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~~Thanksgiving Special (page 5 of 6)~~
Zeff took his time considering what Hector had said. The disappointment in his face seemed to diminish somewhat, but the sternness didn't. "If you truly believe that, then there is little point in discussing this further." He waved Axiolis away and took a readying stance. "Your hypothesis is set. If you are to ever prove it true, then we will have to push you much harder than we have been until now."

Aw, shit.

The sparring erupted anew, more brutal than ever. It soon seemed obvious that, despite what Hector might've previously thought, Zeff really had been going easy on him before.

It was like trying to fight a blizzard all of a sudden. The Lord Elroy had never bothered to use any visibility-reducing tactics against him, and the piercing cold that accompanied it couldn't be overlooked, either.

He tried to rely on the Scarf, but with all the snow, hail, and icy daggers flying everywhere, it was only so helpful. In fact, the Scarf might've even been making things more difficult, because there was just so much more sensory information swirling around him constantly. Choosing what to focus on was crucial, lest he lose a limb to a blade that he didn't see coming.

And if he didn't maintain a heated variant of his armor, then the cold would quickly begin to wear down his movements and render him even more vulnerable.

He tried simply escaping from the localized blizzard entirely, but that didn't seem like much of an option, either, because Zeff could just make it follow him.

After a while of getting smacked around, sliced up, and just generally humiliated, a period of calm arrived as Hector was still trying to pick himself up off the frozen ground.

"You're not thinking clearly," came Zeff's disembodied voice from somewhere in the blizzard. "You must assess your circumstances quickly and efficiently. And prioritize. Determine your most pressing problem. Don't try to deal with lesser issues first. A man can't repair his house while it's still on fire."