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The training ground had emptied that morning, with the onlookers stepping back to give the two combatants space. Es and Revana stood at the center, their clash unrelenting, as each strike rang through the air like a battle hymn.
Lady Arabella watched from a corner, unable to take her eyes off Es who was defending herself against Revana’s attacks, as though expecting sothing miraculous to happen. Although her eyes held a bit of uncertainty.
Revana attacked with relentless precision as she charged forward, her blade a blur of motion as she kept swinging them in Es’s direction. She moved with an ease that belied her strength, with each strike powerful yet calculated.
Es, fully on the defensive, t each blow with equal force, her muscles burning from the intensity of their duel. Revana was not just formidable– she was the second strongest when it ca to Donovan’s pack, outranked only by Lothario himself.
The way she moved, the way each motion was asured with deadly accuracy, commanded Es’s admiration. Ruthless and unyielding, Revana’s dark brown eyes held no trace of rcy as she lunged at Es.
rcy was weakness. Revana had taught her that. And in battle, weakness had no place.
Revana smirked as Es deftly countered her strikes, their blades clashing with the intensity of a real battle rather than a re sparring match. The tallic ring of steel against steel echoed through the training hall, their movents relentless, and their breaths ca in sharp, heavy gasps.
Sweat slicked their skin, but neither was ready to yield. Revana noted the difference in Es’s movent. Her agility had sharpened, and her instincts honed far beyond what Revana rembered. If it was back in the shadowspire, Es could barely complete a race, talk more of facing her this long without having passed out already. She moved fast too, and Revana was tempted to know just how far she could go with her improvent.
"Is this all the fire you have?" Revana smirked knowingly, her voice laced with mockery. "I expected more from the only daughter of a warrior. Or did your father waste all his strength on the battlefield and leave you with scraps? Sharpened senses an nothing if your blade wavers. Prove to that there’s a lot more you can do. This is not enough!!"
Es’s breath hitched, annoyance flashing in her blue eyes upon registering Revana’s words. She gritted her teeth, refusing to take the bait– yet sothing in her gaze darkened.
Without hesitation, she shifted her stance and lunged, pressing the attack with a force that made Revana falter for the first ti. The shift was sudden, unexpected, and Revana barely regained her footing when she twisted, her instincts taking over. With a swift, brutal motion, she spun and drove her foot hard into Es’s side, and it was a move Es had no ti to evade.
The impact sent her hurtling across the room, and she crashed onto the floor with a harsh thud, the air forced from her lungs.
A collective gasp filled the space, and whispers flitted through the gathered warriors who were watching, uncertainty crackling in the air. While so ca to the conclusion that Revana had gone a bit too far, others were beginning to realize that their Luna isn’t even strong enough to take on Revana, talk more of an actual demon wolf. Everyone had their perspective on the matter, and Es could hear so of them mutter about how embarrassing this must have felt for her. To have fallen like this in the eyes of the warriors she commanded to serve her.
On the other hand, Revana felt a brief pang of unease as the whispers circulated. She hadn’t ant to strike Es that hard. She was lucky Donovan wasn’t available in the building to have witnessed this, else, she would have been in big trouble. But this wasn’t the ti for hesitation either.
Refusing to watch Es give up, Revana’s fist tightened against the hilt of her blade, and her gaze hardened. "Get up," she said coldly.
Es coughed, her body still trembling from the blow Revana had inflicted on her. Revana wanted her to prove herself before the damned northern warriors to shut them up, so she went on.
"Will you stay down like a beaten dog, waiting for rcy that will never co?" Revana pressed, her tone slightly hostile as her gaze narrowed. "An enemy won’t stop just because you’re winded. Endure it. Get up."
"Revana," Lothar ’s voice cut in, uneasy. "Maybe you should—"
"No," Revana’s reply was instant, final. Her gaze remained pinned on Es who was struggling, but determined to rise. "She asked for this. I’m only giving her what she wanted."
As Revana strode toward Es, who was now kneeling on one knee, she reached out to grasp Es’s arm, assuming she had already given up. But in an instant, Es twisted away, her sudden evasion shocking the warriors who had believed she already surrendered. Seizing the brief mont of surprise, Es drove her fist upward in a devastating uppercut, striking Revana squarely beneath the chin.
The impact sent Revana hurtling into the air before she crashed onto the hard ground, the sheer force of the blow leaving everyone speechless. Es herself couldn’t believe it, and she looked at her own hands, unable to comprehend how she was able to pull sothing like that, and with Revana too. Maybe it was due to the adrenaline, but she felt charged.
anwhile, Revana, who was still on the ground, coughed, spitting blood onto the ground. Her fingers instinctively reached for the hilt of her blade that was closer to where she had fallen. But before she could react, Es was already standing over her, the tip of her sword hovering dangerously close to Revana’s face. The threat was clear in Es’s eyes– one wrong move, and the duel would truly be over.
Revana remained still, eting Es’s gaze with a mixture of pain and admiration.
"Show no rcy to the enemy," Es murmured, her voice low and resolute. She raised her sword, and for a split second, tension crackled in the air. Alard, the warriors rushed forward, thinking their Luna was about to strike a finishing blow. But just as the blade descended, it stopped re inches from Revana’s head. Revana, who had her eyes closed, unsure of what to expect, eventually opened her eyes to see the blade re inches away from her head.
Her eyes shifted to Es who extended a helping hand, a smile on her lips.
"Are you alright?" she asked, the worry in her voice clear. "I got you there, didn’t I?"
A slow smirk spread across Revana’s lips—- and unlike the mockery smile she always wore, this one was filled with pride. She clasped Es’s offered hand, allowing herself to be pulled to her feet. With the back of her hand, she wiped away the stain of blood trailing from her lips.
"Is it bad?" Es asked, her tone apologetic. "Let see."
"I’m fine, it’s just a little blood," Revana shrugged it off, though her jaw still hurt a bit. "I didn’t think you’d actually make bleed," she admitted, exhaling through a soft chuckle. "Where did that strength co from? It’s impressive."
"I don’t know," Es stared down at her hands again. "It just... happened. I feel like my body is going through this constant change, Revana. It’s strange."
"Well, good work today," Revana patted her shoulder with the firm pride of a ntor who had seen true progress. "Just keep at it. In the anti, I need to clean up."
Es’s eyes glead with quiet satisfaction as she nodded. As Revana strode off the training ground, the warriors who had been observing her departure turned their focus back on Es. This ti around, there was no murmur, no comnts, and Es proudly lifted her chin with poised confidence before making her own exit. On her way out, Atticus and Orion greeted her with a high-five, their energy still buzzing from the session.
Atticus couldn’t help but imitate the move Es had pulled on Revana, much to Orion’s amusent as they veered toward Lothario to continue their banter.
The mont Es stepped into her chamber, she shut the door behind her, pressing her back against the sturdy wood. Instinctively, her hand drifted to her side, the very spot where Revana’s brutal kick had landed. Surprisingly, the pain had faded entirely.
By all logic, she should have been exhausted, aching from the relentless training, yet she felt none of it. If anything, she had the strange sensation that she could go another round, as if her stamina had doubled rather than drained. Es didn’t quite understand what was happening to her, but she could tell sothing was shifting inside her.
Exhaling, she straightened. "I should get cleaned up first. There’s still so much to do today," she murmured, rembering that she had to deal with the exchanges from the borders outside North, in order for supplies to co in once more.
Before she could take another step, a knock echoed against the door. Es blinked in surprise before opening it, her gaze landing on Althea who stood before her. Her eyes flickered over Es’s slightly disheveled state before eting her gaze.
"Althea?"
"Are you busy?" Althea asked softly, a hint of hesitation in her voice. "You seem occupied... forgive if I’ve interrupted—"
"No, no, you didn’t interrupt anything," Es shook her head. "Tell , is there sothing you need?"
Althea hesitated only for a mont before getting to the point. "Is the Alpha with you? There’s sothing important that I need to discuss with him."
Es’s brow lifted slightly. "Oh. No, he stepped out early today after finishing his training. But he should be back soon." She assured Althea, sensing a deeper urgency in her expression.
"Is sothing wrong?"
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