Hector then looked at Mallory. “What’s that new spell you’re working on?”

“Oh, me?” Mallory had a look of bewilderment on his face, but he kept speaking.

“In simple terms, I was trying to replicate that spell we used during the attack on Jon’s farm,” Mallory explained. “Or well, I did.”

“I thought you said it requires more than one person to use,” Hector said.

“It does…” Mallory responded, “...but for its full effect. If I narrow it down to one person… I might be able to amplify my powers…”

“I’m tired of asking all the questions,” Tallow said. “But what’s this spell?”

“Mallory used a giant spell to trap an ancient monster back into the ground,” Mercy explained.

“Huh, so you say.” Tallow nodded without much else to say.

“So, is it an entrapment spell?” Hector asked. “Like the ones you use?”

“Well…” Mallory shrugged. “It sort of uses up your body mana. Sort of.”

“Sort of like what?” Hector pressed.

“...Like… I can use my own body to fortify the spell,” Mallory explained. “Without the need for extra mana.”

Hector looked concerned. “Your body?”

“Yep.” Mallory nodded. “You know. It’s weird. The spell is really an extremely large spell, made up of a number of smaller spells, but also just a really, really large spell with some other key elements added. I’ve been slowly dissecting each part of the spell piece by piece and breaking it down. I don’t know if you’ve noticed that I’ve made a lot more tentacles.”

“You always make tentacles,” Hector said.

“I know. But it’s a lot more efficient now, and I can do it from far away, and all these other things. I’ve been making all sorts of spells. Sort of. That spell I used at the Period of Power?”

“I’ve seen those spells before,” Mercy said. “But yours were different.”

Mallory nodded. “It takes the mana that gets tossed into it and uses it to replenish itself. As long as I can keep matching it, but it stops me from having to spend all of my mana keeping it up.”

“That’s why you’ve been able to do it with only one person?” Mercy nodded. “Cool.”

“I didn’t know you’ve been developing this type of stuff,” Hector said. “I know you cast spells… but I didn’t know you did so much other stuff.”

“I dabble,” Mallory said. “I just try to keep it out of your way so that you can focus on other stuff.”

“Nonsense,” Hector replied. “Tell me everything.”

“When we get back to the castle?” Mallory suggested.

“Deal!” Hector pounded the table in agreement.

“Why do I feel like I just watched a couple reach second base together?” Tallow asked. “Nasty.”

“You wish you made it to second base in a couple, girl!” Mallory retorted.

This was followed by him immediately standing up and running out through the front door.

“...I’m gonna let him go for a bit so that he thinks that he’s able to escape me…” Tallow said, leaning back in her chair.

After a few more moments, she leaped over the table and ran straight for the door as well dashing out.

“...Should we talk about the fight?” Hector asked Mercy after they both turned away from the door.

“Sure,” she said. “You wanna analyze fight choreography with me?”

“...You seem to be understanding of this stuff,” Hector said. “On a technical level. With your training and-”

“Yep.” Mercy nodded slowly. “Correct. I was hiding half the fight, so I think I saw most of it. She was using her mana to augment her strength, right?”

“Right,” Hector said. “But to an extreme level. Almost like…”

“Our fight at the farm?” Mercy finished.

“Yeah,” Hector said. “Just… overarching aggression. I don’t know how to keep up. I don’t ever know how to keep up.”

“...You’re stronger than me when you augment your body,” Mercy said. “As much as I hate to admit it.”

“But, I can’t do it all the time,” Hector explained. “My body… I can’t explain it, but I can’t keep it concentrated in one area for too long. It wanes and fades and comes back… but these guys, they just augment their entire body, and…”

“That’s just practice and experience,” Mercy said. “What you’re experiencing is very common, especially when people are first starting out.”

“I’m not starting out…” Hector grumbled.

“I know,” Mercy said. “I get the feeling you’ve trained your whole life to fight. So, you don’t fight like those two.”

“How do I get like that?” Hector asked.

“...Again, that’s just practice. You don’t ever know unless it’s happened. People’s body learn to adapt to larger mana pools after they’ve been stretched out, right?”

“Right,” Hector said. “By theory.”

“It’s true, Hector,” Mercy said. “What it means is when someone sustains a serious injury, their body usually adapts to protecting that particular part with their mana. What that means, is that someone whose incredibly adaptive at being able to fortify their entire body with mana so quickly-”

“Means that they’ve been injured several times over,” Hector responded.

“Yeah,” Mercy said. “That’s why people who can use their mana like that are also incredibly skilled fighters, without being extensively trained. It means that they spent most of their time charging into battle reckless, just taking on whatever scars you can get. It means that they’ve done alot. They’ve seen a lot. Who knows what they’ve been through? They’ve learned through countless amounts of failures and continued forward. But they have to survive it.”

“Okay…” Hector nodded with approval. “So just understand someone who fights like that is probably a very experienced fighter with a good instinct for battle. But most people, who can do that… are untrained.”

“Correct,” Mercy said. “Hence why you’re an outlier. You don’t fight like that. It doesn’t mean you’re weak at all.”

“Hmmm… So… that girl…”

“Yep,” Mercy replied. “What you did back there. That fight to you drop mentality? That’s how people often train their students in order to build their bodies up to that level. That’s what I had to do to get stronger.”

“...and that’s probably what she did too,” Hector said.

Mercy nodded. “Yeah. Who knows.”

“At that age?” Hector asked. “Shit.”

“It doesn’t work if it’s self-inflicted,” Mercy explained. “If it’s not done in the right context, then instead of reforming, it becomes traumatic, and your body doesn’t recover it as well as it’s supposed to. That’s why forcing people to fight is such a common way to do it.”

“It’s like anything,” Hector said. “The more you do it, the better your body becomes at it.”

“Exactly,” Mercy said. “You’re a real scrapper, who tried to pretend he’s not.”

“That’s what… Sabez said…” Hector remarked.

“It doesn’t mean you’re weak,” Mercy said. “You’ve been trained in a lot of styles. You’ve learned in a lot of styles. That gives you options in battle. You’re also a pretty good fighter who's good in a lot of areas… but I think you get stuck in trying to beat the person in whatever it is they’re good at.”

“...Then what should I do?” Hector asked.

“It’s different for each person you fight?” Mercy shrugged. “Difference is, you’ll have to tools available to you to use before the other person. I think you underestimate your form, despite what you said before.”

“I said she had no form,” Hector replied quietly.

“I think…” Mercy put her hand on his arm. “I think you should trust your form… Even if you get hit or you fail once… trust in it more.”

“And if I fail horribly and die?” Hector asked.

“You wouldn’t have survived regardless,” Mercy said.

“Right…” Hector nodded. “Do you… want to spar?”

“Right now?” Mercy asked. “Are you sure?”

“Sure,” Hector said. “Without mana. I just want to… trade forms.”

“Sure!” Mercy stood up. “Let’s go!”

Hector stood up as well.

“Do you want to watch, Jon?” Hector asked. “We won’t be using much mana, but-”

Jon stood up as well.

“Yeah!”

With that, the three of them went outside.

Mallory and Tallow were training already. Mallory had his large spell circle undeneath him, while Tallow ran around him, leaping and dodging all sorts of magical manifestations. Blocks and flat walls and tentacles appeared all around her, even reaching for her sometimes, but Tallow zipped around, still lonely using her free hand to aid in her acrobatics.

In the center of the spell circle, blue tentacles had been reaching up and surrounding Mallory’s lower body, plating him to the ground and reminding Jon of when he used the spell back at the farm. Still, things looked safer than before.

“That looks like fun,” Hector said. “Would you like to go?”

“No,” Mercy said. “We’re here. Let’s spar.”

“Right…” Hector took a deep breath and lowered his stance, extending his arms and hands in front of his face.

Mercy, alternatively, also lowered her position but readied her fists instead.

“No mana, except for defending, right?” Mercy asked.

“Right,” Hector said.

Soon, Mercy went up to Hector to strike.

Hector immediately moved to the side, parrying her extended arm with his palm and pushing himself away.

Mercy turned back and kicked, which Hector swiftly ducked under, surprising Jon.

Mercy continued, hopping around Hector and finding different ways in order to attack him.

Hector stayed in the center, moving around smoothly, battering away and dodging her quick attacks, while also making strikes towards her whenever she got too close.

Hector moved swiftly between staying on the defensive, then suddenly springing forward movements with his attacks. It fascinated Jon to see that whenever he was attacking, Hector would fold his hands into fists, then immediately unfold them and hold them palm opened while he defended. It was so clear and distinct, yet Jon didn't think it would aid him in a fight. With how smooth Hector changed forms, he didn’t think he could keep up regardless.

Mercy, however, had an extremely aggressive style. She rarely blocked any of Hector’s attacks, always dodging whatever attacks came her way by moving nothing beneath her hips and just using it as an opportunity to mount a counterattack.

It intrigued Jon to watch just a clean fight. It wasn’t like when Hector and Tallow sparred back in the castle. There was a level of intensity between the two, but there was also a level of calmness and focus missing in any of the previous high octane battles Jon had seen or participated in.

Jon enjoyed just being able to ingest the two warriors and their approach to the fight. Their years of experience and training help them to decide their next moves without the excess of mana attacks flying around the field. Even if Jon was able to keep up as much as he could in his own battles, there was always a level of fundamentals his friends had that he lacked.

It also reminded Jon of being on the farm again. Always somehow behind the next farmer when it came to skills and information. Sometimes he even felt flawed as a fighter, but time and time again he was able to prove himself worthy to get a win over his opponents. Even if he was bad at fighting, hard work, persistency, and teamwork were able to help him get by in his previous battles.

That's not what he saw here.

Technique. Traning. Skill.

That was what Jon saw within his two friends at this moment as they continued to play off of each other's movements.

Mercy had begun to repeatedly try to hop on Hector, to what Jon assumed was one of her many grapples she used when she thought she could land a big hit. Hector, unlike her earlier opponents, was able to fend off her multiple attempts. Jon remembered that Hecto had used his own grapple when fighting Dot, so maybe there was some shared understanding between both of them.

Finally, Mercy had tricked Hector into overextending. She had pulled her fist back as if preparing to throw a heavy straight. When Hector reached his palm out to deflect it, she pulled her fist out to the side, performing her feint and moving outside of Hector’s arm. She jumped onto his neck, wrapping her leg around it and swinging him to the ground.

Hector, however, didn’t let this keep him down. He flipped over and moved over Mercy, using her legs to lock her on the ground.

“You could have broken my arm,” he said, calmly.

“Why would I?” Mercy said. “I had a ton of options, I might have left myself open.”

She spun around and tossed him over her head. Hector dived into a roll and landed on a single knee.

Hector stood up, and both warriors relaxed their bodies.

“You were able to get out of my submission,” Mercy said. “With the added bonus of putting me in one. Impressive.”

“...I used to spar with my sister all the time,” Hector said. “Macy, even if she was weaker than me, would usually beat me in straight combat. When I would put her in submission holds, she would always tell me how weak my grip was, or something along those lines… and then she would break free. She told me my holds were too obvious. But when I saw you put that hold on her in the cafeteria… and she didn’t get out…”

“Macy would tell you your holds were bad?” Mercy asked. “Do you really believe that?”

“...I did,” Hector said.”

“I think your holds were fine,” Mercy assured. “I think if you had kept me there, I wouldn’t have been able to escape without resorting to some mana tactic, and you would have had me down there as long as you wanted.”

“Really?” Hector asked. “As much as I wanted?”

“You already know that!” Mercy exclaimed. “Your form's good! If I hadn’t started to escape…”

She started to blush hard. “I mean, not like that…

Hector raised an eyebrow.

“I… don’t… not like what?”

“Anyways,” Mercy continued, the blush eventually fading.

Hector took a look at Jon with his eyebrow still raised but didn’t press it any further.

“Macy talks a lot of shit,” Mercy said, “No matter the person or the position that you’re in. The person who told you your form sucked was also the one who benefited the most in you having doubt in your abilities.”

“Right...” Hector said.

He walked up to Mercy. Before she could say anything, he hugged her. She was astonished over his shoulder.

“Thank you,” Hector said. “I’ve never gotten good advice before without being put down.”

“Sure, Hector,” she said, her astonishment waning. She put her arms around his back.

“Just be sure to teach me some of those holds again,” she said.

Jon saw her start to blush again. When she noticed him watching, she dug her face into Hector’s shoulder to hide her embarrassment.

When they finally pulled apart, the three of them went to the large circle.

“Heyo!” Mallory waved at the others. His magic circle drained away, and his tentacles started sliding away from his body.

“Is that safe?” Hector asked as they got closer.

“Meh,” Mallory shrugged. “As safe as ever when I cast mana. It’s fine. I…”

“I didn’t know it was so dangerous for you,” Hector said.

“It’s not,” Mallory said. “It’s only when I cast large spells. I mean, I didn’t tell you this, but my spellcasting abilities expanded after the attack on the farm. And not just from that single spell.”

He held his hands up. “I was a bit dour, but I don’t think I ever got to explaining that my mana pools increased for the first time ever since I started.”

“Is this from the spell?” Hector asked.

Mallory shook his head. “It was from that sun spell I used the day before. When it drained me and I almost went kaput. I think when I healed back up with help from Mrs… I mean Velvet, it meant that my mana pools increased after being received. I suspected it, but never really got to test it out. I guess holding that mini-sun over my head and almost dying allowed my body to adapt. That might have been another reason I was barely just able to pull that large spell off."

“But you almost died,” Hector said. “Are you saying that’s the first growth you’ve experienced? You’ve been doing magic since we were kids.”

“We have a lot to talk about,” Mallory said. “But first, let’s practice kicking ass.”

The next few hours were a lot of exchanging of ideas and fighting techniques.

Jon had to train harshly with Mercy and Tallow both running after him.

“You’re the spellcaster,” Tallow said before they begin, “so you’re gonna learn how to run your ass fast when people start chasing after you.”

Jon nodded. He then ran around, watching Mercy and Tallow both hop around and try to chase him around the field. Their goal was to grab him and take him to the floor.

Jon figured that if they were really trying, it would have happened instantly. Still, he ran in fear and worked hard to keep them in his sights as he did, also trying not to use his gun as much as possible.

Eventually, Tallow had run above him and dived down with her wind mana, forcing Jon to shoot and push himself backward, sliding along the ground as he did.

“That thing, when you get rid of your friction!” Tallow yelled, chasing after him. “You should do it more!”

Jon stopped and stood back up.

“More?”

Tallow reached out and grabbed onto his shoulder.

“Do it now.”

Jon removed his shoulder from her grip. It was easier than he thought.

“Hector!” Tallow called.

“What?” Hector left Mallory and walked over to them.

“Try to grab, Jon,” she said.

Hector reached out and grabbed Jon’s shoulder.

“Move, Jon.”

Jon pulled his shoulder out of Hector’s grip.

“...How’d he do that?” Hector looked back and forth between his hand and Jon’s body with awe. “I was holding him.”

He reached out again, and Jon instinctively pulled away. He felt Hector’s grip slid off his arm.

Oh…

Afterward, Jon left Tallow and Mercy to do some more sparring together as he followed Hector back to Mallory.

“Jon can make himself slippery,” Hector told Mallory. “Like a fish. It’s creepy.”

“You fart fire,” Mallory said. ‘Isn’t that creepy?”

“I don’t fart fire,” Hector declared.

“...But I bet you could,” Mallory responded.

Hector’s face flushed.

“No!”

Hector then proceeded to help Mallory find ways to use his mana.

“How heavy of an object can you lift with your mana?” Hector asked him.

“I’ve never officially done a test. I can lift people, but only if they want to. People who are too engaged, I can’t really lift them at all. I mean, I lifted a lot of unwilling people last night. That was new. But they were thieves. Skinny and all.”

“You lifted more than one?” Hector asked.

“One at a time.” Mallory shrugged.

“Hmm…" Hector began observing Mallory as if he were a tool. "if you’re using your body to help your mana, then maybe I can show you how to use your body weight to throw people around…”

Jon expected Hector to start doing some physical exercises with Mallory, but instead, they got close and started having a fast-paced conversation Jon couldn’t understand.