Chương 193: Chapter 191 [Three Rounds]

Shai settled onto the top step of the pit's rim, watching Leo stretch out below, and thought—not for the first time—that this had been a good idea. Good for Leo, who'd get the chance to show Kai properly how far he'd come rather than just being told about it secondhand.

It would also be a good chance to see the new sparring pit, freshly rebuilt and clearly better for it, sitting deeper and wider than the old one had ever been, closer in shape to the arena from the festival than the cramped little bowl it used to be. She let her eyes drift off the pit for a moment, out toward the open ground stretching north and west of the wall.

It was strange how quickly it had gone from scorched and broken to this, people out walking the field with cord and stakes, marking lines in the dirt that meant nothing to her yet, but clearly meant something to them. Barracks, she'd heard. Training grounds. A proper military quarter, built up section by section the way the Empire built its own cities, though she doubted any of them would put it in quite those terms if she said it aloud.

It wasn't so different, really, from what she already knew of their settlement. The whole place they currently lived in had originally been nothing more than the central shopping district of Monkhaven back on Earth—the only piece of their old town that had actually crossed over to this world. Back home, it had just been a place to trade, much like a market quarter in one of the Empire's own cities, with housing and residential areas scattered far beyond it.

Strange, only, in how closely their sudden setup now mirrored something she associated with imperial city planning. She wondered if any of them had noticed that themselves. Her attention came back to the pit properly as Leo finished his stretch and straightened, Kai a few feet from him doing the same, both of them standing loose and easy in the centre like this was any other morning. This should be fun, she thought.

She'd wondered more than once how he'd actually fare against her foster father, properly matched rather than just training. Kai had asked for this himself back during the invasion, the moment he'd watched Leo call on his amp for the first time. She'd heard about it after the fighting was over and knew how curious Kai was. She glanced around at the rest of the crowd settling into the seats cut into the slope above her, levels rising in steps toward the open field behind them.

Someone had told her recently that this shape had a name from Leo's world—an amphitheatre, or a colosseum—structures built by some empire from Earth's own past. She thought it was a clever design, and could see easily enough why they'd chosen it here. Guards, townsfolk, and even some of her own people who had taken to using the portals to come visit, hoping to make new friends, made up the bulk of those watching.

The seating wasn't full—this was by no means meant as a spectacle like the festival's tournament—however, there were enough people that word would spread about the outcome. Her attention was dragged back to the present when Mike stepped forward at the pit's edge.

"Right," he called, loud enough to carry.

"This is going to be three rounds. First, Leo fights with just his training. No skills, no magic. Second round, he's allowed one skill. Third, he'll be using his Amp spell. No flinging lightning bolts around." A couple of people in the crowd laughed. He glanced between the two fighters below.

"Ready? I'll count down from three." Shai headed down the steps while listening and found her usual spot among the group. Phil was already leaning forward, elbows on his knees.

"I'll give him three seconds," he said.

"If Kai actually goes for it, I can't see him lasting longer than that."

"Wow. How generous," Rika said, rolling her eyes.

"I don't know, man." Luka shook his head slowly.

"Maybe thirty? He's gotten pretty good." Shai grinned, eyes back on the pit.

"I hope he lasts longer than Kai thinks he will. That'll impress him and irritate him in equal measure." The pit went quiet as Mike began counting down. The moment he reached zero, Kai shifted his weight and charged. Shai watched Leo hold his ground, waiting. Kai grinned. His first strike collided with Leo's sarren before it flowed into the next, no wasted movement anywhere in it. Leo held, parrying each blow in turn while working his own strikes into the gaps between.

Shai knew the big wolf well enough to tell he was pleased. He'd have been annoyed if Leo lost before the fight really began. Leo pushed forward after a moment, going on the offensive, and Kai let him, backing off just enough to make the retreat look easy, relaxed, like there was nothing behind it he needed to think about. Leo grinned through it anyway. He probably knew exactly how far out of reach a real win was in this round, Shai thought, and was going for it regardless.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He tried a kick, aiming to catch Kai off guard. Kai sidestepped it without much trouble and smiled wider. Leo grinned back, and the exchange carried on another half a minute before Kai finally slipped inside his guard, wooden sarren landing flat against Leo's shoulder, resting at the line of his neck. Leo sighed, then laughed despite himself.

They exchanged a few words Shai couldn't quite hear from this distance. She glanced over at Phil.

"Well," Phil said.

"Longer than three seconds. Though Kai clearly wasn't going for the kill there."

"Maybe not," Shai said.

"But he wouldn't have kept it going that long if Leo hadn't earned it. He was testing everything he's taught him, offence and defence both. I'd wager he's happy with what he saw." Mike stepped up to the edge of the pit.

"First round to Kai. Easy to see why he's known as the best in the North."

"Second best!" Ronan called out, and the crowd laughed. Mike grinned.

"Beat him in next year's tournament if you want to make that claim stick." Ronan just laughed harder.

"Right," Mike went on, once it settled.

"Second round, Leo's allowed one skill. He's told me he'll be using Flow State." He glanced round the crowd.

"For anyone not in the know, it's a skill that lets him fight closer to his actual potential, or the highest point he's currently capable of. It's a bit beyond me, honestly. I'm sure we'll see it well enough in a moment." He stepped back.

"Gentlemen. Three, two, one." The fight opened faster this time, both of them clearly meaning it now, Leo closing the distance in a single motion and Kai meeting him without hesitation. Shai found herself sitting forward without meaning to. She'd seen this before, briefly, in the trainee tournament, but never against someone like this.

Leo and Kai traded blocks and strikes at a pace that left the first round looking almost lazy by comparison, and Kai's grin had gone entirely, replaced by the same flat focus he wore whenever he sparred Ronan properly. It was even. Shockingly, unmistakably even. It held that way for longer than Shai had any right to expect, both of them locked together. At times it looked like Kai was about to land a strike until Leo turned it back on him, the big wolf actually struggling to defend.

The whole crowd watched, those who knew how Kai fought beyond surprised at what they were witnessing—until Leo's pace finally began to slip, and Kai ended it the same way as before, sword resting light across his shoulder. That was it, Shai realised. It hadn't ended because Kai found an opening. It had ended because the skill ran out. Right up until then, Kai hadn't been able to close it at all. She wasn't the only one who'd caught it. Further along the row, Mars let out a low whistle.

"Cannot believe he held that against the big guy for as long as he did. That skill's something else." Nessa nodded slowly, clearly surprised, but less than the other guards as she'd seen some of it in the festival.

"That's what he used in the tournament. Ended every round he had it in pretty quick, though."

"Had first-hand experience of it myself," Phil said.

"It's bullshit, honestly." Sam nodded.

"Guy basically turns into a different fighter."

"Just goes to show how good Kai actually is," Parmo said. Torren, further down the row, gave a slow nod of his own.

"There's a reason we've had so few losses out on the northern border, even now." Mike stepped into the centre of the pit.

"Nicely done, Leo. That skill's something else. Night and day between those first two rounds." Leo grinned, still catching his breath.

"Right," Mike went on.

"Final round, Leo's using his amp spell. I'm sure most of you have seen it or heard about it by now. This is the one Kai actually wanted to test himself against, apparently." He stepped back toward the edge.

"Same as before. Three, two, one." Shai watched the count end, and then Leo simply wasn't where he'd been standing anymore. He was behind Kai, sword resting flat against the wolf's neck. Kai went completely still, eyes wide for a second, sword arm frozen where it had stopped mid-motion. Around the pit, nobody made a sound at all. Shai realised she'd stopped breathing herself, waiting to see which way this would break. Then Kai's shoulders started to shake.

It built slowly, a low huff at first that Shai almost mistook for something else entirely, before it broke fully into laughter, loud and genuine—the kind she knew he was capable of, but that rarely made an appearance in public. The silence around the pit cracked open with it, everyone finding their voice at once as a wave of noise rolled up through the seats.

"By the gods," Ronan said, still staring, like he half expected Leo to still be standing where he'd started. Aldric shook his head slowly, arms folded now like he needed something to hold onto.

"I'd heard about that spell. Heard doesn't cover what I just watched."

"Did he teleport?" Bram asked, entirely serious.

"Nah." Luka was grinning ear to ear.

"He just moved stupidly fast." Down in the pit, Kai reached up and clapped a hand against Leo's shoulder, still laughing, saying something Shai still couldn't make out over the noise of the crowd, though she didn't need to hear it to know it was praise. Leo's own grin had gone crooked, more surprised than triumphant. Shai let herself sit with it a moment—the noise, the two of them still talking in the centre of the pit, Kai's laughter not quite dying down yet.

She thought of the man who'd panicked at the sight of one lone goblin, months ago now, barely able to survive, and looked at the man standing there with a wooden sword in hand and her foster father's hand on his shoulder, the whole crowd still buzzing around him. She was proud of him. More than proud, if she was honest with herself. She'd have to think of a proper way to reward him for that later. A smirk found its way onto her face, and she didn't bother hiding it.