An Extra’s POV

"Are you serious?"

The atmosphere was tense as silence echoed in the vast, dull expanse. The faulty lights on the ceiling flickered, radiating flashes of brilliance on the two who stood beneath it.

Trisha still tightly held her blade as she stared seriously at Rey.

The question he asked lingered in the air, and she bent a little lower, parting her lips to answer the question.

"What do you think?" As her response—another question—wafted through the air, Rey suddenly broke into a slight grin.

Trisha felt taken aback by this. She didn't know why he was displaying such emotions in front of her. Somehow, it infuriated her.

"You know I'm going to win, right?" He said. "There's no point in doing this."

"You said you wanted to talk. Well, this is what I want to do. So… do you only want to achieve what you want, or will you take your stance and fight?"

Her eyes harshly stared at him, and in response to this, he shook his head and sighed. His smile instantly vanished and he slowly began to move.

"I'm sorry. You're right… I apologize for the delay." Slowly, Rey began to take his own battle stance as well.

There was no hesitation in his movement, neither was there an ounce of weakness in his form. By the time he was done setting himself up, he gently placed his sword forward and didn't lose the stoic demeanor on his face.

"Whenever you're ready…"

Everything was set. Within the vast room that occupied them, the brewing moment had finally reached a crescendo.

It was time to explode.

~WHOOSH!~

Trisha attacked first with a sharp lunge aimed at Rey's torso. Her speed caused the very air around her to vibrate, and she moved as though she was a blur given form.

Still…

Rey deftly sidestepped the strike, his own blade rising to meet Trisha's in a clash of steel.

'Tch! He's fast.'

Gritting her teeth, she narrowed her gaze and strengthened every ounce of muscle in her body.

circled each other warily, their footwork precise and their

~SWISH!~

and legs. Rey countered each attack with smooth parries, his wrist moving fluidly to guide Trisha's blade

"Guh—!"

feint to Rey's left before slashing diagonally at his right

his heel and

Trisha's momentum carried her forward, Rey took the opportunity to counter with

'No, you don't!'

with a sweeping horizontal slash aimed at Rey's neck, but Rey

~WHOOOSH!~

just in time, her blade catching Rey's and

~CLANG!~

struggling for dominance as they tested

but she wasn't having any of

compliments were worthless

using any special abilities, which is why it seems I have some measure of a chance. I'm sure he's

a battle of pure

strong as you, Rey… but I've been practicing Martial Arts my whole life. All my experiences… all my

deadlock with a forceful shove, and they both had to disengage, each assessing the other from a small

series of aggressive attacks. She lunged, swung, and slashed, forcing Rey to move quickly to evade

'Why…?'

as her body would allow, concentrating her

can't I

the answer

as he danced around Trisha's assaults like

was so smooth in his motion, as if he was one

It was… beautiful.

unleashed a flurry of precise strikes, his

surprise, tried to hold down

and parried each attack, her breath coming in quick gasps as she struggled to keep up

~WHISH!~

the rush of air as Rey's blade swept over her.

"Haa… haa…!"

a blur as he countered with

'He's… getting faster!'

executed a complex combination of strikes—first high, then low, then from the

She tried to maintain her stance, but she