The Silver Dome, from several centuries ago, when it was built, and up to the present day, had always been open to those who wished to hone their fighting skill. Thus was the tradition, and Vos’stoorge respected it. It had been the place where many a hero took their first steps down the warrior's path, and their history still lingered here, influencing the generations to come. It was an entirely different experience from visiting the more recent training grounds; here, you would be constantly prompted to think not only of how to become an adept fighter, but also of the burden it would entail. The fates of the great were a fertile soil for deep thought and contemplation: the kind of activity that forms a noble mind and makes sure one's moral compass is never led astray.

Today, he would revisit these grounds for yet another practice fight – his last fight before he entered the tournament. Opposing him would be one of the guest students, who had recently, just like Vos, finished their basic combat education. A woman of Japanese descent, if he remembered right, and specializing in Kendo. From what he had heard, she was a highly reactive fighter, seldom attacking first and quick to take advantage of any breaches in the opponents defense. Yet again, just like Vos, who was an opportunist, adapting to the enemy and capitalizing on their weaknesses, rather than pushing a strategy of his own.

This surely would make it interesting for him. Perhaps, this could even be his chance to devise a more aggressive style for his future fights.

Occupied by such thoughts, the mageblade made his way to the innermost section of the dome: a grand rotunda, 80 meters across, where multiple fights could be hosted at once. However, when Vos entered, there were only a few pairs of students duking it out in the far end of the room. It was a weekend, after all, and only those who weren't already wrung dry by the schools grueling training regimen would gather here.

Unpacking and equipping his training armor, he sat down on a nearby bench - one of the many lining the walls - and lazily observed them spar, waiting for his own partner to arrive.

Hikaru made her way purposefully through the training grounds, enjoying the surroundings that would make for a good arena to test her mettle in rather than simply inside a dojo as her usual days off would be spent. Now that she knew the universe was a much larger place then it had been for her previously, her skills only at kendo were no longer enough to allow her to compete on equal footing with her potential foes. She needed real world fighting skills both with a blade and without or else she wouldn't be able to protect anything she cared about from the dangers that awaited them. Despite being unsure how well she'd do in this regard in her first attempt, she wasn't afraid of making a fool of herself if it was to better herself in the long run. Hopefully her training partner wouldn't go easy on her and she could learn a few things that would make her venturing here, all the way from her home in Japan, worth it.

She wore the traditional outfit for kendo, minus the armor, and had her practice sword slung over her shoulder in a bag that also contained her other belongings. Even though this wasn't any formal training regimen at a dojo, she still felt like she should dress appropriately and didn't know what else to wear anyways.

She didn't know a whole lot about her opponent for this match other than his name and where she'd meet him. He would be the one to recognize her if she couldn't locate him on her own, but she had a pretty good idea it was the lone guy waiting on the bench, so she made her way over to him, bowing and then extending a hand out for him to shake after she set down her belongings on the ground next to the bench.

"Hello, my name is Hikaru Tsukuda," she introduced in the language that he would understand. She spoke it with only a slight accent, her words clear and energetic. "I believe that you're here for a match?"

The students fared well, each already showing hints of their own unique battle styles, but Vos attention to their fight waned as he pondered the extent of his own skill. This would be the final chance to brush up his form before the tournament, so he had to figure out what would be best to improve on. The broadsword and daggers being his weapon of choice, he came to a conclusion that putting on pressure with quick slashes and working well in the bide would be most important for him – that way, he would capitalize on their nimbleness and make good use of having weapons in both hands.

While making a run down of his usual attacks and counters, Vos was interrupted by his ears picking up the sound of approaching footsteps. As he turned around to see if it where who he thought it was, his initial assumption proved to be true, the person walking up to Vos and introducing herself as Hikaru, his sparring partner for today’s match. Answering with a nod to her question, he stood up and accepted her hand, giving it a firm, but welcoming shake.

“And my name would be Vos’stoorge”, said the mageblade, approaching a nearby rack with weapons and armor. “Sorry if this inconveniences you, but I prefer to use metal replicas for training. You are welcome to use our equipment though, if you find yourself lacking any - and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. Knowing how a real weapon handles is invaluable knowledge if you ever plan on using your skills someday.” With these words said, he drew a basket-hilted broadsword and a parrying dagger from the rack, holding the latter in an icepick grip.
“Well, I’m ready whenever you are.”

Hikaru followed behind him to the weapons, eyeing them with interest, not only because she'd need to determine which one she'd use, but also because some of them were really cool looking. Although the katanas caught her eye instantly, she still gave the others a quick run through before meandering over to the blue handled one, giving it a few test swings to try and feel how different it was from her practice sword. It would take some getting used to, that was for sure, but her practice sword did try to at least get some of the same feelings down so it still felt comfortable enough in her hand despite being her first time using this weapon. She almost felt like a samurai as she swung it playfully around, but she didn't want to waste her opponent's time too much so held back her smirk and turned to face him.

"Despite being blunt, please allow me a moment to form a protective layer around myself for both practice in keeping it active during combat and so that you can go all out against me and not worry about causing too much harm due to my unarmored state. It also disperses the energy from any serious blow so that I would only be knocked unconscious instead," she explained.

Closing her eyes and standing still, she focused on the energy in her core and expanded it outwards in all directions, coating her body in her shimmering white energy that became invisible once the process was completed, only showing up again in spots where it would deflect attacks. Fast or powerful enough attacks would easily get through, but against a blunt sword and this opponent, her defenses should not be able to be overwhelmed.

With her defense completely ready, she entered a typical kendo battle stance, holding the sword with both hands in front of her, the tip pointed towards her opponent's throat, her left foot slightly behind the right with the heel raised, ready to pounce forward if an opening presented itself, but for now she was in a solid defensive posture that provided little openings.

"We may begin," she said calmly.

Vos watched with interest as Hikaru formed her shell, taking note of the way she channeled her energy. He himself planned on learning something similar, further expanding upon the principles of astral projection used in the Killer's Ring technique. The upcoming tournament had him busy with mastering the spells he already knew, making sure that no matter what, he could rely on them, and there was no time left afterwards to dabble into anything new; for the matter of fact, it was the exact same with his swordsmanship. This fight would be refreshing change of pace for Vos, and the perfect time to lay a foundation for future studies: if he didn't revisit the plans he had often enough, then they would eventually fade, becoming naught but a few scattered and vague ideas, needing to be pieced together again. Yes, it sure wouldn't hurt to share a word or two with her about magic - but that certainly could wait until their sparring session was finished.

Vos'stoorge observed Hikaru entered her battle stance, and in response, assumed one of his own. She had taken a well-guarded stance with very few offensive options, from which he inferred that his opponent wouldn't be taking the initiative, inviting him to strike first. However, the only thing left exposed was the katana itself, positioned in such a way that it could both block any incoming attack and threaten him at the same time. He could try to bat away the katana, but Vos felt like such a move wouldn't utilize his dual-wielding setup to its fullest, and opted for a different strategy.

Left foot set forwards, with the dagger raised, and sword in his right hand, resting on the shoulder, he moved towards Hiraku, bringing his main-gauche in to block the point of her blade. Arm bent at the elbow, he would inch closer and closer, until his weapon touched the katana, pushing into its edge. It would be a decisive moment in his opening gambit, the outcome determined by whether Hikaru would immediately decide to disengage, or hesitate for a moment. Should the latter happen, Vos had a plan at ready: stretching out his arm, he would slide the dagger past her blade, putting his forearm inbetween it and his body, then hook it from behind, push it downwards and twist towards his opponent with the right shoulder, aiming a horizontal chop to her neck with the broadsword.

But if she pulled away - then, Vos would have to just react to the situation.

Hikaru felt the touch of his blade against hers, waiting for him to do so as he inched closer. She felt like trying something more aggressive than normal to perhaps catch him off guard. Besides, she wouldn't learn quite as much if she played things safe with the same old style.

Her right foot stepped forward and to the right as she pushed off with her left foot, making her quickly sidestep a bit around his defenses as she angled and slide her blade towards her opponent's chest, the scrapping of metal on metal sounding her attack. Her hand guard would protect her from the dagger if she managed to push far enough so that it collided against it. She wasn't sure if a dagger would have the power to push a sword off course or if he had other tricks up his sleeves, but she hoped this violent outburst of hers would be enough to stop any plans to counter her.

She let out a scream as a habit for her normal kendo practicies.

The stance Hikaru had assumed was definitely a solid one – but her actions betrayed its intended use. Chudan allowed for one to be in control of the distance and quickly counter when the opportunity comes, meaning that it was for those patient and vigilant, striking only in retaliation and preferring for their opponent to be the one exposing themselves with an attack instead.

Vos knew this, so he was least expecting her to let him as close as she did and had not even considered it as a possibility that she would lash out when her own sword was resting on the edge of his dagger. With slight suspicion, he was about to try and breach her defense, when Hikaru stepped to away, thrusting the katana at his chest. In a situation like this, where Vos was confronted by something completely unexpected, it were the basics that saved him; his guard was raised, so when the attack came in, he parried, displacing the stab to his left by twisting his elbow outwards and pushing down on the blade’s spine with the back of his wrist.

He wouldn’t stop there however.

The katana would be at his waist level, when the parry would transform into a lock, as he would slip his forearm underneath and push it up into his armpit, where it would be caught between his bicep and ribs, while the back of his would apply counter-clockwise torque, increasing the friction tenfold. It would now be easier to pull Vos together with the weapon than to wrench it out of his grasp, leaving Hikaru open to a finishing blow.
As he secured the lock, Vos would aim a quick, horizontal chop at her neck with his broadsword, almost nonchalant as he slowly extended his arm and flicked his wrist, sending the tip flying in an elegant arc. Though unnoticeable under his mask, the mage would smirk, as he spoke, having finally realized what had just happened.

“Please, don’t do that. Show me your best instead of simply trying to take me by surprise” – he would say, with a confident, unshaken demeanor.

She grimaced as her blade was forced to the side by the clanging, sparking metal of the dagger in opposition to her. So that small of a weapon could still have enough mass to deflect her much larger one that easily? Or did it mainly have to do with him being stronger than her, if that was even the case? Or perhaps positioning was the key? Even more surprising was when her blade came to a complete stop underneath his armpit. She tried to wiggle it free but to no avail. Her fingers strained on the handle as she tried to fight against his torque, but that wasn't working out too well for her either. Drat, she was already in a pickle!

Realizing that she was completely open during this time, her eyes darted to the man's right side to see him swinging his weapon at her with an attack that would be a kill blow if not for her shield, or her dodging it. In her case she ducked her head just in time while keeping her hands on her katana.

"Sometimes the best could be surprise..." Hikaru thought to herself upon hearing his taunting words. Just because it didn't work out this time didn't mean it was a bad idea to try something different. Try something different...

After her dodge she raised her right foot to try and deliver a front kick right between his legs while attempting to yank him forward by the katana, which would also allow her to keep her balance while she kicked from this low position. If he let go during her kick than she would certainly fall backwards onto her butt.