The courtyard was empty when I returned from the duel. Orresh, the old butler, was nowhere to be seen.
My body ached, every muscle screaming from the strain of my fight with Kael.
Though I had the use of mana, it didn't mean that I was immune to the pain felt after a fight like that.
Though most of it had dried, some sweat still clung to my skin, and the arena's dust clung to my hair. I had won the duel, but the fight had exposed many holes in my technique. I couldn't really rejoice over it.
I closed my door, walked into my room, and sat on the carpet with my sword across my knees.
"That fight was way too sloppy," I muttered, replaying the moments in my head.
The way Kael had baited me into overextending.
The speed of my counterstrikes relied too much on the borrowed swiftness from the mana inside me. Without it, I'd have been shredded.
