The crowd's roaring shouts set the atmosphere of our battle. Gale holds his sword in his hands, the blade angled to the side. I hold my own blade close, giving me a center of gravity as I keep myself balanced.

"Are you ready, Caleb?"

"Let's do this, shall we?" Gale smirks, rests his shoulders, and takes a deep breath.

"Don't say I didn't hold back when you lose."

"Hardly, I wouldn't make a lame excuse."

"Let the duel commence!" Nana shouts from the side, being the proctor for the bout.

With a burst of speed, Gale launches himself forward. I catch my guard and instantly go for a parry. The tip of his sword clashes against mine. Creating sparks that flash in front of our faces, I quickly turn my wrist to twist his hand away. Shifting my elbow to hit his sternum, I feel his firm grip on my shoulder as he pushes me down to the ground as he pushes off of me. I hit the ground but flipped to my feet just in time to block his counterattack. It leaves me off balance.

"Sword Art: Daring Advancement!" Gale emits a blue aura from his body, enabling the Sword Art within his body; he loses all sense of defense for increased speed and reflexes. The stinging pain of his sword grazing my shoulder as he thrusts forward.

With a subtle moment of clarity, kicking his knee stumbles his movement. But with his enhancement, he doesn't relent and gives me another cut on my side. Reading his movements was pointless. So, it was down to using our trump cards at the start. I shift my weight and focus my magic into the artifact to cure my wounds. Switching to the offensive, I realize that Gale wants to show off, admitting that surprising me was his advantage.

My confidence was shaken for a moment, and it cost me. But now I know I can win if I put everything into my next move. With a subtle twitch, I stop his next attack with the end of my boot, kicking the blade straight into the ground as his control with his blade is easily moved. I step on the blade to stop him from pulling it out. He looked at me with a shocked expression before I climbed his knees with each step and instantly struck his chin with both my knees, flying into the air. I land with my swords ready to pierce into him, but he rolls out of the way in time.

Coughing hard, his enhancement wears out, and he reverts to his normal speed. I spend not a second too late creasing my hand across my sword; the burning runes infuse into the sword.

"Sword Art: Flameburst!" A powerful crack of fire expands from the runes and with a single swing with the blade unleashes a ball of fire that Gale defends. Ashes of his cloak litter the field as he tosses the burning piece of cloth to the side and removes his leather armor, leaving him with just an arm guard and leg armor.

"That's pretty hot, you know!"

"There's more where that's coming from!" Taking a deep breath, I expand the energy to create more runes upon the blade and again summon the same power. Gale instantly breaks into a sprint and tries to enter my blind spot as I finish channeling the Sword Art. I reverse the sword and stab into the ground, and force him to clash, causing the flames to explode from his attack. It hurts us both, leaving me tumbling around for a moment.

I must have hit my head as I was blown away. My vision was blurry, and my head was pounding, along with a few singes of burns. Gale held his ground, but his chest suffered some nasty burns along with his arms. The burning runes fade away, returning the blade to its natural state. A moment of respite sits as we stare at each other. I let out a soft laugh and ready my sword again.

Following the same pattern, he takes a deep breath and moves forward. Getting close into range, I duck under his next attack; swinging wildly, I connect with my blade. However, the usual feeling of stopping my blade short so I don't kill him was stopped by something else.

"What..?" I stared, shocked, as Gale defended with a split-second shift. After swinging his blade and I ducked, he read my movements and, swapped the blade in reverse and stabbed downwards to directly block. He parries and lands a kick to my chest.

After a short tumble, I cough and get to my knees. A bit of blood seeps past the cut on my lip. It seems like his advancement really went through. Gale is fighting much differently, much more unique. Eckhart is still much stronger than Gale, and even when he was not using his unique style, he could probably still be Gale without it. My chances of winning against Gale were still low but not impossible. Just read his movements and counter just like how I practiced with Carlo.

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"Getting cold feet? We could end this now and call it." Gale shouts as he stretches his arms.

"I see that you have taken on some unique moves as of late. Pretty sneaky."

"Where's the fun if I told you? This way, you can know how you lost today!"

Gale rushes forward, like usual, but drags his blade behind him—the piercing sound of sword against stone and the sparks caused by the friction glitter across the area. With a turn, he swings up with a large mass of wind, shifting my balance. I spot the position that he made. I knew I could read his movements if I could use what I learned yesterday to beat him.

I threw my sword into the air; it caused a soft distraction that gained nearly everyone's attention. The opening to press forward, I bait Gale into attacking, leaving him close to striking me; I summon a barrier to reflect his attack. Without hesitating, I swung my blade forward and hit his chest. The blood seeps into his clothes as if it is a decent gash.

"Looks like I am going need you to buy me a new shirt!" The clash of blades rings out multiple times as each of our blades connects with each consecutive strike. Increasing in speed and tenacity, we hold our ground, looking for an opening as both of us are nearing some limits.

A sharp pain slashes my leg quickly as I miss to parry an attack. The exchange left me a bit wounded, but it didn't stop me from returning another strike across his left arm. Again, the sounds of blades clashing with metal against metal rings through the area. Gale is breathing heavily as each strike costs him a lot of his strength. He slows down, leaving me an opening as I charge forward; slipping past his guard, I land a powerful strike that he just barely pushes my hands out of the way.

We both fall over, and I lose my sword in the process. Gale holds onto his, but my previous attack caught him off guard, and defending against such a strike left him with a broken wrist. With a few moments that pass, we sit there with sweat dripping across our bodies.

"Did Gale win?" A couple spectators begin to discuss as the match is currently on hold until a decision is made. With a tired expression, Gale sighs heavily and raises his left hand to show his surrender.

"I give up." A shocked crowed jumps up and cheers for my victory while others rub their heads confused as to why he did such, not knowing that his dominant hand is unusable, leaving him unable to grip a sword properly.

"The match is over! Caleb Aris is the victor!" Nana announces with a stern expression. I look at her and laugh before falling to my back, exhausted. The townsfolk look around and discuss the outcome and possible criticisms among themselves. I get up and grab my blade before giving Gale a hand.

"You didn't need to surrender like that."

"Hardly. You got lucky with that move you used."

"Even if I did get lucky, you could have beaten me if I didn't pull that off."

"I'll watch out for that trick when we spar. You won this one for now."

"I look forward to it." Gale nods, and Lukia quickly grabs his wrists and casts healing magic.

"That was such a close fight." With a soft tone, she speaks with little excitement. Gale rubs her head briefly before patting her back with his healed hand. She turns to me and heals my wounds before she is fully tapped.

"Thanks, Lukia."

"Don't thank me. Be glad you didn't get in worse shape fighting him."

"He wasn't holding back, was he?"

"No, he wasn't. I think that's why he feels good about himself.

"Why is that?"

"Means he knows that he can get stronger if you stick with us."

"Oh, right, I forgot." Somehow my memory was fuzzy, possibly the hit I took earlier with my own move, but I forgot the whole purpose of this.

"You will be joining us, right?"

"If Gale says so."

"Stupid. He would have let you join, regardless. He just wanted an excuse to fight you and go all out. Gale is hard at showing it, but he admires your resolve and ability to get strong fast. Eckhart told me you might be growing so fast because you have the same hidden talent as him."

"Huh?"

"Huh?" We stare at each other dumbfounded at each other.

"Wait, you didn't know?" Lukia shouts.

"I didn't think about it at all."

"Heh, clueless, Caleb. You have the Fast Learner potential within you. Training with powerful masters and teachers, you are bound to soar in your growth. Hence why, you are eleven years old and can put up a good fight with Gale. Eckhart has done a great job regardless to get you this far."

"So, that's why I it felt like I was different."

"It's tied to your genes and how strong they are. You are special, so your potential is far higher and stronger than that of Eckhart."

"Hey, don't speak about that."

"I promised I wouldn't say a thing. But the possibility is likely."

"I never knew that."

"Many people will look down upon you if they find out how you are getting this good so quickly. Be sure to keep that to yourself."

"Understood."

"Hey, Caleb, you got a minute to talk?" Nana shouts from the side. Motioning me to come to her.

"Talk later?" I turn to Lukia.

"Sure thing. I'll make sure Gale isn't drunk by the time you come back." Splitting from Lukia, I approach Nana.

"What is it you need Guild Master?"

"I know we touched upon it briefly on our way back from the nest. But when you are ready, meet me in my office in the Guild Hall if you want to hear the full story about it."

She was referring to her eye. I didn't want to be obvious, but I was always looking at her eye every time I saw Nana. She only told me it was a curse she took upon herself when she had no choice. It was able to petrify a massive ogre within seconds. Whatever she has, it surely is quite powerful...