Several quiet minutes ticked by following the prodigious blondes victory over Haden, and the energy had completely shifted. Prior, the room rumbled with the passive chattering from the small crowd of earths remaining elite fighters. Some audibly relishing in the exclusivity of making it to the top 10. That soothing effeminate voice gave just enough praise to convince us that we were all the pinnacle of humanity. Now, that certainty was drowned out by mutual silence and diminished confidence. No one uttered a word. That is, nobody except me and Korbin of course.
"So we're not gonna talk about how fucking weird that guy was? I'm 90% certain he's another version of you if you never got a girlfriend. No, no wait…no that's you now." Korbin jeered with a devious grin. Before I could retort, his eyes wandered behind me before widening in surprise.
Smiling, Korbin pointed his finger over my shoulder. Then, he used both hands to draw an outline of a heart before pointing in that same direction. I didn't have to guess which of the three remaining female fighters he was looking at, but I turned around anyway hoping to save whatever embarrassment I'm due to feel.
…and within moments of turning back, I cursed internally for being so damn gullible as to believe this career gaslighter. My expression dropped turning back to face Korbin, who stood leaning against the edge of the lifted arena floor hammering his hand against the surface. The quiet wheezing indicated he didn't know I looked back yet, but frankly it didn't matter either way.
"Ha-ha, very fuckin' funny. You realize half the people I fought were openly afraid of this woman, right?" I asked, hoping her stature might help to avoid any future teasing.
"So?" Korbin casually replied with a shrug.
"Maybe try to be a bit less crass to her. You know, in case she wants to be allies?" I clarified, though his knowing grin told me I was wasting my breath. His cheery face remained unchanging with his retort.
"Hey, hey what did I do? Was I the one who missed all the crucial facts about this tournament staring at her ass?" Korbin sarcastically questioned. I postured to fire back with my own witty reply, feeling the air crackle in my clenched throat. Korbin grinned seeing I had nothing.
"Oh, oh ok then."
"You know speaking of which, how exactly did getting here work? I mean, I figured we all got 100 fights total bu-" My question was cut short by Korbin's deadpan tone.
"No, no we don't."
"What do you mean 'no we don't'? Why wouldn't we?" I countered confusedly.
"I mean no, there's no set number. The rankings are based on winning, yes. But the Gods rank your performances personally, with the strongest Gods having the biggest say in the vote. Didn't your Patron tell you all this?" Korbin quickly replied, looking at me like I'm the crazy one. Blood rushed to my face as I struggled to keep my stoic expression stiff. I didn't say anything stupid, yet my damn eyes flared wide at the mention of a Patron.
"Shut the fuck up." Korbin said, a surprised smile forming on his face as he covered his mouth.
"No. Way. You're a fuckin' Godless too?! Finally, something make sense around here! How the hell did even you make it this far?" Korbin questioned, between stomach clutching chuckles. Frozen, I looked back with a confused expression, unable to answer.
"Seriously Tom, it's a voting system, if you have no God pushing for you real hard, you're either somehow even hotter product, or something is fucking with you. Something really strong too." Korbin shot back knowingly. My eyebrow shot up at this last bit, noticing how insanely confident he sounded.
"That makes sense, I guess. But uh.. how the fuck do you know that?" I asked, with a furrowed brow. Korbin's grin widened.
"Because I'm not a Godless loser, Tom. They have these things called mouths, I know it's crazy but it gets even better." He shot back, waving his hands charismatically.
"Yeah, yeah no I get it, they told you shit." I replied, hoping to skip another 20 seconds of being jeered.
For fucks sake.
What the hell does a guy got to do? Reaching the top 10 with no God didn't feel like something strange to me. Then again, it wasn't like fighting against those with patrons ended up easy fights on average. Winning a few tough fights facing off other chosen had also indicated they weren't really untouchable either. Quite the opposite in fact.
Yet after watching that last fight between the blonde and Hayden, I understood almost none of what was going on. How did I end up on the All-Star team while simultaneously going fucking undrafted?! Korbin's grin faded scanning my face, falling into a concerned grimace.
"Look, there's plenty of time to get a God. You're in the top 10. Someone will pick you up." He said reassuringly.
"See that's the thing, Korbin. I've been picked up, dude. But each time I show up, my stomach feels like I swallowed fucking acid. Then the god that brought me there would say something like, 'oh, you don't belong to me' or 'I can't covet you, for you're already blah blah blah', not to mention some lame fucking justice dork even rejec-"
It took a few vision shaking pats before noticing my arm getting lightly slapped. My eyes trailed up the hand feeling a tinge of anger at the interruption until facing Korbin. He held his other hand up, palm facing out to me while taking slow deep breaths and mouthing 'breathe.' Mimicking his deep, slowly drawn breaths and exhaling slowly a few times, his face brightened yet again.
"Gooood, just breathe it out man. Relax. None of that sounds pleasant or productive, but you won't solve anything by losing your mind over it, will you?" Korbin offered. A rush of stress fell away feeling my tensed shoulders relax, He was right, this was no time to pa-
TICK
Oh, oh excellent.
"Alright, just remember, Tom. Slow breaths, and work at your pace. Dont rush your footw-."
TICK
"And don't forget to keep your damn lead hand up, or that the fact you're probably the worst fighter here. That's a huge one." Korbin continued after the mighty, echoing ticker sounded.
TICK
"And for fucks sake don't call out your moves. There's actually nothings goofier than hearing you shout your fav-."
TICK
"I KNOW, Korbin. Don't worry, I didn't get here by accident." I shot back angrily.
TICK
"Yelling doesn't make you smarter." Korbin began, still l talking trash for his own enjoyment.
"Oh you're one to talk." I quickly jabbed back.
TICK
"Reeaal mature, Tom. I'm not saying you haven't gotten better I expect you t-"
"-and all I'm saying is there's no need patroni-"
"You don't even know what that MEANS?!" Korbin angrily countered.
TICK
"This is exactly like my first fight. You wouldn't shut the fuck u-"
"You would've been eating from a tube I bit my tongue." Korbin shot back. My arms crossed against my chest.
"You don't know that."
TICK
"Fine, get yourself killed. Not like I wasted over a year of my time in the proc-"
"Oh HERE we go?!" I exclaimed in annoyance, waving my hands at my sides.
TICK
*beep*
Feeling my fist slam against my palm, I felt my footing shift without having twitched my legs. My eyes fluttered scanning around the arena I now stood in. Looking at the crowd of contestants in search for Korbin, I began wondering if he was still with air not knowing I was gone. That was until a string of snapping noises echoed across the arena. Peering over, my eyes bulged at the sight of my first opponent in the top 10. Just so happens, I found Korbin too.
"Would you look at that? Welp, we both knew this would happen sooner or later, buddy." Korbin said with a laugh, shaking his head. A rush of adrenaline surged through my veins realizing where we both stood.
"Just promise to keep it interesting a little, I don't to hear any excu-"
The metallic squeal of my Wakizashi's sliding across the arena floor interrupted Korbin's 'jokes'. Korbin smiled smugly assuming his own fighters stance, raising his sword toward me. Then he simply dropped his sword, stripping away his armor revealing the home-wear he'd been in before any of this.
"Alright, let's do this old school." Korbin offered, though he clearly was already committed. I smiled and followed suit, feeling a level of comfortable familiarity with an unarmed fight. That is until Korbin's hands erupted into a bright orange glow, exhibiting completely new school tendencies.
"Yeah, that's on brand. Alright." I said with an annoyed sigh, having grown a bitter tolerance to Korbin's tricky behavior. My response was brief, deciding to open things up myself rather than let him swing first. Having never divulged my skills, an excitement to flaunt Water Step to the guy who taught the very technique to me in the first place was overpowering.
Exhilaration filled my chest activating my Water Step, keeping my peripherals on high alert for any sign of incoming counter strikes as I closed the distance. To my surprise, Korbin was yet to move, even as I closed the gap within 5 feet, a mistake no other fighters made with me in over 40 fights at th-
Oh yeah, he doesn't know about any of those either.
Now overwhelmed with anticipation, I activated my Lightning Strike. I'd used the technique with my bare fists before it became a skill with weapons, which I hoped was all the practice I needed. There was no way I'd waste time pondering my approach and risk giving Korbin an opening. Planting my rear foot, Flow compounded around my side, loading up something special for my old friend.
See, we sparred a lot this past year, and Korbin's grown to understand my fighting style ever since he began facilitating its development. Meaning this exact punch technique was one of a plethora he'd taught me, along with most all my other Water associated moves. The thing is, we often discussed the kind of moves that we could feasibly perform, both by us particularly and humans in general. In theory, proper use of Flow leads to endless possibilities in terms of fighting or feats of athleticism in general. The problem was our fleshy, relatively weak human bodies couldn't possibly keep up. Feats like judo throws from insane leverage points, kill shots requiring inhuman precision, twisting kicks from impossible angles, or something like what I was attempting now.
Exploding towards Korbin like I was shot out of a cannon, his legs urgently shuffled in response. His open hand whipped up to catch the punch, his palms illuminating with brilliant orange and white glowing trail.
Perfect.
Flow channeled up my leg, gathering in my hip. Korbin fully committed to his initial parry with genuine urgency. All that was left was to close the distance to insure Korbin couldn't switch to a dodge and would have to block the first jab. The world felt like it subtly began slowing around us while firing out my purplish-blue glowing fist at Korbin.
Wind hummed through my ears at the momentum pulling me across the arena, ending no less than arms reach from Korbin. Once my blue-hued fist contacted his palm however, Korbin slid his hand around my wrist and clamped firmly in one fluid motion, the pressure quickly cutting off blood circulation.
Gotcha.
My clothes hissed at the speed of my rear hooking strike, smashing my open palm into the pit of my now grappled elbow. Flow Inverse activated in a powerful burst sending the energy back up my arm toward my chest, ripping it free from Korbin's grasp. The Flow continued traveling down my side, releasing out the bottom of my snapping heel landing a sidekick. Korbin's ribs audibly cracked under the piercing strike, sending a sickening crunch throughout my boot before launching him through the air. His backside slapped the ground with a hollow thud before sliding across the floor.
Freezing in place, the kicks momentum spun me around facing the small crowd of fighters away from Korbin. I paused for a beat, hoping to reappear outside the arena victoriously. Realizing it wasn't happening, I turned and ran towards Korbin, who lay shaking his head sitting up on the ground. In a blink he kicked the air, shooting up to his feet while grabbing my wrist on the way up.
Without missing a beat, Korbin smacked ankle against my rising foot interrupting my shuffling escape. His hand twisted my wrist to the side, causing me to arch down. His foot whizzed by my head, before feeling the sickening, brain rattling thunk of his axe kick blasting the top of my head. My face bounced off floor twice, momentarily stripping me of my vision and adding in immense pressure in my nose. I felt his weight press against the back of my head as Korbin pressed down his boot.
How the fuck is he fine?!
Korbin was many things, but among them was mortal. No normal human being would continue being so spry after suffering sidekick. His rib cage should've completely splintered, sending the shrapnel throughout his organs causing mass internal bleeding. Instead, Korbin moved and nimbly as ever, managing to land one of the most embarrassing kicks you get have landed on you.
"Ah damnit, I didn't mean to knock him out that fast." Korbin grumbled from behind as I lay face down. Pushing my arms along the floor, my body slid across the floor narrowly avoiding Korbin punt for my skull.
"What the f-, how the hell are you awake?" Korbin asked, his raised brow and wide eyes indicating the confusion was genuine.
"Me?! I just fucking killed you!?" I angrily shot back. Korbin simply smiled whiling shrugging.
"What, me? Haha, you land one good hit and call it a kill shot." Korbin chuckled in response. We both had fair points, though the confusion on the few onlookers' faces indicated only we knew why. Firstly, I had no business being awake right now. Before the tournament, had Korbin axe kicked me with the force he used, I'm not sure I'd be able to chew my own food anymore.
However, I'd noticed most everybody was far more resilient than I thought humanly possible over the course of these fights. Sure, some far more than others, but even the average Mage could survive immense blood loss and deep injuries that would normally be considered fatal.
That being said, every finalist had to know what it felt like to absolutely decimate a weaker foe. Considering their guffaws and gasps however, it may take more than skill to watch on stoically.
Above all else however, nothing would be more gratifying than beating Korbin. As in truly beating him for the very first time. That last kick had been the strongest attack I'd used yet, causing a notification sound to ping through my head right after. Yet Korbin looked totally composed, wordlessly declaring he wasn't going to make this easy. Korbin then whistled, waving his hand at me.
"I hope you're about done day dreaming over there?!" Korbin said, shooting me a frustrated look. Blinking quickly, my focus locked back into the fight.
"No go ahead you take a sec, I'm sure the Gods wo-" Korbin said as he began crossing his arms. Water Step yanked me into striking range before he could finish, causing him to drop into stance.
"We're being sneaky now? We only just got started." He snickered, deflecting both of my quick straight punches. Not missing a beat, Korbin raised his rear knee, swinging it toward me.
Feign.
Side stepping with my guard high by my face, I knew damn well what he was doing. This exact fake had already caused me enough physical and, frankly, mental pain during training for a lifetime. It's set up was forever burned into my memories. On queue, his raised knee kicked out behind him toward the ground, twisting his hips and swinging his opposite fist straight for my head. A Flow Inverse at the pit of his elbow sent his attacking arm flailing to the side. Miraculously, Korbin managed to keep his balance, giving me pause from counter attacking. Still, I made sure to begin charging a Lightning Strike to capitalize.
"Is that a Flow Point skill?! That's fuckin' sick!" Korbin hollered excitedly with wide eyes. Nodding with a quick smile to confirm, I resumed my offensive while trying to ignore his incredible sturdiness. Poking with jabs, my priority was keeping Korbin at a comfortable range, as my reach advantage was integral to winning any exchanges during training.
With Korbin's hands glowing like two mini sun's emitting a wafting heat when up close, odds are he has some new tricks and refined older ones too. Letting him use them first was not in my budget, meaning my best bet was to keep his mind on what we already knew and studied together. The next few exchanges were spent in a momentous deadlock. Each time one of my attacks slipped through, Korbin would react as if he wanted me to hit him so he could inch in closer. With every counter he threw awaited a Flow Inverse strike to a flow point however, leaving no clear winner for what felt like a couple minutes. In reality, it probably had only been around 15-20 seconds.
Shuffling out and parrying another strike with Flow Inverse, a glint of frustration flashed over Korbin's face. Stepping to the side, a devious smile quickly followed.
"Can't believe you chose boots with laces!" Korbin shouted with a chuckled, staring at my feet.
Huh?
My eyes glanced down, bouncing straight back up at seeing Korbin's leg twitch forward. He was by no means in range to land any kick, giving little reason for me to dodge. That is until I caught the metallic glimmer atop his foot did I react. Unfortunately his surprise ranged attack had worked, ripping out my Wakizashi from my shoulder and tossing it to the side. I wanted to be bothered by his trickery, but I already knew Korbin as m an avid collector of useful rat behavior. I'd seen a fair share of his sneaky attacks vote the years, enough to at usually expect them coming. Would've been nice if these were one of those times.
It occurred to me Korbin generally never needed to use these kinds of tactics on me in serious sparring before though, taking it as a sign of respect. That didn't mean I wouldn't call him out for it.
"Really? You're gonna throw my sword at me? The fuck happened to 'old fashioned'?" I shouted, angrily. Korbin mockingly repeated my question back to me, only in a far more scratchy, high pitched voice while scrunching his face and sticking his tongue out.
"…fair enough." I replied, shaking my head. Shuffling back into battle, I was greeted immediately with one of his patented, brain shaking roundhouse kicks. Leaning my shoulder back to avoid his swiping foot, swinging my rear leg with the momentum of my level change aiming a front kick for Korbin's midsection. I felt my boot make purchase with his chest, but only after I'd snapped the force of the kick, meaning it lost a lot of possible damage.
Panic rushed through my mind at seeing Korbin had secretly shuffled his feet even closer without me noticing. Before I could react, Korbin snatched under my knee and pulled upward, kicking my standing leg out in the process in one sweeping motion.
Oxygen felt vacuumed from my lungs upon smashing onto the ground. Unwilling to go out so quickly, I wheezingly rolled back to my feet.
"You're lucky I'm nice. That's the only freebie you're gettin'." Korbin said in a much quieter, serious tone through his guard hands. I'd heard that sentence many times before.
Way too many times.
I Water Stepped forward, dismissing my mortal dependence on air, and stomped my heel into his inner thigh. His eyes shot open, indicating I hit the fragile cluster of muscle I'd aimed at. My leg slid over and slammed to the ground behind his knee. My rear fist flew at a curving diagonal path, a deep thump sounding as my first knuckle smashed into his jaw.
Korbin stumbled, where I then water stepped to the side of him about a foot away. My hips spun back around, my rear leg rifling into Korbin's sternum as my leg muscles extended in concert. His body lifted a few feet back before he stumbled catching his footing. Korbin stared at me with an inquisitive look. Now with a hint of anger in his eyes, he spoke.
"Oh ok, we're doing spinny-shit now? Alright." Korbin angrily exclaimed, as before I could recall the rule we made against using those moves months ago. I just never stopped practicing them, and got used to using spinning attacks throughout the tournament.
Immediately Korbin stepped back into range, putting his lead hand forward in a punching motion. Being decently accustomed to his martially deceitful ways, my feet shuffled in retreat pulling my head out of range and keeping my hands free to meet the real attack. Once again his initial attack drifted away, his hips leaning forward and twisting as his lead leg swung towards my quid muscle.
I lifted my knee, aiming the bone at his incoming shin to 'check' his kick. Korbin ought to know from all the leg kicks I'd sustained from him throughout my training that this simple kick would never land.
It wouldn't have, if he'd thrown the kick. Instead, he planted the foot, grabbing my lead wrist with the same hand he pretended to punch me with. Using me as leverage, he spun around rolling across my back, where a loud CRACK interrupted my vision for a moment. Turning around and finally focusing, Korbin was standing still where he'd hit me, his elbow frozen in air about head height to me. He'd Spinning Elbowed me.
How did I not see that coming?
"Gotcha!" Korbin hollered in triumph. Sliding his foot, twisting his hips and shooting forward using a fucking water step. His hidden foot tucked behind the rear fired upward, snapping his heel toward my chest.
Momentarily insulted, I Water Stepped to the side, shocked at how narrow of a miss his kick actually was. Ignoring my miscalculation, I swung my back leg around for a head kick while spinning on the other, a kicking form he'd taught me himself. He swayed opposite to the kick to avoid its range, prompting me to kick down hard with the stored Flow I was building in my knee during the step, activating Lighting Strike. My rear fist illuminated with its bright purple hue connected to his jaw once again.
For the first time, my strike drew blood from his lip. He wiped his face and looked at his hand, his demeanor shifting as he focused on it.
"That fucking hurt." Korbin growled angrily through an angrily arched brow. His hawkish stare rested above a broken jaw crackling audibly times as he clinched his teeth hard. I chuckled with my reply.
"First time for everyth-"
Korbin's entire body erupted in the same bright orange flames that covered his hands. His eyes changed from green with orange around the pupil, to a bright golden-orange that engulfed his entire eye socket.
His figure blurred like a waving candle as he exploded toward me at incredibly speeds. Twisting my shoulders hard around his foot, I narrowly avoid his attack. Before I could process my response, a tight pressure snagged my wrist. Korbin yanked my arm, pulling himself to get my back. I knew right away he was going for a submission, and if his other arm locked under my chin, I'd go out looking like a sweaty purple grape in his choke in seconds.
I swung my elbow into his arm that was snaking to my neck, activating Flow Inverse redirecting its constrictive pressure out. Twisting, my fist connected to his jaw, but his face didn't even flinch on impact.
Grabbing my shoulder, Korbin stomped while smashing his palm against my elbow with surprising force. Heat wafted from my elbow as it was pulled out of its socket, sending a shooting pain through my arm. I began questioning my chances of getting out of this alive, seeing as he was tapping into moves I'd never used before.
Before, it felt like any other spar. Back and forth, counters and countering Korbin's counter to my own, all the while chasing finally being able to say "I can beat you". Not that I would always win from now on, but that I just fucking could. The difference today was, for the first time I really, really believed I could.
Newfound confidence that screamed for me to plant my foot, and surprise him by going on the offensive before he can teach me a new combo first hand right now. Rocketing off my feet, I saw my path, launching my good arm toward his jaw in a burst of purplish light. So long as his guard's down, my hit will land, and the momentum's in my grasp.
At least, it would've been, had he not caught my fist with his rear hand. I never saw it move, yet there it was, crossed over the opposite side of his face from where its shoulder was connected. For the first time since he ignited into a ball of fire, Korbin smiled.
I could smell the hair on my hands singing before feeling my fingers snap in an excruciating cacophony of cracks and pops as Korbin crushed them in his hand. Twisting my wrist outwardly, he made a point of dislocating that bone as well. I lurched over in pain, leaving myself defenseless as he yanked my broken hand, pulling himself forward for a vicious elbow to my nose. The sound of my cartilage crumbling was mute compared to the high pitched ringing in my head that followed. My eyes welled swollen, though not of sadness, but my sinuses getting violently impacted against my skull.
Blinded by watery eyes I reeled back, feeling my body and vision spinning in opposition. My weight leaned forward stumbling into a sideways 'L' shape to stay standing, when an arm wrapped over my neck, followed by the feeling of warmth on my right ear and back of the neck.
Guillotine.
Locking his arms under my neck, all I felt was a jerking motion followed by a sickens string of cracks along my spine. My vision abruptly cut to black, where every sense except feeling was replaced with an unending emptiness. Just as soon as the world disappeared, my vision returned in a blinding flash of light. My body lurched forward hoping to catch Korbin off guard, when I noticed white walls all around me.
Countless faces suddenly surrounded me, a few familiar but not enough to remember where from. It took locking eyes with the old man who shuffled through the crowd, smiling as he placed his hand on my shoulder did I understand.
I fucking lost.