"Quiet down Wanxi, you're ruining everyone's focus!" The green woman called out in annoyance as her the buds on her yellow hair bloomed flowers in fiery shades of red. Wanxi winced and flinched backwards, offering a toothy smile as an apology on her goofy face. The other Guide children looked at her, some snickering and some with the same expression you'd imagine a stone wall had.
Bie giggled as he brought his right hand to his mouth, the thread in the crisscross pattern along his wrist contrasting greatly with his baby blue skin. He then made his way to where his fellow contestants were situated, squatting down a bit away from them.
The woman spoke up again, as the tiled floor expanded and broke apart, the Guides moved along with their support into twelve separate square shaped arenas. "The loser leaves, and the winner remains! The arenas will be merged as the tournament progresses, with the two-remaining facing off against each at the end! Fatal attacks are not allowed, so be careful with your kin or risk disqualification! You may start once you have an opponent!"
Bie and Wanxi slid past each other as their tiled arenas found their way to their respective opponents, the tags designating who fought who as they each shone with twelve different colors. The matching pair of colors had to fight against each other to advance, and then had to wait for their colors to match with another opponent.
Clack! The arenas slammed against each other as Bie stretched his legs before standing up, taking in the Guide that stood a couple meters away from him. The boy had a sad expression etched onto his face, his whole entire body periwinkle and laced with white polka dots. In his left hand was a metallic hilt with two floating pieces of metal at the highest end, sticking closely as if there were supposed to function as a blade's guard.
Ssshh! The woeful looking boy brought the hilt up to his chest before swinging it back downwards, holding it level to his waist as a shining beam of light that looked more like a pole than a blade hung centimeters above the ground. He shot towards Bie, seemingly slow before his speed increased drastically as a greyish translucent glob of wax shaped vaguely like a wing jutted out from behind his shoulder blade, his face streaming tears as he quickly approached.
Bie could feel a dense cold as the boy neared him, and slammed the ground down hard with his foot, deftly dodging the swing the periwinkle boy prepared, the beam saber itself faltering as it could not find its target. The globules spread from the waxen wing as the substance stained the floor, though the cold stopped it from melting as fast as it would've.
The boy took to the air before circling around Bie, getting ready for a more precise springing movement as he held the beam saber directly in front of his chest, the light aiming straight for the heart. Bie noted the sorrowful look on the Guide's face as he annoyedly dodged the tears that fell for him, though he gave the boy a wide smile as the corners of his lips couldn't help but upend.
He then pulled his arm back and lobbed his right hand at the flying fencer, the digits clasping around the boy's now scrunched up face. The tears made the sensation in his hand numb as they touched it, carrying a chill that seemed to eat at his nerves. The coldness couldn't persist for a long time, however, as Bie caused the kid to descend to the floor, slamming the back of his head hard enough to leave an imprint on the ground as the stones bended.
The periwinkle boy's eyes rolled so far upwards, they disappeared inside his skull as his mouth began to foam. Bie made his way over to the vaguely cognizant kid, flashing a peace sign directed at his eyes as he stood above him and waited for his next opponent.
Bie felt reinvigorated as he did so, the Smile of the Mountain collecting the fresh pile of resentment he accrued by creating a depression using the boy's head. He didn't have to wait long before a white figure with a spade on her cheek and a wild length of orange hair that touched the ground approached him with a long tube, the top half of which had a cage that light streaks flashed against intermittently.
The arenas collided as Bie leapt into the air, the girl straightening her wrist before getting into a stance akin to a baseball player. She smirked as she took preparatory swings, certain of the exact time she would have to hurl the caged pole at Bie when he approached.
Her smirk never faded as she quickly became unconscious when Bie suddenly dropped directly on her face foot first, slightly caving the poor Spade's face in before using the surface as a vantage point to remain in the air as he lightened his increased weight, the Ink in his body reducing as he reduced it substantially.
The arena was already on the move to collide with the next opponent it deigned to assign Bie to.
--
Wanxi's hands formed a series of hand seals towards the enemy across from her, shooting out with a quick snap accompanied from a foggy gust she exhaled.
"Ram Shot!"
A crisp bang resounded as a beam of colorless lightning condensed on her fingertips, before piercing forward in a straight line as the edges of it crackled. The streak of lightening hit the Guide that appeared to be stenciled straight out of a fairytale book, blackening the shield in his hands. The shield couldn't handle the pressure of the lightning shot, as his grip gradually loosened before the round deterrent slipped out of his grasp, carried by the residual momentum it was afflicted with and smacking its owners face as it flew backwards.
Wanxi's face momentarily paled before she took out a stone stick with an orb affixed to the end, controlling the residual Ink she had left to enter the rod. This created a feedback loop that sent back reinvigorated energy into her body, while her expression gradually regained a trace of color. She blew out puffs that look like clouds as she waited for her next opponent, contemplative.
But she wasn't allowed to think any further as something struggled within the long, stuffy robes she wore. The sensation arose from her hip up to her shoulder as a patchwork doll popped out of her hood and brought its sewn mouth up to Wanxi's leathery ears.
"What are you talking about, Perdi? Flying? None of us are strong enough to do that?" The doll stared at her with its button eyes as it waved its cloth arms, gesturing towards the Bie who was almost in a suspended state of animation in midair. Wanxi ignored the messages her doll was sending to her, thinking about what spell she should cast on her next opponent to make the battle easier. She was worried because the lightning Component in her Inner World was dimming, meaning that she might run out of resources she needs to cast her spells before the tournament ends...