Linda and I sat down on the bottom row. From here we would be able to see the match between Sam and Myla up close.
"Aren't they gonna use their weapons?"
"Nope. Whenever these two fight with weapons Myla wins, so they started to fight without them. But since then Myla loses most fights. You see Sam is really strong and can take a ton of hits, but he is rathet slow compared to Myla. She more of the agile type, who strikes at the weakpoints. But without her sword she can't really hurt Sam much, whereas Sam struggles hitting her in the first place. It's kinda perfectly even."
"I see, but why do they still fight then. It doesn't really make sense right?"
"Well, it's because they are so perfectly opposite that they are perfect opponents. By fighting each other they fight their possibly strongest enemy. But I bet you could take both of them right, hahaha."
I ignored her teasing and instead focused in the fight. What Linda said made sense but still, i can't imagine that this training style is effective ar all.
"Three, two, one, GO!"
As soon as the timer hit zero Myla dashed towards Sam with considerable speed.
Sam however saw her attack coming and managed to easily block it. But Myla didn't stop here. Continues attacks where coming at Sam, yet he somehow was able to avoid or block them in the last possible second. The hits that did land didn't do any damage at all. Occasionally Sam threw a few counter punches. Each one strong enough to break through concrete walls. But his punches where easily avoided by Myla.
This cycle continued on for a few minutes when without any warning Sam hit Myla with an incredibly powerful kick. So powerfull infact that it launched her over twenty meters backwards.
'STOOOP!'
"Huh? What was that? Since when, I've never seen that attack before."
Linda seemed to be quite shocked by the outcome. And honestly I didn't see that attack coming either.
Linda seemed to be quite shocked by the outcome. And honestly I didn't see that attack coming either. It's speed and precision was far above his other attacks.
"Was Sam always able to do that? Like it didn't really fit his other attacks well."
"No, until now I've never seen that kind of speed from him, atleast not in his normal form."
"So that's why Myla couldn't doge, she simply didn't see it coming." I mumbled.
"Huh what'd you say?"
"Me? Nothing."
"But..."
"Hey you two, we are back."
Myla and Sam were back. Both of them probably took a pill, since they didn't show any singns of discomfort.
Sam sat down next to me while Myla went up to the other teams that were watching the fights.
She talked to a man, probably in his early twenties, who had flaming red hair.
After talking for a while, he and his team got up and went back down into the arena. The other two teams that were watching followed them and after a few minutes, small matches were fought everywhere.
Then finally Myla returned and set down next to Sam. As expected the questions started raining down on him.
"Sam what's up with that attack?"
"Since when do you use kicks?"
"When did you even start training them?"
And so on. Sam, visibly uncomfortable, turned to me seeking for help. Atleast that's what his expression told me.
"Uhm, you two, don't you think these are a bit too many questions?"
"Why? Do you think it was too much?"
"Yes Linda, even I wasn't able to keep up with what you two were saying."
"In that case you should ask the first question, Sho. That's ok, right Linda?"
"Sure."
"Me... uhm... well I've never seen how Sam fights usually, but I guess that his kicks are new. So my question is, how long it took you to master it. I mean you must've taught it yourself, right?"
"Well, actually a friend taught the last two weeks."
"A friend? Who?" Linda asked.
"You probably don't know him, since he is in devision 4. We started here together but he made faster progress than me so we now only occasionally meet up. And well last time I told him about my problem with my hand to hand combat, so he showed me his fighting style."
"I see, that's why you changed your fighting stance."
I slowly changed my attention back to the other fights, while they were talking. It was quite interesting seeing so many different styles and strategies. While watching, I tried to remeber as much as possible to adapt new tactics for my next fights.
That's when suddenly Linda tapped on my shoulder.
"Sho, can I ask you something."
"Sure Linda, what is it?"
"It's because of our battel you know. You used those strange arrows and I just kind of wondered how you manged to shoot them so fast. During all my time I used arrows as my main attack, so I thought they were quite strong, but today you proved the opposite."
"Ah, well it's not that your arrows are bad they are just slower than mine."
"Yeah but why?" She asked. Bisible confusion was written all over her face. Somehow I felt bad about how simple the answer actually is.
"It's really just a simple propulsion spell, that I cast on them."
As if I just told her life changing information her face relaxed and sorrow feelings oozed out of her.
"Hach...too bad I can't use wind..."
I really couldn't stand that sad expression, partially because it feels like I caused it, but mainly because this lifeless look just didn't fit.
"Maybe we can cast a spell on your bow to increase its power. By the way how do you even shoot when there's no string?"
Changing the topic seemed to get her mind of the issue.
"I don't need the string to shoot the arrows so I just took it of."
"But why use a bow then?"
"That's because back when I started I used the bow as intended. Over time however I found it easier to use spells to shoot the arrows. But because I got so used to aiming with the bow I simply just kept it. Plus it's decent to defend myself in close quarters, not against you tho, haha."
Linda proudly presented her bow as if it was her biggest treasure. To be fair it looked really cool. The black leather handle was flawlessly connected on either side. The upper and lower limbs were made out of black metal with golden ornaments.
While she showed of her bow I kept thinking how to improve the speed of her arrows.
"Linda I have an idea. What if we create the arrows together. You could create the arrows and I'd cast a simple spell over them."
"But in otder to create new ones you'd have to stay close."
"True but if we only create a few before every battle and unless they are desperately needed you can just use your regular ones."
"That should work I guess. But I need to get used to the speed difference before using them in battle."
"Yeah right they'd change up the rhythm."
"Exactly. Over great distances I usually have to calculate the distance the target travels before the arrow hits it. With faster arrows I would have to get used to their speed first."
We were fully ingaged in the conversation when suddenly Myla spoke up.
"Hey sorry to interrupt you, but our time here is up. We'll have afternoon training tho. Just so you know."
"Okay let's get going then. Sam already gone?"
"Yeah, he promised his wife to be back early today, so he left early."
"He is married?"
I was somewhat shocked. Don't get me wrong but Sam was still so young that I didn't really consider that possibility.
"Yes he and his wife married two years ago. They also have a daughter, they named her Ann i believe. She recently turned one, a very cute girl."
"Ah well it makes sense that he wants to be home early then."
"Exactly. Well let's head back home aswell."
With that we made our way back to the dorms.
As we walked by my apartment building I split of and went inside.
After I entered my room I rhought about what to do next. Since it was still early and I had roughly two hours until classes would start I decided to cook some dinner. However when I opened the fridge, I was greeted by empty space. It was only now that I remembered that I needed to buy some food. After debating on wether I shoukd go buy something or not, I settled on eating some bread with cheese that was already in the frige when I first entered.
While eating I flipped through the binder, whete I finally found the team overview page. Eventhough it's a little late now it wouldn't hurt reading it and so I did.
Myla Rye (Captain) :
age:19y birthday 08.15.367
elements: wind (B+) and earth (B-)
role: close quarter combat
weapon: short sword
Linda Ufaro:
age 19y birthday: .01.01.367
element: fire (A-)
role: ranged support
weapon: bow
Sam Kuatsa:
age: 20y birthday: 10.07.365
element: earth (A)
role: tank
weapon: longsword
It wasn't much information but it's certainly handy to have it written down. And appart from the birthdays I found their elemental ranks quite interesting.
For now I closed the binder and took out a sheet of paper and a pen. I decided to write down everything I needed in the near future, such as new clothes, food and maybe some furniture.
When I finished the list I got up and cleaned my plate. I also thought about wether to take a shower or not, but since I'd be having afternoon training I dismissed the thought.
Classes would start soon anyways, so I'd better get dressed.
Just after I put on a new pair of socks and a new shirt my doorbell rang.
As expected it was Linda. While we were heading home earlier she invited me over to her class about shooting theory and since I had no other options available I took her offer.
"Hey, Linda." I greeted her while putting on my muddy shoes.
"Man Sho, you should buy a second pair of shoes for training these ones are totally dirty.
I know, why don't we buy some clothes together, I could show you around town, I know the best places, you'll see."
"Aha..." I answered somewhat absent minded while trying to clean of the dirt.
"Cool, it's decided then well go shopping together."
I really have no idea what was in it for her, but atleast she seems to be happy. Plus it's probably a good thing to have someone with you that knows where to go.
After I cleaned of most of the dirt I looked the door and we started walking.
Once we arrived in the classroom the professor was a little confused but after Linda explained the situation he gladly let me stay.
Class itself was about a lot of theory, as the name implied, but honestly it was kind of interesting.
After it was over Linda and I decided to walk over to the gym, since we had plenty of time until training starts.
The sun threw long shadows and a light breeze blew through our hair. That reminds me, that today is the last day of summer and windy days probably laid ahead of us. Maybe well have some early snow this year again.
As if reading my mind Linda looked at me and asked: "It's already the last day of summer huh? It feels like it only began yesterday..."
"Yeah, but don't think about it that much, let's just enjoy this last day to it's fullest."
She nodded at me. Then we both looked up into the cloudless blue sky.
After walking for another few minutes we met the other two at a bus stop. This is actually the first time I ever saw one of those, since in my home town everyone simply walked instead of driving.
Busses and cars are old inventions that originally came from the time before day 0. The basic idea behind these vehicles was kept the same but the way it workes was adapted to fit in with magic.
Similar to how an airship is powered these cars are propelled by spells, although these usually are weaker ones.
But not only cars and airships are old inventions, appart from them there are countless other thing, such as phones, screens and even the frige in my doorm are inventions from the old world. The only difference being that they're powered by magic crystals.
That's also one of the many reasons why these crystals are the most valuable resource on earth.
Now that we were complete we entered gym 1.
While the others were changing I entered the field. Half of it was illuminated by the sun the other half was dark.
Hopefully I'll be able to find a got view on the sunset later, if training is over until then, that is.
While thinking that I sat down at the closest wall and opened my backpack. Inside of it was a wooden box, that was roughly half a meter long and 20 cm wide. As I placed it on the ground the sun reflected of the polished surface and revealed a ingraved dragon. Inside the box was a dagger. It was made out of black metal. Embedded flush with it's blade was a purple crystal that broke the light into all its initial colours. The handle was soft and easy to grip and on the bottom was the same dragon symbol as on the box.
While I aimlessly swung it around Myla entered and slowly walked over to me.
"What's that?" She asked me with a confused expression.
Right, she has never seen that dagger before. How could she. Even I rarely look at it. I barely ever use it anyways.
"That's my dagger."
Well it originally was my fathers, but after he died 16 years ago he left it for me. It's the only memory I still have of him.
"Ah, I see you wanted to use a weapon agianst me. Not that it'll help you win."
That's right before we left the gym earlier today Myla asked me to fight her and since I didn't see any reason to deny her I accepted the challenge.
The reason I brought the dagger was only because I probably wouldn't last long against her sword.
"Ok let's set some rules before we start."
She said in her usual serious voice.
"First off, is there something you'd like to ban from the fight?"
"No, not really."
"Good, than let's say everything goes exept of intentionally killing obviously.
The winner shall be decided by either k.o or if someone forfeits. Naturally if bad injuries occur we'll stop the match.
Did I miss anything?"
"Nah, sounds good to me."
"Great, I'll go start the countdown then."
While she walked back to the entrance I took position. And only a few seconds after she came back the same mecanical voice, as this morning, began counting down.
10, 9, 8...
I tightly gripped the hilt of my dagger. I know Myla is faster than me, atleast she should be.
So I have to try and close the distance and attack her with the element of surprise on my side. All I need is to not get into a defending position.
3, 2, 1, GOO!
The timerhit zero and as planned I dashed forward with all my strenght. I covered the 100 meters distance in less than 2 seconds. But before I could reach her a huge stone wall shot out of the ground. It was to late to doge and too dangerous to jump over, so I decided to brake through it. With an explosion spell I created a big enough hole to jump through.
As I prepared for impact with Myla I noticed that she was gone. All that was left was a small crater in the grass. She must've jumped.
But before I could even look up I noticed a huge shadow growing beneath me. Something big was coming down. I immediately jumped back and barely manged to avoid a giant boulder that now was stuck in the ground.
And I thought no deadly attacks...
Now that I knew that Myla was above me I looked up. There she was, hovering right infront of the sun, with two intersectiing rings of dirt and stones floating around her.
She pointed her sword towards me, as if to challenge me.
Now it was clear why she is the captain, her strategic way of using the terrain, even while fighting on empty planes and her way of analysing her opponent eventhough she barely knows them, was unmatched to anything I've ever witnessed.
As I now knew her position, I figured it would be better to fight her in the air. And thus I jumped up.
She saw my new aproache and started firing stone pikes at me. Fortunately I was fast enough to avoid them and even prepare for a counter attack.
I shoot two fire arrows at her but she didn't buge. Instead one of the rings formed two little blocks infront of them. On impact the blocks shattered into thousand peaches, but my arrows were perfectly blocked. While that happened she generated two beams of dirt from the ground that then formed a third ring.
As soon as it took it form, the other ring created hundreds of tiny stone needless while the third ring blocked my ongoing attacks.
I realised that this wouldn't be an easy fight at all.
Without a warning every single needle now came flying towards me. The huge area they covered made it impossible for me to doge.
Instinctively I shot a giant pillar of flames in front of me. The needles that touched it disintegrated instantly.
Using the flames to block her vision I dashed at her.
When she saw me coming she hastily created multiple walls in my path. But they couldn't stop me. I exploded through them and now was only a few meters away from her.
She shot the remaining two rings as one giant stream of stone and dirt at me, but it was no use. Within the blink of an eye I was right infront of her and I didn't stop. Using a small explosion to redirect my trajectory I dodged her swort and sent her flying to the ground with a tornado kick.
As she hit the ground her body dug into the soft soil and before she could realise what had happened the tip of my dagger was pointed directly at her face.
With a soft sigh she let go of her sword.
"I surrender..."
'STOOOP!'
As soon as I heard that sound I dropped down next to her. I really over exhausted myself this time, my whole body was havy and my mana surply was probably very low.
We kept laying down like this for what felt like eternity, until I heard fast approaching footsteps.
"Are you guys fine? What happened do we need a doctor? Come on answer already!"
It was Linda that came running at us, behind her Sam followed with havy steps. Both of them had worried expressions on their faces.
I suppose for them it must look quite bad, seeing both of us lying around without giving any signs of life.
"You okay Myla? "
"Yeah"
"We're fine!" I shouted at them. In an instant Lindas expression softened, however she started running even faster.
Totally out of breath they now stood infront of us. After all they came sprinting from the other side of the gym and well ,they're not the high endurance type of fighter.
"You two..."
Linda looked at us with a face that showed her relief aswell as her anger.
It was quite the scary expression.
"What were you thinking? This could've ended bad you know?! Someone could've died."
"No worries it wa..."
"But I do worry okay, now get up and take this"
We looked at each other in disbelief and then got up as fast as possible.
"Here!"
"Thanks Linda, but there is no reason to worry okay."
Myla tried calming her down with a soft voice.
"Do you even have the slightest idea how crazy this match looked? I bet you don't... look around for once. People from other gyms came running over because of the noise. And Sho were you trying to set the whole gym on fire or maybe create an unnecessary loud firework?"
"I-I, no, it's just... you know I didn't mean to scare anyone. I'm sorry."
"Linda it's okay now." Sam who stood next to Linda the whole time, softly grabbed her shoulder.
"But..."
"You've done enough, no need to shout at them any more."
"You're right, but I was just so scared something might happen you know? I'm sorry for shouting at you..." She bowed slightly.
"No, no you don't have to apologise, you've done nothing wrong." I said. It just didn't feel right that she apologised.
"He's right Linda, there's no need to apologise, infact I thing I am the one that went to far. Some of my attacks might have been a little to aggressive, I'm sorry."
"Same goes for me, it's our fault not yours Linda."
"You..." with seemingly no strength left she sat down.
It took quite some time to calm her down but in the end everything was fine.
Afterwards we went up to the roof to watch the sunset together.
Myla and I decided to talk about the match another day since it didn't seem fitting to bring it up now.
Once the sun was gone, we decided to head back.
The three of them took the bus, as for me I wanted to walk back home and maybe buy some stuff for dinner.
Sam had told me that there was a small store near the apartments, that he used to go to when he was still living there, back when he started here.
And just like he said, in a small alley behind the apartment building I found a small store.
Albeit they didn't have a huge range of ingredients, I found what I needed. That being potatoes, meat and some other stuff.
When I finally made it up the stairs to the 4th floor, in which my apartment was located I found someone standing infront my door.
As I got closer to the person I realized it was Myla. She seems to not have noticed me, as she slightly jumped when I stopped next to her.
"Sho... you weren't home yet. I see that's why there was no response."
Judging by what she said she probably didn't wait here too long, but still long enough to have wondered were I was.
I figured it'd be best to explain where I was, so I lifted the bag with food and pointed at it.
"No, sorry I was stopping by the store, since I'm out of food. But why are you here?"
"I actually just wanted to talk about the fight earlier, but I should probably come back at a better time. It's already quite late so I don't want to bother you."
She was right it's already past 8pm, but it didn't really bother me and I also had some questions that she might be able to help me with.
"No, I mean I don't really mind, if you want to we can talk now. I do have to prepare some food, maybe we can eat together?"
I said while unlocking the door.
"Come in."
"Thanks..."
After we both entered I closed the door and walked her to the living room.
"I'm sorry, I don't really have any furniture yet so we have to sit on the floor. But somewhere..., here take this."
I handed her a pillow to sit on. For whatever reason there was a box of pillows and blankets on the closed. But I can't complain, since atleast now, sitting on the floor would be less uncomfortable.
"Thank you."
Myla took the pillow and I made my way into the kitchen.
"You don't mind if I cook now, right?"
"No, no , after all I'm the one bothering you this late in the evening."
"No worries, I wanted to talk aswell, so this is the perfect opportunity."
While we were talking I began to boil some water.
"Do you want something to drink. I bought some juice if you want some."
"Yes, thanks."
I poured the juice into two glasses and placed them on the table.
"Here, you go. So what's it you wanted to talk about?"
"Thanks. Well first of all I came to apologise for what has happened today. I went to far, I'm sorry."
She stared at the glass, she held infront of her with both hands. She looked really ashamed for some reason. I guess it was because of what Linda had said earlier, but I never imagined it would me so much to her.
"It's not all your fault, I played my role in it aswell."
"That's nit true..., you just reacted that's all."
It's true, I had never intended to go all out like this, but still I choose to do so in the end, thus I should be blamed aswell. But was what happened really such a big deal. Not really right. Obviously I didn't mean to scare anyone but after all it was just a training fight, right?
"Myla? Was it really such a big deal. The fight I mean. After all I thought you guys were doing training matches quite often."
"Well... that's true but... how should I say? We usually don't go all out like this. And especially not when Linda is around. She really cares about us, maybe even more than she does about herself. And whenever someone is seriously injured it hurts her just as much. She's really kind hearted, so please be careful not to hurt her."
"I see so that's why... Maybe I should apologize properly tomorrow."
"Right, we both should."
As she said that I heard the water boiling.
I got up and walked into the kitchen to turn down the heat a bit.
"But appart from that, didn't have something else to ask me." I asked her while I started peeling the potatoes.
"Yeah, but I don't really know how to frase it."
"No worries take your time." I said while I reached out for a pan.
For a while the room was silent, only the occasional sound of the knife hitting the cutting board was heard.
Than, as if she had sorted her thoughts Myla spoke up.
"Sho, please be honest, how hard was that fight for you? And the one against Linda aswell."
Her question came from an unexpected direction. Why would she want to even know that?
"It was quite exhausting fighting you, I guess. And well against Linda, I suppose I had an easier time but she was at an disadvantage from the start."
Myla didn't answer.
"Myla?"
"Huh? Yes?"
"Why were you asking?"
She behaved strange, almost as if she wasn't really mentally here.
"I was just wondering. You just seemed so much stronger than us today, that well maybe you should be reassigned to another, stronger, team than us. Otherwise we might just be pulling your leg."
"What? What are you even talking about? How could you guys be holding me back? I might be better than you in direct one versus one fights, but don't you think that there is so much more than that? Like your combat analysis for example. As soon as we started the fight, you figured out my plan and acted accordingly. I'm not able to do that. And the same goes for Linda. She might have lost to me today, but if I was a monster fighting your team, never knowing about her existence, she could easily hit me, maybe even kill me. And do you think I can tank anywhere near as much as Sam, no I can't. So what I wanted to say is, that I may be good at one thing but I'm nit perfect and I truly rely on every single one of you."
She didn't answer.
In the back I heared the meat frizzle, so I turned my attention back to cooking.
For the next minutes neither of us talked.
When the food was done, I silently placed the food on the table and sat down opposite to Myla.
"Thanks for the food."
Myla said and hesitantly started filling her plate. I had filled mine already and now waited for her to start eating.
"You like it? I mean it's nothing special but it has lots of nutrients." I asked after we stated eating.
"Yes it's good." She answered, still looking lost in her thoughts.
Somehow this whole situation just felt awkward.
"Myla, about the team thing, I really want you to know that, eventhough we just met recently I wouldn't want to lose this team. You and the others were so nice today, eventhough I had no experience, you were patient and for that and many more reasons I really, really want to be a part of this team."
Maybe saying how I feel, might help clear this misunderstanding up, I thought.
"I'm sorry Sho, I didnt want to make it sound like you should leave, or that I want you to leave. It was just that I doubted that we'd be good enough, but after all you said I now understand how wrong I was. I apologise."
She looked me deep in the eyes. Her gaze was so intense that I froze for a second before I answered.
"No problem, let's just forget what happened."
I said, trying my best to smile at her.
Judging by her reaction it must have been the most awkward looking smile ever.
"Thank you Sho" she said while giggling slightly.
Althogh I saw no reason for her to thank me, I was glad her mood had improved.
After we ate for a while Myla spoke up.
"Say, didn't you have a question aswell?"
"Ah yeah right"
I totally forgot about that.
"Earlier when we fought I just found it strange that you had such strong earth spell at your disposal, eventhough your official rank isn't that high. And also I noticed that you didn't use body enhancement, which usually is the first thing earth casters use."
"Well actually, for some reason, I can't use body enforcement."
How strange, I thought. Normally body enforcement is the simplest spell for earth casters. It's so simple that people don't even consider it a spell. But Myla, who has unreasonably strong earth abilities, is for whatever reason not able to use it.
At first I wanted to ask her more about it but I didn't want to be rude so I refrained from it and just answered with a simple: " I see."
After that we kept talking about the battle, for a while.
At around 10 pm Myla said goodbye and left. After a short shower I went to bed and immediately fell asleep.