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CHAPTER 8 - VICTORY

Derwyn still held Asahel's dagger, when he saw the two approaching him again, he threw it towards him. He wanted the end things now, but the boys were still willing to continue, so he decided to follow them.

Asahel picked up his dagger and spit a mixture of saliva and blood, his tired gaze from just a moment ago was replaced by the eyes of a falcon eyeing his prey. Reynald too had changed in this spar, he had a disciplined and serious attitude, he wasn't moving wildly as before, and even tried to use the movements as Derwyn taught him.

Derwyn watched as the two took position again and nodded towards them with a prideful gaze, before that he recognized their talent and potential, now he recognized their efforts and determination.

-” How about making this our final bout?” Derwyn asked them before the spar ensued.

-” Why are you getting tired?” Reynald mocked him, but, anyone could tell the weariness of his voice.

-” Hey, we just started to get things right and now you want to stop?” Asahel too looked beat up, yet, was unwilling to give up.

Derwin almost got angry, the two of them didn't know their limits, he was afraid of seriously injuring them so he gave them a way out, however, the two didn't even mind it. Derwyn took a deep breath, picked up his stick, and made a motion with his hand for them to come. -” If so, so be it.”

This time who took the lead was Reynald who performed a Thrust towards him, Derwyn paired the thrust and slashed towards Reynald's right shoulder, which in turn jumped back to dodge the slash, as he landed he prepared another thrust as he saw Asahel already closing on Derwyn back.

Derwyn turned to block Asahel's downward slash with his stick and sidestepped to the right to dodge Reynald's subsequent thrust, as Derwyn dodged Asahel moved too, dashing to the left of Derwyn and stabbing towards his ribs.

Now that Reynald and Asahel had better coordination the spar looked more beautiful to the eyes, the three of them moved as if they were dancing. For each of Derwyn movements, Reynald and Asahel responded accordingly, with one covering the other.

This made Derwyn impressed, he already exceeded the limit of strength he self-imposed several times, and the youts still kept getting better and better. Asahel was completely engrossed in the battle, he could now use almost everything that Derwyn taught him with a basic level of confidence, so he started to mix them, even using them as a faint. Reynald's progress wasn't too far behind, especially his thrust, it was faster and more precise, the two youths were even making Derwyn sweat a little. 

The noise of the spar attracted the attention of Lucia and Merthia who were close to the backyard, at first they were worried about the state of their children, but, as they watched the spar, they were surprised, especially Lucia who knew that Asahel wasn't someone who fought a lot.

Merthia wanted to ask them to stop, so she could tend to Reynald's wounds, but Lucia stopped her and pointed to the smiles on their faces. The two looked like they were having the time of their life.

The spar continued, but, with an audience now, Derwyn noticed them, yet, he didn't go easier on Reynald and Asahel, on the contrary, he started to pick up his pace, he knew that their mothers were worried about them, and showing them what the two were capable of was the best option to ease their worries.

Reynald and Asahel were completely oblivious to the women watching them, their complete focus was on Derwyn as the spar reached the climax, Asahel was feeling tired, but, somehow his speed kept increasing, he could follow Derwyn's movements easily now.

As Derwyn slashed towards him, he sidestepped and stabbed towards Derwyn's left ribs, making Derwyn jump back and thurst towards his chest. Reynald dashed towards Derwyn's right flank and made a downward slash.

Asahel evaded the thrust with a jump and circled Derwyn who dodged Reynald's slash, Derwyn wanted to create distance and force a one vs one, as the battle against the two of them was getting tricky, he was already using the peak strength of someone at the first level of the pre ascendant realm, increasing his powers any further would be truly shameless.

To his surprise Asahel didn't back off and kept exchanging blows with him, giving him the single battle he wanted. Derwyn grinned as he started his barrage of attacks toward him. Asahel tried his best to dodge Derwyn attacks, he dodged the first few slashes easily, but as the speed picked up, Asahel felt that he couldn't keep up with the pace, after a few seconds of dodging Asahel was hit by a slash, yet, he endured and tried to evade the next one.

Asahel's mind was on overdrive, his fatigue was reaching the limit when the time seemed to slow down, the slashes that looked like lighting before were slightly slower, he could see every bit of detail in Derwyn attacks in the back of his mind something had lit up, Derwyn noticed instantly that something had happened to Asahel.

Derwyn was thrusting his stick towards Asahel's shoulder, he could follow the movement of Derwyn's entire body, taking advantage of his weird state, and aimed his dagger towards his right arm 

Derwyn frowned as he saw Asahel attack, it was already too late for him to push his arm back, yet, he put even more strength in his thrust. just as Asahel aimed for the arm he held the stick with, Derwyn aimed to his thrust the arm that Asahel held his dagger.

He wanted to disarm Asahel with his thrust, this was the only way of evading his attack. Asahel gritted his teeth as he felt the impact on his shoulder and held firmly on to his dagger, he was too exhausted to keep sparing after this, he too bet everything on his attack.

As Derwyn pressed his stick harder on Asahel's shoulder, a sound of metal clanging was heard, Asahel finally let go of his dagger and collapsed on the floor. While still awake he was too tired to move.

He couldn't help but let his surprise appears on his face as looked at Asahel. -” Hey, did yo—--” before he could finish began to laugh and scream.

-” HAHAHAHAHAHA, GOOD JOB ASAHEL! YOU DONE IT.” Reynald kept laughing uncontrollably.

The way Reynald acted infuriated not only Derwyn but, Asahel too, Derwyn because of the interruption, and Asahel thought he was making fun of him, Derwyn was about to scold him when he noticed drops of blood coming from his wrist.

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