It was the time of the year when the students fought in the solo tournament. Jack woke up extremely anxious. He was nervous, but he was also excited to get back into the field and fight in front of a large crowd. The idea of a bunch of people focusing on only him, watching and analyzing his every move. It gave him goosebumps. Once again, they were standing in the main coliseum. The students were required to sing the national anthem. Once they were done, they were given their schedule. Awww come on, I don’t fight for two days? Looking at his schedule showed he didn’t get to fight until the evening of the third day in the tournament. I guess I will try and spar with someone from the group. He had been getting pretty good with his cyber pad. Quickly scrolling through, he found his friends and checked their schedules. Aww man. Everyone else was busy. They all were scheduled for duels each day.
Well, I guess I’m on my own. He went to his favorite practice area. The park had become his and all his friends’ place to hang out and practice. No one else ever seemed to use the place so it had quickly become their own little space. It was a long uneventful day. He was very anxious for his duels. I really wish I could just get this over with. He was back in his room studying. He had just read the page for the third time but couldn’t remember anything he read. Damnit. I can’t focus. It took him hours to do homework that normally should have taken him 15 minutes. Going to sleep that night he tossed and turned with nightmares. The next two days went by excruciatingly slowly. The solo duels were slightly different from the squad duels. They were given the name of their opponent so they were able to gather information and plan. His first opponent wielded the air element so he prepared as much as he could.
Now it was just him and his opponent. There was no one to help. No one to distract his foe. He needed to win this fight by himself. They were allowed weapons so he brought everything he could think of. Facing his opponent, it didn’t feel like enough. She was a small-statured girl who had on a delicate suit of armor. She was wielding a long dueling rapier that looked very light. She flicked it around with ease. There were also two small pistols on her hip, one on each side. She stared at Jack carefully. He hoped his foe wouldn’t take him seriously like his last opponent. But she was staring at him very cautiously and looked ready for anything. Oh, man. This sucks.
He had made some progress on his armor which was supposed to help him with his control. The first design he was trying was his fists. He was wearing the special gauntlets that he crafted. They were intricately wired and enchanted to help him with his electricity control. He was able to charge his fists and maintain a large extremely powerful aura around them. He was hoping he wouldn’t have to use them, but he had a bad feeling. The girl looked very strong, and he was beginning to shake. “can we please just get this over with.” He mumbled to himself.
holding his rifle, his plan was to try and shoot her, but he knew she had the air element and would be able to deflect the bullets. With the way she was flicking her sword around, she looked like she definitely wanted to fight close up. But she does have those two pistols. He readied his rifle and waited for the signal to start. It felt like forever. Once the horn sounded; everything seemed to slow as both combatants went into action. He lifted his rifle and started firing. His opponent flicked her hand and an air shield appeared deflecting the incoming bullets. While firing small bursts toward his opponent he attempted to start focusing and collecting power. After a few seconds, his clip was empty. Instead of reloading he just dropped the gun. He had collected enough electricity and after dropping his gun, put both his hands out in front. Once he stopped firing, she maintained her shield for a moment before slowly beginning to approach him carefully. He focused on the electricity, he imagined it stacking, then he attempted to give it a will just as he practiced. He did his best to imagine a ball of electricity shooting across the arena. After a moment of concentration, he let it go. The ball of electricity flew across the arena. His opponent saw it coming and attempted to shoot it with an air blast. The blast bounced harmlessly off the electricity. Her eyes widened as the ball closed in.
She was just able to blast herself out of the way with the help of a large air current. She launched herself sideways safely out of the way of the blast. He tried to manipulate the trajectory of the ball to chase her, but his control was still weak. The ball blasted into the arena wall. His opponent sheathed her sword and pulled out her pistols. After taking aim she fired at Jack. He had been waiting for this. As she started firing, he took advantage of a present Salem had given him. It was a basic metal-resistant pendant.
“You have to constantly push mana into it to make it work, and depending on how much you pushed into it would affect how strong it was," Salem had explained when he gave it to him as a present. It was Jack’s most expensive possession by a large margin.
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He focused on the medallion and pushed. He could feel the metal-resistant aura spread out around him. The bullets seemed to bend and veer off course whenever they approached Jack. He stood still and put on a brave face. In reality, he was trying not to pee his pants. The girl fired both pistols until they were empty, then she looked at Jack with an annoyed face. After another moment of looking at her pistols angrily she put them away crossly. Jack felt a small smile creep onto his face. Phase one complete. There was no way I could survive a prolonged ranged battle. Unfortunately, she didn’t then draw her sword as Jack had planned. She looked like she was starting to cast a very big spell. Jack swore and started charging toward her. He needed to get in close. His only advantage was close range. He had hoped she would be confident in her melee ability and want to impress the judges. I guess a big spell works too. Jack thought.
Because she was wielding the air element it was hard to see what she was actually casting. The air all around her was swirling around in a spiral. The spiral continued to increase to an unbelievable speed. He started to wonder if a close-range fight was really his best option as he charged toward the swirling maelstrom. He did his best to send a blast of electricity toward her while he was charging. To his surprise, he did a decent job. The blast was powerful and flew fast. But it seemed to just be absorbed by the mini tornado, turning it into a whirling maelstrom with electricity arcing around. “Oops.”
Jack was too close to stop and ran right into the storm. It had been growing slowly larger and larger filling almost a quarter of the arena at that point. It was a highly impressive amount of mana for a first year. Jack had been steadily improving, but this amount was on a whole other level. The storm ripped and tore at him as he pushed through. She must have a spot where there is no storm. Where she is safe. He continued to push forward. Determined to find her.
Then he noticed the wind started to hurt more. It started to cut and slashed at his clothes and armor. It had been increasingly harder and harder to see. Now he couldn’t see a foot in front of himself. He started to panic. Maybe running into the storm wasn’t the right move. I gotta get out of here. He turned around to head back, but he was lost. It was impossible to tell which way to go. Collapsing to his knees, he put his hands over his head. I hate this. I miss Gant. I just want to go home. But then he remembered the cold streets. I have no home. Fine. Something seemed to change in him. Jack slowly stood back up. The air was still ripping and tearing. Now his armor was in pieces and soon his skin would be taking the damage.
But that didn’t matter, he was angry. Angry at the world. The world that killed his parents and made him homeless. The world that just seemed to be full of strife and suffering. He was pissed, and the electricity within him responded to that anger. The power within him built and built. To an obscene amount. His body was glowing. His hair was standing up rigidly and as he moved the air around him crackled wildly. First, he released just his aura in a wide blast. With that, he was able to pinpoint the direction of his opponent. She was surprisingly near and to his right. He slowly turned towards where he had felt her. Careful to not release any of the pent-up energy. Once he was facing her, he just let go. He let go of the stress he felt. He let go of the anxiety. He let go of everything. It felt incredible. The result was also impressive. The electricity arced like a giant spark from Jack’s outstretched hand into the girl. It blasted a huge tunnel through the storm. It blasted the storm back leaving them in a small tunnel of calm air. The girl was blasted back into the wall. Then she collapsed to the ground. He had won. Barely. He could just hear from the stands his friends cheering. He did his best to stand up straight and wave but he was exhausted. Jack went back to the changing room. Interestingly enough in the room was Choi. Your power has improved some. I am very impressed. Last time I saw you use your powers you fainted right after.
“Thanks, I guess.”
“I wanted to congratulate you in person on your first win. I think it will the first of many.” Jack looked at him. The man just stood there with a small smile on his lips. “I am happy that I will be able to report back to Gant that you won your first solo duel.”
“You know Gant?” Jack asked in surprise.
“Hahaha,” Choi laughed softly. “Know him sure. We are old squad mates him and me.”
“What!?! You used to fight alongside Gant?”
“Sure. He was one of the best. I can tell from that look on your face you don’t quite believe me.”
“Well, I don’t know. He told me a lot of stories. But they all seemed so grandiose. I just didn’t believe him. I did see a statue on the academy grounds of him. “
“Oh yes. In fact, the academy has 3 statues of him throughout the grounds. He loves to brag about that to me all the time.” Choi laughed to himself. “Someday I will tell you about our adventures.”
“Wait I remember you said all your classmates died.”
“Ah yes. A small fib to ensure the students take the class seriously.” He winked at Jack. Good luck with your future bouts. I will be watching closely.” And with that he left; a nurse came in after him to check on Jack’s wounds.