Rinna looked over her cup of tea.

  “He put his life on the line and saved his comrades, the people closest to him. I…” her eyes started to water.

  “You want to be like him,” Avryn got the gist of it.

  Rinna nodded,

  “He’s the person who I want to be.”

  “Gonna be a high bar, then,” he understood.

  They shared one look before they headed to bed.

  It was time for the final exams for Combat Class. Instructor Fergus laid it down plainly. A one-on-one fight.

  “It’s the best way I can tell if you’re ready for the next step,” he cracked his knuckles. He looking forward to this.

  Fighting Instructor Fergus was on Avryn’s bucket list. He always wondered how he matched up against a guy like him.

  “Last one minute against me, you pass the test. It’s that simple,” Fergus exclaimed. “Alright, let’s start with you,” he pointed to a student.

  Half an hour passed, Avryn was getting anxious for his turn. There were a few failures, some lasted barely a few seconds. Fergus wasn’t playing around. Harver’s turn was up next.

  Student and instructor circled around the room. Fergus decided to forego his sword, and settled for unarmed fighting. Harver went into his stance, his estoc ready for attack. Harver charged and attacked. Fergus dodged the strikes almost on instinct.

  He begun the counterattack, he chose his openings and struck Harver’s defenses, testing them. Harver was poised and ready. His footwork improved. Fergus grabbed the estoc with his metal prosthetic and wrenched it away from Harver. Thirty seconds was left. In a surprising event, Harver decided to go unarmed.

  He was decent. He kept his guard up while countering Fergus’s attacks, ducking and weaving through Fergus’s counters like a pro boxer would. A chance opened up and Harver punched hard on Fergus’s chest. It felt like he punched on a wall, but he didn’t relent. He followed up with an uppercut landing straight on Fergus’s jaw. He still wasn’t moved.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Fergus countered with a mean-looking back elbow, but Harver moved away at the last second. A gust of wind followed Fergus’s attack. Harver finally reclaimed his sword and before he could strike, the one minute mark sounded.

  “Hmm, not bad.” The instructor praised. “You’ve surpassed my expectations a bit. You pass, Mr. Dark Horse.”

  Next up was Rinna. Fergus was looking forward to facing her.

  “Alright, let’s see how strong Ms. Lioness here is,” he gripped on his blade with his left hand. “For you, it’ll be three minutes.”

  Rinna bowed and prepared her halberd. The two didn’t pull any punches as they battled around the room. Rinna used her speed to dart around and dodge Fergus’s blows. The fight was fast paced. The other students couldn’t keep up with their eyes.

  Rinna expertly kept him at bay. It’s almost like she was dancing around against him. Fergus used his blade and it was caught by Rinna’s halberd. The sound of both weapons clashing reverberated throughout the classroom. Fergus went in for a punch but was countered with a swift kick.

  She retreated, talking a short moment to think things through. Fergus didn’t allow her much time to think. He charged again. Another clash of steel echoed in the room. Rinna was almost at the three minute mark, she just needed to keep up with Fergus’s barrage of attacks.

  One huge clash forced them apart again. Fergus continued with the offensive, using a combination of unarmed strikes and his weapon to force an opening. Rinna’s stalwart defense stood as strong, but even she was getting fatigued. The battle’s heat only reinforced Fergus’s blade to fight harder. It heated up with a few more strikes. Rinna dodged the final blow as the timer rang.

  “Well done, Ms. Ingvertsen,” Fergus praised.

  Applaud was given for Rinna, as expected for the daughter of The Lioness. Kiria was her loudest supporter.

  “Alright, last one. You,” Fergus pointed to Avryn.

  Avryn came down, all eyes were on him. He stood opposite to Fergus.

  “Same as Rinna, you got three minutes.”

  “I’ve been looking forward to this,” Avryn summoned his gunblade.

  “My little weapon here met Lerosa before. Let’s see how she’s holding up now,” Fergus charged.

  They met in the middle and were caught in a bind. Avryn braced behind Lerosa as the blades met once again.

  “I remember Sir Iver was stronger than this,” Fergus observed.

  Avryn countered with a punch but he barely made a dent in Fergus’s face. It surprised him enough that Fergus decked him with his own. Avryn was sent flying across the room. Avryn got up to one knee.

  “You need to warm up first?” Fergus taunted.

  Avryn wiped the dirt away from the side of his face. He knew what to expect now, he could adjust accordingly. He charged with the gunblade in tow. He jumped up and used the gun’s recoil for added force in his attacks. This move helped him break down Fergus’s defenses. He was actually getting cut now.

  Fergus countered with a flurry of his own to calm down Avryn’s storm of attacks. In a game of brute force, Fergus would still win. Avryn purposely let him go through before he headbutted in response.

  Fergus was taken by surprise and stumbled back. Seeing this made the class audibly gasped. Avryn was getting fatigued, only a few seconds were left. Fergus was on a rampage, just battering him with another flurry of blows and slashes. Avryn was barely keeping up.

  Lerosa started to glow faintly blue, and started to guide Avryn’s counterattacks. Fergus was mildly surprised at this. Avryn continued forward, his attacks started to overwhelm the instructor to a corner. Everyone else was waiting with bated breath. They anticipated the battle’s end. Who would win between the two?

  Fergus and Avryn’s sword were at each other’s necks as the timer went off. Three minutes, and that was it. The two helped each other up.

  “Well then, you passed, Avryn Starbright,” Fergus announced.

  Applause was given for the absolute spectacle of a fight.

  Fergus turned to pose a question to him,

  “If we had one more second, who would win?”

  “I don’t know, you tell me,” Avryn replied.