The silence after Reed's challenge was short-lived.
Arianna went first. Of course she did. Shadows coiled at her palms as twin constructs formed into a shield and a spear. She dashed in, looking like an evil war goddess.
Reed barely shifted. A ripple of black surged from his feet, snapping up to form a wall, he had a dozen methods on his mind that could drop her instantly but this exercise was to get to know them not bully them. Arianna's spear cracked against his wall and dissipated back into shadow, her shield absorbing the rebound, but she staggered back a step.
He let the wall drop.
"Too stiff," Reed said, voice calm, even bored. "You build your constructs like you're bracing for collapse. They'll collapse because you expect them to. Believe in the damn thing before you swing it."
Color flushed her face but she tried again taking his advice in stride, this time feinting left and slashing with her newly formed spear. The weapon rang uselessly off a shadow blade Reed pulled into being in a lazy, almost casual, flick of hist wrist, before he shoved her back with a pulse of shadow blast.
"Better. But you think like prey. Next"
Ethan darted in next, shadow whips cracking from his hands. He didn't go straight at Reed , he seemed to be smarter than that. He lashed the whip to the far wall, used it to sling himself sideways, boots skidding over a strip of shadow he'd manifested across the floor like a rail. It boosted his speed, snapping him toward Reed's flank.
Clever. Reed liked clever.
But clever without power was just noise. Reed's shadow lashed up in a spire, catching Ethan mid-swing. Not crushing, just halting him, forcing the boy to twist and stumble before he could get his balance.
"Good use of momentum," Reed said, his tone dry. "But if I can see the line, I can cut it. Whips and rails are only useful if you're not telegraphing every path before you move."
Ethan's jaw clenched. He yanked the whip free, planting himself again. He was a creative one. Reed gave him that.
"You guys do know you aren't just meant to wait your turn, right?"
Then Daniel came, fists clenched, shadows thickening over his knuckles like black iron. He didn't hesitate. A straight rush, shoulder low, aiming to bulldoze Reed outright.
Reed's eyebrow flicked up. Brave. Stupid. But brave.
The shadows at Reed's side curved, forming a tether that caught Daniel's arm mid-swing and twisted it wide. Reed didn't even glance at him — he yanked with that tether, pivoted, and dropped the boy flat on his back in the space of a heartbeat.
"Strength's fine," Reed said. "But if you telegraph that hard, I can write the ending before you swing. Stop thinking like a street fighter and start thinking like a hunter."
Daniel gritted his teeth and rolled to his knees, but Reed had already dismissed him with his eyes.
Then Mia moved. She hadn't rushed in with the others. She hung back, already pulling a bow from shadows, her first arrow notched.
"About time," Reed murmured, truthfully she was the only he was really concerned about, that her pride had to come from somewhere right?
The arrow hissed through the air. Reed flicked two fingers, he quickly made little barriers that stopped them individually, it was a stressful method, he had always been the offense was the best defense kinda guy but he wanted to see how good she was. Another arrow followed, faster. Then another. Each one came from a slightly different angle, forcing him to build sharper, quicker barriers.
He smiled despite himself. She was trying to box him in, forcing him to step back.
"Smarter," he called to her, his voice carrying easily across the hall. "But you're still drawing in straight lines. Imagine I decided to shoot back what would you do?"
Her smirk only widened at the challenge as she loosed three in a rapid volley, forcing Reed to increase his speed of creating little barriers, it was all about the small challenges.
And that was when Arianna struck again, darting at his flank with a renewed spear construct, sharper this time, steadier.
"That's what I'm talking about," Reed said, shadows splitting around him so one hand could parry her strike with his own spear while he multitasked with blocking Mia's arrows, if he kept this up for 30 more minutes he might actually sweat.
His other hand lashed out as his spear suddenly morphed into a thick whip construct, curling around Arianna's ankle and yanking her off balance. She hit the ground with a grunt, spear flickering out of existence.
Ethan seized the moment, bouncing off midair to dive at Reed from above. His whip lashed down at the same time, aiming for Reed's shoulder.
Reed tilted his head, unimpressed, he sighed and decided to throw the whip at the boy and teach a little thing about the disadvantages of air combat. The whip moved with speeds Ethan couldn't even comprehend and suddenly he was struggling and writhing against the tendrils, but Reed's grip was iron.
"Flashy moves should atleast have a tinge of practicability Ethan," Reed said. "Enemies would have filled your body with holes by the time you even started descending" He flicked his hand and the tendrils flung Ethan backward, tumbling him across the floor but not broken.
Daniel tried again, rushing low with a twin dagger construct this time, aiming for Reed's legs while Arianna and Ethan scrambled back to her feet.
Reed sighed. His shadows curved into a crescent and slammed Daniel sideways, knocking the boy sprawling again. "And you still lead with your face. Learn subtlety, Cho, before someone carves your throat with it."
That was when Mia finally shifted tactics. Instead of aiming straight, her next arrow arced high, curving overhead. Reed tracked it lazily , only to feel the sting of two more that she'd loosed low at the same time, splitting her shots.
He blocked the high one, then made a barrier to block the low ones. They struck his barrier with sharper force, making him thicken the wall beneath him. He still didn't step, that would make him lose face, but for the first time, his defense looked serious.
Mia smirked at him across the hall, bow steady, eyes alight with challenge.
"Better," Reed admitted, his grin sharp. "Now let's see you replicate that."
And then, because she was Mia, because she'd never stop with just that, she rushed. Bow dissolving into her hands, shadow blades flashing alive instead. She darted in with startling speed, low and fierce. Reed let her come, even let her swing. The blade cut shadows and nothing else, sliding uselessly across his chest barrier.
In the same breath, he caught all four of her limbs in shadow binds. Arms yanked wide, legs frozen, her whole body stretched out like a specimen pinned for study.
"Better instincts," he murmured. "But predictable finish."
Mia's eyes narrowed. Her smirk wavered — then sharpened again. And she dissolved, body melting into shadow smoke, slipping free of every bind in an instant.
Reed chuckled, genuinely this time. Her clothes dropped in a heap, and by the time she reformed she'd already pulled them back on, blades up again, eyes burning with stubborn fire.
"Good," he said, nodding once. "That's how you survive me. That's how you survive anything."
The others had regrouped by then, Arianna steadying herself, Daniel pushing upright, Ethan whipping his shadows back into motion. All of them battered, none of them broken.
Reed planted his feet, shadows curling around him like a storm. His smile was razor sharp.
"Round two," he said, voice cutting through the hall. "Let's see if you learned anything."