Jacob exhaled sharply, tightening his grip on the blade.
'Twelve percent? Well it doesn't have to be perfect, does it?' He mused.
Xenia moved again, this time he didn't retreat, he pushed Qi into his legs again, forcing them to move before his mind could even react.
The ground beneath him cracked as he leaped towards her.
Xenia's eyes narrowed as they both closed the gap between them, "Good… now you're thinking," she said as she swung her blade again.
Jacob could see her movements just like before, his eye glowed a deep blue and pulsed violently.
He twisted his body and slipped past the arc of her blade, feeling the wind of her strike brush past his cheek.
Now was the perfect time to launch a counter.
He raised his sword, lightning flickered around the edges, and around his body, it was unstable and chaotic.
'Lightning…Sword Strike'
He moved faster than he'd ever gone before, the control he felt was unmatched, within a second he had danced over to the other side with the blade in his hand. He slashed right, his blade cutting through the air, heading for Xenia's chest.
The attack was definitely incomplete, but equally very fast.
He noticed Xenia's expression change for the first time during their battle, she was surprised.
She tilted her blade just in time.
CLANG!
The impact rang through the entire arena, a burst of lightning scattered wildly upon contact. Jacob was thrown back from the recoil, but he managed to stay on his feet.
Xenia staggered backwards too, still shocked by the attack.
"Guh!" Jacob heaved.
"Did you just copy my move mid-battle?" Xenia asked him, partially unable to comprehend what just happened.
"I just applied the same technique."
"No, no, you shouldn't be able to do that, not this quickly," she shouted.
Jacob shrugged, saying nothing else, he only tightened his grip as the blade hummed faintly in his hands.
'This boy is extremely dangerous, the technique, the power, if I hadn't reacted in time…' Xenia thought to herself.
Her thought process wasn't even over before Jacob had launched another attack which she parried with ease.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"That seems so intense!" Elena looked out to the battle arena, her nerves very obviously tensed as she watched on.
"Xenia has been giving direct orders not to harm the boy." Rhoarin reassured her, flipping through the pages of a book.
"It looks like she's about to kill him any minute!"
Rhoarin closed his book and walked over to his wife, his 7 foot frame towering over her immensely.
He took her hands in his and kissed them, "You worry too much Elena, after this, if you want I'll train our son myself."
"I just want him safe, that's all I care about."
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Jacob and Xenia's battle had reached the apex by now, both parties were already breathing heavily but neither side relented.
'This is taking forever, but it might be enough to do it this time,' Jacob thought.
Although Jacob had been struggling, it felt needless for him to show the full extent of his power in this sparring session, so he decided inwardly to only use her skill against her.
Xenia lunged at him again, but just as she moved his eye pulsed.
The use of Emperor Eye has taken its toll on his body, causing him to fall on one knee.
Xenia, upon seeing an opening decided to increase the pressure, her aura increased, this was her final move.
Just as she was about to strike the boy with one blow…
'Lightning Sword Strike.'
There was a mote of light, then two, three.
ZOOM!
The boy was gone from that spot, the blade whined in his grip as he reappeared in the air behind Xenia, his eyes glowing deeply, with one slash, the air parted around his blade.
CLANG!!
Xenia, forced to react in a split second, had managed to parry his attack again, the impact resounded around the arena, raising a wave of dust as their weapons collided.
Both Jacob and Xenia were blown backwards by the impact, Jacob was on one knee, breathing heavily, Xenia remained standing.
She planted her sword in a crack in the floor and clapped for him.
"Well done, young master," a smile of jubilation was plastered across her face, "You nearly perfected my attack after seeing it just once." She said, stretching her arm out towards him to pull him up.
"I'm learning from the best."
"Don't flatter me young master, tell me, what exactly are you?" She asked him with a serious expression.
"What am I? Well I'm the heir of Ironfell, of course." He replied, a dignified look on his face.
They both laughed as she held him up and walked him out of the arena. Her eyes lingered on him, studying him, in all her years she had never met any child as gifted as him.
She wondered what the boy would be like as an adult but the thought alone terrified her.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Later at night the boy was having dinner with his parents when his mother spoke up.
"How was your training today Jacob?" She asked him softly, sipping a glass of wine.
"Ohh it was great! Xenia is a good teacher."
"And you're fine with her being your mentor?" She immediately responded, warranting a look from Rhoarin, who cleared his throat and spoke up.
"What your mother is trying to say, son, is that she's worried about you… we are worried about you." He said.
"Worried about me? Why?" Jacob asked innocently.
"Surely you're aware of your own power by now, you held your own against Xenia in the arena today, four of our clan soldiers combined couldn't do that." Rhoarin continued, "Tell us the truth, did you know about it before your awakening?"
Jacob stared at the both of them, eagerly awaiting his response.
He grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth, he was in no hurry to reveal his secrets to anyone in this world, but this was his family, so he decided he would tell them only half of the truth.