too, so I met the thing’s charge with my own. This time, I attacked with an aggressive ferocity that I’d lacked the first time, spurred on by a newfound ambition. With it fueling me, I kept up with the dummy’s attacks, and an hour passed before I even realized it.

I pulled out all the stops for the fight, using every trick I had in the book, from my scarlet claws to the little pearl bombs I’d come up with. I hit the dummy with everything I had, and I was running my Flux reserve – and my body – ragged by the time the half-past-hour mark rolled around.

The dummy, on the other hand, seemed as energetic as ever, if not as clean in appearance. Scorch marks covered most of the thing’s body, leaving its wood more black than the brown it started with. Splinters and cracks ran along the length of every limb, drawing designs over its torso like spiderwebs. Its joints had become rough, having been heated so much that they had begun to melt and harden together.

But despite all the damage I’d managed to inflict, I knew by the end that it was my loss – and it was a loss in persistence. Emotionless and painless, the thing had me beat in pure hardy doggedness. No matter how hard I fought against the ache in my body, flesh and bone had their limits, and I hit mine before I could break the wooden dummy.

The dummy stopped moving as soon as I dropped my weapon, likely signaled by the lady who’d been watching from the side the entire time. I dropped to the floor and sprawled out without another care in the world, feeling the exhaustion weighing down every cell in my body. A groan escaped my lips, equal parts fatigue and frustration at my loss. I knew from the beginning that I wasn’t likely to win against an A-ranked dummy, but for all my logic, a small, childish part of me was adamant that I could have won, and it felt terrible to have lost.

Ren and the lady appeared above me not long after, popping into my vision as they peered down at me. “You alright?” the woman asked with a light smile. “You fought incredibly, you know.”

I huffed out a dismissive laugh. “Yeah, but I still lost. That’s what matters. I need to do better.”

The lady shook her head at me. “Well, maybe that’s what separates people like you from people like me. I’d be more than happy with my performance if I were you.”

“And how did I do?” I asked, having almost forgotten that the purpose of the fight was to determine my rank with the B rank.

The lady beamed at me. “Well, you land easily within the ranks of the upper tier of B rank, based on your overall fighting ability…” she began, laughing when she saw the disappointment flare within my eyes. “...buut, that Explosion that you showcased was unlike anything I’d ever seen before. I don’t know how many years you’ve spent practicing the Arte, but you’ve got an incredible mastery over it. I’ve never seen anyone else bring so much power to bear out of such a low-class Arte. And with that trump card, I can confidently say that you are a top-tier B rank. Congratulations!”

A grin split my exhausted face, contentment filling the empty feeling that defeat had left me with. I may not have beaten the A rank, yet, but I still did well – as well as I’d been hoping to do, and that was something.

“Now, then,” the lady continued, “I won’t make you pay for the damage, since the Guild insures any destruction in dummies, but unfortunately, we’ll have to move to another room to conduct your friend’s ranking exam.” She cast a questioning glance at Ren then. “Unless your friend isn’t going to challenge B rank?”

Ren smiled at the question. “No, no, I’ll be attempting the same,” he said with a laugh.

The woman nodded to herself. “As I suspected. Very well, then, let us leave. Redhead, you can follow us if you want, or if you want to take a break, you can stay here too. The lobby has snacks and some comfier places to rest, too, if you want. It’s up to you.”

I shook my head at her offers. “I’ll follow you two,” I said. “Wouldn’t wanna miss Ren finally understanding that I’m stronger. Just…just gimme a minute. You guys can go on ahead, get set up or whatever, I’ll follow in a bit.”

Ren laughed as the woman smiled. “Alright, sounds good!” She consulted her clipboard again for a second. “We’ll be in room five, then. Find us when you’re ready.”

With that, the two left me lying in the carnage of my fight, surrounded by scorched ground and one broken and one almost broken dummy – evidence of my new ranking.