High School.
The Arena was crowded as it was the first time that someone had dared challenge a member of the student council.
Cran stood quietly, inspecting his opponent. It was a petite girl with short mushroom shaped black hair. It wasn't someone Cran had particularly paid attention to, and it was surprising that the demure girl had walked up and challenged him to a duel.
Cran, of course, couldn't possibly deny the request to a challenge. Thus the two were standing on the arena at the moment, in a stare down.
"Who is that girl?" Someone in the crowd asked, unable to keep their curiosity down.
"It's Miyo from third grade, class 3. She doesn't talk much with others, kind of an introvert."
"Who'd have thought that she would be the first to challenge Cran? His ability of just being slippery might look simple and weak, but Cran has augmented it with powerful tactics and training."
The fatty referee looked at the two combatants before nodding. "Ready?" He asked in the process and the two nodded in agreement, following which fatty blew the whistle.
Cran stood still and waited. This girl wasn't someone he had expected to be one of his challengers, and so he didn't know what her ability was.
Miyo, the girl in question rushed towards Cran with a dagger in hand. Not a hint of ability seeping out of her body. Cran observed her carefully. Her speed was below average, her physique was weaker than even some unawakened individuals, and her gait imperfect. To him, it seemed like she was holding the dagger for the first time. Nothing screamed danger to him, yet he was on his highest alert, for he didn't know what her ability was.
Everyone knew Cran's ability. His body was slippery like an eel, as if friction could not control him at all. With heavy training, Cran had managed to gain extreme precision and control over which part of his body was slippery. This made him extremely formidable in battle. Cran had also trained heavily in combat arts and was a strong fighter.
When Miyo neared Cran she twisted the dagger and tried to strike Cran, who instantly anticipated the trajectory, turning part of his body slippery, and gliding away. Yet at that very moment, Miyo's eyes flashed a victorious smile and a golden amber like liquid exploded out of her mouth like a fountain, spraying all over Cran's feet.
Before Cran could react, the amber had surrounded his legs and on coming into contact into air solidified into a golden translucent fossilized rock. Cran looked at his feet with with alarm. Although he made his feet slippery and the amber didn't stick to it, but the amber had surrounded his legs and solidified like a cast, ensuring that his ability didn't come into play at all.
Miyo looked towards the referee in question, who, breaking the stunned silence of the arena looked towards Cran. "Do you admit defeat?"
Cran shook his head. "Of course not! The battle hasn't ended yet!" He said as he flipped his body, walking on his hands while his legs stood up in the air, frozen into amber.
The girl Miyo's smile froze when she saw Cran overturn his manner of locomotion. Cran didn't wait for her to respond, instead he used his ability deftly to use his hands like rollerblades, slipping ahead like he were gliding before he quickly slipped Miyo from behind. The desperate girl began vomiting amber out of her.mouth as she turned her head, but Cran was faster.
His feet solidified with the golden amber smashed down on Miyo's left cheek as she was turning head with all the force he could muster, causing her to roll her eyes and fall unconscious and slump to the ground. Cran thanked his stars that the girl Miyo was actually extremely weak, but her ability was an absolute counter to Cran's ability amd if she were more sophisticated in her use of it, Cran was certain to be defeated.
As Miyo turned unconscious, the amber began to melt and then evaporate away. Freeing Cran and emptying the arena of the solidified amber. The referee was quick to determine that Cran was the winner, though no one was taking the battle lightly.
Battles between ability users are often short, but filled with thousands of microactions that could make or break a battle. In this battle Miyo actually had the tactical advantage, but she still failed because she didn't train herself or her ability well enough.
Cran jumped onto his legs, waiting for Miyo to wake up. She hadn't been hurt too hard with a blow and just suffered a mild concussion.
"Well done Miyo. Your ability has incredible potential, especially for sealing opponents. However, you need to learn how to use it more cleverly in the future." Cran said as he patted her shoulder before walking out of the arena.
"That was closer than I expected." Lear told Cran, who nodded.
Others in the arena were buzzing about the battle that had just occurred, and Miyo had established herself as someone with potential to look out for.
After the battle ended, Adrian, who had been watching from the audience, quietly left his seat to return to class, only to find a familiar person approach him.
"Hey senior, remember me?" A blonde girl asked as she hopped beside Adrian.
"Alice. Long time no see." Adrian said with a measured smile. He could feel curious and malignant gazes fall over him, but he had gotten used to ignore them.
"How are you doing senior? That battle was really amazing right?" Alice asked excitedly.
"Indeed. Cran is very strong." Adrian agreed. "Both battlers have a bright future ahead of them."
At that moment a girl walked up beside Alice who was looking to speak some more and whispered something in her ear. Alice looked confused, then as if hesitating for a moment she looked towards Adrian.
"Senior, I have some work to attend to. See you around." Saying her piece, Alice walked away with the friend who seemed to be in a hurry to drag her off.
Adrian smiled bitterly. He was used to this routine and didn't expect anything else to happen. "Sarah, oh Sarah, even in your absence you've succeeded in pitting me." He thought to himself with a wry smile as he walked to his classroom.