Stars and Swords

A Reunion of Swords

The recruits assembled in a semi circle with their little groups, waiting for their instructor to begin the examination. He then came a few minutes later with a knight the recruits don't usually see or know about...except for Holos. The instructor, apparently named Sir Wilson, commanded the recruits' attention.

"Greetings recruits." he began, "Today, I am joined by a distinguished Knight of Polaria, and an alumni of this very place. Say hello, to Tennor Whitescar." he declared, gesturing at the blonde knight right behind him. He then stepped forward to take over from Sir Wilson.

"Hello." said Tennor. "Today, the Academy has called me back to test your skills so far. I will give you two things you should remember for today's test: fight with honor, and fight fiercely." he continued. "I will test your basic skill in combat in a duel, while Sir Wilson evaluates your form and your grit." he continued. "Well, good luck then recruits." Tennor smiled, picking up a sword from the weapon rack. He then went into his fighting stance while Sir Wilson got more wooden swords

"First things first..." the instructor called out. "I have here..." he rummaged through his pocket, "the list of the test order." he said, bringing out an ample-sized scroll of parchment. "I randomized the names, so there will be no pattern to it." the instructor added. "Now then, ready yourselves, and give it your all once you're on!" he reminded. The exams began in earnest. Wooden swords can be heard clattering and clashing, rising and falling as students came and went through their turn. The turns varied in length, depnding on how the recruit did against the knight.

Franz was first among Holos' friends to go up against Tennor. Recruit and knight both assumed battle stance, sword held out diagonally in front of them. Franz breathed in and out to calm himself.

"Give it your all Franz" the blonde recruit thought to himself to focus, as both were waiting for Sir Wilson's signal.

"BEGIN!' called out the older knight. Tennor made the first move. Franz parried the blow, launching his own. The blonde knight then made his move to block the recruit's strike, doing so effortlessly. It then flowed into a back and forth, alternating between strikes and parries, neither landing a decisive blow.

Tennor then switched his tactics, opting for thrusts, which Franz is having more difficulty blocking. A few minutes later, Tennor found his winning strike: a feinted thrust, switching into a sideway strike midway. Tired, Franz didn't see it coming, and was promptly compelled to yield as the wooden sword came within inches of his abdomen.

"YIELD!" declared the instructor. Franz then promptly stepped off, panting in celar exhaustion. Another student was called in to take their turn, and wooden swords clattered anew...but not for nearly as long as Franz's turn was. And so another recruit was called in to take their turn, and those wooden swords clashed anew.

Tennor then took a break for small while, leaving the rest of the students who haven't had their turn yet quite on edge. Oren especially had a manic look about him, menacingly cracking his knuckles.

"All those others are weak..." Oren snarled.

"Heh, bet you can beat that knight." Baz snickered.

"At the very least, prove worthy of you being a Polarian Knight." Beran said.

"Why, I can take all these weaklings!" hissed Oren, punching the ground.

The examination then resumed, with Beran starting the second half of the exam. Beran confidently smirked as he assumed fighting stance. The instructor then called the duel to begin, Beran opting to bait Tennor into striking first, which he dodges. He then winds up a thrust, which the blonde knight deftly dodges. Tennor quickly executes a side strike, which Beran barely parries. The green-haired teen then swiped in return at Tennor, but the knight saw it coming. He then deftly dodges it, countering with a thrust.

Beran then parries the thrust, but wasn't prepared for Tennor's quick retaliation. The knight quickly wound up a strike to the neck, resulting in the instructor halting the duel. Beran came back to friends disappointed, which was reciprocated by Baz and Oren scowling at him for his failure. Another recruit then took up their turn with the knight.

A few recruits later, it was Alec's turn, which didn't last long. This made Oren and his cronies snigger at how short Alec's turn was.

"Hah! Told ya, this ninny is weak!" Baz snickered.

"Hey, you want another 5 points off for that cheeky remark?" hissed Sir Wilson at him, overhearing the conversation. He then went back to watching and scoring the duels.

"i***t!" growled Oren in a low volume.

"Eh, we'll beat these ninnies regardless." Baz scoffed.

"That's not how the rest of the academy will see it." Beran told them.

"Ah whatever..." scoffed Baz, going back to watching the exams. He then was up next. He went into his battle stance with a cocky smirk on his face. Tennor meanwhile, calmly went into his stance, as he had done multiple times now.

The examination began for Baz, immediately swinging at the knight three consecutive times, which said knight easily parried. He then went for an overhead swing, which Baz parried with excessive force. The wild-haired youth immediately converted the parry into another strike, which Tennor immediately blocked with his weapon. Flinging beads of sweat, Tennor went for a cross s***h which Baz met with his weapon head-on. That however, was his last moment, as Tennor immediately swerevd his sword left and right, landing into Baz's left rib column.

Sir Wilson called a halt to Baz's session, which made Baz visibly livid as he went back to the spectators's side of things and another recruit was called in to take their turn. The turn lasted as long as Baz's, but without that much energy or event. Another recruit took their turn and soon, it was Oren's turn.

"Here, watch how its done you imbeciles." Oren boasted, as he assumed fighting form. The battle began in earnest, with swords clashing fiercely. Oren went for a big overhead strike as his opening move, which was easily dodged by Tennor. He then went for a crosswise s***h, which Oren deftly dodged, winding a s***h of his own. Oren blocks the strike, then thrusts towards Tennor, to no avail as he blocks the attack. Tennor for a downward strike, which Oren deftly dodges. Tennor then rapidly swings his sword left to right and back again, but ultimately proved ineffective as Oren barely dodged.

This gave Oren incentive to launch his offensive, which Tennor easily wised up to, blocking and dodging his wild strikes. Oren went for a stroke that was going to hit square on to Tennor's head if he did not saw it barely in time. That maneuver however, spelled the end of Oren's run, as Tennor lined up a s***h that was going to land straight into his neck. Unlike the move he made just a moment earlier, this one from Tennor he did not saw coming.

"Surrender, kid." said the knight cooly, as he stopped his wooden sword just a hair away from Oren's neck. Sir Wilson did it anyway, seeing the situation. Oren went away, visibly upset and furious.

"Azurestar!" called out the instructor, as Oren went back to his friends disgruntled.

"Heh, you'll do no better than us, little ninny." Oren sneered.

"Not what our fight said." scoffed Holos coolly, as he went the opposite way to take his turn. Oren snarled as he went back to the audience.

"You got lucky weakling." he snarled, as he rejoined his friends.

Tennor smiled, immediately recognizing the silver-haired male.

"Holos!" greeted the blonde, "I would've liked to catch up, but as you can see..." he said, as he went into his fighting stance.

"Didn't know you made it Tennor, my old friend!" Holos greeted back, assuming his own stance.

The duel soon began. Tennor charged forward onto Holos, their swords meeting perfectly in the middle. Both tried a two-handed strike sideways, but both saw it coming and promptly blocked the other's attack. Holos tried a swipe at the other direction, but Tennor saw the strike coming and reacted to it promptly. He then proceeds to launch a thrust at Holos, which the silver-haired male dodges in style, just leaning enough away from the wooden blade.

Tennor opens again with a left-right, but Holos knew the feint and reacted accordingly. In return, Holos performed a lunge-thrust, but sprung back once Tennor dodged the attack. The blonde knight then did a thrust of his own that he midway turned into a downward swipe. Holos barely dodges Tennor's strike, the wooden blade grazing the shin part of his trouser uniform. Holos then put his weapon diagonally across his face, rightfully assuming that Tennor would go for an overhead strike.

Tennor proved Holos wrong, the latter swiping his weapon downward to block the oncoming strike from the former. Holos then went for a horizontal s***h, which Tennor then blocks. The clash went on that way for a few moments more, Tennor almost making Holos yield multiple times in that space of time.

"TIME!" Sir Wilson called out. The recruits there were amazed, with the exception of Oren and his cronies, who were absolutely livid this happened. Holos went back to the sidelines, with a grin that knew he did a good job. Another recruit was called in to take their turn, but at this moment, Holos has gone partly deaf because of the high his stellar job did. Soon, the test was over after a few more recruits had their turn. Sir Wilson issued a few reminders before they were dismissed, mainly about when their results were going to come in.

The recruits were then dismissed, off to their next and final exam for the day. Holos held his head high, having done well just now. And combined with the prospect of meeting Soura later tonight, the silver-haired boy was in high spirits.