The Watch Commander stood in the center of the courtyard, the group now circled around him, creating a makeshift arena for the duels.
The stone ground bore scorch marks and cracks from the earlier tests.
Another candidate stood across from Igor, a noble boy who had performed mediocrely in the prior tests, his expensive clothing doing little to hide his lack of skill. He wielded a wooden practice sword, his grip uncertain and his stance too wide. Igor, by contrast, wielded a manifested aeth sword, its blade deliberately dulled for the duel but no less intimidating as it shimmered with contained energy.
"Use whatever forms you want, to whatever extent you can muster… don't hold back," Igor said, his smile intimidating and predatory.
The boy across from him shook gently, tremors running through his arms as he held out the blade in front of him and reinforced himself as best he could. The aeth gathered around his body unevenly, flickering with his nervousness.
The duel did not last terribly long.
It was obvious from the first clash, when their blades met with a sharp crack and the noble boy stumbled backward from the sheer force, that Igor could have ended it whenever he pleased. But he dragged it out a bit, toying with the boy like a cat with a mouse, deflecting clumsy strikes and offering openings the candidate was too slow to exploit. Was he doing this to better see what the boy was capable of? To embarrass him? Rowan did not know, but the display made him uncomfortable nonetheless.
He leaned closer to Jared as the boy in the center limped off in defeat, nursing a bruised ego and several actual bruises, and another nervous candidate took his place.
"This test… would it not be better for us to duel lower-rank Stormwatchers? Or hell, each other even? The Watch Commander is one of, if not the strongest human on earth."
Jared grinned, his eyes gleaming with something between amusement and anticipation. "Yeah, I heard from my family that they usually do have the applicants duel each other. I think we're getting… special treatment."
Jared chuckled. "What? Are we getting the Commander's rocks off or something?"
Jared shrugged his shoulders as the next applicant was swiftly beaten by Igor, sent sprawling with a single calculated strike. "Who knows? Maybe he's just bored and wanted some entertainment today."
After that, many others went, and many others were swiftly beaten with almost dismissive ease. Nobody had even managed to make Igor take a step back, much less land a blow. The Commander stood like an immovable mountain, barely exerting himself as candidate after candidate fell before him. Some lasted mere seconds, others perhaps a full minute if they showed promise, but the result was always the same — defeat.
Jared was called up next.
He fought better than anyone so far. His swordplay with his manifested blade was impressive, more refined than his earlier displays had suggested. His swings were hard and fast, powered by advanced reinforcement, and his dodges were agile, his footwork surprisingly sophisticated. He pressed forward with determination, forcing Igor to at least acknowledge him as an opponent rather than a mere nuisance.
And most unexpectedly, during a particularly fierce exchange, he even managed to shatter Igor's manifested sword, the blade exploding into fragments of dissipating aeth.
But after that, Igor seemed to become frustrated with the game, his expression darkening. He stopped holding back entirely, not even bothering to manifest another sword. Instead, he bent backward unnaturally, his spine flexing in a way that should have been impossible, dodging a swing from Jared still without taking a single step back from his position.
He then lurched back forward fast and hard, and before Jared could recover from his overextended swing, Igor's reinforced fist was already connecting with his face with a sickening thud.
Jared flew backward to the edge of the circle, blood spraying from his nose, and rolled quickly to his feet, still gripping his blade tightly, ready to continue fighting despite the pain.
"Tough shithead, ain't ya," Igor grunted, a hint of genuine respect in his voice.
Then, with what seemed like a single step, his body blurring with speed… everything was over.
The crowd was silent, not knowing what it was they had just witnessed.
Well, everyone besides Jared, who gasped desperately in the fetal position at the other side of the courtyard where he'd fallen after crashing hard into one of the stone pillars. Dust and debris scattered around his crumpled form.
S-so fast… I didn't even see him move. I blinked and Jared was plastered up against the stone across the whole damned courtyard.
Rowan's eyes were wide in disbelief.
Igor sighed, running a hand over his buzzed head. "Shit… little too much, eh?" he whispered to himself before putting on a placating smile. "Sorry about that, everyone! I got a little… excited, is all. Jared here has a lot of potential."
His attempt at reassurance fell flat.
The crowd remained silent aside from the drops of nervous sweat falling from trembling candidates and dripping onto the stone ground. Several of the noble-born applicants looked like they were reconsidering their career choices.
"Anyway! Let's move on," Igor declared.
Rowan stood over Jared and helped pull him to his feet, his weight heavy against him. Jared groaned in pain, holding his side where his ribs had likely cracked from the impact.
"You alright, hero?"
Jared grinned despite his obvious agony and rolled his eyes. "Looks like he ain't just Watch Commander because of his unrivaled charisma, eh?"
Rowan laughed. "No, I guess not."
They rejoined the group and watched more applicants fall to Igor in quick succession, each defeat more dispiriting than the last.
Before soon, Magnus was called up.
Despite what his shabby appearance and origin as a pirate might convince you, he actually fought smart, using his brain rather than just brute force. He forced Igor to chase him around the circle, understanding his limitations and playing to his strengths. Magnus was an emitter, and that meant he needed range, distance to build up his attacks. So he reinforced himself for speed rather than power and manifested a small shield in his left hand as he skipped around the small dueling circle, shooting off blast after blast at the Watch Commander. Some attacks were wild and inaccurate, thrown out just to keep Igor at bay, but others were precise and well-aimed.
Igor would simply dodge them with minimal movement or, even more impressively, slice right through them with his blade, the aeth blasts dispersing into harmless sparks.
This continued for a while, Magnus managing to avoid being cornered, until Igor tired of the game and made a blitz toward him, closing the distance in an instant and ending the fight quickly, just like with Jared. A single strike to Magnus's midsection, and the pirate collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.
Rowan was smiling as Magnus sat on his knees, keeled over with drool escaping from his mouth, gasping for air.
Serves you right, little thief, he thought with petty satisfaction.
Not long after that, Rowan found himself standing in the dueling circle, his heart pounding harder than he'd expected.
He gulped.
This is so exhausting. I don't even really care that much about becoming a Stormwatcher, yet here I am about to get pummeled for it.
He sighed as he considered his options for a moment, running through potential strategies in his mind.
With a deep breath and a step forward, the duel commenced.
Rowan opted for a wooden sword in his left hand while simultaneously manifesting another blade in his right, the purple-glowing aeth weapon humming with energy. The dual-wielding stance drew a few murmurs from the watching crowd.
Igor tilted his head, intrigued. "Let's see what boy wonder can do," he said, glaring with anticipation.
Rowan immediately javelin-threw the manifested sword at Igor with all the force he could muster, the blade spinning through the air like a spear. He blitzed in directly behind it, using the projectile as cover, fully reinforced and already preparing his next move.
Igor dodged the blade easily, sidestepping with minimal effort.
But Rowan was right behind it, closing the gap faster than expected. He swung his wooden sword hard across toward Igor's midsection.
Igor quickly brought up his own sword to block, their blades meeting with a sharp crack. But as the weapons clashed, Rowan did something unexpected… he let go, releasing all tension from his grip. The wooden sword got cleaved in half by Igor's superior force, splintering into pieces, while Rowan used the momentum to slip past Igor's guard.
He spun on his heels behind him, planting his feet hard, already summoning aeth for an emission blast, the energy gathering rapidly in his outstretched palm.
His blast flew through the air, a concentrated sphere of destructive force aimed at Igor's exposed back.
Igor was caught off guard, his eyes widening as he tried desperately to spin to meet the blast before it hit him in the back. His face showed genuine panic for just a fraction of a second.
I did it! Rowan smiled hopefully as he stared at the terror in the Commander's eye.
But then… what?
The terror there just half a second prior was now gone, replaced with a leering and wicked smile that sent ice through Rowan's veins.
Right after, the ground shook as a second manifested sword jolted down from the sky like a lightning bolt, slamming hard into the emission blast and dispersing it before it ever reached its target. The aeth scattered harmlessly into the air, the attack neutralized.
W-what? Did he manifest a second blade that far away from him and control it, all in that second before the blast hit him!? Rowan's mind reeled. Manifestation isn't even his specialty! How is that possible?
Rowan's mind was a puzzle that he had no time to solve quite yet, as Igor quickly launched toward him with all the speed he had shown against Magnus and Jared, and more. He picked up the blade lodged into the ground in his burst forward, plucking it from the stone as easily as pulling a flower, and in not even a second, he was upon Rowan, his blade already mid-arc, descending like an executioner's axe.
So fast.
Tension gripped Rowan's chest like a vice.
What do I do? What can I do?
Then Rowan saw it — the weakness in Igor's swing. He was being too eager, too careless in his confidence. That swing was wide, overcommitted.
I can duck under it. It's risky, but it's possible.
The plan formulated in his mind in a fraction of a second as he was left with no more time to think, the blade swinging toward him with lethal intent, and he… dropped to his knees, ducking his head low.
"I YIELD!" he yelled, his voice echoing through the courtyard.