Fight

"Twacck, Twaack, Twaack," 

"Come on take him down."

"The idiots started again," thought Dean as he heard the commotion that came till his office. It had been three weeks since, the special class for advanced recruitment into the hunter division has been announced.

On the day that the special class was announced to the recruits, Dean was also given some special news that he hadn't expected.

He was already fired off his original the squad by Syam. He had technically received a promotion from the general Dustblade making him a captain. So, as a squad couldn't have two captains, he was fired off the squad.

When he first heard the news, Dean felt great. Though, he knew he couldn't be on the same squad as his friends whom he fought with for the past few years, he knew that he couldn't continue with them forever. It made him feel a bit nostalgic and emotional, but he knew it was part of growing up and he accepted that.

Moreover, it wasn't that bad. He no longer had to bother with Syam's antics. He had always considered Syam a bit childish and Syam was far different from what he expected from a leader. He was stubborn, selfish and though he always managed to complete the mission parameters, he had a habit of taking more risks.

Though it helped develop the team and its capabilities, it was also dangerous and gave him headaches when reporting to their superiors. Dean who was a bit of stickler for the rules and preferred to finish his work as early as possible found it really hard to handle the paper work and was glad that he could now escape that.

It was always going well. He was promoted and had received notification that he was going to receive a substantial race. Then, he got another letter from Raban about a new assignment which pulled all that happiness from him.

The short summary of the notice was that, even though was promoted to the rank of a captain, he had no team. Due to the recent coup in the kingdom all the nearby personnel are already assigned on missions which they are currently performing.

It would take some time for a team to be assembled and usually half the team would be selected from the freshly trained hunter recruits of the previous year. It was tradition which allowed new leaders to show their leadership capabilities. As all that was much harder this year as his promotion wasn't at the usual time which was the start of each year of recruitment.

So, he was given an alternate duty with the rank of the captain. He was assigned as the assisting special instructor, who had to assist Raban in the specialized training of hunter candidates from the new recruits.

As soon as he saw the notice, he knew that he had just traded one abnormal boss for another. Syam at least had been in active duty, but Raban was a retiree who had just come back.

As he had expected, he ended up being in charge of the formulating the entire training plan. He had to finish all the required administrative work as Raban essentially just gave a broad direction and decided to let him do the rest.

Still, it was nothing he couldn't handle as he had expected more work on the day that he received his promotion. He quickly arranged for all the selected recruits and their instructors to have classes daily in the campus.

He made changes he thought necessary for the plans given by Raban and implement a comprehensive training program which included both theoretical and practical classes for all. He also put extra effort in examining them daily after classes and advising them.

Overall, it could be considered quite a success. Having a desk job wasn't bad. He needn't be on alert and there were no serious threats he needed to worry about on a day to day basis. He realized he was much more relaxed with just paperwork and planning.

He was feeling really good about it, especially today. Today he had results that their plan was working. With extra resources and personal training, they had two recruits successfully breakthrough to the knight stage.

Generally, most trainees took half a year to breakthrough. But with the extra resources and personal guidance, it had just been a bit over three weeks to get them to breakthrough. That was just a month since the new batch of recruits joined the guard. He realized that maybe this method to cultivate trainees with special attributes might actually be much better and efficient.

Looking at the two of them he was feeling proud. "Maybe I better suited to be a trainer," he thought looking at Timothy and Pete who were sitting opposite him. They were asked to meet him after class to fill some feedback about the resources, time and coaching they had the past few weeks.

"Who are fighting today?" he asked Timothy as the yell from the fight became louder.

"Another match between Ajax and Jean," answered Tim.

During the day, the instructors made them practice different things and even had spars between the trainees and instructors. It was all part of the program which Dean had planned.

Spars were always in encouraged among the hunter division. Aside from trainees even proper members of the hunter division occasionally sparred against each other. The spectators usually made bets and enjoyed the fights. It was a common tradition at the division.

Inspired by this, some of the trainees also tried the same, but they weren't proper members or had the comradery that members had between them. On the first fight, it became clear that the trainees wouldn't know when to stop and might take a spar too far and seriously injure one another. It was because the young ones had little no experience. So, it became a practice to fight after classes when instructors are available to referee them.

Unlike proper members, students were a lot more excited to fight one another and quite a few of them wanted to prove themselves stronger. They also made bets and sometimes even took handicaps to show off. Even with a referee, these usually ended up hurting others physically or sometimes just their pride neither of which were good.

Today, he was resting in his office when the noise outside indicated to him that he wasn't going to have a peaceful evening again.

"Didn't they just have a fight two days ago?"

"Yes, but Jean is at the peak of body strengthening for more than a week. He is trying to break limits like Ajax. So, he keeps challenging him," said Timothy.

"Ajax also goads him into betting mana stones. He says it is easier than working as a chef," said Pete.

"How come Jean keep accepting it?" asked Dean.

"Ajax is clever. He is good at making him bet," said Pete. "After the first two times, Jean didn't want to fight. So, Ajax said that he could even defeat him with an axe instead of a sword which usually uses. So, two more fights occurred in which Ajax defeated Jean with an axe."

"Today, Jean said that he will become a limit breaker like Ajax So, Ajax challenged that even if Jean breaks the limit, he would still not be able to defeat him. He offered to fight without a weapon to prove the same," added Timothy.

"You two know why Ajax is goading Jean to fight? You know that Jean is the son of Viscount, right? He might consider it as shaming the noble family. Didn't any of you tell him that it might bring him unnecessary trouble if it continues?" asked Dean.

"We did," said Pete. "Right after the first fight."

"So?" asked Dean.

"No one dares to fight Ajax except Jean and also the other way around. Instructor Syam also assured that, he won't let anything happen. He also tell Jean that giving up would be truly shameful," said Timothy.

"Shit," said Dean realizing that Syam was probably goading the recruits to fight for his entertainment.

"Are all fights being instigated by Syam?" asked Dean suddenly suspicious. He knew that his old captain wouldn't have any compunctions in doing so.

The two of them were quiet and looked away. They didn't dare say as they were afraid of Syam too. Syam was also a captain, just like dean and he was much stronger and had that rank much longer. Still, they didn't need to say. Their response was more than enough for Dean to understand that his doubts were true.

"Come let's go. I want to see the match," said Dean as the three of them left the office and went towards the ring were spars were usually held.

As they came there, they could clearly hear the yells and sounds of fighting.

Syam just beside the ring yelling and shouting. Alongside him, almost all the other trainees in the special class were doing the same. They all seemed to be supporting Jean who was brandishing a spear trying to hit or injure Ajax but wasn't much successful.

Ajax didn't have much experience using a spear in his past life or this. But he was well practiced in using staffs. He was unarmed but always moving forward and seemed to blocking Jean's spear's staff with his hands comfortably. At the very least, he looked much less tensed and serious than Jean.

"Come on, Jean. That's it beat him up for underestimating you," Dean could clearly hear Syam yelling loudly as they came close.

"Ya, beat him."

"How dare he fight without a weapon. He is clearly taking us all too lightly."

"This kid, he riled up all the trainee saying that he could defeat Jean without a weapon didn't he?" asked one of the instructors.

"Well, he did," said another. "But look, he isn't at any disadvantage. He is able to easily deflect or evade an swipes or thrust that come at him."

"It isn't like Jean is trying to seriously cut him either. Look, he is always using spear to strike at his limbs only. Never is he attacking at a fatal spot," pointed out Dean suddenly in a loud voice. Dean had seen Jean's father spar many times before. It was a part of their family's spearmanship technique to aim at limbs and joints instead of fatal points to just injure and make their opponents accept defeat. He immediately realized that Jean was doing the same with Ajax.

As soon as Dean said that the other's also realized the same. The trainees and instructors immediately looked back and after a couple of moves immediately realized the same.

"Fuck, you are holding back all this time," yelled one of the students.

"Of course, who tries, to kill in a spar. It isn't like he has a weapon and block me," yelled Jean. He was already irritated that Dean could clearly see that he wasn't trying to injure Ajax with the head of his spear.

"I thought Ajax not using weapons was supposed to be a handicap against him, not you," said Dean in a loud voice.

"We can keep him safe even if you seriously injure him. Fight seriously," added Syam.

"Yeah, come on."

"Fight him seriously."

"Stab his ass."

On hearing Dean and the others, Jean also started to wonder if maybe he was unnecessarily limiting himself. He took a couple of steps back held the spear at middle of shaft in a defensive pose and began to wonder.

"He is right," said Ajax interrupting Jean's thoughts. "Fight me seriously. It is a waste of a spar if we both are not serious."

"If you could compete me when I am serious, you should be able to defeat me when I am holding back," said Jean proudly. He was convinced that he was only having to take so much time because he was holding back. Else, he was sure that without any weapons Ajax would crumble beneath his spear.

"Or I am also holding back because you were. You fought with a spear four times and lost. Do you honestly think I can't notice you holding back?" asked Ajax.

As Jean realized that he had still underestimated Ajax and that Ajax would probably win the fight even with all the handicap, he decided to not be a gentleman any longer. 

All this time, he had been striking at Ajax with his spear like he was striking at a strength measuring pillar. Though, he maintained the right posture and movements to bring the maximum strength possible in all his strikes, he always aimed at Ajax torso more or less which made it easier for Ajax to block with his arms and didn't put much effort into aiming them at a body's weak points.

Jean already felt a bit ashamed for participating in a match with his opponent fight against him with a handicap. He had felt that it would much more shameless and beneath him to fight more seriously, but now he started to feel that it was not Ajax who was handicapped but him.

Jean realized that his pride had made him underestimate and go easy on Ajax. Thus, the constraint that Ajax wouldn't use weapons, had become a handicap for him as much as it was on Ajax.