“Stand firm, Silas,” Mikel said sternly. “And fight well. Today is your final lesson.”

I stood as straight as I could, facing Master Mikel and his four former disciples. They were once again clad in their black robes bearing Master Mikel’s crest, though the hoods were down. There was an intensity to their presence that sent a shiver down my spine.

“Yes Master,” I said, my voice cracking with the tension. “I am ready.”

“Very well,” he replied. “You have learned the basic techniques you will need for the Crucible. As it stands, you have been appointed as my apprentice, and will attend.”

“Thank you, Master.”

“For this final lesson, before we give you a few days off to prepare, we have something special planned.”

“Special?” I asked, feeling an ice cube slip into my stomach. That didn’t sound good. “In what way?”

His eyes flashed a warning. Don’t interrupt me, they said. I clamped my mouth shut. “Selena, Ivan, Gene, and Tamotsu will attack you all together. They will limit themselves to a tenth of their strength, and their only goal is to knock you down. If you are still standing in one minute, you will have passed.”

“Not that we will stop at one minute,” Selena threw in. The other three nodded in silent agreement. “This lesson is to test your limits.”

I blinked, not sure I’d heard them correctly. They were all going to attack me at once? Sure, they’d done it before, but I wasn’t eager to replicate the experience. I’d lasted, what, five seconds before being knocked down last time? But underneath the sudden surge of fear, I felt my heart leap. I loved a challenge, and it sounded like this would be the ultimate challenge. I summoned the scythe into my hand and took up a defensive stance. There was probably a grin on my face, though I couldn’t be sure.

Ivan needed no further urging. As soon as my weapon appeared, he jumped. He flew at me with incredible speed for a man of his bulk, his fist swinging down. I swayed to the side slightly as his fist sailed through the air, then jumped away a foot or so. Quick as a flash, Gene’s aura flared out of nowhere and quickly moved to surround me. I pushed aura into my legs and vaulted out of the way.

Now Selena was on me, her staff a blur as she rained blows down on me from all angles. At that moment, the scythe really did feel just like a staff as I swung it to intercept her strokes. Each attack had a small little explosion of aura as it connected, but I’d been taught how to deal with that. Small puffs of my own aura burst out to counter them, and my stance remained strong.

Not bad for the first five seconds, right? I certainly thought so. It was probably that thought that led to my first mistake. Tamotsu appeared at my back, his blade raised as if to cut me down. For some reason, I didn’t realize that he was slower than normal. My scythe swung in a vicious arc as I spun, but his images faded in a whirl of mist. A quick smack in my back told me that Selena had landed a blow. I staggered forward a pace or two, right into Tamotsu’s real attack, a roundhouse kick to the face.

Thankfully, I was able to cover my arms in a defensive shroud and block his kick. Then I lashed out with my own foot, forcing him to jump back and give me a little space. Ivan jumped into the gap and jabbed twice at me. I sidestepped the first and parried the second with my left hand. I could feel my own body waking up and moving more rapidly. Was this some kind of battle instinct?

Immediately after smacking Ivan’s second blow aside, I rammed my shoulder into his chest. He wasn’t prepared for that, and I made solid contact. My reinforced shoulder knocked the air out of his chest and sent him skidding back. Sadly, he didn’t fall down, but I’d given myself a little more time. How much was left? I twirled my scythe as Selena swung at me again. I was forced to jump back as she swung again and again, pulling the flow of the battle to her own favor.

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Direct the flow of my attacks away. Do not let me control the pace of the combat. Selena’s words came back to me then, as her barrage forced me back another few inches. I waited until the last stroke of her pattern, then, with an extra charge in my movement, I smacked the tip of her staff to the side. I slashed up with the blade of my scythe, and she took a step back. But she was off-balance now, and I charged forward, seizing my chance to turn the tides.

The staff made solid contact with her head, and the explosion of aura knocked her flat with a bang. I took a moment to revel in the small victory. I probably shouldn’t have done that, because I needed to keep my attention on the other three. Ivan struck my shoulder with destructive force, and I felt my body fly sideways. It was almost over there, but I managed to land on my knees with my weapon still in hand.

I swirled aura all around my body in a sphere as Gene attempted to grab me again, and his aura was rebuffed. The shield shattered apart, then reformed into long spikes that I directed at Gene. It was a pretty cool move, but all it did was force him to jump back to avoid it. Then Tamotsu was in my face again, his blade a silver streak as he cut forehand and backhand. I retreated again.

“That’s one minute,” Mikel said. “Well done, and good luck.”

“My turn!”

I turned just in time to see a new participant in the duel. At first, she was only visible as a black blur as she swung her two daggers at me, trying to break through my guard. But as I repelled her attack and forced her back, I recognized that long brown hair.

“Aww, did you miss me?” I asked Marisha with a grin. “I was wondering where you’ve been.”

She matched my grin as she dove at me again, unleashing a bewildering series of stabs and slashes. She spun, dove, ducked and jumped with a captivating grace as she seemed to attack me from all angles. I only had a moment to realize that the others were hanging back before Marisha was taking all my attention again.

Okay. I don’t know if you’ve ever had a beautiful woman attacking you with all she had, her eye gleaming with a fanatic battle glee. To a normal person, it might not be desirable. But I couldn’t help but feel impressed, and a little excited. Her hair flared out like a fan as she cut again and again, and I found it mesmerizing. Suffice it to say that the view was totally worth the cost.

Caught up in the sudden surge of awe and the flushing of my face, I knocked her most recent attack away, then retaliated with a low sweep of my scythe. She jumped over it and me with ease, landing behind me like she was some kind of ninja goddess. I tried to turn to attack her again, but I was too slow. She lashed her right foot out in a strong back kick, and my aura, not ready to block that, couldn’t form up in time. I heard a loud bang, but I was already flat on my back before I knew what had happened.

“One minute and thirteen seconds,” Mikel said. “Not bad.”

“Who was closest?” Tamotsu said with a laugh. “I had two minutes, damn it all.”

“I was,” I heard Selena said. She was sitting up on the padded floor, one hand rubbing the red mark that lined up perfectly with the eye tattoo on her forehead. “One minute and fifteen.”

Ivan, Tamotsu, and Gene all grumbled. Then they each dug a roll of cash out of their pockets and threw them over to Selena. They landed with a thump next to her, and I caught the sight of a few hundreds in each.

“Congrats on passing the final test,” Marisha said, offering me a hand up. “Not many do.”

“Did you?” I said, accepting the help up. My mind was still full of her captivating display.

“Of course,” she said with a superior smirk. “I lasted three minutes and forty-two seconds.”

“There were only three then,” Ivan said. He sounded almost offended.

“Whatever,” Marisha rolled her eyes. “Still better than Silas.”

I was willing to admit that. Hell, I wasn’t even sad that she’d performed better than me. Who could be mad when a hot chick like her was better at something? I took a deep breath, shaking my head to steer my thoughts away from the memory of Marisha going full-strength on me.

“So now I get a few days off, it seems,” I told her. “What are you doing this weekend?”

“I get the weekend off too,” she replied. “I’m gonna go to the Crucible, to watch you make a fool of yourself.”

“Thanks for that,” I scoffed. “You wanna catch a bite of lunch, maybe a dinner?”