Ace looked across the stone platform at his opponent. The longsword felt heavy in his hand.

He would have used Sever energy to increase his strength, but the rules of the duel were clear. No enhancement.

To keep the trainees honest, each wore a black bracer that would glow blue immediately upon detecting the extra-dimensional energy.

Ace's opponent eyed him from a distance warily. In his arms, he held a medium sized shield as well as a shortsword. While Ace was taller, his opponent filled out his frame more.

'At least I have the range advantage'

Off to his side, he heard their supervisor.

"You may begin when ready."

Ace moved first, stepping slowly to the side as he looked for an opening.

His opponent mirrored him, creating a circle of movement as the two analyzed each other. Feeling the weight of his weapon, he knew the fight wouldn't be a long one. Maybe a few strikes at most.

The boy across from him had angled his body perfectly behind his shield, leaving barely any of his body exposed. It was clear he was trained. Ever so slightly, the boy moved closer, shrinking the circle they had created.

Ace eyed his opponent dubiously.

Letting him get close would be a mistake. Striking first wasn't just a good idea, it was a necessity.

Stepping forward with his right foot, Ace raised his arm to stab towards the boy's face. In an instant, his opponent raised his shield high, obscuring his own vision in an effort to block.

Taking advantage of his opponent's self-inflicted blindness, he lowered his arm and took another strong step with his left foot, sending his right foot careening into the bottom edge of his opponents shield.

Unprepared for an impact from below, his opponent's shield arm was sent flying upwards, leaving his chest exposed.

Stomping down with the his right leg, Ace put all of his strength into a thrust before his opponent could recover. His blade hit the boy's stomach, easily sliding through his gambeson, his body, and out through his back.

Dropping his weapons, the boy cried out in pain and fell to his knees. Ace then pulled out his sword and backed away.

The supervisor's voice rang out.

"Trainee 1000 wins. Trainee 381 loses."

Ace's opponent's was still on his knees, clutching his stomach while tears welled in his eyes.

With a sigh, the supervisor continued.

"Trainee 381, you better hurry up that healing. You may be Notched but that doesn't mean your opponent will wait for you, especially on the battlefield. Next time, keep your eyes on your enemy and don't make your intentions so obvious. Trainee 1000, good job. Now, both of you, retire to your quarters. We will only be doing one match a day."

***

Ace sat on his bed in a stone and almost cell-like room. It was small, even smaller than the room he used to share with Icarus. The only things in the room were a cot, a small trunk for his belongings, and a sink.

Opening the trunk, Ace pulled out a hand-sized rock, the same one he grabbed in the forest. It was the perfect size.

Despite his low reserves, he placed the rock on his finger and moved its balance point, easily keeping it steady on his pinky.

Then, just as he had practiced every other night, he rapidly pulled the balance point to edge of the rock, making it teeter to the side. Moving fast, he snapped the rock's balance point back to its other edge, making it wobble and turn.

He repeated the cycle, picking two different spots on the rocks edge. After his many nights of practice, manipulating the balance of the rock was almost effortless, costing little Sever energy.

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Before long, almost impossibly, the rock was spinning on his pinkie. Ace marveled at the site.

It had taken him thousands of attempts to even keep the rock on his finger after one cycle. At first, he only tried to do so because he thought it would be a fun way to practice his Notch. Things changed after he noticed how the rock would turn slightly after tilting it. Numerous ideas invaded his mind soon after. Making an object spin was only one of them.

Looking at the spinning rock, he couldn't hide his satisfaction.

He was so happy in fact, that he lost focus, dropping the rock. At the same time, he felt a small chunk of his Sever energy disappear.

'There it goes again... Every time I stop touching something while using my Notch, I lose Sever energy. With Stellis, she was somehow able to absorb it. But it just seems to disappear when I do it with this rock... unless?"

He closed his eyes, searching internally for the rock's balance point. Peering deeply, he couldn't see a change. Like usual, it was a glowing white sphere. Except, as he focused, he saw it.

A small speckle of green was dancing around in the white radiance, its presence barely visible.

"Huh?"

*** 8 days later ***

Ace sat down at an empty table, eagerly tearing into a plate of steaming food. His classmates were grouped up at other tables, chattering loudly.

The past week had been draining in more ways then one. Each morning, they started off with a 40 mile run. The pace was slower than the initial endurance test but even Ace started to feel the fatigue. He could only imagine how much pain everyone else was in.

After the run, they were barely given a break before being forced to climb at least a mile up the mountain... with giant rocks strapped to their backs. Then, as if that wasn't enough, they would would have to run another 40 miles after that.

Only then would they be given a proper rest and a meal. The duels would follow shortly after with those who had already lost being free to watch the remaining trainees.

Each day, about two dozen people dropped out. Unfortunately, a few had even been killed during the duels.

Ace preferred not to think about their deaths and instead listened to his classmates gossip.

"Did you hear? Of the 4 people left in the duels, two of them are from the slums! The other 2 were scouted by House Steel!"

"So? What's a Slumdog going to do against a House Steel recruit? Those freaks were specially chosen for a reason... I regret not surrendering immediately. I don't think I've ever had so many bones broken at once."

Hearing those words, Ace couldn't deny his anxiety. The past 7 matches had been... interesting. He had seen a great variety in his fights, facing a two handed axe wielder, someone using a war hammer like Larcet, two daggers users, two sword users, and a spearmen.

As he progressed, each bout became more troublesome. From his third fight onwards, his opponents would dash at him as soon as the instructor started the match. His one weakness was so obvious that it almost would have been disrespectful to not take advantage.

In light of this, his opponents would almost always target the side in which he had no arm. Whenever they did so, their bloodlust was palpable, revealing their intentions. Because of this, Ace was always prepared, often using the opponent's aggressiveness against them.

The person who ended up giving him the most trouble by far was the spearman. He was cold and calculating, preferring to watch Ace from a distance before attacking. He even ignored the bait Ace threw out to entice him into attacking his right side. To make matters worse, the lack of a range advantage meant Ace had to weave through the spearman's lightning fast thrusts to get an attack off of his own.

The spearmen knew as much, and mounted and excellent defense, landing several small cuts on Ace. No matter what he tried he couldn't get close with taking a hit.

Resigning himself to take damage, Ace had only managed to win after getting stabbed in the chest while slicing off the spearman's arm in return.

Thinking about the strength of his last opponent, Ace shuddered as he imagined an even more tough enemy. Consumed by anxiety, he almost didn't notice when he ran out of food.

***

Holding his longsword tightly in his hand, Ace tried to calm his nerves as he stepped onto the dueling platform. He was having trouble concentrating with the large crowd of trainees that had gathered around. There were even two supervisors in the crowd.

Already waiting for him on the platform was a girl with fiery red hair and turquoise colored eyes. She wielded a mace and carried a dagger in her off hand instead of shield. Strangely, there was a thin chain attached to her dagger and wrapped around her forearm.

Even from a distance, Ace could see her eyes drawn to his missing arm. He had grown used to such stares before a match.

Taking a ready position along with his opponent, Ace waited for the signal from the supervisor. It didn't take long for it to come.

Bracing himself, he prepared for a charge. Instead, the girl across the arena threw her dagger at him.

While it was fast, he was prepared to block it.

Without warning, the dagger changed course in midair, curving towards his exposed right side. Unable to react in time, Ace grimaced in pain as the knife slid in between his ribs and into his lung.

Coughing up blood, he maintained enough mental clarity to not heal. He didn't want to lose from disqualification. Instead, he aimed a slash at the chain as the dagger was pulled out.

Once again, the small weapon curved in midair, moving the chain away from his sword as it looped around his weapon's guard and tightened.

Looking across the chain at its wielder, he could see the girl's face show a devilish grin before yanking her arm back.

Realizing her intention, Ace tightened his grip on his sword. Much to his dismay, it almost flew out of his hand. Each successive yank only served to loosen his grip even more.

On the fourth pull, Ace was knocked off his feet. Looking up, he saw the chain go slack.

'Oh shit!'