I effortlessly defeated Bartz in a spar. As my weapon was pointed at him, his eyes started to get shaky.

“One more time!” the boy requested.

“Okay.” I pulled my spear away from him.

The two of us backed a bit in order to go for a second round. He looked more tense.

“Alright, start!” Waluf shouted.

Bartz approach was different. He merely stood as he waited for me. I decided to move according to his wishes.

I slowly approached him. When I was already in range, I did a feint. He fell for it and tried to block in the direction of the diversion. That left him open, which allowed the blade of my spear to almost touch him.

“One more time!”

“Okay.”

We did another round. Instead of a defensive, he went back to being aggressive. He rushed with his weapon in hand. Yet when he was already near me, I did not detect any movement in his arms.

He went to tackle me instead. I used the handle of my weapon to trip him. When he was already down, I pointed the tip of the spear at him.

“One more time!”

“Okay.”

“That’s enough.”

I was aware that Roc was present. He was only silently watching since the second round. I did not think that he would intervene.

“Ah? Why not?” Bartz asked with visible irritation on his face.

“It’s useless. Your skills are far apart.” Roc plainly stated.

“How could that be? He is just a child!” Bartz pointed at me.

“His ability isn’t.” Roc stepped forward and drew his weapons. “Have a round with me.”

“I think you fighting him is not like you, Roc,” said Waluf as he scratched his head. “It would be overkill.”

“We’ll see about that. Are you up for it?” Roc asked as he positioned himself across me.

“Okay.”

His figure towered before me. He had a round shield on his left hand and an axe on his right. It was plain to see that I was at a disadvantage when it came to power and in equipment.

“Alright, start!” Waluf signalled.

Roc came at me with his torso covered with his shield. He then wielded his axe at me. I dodged it and then I countered with my spear. Yet it only connected to his buckler.

He placed force on his shield and pushed towards me. I had to pull my weapon back and step away. Yet Roc quickly pursued me. He was able to close in and tried to chop me with every moment possible.

As he was too near, I was unable to use my weapon effectively. Yet with him wielding heavy weapons around, it was expected that he would slow down at some point. He did.

I was able to create a distance. I did a low sweep with my spear which shallowly cut his leg. He had to stop his assault. That was when I went on the offensive. 

I kept on targeting his lower half. As he was tall, he was unable to block my attacks with his shield. I also had a slight reach advantage. All he was able to do was retreat.

“I yield.” Roc uttered.