“Since now there’s three of you, I’ll be joining the duels.” Tarquin picked up a wooden sword mounted on the weapon rack. “Marcus and Layla, you will train together first, I want to see what Edward can do.”

While the two warriors entered one of the pits, master Tarquin was already waiting in another one. Ed was about to pick up a training sword, when a voice interrupted him.

“No need for that. You can use your own sword.”

Edward hesitated for a moment, looking at the instructor.

“It’s fine, I’m not in any danger, believe me.”

With that, the young warrior drew his sword. A whisper of cold metal scraping against the leather scabbard made his skin tingle. He walked down into the circular arena carefully studying his opponent. Tarquin on the other hand, amused himself with the wooden sword, spinning it around in the air like a circus act. Despite that, his eyes stayed locked in on his student.

Edward waited until the instructor loosened the grip on his sword, signifying the beginning of the next rotation. He suddenly rushed forward, trying to take advantage of this short opportunity. Tensing his arms and the whole upper body, Ed swung his sword in a wide arc. His sharp blade met the surface of the wooden armament. By all means, it should have sliced through easily, but a golden aura covered the flimsy sword. Edward looked beyond the crossed weapons, noticing a smile of approval on Tarquin’s face.

“Good, keep going.”

The man exerted more power through his sword, throwing Ed back a bit. Edward was just about to launch another attack, when the fast wooden stick swung quickly towards his torso. Ed quickly changed his movement, smoothly transitioning to a block.

A ring of metal traveled through the arena.

“Not bad, but you can push yourself harder.”

Edward responded with a flurry of fast attacks, each time his sword bounced back, he put the force of the rebound into the next attack. And each time the blades met, the golden aura protecting Tarquin’s sword glowed brighter. Suddenly the metal blade moved into a thrust, breaking the series of slashes. Clearly not surprised by this amateur trick, the old man gently redirected the blade to the side.

This went on for a couple of minutes, until Tarquin deemed it time to work on the novice’s defence. That’s when the dynamic of the fight changed completely.

Edward snapped his sword down, continuing the chain of attacks, when unexpectedly his opponent shifted to the side, and bashed into him shoulder-first. Ed got thrown back, losing his balance due to the weight behind this move. Before he could recover his stance, Tarquin jumped after him, thrusting his blade. It almost reached the young warrior’s abdomen, but just barely he managed to throw the weapon upwards, sliding his sword on its edge, making for a satisfying hissing sound. But when both blades hung in the air, Tarquin reacted faster, rotating his body and slicing from the side. Just when the wooden sword was about to slam into the young man’s ribs, it slowed down a bit before the impact, leaving just enough strength to cause a light bruise. The incredible show of control passed unnoticed by Edward, who winced in pain after the impact.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Unfortunately the instructor wouldn’t let the duel end at that. He immediately sent out a slash diagonally from the bottom right, hitting Edward’s thigh, who jumped back instinctively.

“Don’t stop just because you got hit. Your enemies won’t wait for you.”

Master Tarquin followed his words by an attempt to stab his student in the abdomen. But this time his attack was met with a metal blade. He tried to bypass the guard, his sword slithering like a serpent around the right. Ed rotated his blade vertically, once again cutting off the path of the sword. The metal sword slid down towards the crossguard, reflecting rays of light from its polished surface. Then Edward tried to turn his sword around the opponent's blade, but Tarquin simply brought the weapon closer, eliminating this possibility. He punished the unsuccessful attempt, by stepping in close, making it impossible for Edward to swing with any momentum. That’s how the novice ended up with another bruise on his body.

At some point, Marcus and Layla finished their fight. Now exhausted, they observed the duel, while catching deep breaths. They were surprised by how well Edward seemed to be doing. He gained a lot more bruises on his body, but some of them were already fading, and as time went on he managed to stop more and more attacks.

After blocking a chain of Tarquin’s strikes a soft smile emerged on Edward’s face. And that was the largest mistake of the entire confrontation.

It was high time to end the exercise anyway.

The instructor passed by Edward’s sword, like it wasn’t even there. He appeared behind the young man, making a gust of air fly through the arena. Swiftly bringing his sword across the ground, he swept Ed by his feet, making him fall painfully on his back.

He couldn’t let his students get too arrogant now, could he? Or maybe it was simply satisfying to cause them pain, in a weird twisted manner.

“Alright that’s enough, next up Edward is with Marcus, and I’m with Layla. Take a 10 minute break everyone.” Tarquin announced. A quiet, female groan resounded from above the arena in response.

Edward stood up from the ground, shaking off the dust from his clothes with his hands. Then he left the pit and climbed the stairs approaching his two new friends.

“Wow, master Tarquin is really something, isn’t he.” Edward massaged his neck.

“Of course, what else did you expect from fighting a Legend?” Marcus answered.

“Wait, he’s what? You mean to tell me I just fought against a literal Legend?! And you didn’t mention it earlier?” Ed’s brows shot up.

“Haha, we decided it would be more fun for you to find out this way.” Marcus laughed, while Layla stood to the side smiling.

“I mean it’s to be expected, who else would be better at training the candidates than a Legend himself?” He added.

“I guess that’s true but still, I thought I was doing well, and it turns out he could probably finish the fight with a wave of his hand if he wished.” Edward shook his head and grabbed a wooden sword ready for his next match.

The fight with Marcus went in a similar fashion, as their first duel together. Except this time the browned hair youth immediately started with full ferocity, taking Edward’s regeneration and stamina into account. And while Ed managed to defend a bit longer than the first time, the bout still ended in about two minutes.

He couldn’t best Layla either. The girl moved with such grace and flexibility, that she must be lacking the usual human bone structure. She evaded most of Edward’s attacks and redirected others. Her strikes on the other hand seemed to flow like water, moving in unpredictable patterns, making it very difficult to defend against her. She was nice enough to spare him more bruises, making him submit with a sword near the throat. Or maybe she just liked to show off.

Now if only they manage to get through the ‘physical conditioning’ part, they can be finally done for the day.