As the two high school students walked up to where they would be observing the match from, Cinder and Damion prepared to fight. They locked eyes with one another, standing on opposite sides of the large arena where the tournament had been taking place. There was a strange tension that surrounded the both of them.
They were both quiet as the referee walked out to the podium where he would be officiating the match from. He looked at each of the fighters, his eyes slightly narrowed.
"Fighters ready? Fight!"
Once again seeing the fight begin in this semifinal match, Leopold could hear the cries and screams of everyone watching resonate all around him. His spot that he had chosen had a railing in front of him that he could lean over.
The boy smiled. "Let's see how this one is going to go." This would be a match between some of tue strongest fighters of Academy Five! "It's sure going to be interesting."
"Who do you think will win, Leo?" Ceil asked from beside him.
Putting his finger on his chin, Leopold looked at the two teenagers below. "A tough question..."
Being as he hadn't actually seen any of Damion Wolfshine's combat, he had no way of knowing what strengths and weaknesses he might have held. For all he knew, this male could have just made it through the tournament purely based on luck or he might have been at the level of some of the strongest in history!
"That earthquake was something though..." Leopold observed, looking down at the Beastman. "I don't think that he made it here based solely on simple luck."
"Guess we'll just have to see." was the final answer that Leopold gave his friend.
Down below, the two fighters seemed to also be having a conversation with one another. Cinder scanned over Damion's appearance, not moving from where she had originally started from. She seemed to be confused by something about her opponent.
"Say..." she breathed, looking at his face. "You don't seem to have any weapons on you. Just how do you plan to defeat me, Wolfshine?" She narrowed her eyes in waiting.
"I'm not sure what it is your getting at..."
Cinder pointed at the male, getting her teeth. "I'm sure that you've noticed, but every single fighter in this arena carries with them a kind of weapon so as to amplify the abilities." She put her hand on the hilt of her sheathed sword. "Even I as a princess carry with me a blade to assist me in combat."
Hearing her, Leopold's eyes widened. "Wow! I hadn't even noticed the lack of a weapon!" It was common practice among all fighters to have with them some sort of weapon as a show of both respect and to help them in combat. It could be used when magic was unavailable or when you needed "range" while fighting an opponent. "Cinder must be taking this fight more seriously than I imagined!"
"I wonder why..." he whispered aloud.
Looking back at the young girl, Damion blinked a few times. "A weapon?" He scratched his cheek, holding his hands up. "Well, I'd suppose that these would be my weapons. Simple hand to hand combat is all I really use in battle."
Cinder's jaw dropped. "EXCUSE ME?" She took a step back, unsheathing her blade in a fit of rage. "Are you trying to mock me, you damned bastard?!"
"No. I just don't really... do weapons." Damion answered. He held his hands out, try to calm her down. "I wasn't aware that was all that offensive, miss."
"HOW DARE YOU!"
Seeing the overwhelming anger that seemed to flow out of the girl below him, Leopold couldn't help but let out a sigh. This seemed like a sort of déjà vu for the young male.
"She really has a bad habit of taking things farther than needed..." he said to Ceil, crossing both of his arms. "I really wish that she would have some sort of way to stop that. It gets really hard to watch..."
Ceil nodded, sighing in embarrassment. "She's always had a short fuse." She shook her head, looking back at Damion to see what he would do next.
"Look, I do apologize if I..."
"SHUT UP!"
Out of what felt like nowhere, Cinder bent her knees and then went flying right at the boy across from her. She held her sword in both hands, ready to strike down the male in a single blow if it was possible! There was an impressive resolve that shone in each of her eyes as she flew through the air, making her seem like she was a real knight.
As the flat part of her sword connected with the arm of Damion, the ground could be seen collapsing beneath him. An updraft of air was sent flying, everyone around them holding onto accessories.
"Wow! Much impressive, Princess Cinder!" Damion complemented, seeming unfazed.
Looking up at the girl, Damion let out a slow deep breath. He bent his knees further for a couple of seconds and then thrusted upward as if trying to match the force that Cinder had been pressing upon him with her first attack.
And it seemed to work. In little to no time, it was able to send the momentum of Cinder flying back in the opposite direction from whence she came from! The girl didn't seem to expect this as when she started flying there was no counter that would have helped her gain back her formerly stable body position.
She landed into the rock wall of the colosseum, a loud thud following. Falling back go the ground below her, Cinder started to cough up blood from her mouth.
The girl looked up, covering her stained mouth. She narrowed her eyes, looking directly at her opponent who just stood there with a smile on his face. "The hell... What in the heck just happened?!" She seemed surprised that he possessed the strength to force her back so quickly and with much might.
Grinning even more than before, Damion shrugged in response. He laughed once again, looking back at her. "Guess that you'll have to keep fighting to figure that out, Miss." He bent his knees once more, getting into a martial marts fighting position.
"Guess so..."
From up in the seats of the audience, Ceil's jaw dropped. "Damn! This guy really has CiCi cornered!" Her eyes sparked, enthused by the fight at hand.
"Indeed." Leopold agreed.
"Did you see exactly how he did that?" Ceil asked Leopold. "It was much too fast for me to see. It was as if sis was flying almost as soon as she had started to attack him!"
The boy nodded, sitting down. "Even with a trained eye most wouldn't be able to catch that speed of his." He narrowed his own eyes, smiling. "I was only barely able to see most of what had happened myself."
Thanks to the special eyes Leopold possessed that could see into the future, he was able to catch most of Damion's moves just before he made them. This helped him to anticipate the next strike and to catch all of what the Beastman would try to use against Cinder before he could even try it himself.
"What did he do?" Ceil looked over at Leopold, tilting her head. "Did he just shove her back? It looked odd from my point of view."
"It was different than what you would expect." Looking back down at the battlefield below them, Leopold pointed at Damion's hands. "It was actually as he had stated before. Those hands really are his weapons."
"What do you mean? I'm not sure that I'm following..."
The boy scratched his head, trying to think of some sort of explanation that he could give the girl. If he was being honest, there wasn't really just one simple thing that he could use to illustrate the fight at hand. It was closer to simple martial arts than the swordsmanship most people of Vera were used to seeing in normal combat.
"Well..." he breathed. "It's simple dodging that he's been doing for the most part." Leopold looked up at the sky above his head, crossing his arms. "When Cinder made her move and struck the flat part of her blade against his arms, that wasn't intentional."
"So, you're saying that Mr. Wolfshine is responsible for that happening?" Ceil questioned, trying to process the information. "I suppose that would make some sense."
"He did this to avoid taking damage from the sword as well as throw in opponent off guard." Leopold continued, looking back at Ceil. "He used his arms and carefully, shifted the weight of the sword just slightly so that its facing was different. Then, when Cinder was stuck in midair for a couple of seconds after, he was able to use the opportunity to send her flying with the momentum he had obtained. Really, he's just using the simple act of recoil to double his own strength."
"Wow..." Ceil gasped. "That sure is one heck of an explanation. Didn't you say that you weren't smart though?"
"I'm not. Actually, it was during one of my fights with Lucas that I learned at." Leopold explained to the girl."
"I see."
Back down on the battlefield where Cinder and her opponent squared off, the girl started to stand back up after her beating. She dusted herself off, not taking her eyes off of the male who stood across the arena. Her eyes narrowed, thinking to herself about what had just happened.
"It seems that normal attacks won't work..." the girl observed. She grabbed her sword, making sure that it hadn't been damaged. "It would take a more powerful strike to break through his defenses. I'm not sure that I have the power required to pull off something such as that right now."
Sure, Cinder possessed quite an impressive amount of magical power being that she was royalty. However, she was more equipped for that of defeating attack type opponents rather than defense.
Damion looked at the girl from his spot, grinning. "Come on, princess! That can't be all that you have up your sleeves can it?" He licked his lips. "Come on... Fight me!"
This guy was really starting to get on Cinder's nerves.
She bit her lips, readying herself for another attack. "I have to do something or this fight will be over!" Even if Wolfshine's skills had surprised Cinder, she was not about to let that be the end of this match! "I have to make it to the finals. I need to make it so that I can have my revenge on that damned Stratus boy..."
Taking no more time to rest, Cinder pointed the tip of her blade at Damion. She narrowed her eyes, preparing to cast that of her own magic as a means of attack.
"Oh?"
"Flame Magic: Flames of Ash!"
Sitting next to Leopold, Ceil's eyes started to widen. She stood back up, leaning over the railing as she started to yell at her sister who stood below her. She seemed to be worried about something that was occurring.
"That skill... Cinder! You can't!"
Stratus tilted his head, confused as to what was happening. "What's going on? You seem like there's something on her mind." Was something wrong?
Kushida's princess gritted her teeth, not taking her eyes off Cinder. "That's my sister's most powerful skill..." She felt as sweat dripped from her forehead. "If Wolfshine is luckily, the spell won't make any contact with him whatsoever or will only manage to scrape him at least. However..."
"However?"
Ceil closed her eyes. "If those flames manage to connect a direct hit... It will be as if he just withers away into the air." She looked over at Leopold. "Turned into nothing but that of ash."
Leopold almost felt his jaw drop when he heard those words. "What?! How is that even freaking legal?!" He looked with Ceil at the battle. "You may be right... This could end up being incredibly bad."
"Indeed." she agreed.
As the magic surrounded the sword of Cinder, she stared to once again dash at her opponent. Damion watched the girl, being careful not to let the weapon make contact with his flesh as he quickly dodged left and right. It seemed that he had been smart and wasn't going to try and let her strike him down with even the smallest of attacks.
"Flames of Ash? I don't know what you're doing, but it won't work." he breathed, trying to dissuade her. The boy jumped back, making some distance between himself and the princess. "Is this really your best attack."
Surprisingly, despite the many mocking words of her enemy, Cinder simply started to smile. She looked at the boy, wiping the sweat from her forehead as she spoke to him.
"Just wait and see."
"What do you..."
Watching what was happening, Leopold's eyes once again started to widen. His hands on the railing in front of him, he looked down at the battlefield to get a clear view of what Cinder was doing to Damion. It seemed that Ceil was right in that this was Cinder's most powerful spell, one that he hadn't been expecting.
The remaining embers of the flame that Cinder had surrounded her sword with had been scattered by her many strikes and flimsy jabs. However, those same embers had managed to surrounded Damion while he was distracted, covering the male in the flame as if it were a bright orange coat.
Cinder's sister sighed, shaking her head. "Oh boy... Looks like he's in for it now." The girl looked off to the side, still speaking aloud. "Do we have some medical professionals? He's going to need some sooner rather than later.
"I wouldn't be so sure." Leopold remarked, hearing her words.
The girl looked back at him, seeming confused. "And just why is it that you say that."
"Just take another look." Leopold pointed to Damion who was still below them. "I believe that you will find that this fight is not quite over just yet."
Looking down, Ceil saw that the flame was starting to disappear. She narrowed her eyes, looking down at Damion as she tried to see just what it was that Leopold had been trying to show her. Wasn't he supposed to be more... injured? This was certainly quite a surprise for Ceil to see after thinking that this fight would be long over.
Actually, Damion was no were close to being defeated. He seemed as healthy as he had a couple of minutes prior, only a simple scratch over his left cheek visible.
In little to no time at all, the ash was gone and Damion was able to just stand there and looked back at his opponent. He scratched his cheek, seeming disappointed by what had just occurred during his match.
Damion clicked his tongue. "A shame... And here I was thinking this may get interesting." He shrugged, scratching the top of his head as he let out a yawn.
"Damn it..." Cinder took a step back, narrowed eyes. "Even with that spell... I was only able to get a single scratch on his cheek?" She seemed just as dumbfounded as to how this could have occurred as everyone else. It seemed that she did indeed lack the power necessary to defeat this Damion Wolfshine.
At least, thats what was expected...
Hearing her words, Damion's eyes widened. The male slowly went and touched his bleeding cheek, watching as his hands was stained red.
"Well would you look at that." He laughed, shaking his head. "Guess that might be a first for me." After saying that, he turned around and headed back for the tunnel that he had initially walked out of, waving to Cinder.
"Hey?! Where do you think you're going?!" she barked at him.
He shrugged, only glancing back at Cinder for a moment. "I forfeit this match. I give this win to you, princess."
"HUH!"
Both Cinder and the large crowd around her erupted in gasps and cries when Damion made his shocking revelation. There wasn't even a single scratch on Cinder yet! Was he really just giving up so quickly with only the bare minimum injury from Cinder's aggressive attacks? It seemed odd to everyone watching.
Cinder gritted her teeth, throwing her sword down on the ground. "Are you being serious?! This match was only getting started!" She seemed upset by his decision.
Wolfshine only clicked his tongue in response. "Well, I don't want to offend her highness, but at your skill level you would have never been able to defeat me." He again let out a yawn. "There has never been a soul who has managed to even put a scratch on my body. I decided that if you could pull of that feat then I would let you have the win." He laughed, continuing to walk away. "Plus, I hate being president or vice-president of the student council."
Cinder bit her tongue and smacked her wrist. "You quit just because of the job?! You are the most annoying guy I've met! Worse than the idiot!"
Leopold raised an eyebrow. "That bad? This man has some true skill..."
And just as quickly as he had come, Damion Wolfshine exited the field with only the confusion left among everyone who had come to see the match.