As Leox watched the way that Astra hefted the spear in a two-handed grip, he realised just how confident the boy was with the weapon. It resembled the shape of a trident, which meant that although he might not yet be a spearman, he was definitely no rookie with such weaponry.

  On the other hand, he himself had never wielded an axe. The closest thing to it was a small log he might playfully swing around during his childhood. Swings that would surely have no crossover.

  "When your arms burn pink like that, what does it mean?" Astra asked without bothering to advance. The sounds of weapons clashing against each other echoed around them.

  "It's just a skill that gives my body extra strength," Leox replied, being careful not to give away too much information about his skill.

  Astra tilted his head to the side and placed a finger to his lip. "Overheat, then?" He said, before dashing in, leaving Leox with no time to be shocked.

  What?

  Astra thrust forwards with the spear, the strike travelling like a blur of silver. It was too fast for Leox to dodge. Astra's much smaller size gave him the speed advantage.

  For a moment, his mind flashed back to his first and only sparring session in the preparation school, when Donn had pierced his heart with the blade and killed him. In that split moment, he wondered whether he was about to meet the same fate at the hands of Astra.

  He squeezed his eyes shut, knowing that he could do nothing but wait for death. When death didn't arrive, he slowly opened them.

  Astra's blunt spear point had paused right at his heart, less than an inch away from him. The boy looked up at Leox with nothing but kindness on his face.

  "You let yourself be distracted." He said, before withdrawing his spear and stepping away, putting distance between them again.

  Leox shook his head, freeing himself from his thoughts.

  This guy isn't anything like Donn. He won't kill me...

  A smile spread across his face as he nodded his head respectfully towards his opponent. Astra was right, he had been distracted by the fact that the boy was able to predict the exact skill he possessed. Now that he was calmer, he widened his stance and lifted his axe once more.

  "Let's start again." He said confidently, before overheating his legs and dashing towards his opponent.

  He swung his axe horizontally, making sure that even though the strike had full power behind it, he purposely missed slightly, making sure that he wouldn't cleave the smaller boy in half. A blunted weapon could still be deadly.

  It turned out that there was no need, as Astra reacted immediately, stepping backwards out of range, letting the axe swing past him, and dashing back in, whacking the butt of his spear into Leox's leg. He winced from the pain and was thrown off balance. At the same time, he braced, expecting another strike to follow. Again, it didn't come.

  "The axe doesn't suit you." Astra pointed out the obvious. Then, he dropped his spear to the ground and rolled it over to Leox, who looked at it confusedly. "Let's swap."

  Stolen novel; please report.

  "..."

  Is he mocking me? Can he even lift this thing?

  Leox did the same, placing the weapon on the ground and sliding it over to Astra. As the weapon came towards him, he immediately lifted it with a singular hand. Leox gawked at the boy, as he held the much lighter spear in his hand.

  Astra twirled the axe in his hand and effortlessly testing it's weight. When he noticed Leox staring at him dumbfoundedly, he laughed slightly.

  "I'm not as weak as I look, I know."

  That's not it. You're not just strong, you're impossibly strong...

  "Shall we begin?" Astra added.

  With a nod of the head, the two engaged each other once again. A minute later, Leox found himself sitting on his ass once again, defeated even as the smaller man was wielding a larger weapon. Despite his frail size, he swung the weapon as though it weighed nothing. Leox was aware that he was useless with the spear, but he hadn't expected the spar to be so one-sided.

  Professor Gutaru announced the end of the training, and the students were told to put their weapons away and head to the cafeteria for lunch. Astra helped Leox to his feet, never showing the boy an ounce of disrespect.

  "If this were a real fight, I'm sure you would beat me." He said as the pair discarded their weapons.

  Leox let out a sharp breath of air. "I don't know about that. I've seen your real power; the stuff you did with the stars? If you were using that here, I would lose even worse."

  "What do you mean by 'if'?" Astra asked. "I was using the stars during our spar."

  "Hmm?"

  Astra looked up at the blue sky and pointed at a tiny dot of light in the distance. One star amongst many, though much fainter than they would be at night.

  "I am always guided by constellations."

  Before Leox could even question what Astra meant, the boy kindly smiled at him, before saying his goodbyes and making his way over to the cafeteria. As he watched him walking away, a hand landed on his shoulder.

  "Ahh, that Samson is a maniac. Going so hard on me when I only had a dagger to fight with."

  It was Laughter, now with his arm around Leox. He was out of breath and struggling to recover, yet there were no wounds or scratches on his body.

  "You're acting like you had to use the dagger, Laughter. Didn't you choose it?"

  The smirk was wiped from the boy's face as he shrugged his shoulders. He placed his hands in his pockets and made his way towards the direction of the cafeteria.

  "A jester must always act, oh great Leox." He said from over his shoulder, then he was gone.

  That left Leox alone, scratching his head. He spotted one last person discarding their weapon into the chest. It was Samson, throwing his greatsword down angrily. His fight against Laughter clearly hadn't gone how he had expected it to.

  For a moment, the pair's eyes met. They seemed to share an expression of disappointment, due to their poor performances.

  ...

  Leox sighed and made his way to the cafeteria. He needed a good meal after that.

  I need to get stronger... Much stronger.

  Oh, and I'm never using another weapon besides the sword again.

  ---

  During lunch, Leox and Laughter spoke about how their sparring lessons went with their respective partners. In truth, it was more Laughter complaining about the pain he felt in his arm from defending all of the strikes.

  Leox couldn't understand how the boy was able to defend himself with a dagger, whilst his opponent had a greatsword. He glanced at the scar that had claimed the boy's left eye, which surely must have been obscuring his vision. He used this moment to ask the question he had wanted to know since they first met.

  "How did you get that scar, Laughter?"

  He was hesitant to ask the question, as Laughter had always seemed reluctant to speak about himself in any capacity that wasn't comedic. The boy hesitated for a moment and seemed to be thinking about how he would answer the question.

  Eventually, the familiar smile returned to his face.

  "An evil, evil man did it to me. I'm sure you know what that's like. Trauma and all that stuff.."

  He didn't need to say anymore, and Leox didn't bother prying. Just like his case with Donn, there were things that Laughter did not want to go into details on. His past was clearly dark, and although Leox didn't know how dark exactly, he wouldn't resurface anymore pain that his new friend might have pushed to the back of his mind.

  He smiled and laughed, before quickly changing the subject, speaking about their lessons and training to come. Yet deep down, he couldn't help but wonder what evil man had scarred the Jester.