Ep.46 Combat Test Part 2

Kane Arnston Pov

I stood across from my opponent on the tournament platform, my mind still struggling to process the scene before me. Despite the guild's earlier warning about young participants in today's registration battles, nothing could have prepared me for this moment. My opponent was just a boy—eleven years old at most—with determined eyes that seemed to pierce right through me.

The registration official had already conducted the preliminary scan with the mana detection orb, and the results were puzzling. The boy—Kai, according to the registry—showed absolutely no magical potential. Not even the faintest trace of unrefined mana leakage that was common in untrained youth that have yet to awaken. He was, for all intents and purposes, completely ordinary.

This has to be some kind of joke, I thought, gripping my sword's handle. The weight of the blade offered little comfort as my conscience wrestled with the idea of crossing swords with a child. I'll make this quick and painless.

"Begin," I called out, my voice echoing off the chamber's stone walls.

What happened next shattered every preconception I had about my young opponent. The boy exploded into motion, his feet leaving deep scuff marks on the platform's surface as he launched himself forward with impossible speed. My body reacted on pure instinct, years of training taking over as I sprinted to meet him at the platform's center.

One second—that's all it took before our blades met in a thunderous clash that sent vibrations up my arms. The force behind his sword was staggering, and I found myself actually struggling to maintain the deadlock. This was no ordinary child's strength.

Before I could fully process this revelation, Kai broke away from our blade lock, his movements fluid and practiced. The instant his feet touched the ground, he was attacking again. His sword, now gripped with both hands, came whistling through the air in a horizontal arc at speeds that left me barely enough time to defend.

Our weapons met again, but this time he didn't let the clash linger. In a display of technical prowess that belied his age, Kai immediately transitioned into an overhead strike that cleaved through the air toward my skull. I caught the blow on my blade, but what happened next showed me just how dangerous underestimating this boy could be.

Instead of retreating or continuing his sword assault, Kai pressed forward, maintaining pressure on our locked blades. Then, in a move I never saw coming, he suddenly released his sword grip. The unexpected slack threw off my balance, and in that split second of vulnerability, his small fist crashed into my stomach with surprising force. The blow knocked the wind from my lungs, but he wasn't done.

In one smooth motion, Kai spun, catching his falling sword before it could hit the ground. Using the momentum of his spin, he channeled every ounce of his strength into a devastating horizontal slash aimed at my midsection. Though I managed to get my blade up in time to prevent serious injury, the sheer power behind the strike sent me skidding across the platform.

This is impossible, I thought, struggling to steady myself. An eleven-year-old with no magical ability shouldn't be capable of this level of combat prowess. What kind of training has this kid endured?

I knew then that I could no longer afford to hold back. Closing my eyes, I reached out to the ambient mana that saturated the air around us. I drew it in, feeling the familiar tingle as I refined it into my elemental affinity. But even in this moment of preparation, Kai proved faster.

When my eyes snapped open, he was already closing the distance, sword raised for what he clearly intended to be the finishing blow. His blade came crashing down, and I barely deflected it in time. Using the momentum of his strike, I pushed back, finally managing to throw him off balance.

This was my chance. I channeled wind mana to the bottom of my feet and condensed it into balls of air before exploding them and using that to dash forward and close the gap between us. My palm struck his chest, and in that same instant, I released a concentrated blast of wind magic. The force lifted him off his feet and sent him hurtling toward the platform's edge.

But even as he struggled to his feet, I pressed my advantage, launching three crescents of compressed air toward him. I saw his eyes widen as he registered the incoming attack, but then something changed in his gaze. The uncertainty vanished, replaced by a focus so intense it gave me pause.

In a display of swordsmanship that shouldn't have been possible for someone his age, Kai surged to his feet and systematically cut through each air blade with precise, economical movements. The look in his eyes told me he was far from finished.

I gathered mana beneath my feet yet again, compressing it before releasing it in an explosive burst that propelled me forward. As I closed the distance, I launched more air blades, hoping to overwhelm him with sheer volume. Yet each attack met the same fate as before, split apart by his remarkable blade work as he advanced to meet my charge.

Time to end this, I thought, gathering my mana for what I hoped would be the decisive blow. But something about the unwavering determination in the boy's eyes made me wonder—just who exactly was about to end what?