"You can't keep allowing me to apply this much pressure," Kalan's accent hardens in a teacher-like tone. "The only way to break out of defense is to deflect, or parry."

"I parried every one of your advances!" D'aliah yells back, severing the ground with the dagger.

"Yet you were still compromised. You need to act quicker."

"You need to act quicker." She mimics, putting on a deeper voice.

"I know you want to plan everything through, but in combat, you need to be more reactive."

"That's what I'm doing, ok. Maybe I'm just not as quick as you."

"Bullshit,"

"Excuse me?"

"You're as quick as I am, if not quicker."

D'aliah sighs, throwing her arms as she turns away from Kalan. Resting them both on the railing as her eyes wander to the glistening sea. "Maybe I'm not as you remember."

"Bullshit."

"You speak to your bond with such profanity?"

"Only when she lies."

He walks over to her, leaning over beside her to rest against the railing and look out to the Luná blue. They both take a moment, recouping their energy and letting the tension between them simmer down.

"I don't expect you to pick up these skills so quickly. It'll take time."

"I know," She exhales. "I just…" She stammers. Being so unsure of herself is agitating. The idea of being a lesser version of who she once was, weighs as though she's a cheap rendition. "I don't know."

"You'll get it," Kalan says, trying to comfort her.

"And if I don't?"

"You already have once before. It only makes sense that you do it again,"

His words only slightly help, the logic is sound but the emotion doesn't match.

"Maybe it would help you to know that you've improved a lot since the trial," He adds. "You stumble a lot less and I can see you mentally keep up with the fights now."

"Sure," She responds, still being much too hard on herself. She knows she's improved, but is it enough? Out of nearly twenty duels, she's only won one- Using a 'cheap' trick to disarm him when he wasn't even using offense.

"We'll be arriving in Nihil in a few hours," He says, looking to the front side of the boat. "It'll be quite dangerous," He points to the distance and D'aliah's eyes follow his arm to the sight of a land mass extended along the horizon.

"Why is it floating?" She asks.

Kalan's hand covers his mouth, hiding his laughter. This makes D'aliah's cheeks bloom, as it becomes apparent that she may have asked a foolish question. "What?" She bites, retaliating to the embarrassment.

"The sky and seas of Luná tend to merge at the horizon. It appears as though the islands are in the air at a certain time of day,"

"Oh," She looks back at the island in the distance, embracing the feeling of scale the island presents as she draws a deep breath in. "Ok,"

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She walks over to the blade she sheathed in the ground and tugs it out of the hardwood deck. "Let's go again,"

Kalan steps away from the railing, grinning as he steps in front of her.

"What's so amusing?" She asks, irked by his nonchalance.

"It's nothing, I just have a memory of you that plays out similarly to this,"

"Oh, and was I frail and in need of teaching then too?" Her voice mocks.

"No, no. This was long before you became a weakling," He giggles.

D'aliah chuckles, cutting it off immediately with a cough as she focuses her attention on the fight. "You chirp quite a lot for an assassin,"

"It's part of the fun," He adds, readying his blade as his feet slide into a stance.

They both nod at each before simultaneously vaulting forward, meeting in the center where D'aliah strikes at Kalan with an initial thrust to his chest. He parries, retaliating with a stab towards her that she blocks, having quickly reset her stance. She attempts to maintain pressure by stepping forward, reducing Kalan's available space when she slashes for his head. Kalan raises his dagger to defend but she quickly drops to one knee, redirecting the attack to his stomach. Kalan shifts backward, barely dodging the attack when D'aliah stands up and crashes her shoulder into Kalan's chest. He loses his footing as he stumbles backward and she follows up by thrusting the blade at his chest again. He continues to shuffle backward with his awkward footing but still keeps out of D'aliahs range. She keeps the pressure up, striking at his chest and then his head. But Kalan ever so slightly manages the strikes, shuffling away from the first before blocking the second with his dagger.

D'aliahs foot stomps to the ground as she brings her momentum to a halt, her panting making it obvious that her stamina is weak. They both briefly stop ahead of one another, trying to read their opponent's next move.

"You need to hide your breath," Kalan orders. "You're doing well but you've just revealed you cannot keep it up for much longer,"

D'aliah replies by stepping forward with her blade, then shifting to Kalan's weaker side. In the process, she makes every effort to soften her breathing. She strikes at Kalan's blade, attempting to disarm him, and he grips it tight enough to deflect. She follows up immediately with a strike to his neck which he parries. Striking his blade again before slashing at his chest and repeating between the two targets in succession trying to expose him and keep him under pressure. Kalan manages each strike, although they are close. He successfully defends or parries each attack with just enough space to have her repeatedly step forward. The speed and strength of her attacks diminish with each combination when Kalan manages to deflect her next attack at his blade and throw D'aliah off balance. He grabs her extended arm as it ricochets off his blade, and hurls her to the ground.

She grunts, loud and in frustration as she rolls her way back up to her feet. She realizes she is now on the defensive when Kalan strikes as she rises to her feet. She parries his attack to her head, stepping backward and then kicking the side of his body- It's enough to allow her to counterattack. She launches off her foot as it reaches the ground and strikes his blade with all of her force. His grip remains firm, but the force of her strike has left his arm outstretched, leaving his chest exposed. Her arm raises and crashes down towards him, slicing through his clothing and stripping a wound from his chest to his stomach.

Her eyes widen in shock as she realizes the size of the wound, she's been so consumed in the fight that she did not hold back her strike. Fortunately, Kalan's failed parry still provided enough space to reduce the depth of the wound.

"I'm sorry!" She yells taking a few steps backward in a panic before dropping her blade to the floor and running over to him. But he says nothing, sheathing his dagger and staring at her with a huge grin.

"You did it," He celebrates, "That's exactly how you apply pressure,"

"Kalan, you're bleeding," She reminds him, confused as to why he doesn't react to the wound.

"We were fighting till first blood, no?" He chuckles. "I've suffered much worse than this,"

D'aliah ignores his pride, rushing over to a box they'd brought up to the deck. She pulls out a container of vinium and rushes back to Kalan, opening the container before ordering him, "Remove your shirt."

He follows suit, tearing the ripped fabrics from his body to reveal his defined chest and abdomen. D'aliah pries her fingers into the vinium and places the putty along the length of the cut. Trying her best to cover the extent of it as she douses her finger in his blood.

"I'm surprised you're this troubled," He utters, partially flinching at the pain as he tries holding his body still.

"How am I to improve if I kill my sparring partner?"

They both chuckle as she finishes applying the medicine and rests her hand on his chest before looking into his eyes and then glancing at his lips.

"All I know is that…I don't want to lose you," She looks back into his Luná blue eyes, closing hers before slowly leaning forward to place her lips on his

"We journeyed the path of darkness to shed light for those who followed." - Neillum Morello