I felt confident.
For the first time in this life, I felt like I was moving to my hearts content.
My sparring partner was a boy who looked the same age as I, but the difference between us was that he was taller and a bit more robust than my small and maturing body.
I prepared myself and took a stance I was mostly familiar at.
I remember this one time in my past life how I got angry because of a small problem. And as I burst that rage physically, even I was surprised at the sudden change of speed.
So I copied what kind of stance I did in the past and waited for the spar to begin. Though I heard crowd laughing, making fun of me because of my peculiar taste, I never bat an eye towards them.
I was manaless. It's only fair that I use everything I have, even if it comes to fighting dirty. But only if I'm desperate enough to do so.
After all, they already had the power of mana, if they lost to me even with it, then they probably don't deserve that power.
I felt a peculiar warmth slowly rising from deep inside my body.
Is it the excitement? The nervousness? Or was it something entirely different?
I felt the hair on my whole body stood in an instant.
It was slowly getting hot. Though it was still midwinter, for some reason, it wasn't cold at all.
The bald instructor dropped his hand and shouted. "BEGIN!"
And without a moment to waste, I pounced forward.
Though my sparring partner and I had quite a bit of distance between us, I managed to close the distance in a span of few seconds.
I strike first from three to four feet away.
I pulled the polearm in front, swinging it in a upward motion. My goal was to fling his shield away for a clean hit.
The base of my weapon made contact with the opponents shield.
CLANG!!!
The shield he held firmly was quickly flown in the air, revealing the kids startled face.
His eyes opened wide as if he couldn't believe what happened. Not only him, but I, who made the first strike was also surprised.
I was only going to open up a path. Never did I thought my opponent would let go of his shield.
Seeing the chance, I continued the upward motion of my weapon until the base was behind me, then I used the other end to thrust forward to my opponents stomach.
'He'll probably have a way to defend this, I'll have to turn the polearm quickly so that-'
Was what I thought.
My eyes widened once again when my second attack strike true.
My sparring partner was flown a few feet back, clutching his stomach as he forced himself to stand up.
"What? Why didn't you block it?" I asked, but he could not answer.
His mouth drooled as he coughed a few.
Did he ate something that upset his stomach? Why is he so slow? Is it always like this?
Several questions entered my head, but none was answered.
I stood there, waiting for him to recover.
A second.
Two...
Three..
Five..
Ten seconds passed and he finally managed to stand straight with his two wobbling legs.
I gripped my weapon tightly with two hands, then spread my feet apart.
The first approach would probably not work anymore, so I started thinking of another way to strike.
But before he did anything, he glared at me and pointed. "You! Cheater!"
One of my eyebrows suddenly rises.
"What?"
"Cheater! I wasn't ready! I didn't even had the time to use magic!"
I felt the need to look back at the bald instructor.
I waited for a reply, but it never came.
With a sigh, I replied. "That's not my fault now, is it?"
"W-What did you say?!"
"Think about it. Who would wait for their opponent to prepare themselves? If your in a war, do you just wait for the other side to kill you? Or if a magical beast was infront of you, do you just wait for it to come closer? Why don't you just hand your life over in a silver platter?"
Though I never knew what got over me, my rambling only made it worse.
I forgot entirely how the trainees were still children. They were still immature and have no idea of how vast and dangerous the world really is.
My opponent glared at me as if I stole something very important to him, he gripped his sword and dashed forward while shouting.
"Shut up!"
He might still be a kid, but I wasn't the type to hold back the slightest. If I wanted to survive in this world, the only thing I could do is to adapt and to never hold anything back.
With that in mind, I retaliated.
My opponent went for a downward slash, his sword engulf with mana. And seeing the attack's trajectory, I weaved to the left as soon as the attack descended.
It was quick, quicker than what my eyes could see, but thanks to my insight, I managed to dodge just in time.
With a jump back, I went on the initiative after that.
My boot's scratched the ground a few as I propelled myself forward. Grabbing the very end of the handle of my weapon, I aimed for the kids arms.
I was still a few feet away, but my weapon was already an inch away from him thanks to it's long reach.
'I'm sure he can block this easi-'
Once again, my thoughts were interrupted by the outcome.
The opponent managed to block my strike with his sword, but for some reason, as the base of my polearm made contact, I heard a few cracking noise. Then the kid's whole body became a blur, his entire existence moved to the side, but there was no steps.
BAM!
My sparring partner hit the wall, his eyes rolled back as dust cleared from the area.
I glanced at my hands and then towards my weapon.
"Di-Did I do that?" With the question I muttered, the bald instructor's shout came next.
"Wi-Winner, Bane Pyrrus!"
I was scared to look at the ground, afraid that I went overboard, but then....
"WOAHH!!!!"
The crowd cheered. And I, could not help but to turn around.
My head darted, questioning myself they acted such a way.
Though their words became inaudible because of their simultaneous words.
After a few seconds, I finally realized why.
It was fine for the children to get hurt. It was okay for them to get home full of injuries, because it was better for them to be like this while they're young.
It was better to learn early, and being like this, their chances of survival becomes higher than what it was yesterday.
My explanation was a bit off ,but you get what I mean.
True, the parents would be worried, but that's a part of life.
I glanced back towards my sparring partner, though he glared at me still, he shaked his head and sighed.
It was his loss, and he took it upon himself to let go of his rage and believe the event laid before his eyes.
He walked forward, wiping the blood dripping from his face.
Standing beside me, he said. "I still can't believe it, but a loss is a loss." He grabbed my hand and raised it, signifying that I won.
It was only the first match, but the accomplishment I felt at this moment would probably be one of the key moments of my life.
My family, Morgana and a few familiar faces such as Vrasir and Crane, waved with their hands as they smiled at my direction.
And I, could only reply with the exact same thing.
As If I was the center of the world, elevated by my first victory, I thought. "It seems things won't be as bad as I thought."
And my first fight ended a success.