Fuck me this guy's good.

Jay took a knee and recovered his breath while thinking of a plan. Cyrus let him. He waited patiently for Jay to resume their spar.

The floating blue swordsman, that Cyrus called his 'ascendant soul', made fighting the D grade gladiator almost impossible.

Everything Jay tried, Cyrus had an answer for.

Even worse, Jay could tell Cyrus was still taking it easy.

Jay brushed off his insecurities. He'd come here to uncover his weaknesses; what use was resenting Cyrus for discovering them?

Skipping darts of electricity overflowed from Jay's body, scorching the flattened grasses around him. He stood up and charged at Cyrus, leaving a charred and trodden trail behind him.

Ping attacked first. The shield launched herself at Cyrus' flank. Her attack was a feint, intended to draw Cyrus' attention towards her, opening opportunities for Jay to exploit.

That attack pattern had worked on most of Jay's E grade opponents, but Cyrus was a whole different beast.

His attention remained locked on Jay. He didn't move a muscle against Ping's decoy.

He had an ascendant soul to do that for him.

The ghostly blue figure turned to face the oncoming shield. Unlike Lyra's half clones, Cyrus' ascendant soul rarely mimicked his physical body's actions. Its curved sword morphed into a titanic club that batted Ping into the ground, embedding her firmly into the topsoil.

Jay wasn't going to get a better distraction.

He faced off against Cyrus with his fists raised high. He threw a light jab, half out of pure habit, that was dodged easily.

He threw another.

Jay's left fist sliced through the air. He felt electricity bobble beneath the surface of his skin.

Again, Cyrus dodged. He swiftly stepped back, maintaining a comfortable distance.

Jay wouldn't let him. He couldn't let him.

He continued his charge, launching another flurry of lefts. Each one fell short, but they crept closer to their target.

On his fourth attempt, Jay twisted his wrist at the last second. The serrated blade of his Conqueror's fist flicked towards Cyrus' neck.

Cyrus jerked his head back, caught off guard by the sudden increase in Jay's range. He leaned back, barely managing to avoid the blade.

But Jay's advance didn't stop there.

The dancing darts of electricity freed themselves from the channels of Jay's body, leaping out from his bloodstream and onto the battlefield. The darts raced down Jay's forearm like a pack of wild dogs, leaping off the denatured steel blade and towards Cyrus' face.

Almost all the streams fizzled out before they closed the distance, scattering into harmless sparkles, extinguished by the wind.

But one thin stream got through.

And one tiny trailblazer was all it took. The white ribbon evolved into a cascading torrent of electricity the moment it touched Cyrus' head.

It had bridged the gap. Now, the caged energy within Jay's body had a route to escape.

But Jay's hope was short lived.

Cyrus latched onto Jay's wrist. Locking them together.

Electricity stopped surging through the air. Instead rushing into Cyrus through his own fingertips and ravaging the flesh within his arm.

Jay watched his opponent grimace through the pain.

Why did he-

A flicker of sky blue crept out from behind Cyrus.

Fresh from dealing with Ping, who was still embedded in the ground, Cyrus' ascendant soul focused its sights on Jay. The spectral club had transformed into an axe, and with its creator locking Jay into position, the soul raised its weapon above its head.

With his shield out of action, and Cyrus locking up his left hand, Jay resorted to his next line of defence.

Ultra-close-range.

Jay tugged his left arm towards the ground, pulling Cyrus' arm along with it. He couldn't break the man's vice grip, so instead Jay manipulated the position.

He pulled himself closer, swinging his right arm around Cyrus' waist.

Jay had the opportunity to strike but he knew it would be ineffective. A meaningful punch was impossible from this range, even for him.

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He shifted his right leg across his body before twisting his hips, spinning around and driving his waist backwards into Cyrus' body.

Jay dropped his hips, ensuring they were below his opponent's, before driving them upwards. Jay simultaneously dragged Cyrus over his body and hurled him into the trajectory of the oncoming spectral axe.

If the ascendant soul wanted Jay's neck, it'd have to go through Cyrus' body first.

The floating soul stopped its swing but stood guard over Cyrus, ready for action.

Jay activated Eye of the storm as his opponent's body ragdolled through the air above him.

Cyrus was smiling.

NOW!

Jay didn't let his opponent distract him. As soon as Cyrus hit the floor, his soul would attack. Jay couldn't afford to waste his chance. His left was still locked within Cyrus' grip, but his right fist was free to attack.

Jay fired a punch at his opponent's gut. But even while being flung through the air, Cyrus still responded in time. His hand intercepted Jay's fist. Instead of grabbing it, like he had with the left, Cyrus gently tapped Jay's oncoming fist.

The raging electricity stilled. His muscles fell slack as, for the first time, Jay felt the electricity within him slow down. His punch faltered. After defusing Jay's punch, Cyrus instantly batted the fist aside.

What the fu-

Cyrus kept falling. Kept smiling. He kept a hold of Jay's wrist as he dropped to the floor and dragged Jay down with him.

Jay had spent the last week locking his opponents into ultra close range dogfights. This time, Cyrus weaponised Jay's own style against him.

The two gladiators sank into the grasses together.

But only one of them had an ascendant soul.

Jay pressed on top of Cyrus. The soul loomed above them both. Jay flailed against Cyrus' grip, but the D grade gladiator held him tight. He tried to flip around, to use Cyrus as a shield again.

He couldn't.

Cyrus gently chuckled as he locked Jay's left wrist to his own and stifled any attempt at reversing the grapple.

The ascendant soul hovered above the two writhing gladiators, a faint wisp of blue connecting it to Cyrus' spine.

It raised its axe.

Shackled to his opponent, Jay was powerless to do anything but watch as the inevitable spectral axe fell upon him.

PING!

The ringing echo of vibrating metal swept across the prairie.

Jay's protector had returned to the battlefield.

The axe knocked her aside, but she had done her job.

The axe swung harmlessly by Jay's head and into the ground. It didn't sink into the soil, or cut through the grass, slicing through them like an illusion.

Cyrus raised an eyebrow, flicking his eyes over to Ping for a moment before returning to the fight.

Ping had protected Jay once, but she couldn't block everything.

Cyrus' ascendant soul raised its axe again, this time with only its right hand. It extended its left and another axe formed inside it, coalescing out of ethereal wisps.

Eventually, this hand raised too.

Ping hovered above Jay. Unwavering in the face of another attack.

But she couldn't protect him every time.

The first axe crashed into Ping. It changed its course, sweeping off to the side and taking her with it.

Creating space for the second.

Cool air brushed over Jay's neck. The axe stopped millimetres from Jay's skin.

Whispers of gale force winds kicked his hairs on end as they snaked up to his ears. Jay wondered what an attack from Cyrus' soul looked and felt like. He made a note to watch his old fights when he had some time.

Cyrus released his grip; Jay got to his feet and gave his sparring partner a hand up. The ascendant soul collapsed into light and returned to Cyrus' body.

"You haven't shown the lightning escaping your body in the coliseum yet." said Cyrus. "Trying to hide it from someone?"

Jay hesitated before nodding.

So he's been watching my fights…

"Smart. Tricks like that are only really useful for their surprise factor. Unless you improve the technique significantly, keep it under wraps until advancement finishes and test it out a bit more then."

Cyrus raised two fingers.

"Based on that spar, the ones before it, and your last few coliseum fights, I can see two main weaknesses. Well, two weaknesses you can fix before advancement."

He put one finger down.

"Number one. Closing the distance. I'm sure you're aware of this, but your mid to long range fighting leaves a lot to be desired. You can try to avoid these fights, but close range fighters all have the same problem. You have to get there first.

"Misdirection with the shield is a good idea, but you need to work on it more. In that last round, I engaged with you in boxing range, but what if my soul wielded a spear instead, and didn't let you get that close? Granted, there's very few people in E grade able to withstand your pressure, but they're precisely the people you're trying to kill. Right?"

Jay nodded gravely at Cyrus' knowing stare. Jay wasn't trying to beat most of E grade, he was trying to beat the best.

"You're not a long range fighter. How did you tackle the distance problem?" Jay asked.

Cyrus chuckled. His ascendant soul formed behind him before floating towards the mountains. Once it was over twenty metres away, it began slashing its curved sword through the air.

It turned around. The sword shifted, reforming into a longbow. The soul aimed at Jay and shot.

Ping rushed in front of Jay, ready to deflect the arrow.

But the soul didn't fire an arrow.

A jet of pure wind crashed into Ping. She blocked some of it, but the relentless streams crept around her rim and attacked Jay. He dug his heels into the soil and tried to stay standing.

Cyrus' eyes lingered on Ping before returning to Jay.

"How did I tackle the distance problem?" said Cyrus. "I became a better long range fighter. Simple as that.

"You won't be able to do that before advancement, so try and figure something out. Your transition from close to very close is good, but getting into close range should be your next step. During the advancement tournament, your teammates can probably create windows for you to close the distance, but after that… not so much."

Cyrus raised his second finger back up.

"The second issue is kind of the opposite. Your grappling works when your opponent resists, but what if they don't? In the last round, you saw how easy it was for me to lock us together. Most of E grade couldn't do that, but some might be able to.

"In a one on one, that's not an issue. Other than maybe Lyra Twinstrike, I don't think anybody can stifle your grappling while still being able to mount an attack, especially with your shield whizzing about. But you won't be fighting in isolation during advancement. You'll have the environment and third parties to deal with. Figure out a way to break the stalemate if someone tries that strategy. Perhaps someone doesn't want to defeat you, but instead simply remove you from the fight. You should know a way out of that scenario."

Jay thanked Cyrus for his analysis and mentally churned over the advice. He'd certainly improved since signing up for the advancement tournament, but the same issues persisted. His skillset had expanded, but it was still limited.

Two more weeks to figure it out.

"That'll do it for today, but feel free to come back." said Cyrus, smiling at Jay as he returned to his spot, sitting down at the centre of the endless meadow. "I could do with a break from my usual routine."

Jay turned around to see Austin standing beside a mid-air doorway. He walked through and followed the butler out.

The journey to the entrance hall was an uneventful one, but there was someone waiting for them at the entrance. A grey-haired woman, leaning against the doorway and watching them walk towards her.

"Thank you, Austin. You can leave us now." she said. Her flat tone betrayed no emotion. "Me and Mr. Leonard need to have a conversation."

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