The oppressive silence of the training yard stretched taut. William stood locked in his defensive stance, practice sword heavy, palms sweating. Across the dust, Yegun Fastblade continued his slow, deliberate circle, a predator mapping its terrain. William had run countless simulations for an immediate blitz. This patient assessment was pure psychological warfare, designed to unravel nerves before the first blade crossed. He's running diagnostics, William thought, forcing his breath steady. Collecting baseline data before executing attack protocols. Standard procedure. Problem: My baseline is... suboptimal.

  Passivity was a losing strategy. He couldn't just react. The agility gap was too vast. But charging a B-Rank speed specialist was statistically identical to diving headfirst into a woodchipper. His plan remained unchanged. Defense, predictive evasion via EMMA, energy conservation, and trusting the analytical model he'd built. Maximize system uptime, minimize critical errors.

  09:15

  Yegun’s orbit tightened marginally. A fractional shift of weight onto his left foot. A near-subliminal flicker near his eyes, the triple blink William had catalogued. Pattern match: High probability (82% +/- 5%) right-side feint initiation within 1.5s. Anticipate follow-up thrust, centre mass.

  Almost before the thought completed, Yegun moved. It wasn't a charge, but an explosion of focused velocity. He darted right, sword a silver blur aimed at William’s left flank, the feint, exactly as predicted. William didn’t react to the flash. He reacted to the data. Shifting his weight back, bringing his longsword around in a low, sweeping parry before Yegun’s actual attack, the follow-up thrust, lightning-fast, aimed precisely where William's center mass would have been exposed had he fallen for the initial lure.

  CLANG!

  The impact resonated up William’s arm, a jarring shock that vibrated to his bones. The blunted steel rang loud and sharp in the sudden stillness. Block successful. Barely. The force was significantly higher than anticipated during low-speed sparring observation. Recalibrate opponent Strength impact estimate: +10-15%.

  Yegun flowed back instantly, resetting his distance. His expression remained impassive, but William, watching intently, thought he detected a micro-flicker of surprise in the B-Rank's eyes. The parry was too early, too precise for a reaction. It was predictive. Hypothesis: Opponent registered anomaly.

  09:00

  Yegun didn't wait long for further assessment. He exploded forward again, covering the distance in a near-instant. Twin swords became a chaotic weave of steel, probing attacks. A high slash aimed at the shoulder. Simultaneously, a low flick towards the leading knee. Followed immediately by a deceptive, angled thrust towards William's chest. Testing reflexes, guard stability, seeking exploitable weaknesses.

  William’s mind raced, but his body moved, drawing on Edward’s patient drilling, the countless solo repetitions, and the ingrained patterns from yesterday's analysis. High threat incoming, vector upper right quadrant! His sword snapped up, deflecting the high slash with another jarring clang. Low threat incoming, vector lower left quadrant! He twisted at the waist, pulling his leg back, the second blade whistling through empty air, stirring dust. Centre thrust incoming, vector adjusted mid-transit! He met the final thrust with a solid, angled block, grounding himself, using his body structure to absorb the impact, forcing Yegun back a step.

  Three vectors processed. Zero successful hits conceded, William’s internal analyst noted, detached, even as his heart hammered against his ribs. Physical Exertion: Moderate. Mana Cost: Zero (EMMA Passive Monitoring Only). He held his ground, resetting his guard, focusing on controlling his breathing. Phase one survived.

  08:15

  Yegun flowed back again, distance created instantly. This time, the look he gave William held a distinct flicker of reappraisal. The F-Rank wasn't collapsing. He wasn't panicking. His defence, while crude and lacking finesse, was unnervingly… effective. Too timely.

  Opponent is recalibrating, William noted. Initial assessment likely flagged target as low-threat/low-skill. Current performance contradicts initial assessment. Probability of increased offensive intensity: High. He quickly compared Yegun’s impact force to memory. Yegun's strikes: High Frequency, Moderate Impact. Edward’s strikes: Medium Frequency, High Impact. Current defensive strategy optimized for Yegun's profile, but vulnerable to sustained, high-volume assault. Stamina depletion remains primary risk factor.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Yegun’s reappraisal was brief. Having completed his reconnaissance-in-force, he apparently decided this somewhat surprising F-Rank required a more dedicated effort to dismantle. The probing stopped. The real assault began.

  He became a whirlwind. The circling vanished, replaced by unpredictable, explosive movements, feints, darts, pivots across the packed earth. The twin shortswords were no longer testing. They were attacking, a continuous silver stream seeking any gap, any hesitation. Thrusts snapped at William's chest, arms, legs, forcing constant defensive adjustments. High attacks blurred into low sweeps, left-side pressure instantly shifted to the right. It wasn't a sequence, it was a cascade, an overlapping wave of threats designed to overwhelm, break concentration, and force the inevitable error.

  Threat level critical. Predictive analysis required. William mentally engaged EMMA's active modules. Activate Trajectory Prediction. Activate Pattern Recognition (Adaptive Mode). Monitor Mana Expenditure.

  The world sharpened, overlaid with shimmering data. His mana bar dipped slightly: 98/100.

  Incoming attack vectors: Multiple, high velocity! EMMA struggled to keep pace with Yegun's sheer speed, overlaying faint trajectory lines, highlighting fractional tells – a shoulder dip, a foot angle shift, milliseconds before they translated into action. Processing… Processing… Pattern Match: Right-side feint -> High Thrust! Parry sequence initiated! CLANG! New Vector: Low slash, left side! Evasion subroutine running! William stumbled back, the blade whispering past his hip. Warning: Stamina drain increasing rapidly. Mana Cost (EMMA Active Analysis): Moderate, sustained. MP: 95/100.

  He felt like a lone data packet caught in a denial-of-service attack, battered by waves of incoming steel. He wasn't fighting back, he was purely surviving, buffering the onslaught. His arms screamed from the relentless impacts. His lungs burned, demanding air he couldn't seem to draw fast enough. Sweat stung his eyes, blurring his vision momentarily. But he held on, desperately integrating EMMA's flickering predictions with the muscle memory of his drills. Blink sequence detected! High probability feint! Ignore initial vector! Anticipate follow-up thrust, centre mass! Adjust block angle! CLANG! He blocked it, staggering back half a step. MP: 91/100.

  05:00

  Halfway. Five minutes achieved through frantic defence, predictive algorithms, and sheer, adrenaline-fueled terror masquerading as concentration. He risked a glance towards the edge, Julia was a pale, tense blur. Borin hadn't moved, impassive as stone.

  But Yegun wasn't just speed, he was experience. He felt the frustrating rhythm of William’s defence, the uncanny way the F-Rank seemed to anticipate attacks, meeting feints with stillness and true strikes with just enough defence. It defied explanation based on rank or observed skill. Something was off. Yegun’s eyes narrowed, the fluid storm of attacks momentarily pausing, his movements becoming sharper, less predictable, more calculated.

  Opponent tactical shift detected, EMMA flashed a priority warning. Previous pattern correlations degrading. Increasing unpredictability factor. Recalibrating predictive models… Warning: Confidence levels reduced. MP: 88/100.

  Yegun feinted high left, a familiar opener. William’s body automatically began to shift his guard in response to the ingrained pattern. But this time, the follow-through wasn't a sword thrust. Dropping low with startling speed, Yegun pivoted sharply on his right foot and lashed out with his left, a vicious, snapping side kick aimed directly at William's leading left shin.

  ERROR! UNEXPECTED INPUT! NON-STANDARD ATTACK VECTOR (MELEE KICK) DETECTED! DEFENSIVE ALGORITHM MISMATCH!

  The warning flared in William's mind a fatal fraction of a second too late. He'd optimized his analysis entirely around the swords, filtering out other potential melee inputs as low-probability outliers. Pain, sharp and brutal, exploded up his leg as the reinforced toe of Yegun’s boot connected squarely with his shin. His knee buckled involuntarily. His carefully maintained defensive posture shattered. HP: 125/150.

  Yegun gave no quarter. The instant William stumbled, balance compromised, guard collapsing, the B-Rank surged forward, predatory grace replaced by focused, decisive intent. His right shortsword flashed upwards in a powerful, committed thrust aimed squarely at William’s exposed shoulder, a clear 'incapacitating blow'.

  Pain radiating up his leg, equilibrium shattered, William reacted on pure, desperate instinct honed by the last few minutes of frantic survival. He threw his sword arm up wildly, less a parry, more a panicked collision.

  CLANG-scrape!

  He connected, deflecting the worst of the thrust, but the angle was wrong, the force overwhelming. HP: 117/150. The impact sent him staggering backwards several steps, his injured leg screaming protest. He barely managed to stay upright, sword held defensively but trembling, his rhythm broken, his confidence fractured, the carefully constructed wall of analytical defence breached.

  03:28

  The sand flowed relentlessly. Almost three and a half minutes remaining. An abyss of time stretching before him, and the Fastblade was just getting started.