"Ladies and gentlemen!" The announcer exclaimed. "We are finally at the final match of the day. In the right corner, we have one of the legends of Pedtro, the Silver Bulwark, Sola!"
The crowd cheered in approval as Sola pulled his yari off his back and took a fighting stance.
"And in the left corner, we have the Silent Wonder, the Deaf Song, William!"
Another cheer came from the crowd for the blue-haired man. William began to sign.
"I don't know where the announcer got those names from," He signed.
"That's part of the job!" The announcer smiled. "Now that we're familiar with the contestants, let the fourth match of the Tri-Annual Minar Tournament begin!"
William pulled out his MP3 player and started a song. The blue-haired man began to bop his head to the tune. Sola raised an eyebrow at his behaviour. From what he could tell, the man in front of him was deaf. There was no way he could actually be listening to anything.
He did not have time to deliberate on this for long as William zipped towards him. William did not run or walk forward. It was as though he slid across a frozen surface to close the distance. Sola tried to swing his spear but the distance was too small and William was too quick. An uppercut came flying towards Sola hitting him square in the jaw.
While he was dazed William launched three punches to his chest in a rhythmic pattern before leaping into the air and kicking him in the face. Sola stumbled backwards while William did some fancy footwork. The grey-haired man regained his composure and thrust his spear forward. The headphone-wearing evaded the attack with little to no effort before spinning around and smacking him across the face with the back of his fist.
Sola used the momentum to spin around as well, trying to slash him with the yari. William ducked under the spear and swept Sola off his feet before spinning on the ground with a brick-dancing move. Sola stabbed the yari into the ground and used it to rebound towards William with a kick. The blue-haired man dodged the attack and immediately countered it.
No matter what he threw at William he always managed to avoid getting hit. Sola noticed whenever he dodged his attacks, he started moving out of the way several seconds before the attack was fully initiated. It was as though William knew what he was about to do before he did it. It had to be some kind of Revel Art but William's Art had something to do with sound, not premonition.
For William, the world was unbearably loud. When he lost his hearing due to his innate Revel Art, his Revel Flow adjusted to accommodate for his disability. He could see sounds as arrows. Every beat, every breath, every sound that could be made. William could see it all. Swirling around Sola were several grey arrows. Whenever he was about to make an attack, the arrows changed directions to wherever Sola was going to strike.
The arrows that formed around Sola were like a song, his body an orchestra playing a tune. Despite his deafness, he could still perceive the song as if he could hear it. Not only was the song melancholic, but it was also very deliberate. Every swing carried so much force behind it that it was almost too easy to evade him.
As he ducked underneath another swipe from Sola's spear, William glanced nonchalantly at the crowd. The people were in the middle of cheering but they were without any arrows. That was thanks to his headphones and the song being played. Though he could not hear with his ears, they served as antennae for a sound that was not in his line of sight. Because of this, his eyes were usually overwhelmed with arrows without his headphones. The song further aided the headphones by eliminating other sounds besides ones similar to it, such as Sola's in this instance.
William stomped his feet creating a large blue arrow underneath it. He infused the sound with his Revel and sent it forward with his foot on it. The arrow carried him sliding forward to deliver a kick to Sola's side. The grey-haired man managed to block with the shaft of his yari. He swiped at William once again but the blue-haired man simply dodged the blade, arrows flying across his eyes. Before he could regain his vision, Sola shot a punch at William. This time, the hit landed.
The headphone-wearing man stumbled backwards as he held his gut. Sola spun his spear and took another stance. He had not figured out what William's ability was yet but he was certain it had something to do with his eyes. if he could obscure his vision in some way, he would be able to deal damage to him. Sola stabbed his yari into the floor and dragged it across the ground, much to the dismay of someone in the crowd.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Ordan yelled, his eyes wide and his hands on his head. "TREAT THE BLADE WITH RESPECT! RESPECT!"
Sola swiped the yari upwards launching the dust he made into the air. William raised his hand to stop the dust from getting into his eyes. As soon as his eyes were obscured, Sola thrust the spear forward to impale him. Just as the blade was about to pierce William's hand, he snapped his fingers, creating an arrow. The arrow dragged him to the side pulling him away from the spear blade. William immediately punched Sola square on the chin.
The grey-haired man staggered to the side, his hand on his chin. He looked up at William who was in the middle of signing.
"Like I said," He signed. "I've heard your song. I know your tone. Your song is over,"
William threw another punch at Sola hitting him again on the jaw. However, this time there was no reaction. The blue-haired man watched in surprise as Sola's veins began to swell, seemingly doubling his size.
"How about I change my tempo?"