Grey was quite tall himself. He probably wasn’t finished growing yet, but he was 6’2" last time he checked. But that didn’t stop him from looking quite small across from Chogh.
After he got launched off his feet by Skinny, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Chogh squashed him like a bug. But the rowdiness of the squires suggested that they were quite in favor of his recklessness.
"I’m not gonna go easy on you, rookie."
"I hear the ground’s a bit slippery, don’t trip over that mouth of yours." Grey said with a grin.
"Hohoho," Chogh chuckled, "the rookie’s got a mouth on him, fellas."
"Quit stalling, Chogh!" one of the squires called out.
"Blood! Blood!"
"READY!" Blain roared over the crowd. "ON YOUR MARKS! STEADY YOURSELVES!"
A rare silence lingered for but a moment before Blain’s voice fell once more.
"GO."
Chogh launched himself forward, and much like last time, Grey only took a single step. What others didn’t notice, though, was that Grey’s entire body went taut. From the ground, up the soles of his feet, through his center of mass and down to his very shoulders and even his neck, every muscle seemed to lock in.
In that singular step he took, he seemed to accelerate to his top speed, his crimson eyes leaving streaks of ruby in the air as they locked in on just one specific spot on Chogh’s blade.
Chogh’s blade was larger than that of the others. It wasn’t exactly enormous, but it was about 50% wider than Grey’s own, and was maybe three-quarters of a foot longer than the typical longsword.
It was blunted, scraped and scratched much like everyone else’s, but it still carried a heft to it that almost felt like the weight of a world when it was wielded by the Holy Squire.
Grey felt the Ability Chogh was tapping into maybe even before the latter was consciously aware that he was beginning to use it.
Something that gave him steadiness, an extra something that gave him heft, and a last something that gave him just the slightest edge of speed.
Three of Chogh’s Abilities wrapped into a single downward swing, a whistling wind that sounded akin to a scythe of death reaping hurricanes descended, blasting Grey’s hair flying back.
Most of the time, people would flinch in this moment. Even if they didn’t flinch, they would hold back just the slightest bit, thinking that if they softened their own blow, they would be in a better position to receive what was coming.
But Grey didn’t react like this in the slightest. In fact, in that last gasp of a moment, in the smallest squeeze of light that separated his sword and that of Chogh’s, he accelerated even further, twisting his blade just the slightest bit with a turn of his wrist.
It was a change Blain and the others who were close to the end of their trial immediately picked up on and each one of them winced internally.
Doing that right before striking against something as tough as Chogh was a recipe for disaster. Broken wrists would be the least of Grey’s problems, he might end up cut in two.
This was a relatively safer training method than active sparring, but there was still a huge injury concern. Blain started to regret allowing this to happen.
If Grey ended up bedridden, then—.
BANG.
The blades met and Grey left his feet, almost flying backward.
But there was something else that happened at the same time. Chogh’s back foot slid against the sand, just barely stopping his chance at following through.
Grey was sent hopping through the air just three feet, barely shy of a meter. And as Chogh was recovering from the sudden slip of his back foot, Grey charged ahead once again.
Chogh grunted and re-established himself, cursing inwardly. But he still recovered fast enough to meet Grey’s blade.
Their guards locked in place and Grey looked up with a wild grin, meeting Chogh’s frown as though he was having the time of his life.
Chogh could feel Grey’s strength in that moment. It was as weak as an ant’s, just barely scratching an itch. It must have been that he just slipped.
The squires roared with laughter.
"Chogh, what happened to taking out the rookie!"
"Chogh! You slipped on that mouth, eh?!"
There were only a handful not laughing, and two of them were Blain, who had seen the slight shift in Grey’s blade, and Skinny who had experienced some of the oddity himself.
"Dammit! Shut up you lot!" Chogh roared and his arms flexed, veins bulging.
Just as he was about to press Grey to the ground, there was another twist in Grey’s wrists and his back foot slipped again.
"FUCK!" Chogh roared, barely managing to catch himself before Grey pushed him to the ground.
But this time, when their blades met, there was an awkward bend in Chogh’s back as though he was trying to exert his strength and regain his balance, but was failing at doing both adequately.
Grey wasn’t saying a word, but his thoughts were spinning. He could feel the pulsing waves of Chogh’s circuits as he tried to call on his Ability. He could see the twitches in his muscles and the shifts in his stance. He could feel the weak points in his training, but also the strengths.
He shifted his weight and twisted his hips and this time Chogh couldn’t maintain his awkward bend.
He fell to a knee, holding his blade up in a blocking posture.
The round still wasn’t over yet. The gap between his strength and that of Grey’s was so large that, ironically enough, falling to the ground like this actually was of great benefit to him.
Grey felt his control slipping, the plant of Chogh’s knee and toes sturdy enough that he had suddenly become as rock solid as a mountain.
But this didn’t deter Grey in the slightest.
’Yes, this is the feeling.’
It was that teetering edge of something easy to read and something difficult, the gap that existed between Passive Link and Active Link.
A bolt of electricity buzzed in Grey’s eyes as though something clicked into place.
He released some of his strength suddenly and then quickly pressed down, shifting his weight once again.
"FUCK!"
Chogh’s balance shook and he fell to the side, crashing into the sandy arena.
Grey’s blade stopped just in front of his nose.
There was a moment of silence before the squires erupted.