The aura spilled from Mara’s feet.

Gray. Dense. Climbing up her legs, her torso, her shoulders, covering her completely without detaching — a layer of condensed force.

Mara’s fists glowed gray.

Kai looked at her.

"What is that?"

"Something that took me twenty years to develop."

[DraconicLegacy]: FIRST ☝️😎 AND WHAT IS THAT

[Stephen_Summers]: twenty years. I HAVEN’T KEPT A PLANT ALIVE FOR TWENTY DAYS.

[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ GRAY AURA!! MARA SERIOUS MODE!!

[Martin_Wiersmar]: when a new color shows up in someone’s aura, someone’s about to cry. and it won’t be me (yet)

[Leo_Willis]: (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ IT’S COMING!! THE GOOD STUFF IS COMING!!

[ShonqezThomas22]: condensed aura. this is a level not even the manuals explain.

[DraconicLegacy]: someone play the "recess is over" sound for Kai please

---

[System — query]

[Kai: can I develop something similar?]

[System: yes. requires higher levels of Qi development, greater control, and prolonged training]

[The system notes that Kai is considerably far from that level]

[Stephen_Summers]: (¬‿¬) the system humiliating Kai in public. I love it.

[Warwolf]: "considerably far" = "bro, don’t even dream about it"

[Martin_Wiersmar]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ KAI DOESN’T LISTEN!! KAI DOES!!

[Leo_Willis]: System: yes it can also System: but not by you

[ShonqezThomas22]: the system with the most passive-aggressive feedback in the universe.

[DraconicLegacy]: twenty years of development. Kai’s been here ten days. math doesn’t lie.

[Stephen_Summers]: the system notes that Kai is "considerably far." the system also notes that Kai is smiling. that worries me.

---

Mara threw the first one.

Left fist to the chest — the same mechanics as before but different on contact. The gray aura at the point of impact multiplying the force at the exact moment of the blow.

Kai read it in the weight.

He didn’t get there in time.

The fist connected.

The air left his lungs all at once. His feet lost contact with the rock for a second before his body processed the magnitude and found the ground again.

Four meters backward.

Standing.

He breathed slowly to recover the air.

’The aura multiplies the impact at the point of contact. Not before. At the moment.’

’I can’t read it in the weight because the weight doesn’t change — the change happens on contact.’

[Warwolf]: (☉_☉) FOUR METERS. FLYING.

[Martin_Wiersmar]: he got up like it was nothing. the guy has springs in his legs.

[Leo_Willis]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ STANDING!! STILL STANDING!!

[ShonqezThomas22]: analyzing the blow while catching his breath. this man never switches off.

[DraconicLegacy]: the aura multiplies on contact. you can’t read it until it hurts. MARA IS ANOTHER LEVEL.

[Stephen_Summers]: the change happens on contact. Kai understood it on the first blow. that’s talent.

[Warwolf]: the rock where he fell has a new crack. just from the falling impact. what a beast Mara.

---

Mara didn’t wait.

The second blow came before Kai finished processing the first — her right arm in a descending arc with the gray aura glowing brighter.

Kai dropped to the ground — deliberately, under the arc, palms on the slope’s rock.

Mara’s fist struck the rock where Kai’s head had been.

The rock split.

Kai from the ground launched Resonant Impact to Mara’s side.

Mara took the blow without the full aura on that point.

She stepped back two paces.

Kai got up.

His left knee protested where the rock had received it when he fell. He ignored it.

[Martin_Wiersmar]: ＼(°o°)／ SHE SPLIT THE ROCK WITH HER FIST

[Leo_Willis]: attack from the ground. Kai has watched a lot of martial arts movies.

[ShonqezThomas22]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ HE FINDS THE ANGLE!! THE AURA DOESN’T REACH THERE!! 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

[DraconicLegacy]: his knee is bleeding. Kai doesn’t look at the knee. Kai looks at Mara. that focus is terrifying.

[Stephen_Summers]: (ง’̀-’́)ง MARA STEPPED BACK. TWO PACES. THAT NEVER HAPPENS.

[Warwolf]: the aura thinner on the turn. Kai discovered it while falling to the ground. what a way to learn.

[Martin_Wiersmar]: Urgo moved a step on the perimeter. first time Urgo has moved the whole fight.

---

The following exchanges were the fastest of the fight.

Kai stopped trying to dodge completely — the aura made the time between reading the initiation and avoiding contact too short.

He started working the angle instead of the distance, always reaching the point where Mara’s turn left the aura thinner.

Mara adapted — reducing the turns, making the movements more direct so the aura covered the full contact.

Kai adapted — Resonant Impact in the briefest contact, enough to transmit inward before the full aura arrived.

Three exchanges in thirty seconds.

Kai took the second one fully.

The vibration reached his ribs.

He breathed short for the next two inhalations.

Mara took the first and third with Resonant Impact on the thin points of the aura.

[Leo_Willis]: (ノಠ益ಠ)ノ KAI’S RIBS

[ShonqezThomas22]: three exchanges in thirty seconds. my heart can’t take this.

[DraconicLegacy]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ LIVE ADAPTATION!! KAI ALREADY HAS IT!!

[Stephen_Summers]: Kai breathing short. rib damage. still fighting. he doesn’t learn to fall.

[Warwolf]: Mara took two Resonant Impacts. two. on the points without aura. that hurts too.

[Martin_Wiersmar]: this is no longer a fight. it’s a chess match where the pieces bleed.

[Leo_Willis]: Brek moved toward Urgo. the two exchanged something. Gorm looked at them. the veterans are paying attention.

---

Mara launched the longest combination of the fight.

Four movements in sequence — the left arm, the knee, the right arm, the palm shove.

Each one with the aura active to leave no time between impact and impact for Kai to seek the angle.

The first reached his left shoulder.

Kai turned with the blow. Momentum to the right.

The second reached where the turn took him — knee to the left side, the same side as the ribs.

The air left again.

His left leg gave way for a second — the accumulated damage of the knee on the rock plus the impact of Mara’s knee reaching the same side.

The third reached him before the leg found support.

Kai on the ground.

Blood in his mouth from the internal impact.

[ShonqezThomas22]: (╥﹏╥) ON THE GROUND. BLOOD.

[DraconicLegacy]: four aura blows. four. that’s an execution, not a combination.

[Stephen_Summers]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ GET UP KAI!! NOT YET!!

[Warwolf]: the left leg giving way. the accumulated damage. this is getting ugly.

[Martin_Wiersmar]: (ง’̀-’́)ง MARA GIVES NO QUARTER. THAT’S THE SSS LEVEL.

[Leo_Willis]: blood in his mouth. Kai spits it on the ground and looks at Mara. it’s not over yet.

[ShonqezThomas22]: Serah with her markings white. Lira with her hand on her shoulder. both watching the ground where Kai is.

---

Kai on the ground.

His left side processing the accumulated impact. His left leg with unstable support. The blood in his mouth with the metallic taste that came from inside.

Mara standing, waiting.

With attention.

Kai got up.

His left leg protested with every centimeter of the process. He lifted it all the same.

Standing.

---

He launched Deep Resonant Impact from the position he was in, the resonance Qi at one hundred percent amplifying the transmission directly into Mara’s interior.

It reached Mara’s chest where the gray aura was active.

The aura absorbed part.

Deep Resonant Impact passed the rest inward.

Mara stepped back three paces. She stopped.

Mara’s chest with the accumulated internal damage of the last twenty minutes reaching a limit point, her breathing slightly more labored.

[DraconicLegacy]: (☉_☉) HE GOT UP AND THREW THE STRONGEST BLOW

[Stephen_Summers]: from the ground. with his leg wrecked. throws that. what a mind.

[Warwolf]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ KAI RENO!!

[Martin_Wiersmar]: the aura absorbed part, but not all. Mara’s internal damage is there. you can hear it in her breathing.

[Leo_Willis]: (ง’̀-’́)ง three steps back. three. MARA FELT THAT ONE.

[ShonqezThomas22]: Mara’s breathing changed. the tiniest change. but it changed.

[DraconicLegacy]: Gorm watching Mara’s breathing. Gorm who hunts and knows when prey is wounded.

---

They continued.

The slope’s terrain with the marks of the fight — the rock split by Mara’s fist, the roots Kai had used as a platform, the ground packed down by the displacements of the last fifteen minutes.

Kai with his left leg that responded but with a second of delay in the support. His left side that limited torso rotation.

Mara with the accumulated internal damage of the Resonant Impacts. Breathing cost more than usual.

[Stephen_Summers]: the terrain looks like a battlefield. it is.

[Warwolf]: a second of delay in the leg. in this fight, a second is an eternity.

[Martin_Wiersmar]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ BOTH WOUNDED!! BOTH STANDING!!

[Leo_Willis]: Kai at 40% mobility. Mara with reduced lung capacity. this is who can take more.

[ShonqezThomas22]: (ง’̀-’́)ง Mara’s internal damage. the Resonant Impacts are taking effect. you can tell.

[DraconicLegacy]: fifteen minutes of this. I can’t last fifteen minutes watching it.

[Stephen_Summers]: someone tell the orcs they can breathe. they’ve been in absolute silence for three minutes.

---

The next exchange was simultaneous.

Both threw at the same time — Mara her left arm with the aura active, Kai Deep Resonant Impact to the thin point of her turn.

Both connected.

Kai three meters backward, his left leg giving way completely this time, his knee on the rock.

Mara two paces, her left hand supporting itself for a second on the slope’s rock before lifting.

Both looking at the point between them.

[Warwolf]: (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ SIMULTANEOUS EXCHANGE!!

[Martin_Wiersmar]: Kai on his knee. Mara supporting herself on the rock. both at the limit.

[Leo_Willis]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ RESPECT!! RESPECT FOR BOTH!!

[ShonqezThomas22]: Mara’s hand on the rock. first time she supports herself on something. first time.

[DraconicLegacy]: (ง’̀-’́)ง the look between them. that’s not hatred. it’s recognition.

[Stephen_Summers]: the point between them has more tension than the whole fight.

[Warwolf]: Keth looked at Gorm. KETH LOOKED AT SOMEONE. that’s rarer than an eclipse.

---

One more step.

Kai calculated it from his knee on the rock.

One more step and Deep Resonant Impact at one hundred percent on Mara’s chest with the thin aura would reach the inner core where the accumulated damage was already working.

One more exchange.

But the terrain between them already showed what it had cost to get here.

One more exchange and the training field stopped being a training field.

Kai looked at the terrain.

Looked at Mara standing with the hand she had supported on the rock now free.

Mara looked at him.

Both understood it at the same time.

---

Neither moved.

The slope in silence.

The three hundred Orcs on the perimeter making no sound.

Mount Heiguers with the northern sector sun overhead.

[Martin_Wiersmar]: ... what’s happening. why aren’t they moving. I’m getting nervous.

[Leo_Willis]: total silence. no birds. no orcs. just the two of them.

[ShonqezThomas22]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ they’re calculating. the next blow could be the last.

[DraconicLegacy]: "one more step and the field stops being a field." that’s terrifying. absolutely terrifying.

[Stephen_Summers]: (ง’̀-’́)ง both know. both understand. that’s why they don’t move.

[Warwolf]: look at how Kai breathes. look at how Mara breathes. both on the edge.

[Martin_Wiersmar]: if this were a movie, a violin would play here. and I’d be biting my pillow.

---

Kai got to his feet from his knee.

His left leg responded — slowly, with the kind of effort things have when they’re at the limit but haven’t given way.

Mara watched him get to his feet.

She waited.

"What was your full name?"

Kai looked at her.

"Kai Reno."

Mara repeated it.

"Kai Reno."

---

Silence.

"Next time finish the job."

"Next time you too."

---

Mara laughed.

Not the smile she’d had since the day they arrived. Not the provoking one or the one of someone who found what they were looking for.

The laugh.

Complete. Genuine.

---

Urgo turned toward Brek.

Brek watched Mara.

Keth, who didn’t speak during fights, looked at Gorm.

Gorm looked at Keth.

None said anything.

But the four looked at each other in a way that hadn’t happened in the camp for two years.

[Leo_Willis]: (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`) something’s happening in my chest

[ShonqezThomas22]: "Kai Reno" she said his full name. that’s an oath.

[DraconicLegacy]: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ NEXT TIME!! THERE WILL BE A NEXT TIME!!

[Stephen_Summers]: Mara’s laugh. genuine. complete. that’s worth more than any victory.

[Warwolf]: (ง’̀-’́)ง the veterans looking at each other. two years. something has changed here.

[Martin_Wiersmar]: Keth looked at Gorm. Keth doesn’t look at anyone. the veterans know something we don’t.

[Leo_Willis]: Serah and Lira on the perimeter watching Mara laugh. neither speaks. both know something just changed.

---

The three hundred Orcs watched Mara.

The perimeter that had roared and shouted and chosen sides for two and a half days now in silence.

---

Kai looked at the field.

The split rock. The roots. The slope’s terrain with the marks of what it had cost.

He looked at Mara.

The laugh still there.

Kai smiled.

His.

The ring one.

---

[System — notification]

[Combat recorded: Kai vs Mara — result: technical draw by field limit]

[Total combat time: 18 minutes]

[The system notes that neither was defeated]

[Current viewers: 31,400,000]