After finishing our food Xara and I got changed into our battle gear and entered the empty training grounds. Normally we wouldn’t be allowed to spar without a supervising instructor, but as the top student in the graduating cohort, Xara was given the ability to fill that role herself.

Moving past the punching posts we dropped into the sparring pit, a 10-foot deep, 30-foot wide circular arena set into the ground. The walls were reinforced with the same grey stones that made up the academy’s outer walls and showed only the slightest wear and damage after an entire semester of use from the students.

“I have to say, I’m a little surprised that you wanted to spar,” Xara said as she tightened the straps of her gauntlets.

I shrugged. “I may not be the biggest fan of getting my ass kicked, but it’s still better than studying all day. Besides…” I pointed at her with the tip of my iron club. “I won’t be the only one losing today.”

“Is that so?” She smirked. “First hit wins?”

“And let you cheat out more wins from me? Not a chance,” I told her, rolling my eyes. “We’ll go until someone surrenders,” I said while raising my shield into a defensive position. Xara might be standing on the opposite side of the arena, but with her speed I knew that didn’t mean much.

Xara nodded and pulled out a copper sol, tossing the coin into the air before taking up a combat stance herself.

Taking a deep breath, I took hold of the warm energy of my aura reigning it in and condensing it into my muscles, bones, and skin. I could feel my skin harden and muscles tighten as my aura began to flow through my veins. I let out my breath, creating a burst of steam in the crisp autumn air. In less than a second I was ready to fight.

*DING!*

The coin landed on the top of the arena’s stone wall, starting the fight.

I raised my shield instinctively, and a split second later I shuddered from the impact of Xara’s fist.

Her gauntlet collided with the metal plate, creating a deafening noise that was probably heard by everyone in the academy.

I pushed her arm aside with my shield and pressed forward, swinging my club at her head. She quickly raised her arm and deflected the blow before striking down with the same hand.

The quick attack landed on my arm. It didn’t do much damage, but it was more than enough to push my weapon into an unusable position. Knowing that a flurry of blows was coming if I didn’t do something, I punched forward with my shield, driving the rim into her chest.

The impact was weakened as Xara threw her body back. I had a second to breathe before her feet touched the ground. Once they did, she was right back on me.

I stepped in and swung at her face, but she ducked under the horizontal strike and landed three consecutive punches on my exposed side.

I grunted in pain but kept fighting as I drove her elbow toward her head, forcing her to retreat. I stretched out my arm further and followed through on the swing, hoping to catch her with the club this time, but I missed by a hair’s breadth.

As I pulled my arm back, she moved in, landing a solid punch straight to my jaw. The force rattled my vision and sent me stumbling back.

“You’re still too slow to be over-extending like that!” she shouted confidently, not even slightly concerned with how close my club had gotten to her skull.

‘She’s still not even worried,’ I thought angrily. I had been hoping that I would be able to take the first round today. I had been training harder than ever recently, and thought tha starting with a more offensive style would let me take her off guard, yet Xara still held a clear advantage.

It was always like this, and it was infuriating.

I practically snarled as she pointed the face of my shield at her and charged forward.

Barely a second before impact, Xara grabbed the edges of the shield to stop the blow. I held a slight strength advantage, and was a bit heavier despite being shorter, allowing me to push her back relatively easily.

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Right before we reached the edge of the arena she leapt off the ground, kicking off the wall and pulling my shield over my head. I winced as her momentum twisted my arm, but I quickly wrested my shield away from her grip before she landed.

However, she was still behind me by this point and was free to take another shot at the side of my body. Wincing from the blow, I quickly turned around, but by the time I did, she was already back in my blind spot and throwing another punch.

“Damn it!” I spat as I began flailing about desperately. Unfortunately, it was too late. I may be a bit stronger than her, but she was still much faster. As good as I was at predicting her moves, it was pointless if I couldn’t even see her, and I had no effective way to hit her in this position.

“Why don’t we just call this my wi-!?”

I suddenly threw myself back, practically charging at her in reverse as I cut her off. Normally something like this was too dangerous, but Xara had no bladed or piercing weapons, and I held the strength advantage if she tried to grapple me.

Xara dodged to the side before I could hit her, and instead collided with the stone wall hard enough to make an audible thud.

I grinned at her. “You were saying?”

Xara blinked at me, her expression somewhere between surprised and confused, before grinning right back at me and chagrin forward.

Once again I took the attack with my shield, but with my back against the wall, she decided to put on more pressure, burying me under a rain of punches.

I tried to push her back, but the difference in our strength wasn’t great enough to force her away with such bad positioning. The force of her entire body was being put into those punches, while I could only use my arms.

I tried to find a way out as the impacts from her blows made my arms numb. After a moment I tried to brace her foot against the wall, but Xara noticed and instantly sent a kick at my opposite foot.

Unable to react in time, I had my leg swept out from under me and fell to the ground. I managed to cover myself with my shield, but it barely slowed her down as she kicked it away and kneeled on my stomach. Once her fist was raised to my face, I stopped resisting.

“So, my win?” she asked through slightly labored breaths.

“Yes,” I grunted. “Now get off.”

She stood up and helped me to my feet. “You good?”

“I’m fine,” I said, rolling my shoulders. “Round two?”

We went back to our starting positions and fought again.

And again.

And again.

Normally we wouldn’t be able to go as long, but because classes were cancled and most students were relaxing, we were able to spar for well over two hours. After the first round I went back to my usual style, becoming more defensive and punishing any larger openings while Xara used her speed to press the advantage until I couldn’t fight back.

Unfortunately, Xara wasn’t careless, so openings were few and far between. She ended up winning more often than not. But even as she won round after round, those victories became less and less guaranteed. I was patient and I knew her well enough to know that I would get my chance eventually.

Running around like this was burning through far more stamina than my defensive strategy. Xara wouldn’t be exhausted anytime soon, but as we fought round after round it was only a matter of time before she made a mistake that I could capitalize on.

“Gah!?” Xara shouted out as I finally managed to catch her in the ribs with my iron club. The impact knocked her back several feet, rolling on the ground as she clutched her side.

I charged forward as she scrambled to her feet, falling back as I pressed the attack. She was visibly tired, losing her speed advantage, and her coordination was starting to slip as well.

She ducked another swing of my club and pushed forward, slipping her arm across my chest and her foot around my leg as she threw me to the ground. Fortunately, I was better braced for the landing this time and quickly lashed out with my club against her knee.

The blow immediately brought her to the ground as I was rolled into a crouch. I then put my shield in front of me and practically leapt at her, throwing my full weight behind this shield bash.

I thought I had her, but at the last second, she brought her legs up and managed to take the initial impact with her feet against the shield. From there, my momentum and her low position caused me to practically roll over until I was resting on top of her. With her body on the shield, Xara kicked me toward the edge of the arena.

“AHHG!” I cried out as I crashed against the wall. I then fell to the ground in an awkward heap.

‘Damn it!’ I thought bitterly as I watched Xara get her feet under her. I knew I wouldn’t be able to defend myself by the time she attacked.

But before she could take even a single step I saw her legs tremble slightly before she fell flat on her face. The arena was quiet for a moment, then I started to chuckle.

“Who’s overextending themselves now?” Kiuyk said, trying my best to not burst out laughing.

“Very funny,” she said as she rolled to a sitting position, apparently not having the strength to do much else.

She must have pushed herself beyond her normal limits with that last attack, and doing so cost her more aura than she had expected. Aura Exhaustion was in full effect, and at that point it would be difficult to stand, let alone fight.

Suddenly I heard the sound of someone clapping right outside the arena.

“Not bad you two.”

I saw Xara turn her head, shocked.

“C-Commander Laqbeka!?”