"You really want to talk about that now? We only have 3 more minutes before it's a draw," I said, creating ice braces on both of my arms.
"Fine, we can talk after I kick your ass," Jenn said, as her hands erupted in dark flames.
She lunged forward and brandished her knife from my left, now covered in the black flame. I used my left arm to block it, expecting that she swung her left fist at my face. I dodged the fist by moving my head slightly back and countered with a right jab. My fist hit her square on the nose, causing her to stumble backward and shake her head involuntarily.
"Don't get too cocky; even after all of this, you've yet to land a single hit," I said as I took advantage of the momentary retreat and pressed forward.
I started a simple combination of jabs and hooks that forced Jenn to retreat further back with each of my attacks. Jenn was feeling the pressure as she couldn't do anything to remove herself from her defensive stance.
With every punch, I manipulated the ice from my gauntlets into blades and icicles with every hook and jab, respectively. Jenn was using her entire focus on enhancing her body with her flame to increase her speed, either by manipulating the explosive power of her muscles or using her fire magic to rocket herself out of harm's way.
In a few seconds, we moved from one end of the ring to the other, forcing Jenn to have her back to the edge of the platform. Unable to move backward anymore, she focused on increasing her fluidity and speed to dodge. In a moment of clarity, Jenn dodged an incoming jab and locked my arm with her left hand, holding my left arm and using her shoulder to clasped the icicle perturbing from my fist.
Instantly she covered her right hand in an infernal fire and slammed down on the icicle shattering to pieces. Shocked by her sudden burst of speed and counter, I hesitated for a second, giving her enough time to launch a powerful blow towards my torso. The black flame hit my chest like a bowling ball, launching me back almost to the center of the ring.
With the gap she managed to create between us, Jenn managed to catch a breather and prepare herself for the next round.
"That's the first of many," Jenn said, as her face was flushed and filled with sweat. Her chest bobbing as her labored breaths betrayed her fatigue.
'She really is good. My mana is actually already reaching its end; she actually forced me to use almost all of it. No matter how much control I have over it, I can only stretch my limited reservoir so much. My stamina is still good, but my magic will start failing if this drags any longer.
I've only used ice magic so far because I still have some residual affinity from my sisters' Mark; therefore, I can use it much more efficiently than fire, which I have more experience using for augmentation. But I need to do this now, before I lose the battle due to mana depletion.'
"Actually, why don't we end it? We only have 30 seconds left. Why not have one good last attack and see who's left standing?" I said, canceling the makeshift Ice Armor covering my torso and arms.
"Why not? You're looking a little tired; it wouldn't be kind of me to drag this on," Jenn responded as she canceled her fire-enhancing spells.
Her body temperature immediately started to plummet; only then did I realize her body had been releasing steam as she was overheating. With her spell canceled, the red tint to her skin disappeared, and her breathing became more regular.
At this time, we both readied ourselves for one final attack.
Jenn started to converge her mana between her palms as she struck a pose mimicking an old character from a particular Japanese animation. I also prepared my mana and concentrated it in front of my chest. Jenn and I finished preparing our spells at the same time and released them simultaneously.
A condensed black beam with a diameter of around 10 inches shot out of Jenn's hands, warping the very air as it advanced across the ring. In the blink of an eye, the black ray covered the entire length of the platform only to harshly stop at the border of the ring as a barrier in a hexagonal pattern blocked its progress. The ray subsided, and Jenn fell, taking a knee, refusing to fall to the floor. She lifted her head to peek at her defeated opponent, only to find the ring empty.
Not finding the white-dressed boy anywhere in the field, her mind went into panic mode. 'He's not here. I killed him! I actually killed him. He disintegrated! There's nothing left. What am I going to tell father? He was so confident, so strong, I thought he could block it, at the very least dodge it, but he's gone!' Her mind raced at hundreds of miles an hour.
"Wow! I would have been a goner if that actually hit me. That's quite a dangerous attack there, young lady; save it for the Otherworlders, not the Arena." I said, standing next to her, looking at where the ray hit the ring barrier.
"What? How? You're not dead!" Jenn yelled in shock, still bolted to the floor.
"Well, that's still out for discussion. But YOU didn't kill me, no," I answered as I grabbed Jenn by the neck and hauled her towards the edge.
Not wasting a second, I tossed Jenn off the platform as she protested, something about fairness and warriors code; I wasn't listening.
"Victory to Ghost. 15 victories to 0 losses. Defeat to Jenn. 14 victories to 1 loss."
As soon as the referee announced the results, I jumped off, following behind Jenn. I subconsciously walked up to the still paralyzed kid and stared at her as she threw insults that fell on deaf ears.
'I'm positive now that I've never met her, but there's no mistake about her identity; she's the child of a high-ranking military official. That last spell of hers is only taught to select people within the army, and the only ones that would dare teach it to a kid would be a higher-up, spoiling his brat.
Yet, I've never met her, never even heard of her. Who the hell is she? Is this not my Earth; did I return to some parallel Earth?'
"Who the hell are you?" I found these words escaping my mouth before I knew it.
"Is that any way to ask? By the looks of it, I'm older than you, so treat me with respect," she responded.
Knowing full well that I was unintentionally rude, I double-down. "Respect is earned, not demanded. Now, who the hell are you?"
"Same to you, show respect, and I'll return it," she said.
"I don't want or need your respect, only an answer," I impulsively riposted.
"Jennifer Allister. Damn it, do you have to be so rude? You already beat me," she answered. Then continued to talk.
I stopped listening.
'There's absolutely no way! There's no resemblance. How come she's here? Does that mean he was living in Athens at the time? No. He was stationed at the Hellmouth around this time. This all makes sense; that's why I never met her.
My old friend, I met her. Your daughter, she's here in front of me. After everything we've been through, all the pain, suffering, and rare moments of joy. You saved me so many times; you saved so many people. I can change it, I can give you the one thing you always wanted. My mentor and friend, I can now see her.
I swear, I will give you this gift if it's the last thing I do. I will save Jennifer's life!'
"Hahaha! What, you trying to pick up the girl you just the crap out of? How brave of you, man." an annoyingly boisterous shout knocked me out of my thoughts.
"Ignore him," I said, waving my hand, then continued, "You're the daughter of Brigadier Allister? The same Brigadier in charge of The Ghost Riders?"
"Uh? You know my dad? How the hell? Who are you?" Jennifer said, standing up.
"You're talented, but you rush in too much. You have an unnaturally high amount of mana and decent mana control, but you think more with your fists than your brain. Your first instinct is to go for the big and powerful spells; when instead, using more controlled and smaller magic was the much better choice." I lectured
"Wow. Going straight into a lecture, you definitely know my old man. You still haven't answered my question. Who are you?" Jennifer asked again.
"No one of consequence," I immediately answered. "You still have a lot of room for improvement. Your spells were incredibly inefficient; your techniques were too by the book, too formulaic. You telegraphed your moves from a mile away, and you're leaking mana by the gallons. That's why even though you have more mana than me, you ran out of it first."
"Wow, hold up. What are you, my instructor? How come you're lecturing me? I don't know you," Jennifer said, sitting back down on the floor.
"It's better if you don't question it; he just kinda does that? I've been trying to get him to tell me his name for the last two weeks, and the only thing I got out of him is that he likes chicken wings." Monroe said, jumping into the conversation. "But, still, you should listen to his advice. He's a stick in the mud but knows what he's talking about."
"Seriously, I was gonna do that anyway; why do you think I came to the Arena in the first place? Why else would I come to this revolting place?" Jennifer said, scratching her head. "I need experience, and dad is refusing to teach me. Where the hell did he go?" Jennifer said, looking around.
"What? Where? He was right here, I swear. It's like he's a ghost." Monroe said, looking under his arm.
"Really, he just starts lecturing me, then disappears like that," Jennifer said, scratching her head.
"I'm still here," I said, behind Jenn and Monroe.
"Ah!" Jennifer screamed, jumping almost a full meter off the floor.
"Holy mother..." Monroe said, holding his chest.
"How the hell did you do that?" Jenn asked, calming down and threatening to hit me.
"I just walked around you. I was thirsty," I responded, taking a sip of a water bottle I just bought.
"No, I mean I lost you. As in you literally disappeared from my sight," Jennifer stated, looking intently at me.
"No, I didn't." I said flat-out like a kid.
"Yes, you did, man. I was standing right next to you, and then you weren't there." Monroe added.
"Oh, mean, like this?" I said, once again disappearing from their sights. "I didn't disappear. I just sealed my presence. Since I'm running incredibly low on mana, I'm trying to conserve it; so I don't pass out." I added reappearing at their side.
"How come I haven't seen you do that before?" Monroe asked.
"Because I've never needed to use it before, and because it doesn't work when there is nothing around me. So it's useless in a match where I'm the only focus." I answered.
"Teach me how to do that," Jennifer commanded as she grabbed my shoulders.
"Really? You were just complaining about me; now you want me to teach you?" I asked while being shaken.
"Yes!" Jennifer answered, not stopping.
"I refuse," I said, 'I'm about to pass out.'
"You refuse! What do you mean you refuse? You were just giving me a bunch of advice, now you don't want to teach me?" Jennifer questioned, finally stopped shaking me.
'I am doing this on purpose, but I never expected to work so well. It's a good thing her father told me about Jennifer's personality. I'll teach her, but only the basics; with her talent, she'll end up learning all she needs on her own.
I still need to keep some distance between us, at the rate that it's going, and I manage to save her life, we'll end up in the military around the same time. I can't have her recognize me immediately; there's a reason why I wear a mask. I have a plan, and I can't let people get in the way of it carelessly.'
"C'mon, it won't cost you anything," Jennifer continued.
"I'm going home. I used up all of my mana and am currently forcing myself to stay awake. So, if you two don't mind, well, even if you do, I'm going home." I said, hiding my presence and essentially disappearing from their sight.
While Monroe was used to my sudden departures, Jennifer definitely was not.
"What? That son of a... " Jenn said, looking around.