As all the matches were over, we both readied ourselves and got on stage. I took my standard equipment—a short sword in my right hand and a dagger with a reverse grip in my left hand—which was taped to my hand. And a second dagger was attached to my waist. Nian just took a huge broadsword.

All the weapons were crafted from wood and were not lethal, but they still hurt on impact. I sadly knew from experience.

This was the last time we stood against each other; we both knew that, we both were concentrated like never before. This match would decide the ultimate winner of our rivalry, and with this knowledge in our heads, we rushed forward the moment the coin fell, which the referee threw. The tension was apparent by the naked eye, the air was oppressing. We met halfway; our swords collided heavily—with a roar. Nian has gotten stronger, even stronger than me. I felt it as I struggled to push against his attack. But I was still more agile than him, so I went sideways causing Nians sword to hit the ground.

I could have countered in this moment but decided against it because it felt like a trap. Nian then, as he realized I evaded his trap, leaped at me and started an onslaught of attacks. I blocked some attacks but tried to avoid them as often as possible, due to their strong impact, even though I could do so. If I were to block every attack I would fear my sword shattering.

Nian never left any openings, his sword art was peerless, so I needed to create a chance to win—I thought while avoiding Nians slashes.

So the next time he swung his sword at me, I blocked the it and then stepped forward to stab at him with my short sword. Nian only evaded it, thanks to his instincts, turning sideways. But he forgot to put pressure on my dagger with his broadsword, so I took the chance and attacked him with my now free dagger. Nian was quite surprised, but he could rapidly regain his concentration and evaded attack after attack. Until he saw an opening that he knew to use well, he quickly turned himself on the spot and swayed his sword at me. I was too slow to register the attack and got hit on my left side. Through the hit, I was sent flying all over the stage.

Standing up, I felt my whole side hurt like hell, but I pushed further and ignored the pain. So I rapidly began to attack again. But I had now even less of a chance due to being wounded, and so I received hit after hit. Meanwhile, Nian only got a little wound from me. I thought it was already over, and I would never be able to win this fight any more.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

But as I lied there, half beaten and overfilled with pain, I felt a warm feeling in myself. Somewhere around my torso. It was like back than in my dream, so I concentrated myself on the warmth. This time, I found the point much easier. There it was, like a little green ball, holding an enormous amount of energy. It was more like the energy was imprisoned in the ball. And so I tried breaking the ball with my mind. At first, nothing happened, but then cracks started to appear. And finally, it broke, releasing a burning sensation in my whole body while easing my pain.

From outside, the crowed saw all my wounds healing up rapidly, and a new shine appearing in my eyes.

As my pain was now gone and I felt stronger than ever, I stood up again, only to see Nian already running towards me, ready to attack me. But it was not like before; he felt slower—not much, but a bit. His insanely fast strike, I could dodge easily now, Nian didn’t stop there and began another onslaught of attacks. This time I could dodge them much easier than before, and I even saw many openings. So I took one and hit him with my short sword right into his abdomen, sending him tumbling backwards.

I used the chance to hit him again, this time with my dagger in his side, but he could block it. He tried to start a comeback and gain the upper hand again, which I didn’t allow him to do. I was much stronger than before the strange event happened. So this time I could easily hold against his attacks. Also I could now compare to his insane strength, and push back when blocking, which irritated Nian, who jumped backwards, as he realized it. I didn’t let him flee, and I leaped forward, attacking him from all directions. He was still able to evade some attacks or block them, but he got hit more often as time went on. From there on, I completely dominated the match. Nian was unable to fight back, and so at the end, I finished him off with a nice swing from my short sword, which brought him to the ground.

Nian stood only up after a long time passed, as he was too exhausted. He only awoke as the little party was already going on. I was by his side the whole time, with my family. The moment he awoke, he said to me, “congrats, you monster.” I just said thank you. After my family left, he asked me the question, I already knew he was going to ask: What happened—that you went from being beaten-up to easily dealing with me?

So I told him the truth about what happened, and to that, he just said, “To awaken this young, without help is just insane." I didn’t know what he meant by "awakening," so I asked. He told me not to worry too much about it and that it just meant that I could now learn magic and wizardry. But he neither knew how one could learn it, so I’ll have to try myself.

After the party ended, I looked one last time in Nians eyes, shook his hand, and said to him, “Goodbye, I wouldn’t mind seeing you again," to which he replied, “Then I will get my revenge, bro. See ya" And so we parted, maybe forever. I went home, and he probably too.