The Spiritguard

"And for our second match of the day, let's welcome up Mira and Marc!"

We cheer for the results of the first match, a death-defying spectacle against two trainees I don't know well. This second match is what I've been waiting for. Mira and Marc. They're both cherished friends, but this time, I'm on team Mira."

She leans in to Marc and asks him something when they both enter the ring. He looks surprised at first by her question, but then he gives her a nod. I smirk. That must have been her asking him for a traditional sparring match.

They begin their bout, and Mira does exactly what I encouraged her to do. She's light on her feet, and she attacks his left. She gets a definitive hit in on him. One more and Mira can continue on...

But Marc has wizened up to her strategy. He spreads his legs out further, widening his stance and his field of control. She bounces around him and tries to get a few more flailing blows in with her wooden sword, but it's not quite enough. She gets too close and Marc gets a strike on her leg. 

One to one. Come on, Mira. You can do this!

She tries to attack his left again, unsuccessfully. And then she pulls something out of the playbook from me, though it wasn't a move I taught her. From just two feet away, she chucks her sword at Marc. It doesn't hit him hard, it just sort of bounces against his shoulder and clatters to the floor. But hey, on a technicality, that's enough.

"Mira is the winner!" Ms. Borden announces. Mr. Copper is still MIA. I wonder why?

I clap louder than anyone. "Good job Mira!" I call. That's one less thing to worry about. She's made it through! Now Kael just needs to win his match, and we're golden.

The next match is also with two people I don't know, but match four catches my attention. It's Kavella's turn. Her opponent is Jonah, who I deftly handled in the first round. Kavella will have no problem here. He prefers ranged Animus techniques when fighting, and so does she. This should be interesting.

He starts with a Cyclosphere, just as he had with me. Kavella pays it no mind, twirling her staff in a circle around her palm and breaking up the attack with no effort. She fuses Animus energy into her hand. I recognize that. It's the same technique that Kael used against me in our last match, with the rock-summoning. I guess that's what he taught her yesterday.

Jonah sticks his sword into the ground in front of him and raises up both hands. He's going to double down on his Animus usage, just like he did with me. The boulders from Kavella's attack begin to fly at him, but he uses a new Animus technique I've not seen before. An updraft of wind shoots up around him, and as the rocks get close to him, they're sucked up in the vortex and sent spiraling into the sky, landing harmlessly far beyond the training field. Before long, he's deflected every single rock Kavella had to throw at him, and he's preparing a counterattack.

A ball of shifting purple energy appears in his hands, and he arches back to contain the power. It looks like he's getting ready to throw it, or shoot a beam of some sort. I look back to Kavella. She's prepping something too - the air around her is crackling red. She looks a lot scarier than he does right now.

He shoots the beam. At the same time, Kavella releases whatever she'd been channeling. It's definitely not a technique Kael taught her, that's for sure. 

The beam hits Kavella dead-on, and she stumbles backward, but her own attack is finished as well. From above Jonah's head, a flash of light shoots from the sky and strikes him, brutal and violent. A bolt of lightning. Jonah is down and out, and Kavella, while she was struck first, remains on her feet. She successfully withstood his attack.

"And the winner is Kavella! Making her our first 3-0 trainee! Congrats, Kavella!"

We cheer for them both. Jonah and Kavella each have an impressive repertoire of skills at their disposal. It's clear they take their studying seriously. They should both be proud of how they did. 

I'm so glad I didn't have to fight against Kavella. Her special techniques all look like they'd HURT.

My match with Natalia is the very last of the day, so I'll be waiting a little bit more. But the match I most want to see is just beginning. Kael versus the large seventeen-year-old trainee. His name is Walt Ringman, and he's got a foot on Kael, and about 100 pounds. I've reminded Kael that there's no way he can let this become a physical fight. Walt uses a mace as his fighting weapon, and with his strength, one strike of that could leave Kael in the hospital for weeks. If Kael is going to win, and stay in the Spiritguard, he needs to end the match quickly and decisively from range.

And so the match begins. Kael starts with a Cyclosphere, hoping that it will knock Walt off balance and buy him some time. It's a solid plan, but Walt immediately charges at him and blocks the Cyclosphere with just his arm. Figures, this guy is a freak of nature. He's on Kael in a second, swinging and thrashing that mace around. 

Kael's learned a lot from Natalia and me. He wasn't just going to let himself get smashed. He gets low and darts around, weaving between Walt's attacks until he can get behind him, and then he starts to sprint to the other side of the arena. He turns around as he runs, prepping another Animus technique. One that I know, too, but I can't make very good use out of. Kael summons forth a magicked wheel that spins through the ground toward Walt. It serves as a good distraction, but for someone big like Walt, it's a tripping hazard as it keeps whipping and winding around his legs. It's slowing him down, until Walt realizes that its all a distraction. In a moment, the mace comes crushing down, obliterating the wheel. Uh oh.

He's stomping toward Kael again, and backing him into a corner. Kael catches my eye in the crowd - I'm standing just next to him, after all, on the outside of the arena. We're close enough that he can hear me, and I can hear him.

"I'm sorry about this, Sig. I didn't want it to have to come to this, but I can't lose."

On that note, he says the word 'Angonish'. The lightning javelin appears in his hand. For him, it's green - not pink as Kavella's was. 

And he throws it up into the sky, just as Kavella did. The implication is not lost on Walt, who'd seen Kavella use the technique once before on Lance. We all did. We all saw how it ended up.

"I -" 

I think Walt was about to surrender, but it was too late. The spear strikes him, boring into his soul. Unthinkable anguish and wailing erupt from Walt. Noises so high-pitched I wouldn't have thought the man capable of them. And Kael just watches, waits. He doesn't dispel the technique. He needs to be sure that he wins this match, at all costs.

It's horrible to see. Walt either can't or won't say he surrenders. He just screams, over and over again. His whole body, every muscle convulsing and jerking as he twitches back and forth. And Kael just stares - but he's not getting any satisfaction out of it. The look on Kael's face is one of worry and fear. 

Eventually, Walt stops. The horrible pain was enough to make him pass out, and the technique ends. There's little fanfare to celebrate the win, even from me. None of us want to see our fellow trainees tortured like that. It's a horrible technique. But Kael did what he had to do to win against a much stronger and much more seasoned opponent. 

As Kael returns to me from the center of the arena, there's only one thing I have to say to him. "Kavella told me the only way to teach that technique is to use it on someone," I say sternly. "You had her use that on you!?"

Kael takes a deep breath. He's bothered by the question, I can tell. "I did what I had to do to win, Sig. Aren't you the one who told me I had to win, no matter what? That you couldn't do this without me?"

The words bite. Chill me to my bones. He made Kavella torture him...for my sake?

"Kael, I -"

"And for the next match, sorry for going out of order on this one, folks...Sigmund and Natalia!"

The crowd erupts into cheers so loud I can't even hear myself talk. I look at Kael, desperation and frustration apparent on my face. He and I will have to talk about this later. Right now, it's time for my final match.