Marina Riverstone
VERSUS Unknown
▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ 100%
100% ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰
Ina craned her neck upwards, reading the names and checking the health bars displayed above. Her blood boiled in anticipation. Fighting a first-ranker, even one too early to be considered a real first-ranker, was getting her fired up. That, and the prospect of getting to spar with someone other than Calvin was making her feel equal parts giddy and nervous.
Not that sparring with him wasn’t fun.
No these past six months of her life were the most fun she'd felt in a long time, at least in sparring. Unlike Quinn, he'd be ready to spar at the snap of a finger, and wouldn't use a random excuse to sit on the bench. She understood why Quinn does that, but it made her feel somewhat lonely. His coming into her life eased it a bit, and she'd bet it was the same for Quinn, not just for fighting.
He was good too. It didn't take more than a couple of months for him to fight her berserk state without getting beaten down severely. She'd still beat him without powers, and maybe with powers if she was super serious. What he lacked was experience. And, in a sense, her too.
For a while now, every spar has her pulling her punches. They had tinker tech to prevent anything other than bruises, but even those gave her some sort of ache whenever the thought that she was the cause came to mind.
“Focus,” She muttered, getting her thoughts into order. Her brows started furrowing, a minute passed without her opponent coming up the stage. “Where is she?”
She looked towards the registration booth, finding Maxine, the dorm manager, similarly gone.
Before she could voice out a question, a bang jolted her. She lowered her stance, turning towards the source of the sound and relaxing a bit as she saw what it was. Or who it was. Maxine, with her wild and thick hair flowing despite having no wind. She appeared on one knee as if having fallen from an unimaginable height.
And with a girl under her arm.
“I told you to get here in a minute,” She spoke in an accosting tone as she chucked the girl under her arms;. The girl did a flip in midair, landing on her feet.
’Tall… reach advantage.’ Ina thought, looking at the woman that probably towered over her by a head or two, almost as tall as Maxine.
Helena, turning to the dorm manager, glared and complained, “I was in the middle of drying my hair!”
Looking closer, Ina could see the glisten of moisture on Helena’s pixie-cut purple hair. ’Is it purple? Or indigo? Calvin would know.’
“That’s no excuse,” Maxine grinned, gesturing to the Ina. “Fight.”
Helena narrowed her eyes at the lioness until she disappeared, turning to Ina with an apologetic face. “I’m sorry, do you mind if I—”, she took out a portable hair dryer.
Ina raised a brow but nodded, understanding the girl. “Go ahead.”
She took this small intermission to glance upwards.
Marina Riverstone
VERSUS Helena Rosswell
▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ 100%
100% ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰
’Rosswell, doesn’t ring a bell.’ She thought, looking closely towards the girl drying her hair.
Tall and fit, the tanned girl sported a figure that was more than just ‘athletic’. She was trained, her muscles taught and lean, not unlike her own, but much bigger. With how she carried herself, Ina already felt that she wasn’t going to be fighting someone inexperienced. At least she was going to be someone strong.
A curve appeared at the edge of her lips as her chest danced an increasing rhythm of excitement.
Helena looked nonchalant, casually drying her hair off in the middle of the stage with everyone watching. But Ina could feel her gaze, a focus despite her being in the girl's peripherals— she was sizing her up from her peripherals.
“Thanks,” Helena said after a moment, her hair finally dried.
“No problem,” Ina spoke, walking closer.
Helena grinned, mimicking her, “Should we start?”
The two stood face to face before Ina finally nodded, “Sure.”
Thud.
’She blocked it.’ Ina thought, a grin appearing on her face.
Her kick to the head was stopped by the arm Helena raised. With a twist of her torso, she shifted her weight and jumped to kick with her other leg.
Helena ducked underneath, punching her undefended chest while she was still in midair.
’Shit!’ Ina’s eyes widened. She flew a couple of meters, flipping in the air once before landing. She stared for a moment at her hands, seeing them redden as the ache worsened. ’Yeah, trying to block her again would be stupid.’
“You’re strong,” Ina said, smiling as she saw Helena’s own upturned lips.
“You’re fast,” She complimented. “Did you push off my fist?”
“Maybe, wanna see it again?”
“Ha! Yes!”
“Let’s go!”
----------------------------------------
“Oh god, Ina found a soulmate,” Calvin said, seeing the two on stage charge and fight un-superpowered, despite the customary first minute already having already passed.
“Good for her,” Quinn said, leaning forward to rest her cheek on her palm.
Calvin’s brow raised, “You good?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m— you know. I don’t like watching fights.”
“You seem excited earlier.”
“I don’t like watching most fights,” She corrected. “I’ll watch that girl get beat up every day of the week if I can.”
“Like you watch me get beat up by Ina?”
“No, you get beat up every other day. That’s different.”
“Okay, pedant,” He rolled his eyes.
“Shut up, they’re using powers.”
Marina Riverstone
VERSUS Helena Rosswell
▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ 91%
89% ▱▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰
Calvin’s attention focused back on Ina’s fight, noting the change in her demeanor as she pulled on one of her contracts. Despite all their spars, telling exactly which contract she was using at the moment was hard, unless she was already going berserk or she was using a particular trait from the demon— claws, stone skin, the tattoo crown he still had no idea how or what it does.
’It’s probably Tix. She uses that one the most.’ He thought. ’Shit, did I bring any silver? No, I left the chains in her gym— damn.’
His curiosity turned towards her opponent, the seemingly equally matched amazoness. While there were no outward changes to her appearance or her surroundings, it was an obvious fact that she was currently using or was about to use her superpower due to the ‘weapon’ she took out from her pocket and plopped down beside her.
“That’s just unfair,” He spoke, gesturing to Helena and the giant metal ball, around a meter in diameter, adorned with foot-long spikes all over.
“Ina can probably smash that apart,” Quinn said matter-of-factly.
He smirked, “She might just try.”
Ina and Helena spoke something to each other, inaudible to those outside, before the amazoness summoned a stick. Two meters long, with a hook on both ends, the second ‘weapon’ looked more like two walking sticks glued to each other.
Helena twirled the stick around, spoke some more words to Ina, before using one of the ends to tap the side of the metal ball.
Instantly, the ball shot out with breakneck speed.
“Holy shit…”
Ina's face mirrored Calvin's sentiment as she dodged to the side. Her head turned back at the spiked ball that stopped at the edge of the stage, then towards Helena, her eyes turning a bit more serious as her threat level increased.
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“I thought she was a Physic,” He said, still bewildered.
“Might be a Gimmick, that ’stick’ in her hand…” Quinn muttered, squinting her eyes to see better.
Not missing the chance, Ina rushed the ball-less girl, reaching her in a second and shooting a kick towards her torso.
Helena dodged her first kick, blocking a second one with her stick. She yelped in surprise as her arm ached and she flew back a meter, Ina’s unexpected demonic strength catching her off guard.
Ina followed through, rushing again to continue her attack.
Seeing a few meters of distance between them, Helena used the stick and swung horizontally, making Ina duck underneath. Twirling it using her fingers, she swung the stick again diagonally, scoring a hit that Ina blocked with her arm.
Ina looked unperturbed by the hit before she too yelped as she found herself hurtling through the air, towards the side of the arena.
As Ina was about to reach the edge of the stage, two black curtains appeared from underneath, gently catching her and cushioning the impact. The curtains trembled as Ina groaned, the force that sent her flying seemed to linger for a moment before finally disappearing.
Getting chucked back in, Ina charged the girl who was running towards her spiked ball, engaging in another bout of fist versus stick, careful not to get hit with the hook end.
“Could be a Mystic? Elementalis?” Calvin said, trying to analyze the power. “The staff could be the conduit?”
“Maybe. She’ll need to take away that staff if that’s the case.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s what she’s trying to do right now.”
Just as he said, Ina had tried to swipe the stick from Helena who kicked her away. The two tussled for a few more rounds before Ina finally grabbed the stick.
Helena grinned, letting go. She kicked her away, backing off with her fingers in her mouth. Taking a deep breath, she whistled as loud as she could— loud enough to be heard even through the barrier.
The hair on Ina’s neck stood on end.
She dove to the side, feeling a heavy object pass by where she was with unbelievable speed. The spiked ball had moved by itself, rushing back towards Helena’s side.
A curse escaped Ina's parched lips, a spike had clipped her leg and tore a nasty wound through it.
Calvin’s butt clenched, seeing Ina’s profusely bleeding leg, “Not a Mystic, then.”
“…” Quinn didn’t reply, but Calvin could practically hear her grit her teeth.
Ina stood up, bleeding and limping, but it looked like that wasn’t enough to deter her. She charged the now-stickless Helena, obvious anger written on her face. The fight came back to close quarters, with Ina using the advantage of having a stick against Helena. Despite her injury, she was gaining back ground and pushing her off.
“You really can’t beat her hand to hand,” Calvin commented, watching as Ina dominated and started using the stick to smack the girl. He knew by experience how scary it was if you didn’t gain distance from Ina, especially when she was mad.
“She needs to finish this,” Quinn glanced up to the health bars, her eye twitching as Ina’s started trickling down, likely from the bleeding.
Marina Riverstone
VERSUS Helena Rosswell
▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱ 31%
68% ▱▱▱▰▰▰▰▰▰▰
’That’s a nasty injury,’ Calvin cringed at the blood dripping down her leg.
“Oh no,” Quinn muttered, her hand grabbing Calvin’s.
“What?” He glanced briefly towards her before back to the fight, not noticing anything but Ina’s utter domination against Helena who was trying to grab her stick again. “What’s—”
A loud and dreadful whistle rang out once more.
“Ah,” Calvin realized where they were.
Helena had moved their fight slowly, leading Ina to face away from the ball again.
The ball flew, and this time, Ina was hit squarely in the back. The ball was too close to dodge.
“Fuck— ow, ow! Hand! Quinn! Hand! Hand!” Calvin writhed on the chair as Quinn tightened her grip.
She ignored him for a few moments before loosening his hand, along with a sigh of relief, “Do you have silver on you?”
“I have a mangled hand,” Calvin groaned, glaring at her.
“I think she might need it,” She nodded to Ina.
Calvin followed her gaze, turning back to the fight. “Holy…”
Ina had grabbed the spiked metal ball behind her and raised it above her head, glaring down at Helena with murderous bloodshot eyes. From the stands, he could see the ink flowing down her body from her forehead which usually meant one thing.
“She turns berserk when she gets injured that much?” Calvin blurted out. He’d never hurt her that much, not even a bruise.
“Looks like it, and also—” Quinn pointed to the health bars.
Marina Riverstone
VERSUS Helena Rosswell
▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱ 71%
68% ▱▱▱▰▰▰▰▰▰▰
“That’s such a cheat,” Calvin complained, but inwardly there was relief spreading. “She heals?”
“Not completely,” Quinn nodded, smiling evilly. “Now it’s time for her to let loose.”
’There goes another person on her list,’ Calvin narrowed his eyes at her. “And no, I don’t have silver on me.”
Quinn summoned silver chains from her pocket, “Where’s the silver from the other day?”
“Left it in Ina’s place,” He took the chains, putting them in his pocket. “Do I just rush in? Or what?”
“Just prepare, we don’t know if the stage will reset her possessed.”
“It can do that?”
“I just said ‘we don’t know’.”
The fight continued down on the stage. Possessed Ina, now much faster and stronger and wielding a giant metal ball, was trying to smash the girl in a not-so-fun way.
Helena dodged for her life. Rolling and diving away as Ina chased her with the ball. Despite all of that, the wide grin didn’t leave her face, the girl was as mad as the demoness.
At some point, Helena had gotten back her stick and swung it just as Ina was swinging down the ball. The battle between Ina’s strength and Helena’s power started and ended with Ina losing due to her weight. She flew away with the ball, straight to the edge of the stage.
The amazoness breathed a sigh of relief for a second before diving to the side. The ball came back, and not with her own power but with Ina’s.
“Wow…” Calvin muttered, seeing Ina’s strength.
“You were fighting that, Cal,” Quinn smirked. “Every other day.”
A chill ran down his spine, “Those [Training Tracksuit]s were doing work, huh.”
Quinn raised a brow, “You know that tracksuit can only do so much, right?”
“It does a lot,” He nodded.
It didn’t take too long after for the fight to be finished as Ina got her hands on Helena, throwing her stick away and just pummeling down full force with her fists.
Marina Riverstone
VERSUS Helena Rosswell
▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱ 54%
0% ▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱
Black curtains rose up once more and hid underneath a moment after, revealing the two unscathed fighters, and, more importantly, the unpossessed Ina, standing on the stage.
“Oh, good, she’s Ina,” Calvin relaxed in his seat.
“She’s always Ina,” Quinn said.
The un-possessed girl turned around and waved towards them.
“Ina!” Quinn cheered, waving back enthusiastically and sending heart signs and thumbs up. Her eyes widened, seeing Helena rush her best friend, “Watch out!”
Thankfully, it wasn’t a post-fight loser sucker punch of revenge, but a post-fight budding friendship scene of sportsmanship. Helena approached excitedly with a grin on her face as Ina turned around. Words were spoken, too far away to hear o read, but by the end Ina nodded, and the two fist-bumped.
“Oh, new friend,” Calvin said, feeling proud for some reason.
Quinn scuffed, crossing her arms, “New sparring partner.”
“That’s good, you know? I won’t have to get beat up every day.”
“You don’t get beat up every day anyway,” She shook her head.
“Every other day, then,” He rolled his eyes. “Anyway, it’s good.”
“What’s good?” Ina asked as she reached their seat.
“Ina!” Quinn hugged her arm as she sat down.
“Your fight,” Calvin raised his hand and she reciprocated with a high-five, “Congrats, she looked tough.”
“She was,” Ina nodded, hugging Quinn back. “But you could take her.”
“Not without cheating, I don’t think,” Calvin said, referring to his multiple powers.
“The pebbles are enough, you know? You can shatter that ball and block that stick no problem,” She knocked his shoulder, “seriously, that ball was the scariest part. You got an idea what her power was?”
He shook his head, “I was hoping you would know. All we saw was the ball and you getting chucked away by her stick.”
“She whistled too,” Quinn added, her brows furrowing. “Hit you in the back.”
“Probably a Gimmick, or an Elementalis of some sort. We only sparred once, so I can’t tell yet.”
“Yet? You’re going to spar again?” Calvin asked.
“Next week!” She said excitedly. “Told me she’s going to be challenging next time.”
“Why next week?”
“You’ll find out,” Ina pointed to his holowatch.
Calvin looked down, his watch vibrating as he laid his eyes on it.
“My turn, I guess?”
----------------------------------------
Calvin
VERSUS Ivan
▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ 100%
100% ▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰
Calvin looked up at the holographic display above, wondering briefly how they were getting the information despite not having anything on him. His gaze went down, towards the sparsely populated stand and even less attentive audience. Despite the fantastical display of powers and fighting so far, most of the students looked almost unexcited— this was just normal.
No, actually, this was uninteresting. They’ve seen better fights, watched better fighters, and marveled at more amazing powers. Ina was a rare case, as was a handful of people who were paying as much attention as her. He was even rarer, having only been in this world for half a year.
’It feels a bit weird,’ He thought, breathing in deeply to abate the nervousness.
“Sup, man,” Ivan, his opponent, spoke and hooked his attention.
Ivan looked older than him, not much older, but the budding start of a lush mustache and beard compared to his barren wasteland of a face made it obvious that it was the case. He stood almost slouched, making him seem like he was just as tall as Calvin. Shaggy bed hair, ‘homelesscore’ attire, and bag-heavy eyes, the teen in front of him looked like someone having a midlife crisis.
Yet Calvin felt tense. Not just from his lazy tone and even lazier demeanor, which from the movies always meant there was a chance they were overpowered, but also from the ‘bracelet’ he wore. The superpower dampeners.
Nevertheless, he nodded back to him just as casually, “Sup?”
“I’m good, you?” Ivan gave another small nod.
Calvin shrugged, “I’m fine.”
“Cool cool cool. So, you wanna start?”
“Sure,” Calvin said, turning serious.
“Okay okay, want to skip the first minute?”
His brows furrowed, “We can do that?”
“Says so on the rules, man.”
’Maybe I should’ve read that,’ Calvin thought, hindsight biting him in the ass again. He deliberated for a moment before shrugging, remembering real fights wouldn’t have the first minute anyway, “Why not?”
“Great,” Ivan smiled, removing his bracelet.
Calvin lowered his stance, preparing for whatever was coming.
If it was going to come.
“Um… was something supposed to happen?” Calvin asked, narrowing his eyes at the man.
“I think so?” Ivan said, tilting his head. “You don’t feel sleepy? Or even bored?”
“No?” He answered. “Wait, is your power a mental type or something?”
“Yeah?” Ivan nodded, equally confused.
“Ah.” His brows raised, sighing apologetically after. “Sorry about this.”
Calvin dashed and was about to start beating up Ivan but the lazy man was quick on the draw. He raised his hands in the air and shouted a surrender, immediately turning his health bar to zero and letting Calvin win without fuss.
Calvin
VERSUS Ivan
▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰ 100%
0% ▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱
“Well, that was anticlimactic…”