Her attacks came in harder and faster than before, cutting in new ways with spins and feints she had held back until her enhancements were in play. She let out a frustrated yell after each gambit was turned away by a simple dodge or parry, letting her mana flare more powerfully with every successive attempt. Although I was fully satisfied with her proficiency in enhanced combat, I continued the fight for my own enjoyment; it had been far too long since I had sparred with anyone other than Lia, and even though she had taught Marin most of the techniques she threw against me, they all had their own unique spin when coming from a different opponent.
I kept a close eye on her mana reserves over the course of our duel and made a point to shift into the final phase of my test before Marin had exhausted herself. After blocking a low cut with a particularly jarring parry, I stepped inside her guard and struck her wrist with my empty hand, knocking her sword to the ground. She jumped away with a yelp and took up a cautionary position a few yards away. “Fine, you win!” she yelled in exasperation, rubbing her tender wrist.
“Oh, so you’re giving up because you lost your sword?” I asked, pointing my blade towards her face. “That’s not going to work today.”
“What? Are you ser—?” Her response was lost as she bent backwards just in time to slip beneath a horizontal slash. The dodge transitioned into a backwards roll, and she popped back up onto her feet with wide-eyed excitement.
“Your test isn’t over until I say it’s over, Marin,” I shouted, retaking my battle stance. “Show me what you can really do!”
She let out a triumphant laugh as she began to bounce on the pads of her feet, holding her hands palm-out in front of her. I lunged forward with a quick stab aimed at her chest, but she twirled past the blow and reached up to the overextended grip of my weapon. Her fingers wrapped beneath mine as she attempted to pry my hand from the grip, and I saw her free hand shoot out in anticipation of where the weapon would fall once I was disarmed. I dismissed the sword just before it fell, then shoved her back with my now free hands. “Clever! That might have worked on someone else!” I quipped, shaking out my empty hands in preparation for the coming close-quarters combat.
I had known she was exceptionally advanced in hand-to-hand fighting, but the exact reasons why weren’t clear until the final leg of her test began. It was the victory condition she sought that surprised me most; as opposed to the majority of unarmed fighters I faced that aimed for knockout punches, Marin was instead hunting for a submission. Her strikes often transitioned into grapples that tangled my legs and painfully torqued my joints, and I found myself tempted to call on my own combat enhancements to ensure I could keep fighting without dislocating an arm.
Unfortunately for her, the glow of her enhancements began to fade as she continually increased her mana usage after each failed submission, causing her attacks to grow more desperate and less accurate. When she finally lashed out with a sloppy attempt to sweep my legs out from under me, I caught her beneath the armpit and tossed her into the air, sending her tumbling head-over-heels across the yard. Sprinting ahead to where she landed with a dull thump, I pressed my boot down onto her shoulder before she could scramble back to her feet. “The test is over now.”
I felt her struggle beneath my boot for a moment before she fell back with a loud groan. “Damn it!” she cursed, bouncing her head off of the grass beneath her as I removed my foot from her shoulder. “I was so close, too!”
Lia jogged over and slid onto her knees next to Marin, shaking her excitedly by the arm. “You did such a great job, Marin! I’m so proud of you.”
“But I still lost!” Marin complained, propping herself up on her elbows.
“Well, you didn’t…” Lia trailed off with a giggle. “You didn’t actually expect to win, did you?”
“Maybe! I don’t know! I just wanted to pass the test.”
I reached down and offered her my hand. “Marin, you passed with flying colors. You did far better than I could have hoped for.” The compliment brought a radiant smile to her face as I helped her to her feet. “Where did you learn your hand-to-hand style? I know Lia didn’t teach it to you.”
Lia huffed at the apparent slight. “If I didn’t teach it to her, it’s only because you didn’t teach it to me.”
“That’s true,” I chuckled, putting an arm around her shoulders to pull her in against my side. She resisted grumpily for a moment, then accepted the gesture and looped an arm around my waist. “I taught you the basics in everything, and then decided to focus on what you seemed the most interested in. For you, that was two-weapon fighting.” I gave Marin a friendly pat on the head, briefly scratching behind her rounded, fuzzy ears. “You, on the other hand, are clearly inclined for unarmed combat. I saw some pretty advanced takedown and submission attempts back there.”
Marin hummed beneath my hand. “Valandra and I used to play fight when I was little. She was a lot bigger and a lot older than I was, so it was never anything serious. Wrestling mostly.” She paused as a faint smile came to her lips, and she tilted
