My entire body brims with mana and I activate at full blast to take in every detail of Nikki’s body.
Instead of any fighting stance, the girl positions herself as if getting ready to take off running. Since I have heard just how high her AGI stat is in supplementation of her movement skill: , I can tell that I will need to stay on my toes and predict her movements in order to stay ahead.
Her learned skills and class are unknown to me, but the other fights have given me confidence in my ability to utilize my skills better than the rest of the group. In both of the past spars, no one had used more than three skills at a time to my knowledge.
Nikki has a mental skill similar to mine and I’ve heard it is steered toward combat as well. Based on what I have seen of Sandra’s fighting technique, I think she has some sort of skill like Nikki’s . I have already taken this into consideration and adjusted my expectations on how the skill will perform in the current spar.
The girl in front of me might have faster reflexes and vastly superior speed, but I’m ready to see just how big the gap between us is.
“Begin!” A voice calls from the bench.
Like a bat out of hell, I shoot toward my opponent using the vast amount of mana in my legs as well as a supplementary kinetic explosion originating from my back. The speed of my movement is enough to make my vision blur while my mind attempts to catch up with the sudden change in location, yet I hold a steady goal in mind as allows me to focus in on the approaching girl who also charged in my direction immediately upon Vince’s command.
Nikki’s face remains completely calm in light of my action, yet it seems her mental skill cannot stop the her surprise from showing through her widening eyes.
Just as we approach collision distance, her body blurs and I can feel wall of wind assault my face as she twists to the side and out of my reach. My reaction time is nowhere near as quick, yet my arm is already out with my palm facing her fleeting visage as I release a large burst of heat directly into where I predicted she would move.
The resulting blast throws me to the side, and I push my senses to their brink in order to quickly orient myself mid-air before skidding to a stop while staying upright. At this point, I have already filtered out the sound of the explosions with , so the strong vibrations and flashes of heat that emerge from my attacks is all that gets through to my mind.
Since the training ground consists of turf, there is no debris blocking my vision of the younger girl crouching just barely underneath the spot of my attack. Nikki’s shirt is smoking slightly, but other than that, it would seem that my opponent was able to dodge my opening attack.
I’m unsure where the resulting heat I released went, as I don’t notice any serious burns on the ground, yet I can see visible heat waves surrounding the area. It only takes me a moment to begin rushing directly at her once again, and this time I keep my hands low to the ground to account for her incredible dodging skills.
I had wanted to make this fight as short as possible, but it would seem that Nikki’s skill might actually be a good counter to my wild AOE type of attacks. After using for a moment, I can see the remaining infrared waves caused by my fiery blast shooting upward and harmlessly away from the girl.
Her wind related skill seems to be acting as a pseudo-ventilation system that pulls the thermal energy infused air I create away from her person. Whether she is doing it consciously or not is unknown to me, yet I do not allow the small hiccup to affect me.
Instead of using the same blasts as before, I switch to an oppressive heat-based wall around my body by releasing large amounts of my radiation through that causes the very air around me to waver and flicker.
Before I can get close, I feel the wind pick up similarly to earlier, and Nikki dashes away from my range while I am forced to push through the thick air waves left behind by her skill. Instead of chasing her in an impossible game of tag, I pause my pursuit while mana churns in my feet and hands.
Using my newest skill seems a bit like cheating, but I don’t plan on holding back too much, so I let the mana flow into the ground and my palms while I create simultaneous tiny orbs of mana.
My eyes are fixed on the younger girl who circles me in a blur that I can barely track, yet I don’t move from my spot while I wait for her to press the attack. Multiple skills fire up in my body while I force to multitask watching my opponent while creating and infusing small balls of mana with the kinetic buildup inside me.
Nikki doesn’t seem sure about her ability to engage in another collision with me, which is smart on her end. Her figure becomes even faster, and my eyes can only do so much to keep up with her movement as I observe her get closer in small bursts, as if baiting me to give her an opening to exploit.
Soon enough, I give her exactly what she wants since my preparations were complete during the time she couldn’t bring herself to fight me. With another burst of dense heat and flames that scorch the turf under me, I fly in a random direction at speed almost matching Nikki’s.
To an onlooker, it might have looked like a sad attempt to catch the fleeting figure of the younger girl. To me though, it is a prime opportunity to predict exactly where Nikki will arrive, as I push to fire on all cylinders just to barely sense the dark-haired blur approach from my left.
With a swipe of my hand, that entire side of my vision is enveloped in a bright light as the handful of tiny mana orbs I prepared explode in the air after I break the barrier holding their dense radiation inside.
Even with my new attack, it would seem the job is not done just yet, as a thick barrier of wind practically throws me away from the scene of the explosion. The disorientation caused by the surprise air wave caused by Nikki’s skill is enough for me to lose my bearings, and I shortly find myself crashing into the ground while accruing a few scrapes and bruises.
Despite me only losing sight of her for a split second due to effects of my attack, the blurred figure of the girl somehow managed to escape any significant damage once again and is almost upon my prone body already.
As I appear be recovering, Nikki uses the moment of weakness to finish me off by pressing the attack before I can get back up even though I still have a thick pocket of heat surrounding me.
Unfortunately for my opponent, her impatience has only sealed the victory for me.
The mana orbs I planted in the ground during my tumble trigger right under the light step of the dark-haired girl, causing another small blast that throws her off her feet.
< Mana Construct Lvl. 4 -> Mana Construct Lvl. 5 >
I can feel the wind whipping at my body as Nikki’s mental skill allows her to react almost instantly and attempt to regain her footing, but it’s not enough.
I watch with a smile as her blurred figure sails through the air before skidding across the turf like a pebble over a pond.
As she eats the artificial grass of the field, I use a small kinetic burst to get to my feet before throwing the mana ball I had been holding in my right hand the entire time directly at her tumbling form.
Even with the dire circumstances, Nikki’s skill fires up, and I can see a weak wind wall attempt to block the incoming projectile. It doesn’t matter though, and the ball’s barrier opens slightly due to my , and another wave of kinetic buildup throws her body like a rag doll into the air once again.
A large shockwave blows the manipulated wind walls and any leftover effects of my attacks away. In a heartbeat, I am directly in the path of Nikki’s flying body, and my body roars with mana as I drive an infused fist directly into her gut.
A crunching sensation spills over my knuckles as my attack stops her momentum completely and she falls to the ground in a motionless heap.
My body is hot, and the slight sting of my minor scrapes makes me realize I am sweating a bit from the spar. The feeling of my heart beat wildly makes me smile, and I find the entire bout to have been quite fun despite my initial annoyance at the beginning.
All in all, I am satisfied with the outcome even if I wasn’t able to go all out. The brief match has shown me some interesting new methods of fighting given it being my first time doing so versus another person. The strategy and lack of control like in fights with monsters is completely different than a fight with someone else.
It’s almost addicting the level at which you play around with your opponent’s senses and strategy to fit your own. The entire experience has made me want to spar with the others too. I want to see how my skills measure up against their own. It sucks that we can’t go even harder against each other, but I’m willing to let loose if they are.
I’m about to go and thank Nikki for the fun fight and my pleasant surprise of her combative talents since my mood has taken a turn for the better.
Only then does my concentration skill calm down and I begin to hear the quiet sobs of the girl at my feet.
My smile begins to falter, and I bend down to see if she is okay as my sight finally takes in the various bloody scrapes covering her figure. Trickles of smoke roll lazily off her beige clothes, and I find multiple burn holes littering the fabric.
Nikki is curled into a fetal position while clutching her stomach and my attempts to check on her well being are only met with rasping coughs and muffled sobs.
Sounds of pounding turf erupt from my side, and Vince appears next to me with a hard expression on his face as he bends down to check Nikki’s wounds.
“She has some broken ribs and a few bad burns. I’m going to take her back to the tavern to get treated.”
The man only looks at me briefly with his mouth remaining a stiff white line. Before I can say anything else, Vince picks up the younger girl, and I am left on the turf by myself while he explains the situation to the others.
I overhear him tell them to continue the spars as planned, before heading back toward the city alone with my sparring partner in tow.
With my body winding down from the fight, I silently make my way back to the benches while everyone avoids eye contact with me. I can’t even blame them for the awkwardness either.
Finally, Sandra claps her hands to get the remaining members of Squad Five’s attention.
“Alright! Who’s next?”