The courtyard was empty when I returned from the duel as Orresh was nowhere that I could see.
My body ached, every muscle screaming from the strain of my fight with Kael.
Though I had the use of mana now it didn't mean that I was immune to pain felt after a fight like that.
Sweat that had mostly dried still clung to my skin, the dust of the arena in my hair. I had won, yes but the fight had exposed more holes in my technique than anything to rejoice over.
I closed my door, walked over to my room and sat on the carpet with my sword across my knees.
"That fight was way too sloppy," I muttered, replaying the moments in my head.
The way Kael had baited me into overextending.
The speed of my counterstrikes that relied too much on the borrowed swiftness from the mana inside me. Without it, I'd have been shredded.
