We’d been pushing each other harder in every martial arts class. Eric wanted to be the best fighter the Battle Federations had ever seen. I hoped that stretching my abilities to the utmost would help me find a path to advancement. Our motivations gave us the strength and will to go at each other at nearly full force, and we both relished the exercise.
I stretched one arm out and crooked my fingers at my friend.
“Bring it on,” I said.
Eric was a powerful warrior who relied on the Flame Fist technique to beat his opponents into submission. Predictably, he summoned the auras of fire around his hands, and advanced toward me with the casual, almost sloppy stride of an experienced fighter.
And, just as predictably, I ignited the Thief’s Shield. Eric could throw all the punches he wanted while that was up; his attacks would only drain him and fuel me.
Neither of us was surprised by the movements of the other this early in the fight. Like old chess masters, we’d learned each other’s opening gambits and prepared accordingly.
“You gotta do better than that,” I scoffed. “I’ll put those fires out before they come anywhere near me.”
Eric threw his head back and laughed. His burning hands dropped from their defensive pose, just a little, leaving a tiny gap only an expert could exploit.
Fortunately, I was that kind of expert.
I lunged forward without a sound and drove a spear hand through the weak point in my friend’s defenses. Jinsei flowed out of my core, through my arm’s channels, and hardened my fingers into a ridge as hard as steel. Eric would be lucky if that blow didn’t knock him flat on his butt.
But the Resplendent Sun was no slouch when it came to fighting. His laughter had been a ruse, and he turned his momentary weakness to his advantage. He slid away from my punch and positioned himself to counterattack from my blind side.
That was fine by me. The Thief’s Shield was a perfect defense against physical attack, even from someone of Eric’s skill. Any strike he threw would be robbed of its strength and stripped of its aspects before it touched me. But Eric knew that, too. Which made his maneuvers seem utterly pointless.
And Eric was not a sloppy fighter.
To my surprise, he didn’t throw a punch. Instead, my friend clapped his hands together and unleashed a spear of superheated air aimed directly at my ribs. The energized projectile flashed across the distance between us in less time than it took to blink an eye.
My shield absorbed the brunt of the attack, but even the powerful technique couldn’t leech away the enormous number of fire aspects that Eric had sent at me. The overloaded Thief’s Shield cracked apart with a sound like breaking glass after absorbing enough fire to keep me from being boiled alive.
It couldn’t entirely stop the bolt of condensed air that slammed into my side.
My core blunted the worst of the attack and saved me from a bunch of broken ribs. But Eric and I were closely matched in power, and some of the force of his attack broke through my defenses. The strike bruised my side and twisted me around so I had to scramble to keep my feet beneath me.
Eric attempted a follow-up attack before my Thief’s Shield recovered from his overwhelming assault. Certain that I was too off-balance to defend myself, he threw a looping haymaker at the side of my head. Fire blazed from his fists, and I felt the heat as it closed in on me.
Eric was physically stronger than me thanks to his training with the Battle Federation and Guardian Corps. If I tried to block his attack with my arm, I’d end up with broken bones and scorched skin. Dodging to the side wouldn’t work, either, because Eric could easily adjust his angle of attack to catch me.
I summoned my serpents and fell back onto the supernatural appendages. The brutal attack missed its mark and swept through the space I’d just vacated.
My serpents pushed me back onto my feet before Eric could recoil into a defensive position. His side and back were exposed for a fraction of a second, giving me an opening for a series of sharp straight jabs. The repeated blows pushed Eric further off balance and stunned him with their power.
My opponent reeled, shaken by the unexpected tactic. His hands were slow coming back up to defend him, and his breathing was harsh and labored. There was no jinsei in Eric’s channels and precious little in his core after our last exchange. There’d never be a better time to attack.
I pushed jinsei into my arms and hands and unleashed a finishing blow that would put Eric down for the count.
My friend saw the attack coming when it was only a hairsbreadth from landing. There was no time for him to dodge, but jinsei moved at the speed of thought. He pushed the remains of his core’s sacred energy to harden his skin and reinforce the muscles along his left side. With the brief slice of time available to him, Eric twisted away from the punch’s direction to minimize its force and put his shielded side in my strike zone.
His maneuver worked, and my hand skidded across his hardened skin. The impact sent spikes of pain shooting through my hand. I’d thrown everything I had into that punch, leaving me out of position when it didn’t land true. My lead foot slipped on the dojo’s floor, and my striking hand tangled in Eric’s robes.
Eric’s arm dropped across mine and pinned my hand to his chest. He threw himself forward into a somersault that wrenched my arm painfully at the elbow and shoulder. The brute-strength throw flipped me over the top of his body, and we both landed hard on our backs, our heads inches apart. Eric clung to my trapped arm and used his leverage to put pressure on my joints.
The submission hold sent jolts of pain through my
