All of her unnecessary weapons remained stored in the deeper parts of her mind. The style that she developed focused around martial arts. Her strength was fighting and defeating her opponent directly. Yet in her assignment to the border, she found none of the abilities that were her strengths in the academy to be of use. Those that praised her for talent and skill meant nothing outside of the walls. It forced her to adapt to a different need.

The need on the gate was capture through non-lethal and generally non-violent means. The academy didn’t specifically train her for violence or fighting. However, they also didn’t tell her otherwise. Her training was simply the usage and refinement of her abilities through whatever came natural to her.

‘What? You’re only thirteen? Well I guess the Captain of the Guard was just as young, maybe that’s why she’s assigned here.’

Nerine charged forward with her fists prepared. The metal that surrounded her arms moved with her body no longer restricting her movement. It became like liquid, yet kept the hardness. Her glow increased with intensity the closer that she came to Seiji. A white shine developed over the metal bringing light to the dark Field. “You’re going to want to dodge this.” She saw that Seiji made no move to get away from her. He looked to be welcoming her attack.

Seiji grinned at her. He liked the sound of her words and the intensity of the attack. “I’ll be the judge of that!” His hands rose up to meet her attack and take it head on. Seiji dug his feet in wanting to measure the strength that she brought to him. A worthy fight had to be struck fist to fist without retreat.

Hesitation swelled in her chest reacting sharply to her fists’ desire. She switched weapons because she needed them. The doubt was only around to hold her back. ‘I’ve got to strike with everything!’ Nerine tightened up her arm and fist only a meter away from Seiji. She needed to knock him down.

An explosion of wind and chunks of earth erupted from the epicenter of their clash. Only the light created from the two fists slammed together bloated out the destruction. The fighters disappeared from sight with the engulfing blast expanding quickly beyond them.

Chapter 150 – The Debate of Fists

Nearly a minute passed before the vibrating calmed and the light started to fade. Expectations of figures within the center failed. It took most of the time to settle out to a thinly veiled cloud before Seiji and Nerine’s body surfaced. Both of them laid on the ground prone several meters apart and unclear how recent they entered such positions.

Seiji pulled himself up first with a little smoke rising from his body. His hands looked a little beat up and red, but still hella strong. He wiped away the crappy earth that found its way on top of him. Across from him, Nerine’s movement alerted him. Another grin appeared on his face, very pleased with the situation. His hands tightened into fists, becoming eager. “That was a damn fine punch!”

She had some expectations for the outcome. Unfortunately, they nearly completely failed to be realized. ‘Damn, I was hoping for a little more out of that… I’ve got more left to use, but I figured I’d make more progress…’ Her body felt sore as if she went several rounds in a boxing match. The sight of Seiji appearing nearly unchanged by the attack fueled her to stand. It channeled the pain away from her mind and focused everything on him.

The sight of Seiji wanting another go with her made her sigh a little. ‘He’s just waiting for another chance…’

“Let’s keep that up! I actually felt your fist this time! I might actually be able to make use of more of my strength!” Seiji pounded his hands together starting to appear as if he wanted to go on the offensive.

‘More strength? Just how strong is he supposed to be?’ The thought made her a little unsettled. However, she knew that she had more weapons to rely on. She just needed to find a different approach for him.

‘I guess she’s just a child after all… Nothing special about her…’

Nerine charged forward still wielding her same weapons from last time. Dirt kicked up behind her suddenly as though blasted away by something. She struck out for Seiji, but this time he actually dodged out of her way. He moved around to counter her, but found himself back forced to dig in as a gale blew down on him.

The annoying ass wind threatened to push Seiji over as he pressed his feet into the cracking earth of Nerine’s Field. He held up his arms trying to see through the shitty winds. As quickly as the winds began, they faded away. However, a powerful force slammed through Seiji’s face, sending him off his feet and spinning wildly out of control through the ground. The force of his body dug a trench into the earth until he finally came to a stop.

Standing with an extended arm out, Nerine revealed herself as the reason (not that it should be a surprise). She pulled her hand back and looked down at Seiji measuring out the distance he flew. The effect of her fist pleased her more than the last exchange. She managed to deal a severe blow to him she felt. “I told you that you would regret it.”

“Not at all. I don’t regret it!” echoed Seiji’s voice from the distance. His darkened figure in the night surfaced from the trench.

Nerine slid her foot back to return to a defensive stance. “Can’t be…he doesn’t sound affected at all!”

‘Who’s the woman? What she’s just a kid?!’

Seiji began his march back into Nerine’s Field. Once he returned to her vision, he wiped away the stream of blood from his chin that started at his lip. Tears in his tunic showed what little damage he sustained, but it still managed to hold. “This is starting to feel like a great ass fight! Damn! I can’t wait to see what else you can do!” He charged forward fists raised going on the offensive.

It took her a little by surprise that he no longer played defensive with her. The look in his eye definitely changed. She could easily see it as plain as the moon in the sky. He wanted to fight her and no longer cared about gender or any other difference. His wait ended.

The speed of his movements took her off balance. It felt like he became a blur. ‘It’s like before…’ She remembered how fast he moved to protect her. Her eyes couldn’t follow him then, so she assumed it was a trick in his Field. Yet she saw him moving inhumanly fast. Her pause left her completely open. The only hope she had was a weak instinctive defense with her arm to block him. It wasn’t enough.

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Seiji’s fist struck her armored left arm with enough force to knock her up into the air. She went careening through the night air as carelessly out of control as she sent him earlier. Her head went blank for the moments that the air scraped over her face. Nerine slowly came back around not unconscious, just empty. It took her another few moments to remember her situation and the all too familiar situation. Around her, the weapons followed her, floating without any thought to their master.

She saw the damage to her weapon. Bent blades and twisted metal filled Seiji’s strike. It survived.

Nerine swapped weapons and clawed at the air. She came to a slow stop. The new weapon attached past her shoulders and connected along her collarbone. Her metal sparked alive no longer with a glow, but electricity. Freely flowing bolts of electrons jumped across her forearm. The metal covering her fingers had a claw-like appearance that dug into the air. She threw herself through the air back at Seiji. The streak of her through the sky became white lines from the trails of electricity.

Pleased that she wasn’t finished and charging back for another round, Seiji prepared for her.

The first strike she made blew out bolts of electricity all around them seeking out a ground. Her armored fist slammed into Seiji’s testing out his resistance to her force. It made the earth quake and break up around him to drive his feet into the ground. However, the moment she saw him holding against her she spun around and slammed her fist into the air. She threw herself through the air getting behind him to strike his back.

Seiji barely had the time to react and stumbled forward. His torn tunic ripped to shreds at the point of impact on his back. It built a hole with hanging coarse fabric. The hit did little to stun him and he quickly pulled around to return the favor. His fist was too late. Electricity ran up his arm in her wake numbing him slightly. She came up behind him again slamming another fist into him. Seiji staggered forward and fought with his body to respond.

Nerine felt like she finally had an advantage for the first time in the fight. She dealt him blows that damaged him and she kept out of his grasp. ‘I can do this! I can beat him!’ Excitement and confidence returned to Nerine with each success. She didn’t want to feel eager, but she couldn’t help a little smile.

She bounced around the air preparing a stronger attack to rally her position. Her arm came in behind him destined for a powerful hit. However, she came to a rough stop that nearly threw her arm out of her shoulder joint. Before she had time to recover, the wind rained down on her face as she sailed through the air. She scrapped the air to return control to her. ‘What happened? He did it, didn’t he?’

‘It’s all just an act. She just compensating, that serious mature speech of hers.’

On the ground, Seiji flexed his hand as he started to have feeling return to it. Once he finished, he looked up at Nerine. “You know a trick like that only works a couple of damn times. You have to make the first ass one count. You’ve been using it too much and became predictable.” He grinned up at her looking no less worse than a little redness from minor bruising on his back.

‘I see, I still have the speed to get around him…’ She threw herself back into the fight. Taking advantage of the air maneuver, Nerine got herself around to the side of Seiji. She threw in her fist scoring a hit, but he didn’t budge. Her eyes drew in narrowed before widening a little in surprise. He threw up his arm in defense, deflecting much of the force away from him.

Electricity sparked off his arm where he blocked her attack. He brought in his free arm to counterattack, but she was already out of his range. ‘She’s fast…’ Another strike came at him, but he dodged it. She backed off from him and worked around him again.

Each attempt she made felt as if she was losing ground. The advantage she eroded before her hands. He was getting closer to her with each pass. ‘Is he reading my moves?’ Her next attack had his fist grazing over her arm. The force shook around her arm rattling down to her bone, while warping the metal. It reformed quickly, but left her a sign. ‘I need something more…’

Nerine dodged around Seiji’s punches narrowly keeping up with his increasing reflexes. She jumped around the air continuing to move without letting him stay on her for long. Her weapon kept getting dents and tears as he got closer. ‘I’ve got to do something now…’ Nerine pushed back and built up a charge towards Seiji being obvious to invite him into an exchange.

Seiji eagerly accepted her offer and clashed fist with fist against her. The two fists rattled and shook with loud ass shockwaves exploding off them. However, flames suddenly erupted from her arm and damn near swallowed Seiji whole with no chance to react.

The Atlantean backed off waiting to see how much damage she dealt him. He surprised her when he brought up his hand and tore away the flames from his body. Her fire laid on the ground quickly burning through the tunic. Seiji lost his top to the flames and only came out with light burns that tanned his skin.

“I see you’ve got more tricks up your sleeve. Come on! I’m enjoying the hell out of this!” He pounded his fists together. His well-toned body didn’t have extreme muscle development, as one might guess for his strength. Seiji held a fairly lean appearance, but had clear muscle definition. The fading flames lit up his body, making him glow a little with the sweat that covered him. He slid down into a fighting stance ready to continue.

Nerine got a clear look at him. She knew how much punishment she dealt him and yet he continued. ‘He doesn’t even look tired… I’m going to need my stronger ones…’ Her weapon disappeared, swapping out for one of the many that followed around her. The new weapon held a sleeker appearance and appeared more fluid than the others did. It only covered up to her upper arms. She clawed forward, charging at him. Her left arm shot forward firing a large stream of water at him. It immediately froze up to incase him.

She jumped up running along the surface at him. As she closed in with him, the ice broke, throwing her off balance. Seiji aimed for her, but she air punched away. Nerine appeared from underneath, throwing out her fist. Stone grew out of her arm, another change. It raced away from her slamming into Seiji. He went flying into the air as the rocky column expanded up.

Blasting into the sky, Nerine followed him. She threw out flames, her weapon changing yet again. Seiji blocked the flames with his arms and put them out by throwing out his arms. He caught sight of her closing between him dealing with the attack. She caught a clean hit on him altering his direction back into the ground. His body sped into the earth cratering and tossing up large chunks of earth. Nerine kept after him.

However, Seiji already recovered from the long ass fall and had his fist coming out to meet her as he expected a frontal assault. She managed to take his punch with another weapon swap, but it warped severely rippling through the metal. The force finally went through her body and sent her flying away. Seiji jumped out of the deep crater. He dusted himself while waiting for her to land.

Once she recovered and came charging for him again, Seiji sped for her. His speed increased past what she became accustomed to dealing with. He got around her and barely had a chance to dodge his attack. His punch flew over her, but changed into a swing down once he extended fully. She blocked with her armored arms and slammed into the ground coughing up blood.

The metallic taste of her blood came as a new sensation for her, but she didn’t have time to understand it thoroughly. Seiji pressed the attack coming at her with faster punches. She backed away from him only for him to close again. Her armor kept her from taking serious damage, but she felt it tearing at her limbs. Pieces of his strength made it through to her.

Seiji pressed her back, but failed to make a clean connection with her. He changed up his pattern and dug his foot through the earth bringing up large chunks of earth that battered her. However, it was only a screen for him. Seiji rammed his fist through the debris he created. Nerine already instinctively had her arms up to block, but didn’t expect the force coming through at her. She went flying backwards.

He gave chase to her and caught her while still in flight. His fist stretched out to deliver a finishing blow. Nerine managed enough clarity to block with a thick weapon. Jets blasted out from her weapons stopping her body, but Seiji’s momentum carried through to her slowly pushing her. His fist pressed against the thick metal warping it.

Nerine caught the taste of surprise from the force that he applied, managing to counter the thrust of her weapon. ‘He’s smashing my weapon! I can’t let it…’ The weapon suddenly repaired itself while his fist tried to crush it. Seiji didn’t stop with the charge and continued to apply his strength, breaking down the armor again. It repaired itself again, the cycle repeating.

In the end, Seiji threw her off him and slid to the ground with his speed in flight no longer countering her thrust. She came to a quick stop. Her hand wiped off the blood that dripped from her lips. They stared off at each other.

Seiji smirked, feeling satisfied with the fight. “You’re impressive. I might have to reconsider my code.”

Nerine found herself grinning a little, not immediately recognizing it herself. She didn’t feel the uncertainty or doubt anymore. It all disappeared while she fought him. He didn’t see her as she saw herself, but just another person to fight. It felt oddly comfortable for her. She wanted to see what more he had to offer and test it against her own. “I might still make you regret that thought.”

“Oh?”

A glow came from Nerine’s body completely masking her uniform. The weapon on her arms disappeared along with all of the weapons in the Field. “I’ve never done this before for anyone. You’ll be the first to see my final battle form!”