The so-called "Grace Period" passed faster than expected.
Though thirty minutes might have sounded like enough time to catch a breath, for Alex and Kaelios, it barely felt like a blink.
Neither of them truly rested during that time.
Instead, they clashed again and again in the center of their temporary chamber, not to train in the traditional sense, but to focus, to keep their minds sharp, and to push away the lingering pressure gnawing at their thoughts.
They weren't training anymore, they were well beyond that.
Every strike was instinctual, every motion refined through battles far more intense than this spar.
They weren't trying to improve anymore, they were simply keeping their minds busy, forcing themselves to think about anything except the grim knowledge that death could come at any moment in the next round.
