“Eh?” Ryuji sat befuddled.

‘What the hell happened to the people before us!?’

Queen disturbed his thoughts by picking him up and throwing him into the ring. “Don’t disappoint us, hero.”

“Go get em Ryuji!” Jessy gave him words of encouragement.

“You can have a lap pillow if you win!” Dot encouraged him greatly.

“You got this.” Ryuji attempted to motivate himself, but it came out more hollow than anything else.

His nervousness had peaked, unlike his last opponent he had no idea the capabilities of this one. The words Queen said still stuck in his mind. He knew that she was just joking but the sensation of his heart tightening didn’t go away. ‘Why did she have to say that.’

“Heyo Mr.!” Interrupting his thoughts and standing in front of him was the elven girl from earlier.

“Hi, weird pupil girl.” Ryuji had hoped a dig at her might make him feel a little better but that plan just failed miserably as he wasn’t much of a shit-talking guy.

“First round begins!”

The area became a dream and the fight started.

‘She doesn’t have any armor or any weapons meaning that she definitely uses some sort of magic. I have to be careful.’

He began testing her with long-distance strikes. “Vorpal Shot.” The void carrying magical energy within it silently flew towards the elf's face.

“Too weak mister.” With a happy face and tone, his shot was put off course by a surge of heat from her body. There wasn’t any fire accompanying it, but it just felt like he was suddenly in a desert instead of a dream void.

“Vorpal Cut.” The air made way as he brought his blade down and the energy traveled once more but before it ever made it to her she disappeared with a flash. “Zone.” Defensively Ryuji deployed his zone, sheathed his sword, and felt the space around him.

“That was a little better!” To his right came a fist that surrounded itself in an air simmering heat.

“Iai draw.” His draw collided with her left fist and stopped her momentum with a vertical slice. His sword wouldn’t cut through her skin that was heavily defended with magic and the center of his blade started to heat.

With a voice spewing positivity to the point it might seem a little creepy she said. “Can you keep it up Mr.?”

While she was distracted, he moved forward and let go of the hilt with his left hand while pivoting to the left. She became unbalanced and before she could correct herself her swung with his blade at the side of her head.

“What?” His sword before it could reach her had become entrapped in ice. His eyes widened as the girl turned her head revealing that her eyes no longer had the symbol of a sun, but now contained a cloud with snow falling from it.

Her voice sounded just as cold as the snow that began falling around him and the wind that chilled his bones. “Better luck next time.” With her hand outstretched she shot wave after wave of horizontal razor-sharp ice sheets.

“Why do I have to fight the insane one?” He kicked the ice and freed the sword. While backing away he lashed out with perfect timing intercepting the ice razors while trying to think of a way to close the gap.

“You are persistent I’ll give you that.” The ice razors came faster, larger, and sharper than before. They no longer looked like ice sheets but now more closely resembled crescent moons. He could still repel them, but it no longer was a choice for him to back up as every time he repelled a sheet he was forcibly pushed away by their momentum.

“Seven Steps: Third Step.” He darted to the left at a speed close to 30MPH. The ice followed but he was moving faster than what she could adjust to. He turned on a dime and immediately charged straight at her.

“Lightning Style: Grounded Lightning.” He crouched on the ground and narrowly avoided his head being chopped off as a sheet flew over him splitting some hairs on his head. From a crouch, he put all his energy into leaping forward and put his sword flat to his side. Before she could adjust and aim downward, he flew forward faster than a bullet and his blade passed through her head.

“That was scary!” A new voice filled with anxiety sounded near him. When he turned her body was gone and not a single drop of blood clung to his sword. He was being encircled slowly but surely by fog. In just a few seconds it had become so thick that he couldn’t see beyond a few feet in front of him.

‘Not a single incantation? She’s either a master or this is some kind of blessing, either way, it’s fucking annoying.’

He breathed deeply and sheathed his sword and readied his draw. “Emperors Eye.” He felt connected to the space around him. Even if he couldn’t see he could still hear and feel the vibrations of movement through the air and ground. If she moved near him, he would know.

______

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‘Where the hell is she? Does she just expect me to come to her?’

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“Goddamnit! Ballroom Dance!” Ryuji pivoted while drawing his sword and slashed in a complete circle. The fog lifted and he heard.

“Owie! That was meaaaan.” The girl was on the verge of tears behind him. He turned and saw a giant horizontal gash going from the middle of her belly and across her navel to the other side. He wasted no time and lunged forward to try and finish it.

As he did, he saw a weird glint in her eyes. A symbol of what he could only guess was supposed to represent fog faded and was then swiftly replaced by the childish symbol for a rainbow. His vision blurred and swirled around as if he was looking through a funhouse mirror.

“What… is… this?” A throbbing emanated from his skull and a migraine-like pain drilled through both of his eyes. He felt his previous meal about to come up but despite all this, the girl only watched and made no moves to attack him.

‘I don’t need to see anything anyway. I’ll win this and take the first round!’

He closed his eyes and relied on his other five senses. It was pretty easy to sense where she was thanks to the humongous mana flow surrounding her. With his eyes still closed he struck out with a series of slashes at where he assumed her joints were. He felt some resistance on the edge of his blade and hoped that he had at least grazed her.

A voice filled with anxiety and depression rang out from the center of the mana stream. “Why must we fight each other? Hurt each other? This is truly a cruel world.”

Ryuji immediately opened his eyes. Standing in front of him was Luthien who now boasted cuts on her wrists and ankles where a constant flow of red poured. The most notable change was the giant collection of water surrounding her. Her hand raised and a torrent of water shot at him.

“How many personalities do you have you crazy bitch!? Cut!” The torrent was torn in two and subsided but in its wake, Ryuji became completely soaked.

“BITCH!? I WILL END YOU!” With a lightning bolt in her eye, she shot forward while Ryuji was reeling back from her attack. He attempted to guard but a wave of electricity was sent through him. The electricity wouldn’t stop and just kept amping up more and more. He felt his mind and limbs start to go fuzzy. His body convulsed as his eyes began to roll into the back of his head.

“Get away damn it!” With his left hand holding up his sword to try and block some of the attack he landed a right hook on her jaw as hard as he could. She reeled back and glared at him with an intense fury. He clenched and then unclenched his hand checking just how decimated it was thanks to her incredibly hard jaw.

“Enough!”X6 A dyssynchronous chorus of six voices expressed a shared opinion. Her eyes had now taken on an even crazier emblem that just seemed to be some bad combination of all six. Energy began to swirl around her, and Ryuji readied himself for the upcoming attack.

-Pain

He looked down and grit his teeth in frustration. His right leg now had a chunk missing out of his thigh. It reminded him of what shark attack victims looked like. Blood shot out and quickly formed a puddle around his feet. He couldn’t see what had hit him, but it definitely was a new attack.

“Flash!” His sword came within an inch of her face. Her eyes widened in surprise by his massive boost in speed. Before the blade lopped her head off, a wave of visibly prismatic energy radiated and repelled the katana.

‘I cannot lose, I will not lose, I will pull through this!’ The teeth in his mouth ground together as he continued the onslaught. His eyes slowly devolved into that of a madman.

“Wow, you’re desperate.”X6 Ryuji's face flashed with anger and he kicked off the ground into the sky. A beam of light snaked and followed him. As he reached the apex of his jump the light pierced through his stomach but he didn’t care.

‘I cannot lose, I will not lose, I will pull through this!’ “Void Style: Roar of the Silent Dragon!” With a power that made the very ground, she stood on shake his sword swung through the air. The atmosphere around her disappeared and was replaced with a raging torrent of pure force. Marks that looked like they had been made by dragon claws appeared on the ground in front of her. She fell on her left side and felt a great wave of coldness wash over her body followed by intense heat.

This was the beginning of death. Her right arm and leg looked like opened bread roll canisters. The madman even with both his arms screaming in agony continued his attack. She couldn’t just let him win so easily. In her left hand, a condensing mass of the energy she had been giving off started to form.

‘I cannot lose, I will not lose, I will pull through this!’ He thought his mantra and rushed her down with little care for whatever she was trying to pull in her left hand. Shots of a prismatic man faster than bullets tore through the air towards him.

‘I cannot lose, I will not lose!’ He felt his leg beginning to slow him down. The trained arms he was so proud of could barely keep up with the projectiles after the strain he put them through. Out of every five, he would only be able to defend against four of them. Hole after hole began to appear on his figure.

‘I cannot lose!’ His thoughts swirled and the mass in Luthien’s hand began to shake the ground. He was almost there; he was so close to his victory!

-----Dark

The left side of his vision was blotted out and just before he made it to her he began to slow down. ‘I cannot lose.’ Even in his head, his mantra had lost its energy. He raised his sword ready to end this fight. As he swung down his leg gave way. His face hit the ground and cold blood covered his face as he lay in her pool.

‘I cannot’

“Be scattered by the great divide of nature! Cinder!”X6

‘I’

“The first match was a real close one folks, but the point is awarded to Luthien!”

“I… lost.” His voice was drowned out by the stadium’s rapturous applause and cries. He slowly turned towards his dugout and walked back with his eyes firmly fixed to the ground. He entered his dugout and was met with silence. He sat down and held his head within his hands.

‘Worthless.’

“H-hey you did your best right? Then that’s um, really all we could, uh ya know ask for.” Jessy’s supportive voice only deepened the pain in Ryuji's heart.

‘Pointless.’

This was what he was afraid of. He would accomplish nothing but still get praised for putting forth his best effort. He was just going to be carried again. He was just going to be baggage again.

“Were you slacking off on your training for this past year? Or maybe you thought that since she was a little girl you had to go easy on—” Queen laid into him for his incompetence, something that he really couldn’t blame her for.

“That’s enough Marie.” Dots stern voice caused Queen to go silent and turn away.

‘Pathetic.’

“Round 2 Dot versus Caldwell!”

Dots breath caressed Ryuji's ear as she whispered centimeters away from him. “I know you’re upset but will you please watch how cool I can be? For me?” She asked in a sweet voice and Ryuji was never one that could turn down a request from a lady who’s asking nicely. He looked up and nodded his head.

With a smile that could either melt hearts or instill fear based on who you were, Dot ran off towards the arena where a funny named ninja awaited.

“Hey! What is going on my friend!” With fake enthusiasm, Dot shot finger guns at him.

“We are not friends.” An annoyed stare and an even more annoyed voice radiated off of him like an aura of unpleasantness.

“Well, you are certainly right about that! Which is why I’m going to rip you a new one in this match.” With a grin that gave off danger signals to audience and foe alike the match began.