“Oy!”

At Slander’s order, the two hundred students all jumped to the best of their ability. Some barely took off, while others soared through the air. For a long time, Mahon had belonged to the first group, but now he was jumping with a proud smile on his lips. Since he had restored most of his physical aptitudes, he felt better than ever. As he landed on the ground, he rushed forward and touched the tree in front of him before rushing the other way without wasting a second.

“Oy!”

Slander’s roar ringed just beside his ear as he reacted instantly and pushed with all his strength to jump. He even raised his arms and lowered them while pushing to further increase his momentum and jump even higher. The satisfaction of his muscles reacting the way they were supposed to do, like a well-oiled machine, filled Mahon with satisfaction.

He had dreamed of this moment for months, and now it was happening. He felt ecstatic. No more his muscles would hinder him. No more his weak legs would slow him. No more his messy coordination would fail him. Mahon couldn’t hide the smile growing on his face from the pure joy that it brought him.

“You’re laughing?! You find it funny?! You think you’re something because you can jump?! I’ll make you jump until you laugh no more! Oy! Oy! Oy! Oy! Oy! Oy! Where is that smile now, shrimp? Don’t stop jumping until I say so!”

Under the ire of Slander, Mahon focused on the task at hand, trying to find his own rhythm in the devil-paced exercise. Since he had unlocked most of his body’s capacity, Slander had never missed pushing him harder every time he could.

After long months under Slander’s training, most of the students had given up on the first part of the training. They were following the exercises, but to them it was just another chore before the ring fights where they would truly be able to train. As a result, most of the better students were not giving their best at the exercises, favoring keeping their strength for the rings training. Mahon knew better than to miss such a good instructor’s training.

Under Slander’s incessant flood of insults, most of the students grew bored or angry. And, given the increasing expectations of the instructor as they grew better, the flow intensified instead of reducing. At that point, most of the students gave up. They had reached a physical level more than sufficient to reach an impressive efficiency at sword fights and so had given up on progressing further during the first part of the training. But not Mahon. With his new body, he pushed even harder at the exercises, and Slander didn’t miss it.

“What’s that now, mollusk? After a hundred jumps, you can’t even stay balanced? You’re pushing harder on your right than left!”

Slander was monitoring more than two hundred students, but he still had kept an eye on Mahon’s jumping. Before Mahon even noticed what was wrong as he started to jump with more difficulty Slander had already seen through it all and provided his guidance.

Finally realizing that with the increasing tiredness, Mahon had instinctively relied more on his dominant leg, thus unbalancing him a minuscule amount each time, causing him to be less efficient. He focused on evening out the strength in both his legs and continued the exercise until he collapsed on the hard soil. The instant he touched the ground, Slander’s voice echoed through the training field.

“And stop! Rest for a few minutes and then into the rings! Here are the teams for today’s fights...”

For the third time in a row, Mahon had managed to last the whole first training part without failing. Exerting his muscles and mental strength to the maximum, he had again managed to pass the full series of exercises.

“Can you at least erase that stupid grin from your face as you lay in the ground like that?”

Mahon chuckled at his friend’s remark, and his grin only grew larger as he raised his head to face him.

“Feeling jealous?”

“Me? Haha! Yeah, I so much wanted to jump a hundred times while being insulted by Slander! Seriously, why would you do that?”

Mahon shrugged as he stood back up. “Why wouldn’t you? There is no better feeling than sore muscles after a good training session. The pain of work and the knowledge that you grow better and stronger each time. The satisfaction of accomplishing your goals. The pleasure of pushing beyond your limits. The ecstasy of…”

Mahon eventually managed to make Zac burst out laughing, and he giggled along.

“The ecstasy of what?” Zac managed to say between two laughs.

“No idea.” Mahon smiled. “I lacked inspiration and didn’t know how to continue. But I still got you.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. You’re just a stupid training masochist, that’s it.”

“Maybe, yes.”

Zac chuckled and raised his eyes at the euphemism before he gestured to some other students.

“Well, let’s start the real training now, if you don’t mind.”

Mahon and he walked to the group of First Green with which they were sword fighting today. The atmosphere was a long shot from the First White they used to fight at first. The First Green were all dead serious and attentive. They gave their best during the match but they were happy to discuss and question afterwards, as long as it was related to sharing knowledge about the fights. They were all here to train and learn. Nothing less, nothing more.

Mahon and Zac entered the ring for their first battle. The usual dance of gauging and eyeing was cut short as their opponent rushed at them as soon as the fight began. One aimed for Mahon and the other aimed for Zac as they exposed their simple strategy.

Zac was barely able to hold his own against most of the First Green. He could fight, but in a complete one versus one, there was almost no chance he could win. Whereas Mahon was the opposite and no First Green were able to win against him. Their opponents wanted to force two duels and dispose of Zac fast enough to gang against Mahon. However, Mahon and Zac knew their weakness well enough and, with quick sign exchanges, they stayed close to one another as they repelled their opponent’s assault.

The fight’s victory condition soon became whether Mahon and Zac would be able to stay together when their opponent did their best to split them apart. The scenario was strangely similar to that day when they had ranked up to First White and had dueled against Laiex and Hagas, the sister and brother. Except this time it was not Mahon who was targeted, but Zac.

In mere weeks, Mahon had grown sufficiently proficient to switch the dynamic between Zac and him. But in Zac’s mind he had known from the beginning that Mahon was stronger than him. It was Mahon who taught him most of the moves he knew. To both Mahon and Zac, the new dynamic felt more natural and they could express themselves with their full potential.

Zac saw an opportunity and recklessly jumped in as he released a series of quick stabs towards his direct opponent. However, the trap closed on him as the enemy duo rushed to punish the bold move. But Mahon saw it all and with swift footsteps he intercepted the man and pushed it away from Zac.

Mahon’s opponent smiled as he stepped back, dragging Mahon away from Zac and his duel. In the meantime, Zac’s opponent had managed to block all the attacks and started his own counterattack, pushing Zac into a difficult situation. From the corner of his eyes, Mahon saw that his direct adversary was looking intently at his duo’s duel and reduced his vigilance to his own fight. Mahon was two meters away from him and yet he crossed the distance in a flash.

He parried the surprised attempt to protect himself, feinted to the head before piercing his opponent’s guard and touching him in the stomach. His opponent out of the fight, he joined Zac and together they disposed of their last opponent without problem.

“Too many mistakes there! You!” Slander gestured to the First Green that had been eliminated first, “Paying attention to your duo is crucial but never forget about your own fight!”

They had been too immersed in their fight to notice when Slander came to observe, but now that he was here, they paid careful attention to his advice.

“And you!”, this time he pointed to Zac. “Ignoring your surroundings gives you an immediate advantage against your direct opponent, but it’s a bold move. You put too much trust in your duo. Rely on him, but don’t be dependent!”

The students acquiesced while reflecting on the fight as Slander moved to another duel.

“I’m not sure I fully agree with what he said.” Zac declared. “Isn’t the purpose of perfect coordination to know exactly what your duo is capable of and engage in bold moves like that?”

Mahon pondered a bit before answering. “That’s partly true, yes. But let’s be honest, we’re nowhere near that level yet, you just jumped in as you saw an opportunity.”

Zac grinned in return. “Maybe…”

Mahon chuckled at his friend and then prepared for the next fight. In much the same fashion, their opponent tried to tear them apart and fast exchanges followed. After a minute Mahon managed to dispose of one of their opponents, but at the same time, Zac was eliminated.

Now facing only one person, Mahon engaged the remaining First Green with a direct stab at the chest. They were mainly training their coordination and the fact that Zac had been eliminated meant they had failed somewhere. Free of the constraints of other adversaries, Mahon focused entirely on the fight and tried to overwhelm Zac's previous opponent with sophisticated attacks. However, the man managed to block them all and even counterattacked.

No wonder Zac got eliminated. He is way above First Green’s level.

As the ranks were given with strategy and fighting in mind, sometimes they were people way stronger in one than the other. But since they were too weak to rank up in one discipline, they were forced to stay at a lower rank. The man in front of Mahon had at minimum a strong First Yellow rank in fighting, if not First Black. Far from the first time Mahon had witnessed students dueling with simple moves, the school and specialized lessons available at higher ranks had honed their fighting skills.

If at first they were hesitant and made simple mistakes, they were now much more deadly. It was not the case for all, of course, but sometimes a little advice was all it was needed to turn someone from hesitant to monstrous. The First Green in front of him was such a case and as the pace of their duel increased, Mahon felt the call of the Flow coming closer and closer. But he didn’t want to use the Flow. He was still unsure It reacted appropriately in Ratho.

I don’t need the Flow for him.

Discarding the Flow, Mahon let his instincts take over and the pace of the fight increased even more. Swipes, counter-attacks, stabs and dodges constituted most of the fight and each second half a dozen of them were executed in a deadly show of perfect precision.

Seeing a rare opportunity in his opponent’s defense, Mahon followed his instinct and rushed into the hole. The First Green blocked, but Mahon had seen through it and was already moving to the next steps of his attack. A few exchanges later and his blade closed inexorably on its target. Sure of his kill, Mahon witnessed, shocked, the First Green sidestepping the blow.

What?!! How?!

Before he even got the time to react, his opponent’s sword found his ribs and he was declared out. The First Green threw him an odd look as he approached closer.

“You’re good? You did such a strange move at the end… I had trouble blocking your attack when you just… threw it away… Did you let me win?”

Mahon shook his head, dejected as he realized what had happened.

Nightmare. Again. It’s not the Flow. It’s me.