Another narrow miss made Max hiss in frustration. If he tried to close the gap with his enemy, he was buffeted by raw power, or had to give ground in the face of attacks carrying incredible force. Any time he created space, he would need to dodge another spear throw. The missiles seemed to keep getting faster, too.

And none of his Bead Sorcery attacks had been strong enough to do any damage at all.

Max hadn't had a fight quite like this one in a long, long time. He’d come a long way since he’d first found himself in the Quartet with just a fraction of an incomplete mana body. Each new level of mana body was an exponential jump in power. Even though he wouldn't get the endurance and regeneration that blade sorcerers were famous for until he reached a three-star mana body, at this point, he was no slouch.

In addition, all the Bead Sorcerers out in the rest of the universe would probably be green with envy if they knew how quickly Max had mastered the concepts he’d learned. A lifetime of very similar mana control had helped immensely.

And yet, despite all of his harmonizing powers, he was constantly threatened, always on the defense.

What was worse, the most frustrating thing, was how Max got the feeling that his opponent wasn't even taking the fight seriously yet. There had been several times that Max braced for a savage riposte that hadn’t come. Instead, the dark-eyed bastard kept pushing him back with blasts of unfocused energy and flashy, fancy spear play.

Max was beginning to feel strangely insulted. His enemy obviously believed that he outclassed him. It was frustrating that he was probably right. But in this battle, losing was unacceptable. His battle plan he’d come up with back in the dungeon wasn’t working so he needed to switch it up. He was never going to win against this guy at this rate, and leaving no witnesses behind was kind of impossible if he couldn't even get a hit on his opponent.

Mentally, he told his spirits, Everyone, I'm going to pull out all the stops. Just like I said I might have to before. This is going to be balls out. Saliron, get ready to do your worst.

I am always ready, came back the haunting reply. The other two spirits just gave Max their acknowledgment.

Then, Max gave ground, waiting for the right moment to turn the fight up a notch. Despite the deadly nature of the battle, the conflict had almost felt like a spar so far. Maybe it was because all the danger had been one-sided. That was about to change.

Slick, now, he thought. And Max bounded forward, using the power of his enigmatic little spirit to give him extra forward momentum and reduce friction. Even a slight reduction in friction made a difference. The way Slick could bend the laws of physics was going to give Max just the advantage he needed to get close.

In less than a heartbeat, he was finally close enough to really press his enemy. Just like that, Max was suddenly fending off rapid-fire strikes. His sword parried, blocked, and was stopped cold so rapidly the sound was like a machine gun shooting silverware into a junkyard. Max's sword blurred, getting closer and closer as he weaved a web of angry steel, striving to reach the fancy man's throat.

Just in time, Max saw the man's eyes narrow and felt something in the air. It wasn't quite mana, but Max's experience screamed at him to dodge, and that's what he did. Darting backward and providing himself with a general defense, it was barely enough to protect himself as the man swept the butt end of his spear in an absolutely devastating crushing blow.

Max grunted, taking the hit on the flat of his sword and locking his arms like springs to absorb the recoil, even as he let his feet slide across the ground with Slick's help to avoid being bowled over.

His counter allowed him to slide back twenty feet without his guard being broken, and the moment his backward movement ended, he was back on the offensive. He threw a hand out as he struck with his sword and timed the move perfectly. His opponent sprang back with supernatural speed, parrying Max's strike, but the caltrop bead that Max had thrown, tiny as it was, struck the man's leg and immediately made it fold. Max's opponent yelped in surprise as his leg crumpled under him, and Max didn't hesitate to take advantage of the opening.

He darted forward, borrowing the power of the mana vault inside his spacial storage space. The air crackled with power as Max used a technique that outclassed his current mana body potential, an ability he should not have access to yet. This was an attempt to end the fight in one shot, cranking the power up to the maximum, surging his body with an artificial and unnatural amount of mana. Max's sword crashed down with explosive force. A haze, a wave of destruction preceded his blade. But facing such a strong enemy, Max was not complacent. He maintained his focus to drive home the technique, not resting until his enemy was dead.

But instead of being obliterated by the slash, the man somehow stopped the attack. A strange hexagonal matrix, like a half-shield, formed over the blocking spear, and Max could actually see the power of the strike being directed around the shield instead of penetrating. Then, while Max was slightly off balance, the man's spear darted forward.

Slick! thought Max desperately, and the little spirit heeded his call. Hopping using his ankle and toes gave him just enough momentum for Slick to help him into a spinning aerial move. He barely avoided the seeking tip of the spear as his sword bit into the shaft, diverting the strike to one side. Then in midair, he delivered a savage backhand directly at the man's dark eyes.

That definitely seemed to get his attention.

This time, Dark Eyes cursed as he gave ground, and Max tossed a handful of explosive beads after him to press the advantage. The explosions wouldn't be enough to do much, but any kind of confusion at this point would be helpful. Max’s caltrop bead earlier had done a fantastic job of creating an opening, but he feared that his opponent would be watching for a similar sneaky attack now.

Max pushed forward aggressively, taking advantage of the ability to keep track of his opponent through the smoke. He took a running leap, delivering a haymaker cut with all his weight and supernatural power behind it. Somehow the spear darted up to block the attack. Before Max's feet touched the ground again, he threw out an ectoplasmic line, converting his arm armor into a rope. With centrifugal force, he whipped the line around his enemy's leg and reduced the friction under his feet to nothing with Slick's help. The move was similar to how he'd perfected killing giants in the dungeon.

He whipped around faster than the other man could react, but he didn’t have a good angle to strike. Instead, he tried for a backhand at the man's knee and followed it up with another caltrop bead thrown at the other leg. The man danced out of the way of the cut and deftly deflected the bead with the butt of his spear. Then Max was on the defensive, dodging another rocket-like spear throw. The blade actually grazed his hip as it flashed past, and Max sucked in a breath as his clothing tore and a small cut began to bleed.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Wincing, he threw another handful of exploding beads at the man even as the spear got recalled. The force of the explosions buffeted Dark Eyes just enough that the angle of his newly appeared spear was just slightly awkward in his hand.

Opening!

Max immediately struck, using another burst of power from the mana vault to enhance his mobility instead of empowering another strike. He sprang forward, flipped onto his back before hitting the ground, then rode a cushion of bent physics, courtesy of Slick.

With a grunt, Max’s sword flicked out, aiming for his enemy’s knee. But somehow the spearman got the tip of his weapon down in time to protect himself. Even as the weapon was positioned to block, the tip was heading for Max's body.

Goatee Guy was blocking with a strike. It was well executed. If Max hadn’t been about to be skewered, he would have applauded the response.

Max used a combination of his forward momentum, Slick's power under one leg, and

a complete return of friction under his empty hand on the ground to lever himself into a forward flip, barely avoiding the spear tip. He flipped his sword around to deliver a cut to the other man's face.

Dark Eyes Goatee Guy was extremely powerful and very fast, but this time he couldn't escape a line of red drawn across one cheek. A hand went up to the wound, and he looked at the blood on his palm with an almost comical expression. It reminded Max of old Kung Fu movie scenes on Earth. But when Dark Eyes roared, and his raw power beat on the air, it wasn’t funny anymore.

Max didn't want to admit it, but he couldn't ignore the reality that this man was stronger than he was. Probably a lot stronger. Only tricks and the synergy of his three Paths had allowed him to stay in the fight for this long. Unfortunately, with only a two-star mana body, his body was simply not strong and fast enough to keep up with his skill. Meanwhile, Dark Eyes seemed to have power to spare. As if reading Max’s mind, the man readied his spear and the tip was surrounded by some sort of aura. Max had seen Mystic Spear Path warriors use a similar technique before, but never this large or dense.

The air trembled in anticipation. Max pumped more mana into his sword, feeling frustrated that the weapon was simply not good enough for this fight. He was having to baby it too much to prevent it from breaking. The blade was just not strong enough for this fight.

And now things had gotten even worse. His opponent had just stepped it up a notch. Again.

"Oh, come on!" he muttered. He had crossed blades with the goateed man dozens of times. The flashing strikes and parries were delivered with skill and conviction. Despite how fast-paced the fight was, Max grew more and more frustrated that he was only a two-star mana body. The strange ways he was needing to contort himself just to try making up for his lack of speed and power was pushing the computational abilities of his mind to the limits.

His enemy's eyes glittered as Max closed in yet again, aggressively pushing the fight to close quarters. For mortals, a spear was an obviously superior weapon to any sword. But in a fight like this, between fighters with supernatural powers, that line blurred. Max didn't want his target to create space, not least of which because he had ranged attacks that would blow Max to pieces. But he was at a disadvantage at any range now.

Closing was less about mitigating Goatee Guys’s strengths and more about playing to his own. He bitterly wished he had a three star mana body, but there was no helping the situation. At least after closing so many times, his opponent shouldn’t be too wary about it. But he’d have to set up the trap first.

Okay, this is it, Max told his spirits. He waited for the Mystic Spearman to dart to one side again, setting up a throw or an ambush. Max threw a handful of beads underhand at his feet, his slippery beads.

The effect was immediate, reducing all the friction on the ground. Exactly as he had intended, the other man lost his balance. The two of them had already been closing in on each other, so it was the perfect time to go all in. Max leaped forward and used a boost from the mana vault, moving faster than he had any right to. Goatee Guy still managed to get off a nasty one-handed thrust of his spear, but Max parried it on the haft behind the spearhead with his forearm armor. His hand clamped down.

He knew he didn't have much time. Any spearman of this skill would have all sorts of counters for somebody grabbing their weapon. But the other man didn’t seem too worried about this new development. The power difference between them just kept growing, after all.

And this move had eliminated Max’s sword as a threat. There was no way that his weapon, so far away, could reach his enemy without first repositioning himself, at least not without creating new ways for Goatee Guy to block or escape.

But Max was after something different. Goatee Guy grinned, and Max grinned right back before briefly touching the man’s arm with his empty hand.

Saliron, now! Max commanded. The dark spirit's focus extended past Max's palm into his opponent's body. With a sudden shriek of pain, Goatee Guy threw himself back, explosively flying into the air into a flip and landing on his feet.

Max narrowed his eyes. Through his link, he felt what Saliron had done.

The spirit had just tried to break all the bones in the man's arm, but he'd only managed to shatter his ulna. Goatee Guy’s toughness and resistance had been too much to do more than that before he broke contact.

With a grin, Max tossed another handful of explosive beads, preparing to close in again. But suddenly, there was a flash. His instincts screamed at him. He crouched and brought up his armored arm to one side, blocking his head and body as best he could before it felt like an entire house ran into him at the speed of a jetliner. The impact made him see stars. He flew to one side, his spirit-formed armor leaking ectoplasm.

Despite being dazed, long practice and experience helped Max roll, try to recover. He was afraid that he was using his mana vault too hard, if he kept running it this way it might completely run out of mana, but he didn’t have a choice. Max’s body greedily accepted the mana he supercharged his body with to shake off the dizziness.

He got up and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. Goatee Guy stood warily, eyes narrowed as he recovered from the savage butt strike he’d done with one hand. He must have moved so far, he’d practically seemed to teleport.

Max spit and prepared to close in again. Maybe this time he'd be able to touch the man's head and break his skull. Meanwhile, now his opponent's spear was enveloped in a new aura. Goatee Guy wasn't smiling anymore. The man's dark eyes had turned cold, and Max could feel the air around the room change.

Shit. He was almost out of trump cards, almost out of surprises. But if he was going down, he was going to take this guy with him. Max tensed, prepared to experience a lot of pain, but also ready to give Saliron an opportunity to do as much damage as possible.

He prepared to spring forward, just reaching with some of the last of the mana in his mana vault when suddenly the doors to the dungeon control Center were pushed open. A thundering voice shouted, That is enough!”

Max was focused and wasn't going to turn or be distracted by the obvious fake-out. But then he was shocked as Goatee guy made a face, stumbled, and turned. Max blinked, and allowed himself to glance at the newcomer. Then he blinked again when he recognized who it was.

"Headmaster!?" he asked. Unless his eyes were playing tricks on him, the man who’d just thrown open the doors was Mon Hao Han. His long mustache was trembling in irritation.

"That is enough!" the Summoner headmaster repeated. He pointed an accusing finger at Max's opponent. "Tarrit! What are you thinking? You were just supposed to just test the boy!"

The dark-eyed man, who merely moments before had been trying to drive a foot and a half of steel through Max's body, ground his spear, transferred it to the crook of his damaged arm’s elbow, and sheepishly scratched the back of his head. He shrugged. "What can I say? I just got carried away. But I will admit, you won the bet. This student is not only worth the trouble to come out here; he's a damn monster. A first-year pushing me to this level? Absurd!"

Headmaster Mong Hao Han folded his arms. "Territ, you should have known better than to increase your power to this level. If you went any further, I would not have been able to protect this building from the two of you destroying it."

"Yeah, sorry about that."

Max didn't let his guard down. His blade was still up, mana charging through his body, ready to be unleashed. "Is somebody going to tell me what the hell is going on here?" he growled.

Headmaster Mong Hao Han walked up next to the mystic spearman that Max had just been fighting. "I am sorry it happened this way, Max," he said. "Allow me to introduce Territ Mond. He is the headmaster of the Mystic Spear Path Academy, and I believe we all have something to talk about." Then he turned with fire in his eyes. “Territ, put the damn spear away. I’m serious that I’m not protecting this building anymore!”