As time passed, every single student was able to finish their practice and achieve their equivalent to Sword Intent.
Tiana reached Spear Intent, although she tried to whine to the teacher, asking for more time so she could try to reach the same stage on her other weapons. She was refused.
Jynn and Stelle also reach Sword Intent, much like Ray.
Like Tiana, Arianne reached Spear Intent, although her polearm was slightly different from a typical spear.
Zillah was successful as well and reached the stage of Dagger Intent.
Mara succeeded as well, reaching Staff Intent.
The only exception was Cù, who was now practicing how to reach the same stage but with his own body, supposedly that was second-year material, but oh well.
Professor Hector stood in front of them.
"Now that you have reached this level of Intent, your first exercise is simple. Form groups and spar against each other, however, there are rules to be held."
He raised a finger.
"No Magic or Magecraft."
He raised another.
"No use of physical reinforcement, be it via Mana, Aura or Divine Power."
He raised a third.
"You can only use Intent, try to diversify as much as you can."
He raised finger number four.
"Each spar must make it to at least five minutes of duration, with the exception of a knockout. You are not allowed to forfeit before that time."
He raised a final fifth finger.
"Don't kill each other, that's all."
There was silence for a moment.
'That's quite simple.'
He looked around.
'Who should I partner with?'
He could either pair with those he was most friendly with, that being Tiana, Mara, and Zillah, or he could go for the more challenging ones, like Arianne, Jynn, and Stelle.
Who should he go for.
However, there was no need for him to decide.
Before he could make a decision, a figure approached him. He recognized her instinctively, not just because of her face but also her determination.
It was Stelle, and she was challenging him.
A grin found its way to his face.
"Ray, spar with me."
"With pleasure."
It was short, there was no discussion or disagreement. Both of them, even if they weren't that close, had found a bond that in certain situations was even stronger than friendship or alliances.
Rivalry.
After that Combat Test, they both wanted more. Stelle wanted to go again, not only to be pushed into that state once again, but to win this time. Ray simply wanted to enjoy a fight with such a talented person, he wanted to push this new body of his aswell.
Something like that.
Who could give that but one another.
The other five formed two groups. In one there was Tiana, Mara, and Zillah, while in the other there was Arianne and Jynn.
As soon as the professor allowed them to start sparring, the first ones to step into the stage were Ray and Stelle.
They wouldn't allow others to enjoy themselves before them.
Both of their longsword's outlines lit up in white light, signifying the use of Intent as they entered their stances.
Ever since their last fight, Ray had recognized that although he was ridiculously talented in swordsmanship, because he was never trained properly, Stelle, who was a sword genius, was able to easily subdue him.
So, he had started training intensively since then, with Tiana as his mentor.
But he could tell Stelle had not been slacking either, or rather, was she even capable of slacking? The way she moved was slightly different from before.
If it wasn't for the fact that Ray had been looking for any differences, he wouldn't have spotted it. A certain refinement that was not there before, no matter how small it was, was still there.
Ray grinned and assumed a stance, it was no longer one that he took instinctively but rather one that he had figured out after his training with Tiana and his absurd talent with the sword.
Stelle assumed her stance as well.
They looked at each other dead in the eyes, for a moment, there was nothing else but them. Those red and blue eyes were the only thing they could see for that split second of intense focus.
"Go!"
With the teacher's signal, they rushed forward, closing the distance between them in a flash.
They both delivered their first strikes, Ray was slightly faster, and so Stelle was forced to give up her attack and clash swords to block the strike.
She felt the pressure of the strike halting her momentum as if she was hitting a wall.
It was not that surprising, without mana, aura, and natural energy in the mix, Ray was, without a shred of doubt, physically stronger. And so she reckoned that she was not supposed to try and force her way out of this one.
She shifted her Intent, making her blade less prone to meet resistance, allowing it to slide along the blade of Ray's sword easily.
She maneuvered with great dexterity and positioned herself outside his sword's range.
The battlefield had been reset.
Once again they struck, this time Stelle changed her Intent to make her sword capable to slightly ignore Air Resistance, allowing it to travel faster.
Swish
Ray heard it coming, the sound of the air being split apart in a way that was hard to comprehend.
And so he moved to block it.
He positioned his sword in the perfect position as Tiana taught and his intuition showed him, and then using his Intent he made his sword easily influenced by air resistance instead.
This made his sword harder to move from its position.
The two blades crashed against each other, one moved with great speed and carried great power behind it, while the other was attempting to become an immovable object.
The two Intents crashed along with the blades, and in the end, the one that was stronger rejected the other.
Ray's sword remained still, successfully blocking Stelle's strike.
Without giving up, Stelle brought her sword back and performed a thrust, hoping to force Ray to step back.
Changing his Intent once again, he swung his sword to deflect the thrust.
As the blades made contact, Ray's Intent made it clear what its effects were.
As if pushed by an unknown force, the blade was pushed sideways, catching Stelle by surprise.
'This amount of knockback. It's impossible that simple swing did that much, it must have been his Intent, then.'
She did not have much more time to think, though.
Ray's blade was already approaching her neck.
She decided to get risky.
If he could make his sword capable of performing magical effects like creating kinetic energy to knock back other objects much further than they would normally, then she could too.
She would give her sword the capability to be attracted by other pieces of metal, some form of magnetism was enough.
Her Intent flared.
With his sensitivity to Intent, Ray sensed her change and tried to read her Intent.
But...
'Her Intent is becoming more and more complex, is she trying to replicate a more complex effect like I did earlier?'
And then he saw it.
Her sword flew in the direction of his own as if it was attracted by it.
And then her Intent changed again, this time it was oh so much simpler.
It was to cut. Cut anything that was in her path.
She focused every single ounce of mental strength she had to make her sword sharper.
'I will cut his sword in half!!!'
But now, Ray could tell her thoughts, and he acted accordingly.
He changed his Intent to make his sword act as if it was filled with small teeth on the sides, effectively trapping Stelle's blade with his own.
Twisting his arms, he redirected the swords away to his right side and kicked Stelle away.
"Guh!"
Slash
"Gah!"
As she was being kicked away, she had changed her sword's Intent to increase her range, effectively making a skin-deep cut in his chest horizontally.
Without a second of hesitation, they rushed forward again, their blades meeting in the middle.
This time, there was no flourish or hidden scheme.
This time it would only be a battle of mental strength, a show of pure will and Intent.
They both use their mental power to make their swords sharper with their Intent.
A bright white light shone at the point of contact, both their arms and brains straining with the effort of trying to cut the other.
Both swords broke, a clean cut in their blades from their Intent.
As they were about to use the cut swords to keep on fighting, a powerful voice interrupted them.
"Okay, that's enough!"
It was Professor Hector.
"The two of you. I want to talk to you after class. I said I expected discipline from this class, so why did the two of you ignore my calls three times?!"
"I am sorry, professor."
Stelle bowed in apology.
"Huh, yeah, sorry about that."
Ray awkwardly apologized.
Were they in trouble?
**************
Author's Notes: Yay another chapter! What do you think of Intent being used in combat? Do you think it is interesting?
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