As the announcer shouted to begin a shout came from Jude “Wait!”

The announcer and Jarvis both appeared baffled. With a smile Jude pointed to his mouth. “You forgot to take your lip ring out.” Jarvis laughed and took it out.

“Thanks mate.”

Then they both got back into their stances. Jarvis seemed a lot more practiced; his feet faced forward, his right in front. His right hand outstretched with an open palm, his left resting over the right bicep. His eyes were steeled.

Jude however planted his feet approximately shoulders width apart and held up his fists. His body was tense. If he had not held his muscles so tight he would most likely be shaking from nerves.

“Begin”

Jude wanted to move, but his feet had refused to do anything. Whereas Jarvis’ eyes lit up. His eyes had always been an emerald green but they now appeared to be glowing. He took a deep breath and pull his left arm back as a green energy danced and swirled around him. Springing forth from his centre it coiled around his fists.

Bursting forward towards Jude, he left a trail of dust behind him. He was there quick. Jude’s nerves finally overtaken by his fear he managed to get control of his body. Yet it was too late we a palm strike struck his right shoulder like a bullet.

The pain was sickening and it threw him off balance, he quickly fell to the ground. His head was spinning, whatever the cost he could not get hit again. Teeth ground together as he forced himself. He had agreed to this fight and if he was now meant to dodge for the whole time there was one element to use.

The was a whistling around Jude. Sand kicked up and flung itself. His hair flapped upwards. The wicked wind he had stirred violently smacked the ground. Then, as suddenly as it had kicked up, it settled. “Neat trick” Jarvis said before rushing forward again.

Another palm strike came towards Jude, but as if he could see it coming he was no longer there. The palm hit the air where Jude was. It had not missed by much but it was enough that Jude was in no danger of being hit.

Then the dance begun. With each strike Jude dodged and with each dodge Jarvis tried to move into another hit. It certainly was not a spectacle like Nerissa’s uncontested destruction, however it was clear this was the fight where the opponents grew the most.

Jarvis’ fighting style relied on sustained hits. Once he hit an opponent he would unleash a volley of strikes to disable them. Unfortunately for him, Jude had been in very few fights and was afraid of pain, so his strategy was to dodge until he thought of something better.

It had only been a couple minutes but he was running low on stamina. He was taking rapid short breaths just trying to get enough oxygen to think of a plan. Luckily using his wind attribute allowed him to move his body far easier. He had flexibility and felt at one with the wind, so in tune that the mere movement of air around the fist told him exactly where a strike would come. The issue was moving so quickly all the time was quite tiring.

Though it you’re able to control the flow of air and are out of breath then a good solution is making air flow a lot quicker. Each shallow breath taking in a higher concentration. Each pant giving you as much oxygen to the brain and muscles as a regular inhale.

But Jude was out of breath and still had to focus on dodging so this process was hard to maintain. There were breaths with too much that surprised him, some where he just forget to control the concentration, and some where he missed the air flow so got a lower amount.

Jarvis launched his palm at Jude’s shoulder yet again. It was the same strike. The one that sent him whirling into pain. The soreness from the prior hit remained, he had forgotten about it due to the adrenaline that was coursing through his veins but seeing it reawakened pain with a twinge.

This time it missed. Jude was spinning around. Jarvis followed through planting his foot, he was still traveling forward. Using his moment Jude launched his first punch. It was weak, poor form, but it landed. It collided with Jarvis’ cheek and made his face scrunch slightly.

The two jumped back from each other. A red mark burned itself into the cheek. “Not bad.” He grinned. “Its been fun Jude, but have you been taught about Rules and Restrictions yet?”

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Using the chance to catch his breath. “If you’re talking about anything other than legal, then no sorry.”

“It’s no problem bro, I love explaining them. So it’s not common knowledge as of yet but you can place rules and restrictions on your alteration. Meaning when a condition is met you are able to get a bonus. Now I have an energy based alteration, think of it like Chi you know the inner energy stuff. I even developed a fighting style based entirely on palm strikes to utilise it better. Anyways because I’m an energy user I can place my own restrictions, other people need to go to someone specific.”

The ground began to shake slightly and the sand vibrated. “You see I have a restriction called Underdog. Every piece of information I reveal to help my opponent doubles the potency of my Chi. So I told you I am an energy user, a use palm strikes, and I have restrictions.” He was counting on his fingers all three. “That means, if my maths is right, I’ll get an 8 times power boost.”

The Chi began pouring out blasting Jude making it hard to keep his legs standing. In an instant he closed the gap between them. Jude was flabbergasted. It was not long before he felt a pain exploded from his abdomen as blood shot from his mouth and nose. In mere moments he felt the grains of sand start to dig into face which had firmly landed on the floor of the coliseum.

“You see Jude that was a quarter of the power I was using earlier but it felt twice as strong.”

“Yeah... I can do Maths even whilst bleeding.” Came a weak and weary voice.

“Well then I’m sure you know that now I can use less Chi, I can actually distribute it more evenly allowing me to move quicker, too. I’m sorry bro but I think I’ve win this one.” There was another rumble as his output once again doubled, this one more violent than the last.

Jude got himself into his knees and stared at the sky. The blood from his nose trickled down onto his lips. All he could taste was a metallic flavour from the blood and adrenaline mixing. “I hope to god you have a plan. Because if you give me even an inch I’ll take a mile.”

Jarvis laughed. “Bro, that’s tough talk but if I hit you again you’ll be out.”

“Then I just won’t get hit. Do you know how long we’ve been fighting?” Jude push himself onto one knee.

“Yeah, about four and a half, maybe five minutes.” A grin appeared on Jude’s face as he wiped the blood from it. Well he tried to wipe it but just smeared it.

“One minute. That’s all I’ll need to win.”

“Even if you have learnt my fighting style in the last few minutes I can assure you I’m too fast for you to beat now.” Jude took a fighting stand and held his hand out and beckoned for Jarvis to attack.

“Prove it.”

Those words ignited a deep seeded anger within the man. He was no longer having fun, he was no longer toying with his opponent. He would hit him with everything he had in one blow. He started to build up Chi. Sand raised off the ground around him. His hair raised with the pressure of the air and shockwaves began to pulse. Jude stood resolute.

Exploding forward with speed Jarvis was able to move faster than even he was able to perceive. It he knew exactly where he was landing. He struck out. He hit Jude. He had to, there was no where he could moved to. Jarvis had aimed for the centre of the chest. Aiming to crush both lungs and explode the heart in one movement.

He felt no impact, probably due to Jude being teleported out of the ring. But what he did feel was heat. A feeling akin to picking up a hot tray, for the first couple of seconds you know it is hot but it does not burn you.

Vision finally returned only to see he had not won. He had hit air, no he had hit fire. Why was there fire? And where was Jude? His eyes darted but it was only when they darted downwards did they find him.

Crouched, fire dissipating from his shoulders. Some more was building up under his legs and on his left elbow. Now it was Jarvis missing the explosive speed. As a fist connected into his face.

The Spitfire Punch, was a move invented by Jude to compensate for his weak form and muscles. Using his fire he makes it explode from the elbow propelling his arm forward at incredible speed. This speed adds power and this makes a useable punch.

Though he had developed variants of each move. As the punch had finished making its connection fire shot from the knuckles, flinging the arm backwards. But as this happened his right arm exploded forward to hit.

Known as Spitfire Punch Trail Formation, the move consisted of a rapid flurry of Spitfire Punches. Jude’s muscles screamed and his bones creaked, each hit hurting him as well.

Once the flurry stopped Jarvis stumbled. He was barely awake. The only reason he was standing was his natural instinct to use Chi as a reinforcement method.

Jude went into a ball as he focused fire into his left fist. Condensing. “Thanks to you I got a chance to use Spitfire Punch Trail Formation. Actually that’s a bit of a mouthful. I’ll remove the formation. But whilst watching you I thought of a new way to use my elements.”

The fire disappeared. Jude stood up, walked over to Jarvis. Placed his hand on his chest. “White Dwarf.” Light expanded from Jude’s palm. It was blinding. The gallery could not see and the live feed just showed white for a few frames.

When it finally cleared Jude was stood victorious. Jarvis was out of ring. His t-shirt with a hole burnt through the chest and a red indent of Jude’s palm.

“And the winner, progressing onto round two is Jude Zairos”

The crowd erupted with cheers. Jude collapsed to knees as his vision went blurry. His body ached. His arms had been sapped of all their strength. Legs that could no longer support weight tried to hold him. A heavy head the dragged the torso to the floor.

He slept. A winner. His first fight.