MARA vs. KELLEN VOSS

Mara stepped into the combat ring with focused calm, her twin short blades drawn, her Clear Mind core maintaining the mental clarity that had become her foundation.

Her opponent was a Low Initiate—rank advantage that immediately complicated the matchup. Kellen Voss came from Redwatch, the eastern outpost that had sent candidates on the same convoy. His build was straightforward strength enhancement and basic combat technique, nothing sophisticated but executed with the confidence of someone who'd survived frontier warfare.

I'm out of luck on this one, Mara assessed clinically. He's stronger, faster and more durable. Let's hope he's not as technical as I am.

The match proctor activated the combat matrices. "Begin."

Kellen attacked with practical aggression—he was neither flashy nor arrogant, he was just a solid frontlines that used combat tactics that prioritized efficiency over aesthetics.

His enhanced strength drove powerful strikes that Mara had to deflect rather than block directly, her shorter blades providing a mobility advantage but limited stopping power against the Initiate-level force.

Can't trade blows directly, Mara recognized immediately.

Answering to that, she moved with practiced precision,her blade work demonstrating skills developed through months of intensive training under pressure.

One blade deflected Kellen's attack while the other sought an opening—targeting his joints, looking for gaps in his guard, trying to accumulate small cuts that would degrade his effectiveness over time.

Death by a thousand cuts, Mara thought, executing combination that forced Kellen back momentarily. If I can't overpower him, I outlast him.

But Initiate durability was a significant advantage.

The cuts she managed to land—and she managed several—healed faster than she could accumulate them. Kellen's enhanced physiology treating minor injuries as temporary inconveniences rather than degradation.

"You're skilled," Kellen acknowledged between exchanges, his tone carrying respect rather than condescension. "Your technique is significantly better than mine. But—" He demonstrated with powerful strike that Mara barely avoided. "—rank matters. Power compensates for any technique limitations."

He's right, Mara recognized with frustration. He can make mistakes and recover. I make one mistake and I'm done.

She pressed harder, taking calculated risks, trying to create decisive opening rather than accumulating ineffective damage.

Clear Mind maintained her tactical awareness, prevented panic from compromising her decision-making, kept her functioning at peak capability despite the increasing desperation.

But desperation wasn't strategy. Wasn't enough to overcome fundamental power differential.

Kellen caught one of her blades with his enhanced strength—not trying to block, just grabbing the weapon mid-strike with hand that could withstand the cut.

Mara tried to disengage, but his grip was too strong, his Initiate strength allowing him to control her weapon despite her attempts at extraction.

His other hand struck—not a killing blow, just solid impact to her solar plexus that drove air from her lungs and demonstrated that the match was effectively over.

Mara stumbled back, gasping, recognizing that continuing would just result in more punishment without changing the outcome.

"I yield," she managed, frustration and disappointment warring in her voice.

"Winner: Kellen Voss." The proctor recorded the result on her evaluation tablet, though she paused long enough to annotate the margin—his opponent had been exceptional as well. A high-fledgling, pushing the bout that far, was no small thing.

Mara sheathed her blades, accepting the loss with professionalism even as it stung.

Still not strong enough, she thought, the bitterness sharp and familiar. At least my technique has been tempered by all those near-death fights.

That wasn't the flaw. Her movements were clean. Her instincts honed.

It's the core, she realized with cold clarity. A mediocre core caps everything. I need something rare—something powerful—if I'm going to break through to Initiate.

Kellen offered a hand, genuine respect in his expression. "You made me work for that. You're going to be dangerous once you reach Initiate rank."

"If I reach Initiate rank," Mara replied, accepting the handshake.

"When," Kellen corrected. "Not if. Someone with your technical foundation? You'll advance. Just question of finding the proper timing."

The encouragement helped slightly, tempering the disappointment with recognition that her performance had been respectable despite the loss.

I fought well, Mara reminded herself.

She left the ring, already cataloging mistakes, identifying improvement opportunities, planning how she'd approach similar matchups differently once she'd closed the rank gap.

Next time, she promised herself. Next time I'll be Initiate too.

Next time I'll win.

-----

SILAS vs. GARRETT MOSS

The match began and ended so quickly that most observers barely registered what happened.

"Begin."

Silas moved.

Speed Enhancement activated fully, transforming him into a blur that crossed the combat ring faster than Garrett could track, his body becoming a streak of motion that denied the opponent time to establish defensive position.

But speed alone wasn't the complete threat.

Silas applied Sense Fade in pulses—not maintaining it constantly, but flickering it in microsecond bursts that disrupted Garrett's perception, made his opponent's brain struggle to process any sensory information, creating a cognitive static that prevented any effective response.

Can't track what you can't remember perceiving, Silas thought with cold precision.

Garrett tried to respond—his enhanced reflexes suggesting some combat capability, his defensive posture showing training rather than panic.

But he was fighting a phantom. Fighting an opponent whose speed made him impossible to track and whose ability with illusions made him impossible to remember tracking.

Silas closed the distance with surgical precision, his dagger finding throat with blade-edge touch that could have been a lethal strike in actual combat.

Garrett froze—feeling cold steel against his jugular, not understanding how his opponent had gotten there, his last clear memory being the match start signal.

"What—" Garrett started, confusion evident.

"You lost," Silas said quietly, his voice carrying no triumph or mockery—just a clinical statement of fact.

The match proctor intervened, her barrier matrices separating the combatants, her expression showing something between impressed and disturbed.

"Winner: Silas Drey."

The proctor's expression lingered a moment too long, curiosity bleeding through her professional mask. Her gaze followed the boy as if trying to glimpse the road ahead of him—and where it might end. Talent like that didn't fade quietly. It sharpened. It drifted.

And sometimes, it fell.

Nobles paid obscene sums to erase problems before they grew teeth. Shadows were an industry. And Silas—his frame, his silence, the way he moved like absence itself—fit that trade far too well.

Silas understood that look perfectly. But he didn't linger on it.

We all play the game, he thought.

Garrett still looked confused, his brain struggling to reconstruct what had happened, his memory fragmented by Sense Fade's subtle manipulation.

"You're fast," Garrett finally managed.

Silas didn't bother replying as he left the ring, already feeling the weight of the instructor attention..

Either way, they're watching, Silas thought.

Now I just have to survive the institutional response.

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