The sunlight warmed Jack's hair. The winds on the courtyard blew from his right. Over to the other side, behind the shiny marble fountain was the boy with wheat colored hair.
"My name's Jack. What's yours?" he introduced himself.
He knew he should've been more courteous towards those of royal blood, but the rapid pumping of his heart told him to charge at the boy with his bokken in hand.
"Thomas Slate," he heard him mutter softly to the wind, and had it not been for his new found power, he would not have caught it.
His opponent then struck a combative stance, his rapier in hand. From the way the rapier whistled as his opponent snaked his hand around, he could tell the blade could cut more than just skin.
He prepared his bokken, running two fingers throughout the smooth wood. With his improvement in his skills, so was there improvement in his weapon. He had sandpapered his weapon the best he could, resulting in a clean woosh sound whenever he swung it. He lowered himself into his stance.
The two waited for one another to move; to even make the slightest twitch. But neither seemed eager to move first. The wind blew to the trees, carrying with it a single leaf. As they saw the leaf touch the ground, both tensed their legs and pushed with all they've got, launching themselves at each other to meet at the side of the fountain.
The blond was the first to strike. He pushed his arm the furthest to give speed to his piercing strike. Jack had heard and predicted the strike before the boy even halfway through going his attack. With a quick turn of his torso, the rapier pierced through the air at his side. An opportunity he would not waste.
Not having enough time to fully swing, he decided to bash him with the end of his weapon's handle. True enough, he felt the familiar soft sensation of wood hitting skin, only this time, he was the one hitting. The boy's face then scrunched up, retreating backwards. Jack didn't follow. No, he couldn't.
He'd heard crumbling noises right beneath the ground and felt the ground slightly shake on his bare feet. Ever since he'd gotten [Sonic Replicator] he opted to barefoot all the time, but his teacher only allowed him to do this while he was in smooth terrain. He jumped upwards as a stone pillar rose up to him. He'd felt it was originally a spike, but he figured the other boy changed it as not to make this battle too deadly. It was a good thing both were courteous enough to know not to take a spar too far.
"Good senses," he heard the boy whisper to himself before he closed mouth as if realizing something.
He then saw the prince grin once again.
"I see. You've got good hearing," he heard the boy speak more softly, realizing his acute hearing.
It seemed they'd both figured out some of what each of them were capable of. All of a sudden, he felt the ground vibrating at three points; his front, his left behind, and his right. He'd calculated the rising stones would move towards his head, leg, and main arm. He quickly jumped upwards; he couldn't jump to anywhere else without getting hit by at least one. But then he heard the three points changed, centering towards him again.
So he'd been tricked. So what? The moment the three pillars appeared, he bounced on the air with [Kinetic Shifter] with just enough force to move him away from all three.
He looked back at the blond. The boy in question opened his mouth wide in surprise. This exchange went three more times. Each time, he saw the boy's grin grow wider, and he felt his own mouth stretching to copy the other boy. There were now plenty of tall pillars going upwards in a three sided pyramid shape in the courtyard. He counted thirteen pillars, including the first one facing upwards. He'd heard some people on the side talking amongst themselves, asking why nobody had stopped either of them. Still, none had come near them to stop this.
They went still again. Neither wanted to come close to each other, partly because Jack didn't want to have his flesh meet with anything sharp again any time soon. But it looked like they were going to be interrupted soon, so both came to the same conclusion.
"Let's end this with one strike, shall we?" he asked.
The blond just nodded.
They both rushed at each other. Jack could feel the wind blowing to his face as he neared Thomas. He then heard big splashes coming from the fountain. He clicked his tongue. He felt the vibrations tell him that the marble walls of the fountain had cracked and opened, resulting in the water coming straight to where they'd meet. He saw the prince launch himself up in the air with a pillar beneath him and felt two pillars erecting behind him. So that was his plan. To make Jack lose his footing while he struck from above. Unusual, but he couldn't help but admire the effort. Too bad he had a way to dodge the attack easily.
But before he could enter the shadows, his senses told him something was closing in on them. The thing was so fast that he could barely see it jump and hit the boy who was currently preparing to strike in the air. The boy fell down along with the thing. After it had stopped, he realized that the thing was actually the red haired man from earlier.
He saw the man looked at the prince sternly and said, "You know how deadly that move was. I thought I taught you to only use it when you need to."
The boy then pushed himself up to his knees, then stood to his feet.
He said, "I'm sorry, master. But I felt that if it were him, then he'd figure out how to dodge it."
It seemed that the boy had more tricks hidden in his sleeves. The master looked at Jack with eyes that looked calculative.
Tap. Tap. He then heard the familiar sound of his master walking.
"Come on, now. Let the kids have their fun," he heard his teacher's soothing voice speak out.
The scarred man replied, "Kids should not endanger their lives on a whim, no matter if they chose the path of violence."
His teacher nodded, agreeing, then said, "While it is true, you know that either one of us could've stopped them before anything got too serious."
She then continued, "...or maybe, you're afraid he'll lose to my student?"
Huh? Why was she taunting him? Teacher?
The man snorted then chuckled, "Are you challenging my ability to teach?"
His insane teacher just shrugged her shoulders.
The man then exclaimed, "Well then, I challenge you to a duel!"
He then saw the man take something out from within his cloak. Hidden in a scabbard was a sword that had a curve that was very similar to the ones on his and his teacher's bokken. He held the sword and scabbard very similarly to his teacher's unsheathing position.
"I thought that no one else used katanas anymore," his teacher spoke.
The swordsman replied, "Neither did I."
(I tried something different for this chapter, but I felt like it came out weird. Tell me your thoughts on this chapter if you have any. Like, how does it compare to the other chapters?)
(As to why I'm posting before 24 hrs have past, well, I had time in-between)
