Kain vs Sophia

Morning light filtered through the tall, arched windows of Eira’s private training ground, rays of sunlight cutting through motes of dust in the still air. The chamber was spacious but enclosed, its stone walls lined with weapon racks and scarred practice posts that bore the marks of countless hours of disciplined training. The floor was worn smooth in places, the surface carrying the quiet history of the effort.

Eira sat cross-legged on the bench, spear resting against her shoulder, watching with a calm expression that did not match the tension in her eyes. This was the first time Sophia chose to personally spar with Kain, and both knew it meant something.

Sophia stood across the field.

Her training attire hugged her thick legs, accentuating her hourglass figure, revealing her lean, toned build that display strength without bulk, elegance without weakness. The overhead light glinted off her blonde hair, tied neatly into a high ponytail. Even her stance radiated nobility and lethal precision.

Left hand behind her back. Feet aligned as if she stood on a line of silk. Right hand gripping the wooden sword raised vertically, tip pointed up, blade perpendicular, edge to the front. The stance of the Royal Celestrian Bladecraft, its opening form was called Heaven’s Guard.

‘A stance for rapiers, not wooden swords. But she made even wood look like a divine weapon.’

Kain exhaled slowly, gripping a wooden longsword in his right and the short blade in his left.

“Are you ready, Sophy?”

Her blue eyes sharpened as she held no sincerity in her voice.

“Do not call me that…you lost that right.”

Kain nodded, smiling, but a subtle bit of sadness and acknowledgment could be seen in his eyes.

“Right...your Highness…are you ready?”

She only nodded.

The moment her chin dipped, Kain sprinted forward, crossing the distance with force and momentum. His longsword swung in a downward arc, wide but powerful.

Sophia stepped aside with a breath-thin movement, her feet gliding across the floor. Her blade flicked out to deflect and riposte. Kain barely saw it before a piercing thrust aimed at his shoulder. He raised the short blade in reverse grip, deflecting it just in time, but the impact vibrated up his arm.

‘She is fast...faster than Eira, faster than anyone he’s fought, but her power is not lacking either. Where Eira makes up with stronger penetrating power, Sophia excels as technique and speed.’

He pressed on with a horizontal slash using the long sword. Sophia shifted as she pivoted her left foot backwards. She did not block, but instead she slipped past the blade, her body turning in a fluid spiral.

Her sword tapped his ribs lightly, controlled, but enough to sting.

Kain grunted, the force of Sophia’s last strike still buzzing through his arm, but did not slow down as he turned around to face her once again. He follow up with a diagonal slash with his longsword as it singing through the air. Sophia met the strike head-on as the clash rang out like a bell, but Kain was already moving. The moment her blade pushed his aside, he whipped his short sword upward in a ruthless follow-up meant to catch her off guard. Sophia’s eyes narrowed as she saw it. Her back arched in a swift, fluid motion, the tip of Kain’s short sword cutting through the space missing her.

Using the momentum of her lean, she snapped her heel forward in a sharp counter-kick aimed at his chest. Kain reacted on instinct as he released the short sword instantly, both hands flashing to seize the hilt of his longsword. He crossed the blade in front of him just in time for her kick to slam into the flat of the steel.

The impact jolted through him as Kain slid backward and stopped several meters away, breath steadying, eyes burning with renewed determination.

He exhaled as he pulled another short sword from a sheath on his back and ran forward once more. Sophia moved like flowing water as every attack Kain launched, she parried with minimal movement, redirecting his force instead of meeting it head-on before she riposte. Her thrusts were precise, always aimed for vital points: throat, wrist, heart.
 

Never striking too hard only a reminder that she could land a killing blow whenever she wanted. Kain’s breathing grew ragged.

‘She is reading me too easily...’
 

He used the short blade to intercept another thrust, sparks flying from the clash, but her follow-up was already there. A crescent-like slash aimed at his leg.

He jumped back narrowly avoiding it.

Sophia straightened, no heavy breath, no sweat.

“You’re relying too much on the longsword. Your stance widens every time you commit.”

Kain wiped sweat from his brow and ran his hand through his hair.

“Thanks for the advice...I’ll make note of it.”

Her eyes narrowed.

“You don’t show gratitude mid-battle. Focus.”
 

Minutes blurred as time passed. Kain was changing, his swings were shorter and tighter.
His feet moved with more caution as each strike flowed into the next, no wasted motion. This time, Sophia lifted her blade to meet him and her expression shifted, just slightly.

‘He is slowly adapting...’

She thought as she looked at him as his eyes became clouded momentarily before becoming clear again like he was in a trance before coming back.

Kain feinted right as Sophia parried. He twisted left and she followed. He ducked under a counter thrust and aimed a rising slash with his longsword, but Sophia stepped inside his guard.

Her blade touched the hollow of his throat and he froze.

Her voice was low, steady.

“You hesitated.”

Kain swallowed as sweat drip onto the wooden sword. “Yeah…you’re terrifying.”

The sparring continued with Eira watching. She paid closer attention to Kain, how he moved, how he dodged and parried. After a fierce clash, Sophia stepped back, resetting her stance.

This time, she attacked first.

The air split with multiple fast rapid thrusts. Kain’s short blade intercepted two, three, but the fourth grazed his cheek and the fifth was aimed at his heart. He crossed his weapons, blocking with both blades. The force sent him sliding across the floor.

Eira sat forward, eyes widening.
 

‘He blocked that?’

Sophia did not stop, but she started using aura. She lunged with a burst of aura, just a flicker, enough to accelerate her forward. Kain braced as he tried to read her movement, but her strike came too fast with the tip of the sword right between his eyes.
 

Kain froze.

She leaned in slightly, expression unreadable. “You would be dead. Again.”

Kain laughed breathlessly. “I'm improving, though…right?”

Sophia pulled back, lowering her blade.

“…You are.”

The admission surprised even her.

Kain steadied himself as he got into position again.
 

“I’m…not done yet.”

Sophia met his gaze, narrowing her eyes.
 

“Then come.”

He did and Eira noticed it first.

His movements were not just practiced, they were instinctive.

Every shift of Sophia’s foot, every angle of her shoulder, every strike or thrust. He responded faster than before, still slower than her, still weaker, but with a clarity that bordered on unnatural. His eyes became clouded as he entered a trance.

He blocked the first thrust, and was already dodging before a second thrust came. Sophia followed up with a kick to his head, which he tried to dodge but took the kick head on. He staggered a bit before raising his weapons. Sophia thrust again, Kain parried with the short blade, then countered with a low swing from the longsword with her twisting to avoid it by inches, but she could not ignore it. He almost reached her.

She stepped backward, weight shifting with practiced grace as her left foot slid behind her. Her stance narrowed, blade angled forward in a poised line, the unmistakable preparation for a thrust.

A low hum filled the air as aura surged to life, rippling along her arms and gathering at the edge of her wooden sword.

“First Form: Mirror’s Edge.”

Sophia launched herself upward, body twisting in a rising arc. The moment her feet left the earth, she unleashed a torrent of attacks as her sword flashing so quickly it blurred into streaks of afterimages.

To Kain, it looked as if a thousand phantom blades came raining down from every direction, each one glinting with refined aura. The air cracked with each strike, pressure rolling toward him like a storm front. But Kain did not retreat. He charged directly into the strike zone, slipping between the cascading blows with sharp movements. Each dodge brought him closer as he weaved into between, twisting around another, letting the near-misses carve cold lines across his skin.

He closed in and raised his short blade, catching a descending strike with a ringing clang. The impact jolted up both their arms. Using the force of that clash, Kain slid low along the ground, momentum carrying him beneath her guard. Her stance was still open as Mirror’s Edge left little room for immediate recovery.

He swung a horizontal slash with his longsword as he slid towards her, an attack aimed to catch her before she could regain balance.

Sophia reacted on instinct. She let go of her wooden sword entirely, allowing it to spin harmlessly upward. Her body snapped backward, retreating in a clean, controlled jump that carried her several meters away. She landed lightly, breath steady but eyes sharper than before, watching her wooden sword clatter to the ground between them.

Eira pushed herself up as she stared wide-eyed at the two fighters.
 

“He blocked Mirror’s Edge? How…? Isn’t this the first time he’s ever even seen it?” she whispered, disbelief tightening her voice.

Sophia did not answer as she remained still, gaze fixed on Kain. He had not moved a muscle since parrying her technique, standing exactly where he braced against her assault, posture rigid, weapons still raised.

A full minute passed in silence.

Finally, Sophia exhaled and spoke, her voice low but edged with curiosity.

“That was impressive… How did you block it?”

Kain did not answer nor move.

Sophia’s brows furrowed.

“…Kain? Are you not going to answer me?”

Annoyance crept into her tone, though a hint of uncertainty lingered underneath. Eira stepped closer, frowning as she came around to Kain’s side. The moment she saw his face, her expression froze.

His eyes were cloudy and unfocused. His breath came in deep, ragged pulls as if each inhale was a struggle.

“Sophia…” Eira said quietly, “he’s unconscious.”

“What?” Sophia blinked, shock flashing across her features. “When did that happen?”

“I’m not sure.” Eira crouched beside him, gently touching his arm to lower the weapon still clenched in his hand. “But it’s clear he pushed himself far past his limit.”

The moment his weapons were eased from his grip, Kain’s body slumped forward. He collapsed to the ground with a dull thud, the last trace of tension leaving his limbs. Whatever Kain had drawn on at the end, it had not been training alone, because the way he had stood at the end, eyes unfocused, body moving on will alone.

‘This wasn’t normal, but something entirely different…’ Eira thought.