"Ready…fight!"
Teacher Fielding had appeared to also serve as another witness, and to referee the match. Before it began, though, he had nodded at me.
"I hope my lessons will be useful."
"They will be," I had assured him.
He seemed to have bought that, and started the match without any further ado. The moment he swung his hand down, Tie Quan exploded into action and lunged at me, his fist barreling out. It was obvious he intended to end the match in this single move.
Even as he charged, I could see the changes taking place all over his body. Like me, he would need more time to cast complex spells, so for now he merely cast a basic spell that transformed his arms into metal, but leaving the rest of his body flesh and blood.
Good.
I stepped to the side, allowing him to barrel past me. Then I rammed a knee into his gut, causing him to double over. Tie Quan bellowed in rage and swung his iron-encrusted arm back in retaliation, but thanks to my martial arts training, I managed duck under his arm and kicked at his knee, causing his leg to buckle.
Tie Quan dropped to one knee, but he stubbornly lashed out, causing me to retreat a couple of steps. Getting to his feet, he cracked his neck from side to side as he completed his next spell. I could see his face turning silver as the metal covered all of his body.
"Iron Spirit!"
With a triumphant bellow, he completed his spell, reveling in the feel as his body turned completely metal.
"Hah! Now you won't be able to defeat me!"
In the past, he would be correct. I was still a long way off summoning Vermillion Phoenix. Probably another two and a half minutes, at least. Whereas Tie Quan already cast a powerful spell that was sufficient to beat me up. Even with my martial arts training, I had no spells that could enhance my defense, speed or attack power, so I would never be able to break through that Iron Spirit spell that Tie Quan had cast over his body.
There was nothing I could do, and I wasn't able to dodge forever.
"!"
Tie Quan burst forward at a much faster speed than before, his Iron Spirit granting him a bonus to not just his durability and strength, but also his agility. This time, I wasn't able to dodge his iron fist, which came crashing down on me.
Usually that would signal the end of the fight. With no defensive spell, nothing I could use to protect myself, I would be unable to avoid the strike and be laid low. And then the merciless beat-down would begin, until I lost consciousness.
Even though I had learned martial arts from Dad, they were useless without magic. Normal martial arts just didn't have the power to punch through magical defenses and protective auras. They may lay a solid foundation for reflexes and techniques, but they were knives compared to the guns that were magic.
That was how I lost every match previously. It wasn't that I couldn't fight back, but I didn't have the magical durability against their magically enhanced strengths and spells, nor the power to hurt them.
At the side, Teacher Fielding smiled, taking note that I had cast the basic defense spell to augment my durability, a spell that I learned from his class. It would not block a hundred percent of the damage, and I would still suffer injuries, but at least I wouldn't be knocked out instantly.
However, precisely because of that, it wasn't the ideal solution. With that in mind, I completed the casting of a second spell.
Twin lights colored black and white flashed into existence right before Tie Quan reached me. His fist collided with twin blades before he staggered back in confusion and puzzlement.
"Gemini," I muttered as I swung my twin swords at him. One bore a black blade, and the other sported a white blade, but otherwise they were identical. Gemini's astrological symbol was inscribed right into their guards.
"You…you…" Tie Quan spluttered as he stumbled backward, fending my swords off with his Iron Spirit. "Since when can you summon weapons?"
They weren't just any ordinary weapons. They were Constellation weapons. Long story short, the theme of my magic was Constellations. The four Stellar Guardians were based off Chinese constellations, after all. But they took too long to summon, and required a lot of magical energy.
In order to keep in line with my Constellation theme, yet find a spell that takes less time and costs less magical energy, I looked toward alternative constellations for a solution. And this was the answer I found – Greek constellations.
Tie Quan roared in frustration and hurled himself at me again, but I deflected his punches with my twin swords. He then threw up a knee that would have broken my ribs if I hadn't dodged, and I used the hilt of Castor to stop it from proceeding any further. At the same time, I thrust Pollux at him, but Tie Quan crossed his arms to stop the white blade from piercing his chest.
Not that it would have, since his chest was covered in metal right now, but reflexes and training were hard to get rid of.
As if realizing that he had gotten humiliated, Tie Quan snarled and punched forward. I parried his iron fist with Pollux and slashed at him with Castor, but he fended off the black blade with his other arm, and then twisted around to kick me.
Jumping up, I landed on his leg, and then bounced up and above him before he could react. Twisting around in midair, I slashed the crown of his head, my twin blades shrieking as they scratched against metal.
Sparks flew, and Tie Quan tried to smack me away, but I had already retreated to a safe distance. He shook his head, and then grinned mockingly.
"Heh! It's useless. It doesn't matter if you summon weapons or not. You won't be able to pierce through my Iron Spirit!"
"Really?" I pushed my glasses up nose, despite still holding a sword in my hand (pretty dangerous, but I was confident that I wouldn't hurt myself).
"Of course!" Tie Quan was about to say something else, but then he felt something wet drip down his face.
Reaching up, he wiped the fluid and glanced at it. It was red. Never mind that, he could feel a stinging sensation on his scalp that told him that his defenses had been breached.
"Blood…I'm bleeding?!"
Tie Quan's jaw dropped in disbelief. He couldn't believe that I had actually succeeded in cutting through his defenses.
"You bastard!" he hollered, clutching his bleeding head. "You cut me! You actually cut me!"
"…uh, dude, you do realize we're in a middle of a duel, right?" I asked incredulously. "Did you seriously expect to get out of this unscathed?"
"…"
"…"
Yeah, he did. Seemed like he had accepted my challenge while being under the illusion that it would be another easy win for him. He had never expected me to be able to fight back, and thought he could knock me out before I summoned my big guns.
Well, I was a living, breathing human who would undergo character development and changes. In other words, I wasn't going to be the same guy I was a year ago. I would learn new spells, master new skills, and adapt my fighting style.
A concept that most people didn't seem to be familiar with. Their loss.
Tie Quan shook his anger off, focusing on the fight. Growling, he lunged at me again, forcing me back into the defensive. I deflected his barrage of punches with my twin swords, trying my best not to sustain a direct hit.
If I got hit even once by those fists, I wouldn't just get away with a light injury. Broken bones, internal hemorrhaging and all that…and I still had four opponents to face after this. Well, never mind those four opponents, I had to focus on defeating the guy in front of me first.
Ducking under a punch, I kicked him, but as I expected, his Iron Spirit absorbed most of the blow. That wasn't why I kicked him, though. I used the force to propel me some distance away, keeping myself out of reach of his fists.
"Coward!" Tie Quan snarled, advancing upon me. He realized that the clock was ticking, and that any time soon I would be able to summon Vermillion Phoenix. If he didn't finish me off before then, he would stand no chance of victory.
But I had yet another surprise up my sleeve.
Completing my summoning spell, I conjured a few spirits that required a lot less time to summon. A pack of hunting hounds, and a few teddy bears materialized around me, almost like an army of stuffed animals.
Tie Quan goggled at me, and then burst out laughing.
"Are you seriously trying to fight me with those pathetic-looking stuffed animals? What are they supposed to do, cuddle me to death?"
He was right about one thing, though. The Constellation spirits I had just summoned were much weaker than the four Stellar Guardians from the Chinese constellations. But in exchange, they were a lot quicker to summon, and I could call forth much larger numbers.
"Canis Minor, Ursa Minor, go!"
Not paying attention to my opponent's taunts, I commanded them to attack. They moved out quickly, spreading out in an offensive formation to encircle and surround the enemy.
Tie Quan snickered and he punched toward the first Canis Minor who lunged at him. However, the rest of them had also pounced on him, and they all clamped their jaws tightly over his metallic arms, dragging him down and slowing his motions. Thanks to that, his fist missed and my first Canis Minor was able to bite his face.
"Fuck! Get off me!"
Tie Quan flailed about wildly, trying to dislodge them. With a bellow, he stomped the ground and unleashed a shockwave that knocked them all back. A few of them disappeared, unable to endure the devastating blast, but the majority of them flipped over in midair and landed on their haunches, curling their lips back for a feral snarl.
"Irritating buggers!"
The next wave then came before he could finish cursing. The Ursa Minor, fewer in number than the Canis Minor, came at him from seven different directions. Tie Quan snorted in derision as they came forward, confident in his Iron Spirit to protect him.
Bam!
"Gah!"
The first punch into his gut sent him doubling over. The next strike from a second Ursa Minor sent him toppling to his knees. His eyes widening in shock, he tried to roll away, avoiding the attack from the third Ursa Minor.
His paw slammed into the ground, pulverizing concrete and leaving a crater.
"Holy fuck…how?!"
Tie Quan spluttered in shock, his eyes bulging when he saw the actual damage and immense power from the Ursa Minor's strike. They might resemble teddy bears, but their cute forms belied a fearsome strength.
Scrambling away, Tie Quan was forced to block the punch from the fifth Ursa Minor, which sent him hurtling several meters away.
"Gah!"
Rolling to his feet, Tie Quan tried to distance himself away from my pack of terrifying teddy bears, but he had completely forgotten about me.
Shin!
"!!!"
Blood spurted into the air as Tie Quan staggered, my twin swords cutting into his back. He twisted around and retaliated with a swing of his arm, but I danced out of his reach.
"Despicable bastard! Attacking me from behind!"
"Oh, the worst has yet to come," I assured him, and then got ready for yet another summoning spell.