-Tuesday Morning, 8th Of the 1st Month, Year 910-

'I have a bad feeling about this one,' I don't know if Percy told his friend to do something to Jasmine or not because of our relationship. But his friend's smirk is bothering me, I don't want Jasmine to get hurt because of me.

"Be careful, he's one of that guy's friends," I warn her, feeling bad for getting her involved with my problems. Jasmine doesn't look that strong, so I don't know if she can win, but I hope she does.

"Mm," Jasmine nods, and tells me, "I'll be careful," before leaving the spectators area with her opponent.

"Don't worry too much commoner-" Percy walks over and whispers in my ear, "-I told him to go easy on her, at best she'll just end up unconscious." 

"You!" I stand up and grab him by the collar, feeling the anger rising inside me, "If Jasmine gets hurt, I'm going to hurt both of you!"

"Ha, Let's see if you can!" I tighten my grip on his collar and bring him closer to me.

"You-" Before I can do anything, Mrs. Janson steps in, and shouts, "Enough! Both of you can save it for later unless you want to get disqualified! I'll let you two fight next since you're so eager!"

Hearing her words, I grit my teeth and let him go. Percy smirks and straightens out his collar before turning around and walking back to his seat. I sit down and clench my fist, waiting for the fight to start. After a couple of minutes, they walk out from the fighter's entrance with their weapons in hand. 

Percy's friend walks out first, playing with the dagger in his hand. Jasmine comes out a couple of steps behind him, tightly gripping her short sword with a nervous expression on her face.

'She must not be used to fighting,' Just like a few of the kids who were fighting earlier, her whole body is trembling, 'This might be worse than I thought.'

They walk onto the platform and get in their stances. Seeing that they're ready, Mrs. Janson shouts, "Begin!"

"Enchant!" He charges at Jasmine with his dagger covered in a blue aura.

"En-Enchant!" Jasmine stutters, barely getting her words out in time.

Cling!

She blocks his attack but is forced to take a step back. She tries to readjust her stance, but his attacks don't stop there. 

Swish! Cling! Swish! Tear! Swish! Cling! Swish! Tear! Swish! Cling!

Without letting up, he slashes at her again and again, forcing her to defend herself. Unable to stand her ground, she keeps getting pushed further back with each attack.

Swish! Tear!

"Is that all you got!" He slashes at her again, making her take another step back, "Man, you're so weak! I can't understand why you even decided to take this test!"

Clang!

She manages to send his dagger up with a strong counter, but she leaves herself open. Without trying to recover his stance, he kicks her hard in the stomach, "Ugh!"

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"Ah-" She stumbles back from the impact and trips on one of the rocks scattered around the platform.

"This isn't any fun!" He slowly walks towards her, and shakes his head, "I wish I could have fought one of your friends instead, you're way too weak." 

"I-I..." Unable to respond, Jasmine's head drops.

'I know this isn't my fight, and I know that I can't interfere. But this guy is making me mad! He's not even fighting seriously, he's just playing with her!' Feeling the rage swirling around inside me, I clench my fist so hard that my nails start to dig into my palms. 

"Disappointing isn't it commoner. Your friend isn't even able to put up a fight against Rick. I was expecting her to last a little longer than this," I stand up and glare at Percy, ignoring the pain coming from my palms.

"Percy, if you say one more word, I'll fight you right here and now! I don't care about being disqualified anymore. If you say one more bad thing about my friend, then I am going to beat your arrogant face into the ground!" I step up to him and start circulating my Qi, ready to swing if he says anything else. 

"Hmph! Let's see if you can still be so arrogant during our fight!" Saying that he turns around and goes back to his seat. 

"Jasmine, get up! You can beat this guy!" I turn back to the fight and cheer for Jasmine. 

"I-" Jasmine tries to say something, but Rick cuts her off, "You what? Come on~ There's nothing you can do at this point but surrender, and it's gonna be the same for your friend up there when he fights Percy. If you're this weak, I can't imagine someone who's friends with you being any stronger." 

He stops in front of her, and gets into a stance, pointing the tip of his dagger at her chest. He gathers his Qi on the tip of his dagger, "Sorry, but this fight is over!"

"Don't give up!" If she doesn't dodge this attack, then she's going to get hurt real bad. 

"Piercing-" Jasmine stands up and cuts him off, "Not yet! I'm not done yet!"

"Gravel Shield!" Jasmine stretches out her arm in front of her and releases a large amount of Qi from her palms.

Her Qi surrounds the loose rocks, and gravel scattered across the platform and lifts them into the air. She gathers them all up in front of her, forming a circular shield by packing them all together.  

"No Way!?" I shout with some of the other applicants, shocked by her technique and skill. 

"Such precise and excellent control of her Qi at such a young age! Incredible!" Mrs. Janson praises Jasmine with a smile on her face.

No matter how hard I tried in the past, I could never do something similar to what she's doing right now. 

"That little shield isn't enough to protect you!" Rick shouts and continues his move, "Piercing Thrust!" 

He manages to pierce the shield with his dagger, but that's as far as he can go. 

"What!?" He tries to push his dagger in further, but he doesn't have enough strength to break through her shield.

"If I can't attack from the front then-" He tries to take his dagger out, but he can't pull it out of the shield, "-WHAT!?"

"This fight is over, he's lost his weapon and his cool," Mrs. Janson shakes her head.

'Good job, Jasmine!' I smile, hearing Mrs. Janson's words. 

"No! I'm not done yet-" He leaves his dagger behind, and jumps back "-I don't need a weapon to beat you!" 

He rushes forward and slides under the shield, but he's forced to stop there. The moment he went under her shield, Jasmine broke the shield apart and made the pieces of the broken shield surround him. 

"Will you surrender?" Jasmine asks with her hand still stretched out towards him, ready to attack if he doesn't.

"I- I surrender…" He puts both hands up and surrenders, falling to his knees.

Jasmine puts her hands down and withdraws her Qi. Free, the stones and gravel stop floating and fall onto the platform. 

"Number 798 wins!" Mrs. Janson announces her victory. 

Jasmine leaves the platform first and comes back to the spectator's area, leaving Rick alone on the platform.

"Good job!" I stand up and pat Jasmine's shoulder, congratulating her. 

"Thanks for cheering for me-" I shake my head, "Don't mention it, we're friends after all."

"Mm," Jasmine blushes and nods. 

"Number 640, get up here so I can announce the next fight!" Rick finally gets up and comes back to the spectator's area. 

Percy tells Rick something and pats his shoulder before walking out of the spectator's area. I follow behind him after Jasmine wishes me, "Good luck."

"Next up is Number 764 and Number 639!" I hear Mrs. Janson's announcement as I walk out of the spectator's area. 

'Finally, it's time for me to fight him!' I clench my fist, holding back the anger rising inside my chest.