As I swung my blade, the professor pulled back in a flash, causing my blade to slash through empty air. She took a moment to regain herself and gripped her sword tightly in her hands.

I also took a moment and activated the runes on my back, letting the hum reverberate through my body and take in its influence. What followed was something I expected.

In front of me, Professor Amber disappeared in an instant, leaving a blurry silhouette in the corner of my vision. The mana around me pulsated wildly against my senses, giving me a clear and precise indication of her location.

Given her speed, my body moved accordingly to dodge her blow. Undeterred, she pressed further, throwing swing after swing while I moved to dodge each one.

"How... are you... doing that!" she exclaimed amid her instantaneous attacks. As she spoke, I caught a glimpse of her. From what I saw she seemed troubled as she couldn't land a single hit no matter how hard she tried. Perhaps even a little annoyed. As well as confused, questioning how I am able to move out of her blade's trajectory without even tracking it with my eyes.

Dodging isn't going to get me anywhere, I realized. I needed to find a way to strike back and land a hit before I tired out. In this situation, a fast opponent bombarding attacks on me non-stop, there are several approaches I could take to turn it around.

While I can use the sigil to disturb her mana control, I'd rather not. It'll be too much of a giveaway and might lead to the revelation of my runes. Another way is that based on her movement pattern I could predict where she was going to take her next step but that requires a lot of critical thinking and a seasoned level of foresight to achieve.

The only way I see myself doing this is by embracing the essence of battle and meeting her head-on by matching her speed. Can I do that? I don't think I've ever moved that fast.

This feeling... now that I think of it, back when I was lost in Canavar, in the stone cave where I battled the stone mage that met an unfortunate end. I feel similarly now as I did then. Not in the sense that back then I ended someone's life but in the sense of battle. What did do then? Right... I remember... I remember it too clearly.

As my body remained in a perpetual state of dodging. I concentrated on the mana particles around me. This time instead of improving my external mana usage to create black lightning. I delved inside me and enhanced the flow of mana deep within me.

I've always found internal mana control to be rather interesting. It's an intricate network with no focused point at which the mana resides and be ready to be drawn out. Instead, mana flows through major channels and pathways within the body such as those along the spine, limbs, and other key areas, which serve as conduits for mana flow.

The absence of a centralized core makes the distribution more diffuse, allowing mana to reach various areas more precisely. Picture mana as these streams, flowing and branching throughout the body. In the initial stages, people might sense a scattered, unorganized flow resembling small rivulets, causing mana to flow out of the body and burn out.

However, I am not in the initial stages, my pathways are already well-developed. Just as I was able to interact with mana particles, enabling me to disrupt mana flow and throw off spell formations. I could interact with my own and do the opposite. Instead of disturbing the mana particles of my own magic, I could improve them, just like I did back then when I created black lightning.

After all, it doesn't matter the amount of mana you have but rather how you use it. I learned that long ago. Within me, I utilized every single drop of mana that I could manage and guided its flow through the major passages in my body, enhancing the overall web of mana.

The sensation was something I had never felt before. My body tingled and gently pulsed in accordance with my natural mana patterns as I guided the gentle, controlled current through the intricate channels within. It was as if each pathway responded with unified coordination, resulting in an overall sense of absolute balance and precision.

This is it. A state where I'm in total control of my own internal distribution of mana. I could feel the flowing streams of mana coiling around areas where I never felt before, pulsating with a surge of power in a web of energy. A web that tangled through and around my overall muscles, filling them to the brim with power.

It just felt... perfect... No, as perfect as it felt there was an equally balanced sense of imperfection. This was just an imitation. I am still far from achieving perfect mana control. While I'm in this state a large portion of my mana is exposed, making me a clear target. Not only that but my mana is burning up in large quantities and my muscles might give out due to the sudden burst in power.

I should only use this for a limited amount of time in a time of absolute crisis. However, right now, why don't I give it a try?

As Professor Amber rushed in for another attack, I made a move. In a blur of motion, I disappeared from the area I was standing on, resulting in the professor slashing at empty air.

My vision blurred slightly as I moved so I relied on the ambiance around me to let me know if there were any obstacles in my way. Within a second, I traveled around the professor's figure and readied to swing my blade at her unguarded back.

From my view, Professor Amber's figure shifted in a sudden jerk as if an instinctual nerve was pulled, causing her to quickly turn around and barely guard against my blow. As our weapons collided, I could see a mixture of surprise and bewilderment written all over her face, maybe even a hint of fear.

My attention pulled away from her in the next instant as, even without the help of gravity I had managed a blow strong enough that rivaled hers. As a result, she got flung back some distance before catching herself on the ground.

She paused for a moment, turning her head up to take a long look at me. "I had also heard you had large mana reserves," she spoke, standing up straight. "It's indeed a bit frightening now that you are not suppressing it."

This isn't even the full weight of my mana, only about half is being exposed. Professor Amber could already sense a faint signature coming from me due to her expertise so now she was able to perceive a little over that amount.

A smile crossed her face, "Shall we continue?"

Without another word, we both charged forward, moving at high speeds and met in the middle with an echoing ring of metal. Then another ring mirroring the first came.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it.

Just like that, we fell into a state of combat, both of us deeply engaged in the battle unfolding, our actions guided by our past experiences. Unlike my previous battles in Canavar, driven by the need to survive or kill, this confrontation felt unique. Facing an opponent of equal strength, each step, each glance of the eye, and each blow that was exchanged somehow spoke volumes of our respective strengths, skills, and motivations.

It was a battle of equals, a dance where every move communicated a story of our capabilities and ambitions. As we clashed, the unspoken language of combat unfolded, revealing the essence of our characters and leaving me wondering who would come out on top.

Soon I was beginning to tire, my breath was becoming heavy as maintaining this state was difficult to do. I needed to finish this now.

Our swords clashed for what seemed like the hundredth time. We both retracted our arms due to the equal force. In the moment that followed Professor Amber moved first, her blade raging through the air in a diagonal arc.

I moved to the side and evaded her strike, listening to her weapon whistle past my ears. The moment her blade missed me, I swung up but the professor pulled her head back narrowly dodging my strike.

Due to the moment, I couldn't stop in time and ready myself for another attack or block. The professor took that opportunity and redirected her blade toward me. Now it was coming at my low in a horizontal angle as if to slice my bottom half off my top.

I abandoned the idea of blocking with the sword and got into a hand-to-hand combat stance, the Avalon style of fighting that Shina had taught me a long time ago. My posture lowered at an unnatural angle that took many months of practice to achieve effectively in battle, and, with that, her blade passed over my head, barely grazing the tips of my hair.

Since I still wasn't in a position to launch an attack with my sword, I clenched my fist and thrust forward, hitting her on the side of her stomach. She let out a pained grunt in response.

While my attack did its damage, I brought my blade up in an upward diagonal arc with one hand and clenched it with my second hand once I was able to reach it. Right now, Professor Amber wasn't in a good place to do much of anything. I had her cornered.

However, as I celebrated the victory that was yet to come. Miss Amber took a page out of my book, abandoned her defense, and thrust her elbow down at me, striking me straight across the face.

Ouch! She did not hold back on that one. I let out a groan as my strength and speed faltered, causing the professor to barely dodge the sharpness of the blade.

Despite the setback, I didn't stop there. I continued with the attack, spinning around to gather momentum.

As soon as I came face to face with my opponent, I immediately came to a stop as the point of my blade was held just inches away from the professor's chin. On her side, her weapon was held inches away pointed straight at my neck.

Had we both not come to a stop we would have impaled each other in fatal spots, leading to some unfortunate consequences. The most prominent being death.

We both remained silent as we stared at each other in defeat, our panting breath a testament to our arduous battle.

The battle unfolded in a constant exchange where neither of us ended with serious injuries. The challenge lay in the endless pursuit, deflections, agile dodges, and chases where neither of us held the upper hand. This thorny dance on the battleground spoke volumes about the strength gap between us, each move a testament to the unwavering struggle that portrayed our confrontation.

"A draw..." Professor Amber muttered, half bitterly. She closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath as she lowered her weapon, placed it on its scabbard, and relaxed her body. I did the same, lowered my blade, and waited for her to continue speaking. "A draw against you in private is fine but a draw in front of my other students... my pride simply wouldn't have allowed it."

Whatever negative feelings she had seemed to fade away and be replaced by a smile. She crossed her arms and looked down at me due to the short distance in our height, her eyes and expression reflecting a newfound sense of respect. "Safe to say, I won't pick a fight with you until I'm confident I can win."

"So is that the end of my punishment?" I questioned, my expression mirroring hers. I was a bit down since I didn't win but at the same time, I was glad. Why did it take me so long to realize? I don't need to go out there and get myself killed to get stronger.

Now with that mental block out of the way, I realized that I could grow strong here without the necessity of risking my life. I am stronger now than I was this morning. I see that now.

"Yup," Professor Amber replied with a nod of her head. "Now, come with me, I'll take you back to the dorms and I better not catch you breaking the rules again."

"Yes ma'am," I replied, gladly following behind her.

***

"Ah? You're back!" Selkie exclaimed as soon as I entered the dorm room. "And past curfew, again!"

"Oh, about that, I happened to be caught up in... nothing important... but I'm tired," I replied, not having the strength to explain what had transpired just moments ago. Letting out an audible sigh, I let the strap that held my sword around my waist drop and began undressing.

As I did that, all three of them, Ari, Selkie, and Theodore looked on with intrigue. "He said the same thing yesterday," Ari mumbled.

While removing my blazer, an unpleasant odor reached my nose, causing my face to wrinkle slightly in distaste. "I don't see Flare," Theodore commented, attempting to gain further explanation into where I'd been.

"She's with Nina," I replied, my tone conveying my reluctance to speak additional words. I reached over to get my separate piece of night clothes and turned to face them. "I'll be back I'm going to take a shower," I spoke, the tiredness I felt was written all over my face.

Without any further comments, I turned around and exited the room, happily making my way to the desolate shower room. I liked showering by myself, not only because I enjoyed my privacy but because it made it easier to hide the runes on my back.

In the midst of that relaxing shower, several questions began to flood my mind.