Badump
They say that there are five stages in the process of grieving: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
However, it can also be said that these are the five stages of growth, for the process of grieving is a sign of change—a positive one. It is the sign that someone is willing to let go of a part of themselves in order to take another step forward.
Currently, Quies was deep within the depression stage of growth, as he had given up all hope of ever being able to hit Evengarde. He dropped using blood enhancement around a hundred attempts ago, simply letting the blood flow out of his wounds. After that many strikes of hitting air, he didn't mind the pain.
Even farther back in time, hundreds of strikes ago, his punches lost their form, and he decided to just keep his feet on the ground. His light tunic also laid on the ground somewhere—he forgot when he took it off.
There were several times where he thought he would hit Evengarde. Most of those times, he had predicted where and when Evengarde would move through his song. He closed his eyes and listened for the intonations of Evengarde's sound, which was rather hard to miss due to his strength.
Despite that advantage, he didn't even graze Evengarde's garments.
'He's… still continuing… not even saying… anything.'
Despite the time that had passed, Evengarde was just as quick, if not quicker, on his feet as when they began.
It was utterly ludicrous.
Badump
"I… I…"
Quies threw another weak punch forward. He knew what was going to happen already. He was going to hit the air, of course.
And he did. His fist flew forward, dragging his lean body forward with it as a gust of wind blew from his side once more.
"I wanna…"
He readied for another punch in the direction of Evengarde's song.
Badump
Quies readied to throw the punch, but…
Should he even try anymore?
What? Did he actually think he was going to land a single hit on the best galebreather of the current era? Really?
Depths no. No way that would happen.
So why keep trying?
"I… give up."
He really didn't want to say those words. He wanted to continue trying to hit Evengarde—even the lightest touch on a piece of his clothing would satisfy him.
But it was too much. There was no hope. He hadn't hit Evengarde in the last 300 attempts—maybe even more—so what makes him think he'll have a chance in the next 200?
Badump
He dropped to his knees, catching a breath that ran away a long time ago. Evengarde appeared right in front of him with a wake of wind. He bent down so his eyes met Quies.
"You sure?"
Quies froze for a moment, and then tried to throw a cheeky punch at Evengarde.
Evengarde didn't disappear, he simply took a step to the left, and Quies' right fist landed on the ground once more.
He was truly broken.
Evengarde sighed, though not from disappointment.
"Let's move on."
Quies was still panting from exhaustion. Eventually, Evengarde lowered his hand, offering to help Quies up into a standing position. He gladly took that hand.
"Don't try and punch me now. It's over."
Badump
Quies was so exhausted to the point where he could hear his own heart beat with his ears.
Wait… was it even his heartbeat?
'It feels off, like it doesn't line up with my body's pulse.'
Straining, he stood up. Due to the fact that he sort of gave up on giving his 100% for each strike midway through, Quies still had recovering reserves of his strength left. On top of that, his ether pool seemed to have already been restored to its full capacity after he used his 'flow' mantra, both from the day before and from the short use time when he fought Evengarde. It was practically filled to the brim.
With that in mind, he recovered the blood that had spilt on the floor around him. It crawled up his body and back into the wounds.
Badump
Using blood enhancement, he first recovered his breath, then his muscles at a much slower pace. As he conversed with Evengarde, the twitch in his muscles returned once more.
"Let me guess…the goal of that session wasn't to land a hit on you."
Evengarde walked ahead of Quies, towards the center of the training room.
"What makes you believe that?"
"Well, you did the same for the first time we sparred. You didn't do it to see who would win, you did it to test my skill."
He froze, stopping in his tracks for a moment.
"Huh…"
Quies noticed that Evengarde said 'huh' quite a few times. Perhaps that was his way of processing and thinking about information. The two continued walking.
Badump
"Anyways, if you're willing to continue, our next exercise is the opposite of the last."
"I am."
Quies still had a heavy breath, but had mostly recovered his stamina after that comfortable period of rest. He would appreciate just a couple of extra minutes, but he was in shape for another exercise nonetheless.
Mentally, though, he really didn't want to keep going. However, his time to make a decision ran out as Evengarde began to explain the conditions of the next sparring session.
"I will attack you this time, and you will solely focus on defense. Now, I'm sure you're not as quick as I, which is why your job will have a slight difference compared to mine…
…Your job is to not receive any new wounds on your body that are caused by me. If I slice your clothing on accident, that would not count. This time, I will slow myself as well…"
As per usual, Evengarde appeared on the far edge of the room, opposing Quies.
He drew his beautifully simple katana. Quies tensed at the sound of its blade unsheathing.
Badump
'Why does it sound quieter now?'
It was that familiar heartbeat that he had been hearing since the last sparring session finished. Now that Evengarde was farther away, it was quieter. Or, maybe because his body had calmed down a bit, his heart didn't need to beat as hard.
Evengarde poised himself into a ready stance. Faintly, Quies could hear him speak.
"Begin."
Ba-
Evengarde disappeared.
So did the heartbeat.