-Tuesday Morning, 8th Of the 1st Month, Year 910-

Leaving the spectator's area, I exit the arena and enter through the fighter's entrance after Percy. I walk down the hallway and go into the room Mrs. Janson showed us earlier with weapons inside. Percy's already here feeling around the spears. I swing around a few swords to feel them out before picking the one I like the most.

"Commoner, do you really believe that you can defeat me?" Percy asks while taking a spear off the rack.

I nod my head without saying anything. I can't talk to him right now, I can still feel the anger swirling around inside me. It's taking everything I have to stop myself from swinging this sword at him right here, right now.

"Let's see if you can still be arrogant after I defeat you," He smirks, and leaves the room with his chosen spear.

'I won't lose to you!' I tighten my grip on the hilt of my sword and walk out a few steps behind him.

After a few seconds, I can see the platform up ahead. Percy steps onto the platform first and stops in the center of it. I follow him and stop three feet away from him, standing outside of his spear's range.

"Oh? You stopped so far away from me, could it be that you're actually scared of me? And you seemed so confident earlier," Percy mocks me, trying to get me to move in closer, but I take a deep breath and ignore him. After seeing some other applicants use it, I understand the general attack range of his weapon and that it's greater than mine.

"... I'm ready." I get in my stance and circulate my Qi, ready to rush forward the moment the fight starts.

"Tch!" Percy clicks his tongue and gets into his stance.

"Begin!" I rush forward and swing my sword down with all my might.

Clang!

"Hah!" He sidesteps, dodging my attack, before thrusting at me with his spear.

Swish! Shing!

I parry his spear, and take a step forward, 'I can't let him force me outside of my range!'

Clang!

Once again, I charge at him, but he blocks it with the pole of his spear and jumps back.

"Not bad commoner, Enchant!" He steps forward and thrust his spear at me.

'Close!' I sidestep, barely dodging his attack.

"Enchant!" A blue aura covers my sword.

Swish! Clang! Swish! Shing! Swish! Clang! Swish! Shing!

I charge at him, and we exchange blow after blow, but neither of us manages to get a good hit in.

Clang!

"You!" Percy shouts and takes a wide swing at me. I block the attack, but the impact knocks me back a few steps, sending me out of my range.

Swish! Shing! Swish! Shing! Swish! Shing!

Before I can charge in again, he rushes at me with a flurry of thrust, forcing me to defend. I parry each attack while trying to create an opening, so I can fight back. But I can't seem to break his stance, and with every thrust, I'm getting pushed closer and closer to the edge of the platform.

Swish! Shing! Swish! Tear! Swish! Shing! Swish! Tear!

'If this keeps up, I'm going to fall off the platform and lose! Closer! I need to get closer so I can get a hit in!' I squint my eyes and focus on his arms, trying to find an opening between his thrusts that I can take advantage of to get closer.

"If all you do is defend, then you're never going to defeat me!" Percy shouts as he thrust his spear at me again and again.

Swish! Shing! Swish! Tear! Swish! Shing!

'There!' Every time, he draws his spear back to do another thrust, there's a small opening. If I can use that moment to charge forward, then I can close the distance between us and go on the offensive, 'But I might take a hit if I move in too fast or too slow.'

"Disappointing! I thought you could do more than this, Commoner!" I grit my teeth and ignore his taunts, 'If I get angry and mess up the timing, I might not get another chance to turn this around.'

Swish! Tear! Swish! Tear! Swish! Shing!

'It's now, or never, I'm almost at the edge,' I deflect his thrust, and take a deep breath, before rushing forward. A moment too slow, the returning spear cuts through my combat uniform and my skin.

"Ugh!" I groan, feeling the stinging pain coming from my side, but I keep moving forward.

"Ryner!" I can hear Jasmine call out to me from above, but I don't have time to tell her that I'm fine.

"Qi Wave!" I slash at him, sending the Qi from my sword directly at his chest.

"Agh!" He stumbles back a few steps, covering his chest where the Qi Wave broke open his combat uniform.

"Huu, Haa, Enchant!" I take a deep breath before rushing at him with my enchanted sword.

Swish! Cling! Swish! Cling! Swish! Clang! Swish! Cling!

This time he's forced to defend while I attack. I slash at him over and over again, forcing him back. Whenever he does a wide swing to push me back, I send out a Qi Wave and Re-Enchant my sword, before charging at him again.

Swish! Cling! Swish! Cling!

'I can't get a good hit in,' I'm pushing him back, but I can't break through his defenses, 'At this rate, we're going to end up with a tie!'

"You're really starting to annoy me, Commoner!" Percy shouts and focuses his Qi on his spearhead, causing the blue aura to glow even brighter. He sends a thurst at me with way more force than before, "Mighty Thrust!"

'I can't deflect this one!' I jump to the side as fast as I can, just barely dodging his attack.

Swish!!!

"Don't run away, Commoner!" He Enchants his spear again, and charges at me, sending another Mighty Thrust at me.

'Who said I was-' I let go of my sword, and duck down, slightly avoiding his spear. Before he can recover, I charge forward, and send my Qi to my leg, "-Running!"

I knock him to the ground with a Dragon Sweep and jump back to grab my sword.

"You dare knock me- a noble to the ground!!?" Percy stands up with his whole body trembling and shouts, "I am going to defeat you, COMMONER!! QI SPEAR!!!"

Percy drops his spear, and another one made purely from his Qi starts to form in his hand.

'This is bad,' I think he's pouring all of his Qi into that spear, even if he isn't, I can't take a single hit from it, or I'll end up in worse shape then when I fought those bandits.

"Haaa, Haaaa," His breathing is getting heavier, and his spear is almost finished forming.

'I need to end this now but- but I want to show him,' I want to beat him, I want to prove to him that I'm stronger than him.

Once the spear finishes forming, he asks me, "Haaa, Haaa, Are you ready, Commoner?"

"I've been ready," I still have one move that I can use, though I haven't fully gotten used to it, 'But if I don't use it, then how else am I going to beat that spear?'

"HAAA!!!" He rushes at me and sends a thrust straight for my side.

I try to block his spear with my sword, but the moment our weapons collide, my sword flies out of my hand from the impact.

Swish!

"Ugh!!" His spear grazes my side, cutting deeper into the wound from earlier.

I jump back as fast as I can, but he won't let me get away that easily. He chases after me and sends another thrust at me. I roll to the left, just barely managing to dodge his attack. Before I can even stand up, he swings the spear at me from the side. I jump back as fast as I can, but I couldn't avoid him cutting open the chest of my combat uniform.

"Ryner!"

'I need to end this soon or time is going to run out-' I jump back again, dodging another thrust which cuts open another part of my uniform, 'No other choice but to give it a shot!'

"COMMONER!!!" Percy charges at me again, aiming for my stomach.

"I'm ending this now! Earth Shaking Stomp!" I send all of my Qi to the bottom of my foot and slam it into the platform.

BoOOOOOM!

The platform about 2-feet around me cracks and rises, tripping Percy up and smacking him into the air. His body flies through the air for a moment before dropping down a few feet away from me.

"Haaa, Haaaa-" I circulate the little Qi that I have left, trying to calm my heavy breathing, "-I - Haaa - win."

"Number 764 wins!" Mrs. Janson announces my victory.