The circle formed fast.
Boots scraped across sand. Cadets backed up in uneven arcs, creating a rough ring around the sparring yard. The air shifted from morning drills to something tighter. Heavier.
Sergeant John Smith stepped forward, planting himself between them like a wall made of muscle and earth.
His gaze moved to Max first.
Then to Ned.
"Controlled ability use." Smith said. "No killing intent."
His eyes lingered on Ned for half a second longer.
"Understood?"
"Yes, Sergeant," Ned replied easily, twirling one of his sai before snapping it still.
Max nodded once. "Yes, Sergeant."
Smith stepped back.
"Begin."
Ned moved first.
He didn't rush.
He walked forward slowly, dragging the tip of one sai through the sand, leaving a thin line behind him.
"You sure about this?" Ned said casually. "Still time to back out."
Max didn't answer.
His wooden sword rose.
Behind him, Elena's voice carried across the circle.
"Steady, Max!"
Scarlett muttered, "Ignore the T-800, yeah?"
Finn added, "Well — she means. Ignore the mechanically challenged one."
Skinny snorted from Billy's side.
Billy didn't laugh.
He just watched.
Ned attacked without warning.
The ground buckled.
A jagged ridge of stone shot upward beneath Max's feet. Max reacted instantly — telekinesis flaring — shoving himself sideways mid-step. The stone spike tore through the air where his ribs had been a second earlier.
Gasps rippled through the circle.
"Subtle," Scarlett muttered.
Max landed hard, rolled, came up with his wooden blade already swinging.
Ned blocked with crossed sai — wood cracking against metal with a sharp snap. Sparks didn't fly — but the force rang through the yard.
Ned's strength wasn't just physical.
The earth shifted beneath him, anchoring him. Reinforcing him.
He shoved forward.
Max skidded backward three feet.
Ned grinned.
"Too slow."
He slammed one sai down into the ground.
The sand liquefied.
Max's boots sank ankle-deep in an instant.
"Elena — he's grounding him!" Finn blurted.
"I can see that!" she snapped back.
Max felt the pull immediately — earth tightening around his legs like fists.
He reacted fast.
His needles burst from his pouch, shooting outward in a silver fan.
Ned twisted, but two pierced his shoulder. One grazed his thigh.
Blood bloomed dark against his uniform.
The yard murmured.
Ned's grin faltered — just slightly.
"Cheeky."
He ripped the needles free and flung them aside.
Max didn't wait.
He surged forward, telekinesis lifting him clean out of the sinking sand. He came down hard, wooden blade swinging toward Ned's ribs.
Ned blocked high —
Max reversed mid-strike.
The wooden sword cracked across Ned's knee.
A solid, clean hit.
Ned stumbled.
Scarlett grinned. "That's it!"
But the ground responded.
Stone erupted around Ned's leg like armour, reinforcing the joint instantly.
He didn't fall.
Instead, he stepped forward through the pain and head-butted Max square in the face.
The crack echoed.
Max staggered back, blood immediately pouring from his nose.
"Max!" Elena shouted.
Finn winced. "Oh, that's got to hurt."
Ned pressed forward.
Now he moved fast.
Sai flashing. Earth kicking up in small bursts beneath each step. He wasn't just fighting — he was shaping the terrain around him, shifting sand, raising uneven ridges to throw off Max's footing.
A sai sliced across Max's forearm.
Wood met metal again — this time slower.
Max was losing ground.
Ned swept low.
The earth surged again.
Max was thrown backward, skidding across the sand, wooden blade flying from his hand.
Silence.
Ned approached, twirling his sai once.
"Should've stayed quiet," he said softly.
Max wiped blood from his mouth.
He didn't look scared.
He looked furious.
His wooden sword lifted from the sand.
Not by hand.
Telekinesis.
It flew back into his grip.
The needles rose again — slower this time, trembling slightly in the air.
Sergeant Smith watched closely now.
Max inhaled sharply.
Then everything changed.
He stopped reacting.
He started controlling.
The ground buckled toward him —
Max shoved outward with telekinesis, flattening the surge mid-rise.
The sand rippled under Ned's feet —
Max counter-pushed, destabilising the pressure.
Two forces collided invisibly.
The yard trembled.
Ned frowned.
Max moved.
Not fast.
Precise.
He sent three needles low — not for flesh.
For the ground.
They embedded near Ned's boots.
Then Max pulled.
The sand beneath Ned liquefied — but not by earth magic.
By force.
By pressure.
By raw telekinetic compression.
Ned's footing slipped.
Just enough.
Max closed the distance.
Wood cracked across Ned's jaw.
Then again across his ribs.
Ned snarled and slammed a fist down.
Stone exploded upward.
Max lifted himself mid-blast, rising three feet off the ground as the stone shattered beneath him.
The yard erupted in noise.
"He's flying!" someone shouted.
"Is it a bird, Is it a plane!" Finn yelled.
Scarlett grinned wickedly. "Nah it's just Max. The Albatross."
Max descended hard — blade smashing against Ned's collarbone.
A dull crack echoed.
Ned roared.
The earth answered.
A thick wall of stone surged upward between them, knocking Max backward.
He hit the ground hard.
The needles clattered.
Ned charged through his own stone barrier like a bull.
He tackled Max.
They hit the sand together.
Sai pinned Max's shoulder to the ground — just shallow enough to avoid disqualification.
Max gasped in pain.
Ned leaned close.
"You're not him," he hissed. "You'll never be him."
Max's eyes flared.
Telekinesis exploded outward.
The sai bent.
Metal warped under invisible force.
Ned's eyes widened.
Max shoved.
Ned was thrown off him — ten feet across the circle — slamming into the edge of the ring.
The crowd stumbled backward.
Billy's grin finally faded.
Ned staggered up.
His breathing was heavier now.
Blood ran from his mouth.
Max stood slower.
His left arm hung weak.
His nose was broken.
He looked wrecked.
But his eyes were steady.
The needles rose again.
All of them.
This time, they didn't fire.
They hovered in a tight formation above his shoulder.
Controlled.
Focused.
Max lifted his wooden sword once more.
"Yield," he said.
Ned spat blood into the sand.
"Make me."
He slammed both sai into the ground.
The earth roared.
A full shockwave tore across the sparring yard — sand and stone surging toward Max in a violent tidal burst.
Elena's heart stopped.
"MAX!"
Max didn't move.
He planted his feet.
Closed his eyes.
And pushed.
The wave hit invisible resistance.
Sand froze mid-air.
Stone cracked apart under telekinetic strain.
The pressure in the yard became unbearable.
Cadets staggered back.
Sergeant Smith's boots dug into the ground as he braced.
Ned screamed, pouring everything he had into the earth.
Max's face twisted in agony.
Blood ran from his nose and ears now.
The shockwave shattered.
Stone dropped uselessly.
Sand fell.
Silence hit.
Max stepped forward through the settling dust.
He moved slowly.
Each step deliberate.
He reached Ned.
And drove the wooden blade into Ned's chest — stopping an inch from the sternum.
Close enough to end it.
The needles pressed lightly against Ned's throat.
Still.
Controlled.
"Yield," Max repeated, voice shaking.
Ned stared at him.
Breathing hard.
Shoulders heaving.
The earth around him was still.
Broken.
Finally —
He exhaled.
"…I yield."
Sergeant Smith stepped forward immediately.
"Enough!"
The yard erupted.
Noise crashed back in like a wave.
Scarlett punched the air. "Yes!"
Finn whooped. "That's my guy!"
Elena didn't cheer.
She ran.
Max swayed.
The needles dropped.
His wooden sword fell from his hand.
He collapsed forward.
Elena caught him just before he hit the sand.
"Max!"
He was conscious.
Barely.
He managed the smallest grin.
"Told you… I wasn't weak."
Scarlett knelt beside him. "You absolute muppet."
Finn crouched on the other side. "Worth it though. Right."
Billy stood in the distance.
Watching.
No smile now.
Just calculation.
Sergeant Smith looked down at Max, then at Ned being helped to his feet.
His voice was firm.
"Victor — Max."
No doubt.
No hesitation.
Clear.
Final.
And for the first time since the forest—
Billy looked uncertain.