Revian's face roughened, stepping back to distance himself a few feet back from where Garron stood.
His chin raised, his eyes narrowing.
"Ah, so you do know what I'm referring to." Garron pondered, placing his hands on the sides of his waist.
Revian's mouth trembled, his mind choosing between silence and response. Eventually, feeling the pain creep into his limbs in the absence of his adrenaline, he opted for drawing out their conversation further.
"Yes, I'm aware. The lion's eyes, said to be a trait possessed by only the finest warriors. The ability to look into a person's spirit and predict their future moves, replicating their fighting techniques within your mind in the form of micro-mannerisms and personal biases. Almost like a sort of precognition."
"Aha, you know of it! So you possess it then." Garron said, his teeth showing through the large smile on his face. "Although, I do have to ask you why you haven't used it earlier. It certainly would have done you well in avoiding and responding to my attacks."
Revian shook his head, tapping his foot against the floor.
"Well, that's because I don't have it." He responded, prompting Garron to furrow his eyes in confusion.
"Then how was it you were able to predict my movements just now?" He asked, his eyes honed on Revian's bloodied knuckles. "I mean, no offense, but your hand-to-hand combat isn't capable of combatting mine on its own."
Revian tapped his pointer finger against his chin, his eyes looking up toward the ceiling to meet only the deep black that stretched all across the room.
"Hm... I haven't really told anyone about this, but what I can do isn't necessarily looking into my opponent and figuring out their movements. I mean, that's something anyone can do--requiring significant portions of time and effort to achieve, but still a talent replicable by any experienced enough." He turned his head, closing his eyes to find the right words to place on his thoughts. "No, what I do is something I've had since birth. Instead of reading my opponent's moves and building patterns between them, I take them for myself, assimilating their talents into my own. There is no skill involved in it--no logic. It is something my body does of its own volition, free of thought."
"What... are you serious?"
Garron's mouth fully agape, he'd clenched his fist as if he were going to strike Revian again.
Immediately bracing himself, Revian stuck his arms out in front of his chest, but Garron's fist pummeled only air, pumping upwards with his opposite hand clasping onto his wrist.
"You're special, you know that? What you're describing is copying someone's fighting style. That's such a scary ability that I wouldn't even believe you if I hadn't seen it myself, but the way I saw myself in your movements... you've figured me out, haven't you? I thought you'd simply combatted my movements by seeing them with the lion's eye, but it seems you copied my fighting style in of itself."
Revian moved his arms behind his back, holding them together so that his voice was made more prominent.
"Yes, at least, to a degree. It still takes time, but I can generally identify my opponent's style within two minutes. You fight with a freeform taekwondo variant, involving more arms than usual. It's a proficient fighting style, worthy of being added to my collection."
Garron drove both his arms up, now swinging them up and down with a maniacal enthusiasm.
"Grahahaha! You truly are as worthy as I'd anticipated. Come, then, show me some of that strength that marked you as The Silent Knight!"
Revian listened to his provocation, darting forward with the same calm expression that he donned anywhere else.
However, a small, unnoticeable smirk peeked in the corner of his lips, his fists clenched even tighter than he'd ever consciously done before.
Thwam!
Revian's fist again hammered Garron's, but the clash was short-lived, both raising their left legs to slam into each other.
The timing between each blow was single milliseconds, the flowing movements of their feet and rare yet abrupt interjection of their arms drawing bright blue lines that blurred their movements.
"This is ridiculous... even though they're moving way too fast, they're dancing in combat like the flow of water..." A familiar red-haired student said, rubbing his head where he'd banged against the wall.
"Yeah, I can't even begin to keep up." Another student said, her hair also red but extending down to the middle of her back.
"Hey, shouldn't we go help them?" The silver-haired girl asked, holding onto her shattered polearm.
"No, we would only get in his way if we were to interfere." A boy with goggles retorted, pointing at Garron. "Plus, look, he's cracking."
Revian and Garron stopped meeting each other with identical blows, Revian kicking away Garron's arms and Garron's kicks getting parried by Revian.
It was almost likely their asynchronism had a synchronism of its own, their attacks and defenses equally opposite.
"I have adopted your fighting style, but clearly, you're running out of gas." Revian said, spinning around to swat away Garron's jab with a back kick.
The blow wasn't just defended against; it caused Garron to visibly buckle under his own weight, his abdomen clearly open to attack.
Garron's chest moved up and down raggedly, his teeth trying desperately to contain the heavy breaths his body was crying out to receive.
"I haven't told you about my magic yet, have I?" Garron bit, looking up at Revian who'd waited before finishing him off.
"No, but if we're in Class F, it would be natural to assume that it's useless--"
"Don't count your eggs before they hatch."
Revian didn't care for the ramblings of one who was already defeated.
Raising his leg, he opted for driving a front kick into Garron's chin, ending the terms of the game and releasing the black box through gradual slips of black particles flying off into the distance.
Or, at least, that's what should've happened.
Garron's neck convulsed unnaturally to the left with speed far superior to any movements he'd displayed prior, almost snapping from the counterforce.
His shoulders following the momentum, he spun his heels around to prop himself up off the ground using the centrifugal force, fists curled in front of him.
"What..." Revian muttered, exasperation stealing breath from his appendages.
"So, you ready for round two?"