The second round of matches started not long after, and Draeus, apparently unsatisfied with how quickly the first round had gone, decided to shuffle the pairings around entirely.
"Whitlock. Hans."
The entire dojo went quiet.
Even Theo’s usual smirk faltered for half a second before he caught himself and forced it back into place, striding onto the mat like the outcome was already decided. Mary followed at her own unhurried pace, expression as unreadable as ever.
’Oh, this I have to see.’
I straightened up on the bench, and judging by the sudden hush that fell over the rest of my classmates, I was not the only one.
They squared off in the center of the mat, practice swords raised, and for a moment neither of them moved at all. Theo’s stance was textbook, the kind Vane would have approved of on sight, weight balanced, blade angled just so. Mary’s stance looked almost lazy by comparison, loose in a way that made her seem unprepared.
’That has to be deliberate. Nobody with a first Combat Fundamentals ranking that low stands like that by accident.’
Theodore moved first, a fast diagonal cut aimed down at her shoulder. Mary shifted her weight back half a step and angled her blade up to meet his, not stopping it outright but redirecting it, letting his sword slide off hers and out wide to the side. Before he could bring it back, she had already retreated another step, putting distance between them.
He closed that distance immediately, sword whipping around into a second strike, then a third, each one aimed a little lower than the last, working his way toward an opening at her hip. Mary kept backing away in short, even steps, her blade catching each strike just enough to turn it aside, never quite blocking it head-on.
’She keeps giving ground. Is she actually in trouble here?’
Then Theo lunged, driving his sword forward in a straight thrust aimed at the center of her chest, putting his full weight behind it.
Mary turned her body sideways at the last possible moment, letting the blade skim past her ribs close enough that I heard the fabric of her sleeve catch on the edge. With Theo’s sword now extended past her and outside his own guard, she brought her blade up from underneath his wrist in one smooth motion, following the length of his arm until the tip stopped an inch from his throat.
The dojo went dead silent.
Theo stood frozen, sword still extended into empty air, staring at the practice blade hovering by his neck like he could not quite process what had just happened.
"Point," Draeus said, entirely unbothered. "Reset."
Theo’s face went through several stages of disbelief before settling on something considerably darker. He reset his stance without a word, jaw tight, and came at her again, faster this time, swinging high toward her head, then low toward her knees, then high again, one strike chasing straight into the next without any pause between them.
Mary did not step back this time. She stepped forward instead, closing the gap until she was almost inside his arms, too close for him to swing with any real power. His blade caught against hers twice in quick succession, the sound sharp in the quiet room. On the third strike, she angled her sword flat against his, and pushed.
His grip broke.
The practice sword spun out of his hand and clattered somewhere off the mat before he even registered it was gone. His leg went out from under him a heartbeat later, Mary’s foot sweeping his ankle clean out, and he hit the floor flat on his back, her blade already resting lightly against his chest.
I bit back a grin, mostly successfully.
Draeus called the match, and Theo picked himself up off the mat with as much dignity as he could manage, which was not very much at all. He shot Mary a look sharp enough to cut glass on his way back to the bench, but she simply returned to her seat, calm as ever, sword resting across her knees, like she had not just handed the year’s top Talent his first real defeat in front of the entire class.
I caught Arthur’s eye from a few seats down. He mouthed something that looked suspiciously like "what the hell" and I mouthed something back that was probably not much more articulate.
’Where did she come from? Why does nobody talk about her? Two hundred Chapters, and not a single mention of a girl who fights like that.’
The thought needled at me for the rest of the class, distracting enough that I barely registered the remaining matches, my classmates trading blows and losses in the background while I kept sneaking glances at the quiet girl on the bench who apparently did not care in the slightest that she had just embarrassed a noble heir in front of an entire year of first-years. A couple of the other students whispered her name to each other now, glancing over their shoulders like she might overhear them and decide they were next.
When the class finally ended, Draeus dismissed us with his usual dry indifference, already turning his chair back toward his office before most of us had even sheathed our practice swords.
I lingered near the doorway for a moment, watching Mary gather her things and slip out ahead of everyone else, quiet and unbothered, as though today had been nothing more than an ordinary afternoon.
’Ten days until the Realm of the Evil.’
I had assumed, foolishly, that the biggest unknowns waiting for me were going to be out there, past the gates, among creatures with names like Feral Flesh and Nightmare Fiend.
Apparently I had a few unknowns to sort out right here at the Academy first.
I filed Mary away in the back of my mind, right next to every other loose thread this world seemed determined to hand me, and headed out into the afternoon sun, already dreading whatever Theo’s mood was going to be like for the rest of the week.