Chapter 7 - Sparring

It was Raiden's second day at the academy, today was the first time he had woken feeling refreshed in weeks. He sprung out of bed, in an alright mood. Finishing his morning routine, he left the dorm for breakfast at the center building.

He found himself standing in line for a few minutes, not the only one wanting breakfast made for him out of the nearly two hundred young adults who found themselves at the academy for future Frontline members. Asking for a breakfast sandwich and a coffee, he was quickly handed his meal. Making his way to one of the tables, he sat down and began eating.

The sandwich contained a fried egg, cheese melted overtop of it. Freshly fried bacon filling the gap between ketchup and bun. It didn't taste bad per se, but Raiden had a hard time tasting anything since he lost his family.

While Ashlee was still alive, she looked dead, at least the last time he had seen her. Raiden knew that his time with his sister would be limited from now on. He was prepared for that, despite how much he missed Ash and her meals.

He would visit whenever he had time on weekends or days off, but even then, he had to allocate most spare time to training.

His coffee nearly depleted, Raiden noticed someone walk up to his table and sit across from him. Alex looked at him inquisitively before he accused Raiden.

"You're a Superior, aren't you?" The older boy asked him, catching Raiden off-guard.

"Say what?" Raiden replied innocently, not quite sure what Alex, his classmate, was getting at.

"Last night, I could have sworn I saw you do some black magic fuckery with your lightning when you were trying to imbue it into your blades," he said, explaining himself a little before continuing again. "Speaking of which, how did you do it, I mean the channeling thing?" Alex bombarded him with questions, Raiden not quite ready to respond, his mouth full of food once again.

"Ehem!" Raiden cleared his throat, "First of all, I'm not a superior, I only have an affinity for lightning as far as I know, and second, I don't really know how to describe the feeling behind imbuing your weapon with dark matter." He said, replying honestly. Raiden knew that his chances of survival were better if everyone was more competent, but at the same time, a small corner of his mind wanted to dominate the sparring match today. "It's really just a matter of feeling it inside of yourself and your surroundings, and then pushing that energy into something, just like teach told us." He finished, trying his best to help Alex who seemed genuinely curious.

"I see, well I guess I should introduce myself a little better for you. As you probably heard me mention in class, I'm twenty-two, a Superior, and my full name is Alexander Callum." He said looking at a bored Raiden, having already heard this before. "My interests include hunting, video games, and making money." He said, Raiden now looking his way, realizing that Alex was trying to become friendly.

"Raiden Sullivan, I enjoy music and I used to play some video games, but now with the academy, I won't have much time," he said simply. "I don't understand why you're trying to make friends here," Raiden added, changing his tone. "Chances are that most of us will die, after all, none of us are superiors like you, you have the best chance at survival right now.” he finished, his voice now showing darker notes.

Is he really only a lightning matter-wielder? Alex wondered, he was certain that he saw something the other day, but even he wasn’t sure as to what exactly he was seeing. He imagined it to be something only a superior could do, but he had never seen anything like it before after all.

“That’s the thing, I don’t think I am the only Superior in our class,” he replied near-instantly, “the thing you did the other day, I can’t imagine anybody else but a Superior being capable of something like that.” he finished, observing Raiden’s reaction.

Alex came to two possible conclusions, either one; Raiden was for some reason hiding his abilities, or two, he didn’t actually know it himself. “Can you do it again? The thing with that scary-looking mist surrounding you and your daggers.” Alex asked curiously, thinking that he could confirm his hypothesis with a second look.

Is he referring to that weird feeling last night? Raiden was trying to think of what Alex could have possibly been talking about. The blackness sounded similar to Alex’s eerie-sounding description, but he wasn’t exactly sure what that odd feeling was either.

“I still don’t really know what you mean, but if I end up finding some black mist, you’ll be the first person I call.” With that, Raiden got up and left for his practical class, knowing it to be starting sooner than yesterday. The only reason the class had been previously limited to three hours being the orientation on the first day. On his way out, he threw his empty paper coffee cup into the trash, looking back at Alex and waving goodbye.

Prior to arriving at the second arena, Raiden stretched in his white short-sleeved shirt and his light gray tracks, making sure they were both clean and that he would be limber enough to spar with the other students. Just before Raiden was able to push open the doors to the arena, he was surprised to find them open in front of him.

“Hey!” the large man in his early fifties said, looking at Raiden. “I look forward to seeing what you do in the bouts, young man! Now get in there!” he added, pushing Raiden towards the three other students that found themselves in the arena, Salem being among them. The young-looking boy looking straight at them.

Raiden looked back, noticing the other sixteen-year-old to now be wearing black gloves. It took another twelve minutes after the class officially started for all eight students to arrive, one of them being notably late.

“Finally! Alright, with Alex’s arrival we can now start the class.” Adam said, excited to see his proteges compete. “So, did any of you manage to successfully imbue your weapons or fists with your elemental matter?” he asked, Alex immediately looking in Raiden’s direction before he and someone else hesitated to step forward.

“Well, would you look at that, the two youngest this year seem to have some talent!” he said giddily. Salem looked at Raiden, his small stature matching the timid expression he wore on his face surprisingly well. So I’m not the only one, Raiden thought to himself. I wonder which one of us will come out ahead in terms of progress… Raiden knew he was doing well, but he also knew that he wouldn’t be the only one making progress in this class. He figured that Alex would have also likely figured out how to channel his matter into his sword had he not been forced to focus on wind matter for the time being.

“So, would you both demonstrate for me what you’ve learned?” the man asked of them, evidently looking forward to the sloppy display, not comparing to his personal prowess.

Raiden went first, concentrating on the streaky sparks he could will into existence simply with his focus. He felt the familiar weight of his two wooden daggers lighten, despite the obvious increase in density and hardness he felt gripping the blades tighter. Opening his eyes, he watched blue light radiate from the direction of his hands. His white hair beginning to stand up, he fell into his preferred stance and dispelled the energy by launching a diagonal swipe from his rightmost dagger.

*Bzzzt*

Static energy released in the direction of his slash, not enough to cut or injure a person but definitely enough to force the wind out of the way with a dull thwoom.

“Very impressive, your unique and low profile stance, as well as your ability to quickly grasp information will come in handy, especially if you choose to take the role of a scout in your party as a Pathfinder,” Adam said, giving Raiden new ideas to think about.

“Now Salem, your turn,” he added, turning towards the young man, who in turn walked shyly towards where Raiden was standing just moments ago. “Show us what you’ve got!” the teacher finished.

Salem turned towards Raiden, determination filling the timidness that showed prior. A thin layer of stone wrapped itself around Salem’s gloves, himself falling into the stance he imitated from the professor. The rock was thicker around where his knuckles were, more effective for causing blunt damage to his opponent. Uh oh, Raiden thought, imagining himself getting hit by the jagged edges on his fists during their inevitable spar.

“Well done!” the professor encouraged before gesturing for him to return to where the other students were standing. “Once the rest of the class has made some progress towards similar results, we will have some friendly bouts!” he finished.

The entire class spent the first two of five hours refining their matter-wielding to similar levels. Raiden and Salem now finding themselves at the head of the class, Oliva close behind, not wanting to lose face to the two youngest students. Raiden had reached a point where he could attain a better result than earlier with only fifteen seconds to force the matter into his weapons. Much better than the near minute and a half it had taken him before, Salem seemed to fall further behind, if only slightly, himself still taking just over half a minute, Raiden noted. Olivia hadn’t yet managed to break the minute mark, but her control was perhaps better than Raiden’s own, water being a very physical element to work with, similar to Salem’s terra. Alex hadn’t yet managed to manipulate the wind to his will, he still did not however ask the teacher if he could use fire, obviously determined to accomplish the challenge presented.

When the teacher interrupted the students’ training, Raiden was ready to go. He knew that any minor injuries could be easily healed by a Terra-wielding Pathfinder, their mending capabilities second-only to water. Despite this, certain students still looked nervous, namely Alex and Salem, Alex not having been able to cross the barrier restricting his wind matter. Salem on the other hand simply seemed to be worried about being injured, despite his fists likely being the most dangerous weapon any of the students wielded.

“The rules on matter wielding will be limited to only imbuing your weapons with your given element,” professor Adam said, “For said reason, Alex, Claire, and Arlo won’t be participating in the bouts.” he finished, mentioning the names of the three students who hadn’t managed any progress in their task. Alex was evidently frustrated, still working hard on his channeling, not moving a muscle.

Raiden had the third and seventh bout today, each having a set duration no longer than ten minutes, they would go on until the first attack to draw blood or cause surrender. His first match was against Lucas Walker, a man looking no older than Alex and wielding the wind element, Raiden’s weakness. He figured this was deliberate on his professor’s part, likely curious to see how Raiden would cope against him. The man’s weapons were his very hands, his reasoning that they were more effective than a blade when it came to mobility and stealth.

Raiden watched the two first fights with interest, all students, bar Olivia, taking at least two and a half minutes to imbue their weapons with their given elements, Olivia had taken part in the second bout, her ability to channel quicker giving her the edge in defeating her opponent. Themselves not quite able to imbue their weapon while also being forced to dodge her unending polearm strikes.

When it came time to Raiden’s bout, he made sure not to hold back. Lucas was on the offensive immediately, he likely knew from observing Raiden practice, but the twenty-year-old would have no chance if he let Raiden imbue both his daggers with lightning, the boy being much quicker in his channeling than Lucas.

The man threw strike after strike in his opponent’s direction, Raiden doing a good job of avoiding each one since neither of them had yet to imbue their tools with dark matter, his speed still manageable.

Lucas’s footwork forced sand out from his feet behind him, trying to back Raiden into a corner. What Lucas wasn’t prepared for, was Raiden’s quick and lethal stance in response, when the man threw his next punch, Raiden slipped under his arm and slashed upwards at the man’s stomach with his left blade.

The wood causing his opponent to react with an exaggerated cough, the man quickly swinging back on his left foot to strike back at Raiden, who was now behind him once again, constantly staying out of sight.

Lucas suddenly threw his elbow back blindly, striking Raiden’s shoulder purely by chance and tripping him, causing the boy to plummet face-first into the sandy floor of the arena.

Raiden didn’t let this hinder him, however, quickly recovering and throwing himself away from his opponent. Raiden backpedaled all the way to the outer edge of the arena, Lucas still recovering from his quick dagger strikes.

By the time Lucas had once again reached Raiden, it was too late, lightning visibly pulsing from around his two daggers.

*zzzZIP!*

Just as he launched himself towards Lucas, the man threw his arms up in surrender, Adam calling the match.

“Raiden’s Victory! Lucas, well played attacking Raiden immediately, you were right to assume you’d lose the second he got a chance to imbue his weapons with electricity,” he said, Lucas looking slightly embarrassed. “Raiden, good footwork and exemplary use of space to time the imbuement of your weapons.” the professor said, addressing the victor of the bout. “Get ready for your second match, it won’t be long.” the man finished, now looking away from him and towards two new contestants.

Raiden sank back into the crowd of the eight remaining students, laying his two daggers down to his left. Sitting back against the wall of the arena, he played the fight back in his head, thinking about what he could have done better in the bout.