Martial Squires possessed power that was a whole realm above that of Martial Apprentices, literally. Rui had never gotten a chance to witness two Squires fighting each other, so he was as excited as a child would be in their first theatre experience.
There were many Martial Apprentices who had come to witness this, having all been seated at a considerably great distance from the arena.
This was done on purpose. Martial Squires were so ridiculously powerful that just being near them was incredibly dangerous. Furthermore, they were so superhumanly fast that if the Martial Apprentices were too close, their eyes would be entirely unable to follow the fight on any level whatsoever.
It was easier to perceive speedy objects from a distance rather than up close. Rockets moved at dozens of times the speed of sound yet human had no problem keeping track of them with the naked eye from a distance.
There was a general sense of excitement in the air, when suddenly multiple heavy presences pushed on the atmosphere.
Squire Kyrie and Dylon walked into the facility with their Martial uniforms on, they were Squire instructors Rui was familiar with, having trained by them until quite recently. The Squire uniforms were quite different from the ones Rui was accustomed to as a Martial Apprentice. They made their way to the center of the Squire facility, ignoring the students. This wasn’t an academic event, and the students were free to watch or leave if they wanted to.
Of course, an overwhelming majority of students were interested in observing Squires fight seriously, only a few of them, even from Martial families had experienced this before.
Squires Kyrie and Dylon took their positions on the arena first, putting five meters of distance between them.
“It’s been a while since we sparred, Kyrie.” Dylon chuckled. “Since this is a special occasion, let’s make a bet. If I win, you have to go out on a date with me.”
That earned a bit of a commotion from the students.
Kyrie merely snorted wordlessly, taking a neutral stance with an open-palmed arm extended forward and a closed-fist arm tucked a bit behind.
Dylon on the other hand, chose an aggressive offensive stance with one fist at his waist, coiled with power ready to lash out and the other fist a bit in front of him at chest height, pointing straight at Kyrie’s face.
Their stances reflected their styles, Dylon was naturally an offense-oriented Martial Artist as the head instructor of the offense training facility, while Kyrie was an all-rounder, being the head instructor of the combat training facility.
As their concentration and alertness heightened, the atmosphere grew heavier by the second, weighing on the minds of the Martial Apprentices.
The fight did not begin bombastically. Squire Dylon shuffled as he slowly closed the distance between them, while Kyrie remained stationary, unconcerned.
POW
Blasts of wind erupted as he threw a light jab, which Kyrie promptly blocked with ease. He threw several light jabs against Kyrie’s guard, just checking her.
And then the real fight began.
Dylon threw a kick with tremendous force.
SWISH
Kyrie withstood while rotating to deflect the strike off her body.
POW POW POW
She threw a flurry of strikes of different forms.
Fist.
Knuckle.
Palm.
Chop.
Her striking was incredibly diverse.
However, although she had great versatility, Dylon seemed to have even more. He launched an even greater barrage of attacks, leveraging his stronger physicality to gain an edge against her in striking.
“Squire Dylon is amazing, he’s gaining an edge against Squire Kyrie.” Kane murmured.
“I dunno Kane.” Rui replied, with an engrossed expression. “The fact that Kyrie can still hold parity against him despite being an all-rounder while he’s an offense specialist is even more incredible.”
All-rounders often had to spread themselves thin, it was generally not possible to be extremely good at any one field. Rui himself knew this all too well.
The power and speed of their techniques was truly amazing. Their clashes shook the earth, sending mild reverberations and shockwaves as far as the Martial Apprentices, earning their shock and awe.
Yet Kyrie performing as well as she did in a contest of blows was rather amazing.
But, as close as she was, she was still inferior in that regard.
Eventually she disengaged, leaping back exhaling.
“I suppose I can’t best you in contest of offense.” She admitted.
“Hehe.” Dylon chuckled. “It’s only natural.”
“Still, I don’t intend to lose the fight.” She adopted a different stance, relaxing her arms in a lower stance in front of her with her legs centered closer to her body.
(‘That stance sacrifices offensive potential for mobility and evasion.’) Rui noted. (‘She’s planning to change her approach a bit.’)
She dived in with lightning swiftness, escaping the eyes of the Martial Apprentices despite the distance between them, leaving nothing but a shockwave behind.
She appeared right behind Dylon.
BAM
Dylon barely managed to guard the impact in time, grimacing from her power nonetheless. She launched a flurry of strikes, however this time, she used different Squire-level techniques this time. These techniques placed more weight on swiftness than power, unlike before. She continuously pecked and stung at him.
Dylon tutted, growing more frustrated as he launched a powerful side kick hoping to send her flying. She quickly stepped out of range to avoid it and simply resumed her offense. Dylon launched a barrage of blows hoping to inflict damage on her.
She either dodged, deflected and redirected or did a combination of all three, as opposed to blocking like she did before.
Very few strikes had managed to cleanly land on her.
If they exchanged strikes straightforwardly, Dylon’s offense would overwhelm Kyrie’s defenses faster than Kyrie’s offense would overwhelm his defense, such was the offensive prowess of an offensive specialist.
Instead, she made the battle asymmetrical by using her mobility, redirection and speed to dramatically reduce the number of hits that Dylon managed to land on her.
Slowly, she managed to gain the advantage.