We bowed to each other, and I drew my sword. My blade gleamed cold and bright as Yo Hin held a staff half a foot shorter than he was, the ends capped with brass. He looked nervous, but that said nothing about how the fight would be. Yo Hin always looked like he wanted to scurry away and hide.
“Begin!” Master Xilarion said.
I raised my arm, summoned a Flame Shield, and advanced toward Yo Hin with both sword and shield in hand. In response, he raised his right palm and closed his eyes.
Fire sprang from the ground around him and formed a ring of flames. Then, he opened his eyes, and the ring burst outward before a wall of fire rushed toward me.
I forced the Vigor to flow quickly through me and expanded my shield just before the fire hit. Flame burst against flame like waves crashing against a cliff, and my opponent’s attack sprayed wildly to either side of me. Even though I ducked down behind my enlarged shield, I felt flames lick around me, smelled the tips of my hair scorch, and saw the hem of my robes blacken. Then, the fire wall was gone, and I looked up to see what would come next.
A ball of fire hurtled toward me, a vastly more powerful version of Untamed Torch. Again, I raised my shield just in time, and the blast hit so hard that it flung me over before sending me tumbling in the dirt.
I rolled over and back to my feet, sword raised. Yo Hin was summoning fire once more, ready to hurl it at me. It was tempting to channel the power of ash and make myself immune to the flames, the easiest way for me to avoid being badly burned. But I had made a choice to face this battle with honor, and Nydarth’s disdain only made me more determined to stick with that choice.
Instead, I started running, not directly toward Yo Hin, but in an arc that cut across his front. He launched balls of flame toward me, but his aim wasn’t great against a moving target, and I went fast enough to keep him from landing a hit. Fireballs pounded into the ground and singed the dirt as I ducked and weaved to make it more difficult for him.
My path was bringing me toward the wall of the arena, around 10 feet from where Yo Hin stood. He might have thought he had me trapped, but he was in for a rude awakening. As I was about to hit the wall, I stretched my leg out and dug the tips of my toes into the gap at the top of a plank. I sprung off from that point, propelled myself into a curving leap, and flew toward Yo Hin.
He stared at me open-mouthed, and for one glorious moment, I thought I had him. But then, he raised his arm before fire flared in a Flame Shield. My blade slid off the shield, and I landed just beyond my opponent as I twisted to face him.
Where Yo Hin had been, there was only an empty patch of scorched ground. I stared for a moment in amazement, then looked up to see a flaming figure rising through the air above the arena.
Yo Hin was flying.
I had heard about the Flight martial technique, but seeing it in practice still took my breath away. I realized now what technique he’d been trying to perfect when I saw him training in the practice yard. Flames now coated Yo Hin’s body, so that he seemed to be a figure of pure fire. The air shimmered as it flowed around him and carried him aloft.
Yo Hin drifted across the arena while shining as bright as the sun. The crowd had gone silent for the first time all day as they stared at him in wonder.
Now, Yo Hin definitely had the edge over me. The only way I could touch him up there was by using Untamed Torch, and he could use his flight to dodge, or Flame Shield to protect himself. Meanwhile, he could bombard me with whatever tricks he still had up his sleeve, safe from the physical attacks that were my only advantage in this battle. Sure, I could gain height by running up the steps onto the side of the arena, but by the time I got there, he could simply fly to the other side. I could have used a Plank Pillar beneath my feet to vault me into the air, but I wanted to win this match with fire techniques alone. The other offensive option was Burning Wheel. It was a chaotic technique that was almost impossible to control, but I could send a flaming whirlwind toward Yo Hin and hope it tossed him from the air before it moved into the stands. No, that was too risky. The chance of Burning Wheel harming the spectators was too great.
Then, I thought about Flame Empowerment. Yo Hin looked like the living embodiment of fire, and a simple enhancement of the already burning flame would probably be too much for him to handle. He’d likely fall to the ground while smoke drifted from the charred husk of his body.
I wasn’t sure whether Master Xilarion would appreciate me reducing another initiate to smoldering cinders, and I liked Yo Hin anyway. I respected him
