As soon as everyone arrived at the Windscorned Plateau, they set off to find a more secluded location to train. Between Noah and James’ wind magic and Alexandra and Lee’s speed, they were all able to make good speed and came to a stop on a platform a few minutes away.

Noah didn’t waste any time once they got there. He wanted to see how far everyone had come, and he could tell by their expressions that they were just as eager to show it off. To nobody’s surprise, Isabel and Alexandra both volunteered to go first.

“It only makes sense, so go ahead,” Noah said with an encouraging nod. “Both of you are still using patterns related to your swords, right?”

They nodded.

“Go for it, then. I know we’ve got a few healing potions – unless they got used up – but do your best not to actually cut each other. This is a demonstration, not a real match.”

“I can blunt my weapon,” Isababel said. “And if I use my armor, Alexandra’s sword shouldn’t be able to break through it unless she’s really swinging with all her might.”

“I won’t,” Alexandra promised, drawing her blade and holding it at her side. “I’m ready once you get your armor up.”

“No magic, unfortunately,” Noah said with a shake of his head, stopping Isabel before she could make her armor. He still didn’t have enough control of his domain to actively keep it from suppressing her, and he needed them both within range in case they mistakenly put power into their patterns and risked blowing themselves up. “Todd, can you lend Isabel the Shield? It’s far from perfect, but as long as Alexandra keeps her speed under control and focuses on technique, it should be enough.”

Todd nodded, pulling the bracelet off his wrist. He handed it to Isabel and took a step back, giving the girls room to spar. The other students backed up as well. Alexandra drew her secondary sword and gave it to Isabel.

“Ready when you are,” Alexandra said as she lowered into a fighting stance, her blade flitting to and fro in the air before her. Noah could already see her erratic pattern starting to take form. Alexandra had definitely been practicing – her movements were sudden and jumpy, and yet there was still a sameness to them that kept them from being truly random.

Isabel set her stance and wrapped both of her hands around the hilt of the blade. She drew in a deep breath. As she let it out, her posture changed. Noah’s domain tingled – there were faint amounts of magic trying to manifest in both of their patterns, but his domain was suppressing them.

“Ready,” Isabel confirmed. “Let’s go.”

She took a step forward, bringing her borrowed sword down in a powerful, direct swing that had no signs of subtlety or subterfuge within it. Alexandra’s sword snapped out, slapping the blow to the side lightly as she ducked out of the way.

Isabel spun, bringing her sword around in a loop and down for Alexandra’s shoulders. The other girl was forced to hop back to avoid the strike. She retaliated in a flash, her blade snaking out to nip at Isabel’s side.

Instead of trying to dodge it, Isabel activated her shield. A dull glow enveloped her and the blade rang off the magic, not having been thrust with enough power to damage it. She continued her assault, every blow raining down with even more intensity as she advanced toward Alexandra.

Fascinating. If this was a real fight, there would be no match. Alexandra would destroy Isabel completely purely just because of her speed and resilience, but because they’re only matching their patterns rather than their full abilities, they actually seem to be close to evenly matched.

Alexandra definitely wasn’t the only person practicing. Isabel has moved her pattern into her entire body rather than just her sword. It feels like she’s literally become the avalanche – but Alexandra is withstanding it without relying on her Body Runes.

She’s dodging and poking at Isabel’s shield with what would likely be some pretty nasty cuts had she been putting more force behind them. I’d say Alexandra is still a bit ahead of Isabel in patterns, but the gap is closing. Either way, they’re both doing incredible. Good shit, kids.

Noah let the match continue for another minute before stepping in, using a small burst of wind to separate the two. They both turned to him, sweating and breathing heavily.

“What? What happened?” Isabel asked, looking around to get her bearings. She’d clearly fallen into a flow state during the fight.

“You both did incredible, but I don’t want you completely exhausted. Patterns are too dangerous to push that hard, so taking it one step at a time is safer,” Noah said with a smile. “I honestly don’t have anything to criticize. Both of you have made huge steps in your respective patterns, and you understand them better than I do.”The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“What does that mean?” Alexandra asked, blinking in surprise. “You can’t teach us more?”

Noah snorted. “Far from it. I just can’t find any more flaws in your actual patterns because I don’t understand them like you do. The patterns aren’t the end goal, though. They’re just the first step.”

“Oh. That makes sense,” Isabel allowed, flipping her sword around and handing it back to Alexandra. “Thanks for the sword, by the way.”

“No problem,” Alexandra replied idly. She sheathed both blades and wiped her brow with the back of her hand.

“Who wants to go next?” Noah asked. “Any volunteers?”

“I’d like to give it a shot, if that’s possible,” Emily hedged. She hadn’t been able to show a pattern in their previous class, so Noah had been slightly concerned that nothing had changed since then. But, considering she was volunteering, his fears were slightly eased.

“Me too,” James said.

“Great. The two of you can come up,” Noah said. “Remember, no magic.”

“Is there a reason we aren’t allowed to use unrelated magic?” Emily asked. “It can’t cross over, can it?”

Because my domain would squish it and I can’t stop that from happening yet. Also, there’s a chance of someone mistakenly letting something leak. At least, that’s what I’ll be telling myself.

“Yes, but for now, that reason is just going to be safety,” Noah said. There would be a better time to reveal his domain, and he didn’t want them distracted from the lesson at the moment. “I know your patterns will eventually be much more tied to using magic, but I want to make sure they’re perfect before then.”

Emily nodded her understanding. “I can live with that. I don’t think my pattern is really great yet, but at least I’ve got something.”

“Only way to find out is to show me what you’ve got. You can get started whenever you’re ready.”

“I’m ready,” James said through a yawn. He rubbed his eyes with the back of a hand, then sat down and crossed his legs. “Just attack whenever you want to.”

I’m curious to see how James is going to use that pattern of doing nothing to fight. Is he just going to sit there and let Emily wail on him? That would be kind of interesting, but somehow I suspect that even he isn’t that lazy.

“I’m not really the best at hand to hand combat, but I’ll do my best,” Emily said hesitantly. She shifted her stance, raising her hands before her.

Noah wasn’t exactly an expert on fighting stances, but he could tell that Emily wasn’t lying. She wasn’t exactly off balance, but she was nowhere near as comfortable as Isabel and Alexandra had been.

Emily stood still for a few moments, then flowed forward. Even though James was sitting, she didn’t look like she was going to take things easy on him. She spun, trying to hit him with a hook kick.

James blurred, shifting just enough to the side to avoid the attack before returning to his previous location. Emily kept her momentum and drove a palm for his shoulder, already readying another attack even as the first one flew out.

Once again, James weaved out of the way and let the blow just barely pass him by. Emily’s next strike missed in the same manner. She didn’t give in, though. A flurry of strikes flew out as Emily used her hands, elbows, feet, and just about every part of herself to attack.

James was forced to vault to his feet as her efforts intensified, but he continued to move with the least amount of energy possible. A small grin flickered across Noah’s face as he started to see their patterns fully take form.

Emily was a snowstorm. A constant flurry of blows raining down from every direction with blinding intensity. Similar to Alexandra, none of them were particularly strong attacks, but there was a distinct difference in their fighting styles.

Alexandra’s attacks were sudden and fast, but they were targeted. Every movement was intentional – Emily had gone in the exact opposite direction and had done her best to perfectly embody the storm.

Her assault came from every direction and every style. No single attack was of any real threat on its own, but when they piled together, he could see the potential within them. As for James – if Noah had to find a word for his pattern, it wasn’t just nothingness. It was laziness, and not even in a bad way.

He’d found a way to put the absolute least amount of energy into every movement, optimizing his motion as much as possible. It wasn’t actually all that different from the methods that Noah used to fight enemies he was familiar with.

James is farther along than Emily is, but that’s probably because he’s been practicing being lazy his entire life. Emily is doing great for having not had a pattern during our last class.

Noah let them fight for another minute. James didn’t attack once, and Emily refused to let up her flurry of blows. When it became clear that neither had anything left to demonstrate, Noah split them up with another small blast of wind.

“Great job, both of you,” Noah said. “James, you’re going to need to work some offense into your pattern. Purely using it for dodging is great, but you can’t just leave it at that. Battles are won through fighting back, not backpedaling. And Emily – opposite advice. You’ve made some huge steps since last class, but you’re focusing entirely on attack. You need to survive your fights, not just win them.”

Both of them nodded, and Noah looked to Lee and Moxie.

“Any thoughts from you two?”

“You should stretch more,” Lee advised Emily. “If you want to really throw attacks that fast, flexibility will be helpful. I’ll give you private lessons.”

Emily’s face went white, but she gave Lee a nod. “Thanks. I think.”

“I don’t know much about patterns, but I can see how much work you’ve been putting in,” Moxie said to Emily, giving her a wide smile. “Keep it up. At this rate, you’re going to surpass me. James also has one of the more interesting styles of fighting I’ve seen. I have to admit I’m pretty interested to see where you both take things.”

Emily beamed, but before either she or James could say anything else, another voice spoke up from behind them.

“I’d have to agree. That was fascinating.”

Everyone spun as the air wavered and shifted. A robed man appeared from within the distortion, his hood pulled back and a wry grin on his lips. Jalen raised a hand in greeting.

“What have you been teaching these little gremlins, Vermil? And why is it that their motions feel eerily similar to a Formation?”