章 13: Second Step [2]
"Alright, time's up! The first pair to spar will be Ken and Samuel!"
Two of my classmates walked up to each other, one of which had a long wooden staff in his hand and the other carrying absolutely nothing. Both of them looked quite ordinary, with Ken having a larger build than Samuel who was a bit smaller than average.
It was also not surprising that the two of them appeared to be quite nervous, as everyone's eyes were currently on them, about to judge their every move.
'That's a... Bō, right? And the other...? Wait! Is he an unarmed fighter like me?!'
Although the two men didn't look all too impressive, it was difficult not to get excited by the prospect of watching another fighter similar to me.
Then, as the two of them stood about ten meters away from each other, our teacher also walked forward and spoke loud enough to make sure everyone heard him.
"This will be the first spar of the semester. Do you both remember what I told you yesterday? You are not allowed to aim for vital spots with the intent to kill. Other than that, the spar will end when either one of you is knocked out, if someone gives up, or if I interrupt the spar and declare a winner. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"...yes."
'Samuel looks to be a lot more nervous than Ken. Is it because he isn't sure how to fight unarmed against the long reach that a Bō has?'
Even at a baseline, the blonde-haired man had a deficit of reach due to his smaller build, but when adding on the two-meter-long staff that Ken wielded, I understood his worries. However, there was nothing he could do about it apart from trying his best. Even more so as our teacher wasn't going to wait for him to get ready anyway as he raised his right arm into the air.
A second later, he let it fall toward the ground.
"Fight!"
'Go Samuel! Show him what fighters like us... can do?'
In an instant, my excitement was replaced by confusion as Samuel put his hands on the dirt-covered field, an act that somehow didn't seem quite in line with what a close-quarters fighter would do.
It didn't take more than a moment before my expectations were completely shattered as the ground in front of him began to glow with an orange-tinted, brown shine.
"[Earth Spike]!"
From the earth, a relatively large rock rose, its end sharp and deadly, and was then catapulted with great speed at Ken. Ken, however nervous he had been before the spar, kept his cool and simply dodged it by dashing to the side.
*Bam!*
A pretty sinister sound echoed out as the rocky weapon etched itself onto the ground behind Ken, showing everyone what would have happened to Ken if he hadn't dodged.
"[Earth Spike]!"
Samuel, however, wasn't going to stop, probably aware that he had to make full use of the range advantage that he currently was in position of. Therefore, he launched another missile made of stone at his opponent.
*Bam!*
Ken had no choice but to dash to the side again, not wanting his chest to get cracked open by accidentally getting hit by Samuel's spell. And like that, this dance continued, with Samuel continually launching big rocks, forcing Ken to dodge.
"[Earth Spike]!"
*Bam!*
"[Earth Spike]!"
*Bam!*
At this point, it was just a matter of time before Ken made a mistake, and that mistake would likely signal the end of the spar... if not signal the end of Ken's life. A fact that Ken was also aware of as he regained his stance, readying the staff in his hand.
"[Earth Spike]!"
This time Ken didn't just opt to dodge it. Instead, his staff began glowing with a light-blue shine as his eyes saw nothing but the large stone coming to tear him to pieces. Letting out a slow breath, Ken's eyes showed zero hesitation.
"Hupp!"
His movement imitated a half-moon as he spun his staff, making sure it made contact with the rock before activating his muscles fully. And just like that, he parried the spell to the side with seemingly minimal effort.
Not only that, but as soon as he realized that he had been successful in redirecting Samuels' attack, he dashed forward quickly closing in on Samuel who still had his hands on the ground.
Seeing this, Samuel's hands once again shone, a sign that he was about to cast yet another spell. Surprisingly, he didn't send out another earth spike this time.
"[Earth Barrier]!"
From all around him streams of earth rose, intertwining and covering him completely. In the end, Samuel had disappeared from all of our sight as he was now completely enveloped inside a pretty strong-looking globe of stone.
"That's not enough!"
Ken suddenly jumped into the air, higher than what I ever thought was possible, the staff in his hands growing in size, looking more like a pillar belonging to an ancient temple than a staff. At the same time, his weapon shone once again, only this time the blue light was so strong that it even eclipsed the sun above us.
*BOOM!*
Dust and debris permeated the air as his powerful blow connected, an impact strong enough to make the air shake in excitement. But after a moment of silence and as the dust settled, we got to see the outcome of the spar. Or more accurately, we got to hear it, as a voice rang out across the field.
"The winner is Ken. Good fight, both of you."
Ken had never gotten to hit the barrier of stone as our teacher had already been prepared for the attack and caught the large pillar in his right hand.
"When did he get there?!"
Though I could understand Celine's surprise, as our teacher had not only moved extremely fast, he had very skillfully navigated the battlefield in a way that meant that he was never in the way of the fighters, it wasn't very surprising to me.
There had never been a time during the fight that I hadn't been aware of Mr. Folm's position, so I had naturally also seen him move even before Ken jumped. Losing sight of a potential enemy was fatal, after all.
More importantly, while my classmates looked pretty riled up by the fight we had spectated, I was struggling with a completely different emotion.
'I'm so... disappointed... and bored...'
My expectation that I would get to see another fighter using his fists had gotten completely shattered as Samuel had begun using magic. Which was pretty cool, but nowhere near as cool as someone fighting with their bare fists.
Secondly, and more importantly...
'It was just... so slow...'
There was a reason why sports channels didn't show all their fights in slow motion. Despite the clear upside being that I didn't miss anything, the downside was that it was just simply... boring. Even more so as the fight had quickly turned into a game of tag, where Ken was always likely to win if he could get Samuel into his range.
This was the reason why I hadn't lost sight of our teacher as well, as I had more than enough time to look at him while at the same time spectating the fight. It wasn't that I was criticizing or judging them, as I probably would have a hard time against either of them, but as a spectator, it was just boring to see them moving so slowly.
Cerus, on the other hand, didn't look to be as disappointed as I was. To Celine's dismay, he had for some reason made his way to me with a smile and a bit of a twinkle in his eyes. Celine, on the other hand, decided not to follow him this time, perhaps because she didn't want to get close to me.
"So, what do you think?"
I had no idea why he was asking me, but I was also not against talking to someone who shared my love for fighting. But that didn't mean that I was going to open my heart to him and spill my inner thoughts for no reason.
"They did... good."
"Good, you say? Hmm... I guess they did."
Crossing his arms and nodding a bit, it was obvious that Cerus didn't fully believe me as his demeanor lacked any sense of seriousness. Which was shown as soon as he opened his mouth again.
"But if they did good, why do you look so bored?"
'He has good eyes... but that isn't enough for me to crack.'
Like I previously said, I had no intentions of revealing my secrets to him as that would do me nothing but harm. But I also didn't want him to believe that I was being disrespectful on purpose. All fights are sacred, no matter what. Therefore I decided that I would rather tell a white lie than diminish our classmates.
"I'm not bored, just a bit tired. I didn't get to sleep much as I was a bit nervous for today."
"Nervous, huh? I get that. Everyone gets nervous sometimes. But..."
"But?"
Despite wearing a smile, a slightly chilly aura emerged from Cerus, clearly acting as some kind of warning to me.
"Your eyes sure as hell don't look nervous to me."
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