Chapter 7

Duel of the Ages

With Trinity cheering up the bunch with his obnoxious and stupid jokes, they arrived at their third class, out in the courtyard. Frant, excited per usual, ran directly toward Fury without any hesitation. His actions made everybody else to do the same, Trinity being the one that made the motion well-received. Against Seval's expectations, Trinity was a fun and energetic guy, a bit dumb though. Not as dumb as Seval, however.

When Fury laid his eyes on Trinity, he huffed an annoyed sigh, before standing from his bench in sight of an active fountain.

"Stay on the sidelines, will ya? Don't interfere with me teaching," he mandated, his eyes in a steely glare toward the tall knight. Soon they softened up in satisfaction, for Trinity had obeyed the order without a single complaint. Fury resumed his lesson, walking out into the flat training ground.

"Today, I want ya in pairs like yesterday." He raised an armored finger into the air that halted the pursuing students behind him, his back turned toward them. "However, I want one of ya to defend, as the other attacks. Swap once submission is achieved, either by means of falling or exhaustion." Fury chortled to himself, gripping onto his mace. He boldly spun around and pointed it toward Trinity, who was sitting obediently on the small bench.

"Here, I'll demonstrate. Charge at me, Trinity. Give me ya worse." He kept his mace pointing in the air, before Trinity stood tall, a great shadow looming on the ground. Fury seemed like he was about to cowardly retreat, but his stance unwavered.

"Weapons or what?" Trinity asked, as he trotted toward the dwarf in thundering stomps. All the students cleared a passage for the lumbering knight, as Fury held his ground.

"Fisticuffs only." Fury glared at the students. "That means ya too."

When he threw his mace aside, Trinity cracked his neck and knuckles, ready for a duel.

"I'll defend first," Trinity decided, and bumped his gauntlets together, a metallic screech rupturing the air. He fell into a light stance, his greaves tapping about with his clenched gauntlets held toward his helmet. That was a clear sign of readiness, which Fury noted. Then sparked the most exciting fight of today. This class was so fun.

Fury swung a heavy gauntlet at Trinity's rib, but he only managed to collide into another gauntlet. The two bounced off another, yet Fury wouldn't falter. He hooked left and right, swinging round and round the tall, immoble knight. None landed, as not a scratch was to be seen. Fury was soon panting, his jabs dramatically falling in speed and effort.

"You sure you want to continue?" Trinity asked, his gauntlet entrapping Fury's own to effectively end the fight. He left the dwarf to stagger back, heaving deep breaths in exhaustion.

"Aye, aye . . . me days are long gone," Fury remarked sadly, wiping aside sweat on his brow. He planted his gauntlets on his hips before facing the spectating students around him. His eyes turned from a beaten fighter to a confident officer in mere seconds.

"To ya squares! Now!" he barked, and all the students rushed into their squares.

Seval took his side on the marked square, as Marien took her own. He saw her stretch her legs and arms in utmost fear. He was going to get demolished. To further worsen his fright, Marien was throwing him a smile . . . of sharp daggers. She knew she was going to win, so she was boasting about it to his face.

"Oi!" Fury snapped right into Seval's ear, and the boy stood tall in a pencil stance. He was excessively sweating, his face completely red and hands shaking. Across from him, Marien rolled her eyes and let her smile drift away, as she continued to loosen her muscles by pulling her legs up.

"Are ya defending or attacking?" Fury demanded, but Seval wouldn't answer. "Well? Answer me or I'll put you up against Trinity instead! And you'll be defending!"

"Defending, sir," Seval answered swiftly, and gulped down all the nervosities inside of his gut. He caught the last of Fury's steely glare in the corner of his eyes that stared straight ahead, until the dwarf backed away, satisfied.

"I'll be watching the whole time. Don't let ya guard down or do anything stupid. Stand tall and strong through it all," Fury advised, before trotting out of Seval's vision.

"Are you ready, mister defender?" Marien asked, clasping her hands together, as she looked at Seval for confirmation.

"Can you take off your boots, please?" Seval requested, his eyes gazing at her boots dreadfully. He couldn't help but fear for his bones being broken at such an impact. When he looked up at her face, he saw her smiling off his silly question.

"Funny. Let's get started already. We've been wasting too much time," Marien decided, dancing on her boots and squaring up her fists.

"No, I'm serious," Seval replied, and Marien ceased her activity with a frown. "Just this once? I don't want you to break my bones." He nervously smiled, only getting her to roll her eyes and slide off her boots. Now that she only had black socks on, he felt safe . . . just a tad bit.

"Whatever," Marien remarked, before starting the duel immediately. She kicked from the side, her leg slicing through the air in a blur. Seval had barely brought up his fists to block the impact. It just barely missed his side, his arm vibrating at the contact. Relieved, he focused onto Marien. He matched her movements as best as he could in an attempt to predict her attacks. It was hard, very hard to do so.

Marien danced all around Seval, who was now in the center of the box, more so a cage. He swept aside her hasty kicks, his heart beating and eyes growing blurry from sweat. Every time he saw her narrow her eyes, he knew she was going to attack. That was an indicator that he used to his advantage. Without it, he would've lost from the start.

Seval had spun around so much, blocked so much, that he couldn't keep track of his surroundings. All he saw was Marien, who wouldn't stay in one place longer than a second. She moved with the wind, her legs doing the same. The black tunic and socks only made it harder to see her. Seval had difficulty breathing, for his heart was at a maximum capacity, full effort by now. This was but an endurance test. All he could hope was for Marien to succumb to exhaustion first. It was much, but it was his only win condition.

Now in ragged breaths, Seval blinked in and out of consciousness. The kicks kept going, but their intensity and vibrations left upon his fists slowly decreased. He saw her breathing increase, her face growing more and more red by the second. She was going to go down. It just took time.

Come on. A few more seconds . . . Seval thought, his hand instinctively wiping aside a kick. He could barely feel his hands anymore, for they were numb in pain. But he kept on. He knew this was going to end soon. Besides, Marien was showing clear signs of exhaustion. But somehow, she continued to dance around him. Seval was forced to spin in full circles, his surroundings but a blur. He felt sick, a desire to retch on his knees. Five seconds. Four. Three. Two. One. It was over, at long last.

Marien stopped her agile footwork. She panted long and hard, her fists still held in front of her. She wouldn't take her fierce eyes off Seval, who knew she was done. But he wouldn't either because there was a slim chance she was bluffing. Maybe she was hoping to lower his guard as a last resort. It wouldn't hurt to be safe.

"Okay . . ." Marien breathed, her fists dropping to her hips. "I would've won if I had my boots on, you know that right?" She sighed in frustration, as Seval lowered his guard in relief. "If you ask a foe on the battlefield to drop their weapons, they'll just laugh at you. Don't make it a habit. Accept your challenges and overcome them." She set her eyes onto the floor in a state of recovering.

"You fought . . . very well," Seval admitted, unsure of how he won. His arms burned as his hands were still numb from pain. Dizziness still blurred his distant surroundings. It was a very quick and agile fight. He didn't like those at all.

"Alright, your turn," Marien said suddenly, and returned to her stance.

Seval couldn't help but throw his arms into the air, unwilling to fight. Yet, he gave in and clumsily got into his own excuse of a stance. He squared up, matching Marien's tall and bold posture. Though, he couldn't help but hunch over and continue to heave deep breaths. He needed more time. But hell with it. He had all the advantages in the world, so it was time to step up from that. In battle, he was going to be taken by surprise and put in all sorts of disadvantages. He had to be prepared and accept them all.

"I won't . . . punch you in the face, I promise," Seval said, and saw Marien snort. She hated being softened up on. Instead, she wanted all the treatment a man would receive: full out brawls, no rules or anything. There was no princess treatment. If anything, Seval was given the princess treatment, not like he despised it.

"Just give me all you got," Marien requested, pumping up her fists and focusing her eyes.

Seval puffed his cheeks and let loose one last heavy breath before charging forward. He jabbed right, faked it, and swung left instead. It was blocked. His fist came back to him in searing pain. Unable to recover, he swung with his other fist, not even bothering to fake it or anything. Marien just nimbly dodged that one, kneeing Seval right in the gut. He keeled over, about to drop a knee on the floor.

"That . . . was uncalled for," he croaked painfully, but he didn't fall. He won once, so he could win again. Any thought of a mindset that said otherwise was dismantled. He would hear nothing of it.

"Self defense is still defense, I'd say," Marien said apologetically, as Seval stood, despite his stomach churning from the gut kick.

Seval realized two things at that point. One was that he was screwed. Two was that he was going to be kicked in the gut again or someplace worse. He looked for a coward's way out, but he decided against it. Despite his normal self opposing it, he accepted his fate and pushed onward with a clumsy jab. His right arm was quickly trapped and tangled by Marien's own, as she narrowed her eyes to kick him in the leg. He fell like a feather, but his impact was the exact opposite. Everything hurt inside of him.

Prone on the stone floor, Seval found himself in peace for once. Other than the bruises that made it hurt to breathe and move, that is. Above him, Marien ducked her head down, examining him.

"Are you okay? Did I hit anything?" she asked, slightly worried. At least she had some care for him. Just a little.

"No, no," Seval replied to calm her down. "I would like some assistance in standing up, though." He saw Marien offer a hand to him that he grabbed onto for dear life. She pulled him up with great strength, setting him straight with her hood close to his left ear.

"Sorry," she whispered, and withdrew herself from him. She went to work on her boots, as Seval sat down to recover. It still hurt from all over, not a near end in sight. He hated to admit it, but he actually missed Twilight being around him. What a good duo, Marien and Twilight. One of them injures him as the other heals him. Though, it happened to be the other way around from recent events.

Fury made his rounds, checking on everybody. He did a little scan on Seval to check for broken bones. He had none, luckily, but a whole lot of bruises. Marien just gave her most sweet smile for compensation of the damage. Truthfully Seval had already forgave her. He was a hard person to develop grudges, especially on friends like Marien.

Then came the last class of the day, taught by an eager Rune. He was caught sleeping again, and Iodian didn't want to wake him up. So came along a system that had every student wake up the old dwarf every class once, until it was full circle. It was quite fair, but nobody really wanted to bear the responsibility. Especially not Isqiene, the one designated to wake up Rune that class.

Rune overviewed the contents of the book everyone was supposed to read the introduction of. Not many people read, except for Seval and Marien, as well as the nobles. Arena claimed that she forgot, and the dwarven brothers just flatly stated they didn't care. Rune went ahead and outlined the reading, so it didn't really matter. Seval enjoyed his studying with Marien last night, making it not a complete waste.

Class ended as quickly as it started, time flying by as per usual. Rune assigned the second page of the 'Big Book' for homework, and luckily, it was a whole lot shorter than the introduction. Instead of being a general synopsis about exilean, this page was a list of founders and influential users. It was practically a table of contents that came with their famous contributions and reasons of death. Seval didn't ask why their death circumstances mattered, but he was lost in the dark on why they were there.

Once Rune lumbered out of the room, both Ruck and Drak stood from their chairs.

"We're heading out for a drink. Ya want to come?" Ruck asked, scanning the room for volunteers kindly. "It's on us, so no worries about charge."

Though a bit skeptical, Seval wouldn't mind some ale. His mind needed a break, as did his body. He went to ask Marien for permission, but she was already speaking to him.

"I think we should go. It's something different."

Seval nodded his head, agreeing with her decision. She smiled back and stood to provoke the dwarves.

"We'll go," she claimed, as Iodian stood with a glare toward her.

"I shall go as well. If you're getting a drink, then I'm getting one too."

"It's a party then," Drak remarked, with a gleeful chortle. "Ya coming too, elf?"

Though provoked, Arena wouldn't look over her shoulder at them. She remained in her seat, her eyes resting into her lap.

"No. I'm sorry, but I best be going," she decided apologetically, before rushing off into the hallway. That got snickers out of the dwarven brothers who shook their heads.

"A'ight, well, we're off. Follow us for a safe passage," Ruck said, as he and Drak marched out the room. They walked side by side, their shoulders brushed against another. A true set of brothers, dumb and arrogant ones at that. At least they were about to redeem themselves, for Seval needed a drink.

There's a first for everything, Seval decided, his doubt being dispelled. He had never drank before, but that would change in a few hours.