Edward smiled at his friend, bringing his blade in front of him, and pointing the end towards the man’s chest.

“I’ll take it as a yes.” Marcus flashed a smile of his own.

He circled his sword twice in the air, and started cautiously approaching Ed. When he was just about ten steps away, an otherworldly golden aura started to manifest around his body.

“Oh? Am I supposed to be impressed?” Edward closed his eyes for a moment, and a similar aura slowly emerged from his chest, spreading along his limbs, up to the tip of his sword.

“Holy shit! You can do that already?!” A shocked expression appeared on Marcus’s face.

The aura alone wasn't obviously something he was surprised by, but they didn’t even start fighting yet. Valhalla’s power normally manifests itself fully only in the heat of battle. Bringing it out to this extent by your own volition was a sign that the warrior possessed a high degree of control over his power.

“I told you, didn't I? You won’t even notice when I’ve passed you.” Edward stepped forward, quickly slashing diagonally.

Marcus jumped back, but Edward had already changed the direction of his blade, stabbing it towards the man’s abdomen. The brown haired youth used the small shield on his forearm to push the blade to the side, and quickly responded with his own thrust.

Edward turned his body, making the sword miss by an inch, and pushed it away with his shield. He rammed into his friend with his shoulder, almost making him fall down.

The young man’s face turned serious. Edward has grown more than he realised. Marcus quickly recovered his stance, and pushing his minor legend to the limit, slashed horizontally towards his neck.

Edward ducked right under the blade, but before he could counter attack, his opponent’s sword was back on its way from the other side. Ed barely managed to raise up his shield, grunting slightly, feeling the strength behind the strike.

“Wow, you’ve really started to take this seriously, good decision!” The young warrior parried another attack with his sword, and swung his shield towards Marcus’s face, who jumped back at the last second.

“What a wild fighting style, you’ve really pushed it since last time.” He took a deep breath, keeping a close eye on Edward’s movements.

Ed didn’t allow his opponent a moment of respite. Without a word, he immediately launched forward, with a reckless thrust, no regard for defense.

Marcus jumped to the side, bending his body. He then blocked a horizontal slash, and making use of his speed, jumped closer to Edward, aiming for his chest. He thought that would be the end of the fight, but somehow the shield got in his way once again.

Despite Ed’s wild fighting style, his movements were precise, which barely made up for the difference in speed between the two fighters.

Marcus felt his hurried breaths and his quickened heartbeat. If he didn’t win this fight now, he would only be at an ever larger disadvantage. In that moment, the young man truly realised how scary his friend’s simple legend really was.

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He launched a furious offensive, making the most of his strength and speed to end the fight quickly. Despite his best efforts, every strike was either blocked by the shield, or redirected by Edward’s blade. Getting through this tough defense seemed impossible, especially with the opponent’s near limitless stamina.

But warriors had more than just their weapons at their disposal. Marcus feinted another attack, making Ed raise his shield, before suddenly kicking with all his strength. He expected to see his friend stumble onto the ground, but what happened next was something he could never predict.

Edward turned away, letting go of the shield, which carried most of the momentum from the strike. He used the now empty hand to grab Marcus’s left forearm and jumped straight at him, falling down together, and rolling in the dirt.

“Huh, I guess it's a draw.”

Ed was kneeling over Marcus, holding a sword to his throat, but at the same time, he felt something hard poking his side.

“Nah, I must admit defeat unfortunately… but wow you got good fast” Marcus laughed, bringing his sword away from his friend’s ribs. “In a normal fight, this wound wouldn’t be mortal for you, and we both know that.”

“Sure, but we were fighting under the rules of the duel, weren’t we?” Edward stood up, reaching out to the other warrior.

“Yeah, yeah, the rules of whatever.” Marcus grabbed the hand, pulling himself up. “In the real world one side is dead, and the other side is victorious. There are no rules. Actually… sometimes both sides are dead.” He shrugged.

“Damn man, are you getting depressed from a single loss?”

“Oh don’t get me wrong. I admit defeat, but that doesn’t mean it will happen again. Better be ready tomorrow. I’ll make sure it’ll take a while to heal, even for you.” The man talked back with his usual provocative smile.

“I’m counting on you, I still need somebody to train with after all.”

The two friends bumped their fist, and started going over the fight, while going back to the facility right over the hill.

***

The duo was walking between the pods, when some soldier walking out from the corner suddenly stopped and started waving to Marcus.

“Hey sir! Another evening training?”

“Hey John. Of course, you know me.” The two men shook their hands.

“I’m glad to hear that. We’re always counting on you on the frontlines, it’s nice to see you in good shape.”

“We need your support too, alright? Don’t you get lazy and push all the fighting on us.” Marcus patted the man on his shoulder.

“Alright, alright, don’t worry, I won’t. Are you joining us later?”

Marcus scowled slightly. “Nah, sorry mate, not this time. Maybe tomorrow.”

“No problem, we’ll see you then.” The man nodded to the duo, passing them and going on his way.

Edward kept quiet throughout the conversation, now looking curiously at Marcus.

“So… Who was that?”

“Oh, that’s just John. I get together with him and a couple other guys to play cards sometimes. Actually, do you want to join next time? We've got space.”

“I’ll think about it…”

Marcus looked at Edward suspiciously. “Hmm… I think I know what your issue is.”

“What do you mean?”

“You didn’t make any connections here, did you? And it hasn’t been long since that man Joseph died…”

Ed didn’t respond, unsure what to say.

“Alright man, I won’t push, but I just want to say one thing, something that helped me when I went through a similar thing. It’s better to risk losing something than having nothing to lose. Remember that.”

After a moment of silence, Edward finally opened his mouth. “Hmm… thanks man. I’ll think some more about this.”

“Good, then we’re all set. Let’s go, and remember, you’re invited to tomorrow's game.”

Ed silently smiled in response.