Chapter 16: One Step Forward
"It's almost time."
Shen Tianyu rolled his shoulders as Yun Che entered the equipment room beside the arena.
"I hope you've managed to crawl a little closer to my level."
Yun Che snorted.
"I was hoping you'd become weaker."
"I considered it."
Tianyu sighed dramatically.
"But then I remembered I enjoy winning."
One of the nearby guards chuckled.
"The Young Master has been practicing that line all afternoon."
"I have not."
"You absolutely have."
The guards handed Yun Che a complete suit of training armor.
It wasn't his own.
But it was close enough.
Heavy steel plates.
Reinforced joints.
A standard military longsword.
He drew it from its scabbard and tested the balance.
"...Almost identical."
The Frost Wolf Cavalry favored practical weapons.
Their swords weren't artistic masterpieces.
They were built to survive endless battles against monsters.
Exactly the sort of weapon Yun Che preferred.
He fastened his own equipment next.
Metal wires.
Hidden daggers.
Smoke bombs.
Everything sat in its proper place.
Even though this was a spar...
Habit remained habit.
A warrior who forgot his equipment because "it was only training" would eventually forget it in a real battle as well.
This wasn't their first meeting.
Far from it.
Yun Che and Shen Tianyu had sparred once every month since they were nine years old.
The arrangement had come directly from the City Lord himself.
Lord Shen appreciated Yun Che's talent.
He wanted the gifted blacksmith's son and his own heir to grow together.
Not merely as rivals.
As companions who pushed one another upward.
The monthly schedule, however...
Hadn't been chosen by the City Lord.
It had been Tianyu's idea.
"If we fight every week..."
"I'll memorize your habits."
"I don't want habits."
"I want surprises."
"I want to see how much you've changed."
That was Shen Tianyu.
Always chasing improvement.
Always searching for stronger opponents.
Unlike Yun Che...
Tianyu wore surprisingly little armor.
Only a reinforced breastplate.
Steel greaves.
A helmet.
And, of course...
His trademark clawed gauntlets.
Yun Che glanced toward the equipment rack nearby.
The complete Frost Wolf Cavalry armor rested there.
Beautiful.
Elegant.
Deadly.
Alongside it lay another piece of equipment.
A wolf saddle.
Tianyu noticed his gaze.
"I won't use them."
"I know."
The young noble shrugged.
"It wouldn't be fair."
His combat style had been developed alongside his Frost Wolf companion since early childhood.
The beast had practically grown up beside him.
Using both together against Yun Che...
Would have taught neither of them anything.
"I told you before."
"When you obtain your own contracted beast..."
"And proper battle armor..."
"Then we'll fight properly."
"Until then..."
He flexed the metal claws.
"...I'll only use these."
Yun Che smiled.
"As fair as ever."
"I do my best."
The two entered the circular arena.
The surrounding guards naturally gathered to watch.
Some leaned against weapon racks.
Others sat atop the fence.
Training matches between these two had become surprisingly popular over the years.
Because no two battles ever looked alike.
Yun Che rested his sword upon his shoulder.
A familiar excitement stirred inside him.
One goal.
That was all.
Win once.
Or...
At least...
Force a draw.
He wasn't dreaming about defeating Tianyu consistently.
Not yet.
One victory.
Just one.
That would be enough.
His rifle didn't even enter his thoughts.
This...
Was close combat.
A completely different battlefield.
Across the arena...
Something changed.
The relaxed smile disappeared from Tianyu's face.
His shoulders lowered slightly.
His breathing became quieter.
His icy blue eyes sharpened.
For a brief instant...
Yun Che understood exactly why people called him the Majestic Wolf.
Not because he looked noble.
Because he transformed.
The easygoing teenager vanished.
A predator remained.
"Hm."
Tianyu studied him for only a second.
"I'll test your improvements first."
His claws clicked together.
"Then..."
"We'll move on to killing intent."
Yun Che grimaced.
"I was hoping you'd forget."
"I never forget."
Neither enhanced their bodies with Ki.
No speed techniques.
No Power Strike.
No Swift Movement.
Pure skill.
Pure close combat.
Without warning—
Tianyu attacked.
No circling.
No probing.
He exploded straight forward.
The right claw slashed toward Yun Che's face.
Yun Che calmly shifted sideways.
Steel claws cut empty air.
His own sword immediately swept toward Tianyu's chest.
Instead of retreating—
Tianyu dropped into a perfect split.
The sword passed harmlessly overhead.
From that impossible position...
One claw shot upward toward Yun Che's face.
Fast.
Precise.
Yun Che barely managed to intercept it with his armored forearm.
Clang!
At the same moment...
He drove his boot toward Tianyu's ribs.
The young noble grinned.
Without rising from the split...
He twisted his hips violently.
Both legs swept across the ground like a spinning scythe.
Yun Che had no choice.
He jumped backward.
Before his feet even touched the ground—
Tianyu's follow-up kick was already arriving.
Yun Che caught it with the flat of his sword.
Bang!
The impact pushed him several steps backward.
Strong.
The thought flashed through his mind.
He's even stronger than last month.
Yun Che immediately changed tactics.
Instead of remaining at sword range...
He lowered his body.
Then charged.
A shoulder tackle.
Simple.
Direct.
Unexpected.
Tianyu didn't retreat.
Instead...
He rushed forward as well.
At the last instant...
He leaped.
His body turned sideways.
A devastating axe kick descended toward Yun Che's helmet.
Just as I thought.
Yun Che had anticipated exactly that.
His sword swept upward in a powerful rising slash.
Steel met steel.
For the briefest instant...
Neither yielded.
Then—
Instead of withdrawing...
Tianyu actually kicked harder.
The force locked both weapons together.
Exactly the opening Yun Che wanted.
He released his sword.
Both hands shot forward.
They caught Tianyu's leg.
Got you.
Unfortunately...
Tianyu had expected that too.
The instant Yun Che grabbed him...
The young noble planted his free foot against Yun Che's chest.
Pushed away.
Twisted through the air.
And while creating distance...
His right claw swept across Yun Che's shoulder.
Slash!
Sparks burst from the armor.
The force sent Yun Che stumbling backward several meters before he finally regained his footing.
The arena fell quiet.
One exchange.
Barely a handful of seconds.
Yet every guard watching wore the same expression.
Neither thirteen-year-old fought like children.
They fought like warriors learning the language of survival.
Across the ring, Tianyu rolled his shoulders.
A small smile returned to his face.
"Better."
------------------------
The brief exchange ended.
Neither boy moved immediately.
Then Shen Tianyu rolled his neck.
"The warm-up's over."
Yun Che tightened his grip on his sword.
"...Finally."
Around the arena, the guards instinctively became quieter.
Everyone knew what came next.
Until now...
They had relied purely on skill.
Now...
Ki entered the battle.
Both cultivators inhaled simultaneously.
Ki surged from their centers and spread throughout their bodies.
Body Enhancement.
Muscles tightened.
Bones strengthened.
Senses sharpened.
The stone beneath their feet cracked ever so slightly beneath the pressure.
At the Peak of the Mortal Realm, their physical strength already exceeded that of any ordinary machine from Yun Che's previous world.
Steel bent beneath their hands.
Stone shattered beneath their feet.
To the people of Earth...
They would have looked like monsters.
Tianyu moved first.
He always did.
His Swift Movement surpassed Yun Che's by a clear margin.
Without ten tonnes of armor weighing him down, the difference became even more obvious.
He blurred forward.
Fast.
Too fast.
His clawed gauntlets crossed toward Yun Che's chest.
Both carried the explosive force of Power Strike.
Yun Che had expected exactly this.
His sword rose.
Clang!
Steel crashed against steel.
At the instant of impact, Yun Che activated Damage Dispersion.
Ki spread through his armor and body, softening the violent shock that would otherwise have thrown him backward.
Even so...
His boots carved two shallow trenches through the arena floor.
Heavy...
Stronger than before.
He didn't waste the opening.
Thin metal wires shot from beneath his sleeves.
Like silver snakes, they rushed toward Tianyu from three different directions.
The wolf's instincts reacted immediately.
Instead of retreating...
He kicked Yun Che squarely in the chest.
The force pushed both of them apart.
"Aggressive as always..."
Yun Che muttered.
Tianyu landed lightly.
Then spun.
His entire body rotated like a drill.
The clawed gauntlets sliced through the approaching wires one after another.
Cling!
Cling!
Cling!
Metal strands snapped apart.
Without slowing...
He continued charging.
The spinning motion made approaching him almost impossible.
The guards watching exchanged approving nods.
"Excellent."
"He turned defense into offense."
Yun Che narrowed his eyes.
The wires can't stop him.
Not directly.
But...
They didn't have to.
The remaining wires subtly altered Tianyu's path.
Only by a fraction.
Just enough.
Yun Che smiled.
There.
Small metal spheres rolled silently across the arena floor.
Grenades.
Tianyu noticed them a heartbeat too late.
BOOM!
A deafening explosion erupted beneath him.
Smoke.
Fire.
Fragments of stone.
The blast wasn't powerful enough to seriously injure him.
But...
It interrupted his momentum.
Exactly as Yun Che intended.
He exploded forward.
His own Swift Movement reached its limit.
Sword flashed.
At the final instant...
Swift Strike.
Followed immediately by...
Power Strike.
The blade descended with tremendous force.
Across from him...
Tianyu smiled.
Not nervously.
Not desperately.
Excitedly.
He's enjoying this.
Instead of avoiding the strike...
He kicked the flat of the descending sword.
His own Power Strike collided directly with Yun Che's.
The impact echoed throughout the arena.
BOOM!
Using that same force...
Tianyu spun once more.
The familiar motion.
The one Yun Che had seen countless times.
Here it comes.
His body instinctively prepared to block.
To retreat.
To survive.
Then...
Another voice echoed inside his mind.
"Don't be afraid to take risks."
Master Liang.
"Always defending..."
"Always waiting..."
"One day that hesitation will kill you."
For the briefest moment...
Yun Che made a choice.
He didn't block.
He stepped forward.
"AAAH!"
The shout wasn't a technique.
It wasn't intimidation.
It was simply courage borrowed from sheer stubbornness.
His left fist shot forward.
Power Strike.
Against Tianyu's spinning assault.
The arena shook.
The punch landed squarely against Tianyu's armored shoulder.
It wasn't enough to win.
It wasn't even enough to stop him completely.
But...
For the first time in years...
It interrupted Tianyu's rhythm.
Just for an instant.
Now!
Yun Che's surviving wires shot forward.
They wrapped tightly around Tianyu's right arm.
Restraining it.
Only for a heartbeat.
Yet that heartbeat mattered.
The watching guards' eyes widened.
"He caught him."
"Impossible..."
Even Tianyu looked genuinely surprised.
"...Good."
He whispered.
Then...
His free left claw calmly rose.
Its sharpened tips stopped barely an inch from Yun Che's face.
Silence.
Neither moved.
Finally...
Tianyu smiled.
"I win."
Yun Che looked at the claw.
Then at the wire binding Tianyu's opposite arm.
Slowly...
He smiled too.
"...Yeah."
"You do."
The wire loosened.
The claw withdrew.
Around the arena...
The guards began clapping.
Not because the Young Master had won.
Everyone expected that.
They applauded because something far more important had happened.
For years...
Yun Che had fought Shen Tianyu carefully.
Safely.
Always searching for the perfect answer.
Today...
For the very first time...
He had willingly stepped into danger.
The result hadn't changed.
He still lost.
But...
The boy who had frozen before a Snow Tiger only days earlier...
Had just thrown a punch instead of retreating.
Master Liang had been right.
Growth wasn't measured only by victories.
Sometimes...
The greatest step forward came in a battle you still lost.