Me and Lancelot stood across each other in Artoria's personal training ground. Only Artoria and the Knights of the Round Table are allowed to come here.

Facing each other, we each held a wooden sword, deciding it was safer for both of us. Honestly, I didn't doubt we would end up taking it a bit far, so this was probably a good idea.

"First strike wins?" I offered to Lancelot the conditions of the spar.

The knight of the lake nodded. "That seems fair."

We each stood across each other before holding up our swords. The first thing I noticed was how solid Lancelot's stance was. It wasn't stiff or anything, but more on the lines of being a combination of on guard and flexible, which is hard to come by.

Well, we're both waiting for the first move to be made, so I shouldn't keep him waiting.

Third POV:

Zack stared at Lancelot's eyes for a few moments before he moved first, charging forward with a downward swing of his wooden sword. Lancelot did not move until the very last moment.

The knight of the lake twisted his body halfway through, making sure the strike would pass him harmlessly before swinging his sword for Zack's head.

The Elemental's angle from his own attack gave him the chance to bend forward and avoid the strike. Swiftly, Zack swung for Lancelot's feet, and the knight responded by jumping over the swing.

As he was coming down from the jump, Lancelot swung down his wooden sword, only for Zack to jump and roll away to avoid the attack. Quickly getting to his feet, Zack immediately turned to Lancelot and thrust his own weapon.

Lancelot used the side of his practice sword to block off the strike before pushing Zack's sword away. Both swung their swords forward, and the sound of a piece of wood striking another echoed through the field.

Both opponents pushed jumped back and held their weapons up again. A moment of silence passed before Lancelot charged forward, his wooden sword reeled over his shoulder.

Zack used his own practice weapon to block the attack from the side just as the sword was about to hit him. The strike was powerful enough that his feet dragged over the ground for a second.

Using his own sword, Zack maneuvered Lancelot's sword to go over him and to the ground. The Elemental then used the angle to drag his sword on Lancelot's to strike the Knight's face.

The Knight of the Lake managed to lean back just in time to avoid the strike. While he was leaning back, Lancelot swept up his sword in an attempt to strike Zack, who just barely avoided it by leaning back himself.

Both straightened themselves and immediately swung for their opponents, their wooden swords collided, causing the sound to echo through the field again.

Lancelot and Zack pulled back their swords and swung forward. After the two weapons hit each other, they immediately pulled back and swung forward again, getting the same results.

The only sounds in the field were the swords cutting through the air before smacking each other. Both opponents kept swinging their weapons with more intensity with each strike.

Soon enough, their weapons could no longer handle the intensity of their battle.

*Crack!*

Both wooden swords broke after one of the strikes. Lancelot and Zack jumped back and stared at their broken swords.

"This is vexing," Lancelot commented before raising an eyebrow at Zack. "Do you wish to continue? Because we'll need to get new swords for it."

"Don't worry about that. I got it coveted," Zack replied, throwing away the broken sword.

He walked to the side of the training ground, where he and Lancelot left their real swords, before gripping Baraka and stabbing its wooden blade into the ground. A second later, two new wooden swords burst from the ground.

Taking hold of the swords, Zack threw one at Lancelot before holding up the other. "Like we said, the first strike is when this fight ends."

Lancelot easily caught his sword and held it up, his eyes firmly on Zack's with determination filling both of their minds.

A few hours later, Artoria was walking through the halls of her castle, heading towards her next duty as king, when she heard the sound of combat.

Getting curious, the King of Camelot started heading to her personal training ground, and found Gawain and Agravain standing at the entrance.

"What's going on?" Artoria asked.

Hearing her voice, both her knights straightened themselves and turned to her. "Your majesty, we're simply watching over this match."

"Match?" Artoria raised an eyebrow before turning her gaze to the training grounds.

She found that the area was filled with wooden swords, both broken and not. The two currently occupying the training ground were swinging the swords at each other.

*Crack!*

Only for their swords to break as soon as they clashed from the strength the opponents used.

Jumping back, both Zack and Lancelot each grabbed the nearest unbroken sword and charged forward again, swinging their weapon at their opponent.

Artoria found herself interested. She had never seen Zack fight and had only reports and stories to go with. She couldn't help but be impressed that he was keeping pace with Lancelot.

However, there was something about seeing Zack wield a sword that... unsettled her, especially as she looked into his eyes.

The odd mark in Zack's eyes had always made her tense for reasons she did not know. It was instinctive, like retracting her hand from hot water after dipping it in without knowing the temperature.

Seeing Zack go for a downward swing made her freeze for a moment.

For the fraction of a second, the image of a giant made of clouds, with the same mark as Zack's eyes on its chest, swinging down a sword covered in lightning and glowing marks at her flashed through her mind.

However, that image was gone before she can even comprehend it was there, and she couldn't even think back on it clearly, or even remember what it looked like. Just that she saw something dangerous.

Her attention was taken by the swords Lancelot and Zack using breaking once again. Both combatants, same as before, jumped back and picked up the nearest unbroken sword.

Agravian sighed. "This going nowhere," he mumbled before stepping forward and calling out. "Alright, enough!" Lancelot and Zack immediately stopped and looked at the others in surprise, clearly too immersed to even notice them being there. "This has gone on for too long. Don't you two have anything better to do? Sir Lancelot, I assume you finished training the new recruits for today?"

Lancelot jolted at the question. Turning his eyes upwards, he paled at the position of the sun and immediately ran out of the training ground, stopping only to give Artoria a respectful bow.

"Guess he and I are solving this later," Zack sighed, scratching the back of his head and throwing away his own sword.

Agravain, meanwhile, clicked his tongue at him. "And do YOU have an explanation for breaking so many of our training swords?"

"I literally MADE this just now. None of them are yours," Zack replied with a roll of his eyes. "You should thank me. I just gave you enough firewood for two months."

"Did you ever see if he has suggestions for possible new Round Table members like I asked?" Artoria questioned.

Zack remained silent for a few seconds before he started speed-walking out of the training grounds. "Hey, Lancelot! Wait up! I gotta ask you something!"

(A/N: Discord Server: https:// discord .com/ invite/hcRNSeyY)