Cain moved slowly; his palms pressed against the sand as he hoisted himself onto his back. His whole body hurt. Not because of muscle aches or exhaustion or anything like that. He was fit, beyond even what was considered average. It wasn’t a matter of fitness though. His body was covered in scratches and bruises, and he struggled to even sit up. He just flopped over onto his back. Sand had officially gotten everywhere. Why had Clo chosen sand for his arena? Cain had seen some of the other rooms and knew for a fact that Clo could’ve chosen mats or tiles. The sand was just cruel. He could feel it in his socks and underwear, and it bothered him.

Cain began healing himself, as he pushed himself into a sitting position. Two metallic sparring dummies stood in a ready position waiting for him to continue the fight. Or in this case, waiting to beat him up some more.

“I think you should just stick to one!”

Sabrina called out to him as she sat on one of the benches at the end of the room. She had swapped her glasses out for goggles. Apparently, she hated the very idea of contacts or more permanent implants and stuck to the somewhat archaic lenses. They made her eyes pop slightly, so he could easily see the amusement in them. Cain grunted as he waved a hand over to Clo.

“He’s fighting three.”

Cain didn’t mean to sound as defiant as he did. It honestly made him feel a little pathetic, and he looked away from the scene. Sabrina rolled her eyes before replying.

“Yeah, and he’s been fighting them for weeks now. You just started.”

Sabrina spoke as she watched Maya carefully. Maya was the second best at this. She sparred with two of the training dummies though her gift gave her a pretty big advantage. Sabrina also had a pretty big advantage, but she wasn’t strong enough to utilize it properly. Cain didn’t really care about Maya though. Clo was the one he wanted to match.

“It’s not like he’s doing anything special.”

That was the problem. Clo didn’t utilize his gifts for an advantage and fought against three dummies with a plain training sword in his hand. That alone wouldn’t have made Cain feel so inadequate. It was the fact that Clo’s movements were so plain. He never made any flashy attacks or movements. His footwork was simple and bland. None of his attacks moved with the fluidity or grace that came with martial training. It was just like watching an efficient amateur.

“No, he’s not. He’s just better than us.”

Sabrina sounded a little bitter as she made the confession. None of them liked the fact that an ammeter was better than them. They all had some formal training. Cain hadn’t noticed it in Clo’s previous fights because of the brutal way he had fought, but he saw it now as Clo sparred. Clo didn’t have the same sharpness or perfection that Cain saw in some of the others. Maya for one had clearly been trained traditionally, and she was good at things like footwork. When she took a step, it felt practiced, like she was applying a trained skill to a situation.

Clo didn’t fight like her. He didn’t care as much about stance or formation and just moved in whatever way worked for him. It was sloppy, the kind of thing you would expect in an amateur. Cain had some formal training in martial arts, and what Clo did was more like simple brawling.

“Why does he fight like that?”

Cain asked Sabrina as he took a seat beside her. They were both watching as Clo narrowly dodged one of the dummies’ swords, only to block another with the hilt of his sword.

“I’ve met some people who fight like that before. They’re people that chose to train themselves. It’s what I imagine the first trial goers had to do.”

Sabrina shifted her gaze to Maya, as Maya took a hit on the head. The training sword the dummy was using cracked against the purple light that barely managed to cover the impact. The force of the blow was enough to send her to the ground at which point the dummies stopped moving. It was a setting that both Sabrina and Cain had insisted on. Apparently, Clo had been training in a much more ruthless manner. While something like that was probably effective, they simply weren’t good enough to risk it like he was. That was the most shocking thing of all.

“If that’s the case, how is he this good at it?”

Sabrina had tied her hair into a braid, and she twirled the end through her fingers as she replied. He had talked with her enough to recognize the motion.

“I don’t know. My teacher would be horrified by that kind of fighting. It’s like he’s just trying to get his blade to their necks. I mean, I guess that makes sense with his gift, but it’s pretty boring.”

“Right!”

Cain couldn’t hold back the exclamation, as he finally realized what the issue was. For all that Clo seemed to love training, he didn’t fight as he did. He acted as if he hated fighting, trying to end each fight as quickly as possible. Now that he was thinking about it, it was the same in his last two fights. He didn’t care what happened to him so long as he won. Clo didn’t care about becoming a better fighter. Everything about the way Clo fought made him feel like an amateur, so then why did it work so well? There had to be something trick to it.

Cain felt more comfortable with Clo now that he had worked with him a little and called out to Clo even as he fought.

“Clo, take a break after this one. I have something to ask you.”

Clo didn’t so much as glance at him, but Cain knew that he would listen. Clo was not the loner that Cain had first envisioned. No, Clo just didn’t seem to care whether or not there were people around him. If no one was around Clo would continue to work alone without issue. However, Clo seemed very open to conversation or training, especially training. Clo had assumed the position of leader of the group, not that Maya seemed to care, and he helped each of them with their training. It was weird. If Clo didn’t have proper training as Cain suspected, then why was he able to give them such good advice? He would give suggestions on how to utilize their gifts or manage multiple opponents. Plus, he was able to use almost any weapon to some degree. All of that left Cain with some questions, and he had the confidence to ask them now.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Clo P.O.V

Clo loosened his grip on his sword as he swung. The hilt of the blade tried to slide out of his hand, but he regripped it near the end. Only half his hand even touched the hilt, but it was enough to complete the swing. The added range took the dummy off guard. The loud clacking noise of wood on metal ended the spar, as the dummy failed to lean out of the way of the blade. Clo didn’t try to hide the smile on his face. This was his tenth win of the day against three opponents. It was finally time to increase the number again. He could’ve done it earlier, but he had set the rule for himself. The rule was simple, he could only add more opponents once he could win ten times against the previous number in a single day. He had been stuck on three for almost two weeks now, but he finally got his tenth win.

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The smile didn’t leave his face as he walked over to Cain. His eyes lingered on Maya who was still sparring against two dummies. She was a good fighter. He remembered knights and guards who moved as she did. Martial arts, as he understood it, was the mastery of methods of movements. Some would have specific motions that people learned while training, but in actual fighting martial arts was more about their grasp of the reasoning behind those motions. Maya was someone who understood that. He felt like he could almost see the basic motions that were the foundation of her martial arts. She blended obviously trained motions with her stance creating sharp, focused movements. It was impressive.

Clo looked at her for a second longer, before turning to Cain and Sabrina. The two were talking while sitting comfortably on one of the benches. They weren’t as trained or skilled and had failed to handle more than one opponent. Neither of them had really trained with or against weapons and seemed to struggle against the armed dummies. Although, they did much better when in hand-to-hand combat.

“What did you want Cain?”

Clo didn’t yell, only talking when he was close enough to be heard. Cain’s knee moved up and down as he bounced on the back of his left foot. He was anxious about something which made Clo grow a little more apprehensive. While he enjoyed having people who he could work with and lead, he didn’t trust them quite yet. Well, he somewhat trusted Maya with her obvious interest in him. Cain and Sabrina were a bit less open and more thoughtful than he had initially guessed. Cain had seemed like the type to go with the flow at first, but now he seemed too cautious but weirdly confident at times. Clo brushed off some of the sand on his shirt as he waited for a response.

“Yeah, I’m not trying to be offensive, but why do you fight so… weirdly?”

Cain’s question didn’t surprise Clo. He had heard them commenting on it several times and had expected them to just ask at some point.

“It works. I had to learn how to fight quickly, and most of the time it had been with whatever I could find. This is the first time I’ve used a single weapon for so long.”

Clo could’ve devised some clever lie to make himself appear better, but that was unnecessary. The truth tended to work better in almost every situation. He had seen people lose themselves in lies, and he rubbed at his eyes to banish the image of a desperate woman from his eyes. The image didn’t leave though. A woman with unkempt and dirty blond hair, whose blue eyes constantly leaked tears. He had never seen her without them.

“You, ok?”

Cain’s question brought Clo back to reality, and he forced a smile.

“Sorry, I was thinking about something, what did you say?’

“Why don’t you learn some martial arts now? I’m sure there are classes and videos and stuff.”

Cain seemed a little unfocused as he asked. He was probably confused by the way Clo had zoned out.

“I did do some of that, but it felt weird. I kind of already have a style, flawed though it might be. And it’s not like I have the time to restart from scratch.”

Clo didn’t act as if he knew everything. However, he wouldn’t shift from his course. To upgrade his skill, he needed to create his own sword art. It said he could adopt one, but he couldn’t find a sword style for a blade that broke on impact with most things. He had even checked movies and found nothing. Whenever he tried a sword style, it just wouldn’t work well with his blade. Plus, it would take too long to learn something like that. He was fairly certain that building a style from scratch would be easier and faster, even if it ended up being inferior to others. He wasn’t trying to become a sword master, just a master of his own strange weapon.

“It would probably be a good idea to learn something. Otherwise, you won’t ever improve.”

Sabrina commented as she continued to watch over Maya. She was always concerned about her friend, and she was also the most distrustful of him. Clo nodded once before responding.

“I am learning something, just something of my own creation. I’ve been getting the teacher to check it.”

Clo was a little reluctant to share that fact, but he ultimately thought it was harmless. Clo recognized the value of a resource and understood just how valuable the teacher was. Their teacher was an expert in the trial system, and in fighting in general. Clo would be a fool to ignore such a thing, and the teacher was more than willing to help him with his sword style. He thought briefly about whether or not to share what he had but decided it was harmless. If anything, they might be able to give some feedback.

“Let me just show you what I mean.”

Clo walked over to his bag which was resting near the door. It was a simple bag, one of the ones the school provided for any student. He clicked a buckle and flipped open the top of the bag, pulling out his tablet a moment later.

____________________________________________________________________________________

Cain P.O.V

Cain watched as Clo pulled a tablet out of his bag. It wasn’t even the newest model. Wasn’t that the one the school provided? It took Cain a moment to remember that Clo likely didn’t have access to anything really valuable. Clo tapped on the screen a few times as he walked over. Cain waited; eyes filled with curious interest as Clo handed Sabrina the tablet. Cian gazed over her shoulder at the tablet and was momentarily stupefied by the sight. It was a compilation of movements. With just a stupid number of notes. Things like waist position and core rotation were mapped out beside otherwise mundane movements. There were so many details highlighted that Cain could barely even understand what the motion was supposed to be.

It ultimately just boiled down to how to turn properly. How to shift his body from left to right in efficient ways. And it was somewhat ridiculous. It would require a crazy good sense of balance to even attempt such a strange movement. Cain thought back to the fight at the movie theater and realized that Clo did have a really good sense of center. In that fight, he had been able to shift his weight far better than Cain could. Cain couldn’t read this though and glanced between the screen and Clo. He was hit with a realization at that moment.

“You’re a nerd.”

He mumbled the words. They kind of just slipped out. His face colored a little as he covered his mouth. Clo didn’t get angry and just raised an eyebrow at him. Sabrina looked equally as offended as she stared at him.

“Genuine effort and consideration does not make someone a nerd.”

Sabrina chastised Cain as his mother would, and he shivered a little. Cain needed some support and looked toward Maya who was walking over. A sheen of sweat made her skin shine as she walked toward them.

“This is excessive. Maya, tell them that this is crazy.”

He snatched the tablet from Sabrina and turned it to face Maya. Maya poured over the tablet, and even took it from his hand. She scanned the document carefully, talking while continuing to scroll through it.

“I don’t know. But, I mean, what do you expect from someone creating their own style.”

Maya’s words stung Cain. He should’ve known better than to ask her. She wouldn’t criticize Clo for anything let alone this. Seeing no allies among the people here, he gave up.

“Fine, whatever. But why are you even doing this? Wouldn’t it be easier to just pick one and change it?”

Clo shook his head slowly.

“No, I thought that at first, but it wouldn’t work. To upgrade my gift, I need to create or adopt a sword art for it in particular. Creating one from scratch should be faster than mastering someone else’s to change it. It’s not like I need to make it very long.”

That statement made him realize what Clo was trying to do. The other two noticed it as well, as Maya made an obvious exclamation.

“You’re trying to cheat the system aren’t you.”

Clo smiled genuinely, a rare thing for him. He smiled a lot, but it usually felt fake. This one didn’t, and he nodded at Maya proudly.

“The trials are just a big game after all. I figured there would be some tricks for it.”

Clo’s voice took on a prideful tone as he spoke, and his eyes filled with satisfaction. Sabrina nodded in agreement.

“I believe it will work, what did the teacher think?”

Of course! Clo had said he had talked with the teacher about it.

“He thought it would work, said that I might be able to finish it before midterms if I pushed it.”

That comment made Cain’s eyes widen. A person upgrading their gift within a year was unheard of. To do it in half that time might be record-breaking. Cain looked at Clo with even more disbelief than before. How did someone from origins like him wind up in this situation? Cain was tempted to ask Clo about his trial, but Cain wouldn’t answer those same questions if they were turned on him. Cain stood up abruptly, he didn’t like how the conversation was going and would rather get hit by dummies now.

“That’s enough rest. I’m gonna try again.”