"Congratulations! You've made it to the semi-finals of Korbin's Tournament of Bragging Rights!" Korbin announced, standing between Cassi and I.
"The winner will have the privilege of taking on the undisputed champion of the world, Korbin Ericks-"
"KORBIN!" I yelled, rapidly losing my patience for his antics. Cassi and I had already agreed to train together specifically, per her personal request. That being said, this was probably the optimal time to find exactly where she needed improvement. The issue was, a very important price was on the line.
Quite frankly, I've been yearning for a rematch against Korbin, especially since our last two ended so damn embarrassingly. First I lost to him in front of the multiverse at the tournament, placing 8th knowing fully I was a top 3 contender. Then again in front of my soldiers and friends due to a momentary lapse in self certainty leaking into my fighting form. All this to say, Cassi was not going to be in for a long match today.
"Damn Cassi, call me crazy but I think Tom's antsy to fight you. You really got to stop pissing in people's cereal." Korbin said through a toothy smirk. Cassi turned fully towards Korbin, spreading her hands wide.
"Fucking why?" Cassi asked.
"BEGIN!" Korbin responded, backpedaling away from us. Cassi jumped into her fighter's stance, as if I'd resort to a cheap shot while she was distracted. She flicked her shoulders and hands forward, feigning strikes and stepping away anticipating an attack. Honestly, she hadn't thrown anything worth countering, or dodging in her first 8 strikes.
"Cass, I haven't hit you yet." I said, still swaying in the same place I'd started. Activating Fluidic Fighters Stance had become like breathing by this point, amplifying further my ridiculous agility stat. Meaning I felt zero concern for getting hit by Cassi, just from a pure power level's perspective. Then there was her form.
Three jabs flying a full 5 inches short of my face, followed by a leg kick thrown from entirely too far missing horribly later I recognized her issue. Seeing no reason in assisting her given she was an opponent rather than student at the moment, slowly I shuffled closer. Cassi immediately went on guard, placing her hand out in front of mine open horizontally. I sighed, ashamed at her obvious tell.
Flicking my lead shoulder sending my arm limp in the air, Cassi immediately lurched forward trying to snatch my wrist. Flow Inverse activated in my elbow, drifting my punches trajectory inside of her guard, smashing into her nose. My rear leg was already shifting in front of the other, advancing forward for a Lightning Strike punch from my other fist switching stances. Cassi's head was still whipping back, leaving no angle for my Lightning Strike.
Remorse circulated my spirit realizing what the answer was, activating Flow Inverse and sending my Flow back down to my rising leg. By the time Cassi's head lifted back upright, my shin bone was already slamming into her temple. Continuing my foot around her head, my toe bounced off the ground launching my heel back up, slamming into Cassi's nose. She fell limply for a second, coming back to consciousness only after hitting the ground.
"HOT-DAMN that was fucking brutal!" Korbin commented, chuckling. Cassi's eyes narrowed into mine. Rather than returning her determined stare, I pointed to my chest to remind her where she's supposed to look on defense. The moment she adjusted her gaze, Water Step carried me forward for a shuffling side kick aimed at her ribs. Cassi shuffled to the side, my heel clipping her rib cage on the way out. She immediately grabbed at my ankle, which I promptly stomped onto the floor. With both her hands down at my hips, my lead fist slammed into her cheek the moment my foot hit the floor. My hands locked behind her nape, slamming my knee into her face before she could stumble away.
Cassi instead reeled back, her chin hovering upward. Sliding my lead foot back, I twisting my shoulders hard, landing a spin kick to her solar plexus. The force launched Cassi back through the air, crashing onto the cold stone floor.
"Fucking hell, Tom? You must really want that rematch." Korbin snickered. I turned my entire body to face him.
"Absolutely. Can you call it now?" I pleaded, pointing to Cassi struggling to her feet.
"I don't know, what do you think Cassi?" Korbin asked. Cassi popped her nose into place, her leg jolting in concert with the sickening pop.
"Fuck no. I haven't learned shit yet." Cassi said, entering her fighter's stance. Anger boiled in my throat at her blatant disregard for her own wellbeing.
"Cassi, you're in no state t-" my words were rudely interrupted by Cassi's quick advance forward, gliding along water manifested from under her feet. A smile began to emerge across my face seeing her fist launching forward, realizing I wouldn't block it in time. I lifted my lead arm preparing to counter after eating her punch, only for her to bail out on her attack and dodge to the side.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" I growled, relinquishing my formal fighter's stance and walking straight at her. Cassi lifted her lead hand for a jab, but I didn't flinch. Instead I responded by throwing a wild hook to her jaw, watching her needlessly feigned jab try desperately to block my strike far too late.
"You want a lesson? Here's a big one." I said, sliding back horizontally. My lead foot flew up, slamming under Cassi's jaw. She spun around, trying to use the momentum for a strike of her own. I simply stepped forward, knowing she would bail out of the attack. As if on queue, her punch curved back into her body to block, even though I hadn't even lifted my arms yet.
"Commit." I said, scooping my foot under her lead ankle. She stumbled forward, her head falling right into a lead uppercut. I followed the strike up with another straight punch, stepping forward into a hook to her ribs. Her head lurched forward, which I grabbed at to land an elbow strike. Cassi's knee dropped, along with her head under my grasping hands. She shuffled her legs, diving for a single leg takedown, the fucking bane of my existing. Every fiber in my calf flexed, launching me into the air as my knee smashed into Cassi's diving face.
Cassi collapsed face first, laying motionless. Korbin jogged out, laughing as he poured a health potion into her mouth.
"Ho-holy fuck, Tom. Don't ever tell me I was hard on you again." Korbin snickered, lightly slapping Cassie's face. Her swollen eyes fluttered open, the gash across her nose slowly sealing from the health potion doing its thing.
"Good morning, sunshine! How'd you think you did?" Korbin asked, squatting beside Cassi who was clearly still gathering her bearings. I sat down on the other side of her, placing a hand on her arm.
"Hey, that's my bad. I might have gotten carried away at the end." I said, realizing how many times I'd just hit one of my closest friends in the face like, really hard. It wouldn't bother me if it was a close fight, but this just felt like bullying.
"No…you were right." She said, slowly sitting up from the floor.
"About?" I asked.
"Committing. It took until that last flurry to notice, but you weren't even reacting to my feigns." She said, wincing in pain trying to stand up. I smiled in relief she'd actually caught on to that so fast.
"And why didn't I respect them?" I asked.
"I never gave you a reason to. I showed all kinds of grabs and strikes, but none of them hurt you yet." She answered, rather accurately, at that.
"Exactly. Shit, no notes except to execute." I said. Korbin shoved past me to put in his two cents.
"And fix your fucking guard. There's no reason he should be able to hit you so easily when you're not even on fucking offense." He added, sounding far more serious than he had been thus far.
"Got it. Thank you, you two." Cassi replied, giving a small bow for some reason and joining the others on the edges of the room. Korbin stepped into the center of our little combat area.
"And with THAT, the finals have been decided. Tom, Chosen Of Polyamorous will take on the man who eliminated him from the Placement Tournament in front of the entire multiverse, Korbin, Chosen of Beloris The Great!" Korbin announced charismatically. I rolled my eyes, walking straight to my side of the fighting area. Korbin smiled, strutting casually to his side and assuming a fighter pose.
"I hope you three pay close attention, you might miss something important."
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"Yeah yeah, just start hitting each other already." Phoebe shot back from my side, making it difficult to restrain a laugh. Pain shot through my nose as air escaped in a rush, along with a slight nose bleed. Tom's unrelenting tenderizing of my facial structure was still killing me, even after drinking an entire healing potion. To Tom's credit, I'd borderline begged him to whoop my ass.
Quite frankly, I hadn't realized how much wider the gap between our skill set had gotten. Where I'd accrued more skills surrounding my profession and leadership-centric class, Tom just got better at fucking people up. True, our roles' values merely differed in nature, Tom has at least proven himself successful in his field. Besides, until I could reclaim my position as General of our faction's forces, there's always a chance Tom and I fulfill the same roles being equal rank for now.
"You ready, Tommy boy?" Korbin asked, assuming his own fighter's stance.
"Ding." Tom replied, his body suddenly blasting forward. His feet shuffled leaving afterimages, as his arm erupted in blue light. Korbin's body exploded in orange flames the moment his forearm clashed with Tom's explosively fast punch, grasping onto Tom's wrist with the same hand. Tom's arm ripped free from Korbin's fingers, throwing a hooking punch with the other arm. Korbin leaned back, barely evading Tom's fist. Just as Korbin leaned back forward, Tom continued his spin from the whiffed punch landing a spin kick to Korbin's chest.
The impact alone sent a bright flash of light emitting from Tom and Korbin's mana's clashing. Korbin was moved back by the kick about a foot, but didn't show any signs of suffering any damage. Instead he smiled, giving Tom a nod of approval. In a blink, Korbin unleashed a barrage of punches and kicks, all flying towards Tom from different angles at unpredictable timings. Amazingly, Tom met each strike with an evading strike of his own, only blocking when Korbin got too close to shuffle away from. Korbin appeared to take many of Tom's hits, though he never reacted as if any of them truly hurt.
It wasn't until Korbin missed a leg sweep attempt, leading to a roundhouse kick to the ribs from Tom did I notice a possibility as to why Korbin wasn't taking much damage. Every time a strike was about to land, he'd lean away from it while letting loose an attack of his own. In fact, Tom was essentially doing the same. Only difference was, Tom was clearly faster, though the speed only paid dividends for him defensively so far seeing he hadn't really inflicted any notable damage.
They continued trading back and forth, only neither were even landing any blows anymore. Their hands practically traded places with each punch, blocked and countered only for said counter to be blocked. The occasional hard check, or knee being smashed into someone's incoming leg kick, would send Tom on the retreat momentary. His ability to ride whatever momentum he suffers intentionally or not was on full display, not wasting a single step circling around Korbin's onslaught of strikes seeing Tom reeling.
Korbin on the other hand, hadn't increased his speed much at all. Instead, his defenses were preemptive, as if he already knew what Tom was going to do. Not to say he did, given the few strikes that slipped in here and there. Still, it was borderline uncanny seeing him block and evade strikes a millisecond before they were thrown. It was hard to catch given the speed at which they moved, but I could swear they both wore grins ear to ear.
"Holy shit." Derrick mumbled, standing beside me. Korbin continued his ongoing flurry of attacks, mixing feins with incredibly fast strikes. Tom somehow discerned the two flawless, though his eyelids were wider than I'd ever seen. Yet, it was unmistakable he was thoroughly enjoying himself. Korbin showed a leg kick, goading Tom to raise his knee to check it. Korbin's leg swung back behind him, his fist hurtling for Tom's face in unison. Tom deflected the strike away from his face, sending Korbin's fist flying by his head. Tom twist his hips to slam his nearest fist into Korbin's head, letting out a loud *crack*.
Korbin's head barely jutted up, the muscles in his neck protruding momentarily. His fist that had missed Tom's face grasped on Tom's cowl, yanking his head straight into Korbin's powerful elbow strike. Tom's head whipped around, which Korbin glided his elbowing arm around into a guillotine choke. Tom flailed trying to free himself as Korbin slowly applied more torque onto Tom's neck. Suddenly, Korbin began convulsing as Tom erupted in a blaze of lightning mana. Tom shoved Korbin off of him, freeing Korbin from his stun lock. Before Korbin could press forward, Tom put his hand up.
"Nope. Don't bother. I lost." Tom said, the crackling blue and white energy pulsating from his body slowly fading around him.
"What?" Korbin asked, the orange flames writhing around his skin remaining as bright as ever.
"You got me. I used my boost, there's no way I could've tempered whether or not my hits would be a kill shot or not." Tom said, heavily implying he feared accidentally murdering Korbin. Looking around, all but Korbin watched on fearfully awaiting Korbin's response. After a pause, Korbin's body simmered from its fiery state.
"What did we learn?" Korbin asked through his patented toothy smirk.
"Not to forgot your clothes have Flow Points." Tom replied with a sigh, as if this was something he'd had to say a million times.
"Fucking yes, so stop forgetting!" Korbin replied. There's no way he's just letting that go.
"Hold on, did Tom not just say he would k-"
"If I gave you a sword without teaching you how to use it, and said let's just "spar" but at a fast pace, how confident are you that you wouldn't accidentally stab me?" Korbin asked, cutting my question off.
"Uh, yeah it's entirely possible." I answered, not seeing the relevance.
"Does that mean you're better with a sword because you stabbed me?" Korbin asked.
"Of course not, you just were expecting them t-" I stopped, realizing where Korbin was going with this.
"What? Expecting them to follow simple sparring rules? Yet, they didn't know how to use their weapon, resulting in a possibly fatal injury without conclusive evidence of any one person being better than the other. So why the fuck would Tom use something he can't control on me? Is that something you would do?" Korbin asked, taking a few steps to me. I considered his words, grinning realizing my mistake.
"No, no of course not. I simply have never seen Tom, at least admit he didn't have full control of himself." I snickered. Korbin couldn't jelly but smile, even with his brow still furrowed angrily.
"Maybe, but you're to know those kinds of weaknesses given what I intended for you to be, former General. It's no wonder he's nearly gotten himself killed on…how many occasions, Tom?" Korbin asked, looking back at Tom. He just shook his head, indicating unwillingness to join in Korbin's 'teaching moment', as he called them.
"The answer's too many for someone not in charge, especially given your value to our cause. So Cassi, I ask you, what did you learn today?" Korbin asked, crossing his arms awaiting my response. I considered all of my fights today, most of all my own against Tom.
"Commit. I need to learn to commit when necessary, rather than delay to the point of self sabotage." I answered, internally cursing myself for all of those set up feins.
"Good, I agree. That's a start, what else?" Korbin asked.
"Well, as Tom had put so lazily, clothing possesses a number of key Flow Points susceptible to your manipulation in a grapple. Something I certainly wish I knew a few spars ago." I admitted, recalling a number of times I could have snatched Tom's shifty ass by the hood. I know without a shred of doubt in my mind I'm stronger than him, and at the very least far more technically sound in judo and jujitsu.
"Kind of stealing his homework but, glad you expanded. What about me, any questions about what I did?" Korbin asked, looking at the rest of the group at the end of this question. Phoebe raised her hand.
"Uh, yeah, pretty much all of the shit you just did." She said, earning a chuckle from Korbin and Tom.
"In your defense, I haven't gotten to train you at all yet. You get a pass for now, but not for long." Korbin said, turning his attention to Derrick.
"How about you? I know for a fact Tom's trained you enough to have gleaned a few lessons today, don't be stingy let's hear it." Korbin instructed, gesturing his hands to the rest of us.
"Uh…to be honest, I learned how little I really know today. Seeing you guys managing grabs and blocks, all while launching attacks of your own was…overstimulating to put lightly." Derrick replied, rubbing his chin as he spoke.
"So what do you think you ought to work on first?" Korbin asked. Derrick took a few moments to consider his words before answering.
"Grappling?" He answered in the form of a question.
"Sure, sounds good to me." Korbin said, nodding and backing away to address us as a whole. Tom stepped beside him, though I'm sure Korbin was speaking just as much to him as us three.
"Welp, with that, and our tournament's champion finally decided, I'd say this is as good a time as any to call a break. Everyone except Phoebe, rest an hour and meet back here for further instruction." Korbin instructed. Phoebe nodded, turning to Tom.
"Have Steve let Becky know I'm okay, if you see them." Phoebe told Tom.
"I might not see them at all. Korbin, can I go hunting instead of resting?" Tom asked. He and Korbin were both already in perfectly good shape since their spar. To their credit though, neither of them had managed to do too much damage to the other.
"…fine. But bring Hayden with you, in case Steve's unavailable." Korbin replied.
"Where exactly is that dude an-"
"In the settlement, clue number one. The rest is your job to figure out. For now, I have training to give so our archer isn't behind for our next training course." Korbin said, interrupting Tom.
"Got it, later!" Tom said, bolting out of the building. Derrick and I followed behind, only far slower not seeing a reason to rush toward rest. Derrick and I followed out the front door, only much slower than Tom hustled at.
"Cassi!" Korbin called, getting me to turn around to face him and Phoebe.
"Yeah?" I asked, not at all prepared for what Korbin said next. It was a short face, filled with limited eye contact due to already having begun his spar with Phoebe.
"Keep it up."
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