Taria sighed, gave a respectful nod, and sat down with a scowl, though it was clear she was watching with interest.
As Kaedros stepped forward, he felt sothing unexpected, eagerness. Maybe he would enjoy this.
"How are we fighting?" Rauk asked.
Kaedros frowned. "There’s no structured way. He’s too fast for that. Just make sure his sword doesn’t touch us."
"Got it." Rauk slung his sword onto his shoulder as they both took their positions before Thalso.
"Fight when you’re ready," Thalso said.
Rauk glanced at Kaedros and nodded, then launched forward, swinging his blade in a wide arc.
Thalso raised his sword and blocked it with ease, not moving an inch. As Rauk stepped in to follow up, trying the sa tactic Thalso had used on Taria, Kaedros shot forward.
His sword struck from the opposite side, fast and precise, targeting the head.
Thalso stepped back, blocking Kaedros’s slashes one after the other. Kaedros pressed in, relentless, slashing low and high, from every angle.
Every strike was t calmly, his attacks turning into sparks as tal t tal.
On the sidelines, Taria leaned forward. Her fight with Thalso had been brutal, but this one was different. With two of them working in tandem... maybe they could land a hit.
Then she realized sothing.
Where’s Rauk?
Her eyes widened as she spotted him, moving in Kaedros’s shadow, completely synced with his movents. As Kaedros lunged forward, Rauk raised his longsword behind him.
"Now!" Rauk shouted.
Kaedros imdiately dropped down, ducking beneath the swing, and felt the wind of Rauk’s sword pass just inches over his head.
Perfect! This was it. The timing. The teamwork. The power....!
Thalso blinked.
Surprised?
For a split second, he was. He hadn’t expected Kaedros to stop his barrage and drop like that. And Rauk’s swing was tid perfectly, strength behind it, angle clean.
He was impressed.
Rota had surprised him earlier. Now these two? Clever.
If he were a lesser opponent, the attack might have landed.
But Thalso was not a lesser opponent.
He was power.
Should I let them land a hit? he thought. Maybe it would boost morale.
His fingers twitched on reflex. The swing approached. The blow would land in less than a second.
His pride answered for him.
No.
He caught the greatsword between two fingers.
There was a clang, followed by silence. And disbelief.
Rauk’s full-body swing had been absorbed like a falling feather. No damage. No tremor. Thalso hadn’t even flinched.
"Wha..?" Rauk started, but he never got to finish.
Without releasing the blade, Thalso turned and kicked Kaedros in the face.
Kaedros managed to deflect slightly with the back of his hand, but the force still knocked him into Rauk, both of them crashing together.
Rauk staggered from the impact, sword slipping from his grip. He had no ti to recover.
An armored fist smashed into his jaw, snapping his head back.
He crumpled.
When the dust settled, Thalso stood alone. Silent. Still.
In one hand, he held Rauk’s sword by the blade, with two fingers.
His own sword lay untouched on the ground.
"Wow," Taria breathed, staring at Thalso as he stood over her teammates. She couldn’t believe how fast it had ended but she was impressed. In truth, she was stunned.
Kaedros and Rauk had fought well together. Their timing, their coordination, it had almost been enough. Almost.
But Thalso had been simply too fast, too strong... and she was sure they hadn’t even seen more than the surface of his true strength.
"You fought well," Thalso said calmly. "You shouldn’t confront opponents stronger than you head-on. Use tricks. Outsmart them. Win dirty if you must. Only survivors tell the tale."
He turned slightly, facing the wall of weapons collected from his fallen foes, as if to make his point clear.
Kaedros grimaced, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Well... our tricks didn’t exactly work on you."
"That’s fighting for you," Thalso replied. He flicked his fingers, catching Rauk’s sword by the hilt. Then he drove it into the tal floor. A harsh screech rang out as it cut deep into the plating, sinking halfway down.
"If Rauk had been just a little faster," he added, "I would have been hit."
Kaedros stared at the embedded sword, then looked at Thalso with quiet awe. "You’re... powerful."
"I am," Thalso said, his voice flat. It wasn’t a boast. It was a fact. "But that’s only because you’re weak. Right now, you’re too weak to see as anything but powerful."
Kaedros winced at the bluntness. But he understood. It wasn’t cruelty, just the perspective of soone far above them.
To a rat, a cat is a monster.
To a lion, the cat is prey.
Strength is relative. Perception... scales with power.
"You’re not holding back at all," Rauk muttered, still pressing a cloth to his bleeding nose.
"I’m holding back far more than you think," Thalso said, walking toward the training dummies they had beaten and slashed for hours.
He raised his hand over them. tal shimred beneath his palm, turning soft like liquid, then resolidifying. The scratches disappeared. The worn edges smoothed. The dummies glead like new.
Taria groaned. Don’t tell we’re training again...
Thalso continued without pause. "If I hadn’t held back, you’d be dead. All of you. Within seconds."
Rauk exhaled hard. "Well... good thing you did hold back."
Thalso turned toward them. "Now. What did you learn from our little sparring session? That’s why we did it."
Taria answered first. "I’m stronger. My stamina’s better than it’s ever been."
"Our speed," Kaedros said. "It’s improved a lot. I felt like I was moving with the air."
"And strength," Rauk added. "Even the shadow blades made us stronger, but nothing like this. My weapon felt like a feather in my hands."
Thalso nodded, clearly unsurprised. "As expected. You’ve been training with weapons that weigh as much as your bodies. Naturally, you’re faster now. Stronger. But you’re still weak."
Taria narrowed her eyes. "Then when will we be strong in your eyes?"
Thalso didn’t hesitate. "When you can do this."
He flipped his short sword into his hand... and stood there.
Kaedros waited, eyes sharp. He expected a demonstration. An explosion. A surge of power.
But Thalso just... stood.
Sword in hand. Silent. Still.
Kaedros frowned. "What do you an? You’re not doing anything."
Thalso sighed. "You’ve got a long way to go, clearly."
Rauk raised an eyebrow. "So what are we supposed to do?"
"Maybe we’re supposed to stand?" Alaric said with dry sarcasm from the floor.
"That’s not it. And I didn’t hit you that hard," Thalso said, almost amused. Then, more seriously, "What I ant was this."
He turned to one of the dummies, and lightly tapped it on the head.
Instantly, all the dummies around the room slid apart at clean angles. Upper halves clanged to the floor in perfect, polished cuts.
"Impossible..." Kaedros whispered, stepping forward.
"You cut all of them?" Taria asked, wide-eyed. She rushed over and examined the dummy’s surface. The tal had been sliced so smoothly it looked like it had been built that way.
No arcane signs. No visible surge. No aura.
Just... speed.
"How did you do that?" Rauk asked, genuinely baffled.
"I cut them," Thalso said plainly, slicing through the remaining dummies in a blur. tal chunks hit the floor like falling dice. "I was simply too fast for you to see."
Kaedros stared. "But... you were standing still the whole ti."
"Were you watching closely?"
Thalso stepped forward again, and before Kaedros could react, he was behind him. Kaedros flinched, feeling cold steel kiss his cheek, just deep enough to draw a thin line of blood.
"I ant this," Thalso said softly. "That’s what I call speed. When you can move like this... then I’ll consider you strong."
Kaedros sucked in a breath. The fear froze him more than the blade. How... when... did he even move?
It wasn’t just fast. It was disappearance. One mont Thalso was in front of them, the next, behind.
He hadn’t even felt the sword cut him.
Rauk stared, stunned. Taria’s eyes glittered.
So this... this is what a true warrior can do?
She wanted it. That speed. That fluidity. That power.
She wanted all of it.
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