Path of the Unmentioned: The Missing Piece-Chapter 75: A Friendly Spar [2]

Luna bounced on her toes. Grinning like a kid in a candy store.

"Okay, place your bets! Who’s gonna wipe the floor with who? I have got ten credits on Cedric flattening Kyle in under three minutes."

Reo snorted, leaning back against the wall.

"You are underestimating Kyle. That guy’s got tricks. I say he lasts at least five."

Lyra, her emerald ponytail swaying, smirked.

"Please. Cedric’s been training since he could walk. Kyle’s good, but he’s not Golden Boy good." She crossed her arms.

"Twenty credits says Cedric doesn’t even break a sweat."

Sylvie fidgeted, adjusting her round glasses.

"I-I think it’ll be close? Kyle’s is really fast, and Cedric’s never fought him one-on-one before..." Her voice trailed off as Luna threw an arm around her shoulders.

Luna laughed. "Aw, Sylvie’s got a soft spot for our Kyle! Adorable."

Sylvie turned pink. "N-no! I just—it’s just strategy!"

Cassian, sprawled on a bench like he owned it.

He grinned. "Strategy, huh? Sure, sure. Meanwhile, I’m just here for the show. Hope they break something."

Serena, standing slightly apart with her usual aloof expression, rolled her eyes. "This is pointless. They are both gonna hold back. No one fights seriously in a friendly spar."

Eleanora, who had been quietly watching Kyle stretch, finally spoke.

Her voice smooth but with an edge of amusement.

"I wouldn’t be so sure. Kyle doesn’t like losing. And Cedric... well, he’s not the type to go easy, even if he acts like it."

Lyra raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Sounds like someone’s been paying close attention."

Eleanora just smiled, not taking the bait. "Observation. That’s all."

Luna gasped dramatically. "Wait, wait—Princess, you are not betting? Not even a little?"

Eleanora tilted her head, her ruby eyes glinting.

"If I did, it wouldn’t be fair. I know too much."

Reo groaned. "Ugh, cryptic princess talk. Just pick a side!"

Eleanora chuckled. "Fine. Kyle lasts longer than anyone expects."

Cassian whistled. "Bold. I like it."

Just then. Cedric and Kyle stepped into the center of the training grounds. There weapons ready.

The chatter died down instantly.

Luna grinned, rubbing her hands together. "Alright, shut up, everyone. Show’s starting."

Both fighters locked eyes, tension crackling in the air.

This wasn’t just a spar anymore.

It was a test.

And neither of them planned to fail.

———

"START"

The moment Cassian’s shout echoed through the training hall.

The atmosphere changed completely.

What was supposed to be a friendly spar suddenly felt like a life-or-death battle.

The air itself seemed to vibrate with energy as both combatants locked eyes.

Kyle didn’t wait.

His body vanished in a burst of blue-white electricity. The afterimage of his [Lightning Steps] painting jagged lines across the spectators’ vision.

He reappeared mid-air above Cedric. His practice tachi already descending in a perfect diagonal slash aimed at the junction between neck and shoulder.

A killing blow if this were real combat.

Cedric’s blue eyes flashed with surprise. But his body moved on instinct.

His longsword came up in a textbook-perfect guard position. The reinforced practice blade meeting Kyle’s strike with a shower of sparks.

The impact sent vibrations through both their arms, but neither flinched.

"Damn, he’s fast!" Reo blurted out, gripping the edge of his seat.

Luna’s eyes gleamed with excitement. "Told you this would be good!"

Before Cedric could counter. Kyle’s body suddenly crackled with pent-up electricity.

With a sound like tearing cloth.

A lightning discharge erupted from his skin in all directions.

Forcing Cedric to leap back hastily.

The floor where he had stood seconds before now bore blackened scorch marks.

The spectators fell silent.

This wasn’t friendly spar anymore.

Cedric landed lightly, his breathing barely elevated.

A slow grin spread across his face as he rolled his shoulders.

"Not bad," he admitted.

Then flames erupted around his boots.

[Flame Step]

He became a blur of motion. Closing the distance almost as fast as Kyle had.

His longsword came up in a vertical slash that would have split Kyle from his collarbone in half if it connected.

The sheer speed of the attack left afterimages in the air.

Kyle barely managed to twist aside.

Feeling the whoosh of air as the blade passed millimeters from his nose.

His enhanced reflexes. With the lightning coursing through his body.

It was the only thing that saved him.

Even so, the heat from Cedric’s flaming sword singed his eyebrows.

Counterattack came instinctively.

Kyle’s left hand snapped forward. Blue-white energy coalescing into a crackling sphere of compressed lightning.

He thrust it directly at Cedric’s face in a move that would have shattered bones if it connected cleanly.

Cedric jerked his head aside with inhuman speed, but not fast enough.

The lightning grazed his cheek.

Leaving an angry red burn mark and the faint scent of charred flesh.

First blood.

The spectators gasped.

Sylvie covered her mouth with both hands. "Oh gods, he actually hit him!"

Lyra’s emerald eyes widened. "No way... he actually landed the first hit on him on one-on-one?"

Cedric didn’t even touch the wound.

Instead, his right fist suddenly blazed to life.

Wreathed in swirling flames that distorted the air around it.

Kyle barely had time to summon his own lightning before..

BOOM!

The collision of fire and lightning created a small explosion that sent both combatants skidding backward.

Kyle went farther. His boots leaving black streaks on the wooden floor as he fought to maintain balance.

His left arm throbbed painfully, the sleeve of his combat uniform was partially burned blackening it.

The difference in their physical capabilities was brutally apparent.

Cedric, at Peak Grade 3 Silver, had more endurance and strength than Kyle who was at Peak Grade 1 Bronze.

While Kyle’s techniques were flashier. Each exchange cost him more energy.

Kyle spat to the side, tasting blood. His ribs ached from the concussive force.

Across from him. Cedric looked barely winded.

His golden hair slightly disheveled but otherwise unharmed aside from the burn on his cheek.

"Had enough?" Cedric taunted, rotating his sword arm.

In response, lightning crackled around Kyle’s body again.

He wouldn’t give Cedric the satisfaction of seeing him hesitate.

The second exchange was even faster than the first.

Kyle blurred forward. His tachi flashing in a complex pattern of slashes and thrusts that would have overwhelmed most opponents.

But Cedric wasn’t most opponents.

Their blades met in a rapid series of clashes that sounded almost like musical notes.

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

Each impact sent shockwaves through the training hall.

Cedric’s style was economical perfection. Each movement precise and efficient.

The result of a lifetime of elite training.

But Kyle...

There was something unnatural about his swordsmanship.

Despite having only trained with a tachi for one and half months.

His movements were too polished. His counters too precise.

When Cedric attempted a feint followed by a sudden thrust to the ribs.

Kyle’s blade was already there to intercept. The parry executed with flawless technique.

Cedric’s eyes narrowed.

This wasn’t right.

He’d watched Kyle during the combat classes. He had been decent but nowhere near this level.

There was no way someone could improve this much in such a short time.

———

What Cedric didn’t know.

That simple black ring on Kyle’s finger. It held the real secret behind his sudden mastery.

Just weeks ago, Kyle could barely hold a tachi properly.

Sure, he had been grinding day and night to improve.

But raw practice alone couldn’t explain this level of skill.

The truth was. He’d been missing something crucial.

The actual knowledge of how to wield the weapon.

That’s where Zalrielle came in.

The spirit ability, [Understanding], worked in ways Kyle was still figuring out.

It gave him the knowledge of how to actually wield his Tachi.

Parry.

Slash.

Thrust.

"Damn, look at Kyle go!" Cassian whooped, breaking the tense silence among the spectators.

"Since when did he get so good with a sword?"

Eleanora’s ruby eyes gleamed with hidden knowledge.

She alone understood that Kyle was full of surprises.

She had seen glimpses of his potential in her past life.

But even she seemed impressed by his current performance.

———

Cedric decided to stop playing around.

Fire wreathed his blade as he suddenly changed tactics.

His attacks becoming heavier.

More aggressive.

Each slash came with enough force to knock Kyle back several steps.

The impacts jarring his arms to the bone.

Kyle gritted his teeth, feeling the strain in his muscles.

He was holding his own.

But barely.

The physical disparity was becoming more apparent with each exchange. He needed to end this quickly.

Feinting left. Kyle suddenly pivoted on his back foot.

His tachi coming around in a lightning-charged horizontal slash aimed at Cedric’s midsection.

It was a move that would have bisected a lesser opponent.

Cedric barely managed to twist aside, but not fast enough.

The blade grazed his side, slicing through his combat uniform and drawing a thin line of crimson.

The spectators gasped again.

For the first time, Cedric laughed.

A genuine, exhilarated sound.

"Now we are talking!" he shouted, his blue eyes blazing with battle lust.

What happened next shocked everyone.

Cedric vanished.

Not with [Flame Step].

This was something faster, something more primal.

One moment he was five meters away.

The next he was right in front of Kyle.

His knee driving upward into Kyle’s ribs with bone-crushing force.

CRACK!

The sound of breaking bone was audible throughout the silent training hall.

Kyle’s eyes bulged as all the air left his lungs in a pained wheeze.

Before he could even register the pain. Cedric’s follow-up strike.

A spinning back kick that caught him square in the chest, sending him flying backward to the ground.

Kyle hit the ground rolling from Cedric’s last attack, his ribs screamed in protest.

Blood coated his tongue where he’d bitten his cheek.

Across from him.

Cedric stood poised longsword resting casually against his shoulder like this was just another training drill.

’Bastard’s not even breathing hard.’

Kyle spat red onto the polished floor.

His fingers twitched toward the practice tachi lying a foot away.

"Had enough?" Cedric asked, that infuriating golden-boy smile still in place.

In answer, lightning crackled along Kyle’s arms.

Crack-BOOM!

The burst of electricity launched him forward like a living bolt.

Cedric barely got his sword up in time.

Steel shrieked as Kyle’s tachi slid along the length of Cedric’s blade.

Sparks flying where metal met metal.

For a heartbeat, they were nose to nose.

"You are holding back" Kyle growled.

Cedric’s eyes gleamed. "Prove me wrong."

Kyle kicked off, creating distance.

Just as Cedric’s free hand erupted in flames.

A compressed fireball shot toward Kyle’s chest.

[Lightning Steps] barely got him out of the way.

The heat seared his side as the fireball exploded against the far wall.

Kyle’s fingers tightened around his tachi.

’Not yet.’

Cedric came at him again. Sword flashing in a silver arc.

Kyle parried, but the force of the blow numbed his fingers.

Another slash.

Kyle ducked.

A thrust.

He twisted aside.

But Cedric wasn’t just swinging wildly.

Every attack drove Kyle backward, herding him toward the corner of the training hall.

Trapped.

Luna’s voice cut through the tension.

"Ten seconds till Cedric wins the bet!"

Kyle’s back hit the wall.

Cedric’s sword came down in a brutal overhead strike—

CRACK!

Ice erupted from Kyle’s free hand.

A jagged shield of frost formed just in time, intercepting Cedric’s blade.

The longsword bit deep into the frozen barrier. Sending hairline fractures spiderwebbing across its surface.

For the first time. Cedric’s perfect composure slipped.

His eyes widened.

"Ice—?!"

Kyle grinned. Then he pushed.

The ice shield exploded outward in a burst of razor-sharp shards.

Cedric reeled back.

Arms raised to protect his face as frozen daggers peppered his combat suit.

Silence.

Every spectator everyone stared with identical expressions of shock.

Cedric lowered his arms slowly.

A thin cut bled on his forehead where an ice shard had grazed him.

"A Deviant" he murmured.

Then louder, with a wild grin.

"Since when do you have ice?"

Kyle rolled his shoulders. Frost still curling off his fingertips.

"Since always."

The air between them crackled with a new kind of tension.

Cedric adjusted his grip on his sword.

"Guess I’ll have to get serious then."

Light mana wrapped around his blade.

Kyle exhaled.

Watching his breath mist in the suddenly frigid air around him.

———