Warrior's pit - midnight

I set foot in the arena. The crowd cheering, yelling out for another match to begin.

"So, can you tell me again why someone like the champion of this place wants to fight me," I asked my opponent who was writing some. It pissed me off since he wasn't paying attention.

"Hey, I asked you a question. How about you-"

"Because Crow asked me to," grey hair replied.

"He asked if I could fight a kid he would be bringing with him and said if I did he would owe me a favor. So in the end, I took him up on his offer, and here we are. Does that answer everything?"

As far as I knew, yeah, it did.

"I'll take your silence as a yes."

"How do you know Crow?"

"He's my mentor."

“Seriously, that weirdo is your mentor? I'd say I'm surprised, but I don't even know you."

"I know he's weird, but he holds the knowledge of all types of medicines and medical techniques that hold my interest, so I put up with him, for the most part. By the way, my name is Quincy. Now enough talk, I think the audience wants their fight."

He put the book away and took out his weapon.

"I'll allow you to make the first move," Quincy offered.

"Thanks, and I think I will!"

I went in for the attack.

"Predictable."

He sidestepped it and hit me on the back of the head with the butt of his weapon.

"What the hell," I spat out.

"Your first move was basic, too straight-forward. But I guess it was the opener, come at me with something better."

As he requested, I kept punching in his direction but he kept evading everything I threw at him. He used his bat to make a counter-attack.

"You have a great amount of stamina, not surprising given how young you are."

My next attack was intercepted with a grab.

"From your muscle mass, I'd say you're used to physical combat or anything that is associated with physical work."

"Done analyzing?"

"Just about."

I went with a kick but he pushed me back to interrupt me.

"I think I got a general idea of how you fight. We can truly begin the fight."

"Finally, I was getting bored with you running from me. Now let me show what-"

"Just come and make your move already, I'm getting bored."

He cut me off before I could finish speaking. But as much as it was annoying, he was right, I wasted time talking. I just went straight for the kill. He swung his bat towards my left, I blocked it only for him to hit me square in the stomach with his foot. It wasn't all that powerful so I was able to bear it. His next move came shortly after as he tried to sweep my feet with his bat, but it was easy to dodge. He then turned his body to do a round kick with the back of his foot.

"You son of a bi-"

He yet again twisted his body to connect the bat to hit my face.

"Shit, that hurt!"

"Perhaps I should go easy on you," he mockingly considered.

"Don't make fun of me!"

When I went back in to fight him he thrust his bat like a rapier, hitting my shoulder. "Gah!" The bat went towards my other elbow. I dodged and went in for a kick to the face. Quincy blocked it with the back of his bat and immediately countered by trying to hit my head vertically since my upper torso was positioned sideways. There was no way to block it, only evade. I spun backward when I kicked off the ground.

"Hm, it appears that you were able to anticipate my attack this time," Quincy pointed out.

I was barely able to dodge that, my senses told me to react in a certain way at the last second. But that's the thing, my instincts are for shit right now, I would've been able to dodge those last attacks if they were working properly.

"You seem troubled, what's the matter," Quincy asked.

"Mind your damn business!"

I need to take this fight more seriously than I want to treat it.

"I see the shift in attitude from your face. Now, you're going to-"

His blabbering was getting old, so I just went for it. A gasp left his mouth when he saw how fast I charged at him. He tried to hit me with the bat but I bent my back to avoid it. I directed my foot upward to his chin, connecting before he could react. After that, I moved back to avoid a counter.

"How was that, better," I asked Quincy who was rubbing his chin.

"Yes, that was pretty good. You were able to quickly dodge my attack and come with a way to hit me. That shows that you're holding back even more from this fight. And that kind of pisses me off."

...

The battle between Proxy and Mystery kid went on as Crow and I watched on.

"Gilhart, I want your honest opinion, who do you think will win," Crow asked me.

"Well, Proxy has skill when it comes to fighting, but lately, his skills have been failing him as of late. During one of our recent practice matches, I was able to easily defeat him."

"I expect nothing less, after all, you're stronger than he is."

"I know, but Proxy can keep up with me due to his natural talent for fighting. He has the skill to back up his bark, but it feels like he's fighting with less of that skill as of late."

"Can you tell why that is?"

"No, I only noticed for a couple of days now."

Proxy always acted cocky when he fought because of how aware he is of his fighting prowess. But for that exact reason, he thinks too highly of himself and his skills, and while it's a good thing to have confidence in your skills, being overconfident in them can be detrimental. Mainly because you might not go all out with everything you got; but at that point, it wouldn't be overconfidence, it would be considered being pride or ego.