Real life PvP

My sides and legs still hurt from running last night. I will NEVER agree to another game like that again. It was a bad idea, especially before the fight. I dunno if I'll even do well today. Thomas's words still rang in my head:

"Kid, you did a good job, but you didn't win. You were so close, and the reason you didn't win is because you gave up too early. Sure, your legs might've given out, but I thought you had the mindset of never giving up, didn't you?"

"I did Thomas. I pulled a reckless move that lost me the race, but it was better than letting Jarun die because some stupid kids decided to cheat."

"What do you mean kids 'cheating'"

I had explained to him about Ezra who could 'remove' from objects, and Lily who was by his side. I told him that they both have been cheating every game they played. The look on Thomas's face had changed from irritation to surprise.

"I see. I guess you'll be fine. As it is, you'll be tired tomorrow. But before you go, I have one more thing to teach you."

"Another... move?"

He nodded to confirm my words. "I think your ready. It takes a lot of stamina, so be prepared if ya use it kid. This move is called 'Form'."

"What the heck kinda name is 'Form'?"

"Don't underestimate it kid. Yeah, may be a weird name for it, but it's incredibly useful, especially with that ability of yours."

I almost forgot I told Thomas about my ability. It only seemed like yesterday that I told him that I could stop time. His hair turned white, his hair glowing brightly.

"What the—!?! What are you doing!" I tried to block out the light, but it was getting brighter and brighter.

"This, Andrew, is the power of 'Form'!"

After a few seconds the light finally stopped. Nothing had happened.

"Uhhh, bro I think your move was a—"

Blood spurted from various cuts all over my skin, like someone had taken a rapier and swung it at me over and over again very fast. I fell down to my knees from the light stinging sensations around my body, my pants becoming wet from the snow.

"W-what was that."

"The reason its called 'Form' is because that light wasn't from my hair. I was just rapidly moving from tree to tree to wall over and over again while using my daggers. I kept returning to the same spot, which was how you saw that blinding light. Imagine if you could do that Andrew. You could easily take someone down in stopped time with 'Form'." He grunted again. It must be a habit of his still, although I haven't heard him do that in a while.

"Damn that sun."

"Umm, Thomas it's night."

"The moon reflects sunlight kid. Forget about that? Anyways, you want to combine your most powerful emotions to use the move, then you can almost see a web. Once you see that web, launch forward off the balls of your feet and it will do the job for you."

He grunted again. Thomas didn't do this during the summertime, so why was he doing it now?

"Damn that sun! I gotta run kid. Bad stuff happens if I don't get long enough rest. I was lucky enough to survive the summer. Anyways, see ya tomorrow kid."

"Oi, Andrew."

I snapped back to reality. Jarun was now in front of me. "Good luck."

"Thanks bro. It was nice knowing ya Jarun. Maybe I'll see ya again one day."

"I sure hope man. See ya 'round bro." He turned and left the corridor I was now standing in. Thousands of "Beast People" from around Jaguer had gathered into the arena, which could honestly barely fit 500. I took in a deep breath before stepping out into the sunlight. The crowd roared once both Ziya and I had stepped into the arena ground. We must've been pretty famous for this many people to show up.

Ziya looked stunning. I didn't have much feelings for her, but she honestly looked pretty good. She wore a silver crop top, her skin painted white, unlike her natural tan. On her face, her yellow eyes were glowing, and the red dots Jarun and I saw last night on her face dotted it as well. Her white hair glistened in the sunlight. As usual, her yellow chasm crystal hung around her neck, shining in the sunlight. Ripped jean shorts matched her black combat boots.

I looked down at myself: Shirtless, a large golden X that went across my tan chest. Filthy forest green jeans that had been worn for a year. Light brown combat boots that Bruce gave me. My dirty chin-length brown hair was messy as usual, slightly puffy. Hair blocked little bits of my vision, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't move them out of the way, so Ziya had an advantage over me.

I did my best to look cool before the fight, but this was all I could do. I didn't have a single coin from here, so I was stuck with what was given to me or what I had. Comparison contest? Ziya wins.

"Are you ready to fight! On the left, the daughter of the King... Ziya!" Bruce yelled.

The entire area was filled with screams and madness of the "Beast People." By the second it seemed like the arena was getting more and more overfilled.

"On the right side, a boy who has been working for a year... Andrew!"

The roaring only continued to grow.

"Alright then! The arena will be lifted into the skies, and everything is allowed. Use everything you see fit to your advantage! Tell me the weapons you'll both be using!"

"I will be using my katana." Ziya raised her blade in confirmation, the steel shining bright, nearly blinding.

Speaking of light, I was still gonna use the move Thomas had briefly shown me last night. Although the arena was large and we were about ten feet into the earth, the walls were close enough for me to bounce off of.

"3!"

I went into the basic stance. I could block or attack with it, which was perfect against Ziya.

"2!"

Suddenly, the earth beneath us started to shake and rise. I was worried it was an earthquake, but I didn't think that earthquakes could happen on other planets. Still, I kept my guard up as we lifted higher and higher into the sky.

"1!"

I drew three katana from my belt, ready to fire. The four pillars now shot out a cage-like net similar in the training arena down below, where it formed a dome around the sides.

"Fight!"

Ziya immediately used dash to fly towards my kneecaps at lightning speeds, which I couldn't allow her to do. At all. My legs had already been pretty bad shape before the hunt, so I couldn't let her get to them. There was no time to stop time, so I used a little something that I always had up my sleeve.

I quickly thought about stopping time and then resuming time, where a white line appeared in front of my eyes, almost like my 'skull smasher'. Except this line just plain teleports me.

The moment I teleported, Ziya was swinging her blade in the spot where I had vanished from. But she must've predicted it, because the blade kept going until she made a 180. The katana flung from her hands, going straight for my stomach. I stepped to the right, just in time for the blade to bounce off the wall and slash the right side of my ribs. There was no way I could've dodged her sword, because even though it was barely visible, a string was controlling it.

The blade flew right back to her hands as she jumped high into the air to bring her katana down on me. I drew one of the kunai from my waist to block against her blade, but she could already see that coming. At the last second, she put her blade to my right and swung it sideways, scattering the shattered weapon all over the ground. Instead of the original plan of slicing me in half, she instead went in for a leg lock on my neck.

Ziya kept pulling my head forward more and more. She was... planning on snapping my neck! I pushed off my feet, pulled her head between my legs, and put her into a headlock. Yeah, this may sound a little weird, but at least I wasn't having my neck snapped like a toothpick.

"Heh, you learned some pretty good skills from Thomas, didn't ya? He even taught ya how to get out of a headlock."

"So? We're in the middle of a 1v1. Shut the hell up. I'm sorry, but I ain't gonna go out without a fight. So shut yo mouth and get back to fighting Ziya."

An angry frown formed on her face. When I had put Ziya into a headlock, I had forgot one minor detail: I forgot to keep her arms and hands down. She let go of my legs which she was grabbing and swung the katana towards my legs.

This time though was too slow.

"Time stop!"

She froze, the color and sounds of the air disappearing. That would never get old. I jumped out of the way just as time began to resume. Ziya's blade once again swished through the air, hitting nothing. I drew three katana from my belt and chucked them at her legs so she would jump into the air, where she wouldn't have anywhere to go. If she used her strings, she would either make a web with them to use as a shield or use them to sling herself around the arena.

She did neither.

Ziya shot string that latched onto my ribcage, pulling herself faster than I could react. It was faster than we could dash. She was combining the moves to sling herself at me like a human bullet.

It didn't help that she spun with the blade in front of her, which went straight through my abdomen. Blood dripped off of my skin. The spinning didn't stop. Blood—MY blood— was spraying everywhere now. She was starting to make a whirlwind of my blood.

It stung as hell. This was gonna majorly affect the fight. As it is, this is killing me. I grabbed her silver hair and yanked her to my side, where I would expect her to swing off of me. I grabbed her string, yanked it towards me, pulling in once again another surprise. She used her katana to make another hole in my body, this time in my shoulder. I was running out of chasm.

It was time to use the move Thomas had shown me. I took in a deep breath, closed my eyes, letting anger, rage, and joy take over. Everything seemed to slow down, even myself. The pain from Ziya seemed so far away. I could barely feel anything. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain, amidst the peace and calmness of a state I was in. I opened my eyes to see Ziya had stopped spinning and jabbed the katana right next to the hole in my stomach. She just stood there in the air, giving me a neutral face that didn't want anything to do with me.

Fuck Thomas's move. I grabbed the katana by its blade and shoved it deeper into my abdomen, where it was so deep it stuck out of my back a little bit. I pushed on the sword in opposite directions until it eventually snapped in half. Enough was enough. I threw the navy blue hilt to the ground and pulled out six kunai, three in each hand.

I was waiting for Ziya to shoot string at me, but she just stared, horrified. I dunno what she was looking at, but it was an opening for me.

"Time stop!"

I jumped up about ten feet into the air, throwing the six I had in hand down on her. They froze mid-air, like last time when I threw them at Ezra. I was planning to use that to chuck more and more until a barrier of knives surrounded Ziya. I had about half a barrier when I both ran out of Kunai and time resumed. Ziya must've been in shock, because she somehow got hit. Usually, she would've jumped back using her string or used her katana to slice them in half. But she barely stepped backwards.

I rolled and grabbed one of the kunai off the ground. One would do the job. It would be using the last of my stamina and chasm, but it was gonna be worth it when it all worked out. I tried again, taking in a deep breath and closing my eyes while focusing on harnessing my anger, rage, and joy into one energy. Finally, I opened my eyes, and there was an entire web that surrounded a Ziya. The webs all connected to a single point, at Ziya's arms and stomach, just like Thomas said.

I launched myself forward, and the webs pulled me around like minecart. I was going so fast I could only see light, not even Ziya. All I could do was put my arms and hope for the best.

I finally had come to the end of the web, dizzy from all of the movement. I turned just in time to see Ziya, shocked, as her arms fell off her body. Her string shot out of her empty arm sockets, pulling the arms back to her body and sewing it together, as if it never happened. I thought it had done the job, but wasn't I a wrong one.

Ziya shot towards me, slinging herself by grabbing both of my ankles. There was no way in hell I would let that happen. I was already prepared for her attack. I figured she would try to do something like this, so I had a little trick up my sleeve for this final moment. I took all of my kunai and chucked them into the air above me. I knew that they would come down, so I would use that as a barrier when she would attack. I went into basic stance, going into a block, waiting for the kunai to pierce through Ziya's back as she used her katana to try and cut through my arms.

As expected, the kunai came hurtling down at rapid speeds. Three of them went through Ziya's back, and she collapsed on the ground. Her whole body was quaking, blood staining her once beautiful crop-top. I could see tears streaming down her face, but she was as quiet as the soft wind. After about five minutes of intense battle, she had finally given out, which was surprising me considering her level. Ziya shouldn't be that tired, even after the game of Jegoball last night, unless she was constantly going around the city. But she had to have followed me to the finish line, otherwise she couldn't have known where the ball was.

I used my boot to flip her over onto her back, revealing small patches of blood dotting her shirt. She stared up at me with her neon yellow eyes. I picked up the blood covered kunai off the ground and held them, readying for the kill. But I couldn't bring myself to kill Ziya. Even though she treated everyone like shit because she was the king's daughter— ironic that she calls people pricks— that didn't mean that I was close to her. Jarun, Ziya and I had all been good friends, even if it was for a year.

Finally, I had made the decision. I raised both of my kunai into the air. I swung my hands down like a hammer, sticking both of the blades directly next to the side of her head, her hair pinned to the arena's floor now.

I sat down on the ground a few feet away from her. If I was gonna die, it was gonna be in peace and not war. Yeah I changed my mind. Cry about it.

The view from the arena above was beautiful. I could see myself and Ziya on a screen down below, where the crowd was silent. I was expecting a few "boos" and other insults of the crowd of thousands of people, but it was quiet except for occasional rustling of the chains and people down below.

"Y'know, the view is always beautiful. With the sun... the city and the forest... and all," Ziya had spoke from behind. I slightly turned my head to see her still pinned to the ground. "But the sky is what gets me."

I went back to staring at the forest, where the sun stood still in the horizon.

"Yeah I guess it is."

"Aren't you gonna kill me now? It's the law. The match isn't over until one of us dies."

"Screw the match. I'm done with that. This fight is over. Besides," I turned to look at Ziya. "I'm pretty sure I whooped your ass already."

She quietly laughed for a second, coughing a little too now and then. "Looks like ya did. I wasn't expecting a level 800 to beat a level 1250 like me. Then again, you trained what took me thirteen years to learn in a year. You worked pretty hard."

"Thanks. So we both forfeit?"

She paused. "Yeah. I forfeit."

"I do too."

I got up from watching the view of the horizon and went over to Ziya, who was still pinned. Blood continued to grow off of her crop-top, and there was a small puddle of it surrounding her now. I paused for a second before deciding to take the kunai out of her hair. But before I did that, I grabbed her arms and put them behind her back, just to be sure she wouldn't try anything against me.

"What are you doing Andrew."

"I don't need you 'wanting to save your pride' crap. Deal with it."

Ziya went quiet immediately. I latched all of the kunai back to my belt and we both went on our way to Bruce, who was staring down at us from above with utter shock.

"Oi, Bruce. We both forfeit. Could you let us back down now?"

Bruce just stared blankly.

"Uhhh, Bruce?"

He lightly nodded his head and pulled something. The floating arena slowly started to fall down to the ground. I let out a sigh of relief. 'Finally, inner peace. No more fighting. I guess I never realized how peace is so nice,' I thought. In a matter of minutes, we were back on the ground. Whispers spread through the crowd like a plague.

"What is the meaning of this Ziya? Andrew is exposed to be dead already," Burcham asked. It had been so long since I had seen the man. He had become slightly more built, but his beard was now more gray, and he had a little bit less hair than the last time I saw him. What he also had changed was his kind and loving face. Now, it was a face of anger and a body that wanted more war.

I tightened my grip on Ziya's wrists, warning her if she tried anything. I still had more than enough energy to beat her up, even if I did have a katana still in my abdomen and blood leaking from my body. And let's not mention the amount of bruises both of us had.

She winced. "Father... we both forfeit. Andrew didn't kill me when he had the chance. Forgive me."

He scoffed at her. "You stupid, stupid child. I know you won that. Did she not Bruce? Andrew is a level 800, while Ziya is 1259. This fight should've ended quickly."

Bruce was still in awe. 'How was Andrew able to keep up with Ziya? She had far more experience in fighting than Andrew did. So how did he do it?' Bruce was thinking.

"Bruce!"

He snapped back to reality, still numb from the shock of Andrew winning.

"Ah, excuse me my king. The fight was a close one, but Andrew was the victor in the end."

Burcham was dumb-founded. But he was quickly filled with anger.

"Very well. If young Andrew had surely won, then I accept it. But the law says that if the victor keeps the loser alive, then they are their servant until the victor dies, whether it's from old age or sickness. So if Ziya killed Andrew, then Ziya would also—"

I had to interrupt. He was going on about a law I didn't really know about. Sure, I stayed here for a year, but do you think I would just sit down and learn every single law in the rulebook?

"King Burcham, what are you tryna say?"

"What I'm saying my good sir, is that Ziya is now technically your slave until you die of old age or illness."

My heart suddenly dropped. I felt guilty. Now I understood why Ziya asked why I wasn't going to kill her.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a very familiar someone wading there way through the ocean of beast people. Jarun popped his head out and saw us.

"Andrew! Lemme heal you guys!"

I turned just in time to see Jarun knocked out by a couple of guards who were nearby. I crumpled to the ground.

"Jarun!"

"Don't mind him boy! You should be worried of your own fate!"

I shut my mouth. Ziya turned her head slightly to whisper something.

"Andrew, my father is deciding if you can return home or live in labor here for the rest of your life."