Asha, off to one side, raised her hand immediately. “If it doesn’t stop a blow, it’s concealment. Cover will hide and protect you both.”
“Correct, Cinder. Which makes it even more amazing that you forgot that principle in the field. Out there in hell, you’re going to fight across the strangest terrain you can imagine. Stuff right out of your nightmares, and if you can’t tell the difference between cover and concealment, you’ll find yourselves ambushed again and again and again.” Rex paused, his thin lips pursing in thought. “Correction. You’ll be ambushed once, and then you’ll be dead. Now, let’s move to team fighting. Pick a circle, any circle, and warm up with two on two.”
The great, smooth-floored cavern changed, as this time ten sparring circles appeared across its floor, the perimeter of each glowing a soft, unnatural lavender hue. Leonis led the way to the closest one, the empty nature of the cavern now causing their footsteps to echo.
“Warm up at half-speed,” called Rex, voice cutting through the low chatter. “We’re looking to land blows and coordinate with your partner. Cycle through the different tactics you’ve learned, and try switching from offense to defense. Go.”
They stepped into their circle, and Naomi and Scorio looked to their friends for guidance.
“Pretty simple,” said Leonis, rubbing at his beard and clearly trying to shake off his bad mood. “Teams will be Scorio and Lianshi, Naomi and myself. We face off, first fight in parallel, then cycle through back-to-back, split up, and try to catch the other team two-on-one. You’ll see.”
Rex called out the start, and they began, moving slowly, exchanging blows, parrying, warming up. It was interesting fighting alongside Lianshi; if they stood close enough together, they could assist each other, though it was clearly a skill to be learned; half the time, Scorio’s movements hampered her own, and threw her off. If they stepped a yard or more apart, it became more of a solo fight against their foe, though Leonis demonstrated how a coordinated play could shift both his and Naomi’s attacks against one of them for a moment, overwhelming their defenses, before shifting to the other if they weren’t on the lookout.
“Full speed,” called out Rex. “Let’s see some blows land, I want to see some effort, but don’t turn off your brains!”
All around them the teams began to spar in earnest, Leonis narrating as they fought in different configurations, explaining the benefits and drawbacks, whether it was the benefit of fighting back-to-back or moving swiftly around the circle as a pair, looking to corner another fighter as they angled for advantage.
If anything, it felt like a game; Scorio found himself grinning each time he and Lianshi managed to find advantageous positioning, each time they intuited what the other was trying to do and managed to work together to Leonis and Naomi’s downfall.
But their opponents were just as skilled, if not better; often Naomi would cause one of them to trip or stumble as she kicked their foot just as either Lianshi or Scorio were about to take a step, sweeping it out a moment before they placed their weight on it, and in that moment of staggering would leap on the other teammate to take them down with Leonis’s help.
Time lost meaning, and Scorio became fully invested in the contest; it really was more a matter of tactics than pure martial ability. Thinking quickly, maneuvering for advantage, tricking your foe with misdirection or feigned weakness could tip the odds rapidly in your favor, and if your partner was alert and quick, like Lianshi was, you could quickly capitalize on a moment’s advantage and wrest a smooth win.
“And time,” said Rex, who’d been walking between the groups and pausing each circle to offer advice. “That’s the full cycle. Tomorrow we’re going to start with team against team on mixed terrain, and then move in the second half of the class against ramp-up ghosts. Rest, eat, sleep. You’re going to need your strength. Dismissed.”
“Ramp-up ghosts?” asked Scorio, raking his sweaty hair from his brow.
“Yeah,” said Leonis, dropping down into a crouch to catch his breath. “Purple Eye illusions that get more competent by the second. We’ll fight them together. Sometimes it’ll be a single large foe, other times an equally sized group, sometimes numerous weaker foes. It’s pretty interesting, especially as Rex will often add anecdotes from his own fights and how he survived them.”
“That does sound good,” said Scorio.
Rex had exited the cavern by this point, and most of the other students were filing out as well. A couple here and there, however, had opted to remain behind, and were facing off in the glowing sparring circles.
“Ready?” asked Lianshi, smiling brightly. “A hot soak and dinner await.”
“Sounds good,” said Scorio. “That and I’ve got a question for you guys.”
“Oh?” Lianshi fell in beside them. “What’s going on?”
“It’s about my Heart,” he said, throat tightening up as he forced the words out. The other three turned to him, listening attentively. “And how entering the tournament may be my only hope to fix it.”
Chapter 47
“No,” said Naomi from the platform beside their pool.
“Why not?” Scorio folded his arms over the pool’s edge and rested his chin on his wrist. “You know you can defeat just about every other student here.”
“Because I don’t want to play their games,” said Naomi. “Because I don’t want to be sponsored by one of their loathsome Houses. Because I don’t want to perform like a trained animal for their amusement.”
“All valid points,” said Leonis from where he floated, arms outstretched. “But there are other reasons to fight.”
“I’m in no need of special elixirs or rare treasures if it means accepting ownership from a House. Aligning my future with their goals and needs. I would rather remain free and determine my own path.”
Scorio frowned. She sat cross-legged above him, still clad in her training robes, her expression fierce, defiant.
“Yeah, I understand,” he said at last. “I was just hoping for company when I went to knock on Helminth’s door.”
Her expression clouded and she opened her mouth before closing it again.
“But I really do understand,” said Scorio. “I’d not go that route if I had a choice.”
“I know,” she said. “I understand. But that’s not for me.”
“Too bad. Would have been fun to watch you tear everyone apart,” said Scorio. “Guess you’ll just have to settle for cheering me on, instead.”
Lianshi sat on the ledge at the rear of the pool, her form wreathed in mist, her head tilted back, a wet cloth draped over her eyes. “About time you gave us something to cheer for.”
“Hey,” protested Scorio, turning around. “What happened to that whole ‘saving Bastion by defeating an Imperator single-handedly’ thing?”
“That,” said Lianshi languidly, “was last week.”
“And sounds a little embellished, to be honest,” said Leonis, slowly bringing his arms to his side so that he slid across the pool’s surface. “Though I applaud the attempt.”
Scorio shook his head, his expression one of faux disgust, then sighed and pushed away from the platform’s edge to float back across the pool. “Anyway, there’s no guarantee the Hell Whip will let me in. Tournament’s on, what, its seventh round?”
“Seventh,” agreed Leonis placidly, sounding perfectly at peace with all of hell. “Should have been eighth, but no fights were held last Eighthday due to the, you know, Imperator attack.”
“The one I stopped,” said Scorio.
“Sure,” said Leonis with a smile. “Let’s think of it that way.”