On one hand, Calibri could whip out his acupuncture needles and avoid combat, and on the other hand, he could physically fight them and have Kol hate his guts even more. The latter was not something he was keen on, but doing the former would leave the others paralyzed for an hour at least, which wouldn't be good if they needed to return to the hall.
Besides that, if this really was a test, and the fight was being watched, then he needed to impress those grading him, somehow, with his severely peculiar self.
However, he really, genuinely did not want to fight these boys.
"Oh heavens…" He said when the one minute began. He was never one to fight with many weapons, but his daggers were ever up his sleeve. Of course, he did have a sword in his bag, and archery set, but he was most confident with close-combat. And even if he wanted to use his bow and arrow, it would feel too strange to shoot someone. Was it even permitted? Certainly not in his sect. They mostly used arrows to shoot down fruit from high trees, not even animals were shot.
His eyes flicked to Haochen who'd already unshrunk a beautiful sword and an intricate-looking bow. Kol was holding a silver saber with an emerald encrusted hilt. Cloud on the other hand had pulled out a scythe.
With wide eyes, he blinked and then pulled out silver twin daggers hidden in his sleeves.
"You are allowed to injure your opponent, but take care not to target any vital organs." The voice said.
Calibri pursed his lips, exhaling from his nose. He had no intention of stabbing anyone, but the instruction was enough to make Kol smirk at him.
"I take it you're after me?" Calibri asked, looking at Kol.
"I'm only doing what I've been told to." Kol shrugged.
"Don't worry beautiful, I'll knock them out for you." Cloud said to Calibri.
"Thank you for your consideration, but that is unnecessary," Calibri said with a polite smile.
"It's necessary, don't want your body aching before I even do anything," Cloud said, sticking his tongue against his long canine.
"Cloud, I've already given you a warning. Don't you start." Haochen said in a serious tone. Thirty seconds were left.
Cloud rolled his eyes and looked back at Calibri. "Love, do you not want to use a larger weapon? Kol is quite a brute with that thing, and Haochen is second to none with his sword and bow. I also happen to be quite skilled myself."
Calibri looked at his daggers then glanced at his opponent's weapons. He did have quite a few weapons stowed away, and several strapped to his legs and under his robes(Courtesy of his Verbatian siblings and their overprotective paranoia), but if he did use those, it could potentially harm them.His objective was to knock them out.
He'd been taught that if you didn't want something to happen to you, then you should avoid doing that particular something to others. Even if his opponents didn't feel the same way, he didn't want to cause any drastic harm to their bodies. He didn't carry enough medicine to fix it if he did, and if he did hurt them and he didn't fix it, he'd feel awful.
"Hey, don't zone out, ten seconds to go gorgeous, stay focused, or else Kol will chop your piercings off." Cloud said, swirling his scythe.
Calibri blinked rapidly and nodded. Meanwhile, Haochen had been staring at Cloud with very irritated eyes. It seemed the man did not understand when he told him to stop messing with Calibri.
If one good thing came out of the battle, it would be that he could punch Cloud for being such a pervert without restraint.
"Ten. Nine. Eight."
As the voice counted down, the stage suddenly began to expand, doubling in size and then tripling.
Haochen glanced between Kol and Calibri and then back to Cloud as the distance between them widened.
"Seven. Six."
Calibri took a calming breath, closed his eyes, and then opened them with resolve. Alexei said it was always good to calm is nerves in this way.
He needed to deal with Kol first.
"Five. Four. Three. Two. One."
Calibri's hand moved so quickly that none of them knew what happened, but in seconds, he disappeared. Kol's eyes widened, but before anyone could say anything, Calibri had already teleported behind Kol and send a flying kick at him. Kol flew forward and spun around quickly, but Calibri had already teleported again. Kol looked around frantically. "Hey! That's cheat-"
Calibri appeared out of thin air and hit a pressure point behind his leg, causing his leg to lose feeling, and in seconds, Calibri was gone again.
Cloud grinned and whistled. "Well, he's got a great cultivation base on him already if he can teleport, guess we should start too the-" He started, but Haochen had already sent a glowing arrow at him.
"Ah! Hey! That almost hit me!"
"It was meant to, and unfortunately, you dodged." Haochen said, sprinting towards him at inhuman speed. Cloud clicked his tongue and jumped back, dodging the Heavy swing of Haochen's sword.
Haochen had the power to see three seconds into the future during combat, which allowed him to win almost every duel he'd ever competed in, however, activating the power took substantial amounts of energy from him, and sometimes opponents would change their tactic at the last second. He knew this, so he always tired out his opponent first. Once they'd spent their energy, he'd activate it, knowing they would usually be too tired to deviate from their plan when they were already so exhausted.
Kol on the other hand seemed to have a bottomless supply of energy. Haochen didn't know if it was a secret ability of his clan, or the man's personality and willpower. Either way, it was troublesome, but they hadn't fought enough to figure out ways to best each other yet.
"Man! Don't ruin the perfect male specimen!" Cloud said.
Haochen sent a flying kick at him.
"Ah! Haochen! Not my face!" Cloud said, dodging and jumping over Haochen. Haochen swiped his hand across the air, writing an incantation and slapping his palm against it. It caused the floor stage to start moving as if there was an earthquake.
Calibri appeared suddenly at the very end of the stage, far away from Kol and the others. Kol growled and stabbed his saber down, sending a fiery streak across the ground towards Calibri. Calibri jumped away from it, but the second he did, Kol threw his saber at him. Calibri hadn't known it before, but the hilt of the saber seemed to have an enchantment that allowed the blade to be ejected and projected towards an opponent before drawing the blade back to the hilt if no contact was made.
Calibri used his dagger to deter the blade and jumped to the other corner of the stage. Taking a breath, he slid his daggers back into his sleeves and clapped his hands together, causing the entire stage to turn dark.
Nobody could see anything.
"That won't work princess!" Kol said, swiping his hand in a circular motion around his head, causing a floating ring of fire to form.
Haochen's sword was glowing, so it allowed him to see a radius of two meters, but Cloud was very quiet, and even Calibri wasn't making a sound.
Kol pulled out a healing talisman and slapped it onto his leg, causing it to regain feeling.
"Where are you?" He asked lowly.
Calibri was silent.
Haochen looked towards Kol, wondering where Calibri had gone too. Kol growled. "Come out and fight me like a man!"
"Why? Women are much stronger. I don't think a male would survive childbirth." Calibri said in a confused voice from behind him. Kol turned around immediately, slashing his saber across the air but Calibri had already dodged and sent a spinning kick to his face. Kol recovered quickly, and sent power into his sword, making the blade turn a bright green.
How in the world was Calibri jumping around him so quickly? Before he knew it, he was defending against a relentless bombardment of attacks from both Calibri's legs and his daggers.
Cloud who'd been intending to use the darkness to gain the upper hand on Haochen paused to watch the battle too. Kol increased the flaming ring to a diameter of four meters which allowed him to see Calibri coming at him, but it wasn't helping at all. Calibri was frighteningly agile.
And suddenly, the daggers in his hands began to spark, and crackle and a long strip of what looked like golden and purple lightning emerged from each of them, forming a sizzling whip-like weapon.
As for its wielder; his eyes and fingertips were glowing bright gold.
"What the-" Kol started, but he was cut short when Calibri jumped towards him, crossed his forearms, and whipped them to his sides causing the electricity to whip. The fierce electricity did not even touch Kol. It didn't even go near his armor.
But with that one slash to the air in front of him, Kol was thrown all the way to the other side of the stage, slammed hard against the invisible barrier. He yelped and slid down, unconscious.
Haochen and Cloud stared at Calibri with widened eyes. They'd completely forgotten their own battle. The darkness faded and they could see him clearly. He lowered his daggers and exhaled calmly.
Then he blinked slowly, and his golden eyes flicked towards Haochen.