The first spar was merely the testing phase to create a baseline for the new skill and Harmony’s performance. Lev knew how hard he could push himself now, and the upcoming spars took that into account by lowering the intensity.
Hakim gave him very clear conditions. No lightning, a restricted pool of blue fire, and no external constructs. Just him and Stargazer, and a bit of infusion.
Lev was currently in the process of getting tossed around a fourth time. Clutching his glaive tightly, he kept all of his focus on the greatsword that seemed to possess a mind of its own.
With deceptive slowness, it moved in an arc, smashing Stargazer into the ground, making him backtrack to bring his weapon back into position with both arms.
The Exalted, on the other hand, was swinging the silver sword with one hand. He lazily chained the strike into the next, preserving the momentum and keeping him on his toes.
Throughout the exchanges, Lev had noticed a few things. Hakim’s greatsword only ever moved on a range of motion between horizontal and diagonal, for anything beyond that would need to go through the ground.
He didn’t doubt that the Exalted could easily tear the ground apart if he wanted to, but the spar was made more manageable by not having to account for strikes from below.
Unfortunately for him, Hakim could’ve limited himself to straightforward thrusts, and his raw skill with the blade would’ve still triumphed.
A burst of blue fire let Lev parry the sword with Stargazer’s pole. The impact also generated enough kinetic energy to counterattack, and he brought his weapon back in a slash to the neck. Hakim evaded it easily, so he aimed for the Exalted’s fingers.
The blade passed an inch below them. Lev reversed the glaive and brought it back up. Hakim just let go of his sword for a moment, then grabbed it again when the glaive missed.
That was Lev’s intention. Using all of the remaining fuel at his disposal, both fire and kinetic, he amped up the reverse slash towards Hakim’s face.
For a moment, it seemed like the strike was too fast for the man. The Exalted’s head moved, but not enough. Lev’s eyes brightened, tricking him into thinking that the attack connected.
Then reality reasserted itself. The feedback in his mind hadn’t indicated success. So small was the distance between Stargazer and Hakim’s cheek, and so perfect was the evasion, that his enhanced vision had been fooled into thinking he had landed a hit.
“This is unfair,” Lev laughed, and even Hakim cracked a smile. “Like, are you serious? I don’t think I could even fit a hair in that margin.”
“That is just how it goes sometimes,” the Exalted replied sagely, the joke not going unnoticed. “You learn to live with it.”
“And you learnt the same lesson?” Lev raised a brow, then chuckled. “Of course you did. Even I met a force of nature not that long ago.”
To the other Masters spectating them, his words probably seemed to imply the stag, and not the moose. He meant the latter.
“Life finds a way to keep teaching, no matter how far you reach,” Hakim said cryptically, which wasn’t all that secretive given Lev’s own experiences. His naive dreams had changed into something else entirely over the years.
“My mana is low,” Lev noticed out loud. “Small break?”
Hakim started walking towards the camp, wordlessly agreeing. “Even with the handicaps?”
“Manipulating the armor with enchantments running at full is very costly.”
“For good reason, too,” Hakim nodded, getting a clearer picture. “Elias. You’re next.”
The Master flinched upon hearing the loud call. Elias gulped, hesitating for a brief moment before steeling his resolve. Summoning his golden powered armor, he didn’t make the Exalted wait a second longer than necessary.
Lev just returned to his enchanted bed that was empty, grateful that he hadn’t been reduced to a bloody mess this time. The suit below the armor had saved him from the worst, and the cleaning enchantment had prevented any dust from reaching him. He sat down on its edge.
“You really know how to put on a show,” Viktor snorted, moving over to sit next to Lev. “It also made for a good introduction to how far you’ve come since the tournament finale.”
Lev stayed quiet, distinctly uncomfortable. This was the exact scenario he wanted to avoid, and it had come true not even an hour after the first spar.
“The thoughts just write themselves,” Viktor mused, somehow reading Lev’s mind from the look in his eyes. “Don’t look so tense. I’m here to do the opposite of what you’re afraid of.”
Seconds passed in silence. Viktor wasn’t in a rush to get an answer out of him, so Lev used that time to really think it over. Among the people he called friends, not a single one had shown as much as a peep of negative reaction due to the gap in strength. It made his worries seem sort of irrational, but only when these people were concerned.
“Do you think I’ll be okay?”
“You’ll be more than fine. It’s not like you plan to stop being Lev, right?”
That was one crux of the matter, though it was a bit terrifying how easily Viktor had identified it. Lev also knew that everyone else, even the Exalted sparring Elias, was listening in on the conversation. It made him afraid of opening up while also presenting a perfect opportunity to do so.
“I have no plans to…”
“But you might,” Viktor finished the sentence for him. “Too much responsibility changes people. I’ve only lived for about thirty years, and yet, the me from a decade prior would be surprised at how much I’ve grown in every aspect. We pushed ourselves quite hard in the past year, especially during the storm.”
“Are you happy with the changes?” Lev asked, curious.
“Overall?” Viktor smiled. “Quite happy. A few regrets won’t change how I feel about the steps I took to reach this point. Do you feel you will regret giving it your all?”
“That’s what I don’t know,” Lev answered, incensed. His emotions rarely got a hold of him, but this once, he let them take over. “What if my team grows disheartened by the gap between us? Or what if I can’t ever live normally inside the walls again? There are so many ways for things to go wrong, it’s just…”
“If that was going to happen, Lev, it would’ve happened already. Have you seen any discontentment amongst us? Or perhaps some form of jealousy or defeated acceptance?”
“No…?”
“Why would your team be any different, then? The Flame Legion chose them for you. Mark my words, whoever they are, you will be the one constantly getting surprised by them instead of the other way around. Just keep an open mind, and you will see.”
The certainty was one Lev didn’t feel. Baseless paranoia and anxiety were messing with his mind, and the reactions of Noah and the diviners during the storm had only fanned those emotions.
On some level, he understood that they wanted to blame someone as an outlet. Was Lev going to be the convenient target every time? He sure hoped not. To date, he had fought and bled more than anyone really expected him to, partly because he was addicted to progress.
For some reason, he feared that his accomplishments would be overshadowed by the dangers his presence would attract. Combined with his unnatural strength, it just seemed like he would become the perfect target of everyone’s ire. Too distant and too strong, it just made sense. An outsider’s perspectives would reveal nothing but secrets that made the very reality they lived in hate Lev.
Even worse, no one knew why he was targeted anyway. The ease with which he could be blamed was terrifying, and that could snowball despite the reassurances he had going for him. If his team and friends started to blame him too, he didn’t know how he would change, only that Lev wouldn’t remain the same person.
That was the fear at the helm of it all, the uncertainty regarding his identity. Who would he be to humanity and his team, a savior and friend or a curse?
Viktor’s words had the intended effect, too, except the concerns were too deeply rooted. He wasn’t going to claim to have gotten past his worries, but they helped. A lot.
“Will it remain that way? The acceptance?”
“Yes,” Viktor answered without missing a beat. “Your personality does not push people away, and as long as you remain a brat, I doubt most will care how strong you eventually become.”
That got a surprised laugh out of Lev, draining some of the tension from his shoulders. “And what if I change?”
“That’s even more unlikely,” Viktor continued. “You will immediately reconsider life choices if Lady Sherron looks at you with disappointment even once. Much the same way, you won’t allow yourself to become unlikable to the people you care about. That’s just how you are. They keep you grounded just as much as you want to keep yourself from changing too much.”
“So… you’re saying that as long as I don’t isolate or distance myself, there’s little chance I’ll slowly turn into someone unrecognizable?”
“Correct,” Viktor grinned. “I knew you had a smart brain in that inflated head of yours. Worrying so far ahead when we could’ve been popped like grapes by a stag.”
Lev wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but that made him look at the warrior flatly. What kind of reassurance was that?
It was still true, though.
“Fine, I’ll just… I don’t know, keep my mind in the present.”
“Don’t keep it all to yourself, though. I am not an expert in these things, but I also don’t think a spar against the Silver Night himself was the best place to reveal your fears.”
“How was I supposed to know others could hear it from so far away?” Lev clicked his tongue.
“See? This is what I’m talking about. You should’ve seen someone about this way earlier.”
Lev almost asked who he was supposed to talk with, then closed his mouth. The man in front of him was always open to conversations, and Isabella had also checked up on him several times. Going even further back, he could’ve talked to Sherron, Orianna, or even Alec despite his busy schedule.
What kind of a man reveals their fears so freely? He thought to himself, fully recognizing the stupidity of the statement. Some part of him was still clinging to Earth’s ways, as dumb as those were. No one around him would ever make that distinction between genders. Monsters caused scars all the same.
His case was different, but the same at the root. He was afraid of talking it out with others when he really shouldn’t have been. Lev didn’t even have any reason to be, just an irrational fear.
You know what I need? More hugs from Orianna and Sherron. And Alec, too. Getting stuck in the dungeon really brought out all my hidden thoughts. Hakim’s insistence didn’t really help on that front.
“Thanks,” he muttered. “I know what to do now.”
“I…” Viktor began, blinking a few times. “I don’t think you arrived at the same conclusion as I did, but if you think your direction is valid, then sure. No need for thanks.”
“Don’t worry, I plan to talk to someone. Or even a few someones.”
“That’s all I ask,” Viktor exhaled. “You’re a tough nut, you know that?”
“Heh.”
The talk had taken a few minutes. While Lev was deep in thought, he hadn’t missed how Elias had lost thrice already. Hakim had started with the same strength he had initially used against Lev, and predictably, the Master swordsman wasn’t quite up to par.
Now, during the fourth clash, they were almost evenly matched. A single glance was enough to deduce that Elias was far ahead of Lev in pure skill, and yet, he was struggling to find a single opening. Just the size of Hakim’s sword covered every potential weakness, and it was genuinely awe-inspiring to see how he could be so flawless with a weapon that, by all means, should’ve been unwieldy and difficult.
It’s heavy as fuck, too, Lev noted, feeling phantom impacts going up his arms. The casual strikes were no joke.
As he watched, Elias was rebuffed, though the Master also dodged any retaliation with similar ease. Hakim was teaching Elias how to deal with an overwhelming opponent that also couldn’t catch him, though from the looks of it, he wasn’t going to be able to land a hit.
Another attempt ended the same way. Twin swords faltered completely against the greatsword, unable to make it budge a single inch. Whenever Elias tried to close the distance, the massive silver edge always countered him, covering an area too big to slip past.
“He’s gonna have to tear a few muscles,” Lev commented idly.
“Not everyone is willing to go that far,” Viktor remarked, contemplative. “What do you think?”
“I think that he’s quite close to the edge.”
His prediction took another two minutes to come true. Elias’s face was hidden, and yet Lev could feel the frustration from repeated failure. Just like him, Hakim was forcing the swordsman to step out of his comfort zone, and it was finally showing results.
Mana rushed into Elias’s limbs, each empowered to the extreme. His next step was almost too fast for Lev to track. A blur darted straight towards Hakim, choosing to step to the right at the last moment. The greatsword tried to block that path, and this time, Elias was faster than the weapon.
A well-placed step, packing enough power to form a small crater in the ground, let him stop his momentum completely and reverse direction. Now closing in from the left, he ducked under a high kick and lunged.
This close, Hakim still wasn’t caught unprepared. He raised his sword above in a blink, bringing it down to reset his stance. Elias was in the way and had to abort his dash and sidestep. That seemed to be a part of his plan, too.
Hakim’s sword swept wide to make him disengage, going lower and lower as Elias leaned backwards. The swordsman bent beyond parallel to the ground, one of his swords screeching against the greatsword as it traveled towards the Exalted’s hand.
Leveraging any form of physical strength should not have been possible in that position. That became even more obvious when Elias flopped to the ground, a groan of pain escaping him.
His aura, even concealed as it was, couldn’t quite hide his satisfaction, though. By twisting his ankles and probably snapping more than a few tendons, he had managed to stubbornly keep his sword going along the greatsword’s edge without letting it be parried and land a direct hit on two of Hakim’s fingers.