Return of the Runebound Professor

“Do you need a sword?” Alexandra asked as she and Yulin moved to stand several paces away from each other. “Yours doesn’t appear to have a blade.”

“It is still a sword,” Yulin replied, pulling the hilt of the weapon from her side and holding it out before her with both hands. A hum emitted from it as ribbons of golden energy swirled up. They solidified, forming into a humming golden saber.

“We said swords only,” Alexandra pointed out.

“Yes. I am not using my own magic. It is imbued, and it is a sword. It falls within the terms of our agreement.”

That’s my trick. You can’t just steal my trick.

Marley snickered from the sidelines. He didn’t say anything, likely because there was only so much pride he could show when he’d just been thoroughly trounced, but it grated on Noah’s nerves all the same. Alexandra’s expression didn’t so much as flicker. She returned the sword she’d been drawing to its sheath, pulling out the one below it.

“I see. Then I am prepared as well. First blood,” Alexandra said as she raised the new blade. “You may make the first move.”

“You’ll regret that,” Yulin said. She shifted her stance, then shot forward. Her sword blurred.

Alexandra brought her blade to meet Yulin’s, flames erupting along it with a crackle. The two swords struck each other with a clang, flames and golden energy intermixing in a swirl of light.

Yulin arched her back, leaning out of the way as Alexandra shifted her weight and thrust her sword forward. It carved through the air above Yulin’s nose, just narrowly missing. Yulin vaulted back, driving her foot into Alexandra’s stomach to keep her from pressing the advantage.

The force of the kick sent Yulin in a clean arc backward, and she landed on her feet several paces away. Her expression flickered when she realized that Alexandra hadn’t so much as flinched from the blow.

“You are very agile,” Alexandra said. Her foot hit the ground and she blurred forward before the other girl could respond. The flames on her sword sputtered, unable to remain lit with the speed that she was moving at.

They reignited as Alexandra slammed to a stop and brought her blade down for Yulin’s arm. Yulin’s eyes widened and she twisted. Her golden blade intercepted the strike, but it hit her with enough force to send her skidding back several feet.

“You’re cheating,” Yulin accused, her eyes going narrow. “Nobody is that strong without Runes.”

“I am not actively using my Runes.”

“A Rank 2’s body imbuements can’t be this powerful, even if your runes were a thousand times better than mine,” Yulin said flatly. “At most, you’d have a thirty to forty percent increase in power.”

“I appreciate the compliment.” The fire running along Alexandra’s blade flickered again as she blurred forward. Yulin was forced to play defense again. Strikes rained down on her, and each one sent her stumbling several feet back.

There was no doubt in Noah’s mind that Alexandra was holding back. If she’d been using even a portion of the skill she’d shown when they’d sparred each other, Yulin would have already fallen.

Good. She’s wasting time. Does make me wonder what Yulin was planning, though. She seemed relatively clever. That sword of hers is clearly more than just a shiny stick. Yulin was planning on using it to do something, but Alexandra hasn’t given her a chance to yet. Interesting dilemma. In a normal fight, I’d be yelling for Alexandra to finish it already before Yulin gets a moment to do whatever it is she wants to. That isn’t this fight. We’re trying to waste time… so taking the risk is the right move.

Alexandra’s assault abruptly slammed to a halt. Yulin’s blade carved through the air she’d been standing and stopped an instant before it carved into the floor. She skipped another step back, looking down at her sword.

It was split in half.

The fire rising from the remains of its blade sputtered, then faded. She looked up to Yulin, her face as impassive as ever.

“You were limiting your sword that entire time?” Alexandra asked. “How can you complain about my imbuements when you’ve got a weapon that’s clearly well above Rank 2?”

Yulin’s lips pressed thin. She adjusted her grip on her glowing sword and shifted her stance to a more loose, easygoing one. Coils of gold energy rose off the blade and licked the ground, scorching whatever it touched.

“You made no rules as to the weapons we were able to use. I was trying to cut the blade off your sword entirely, not split it in half. How did you realize what I was doing?”

“By being faster than you.”

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Yulin’s eyes drifted to the remains of the severed blade. “Not nearly fast enough. You put up a good fight, but you should surrender. If you can’t block my blade, you’ll get seriously injured. You may need to buy a very expensive healing potion, and you aren’t a noble. The cost will break you.”

“Professor, can I…”

“Go ahead,” Noah said with a grin. “Keep it to the first thing we learned, though. No farther than that.”

It’s not like anyone’s going to be able to tell what you’re doing as long as there’s no magic in it.

“First? Are you telling her to hold back?” Yulin asked in disbelief.

“It’s not out of any disrespect to you,” Alexandra said, raising her broken blade. Her stance shifted and she swayed from foot to foot, sinking into her pattern. “You just aren’t strong enough to warrant more.”

Yulin blurred forward. Her sword was a golden streak at her side, carving the air apart. Alexandra swayed to the side and the burning weapon passed by her with just inches to spare.

Her own sword flicked out. The other girl brought the hilt of her own sword up, deflecting the broken blade with a clang. It barely even slowed Alexandra. Her sword flew back, biting at Yulin once more.

Yulin managed to block that too, but Alexandra’s attacks flitted out like a storm of butterflies. The expression on Yulin’s face shifted from confidence to concentration as she was forced back. She was fast, but Alexandra was relentless.

Her attacks came from every angle and it was everything that Yulin could do to keep up. If anything, Noah was impressed that the Torrin was able to hold up this well under Alexandra’s assault. Yulin was a pretty good swordswoman.

She just wasn’t good enough. Broken sword or not, Alexandra continued to push Yulin back until the other girl’s back was pressed to the wall. The majority of her attacks never even connected – she pulled them back just moments before they impacted the glowing sword.

Neither of them said a word. They were so focused on their fight that even a single word would have been enough distraction to spell the end. Everyone watching the fight had fallen silent as well, enraptured in the impressive display of swordsmanship.

But, in the end, there was only so long that Alexandra could keep the fight stalled out. Yulin’s sword sputtered out and she dropped her stance, throwing herself forward. The blade sparked back to life and she thrust it for the other girl’s leg.

Alexandra’s hand whipped down and she struck Yulin on the knuckles with the hilt of her half-melted sword. There was a loud crack and the glowing blade flew from Yulin’s hands, searing a line through the floor before it sputtered out.

Yulin hit the ground in a roll and flew to her feet. A flash of pain crossed her features as she tried to flex her hand and she bit back a pained grunt. She lunged for her sword, scooping it off the ground with her uninjured hand and spinning back to face Alexandra, only to find that she hadn’t moved from her spot.

“Blood,” Alexandra said simply.

Yulin looked down at her hand. There was a smear of blood across her knuckles from a small cut that Alexandra had put there with the hilt of her pommel. Based on how limply her hand hung, Noah was pretty sure something in it was broken – but it didn’t even matter. The fight had been to first blood.

Even if that had supposed to be a sword cut, blood was still blood. Yulin let her hand drop with a grimace.

“You were holding back the entire fight?”

If you had any idea just how much Alexandra was holding back, you’d be crying right now. She could have literally picked you up and thrown you through the wall if she’d wanted to.

“It was a good fight,” Alexandra said. She studied the remains of her blade with a small frown, then slid it into its sheath. “There was nothing wrong with your technique, though you over-relied on the abilities of your sword more than you should have. I would enjoy having further matches with you in the future. There is a lot we could learn from each other.”

Yulin was silent for a few seconds. Her eyes traced over Alexandra, then down to the floor behind her. Noah followed her gaze. There were faint fractures in the ground where Alexandra had burst into motion. She’d literally cracked a tiny portion of the floor. It was so small that it barely even looked out of place, but Yulin had picked up on it.

She returned the hilt of her sword to its spot at her side, then pulled a potion off her belt and popped the seal off, downing it. Her hand rippled as the bones in it realigned and she let out a small sigh of relief. When she looked back to Alexandra, her expression had shifted. Instead of the flat, calculating look that had been present before, there was respect.

“I believe I would like that. Thank you for the session,” Yulin said. She hesitated for a moment, clearly wanting to pass by Alexandra, but it was impossible to do without being completely obvious as to what her intentions were.

Alexandra had positioned herself directly in front of Emily and Isabel, making the path to them insurmountable. Yulin gave her a small nod and turned. She headed back over to Marley and Jakob, who were both standing with remarkably similar stiff jaws.

I wonder if Jakob and Marley are closely related. They both look like they’re going to pop the same vein.

“Quite the impressive show,” Godrick said as he walked out from the small crowd that had gathered. It struck Noah that people weren’t nearly as caught up in the fights as he’d expected they would be. There had been a small crowd, but it wasn’t anywhere near all the professors.

It only took him a moment to realize why. There were several other groups of students sparring throughout the room. They hadn’t been the only ones to start trying to brutalize each other the moment meeting had started.

“My students have been working hard,” Noah said with a small nod. “They’ve been looking forward to this meeting a lot.”

“So I can tell,” Godrick said. “And you’ve certainly made a statement. I can’t even tell myself who you are. Which version of you is real, Vermil?”

“Whichever one is more opportune at the time,” Noah replied. “Why? Did you get attached to the idea of a skimpy uniform? I bet you could pull it off.”

Godrick let out a snort of laughter and shook his head, turning to head back into the crowd to mingle with the other professors. “Enjoy the meeting, Vermil. Try not to break anything too important.”

Noah caught the molten glare that Jakob was sending in his direction and put up a valiant mental fight to avoid sticking his tongue out at the other professor. Something told him Jakob and Verrud were far from done with the meeting, but that was just fine with him.

Let’s see what else you’ve got. The more cards I force you to play now, the less you’ll be able to surprise us with later. I haven’t even gotten halfway through my own hand yet.

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