Cass turned to see Alyx and Telis step out onto the training yard.

“Oh good, you’ve warmed up,” Alyx said.

“What?” Cass asked.

Everyone looked at Cass with disappointment.

“Why did you think I asked you up here?” Alyx asked. “Thought you might like to do some sparring before dinner.”

“Why would I want to do that?” Cass asked.

“How else do you plan to build your weapon mastery skills?”

She supposed that made sense, but that didn’t fill her with any more desire to join Alyx in such a thing.

Alyx picked up a sword from the training racks and started moving through sword forms. “You ready?”

“With all respect,” Marco interjected, “Miss Cass’s skills aren’t up to sparring with you.”

Alyx paused mid-form, a surprised look on her face. “Really?”

Marco nodded.

Cass looked away, suddenly feeling entirely too self-conscious about it. There was no reason to be embarrassed about it. Before falling into Uvana, she’d never touched a weapon. Fighting was something she’d picked up to survive, not something she put personal pride in.

“But I’ve seen her fight. I agree she’s no master of technique, but you saw her in the town. She’s a beast on the battlefield.”

Marco shook his head. “She’s conservative in just about every way.”

Cass’s face burned. Alyx’s praise was too much and Marco’s dismissal too sharp—even if the dismissal was entirely warranted.

It shouldn’t bother her, yet all she wanted was to run from it.

Alyx hummed to herself in thought. “Nope. I won’t believe that until I see it. Come on, let’s spar.”

“We don’t have to.” The words spilled from Cass’s lips before she thought them through. There were endless reasons to refuse, yet she regretted them the second they were out in the open.

“Nonsense,” Alyx said briskly. “We need to show Marco what you’re actually made of.”

Cass bit her lip. Alyx’s expectations were entirely too high. She had gotten them through a lot in Uvana, but none of it was because she was ‘strong’. Certainly, none of it was because she was ‘skilled’.

She’d been lucky again and again. She’d found paths to her goals that didn’t require traditional victory. Escape and redirection were her skills, if you made her explain her apparent success.

A straight fight between herself and Alyx? That could only end one way.

But Alyx’s expectant eyes bore into Cass.

Reluctantly, Cass picked the staff back up and stepped out onto the training field. “Okay. How are we doing this? Same as before?”

“What did you two do before?”

“Basic sparring,” Marco answered. “No active skills. Just movement and mastery.”

“Well, no wonder you were underwhelmed,” Alyx said. “Referee for us. Step in if things are about to get too bloody.”

He collected a shield and baton from the weapons rack with a nod. “Sure.”

To Cass, Alyx continued, “Forget all that. We’re going all out. Use every skill in your repertoire. I want them to see everything.”

“Everything?” Cass asked hesitantly.

“Don’t worry about hurting me or property damage or anything,” Alyx waved Cass forward. “Marco will make sure we don’t go too far.”

How far was that? Drawing blood? Breaking bones?

She’d suffered worse in Uvana and found herself largely healed by the next day. But, she had been sleeping in Safe Zones and taking full advantage of her camping skill. How much could normal people come back from in a reasonable time?

“Ready?” Marco called from the side.

Alyx nodded before Cass could ask any of those questions. She found herself copying the movement, her stomach churning.

“Ardent Aegis!” Marco yelled, slamming his baton against his shield. A soft red glow burst from the shield and flashed across Cass and Alyx’s skin.

A comfortable weight settled over her. A promise that she would be safe, come what may.

Before Cass could ask what that was, Marco shouted, “Begin!”

Alyx darted forward, her sword swinging.

Time slowed as Alacrity kicked into full gear. Dodge, Staff Mastery, and Wind Step all provided suggestions. Side step, block, or flit behind?

The sidestep was easiest. Cass started with that.

Her body shifted out of the way of the wooden blade with Dodge’s assistance. Staff Mastery swung the staff at Alyx’s side as they passed.

Alyx’s sword snaked out, blocking the strike, her body twisting to reorient on Cass again. The blade was glowing in Alyx’s hands. It flashed forward, a streak of light.

Staff Mastery yanked her staff between her and the blade.

The blade slammed into it, wood on wood. Alyx’s Strength was far greater than Cass’s. Her staff flew back under the impact, slamming into Cass’s abdomen.

The air was forced from Cass’s lungs for the second time that afternoon.

But Cass kept her feet this time, even as she stumbled backward. Perhaps the recent experience with Marco reminded Cass she didn’t need anything in her lungs. Perhaps it was simply that even holding back Marco’s strikes hurt more. Perhaps it was a stubborn streak even Cass couldn’t control.

“I know that isn’t all you’ve got,” Alyx yelled as she dove forward again, her sword closing the small gap between them.

Dodge pulled Cass out of the way, twisting her body around the incoming strike. But not quite enough. She could see Alyx’s sword would clip her elbow.

Color inverted for a fraction of a second as she engaged Liminal Dodge’s extended functionality. She ceased to be in that moment her arm and Alyx’s sword would have struck.

She returned to full corporeality with the loss of a chunk of Stamina as the blade sailed harmlessly past her.

Stamina: 73/105

Alyx wasn’t phased in the slightest at her missed strike. She turned the edge at the end of her swing, immediately turning it around in another sweep.

Cass redirected it off her staff. But Alyx followed it with another. And another. All of them glowed with her amber aura.

Staff Mastery and Dodge jerked her around like frantic puppet masters yanking on her strings.

The reverberation echoed up the wood, numbing her hands and arms. The wood flexed under every strike.

Another strike to her abdomen. Deflected. Her thigh. Her shoulder. Dodged.

This was not a winnable position. But Cass couldn’t wrench control of this fight from Alyx. The swordswoman was relentless and tireless.

Luckily, winning was irrelevant. Cass simply needed to hold on until this exercise was over. Until Alyx tired of fighting. Until Marco declared continuing unsafe.

That thought wasn’t as much of a relief as she had expected it to be.

It should have been. She had nothing to gain from winning. She lost nothing with a loss.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

So why did her heart beat so frantically in her chest?

Why did the air in her lungs whirl and twist with impatience?

Cass’s hands clutched tighter around her staff, deflecting another sweep of Alyx’s sword.

She could do more than this. Was it that simple?

The wind gusted around her. Every fiber of her being begged to go with it. Wind Step promised this was the answer.

Alyx swung again.

The wind pulled and Cass let it take her. She Stepped onto it, grabbing it with Elemental Manipulation and sending it across the sand.

Alyx’s swing whooshed through the open air, her body thrown off balance with her target gone entirely.

Cass stepped off the wind on the far side of the yard a fraction of a second later, her heart hammering with anticipation.

But anticipation of what?

What now?

Distance was only an advantage for Wind Blade. Cass called one to the end of her staff and threw it across the field.

But where did she aim it?

If she were fighting to kill—she suppressed a shudder at the thought—she’d aim for the neck or the face. Depending on the opponent’s armor, she might consider chest strikes as well.

But all that seemed too dangerous to attack a companion with, even in a controlled setting like this.

But would arm or leg shots be much safer? There were major arteries everywhere. Nick the wrong one and you could bleed out before emergency services could do anything.

Cass blunted the blade’s edge at the last second, letting it crash into Alyx’s back. She stumbled forward, her head whipping around to Cass.

Alyx grinned and charged across the field.

That was not the reaction Cass had expected. Her heart hammered. She threw another Wind Blade and then another.

Alyx didn’t slow. She made no effort to stop the racing blades. Could she even see them?

Panic shot through Cass.

Alyx probably couldn’t.

They were going to strike unobstructed. Cass yanked the first one wide. It sliced into Alyx’s arm. The red of Marco’s skill flared to life where the Wind Blade struck, but Alyx didn’t seem to notice.

The second blade Cass fumbled, unable to direct both of them at the same time. It raced along its initial trajectory, slamming directly into Alyx’s chest.

The red light of Marco’s skill flared again. He grunted from the side. Alyx faltered, her steps slipping, but she pushed on anyway.

Stamina: 65/105

Focus: 226/324

Alyx barely slowed, barreling across the training grounds at full speed.

In a flash, Alyx had closed the distance. She swung down.

Cass Dodged around the swordswoman, Staff Mastery snapping out at Alyx’s shoulders with a Wind-Bladed glaive.

Alyx flickered in place, there one moment, incorporeal the next, then behind Cass a moment later.

But Cass was already Sprinting away, the gusts from Stormstride creating a powerful tailwind, pushing her faster.

Alyx gave chase. Her sword flashed with her amber aura. It trailed behind her, like a shining ghost. She was still several feet back, not remotely in range with that sword. Yet Alyx swung.

The amber glow shot from the end of the wooden blade, flying forward even as the swordswoman charged after it.

It was faster than Alyx. Faster than Cass.

Cass would not make it out of the way in time. Alacrity whirled to find an answer and Cass’s perception of time slowed to a crawl.

She couldn’t outrun it, not even with Stormstride and the summoned gale pushing her forward.

And yet, that gale roared in her ears. This was what it was for.

Cass Wind Stepped.

Her body dissolved into the wind. It gusted on. She pulled it right with Elemental Manipulation.

Not fast enough.

The aura blade clipped the edge of her incorporeal form. Pain spiked through her. She had no body, yet her very existence hurt.

She fell from the wind.

What was that? Shouldn’t she be invulnerable like that?

No. The description of Wind Step flashed before her eyes.

Wind Step (Lvl 10) (Racial)

[The Slyphid are as much beings of the wind as they are corporeal creatures and can transmute their body and immediate personal effects into wind, making them immune to physical damage and allowing heightened speed in the direction the wind is blowing. You are no exception.

Cost: 48 Focus

Cool Down: 20 sec]

Wind Step only made her immune to physical damage. Alyx’s aura blade clearly did more than that.

There wasn’t time to analyze further. Alyx was already swinging again.

She was going to be hit.

She could Liminal Dodge it, but then what? She’d just be hit by the next one. Or the next.

She was going to be hit by one of Alyx’s strikes. The question was which.

That certainty should be a kind of relief. She would lose, but the fight would be over. Marco could call the fight. She’d put up a decent struggle. Alyx couldn’t be that disappointed.

Instead, something clawed at her guts. It twisted and writhed. Dissatisfaction rolled through her.

At what?

At losing?

She was going to lose. This was just a spar. A spar she hadn’t even wanted. There was nothing on the line and nothing to gain.

Just her pride and Alyx’s approval.

Fine. Maybe she didn’t want to lose. What did that change? She still was about to.

What could she do to stop it? Her usual skills had already declared defeat.

What else did she have?

Atmospheric Sense? No additional information to share.

Elemental Manipulation? It couldn’t grab Alyx’s aura. Cass couldn’t tell if that was because aura wasn’t a valid target or if its proximity to its owner simply made that too difficult at this moment and the skill didn’t feel like explaining.

Mana Blade? She couldn’t pull her staff around in time to block. There was no way to turn it around to attack.

Soul Guard? It shook its head. Aura attacks might be more like spiritual attacks than most, but it still wasn’t something it could handle.

Identify? No.

Foraging? No.

Mana Sense? No additional information to share.

Beacon of Home and Hearth? No.

Confounding Mists? Well, maybe.

Could she deploy Confounding Mists fast enough to make a difference? Even if she could, would it be enough?

It was better than giving up.

The skill flared to life, the aether mists swirling out around her. But it would do nothing for the aura blade.

Liminal Dodge engaged as Alyx’s blade crashed across Cass’s body. Color inverted even as it abandoned her entirely within the growing mists.

Alyx’s feet stuttered, trying and failing to come to a stop before she careened into the growing clouds. She swung wildly into the cloud, her aura flaring to life along her wooden blade.

Cass rematerialized within the mist. It was barely enough to stand in. Alyx’s blade was inches from her skin, burning through the aether as it sliced for Cass.

But it wasn’t the targeted attack it would have been outside the mist. It was swung early, the angle not quite aligned with Cass.

It bought her just enough distance for Dodge to do its job.

There was no time for celebration. Alyx barreled through the mist, her sword flying in strike after strike.

Confounding Mists kept pumping out a trail of aether around Cass, but Alyx’s aura burned through it too fast to accumulate enough to hide in.

Stamina: 21/105

Focus: 116/369

Her muscles burned. She was exhausted, but she couldn’t stop.

Cass ducked around another sword strike and tapped her staff to the ground between them. She pushed Elemental Manipulation through the staff, grabbing up stone and pulling.

A stone spear shot up.

Alyx dodged back to avoid being skewered.

Cass backpedaled, throwing a Wind Blade at Alyx as she did so.

Alyx sliced through the stone spear and charged after Cass. The Wind Blade slipped around her blade and struck her full in the chest. A bloom of red light flashed across Alyx’s chest.

Stamina: 20/105

Focus: 94/369

The strain was mounting. An ache was forming between her eyes. She wanted nothing more than to collapse to the ground.

She was no more certain how she could win than she’d been 200 Focus ago.

Alyx was still coming. She didn’t look any worse than when they’d started, though there were several glowing red marks along her body where Cass’s skills had hit her. Marco’s skill caused that somehow.

Her only options were to give up or keep stumbling on. And she couldn’t stomach the idea of giving up.

Cass threw up another stone spear with Elemental Manipulation as Alyx closed the distance and summoned a Wind Blade to her staff.

Alyx dodged around it, barely slowed.

Staff Mastery deflected Alyx’s sword and pulled Cass around in a sweeping strike to Alyx’s side.

Alyx blocked and pushed Cass’s glaive out of position. In a flash of light, Alyx’s sword dove at Cass.

The wind gusted.

Cass Stepped on it.

Alyx’s sword sliced through the space Cass had just occupied.

Elemental Manipulation guided the wind up into the air. Cass’s heart soared. The city stretched out far below the manor, its twisting streets lost amid the sprawling buildings.

Alyx’s head swept the field, looking for Cass.

Cass turned Elemental Manipulation around, driving the wind down.

Fast. Faster.

A yard above Alyx, Cass stepped back out. She called a Wind Blade to her staff, angling it down. Mana Blade coursed over the leading edge.

Worry rippled through Cass in that last second.

Was this too much? Would Marco’s skill protect Alyx? What if she seriously hurt Alyx with this?

It wasn’t too late to stop. She could angle the blade away. She could land on Alyx in a heap.

She couldn’t sacrifice Alyx’s health for a meaningless victory.

‘Use every skill in your repertoire. I want them to see everything,’ Alyx had said.

But had she really meant everything? At full power?

‘Don’t worry about hurting me … or anything,’ she had said.

Alyx looked up. A grin spread across her face. Her sword rose. Alyx opened her mouth, shouting a wordless battle cry. Light erupted around them.

It hit Cass like a wall. But gravity kept pulling Cass down. Her accumulated speed could not be stopped, only slowed.

Her glaive hit flesh.

Another blade appeared from the flash, jabbing up at Cass.

She couldn’t get out of the way. It struck her over the heart.

The red of Marco’s skill exploded, the light drowning out everything else.

When she could see again, she found herself suspended in midair, her glaive point hovering a millimeter over Alyx’s collar bones, Alyx’s sword tip the same distance from Cass’s heart.