The creature charged.
Kellan charged too.
The distance between them disappeared in an instant.
The beast struck first, its claws sweeping toward his chest with enough force to tear through the air. Kellan brought his greatsword up and caught the attack head-on.
The impact drove his boots several inches through the dirt, arms shaking under the weight of it. The creature's claws scraped violently across the broad blade, sparks bursting from the collision as Kellan gritted his teeth and pushed back.
"So that's how strong you are."
The creature opened its jaws.
Kellan smiled.
"Good."
He twisted his body and shoved the claws aside before bringing the greatsword around in a brutal horizontal swing. The creature ducked low, letting the blade tear through the air above its head, and Kellan immediately followed with a downward strike. The creature jumped clear just in time, and the greatsword slammed into the earth where it had stood, throwing a wave of dust into the air.
Outside the formation, Kellan's movements were visible only through the shifting illusion, but the reactions of the people watching made it clear that the battle had already begun to attract attention.
Mira leaned forward, eyes fixed on the light. "He isn't fighting defensively."
"No," Zion agreed. "He's forcing it to react."
Darius, seated nearby, folded his arms. "That's dangerous, though. A greatsword isn't a forgiving weapon — if his timing's off even slightly, the recovery after each swing leaves him wide open."
"He's betting his pressure will be enough to keep it from finding those openings," Zion said, watching closely.
Inside the illusion, Kellan swung again. The creature slid sideways, and the blade cut only air. His body turned with the momentum, and for half a second his side was completely exposed.
The creature lunged.
Kellan saw it coming but didn't have time to recover his weapon, so he abandoned the swing entirely — released one hand from the grip, stepped forward instead of back, and drove his shoulder into the creature's chest.
The beast staggered.
Kellan regripped the greatsword with both hands.
"Got you."
The blade struck the creature across the ribs with a wet crack, dark blood spraying across the battlefield as the beast was thrown several meters away. Kellan didn't give it time to recover. He was already sprinting after it.
Outside, Kellan's aggressive fighting style drew murmurs from nearby candidates — comments about how fast he was for someone swinging something that size, that he clearly wasn't handling the weapon like a normal sword.
"He's using his entire body," Zion said, more to himself than anyone. "Not just his arms."
Mira nodded slowly, agreeing without looking away.
Kellan reached the creature just as it recovered. Its claws came for his face. He tilted his head, let them pass beside his cheek, and stepped inside its reach — his knee driving into its stomach hard enough to fold it forward.
The greatsword rose. Then descended.
The creature twisted away at the last instant, and the blade caught its shoulder instead of its neck. Another wound opened. The beast roared, and something in the sound made Kellan's smile fade.
He had expected it to fall.
It didn't.
The creature's eyes brightened. Its body lowered. The stone-like scales covering its hide began to shift, rippling like something underneath them was waking up.
Kellan's expression changed. "You're getting serious?"
The creature vanished.
Kellan's pupils contracted. He turned, sword raised — nothing. The wind moved across the empty battlefield, dust rolling past his boots. Still nothing.
*I can't see it.*
The thought landed harder than he expected, a cold flicker underneath his ribs that had nothing to do with the fight so far. He forced his grip to loosen instead of tighten, breathing through it. Panicking would only make him predictable.
Then the ground behind him exploded.
He spun, but the creature was already there, bursting from the earth with its claws reaching for his back. He brought the greatsword around a half second too late. The claws caught him across the shoulder blades and sent him flying — his body crashing into the dirt, rolling several times before it finally stopped.
For a moment, he didn't move.
Outside the formation, Mira's expression tightened. "Kellan!"
Zion said nothing. He was watching too closely to speak.
Then the dust shifted.
Kellan pushed himself up slowly, one hand braced against the ground. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away with his thumb, stared at the smear of red for a long second — and laughed.
He picked up his greatsword.
"That actually hurt."
The creature emerged from the settling dust, and this time Kellan didn't charge to meet it. He lowered his stance instead, watching it circle him. Its movements had changed. More deliberate. Less predictable. It wasn't simply attacking anymore.
Kellan's expression slowly sobered. "So that's your game."
The creature growled low in its throat.
Kellan tightened his grip. "Fine."
He waited. The creature drifted left — he didn't react. It shifted right — he still didn't move. Then it disappeared into the dust entirely, and this time, instead of straining to spot it, Kellan closed his eyes.
He couldn't see it. So he'd stop trying to.
Outside the formation, a few candidates exchanged confused glances, wondering aloud why he'd closed his eyes at all.
Zion's expression stayed calm. "He's listening."
The wind moved. Dust scraped faintly against stone. A sound came from somewhere behind Kellan — barely more than a shift in air.
His eyes snapped open. He turned just as the creature burst from the ground, and this time the greatsword was already there to meet it. The impact stopped the beast's charge cold, Kellan's feet sliding back through the dirt, but he held his ground and twisted the blade, catching one of the creature's claws and wrenching it sideways.
The beast stumbled.
Kellan pressed forward. One strike — blocked. A second — blocked again. A third sent the creature leaping backward, and Kellan followed without hesitation, the greatsword carving wide arcs through the air that forced the beast to keep giving ground.
He wasn't trying to land a hit. Not yet.
He was deciding where it was allowed to go.
"He's herding it," Zion murmured.
"Like prey," Mira said, and Darius gave a short nod of agreement.
Every direction the creature tried, Kellan closed. It attempted to circle — he adjusted. It tried to retreat — he advanced. It lunged in desperation — he was already there to meet it. Slowly, without the walls or terrain of the earlier trials, the battlefield began to shrink anyway. Not physically. Just for the creature, whose options kept disappearing one by one.
Then it made its mistake.
The creature leapt, committing fully, and Kellan simply stepped aside and let it pass. He turned as it did. The greatsword came around and caught it in mid-air, sending it crashing hard into the dirt.
Kellan planted the blade against his shoulder, breathing hard. "Got you."
The creature struggled to rise anyway, and when it came, it came with everything it had left — claws first. Kellan blocked, the force of it nearly driving him to his knees, and then its jaws snapped open beside him. He shifted just enough. The teeth closed on empty air beside his shoulder.
He stepped inside.
The greatsword rose.
For one brief moment, everything went still — the wind, the dust, the creature's wide, glowing eyes locked onto his.
Then he swung.
The blade tore through its neck in a single motion. The creature froze mid-motion, a hairline crack of light spreading across its body from the wound outward, and then it shattered completely, dissolving into nothing.
The battlefield disappeared with it.
Kellan stood alone in the center of the formation, breathing hard, greatsword still raised out of pure reflex. For a moment there was only silence.
Then the formation flashed, and a warm current of energy swept through his body — slow at first, then all at once. He felt it before he understood it: the cuts along his face knitting closed, the bruising across his ribs fading like it had never happened, the deep ache in his shoulders simply lifting away. His exhaustion went with it, and for a second he just stood there, unsure what to do with a body that no longer hurt.
He blinked. Looked down at himself.
"Well." He rolled his shoulders, testing them. "That's useful."
The formation released him. Kellan stepped onto the platform to scattered applause and low murmurs, glancing around, faintly surprised by the reaction. Then he found Zion and Mira and walked toward them, greatsword resting casually against his shoulder as if the last several minutes hadn't happened at all.
Zion looked him over. "You survived."
"That's all you have to say?" Kellan stopped in front of them, still catching his breath.
"You did well."
That got a grin out of him. "Much better."
Mira wasn't as easily impressed. "You nearly got yourself killed."
"Nearly," Kellan agreed, like the word did all the work.
"You took a direct hit. You flew across the battlefield."
"I noticed. Both times, actually."
Zion's gaze dropped to the greatsword resting against Kellan's shoulder. "You used it well."
Kellan's grin faded into something quieter. "Thanks."
The silver-robed official raised his voice. "Candidate One Hundred and Sixty-Four has completed the first stage."
The words echoed through the hall.
Kellan returned to his seat, set the greatsword beside him, and leaned back with a satisfied breath. "That wasn't so bad."
Mira gave him a flat look. "You were bleeding five minutes ago and got thrown across an entire battlefield. You almost lost your head."
"But I didn't," Kellan said simply, as if that settled the matter entirely.
Zion glanced at him. "That's your strategy?"
"Worked, didn't it?"
Zion shook his head. Mira laughed despite herself, and for the first time in several hours, the three of them laughed together.
But the moment didn't last.
The silver-robed official raised his voice again. "Candidate One Hundred and Sixty-Five."
Another candidate stood. The hall fell silent. The assessment continued.
Kellan had passed.
For now, that was all that mattered.
But as Zion watched the next candidate enter the formation, he found himself wondering how many different kinds of strength the Academy would force them to reveal before the assessment was over.
---
A/N: Kellan finally got his moment, and honestly? I loved writing this one. 😤 Hope the fight lived up to the wait.
If you're enjoying the story so far, a power stone or two would mean a lot — thank you all for reading, see you next chapter! 🙏