Front flipping in midair, Will let loose a flurry of thrusts from the staff, all aimed impeccably at Thera’s head in an attempt to knock her out quickly. His staff was a near invisible blur. But, no matter how well aimed his strikes were, Briar’s face avoided each thrust by a millimeter’s distance.

At this sight, many of Briar’s former mockers had to agree that Briar had some amount of skill. But, instead of admitting they might have been wrong, they adopted a ‘wait-and-see’ attitude. Grandpa Thur smirked as he watched the old gamblers’ eyes beginning to pay attention to Briar. Already they were probably wondering if they were mistaken. To regret is to have one’s liver turn green, after all.

“Then, how about this?!” Will tried sweeping her legs out from under her, but she just hopped over the staff that no normal eyes could follow, even humming a little tune while dodging and whirling about the stage. Watching from the audience, the fight seemed more like a perfectly choreographed dance than a real fight.

That being said, Briar’s red class was no joke. Briar’s eyes picked up the slightest shifts of gravity and form. Will’s staff-work was completely visible to her, almost like it was in slow motion. Against these sorts of thrusts, no matter how well done or well-placed they were, Briar could easily dodge each and every one of them.

People were starting to boo and hiss from the crowd.

“Real men don’t run and hide!”

“Come on, face your defeat and let’s get on with it!”

“Stop jumping around, twinkle toes! Fight!”

Will, beginning to feel frustrated tried taunting her. “Do you hear that? It doesn’t look like you have a lot of fans out there. What’s the matter? Can’t take a blow from my staff?”

Briar grinned and dodged another thrust. “Hmm…that’s too bad. I prefer real friends to fake pansies who can only be obsequious toadies to the truly strong men.”

“With that attitude, I’m surprised if you’ll ever get a girlfriend.” Will taunted, as he feinted a left strike before switching to an overhead slash.

Briar’s eyes twinkled mischievously. “No need~ I already have one, and she likes me for who I am, instead of who people want me to act as.” Sidestepping the descending stave easily, she stood there, waiting for his next move.

Will laughed. “Hah! I think you’re bluffing!” He threw out a forty-eight strike combo, all of which ended up missing Briar by the same millimeter distance.

“Nope. It’s the truth. But, I admit, it’s probably not the truth that you’re thinking of.” Briar grinned saucily as she dodged all the incoming strikes..

To be fair, Will’s grasp of the concept of circular motions was pretty fairly done. Briar admitted that he had a fair bit of skill. In fact, if he had met anyone other than Briar, he would probably have won this match and continued through the tournament until the semifinals, even.

But luck is also a crucial part of any battle, and he had run out of luck the moment he was slated to face Briar.

Briar grabbed at the staff that was being thrust out at her again and pulled it towards her, causing Will to stumble and go off balance. Then she let the staff go. Will instantly jumped backwards warily, keeping his eyes on Briar.

“One hundred and fifty seven openings: seventy-nine times instant death, twenty-six times severely injured, thirty-four times maimed, and eighteen times where I could give you minor injuries that created a larger opening where I could still kill you.” Briar said, counting off all the missed opportunities.

“You’re bluffing!” Will cried, his face going pale.

“Why isn’t Briar fighting, Grandpa?” Rien asked, confused.

“She’s exchanging pointers.” Grandpa Thur replied, in a strangely solemn voice. “She’s performing the ancient and original honored exchange even---not the stupid childish brawls that it has devolved into nowadays.”

“Huh!” Rien watched as Briar dutifully dodged Will’s newest sequence of strikes.

To tell the truth, Briar could have ended it along time ago by using his weapon against him, but she was curious about different techniques and concepts that the battles here would be displaying.

As such, she hesitated to end the match before Will could perform all his signature moves.

And Will did not disappoint. If you were to watch, it would be like watching flippin’ D*rth M*ul against kid G*ku.

In the flurry of staff strikes, suddenly, his arm struck out, aiming to grab onto Briar’s clothes. Having used only a staff the whole time he was fighting, for him to change styles meant that he was getting serious.

Briar was impressed at his ingenuity. To fight solely with a staff gives the illusion that there are only two points of impact to watch out for. But, to suddenly add a fist into the mix was to change those two points of impact to three, thus increasing the number of things to pay attention to.

For most young people, this would have caused their rhythm to be messed up, causing them to make mistakes, but not for Briar. She had been on the lookout for something like this the whole time.

“Hup!” She somersaulted away from his outstretched hand, nimble as a cat, while his fist clenched upon air.

“Are you even a man!?” He shouted, angrily.

“Are you?” Briar asked, mirroring his question. “You know, you asked me earlier if I could even get a girlfriend. And now I’m wondering…are you able? Do you have a girldfriend? Come on, it’s only fair that we trade personal information equally.” She said, tauntingly.

“Why you!!” His face grew red as his anger and frustration spiked to new levels.

However, all of a sudden, his complexion returned to normal, and his face took on a disinterested expression-like a Bhudda. “Then, let’s see if you can take this next strike.” He said calmly.

Will stood up straight--as if in silent salute-- with his staff placed in front of him, his forehead touching the wood.as it was held out straight up and down in front of him. Briar was curious about this stance.

Interesting…let’s see about this special skill. Briar thought to herself as she switched for the first time to the offensive.

The staff’s resting position was straight up and down, but once she approached, it flickered in and out of position like a snake, elusively striking fast and viciously. Of course, the blows never quite touched Briar, since this sort of skill was very similar to several forms of martial arts which she was proficient in.

The whole time, he was muttering, which Briar could have interrupted at any time, but she decided not to in order for him to release his ultimate skill.

But, while the audience thought he was muttering the activation key for the martial technique, Briar could actually hear him crystal clear.

“Ai! I can’t let things end like this! I must get a strike on this pretentious kid or else I won’t feel satisfied! Not even an adult and already has a girlfriend!? Stupid couples! They should just explode!” Will muttered continuously over and over again. “If I could just hit him once! Just once!”

Briar pretended that she couldn’t hear any of that.

Suddenly, the tip of the staff swiftly dropped, aiming straight at Briar, reminding her strangely of the aiming stance of gun-men on Earth. She quickly dodged to the side just as a red light shot out of the tip of the staff like a laser, brushing by Briar’s face and cutting a few stray hairs off her head.

“A lucky miss! Let’s see if you can continue to be impertinent!” He yelled, shooting again and again as Briar dodged the straight beams with practiced ease. Soon enough, though, his martial spirit had run too low for him to use it, and he stopped, to catch his breath.

He heard a single applause.

“Wow! Impressive!” Briar clapped her hands, laughing. “How did that go again? Something like this?”

She pointed her fingertip at the staff and a focused red beam shot out of it, blasting right through the staff, and drawing a small cut on Will’s cheek. “Whoops! Sorry about that~” She smiled unabashedly.

Silence reigned for a few seconds. Then Will stuttered, “But- how? You-I-you…HOW?!” He exclaimed in frustration, falling to his knees.

His ultimate move was actually the result of running his martial spirit through as series of amplifier spirit stones embedded in the hollowed center of his staff. These stones were placed in a coil shape so that the martial spirit could pass through more stones before exiting out the other side.

For Briar to not only be able to see through it so quickly, but also to replicate it in a matter of mere moments after displaying it-Will felt a small chill go down his back-this kid had such a monstrous perception.

His staff was broken and his ultimate moves were stolen…Even if he had more moves, bringing them out now, there was 100% chance of them getting stolen by the little terror in front of him.

“Well? Do you want to continue? Or do you have something more interesting to show me? Or are you going to give up?” Briar asked.

Will considered the question, then shook his head, exhausted. “I can already see that I’m no match for you. I admit defeat.” He stood up and brushed the dirt off his pant legs, then held a fist out towards Briar. “Just make sure you win. Being defeated by the champion isn’t such a bad thing.”

Briar blinked, then bumped fists with Will. “Of course. Haven’t I been saying that from the beginning?”

Will just laughed as he walked away. “So you have! So you have! You really are an interesting one, aren’t you?”

Unfortunately, this would be Will’s last chance to participate in the Ten-Year Student Contest, as no one above twenty can join.

Although his chances of winning the Ten Year Student Contest were completely shattered to pieces, he stepped off the stage with a strangely lightened heart.

He was going to train even harder and harder, and the next time they would meet, even if he couldn’t fight in the contest, he would definitely ask to compare notes with Briar.

But it was not meant to be. After this contest, no one would ever hear about the boy named Briar again. He would vanish from history quicker than a ghost vanishes into thin air.

Briar sighed. The technique itself wasn’t even really a complicated one. It was just building up your martial spirit so that once it was released, it would have great speed and destructive power.

In layman’s terms, it was hardly even a technique. If not for the use of martial spirit, it would not even be labeled as such. Briar shrugged and waited on the stage, shoving a pastry into her mouth.

In the audience, faces paled, and unhappy words were being muttered. Many people had bet upon Briar’s defeat, only to find that they lost nearly all they had. But a few daredevils sat there with beaming faces. These were those desperate few who had bet upon Briar winning in the first round.

Among them, Grandpa Thur and Uncle Bradley were unabashedly grinning. Although Grandpa Thur already had a ton of money, he enjoyed gambling like some people enjoyed fishing.

He was already rich. Yet, oh, how he loved the feeling of reeling in a large catch. Already he had turned his initial bid of fifty thousand into a hundred and fifty million.

Bradley had taken after Grandpa Thur in this regards as they both laughed in their seats, eyes gleaming over their recent win. Rien watched the ring, not even noticing her Grandpa chuckling darkly in delight.

“He won!” Rien laughed gleefully. “Yeah, there’s no one that can beat our Briar-nii!” Karu agreed, looking over a recording of the match on a spherical crystal that his Grandpa had bought him.

It was able not only to record images, but also to play them back. However, any recordings over two hours long would only last for three days before the images began to fade away. The one in his hand was guaranteed to last for at least a month-longer even, if his Grandpa Thur helped him extend the lifetime of the playback.

--------------

Briar looked over at the announcer. “Well? You’re the announcer. Do your job and announce!”

Actually, she had been waiting several minutes for the announcer to proclaim her the winner of the first round.

This was just a lucky fluke. Next round he’ll definitely be kicked off the stage. The announcer told himself as he cleared his throat.

“It seems that we have a winner. The young sponsored youth of Mayor Pendrag, Briar, has won in the first round! But, don’t let winning make you overconfident! There are still many many strong opponents out there for you to face before you can even see the top!”

The announcer couldn’t keep himself from adding that part in at the end in order to satisfy his wounded pride. That country bumpkin wouldn’t know what hit him in the second round!

--------------

Briar yawned noncommittally and returned to her room to take a well-deserved, much-desired nap.