The air around the sparring grounds shifted, tense with anticipation. A small crowd had begun to gather early risers drawn by the strange energy brewing between two powerful presences.
Kael Vernier stood still, his expression calm as he drew his B-rank sword from its sheath with a smooth motion. The blade shimmered slightly under the morning light. He took a breath, exhaled slowly, and slipped into his stance low, precise, and sharp, like coiled shadow.
Across from him, Samuel Solaris grinned as he twirled his golden inlaid spear once before settling into a solid, aggressive stance. His muscles tensed, and the veins in his forearms pulsed with power.
A beat passed.
Then they moved.
Samuel charged, and the ground cracked beneath his feet.
His opening strike was monstrous a downward swing that shattered the air with a sonic boom. Kael met it with a sidestep and a fluid parry, but the force behind the spear rattled his arms. He slid back several feet, boots grinding against the stone floor.
"He's strong. Absurdly strong."
Samuel lunged again. This time a sweep aimed for Kael's legs. Kael jumped, flipped mid-air, and landed lightly behind him. He went for a slash, but Samuel whirled around and blocked it with the shaft of his spear. The impact echoed like a hammer hitting steel.
The duel raged.
Samuel's attacks were like falling boulders raw and relentless, each strike capable of breaking bone. Kael was fast, evasive, a shadow slipping through cracks in a mountain. But the sheer weight behind Samuel's swings forced Kael to do something he rarely had to:
Pour mana into his muscles.
A dark glow traced along his veins.
His body surged with strength. Muscles tightened, joints steadied, reflexes sharpened. His movements grew faster his sword sliced through the air with new sharpness. And he wasn't worried.
"I've got mana to spare. Tons of it.
And you need more than brute strength to win this."
Kael's technique was unreal fluid arcs, blade feints, reversals that defied logic. Where Samuel hit like a warhammer, Kael moved like a whispering knife, flickering in and out of Samuel's guard.
But Samuel didn't back down.
Instead, he smiled.
"Alright," he said, eyes gleaming. "Time to get serious."
He gripped his spear tighter and then it began to glow.
A faint light wrapped around the edge of the weapon, like a shroud of energy.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"That's not mana coating…"
It was raw, unstable, but unmistakable.
A crude imitation of Sword Aura.
Samuel twirled his spear once, and the glowing edge sliced the air cleanly in a way no ordinary weapon could.
Kael stepped back slightly, now truly intrigued.
"This just got interesting."