"We'll begin round 2 shortly."
Naomi waved us off.
Jenna and I both put our swords down and she flashed a smile in my direction.
"Keir was it?"
"That's right my name is Keir, not bear or chair or whatever the hell you said."
I sighed and face palmed looking back on the situation. Jenna took a few steps forward from her initial position and started having a conversation with me.
"I should call you care bear, get it? Keir = Care, and bear rhymes with it! Bahahahha I should definitely do that."
'What is wrong with this girl?'
In all of the time I've been on this earth I have never been called that.
I didn't plan on being called that either.
"What…no please do not call me that Jenna, please for the love of god do not call me that."
I made an expression of displeasure.
"Ahh fine, anyways your combat skills are amazing. On par with a Scion like myself as you could see so why is your rank so low?"
I never liked discussing why I was always considered weak despite my skills, but I guess talking about this was fine.
It would all change soon anyway.
"I can't use any RC."
Her mouth opened but no words came out, her eyes widened and her eyebrows with them. A long pause ensued as her hair gently fluttered in the wind.
"What?"
"I can't use RC."
I responded with a sigh.
"No no, I heard that but seriously?? If you can't use RC what are you gonna do about the next round?"
"Guess I have to wing it, or you could just give me a free win heh."
Jenna looked at me with disappointed eyes.
"Of course I won't give you a free win, Professor Naomi would definitely know we conspired this. I won't go easy on you just to let you know."
"Mmm- I understand, I'll just try and withstand it I guess."
We both smiled at each other with understanding.
"Alright, it's time for round 2! The break is over."
Snapping our attention away from each other was Professor Naomi.
She was announcing the start of our second round. The round I had no chance of winning.
"Good luck Keir."
Jenna said with a grin.
We each took up our stances, Jenna was in a stance that seemed deadly yet elegant whilst mine on the other hand was straightforward.
Naomi looked at both of us before starting the timer on her tablet.
"Annnd go!"
'Alright let's get to it-'
"Huh?"
Jenna was already in front of me, her palm was directly facing my head.
BOOM-
Her palm instantly slammed my head down in a backward motion. The ground slightly crumbled from the amount of force exerted by the attack, I was also laying on the ground with a bleeding nose.
'Shit.'
She's too fast.
I wasn't even able to process the speed at which she attacked me. Was this the true power RC granted?
I'm envious.
"Did I hit too hard Keir?"
Jenna looked at me with an awkward smile.
"No you didn't, just give me a moment to get up."
Gathering all the strength I had I pushed myself off of the ground and I saw an imprint of my body laying there.
"What the fuck…"
She wasn't even a high-ranked Riftwalker yet but she had this much strength as a young Scion. I couldn't imagine the gap between me and an S rank like Naomi.
It was too large.
We took our stances once again and I furrowed my eyebrows. I intended on giving a good fight even if I was going to inevitably lose. I made the first move this time, I charged at her with my sword. In response to my attack she started to glow with a golden aura and imbued it into her rapier, she then raised the sword in order to guard herself.
As I neared her guard I abruptly stepped to the left and aimed to strike her exposed neck.
"A feint?!"
"That's right."
Seeing what was going on Jenna glared at me and her sword glowed with intense luminosity. As my sword was about to connect the glow grew even more intense with every millisecond. It had grown to the point where you could go blind from looking at it for too long and suddenly it burst with a wave of light.
"What the hell was that?"
The light dissipated and I was pushed back by 10 feet.
"It's a defense technique the LeClair family developed, it's extremely helpful but it can drain the user."
Pulling myself back together I could clearly see that Jenna was visibly exhausted. Despite her fatigue, Jenna once again took up her stance and sprinted in my direction. She wasn't as fast as earlier so this gave me plenty of time to react, as her sword thrust towards my neck I performed a flip similar to that of what she did in the first round.
Surprised by my sudden dodge Jenna waited until I was about to hit the ground before she acted. her eyes went sharp as she twisted her body and threw a kick towards her 6.
Where I was landing.
I was caught off balance and her leg directly connected to my torso.
"AH!-"
I was thrown back another 10 feet and this time I was stunned. I couldn't catch my breath since she directly hit my diaphragm. I looked in her direction and saw her body glow with considerable intensity before she shouted something out.
"Heaven's Arc!"
"Wait Jenna!"
I looked to my right and saw Naomi reaching out in Jenna's direction with a worried look on her face.
Drawing her sword in the air, Jenna made an arc before reality rifted apart forming a pure arc of light. This light had physical properties and seemed to cut through the air like a hot knife. I knew if this hit me I would be put back into the hospital, Jenna herself looked dreadful like the defensive technique she performed beforehand took all of her energy and reasoning.
'I could try using RC.'
I had RC now so perhaps I could negate it somehow. Ever since I found out I could utilize it I haven't tried it due to the fact that I wasn't sure if I could stabilize it. If I could negate her arc then I might have a chance of winning the fight due to her exhaustion.
Seeing the arc hurl towards my direction I tried my best to harness RC. I knew it wasn't possible to block her attack with a regular guard and it was too late to perform a dodge with its insane acceleration.
Soon enough I could feel my nerves steel and my perception of the world increased by tenfold. My eyes glowed with a white intensity and I felt a bright energy envelop my entirety.
I felt stronger than ever.
Seeing the arc accelerating in my direction I steeled my resolve and raised my sword imbuing it with energy and making its strength grow exponentially. As I was about to strike the arc my body suddenly felt frozen, paralyzed, like I was forcefully put to a stop. My nerves snapped and the energy from my body went straight to my head, inducing the most painful headache I've experienced. I grit my teeth trying to withstand the pain but soon enough dark energy surrounded me and the RC had dissipated from my body resulting in the world fading to black.
The arc passed by me and I passed out.
****
'Where am I?'
'What happened to the duel?'
Am I in another dream? The world around me suddenly came to a realization, it was the same scene I'd seen countless times before an obscure sky with an eclipse hanging above me. Same shallow sea, the same atmosphere, the same everything.
"Why do I keep coming here? Wherever the hell here is."
"...."
Why'd I even expect a response in this perpetual dream? I guess I'll just wait until I wake up in my bed...or maybe the hospital bed.
BOOM-
The dream shook with an intense movement, seemingly from an earthquake. Yet the more I focus the more truth comes to light, it wasn't an earthquake. I looked out into the shallow black sea and saw a monolith sprouting out of the dark water. From my stance, the eclipse was placed perfectly behind the structure making for an ominous scene.
I walked forward, for as long as I could until the structure was at my fingertips. When I reached out to the dark monolith I seemed to get slower and slower the closer my fingers got to its surface, but once I managed to touch the object visions flashed through my mind.
My brain could barely process the amount of information that was being poured into me with flashes of winged beings and horned entities. Flashes of a large city obscured in infinite darkness, flashes of a sword bringing the twilight.
I couldn't take it anymore.
My body fell to the ground as my eyes wandered off into the night, until once again to my expectations.
The world turned white.