Steel clattered against steel in the downpour.
Ryan's blade arced through rain-thick air. The movement was sharper than it had any right to be, after two days without sleep.
His opponent's sword intercepted and turned the strike aside. Water sprayed from the impact.
Ryan pivoted and drove a low slash toward the legs.
Blocked again.
Ryan could barely see the opponents sword in the torrential rain.
His opponent forced him back. He was faster, stronger, and more experienced than Ryan… by decades.
Even still, Ryan wasn't going to let the man dictate the fight. He went on the offence, for as long as he could.
His muscles screamed with every movement. Fire spread through his shoulders, his back, and his thighs. Two days of this. No rest. Only meditation and mana circulation keeping him upright.
The opponent pressed forward with three quick strikes—high, middle, and low.
Ryan parried the first and dodged the second, but the third caught his ribs.
Pain exploded across his side.
