23. Dale vs. Eunwoo

Jiwoo won the spar and the whole arena cheered for him. The principal and the instructors looked equally awestruck.

Oh my gosh! My spar is next! I could even feel my stomach flip with uneasiness. And my heart rate sped up. I felt a hand tap my shoulder. It was Subin.

"Relax. You'll do well."

Jisuk joined in, "Yep! You're much stronger than that piece of iron. Have some faith in yourself!"

"Thanks, guys..."

Jiwoo came up to me and I congratulated him. He gave a reassuring smile saying, "Just remember your training. It's your first time that's why you're more nervous but you'll surely win if you can keep your calm even during such tension."

With all that encouragement, I put on my façade and confidently walked up the arena. Dale stood in front of me with a sickening smirk on his face.

"Now that you're closer, you look even smaller." He taunted.

BEEP~

"I know right? And you have to fight me to retrieve your lost 'glory'." I said lazily shrugging.

BEEP~

"Mind your words, you unaffiliated jerk!"

"Oh yeah? Are you enraged? Tch! You sure have a lot of dignity for someone who was overthrown in a single punch", now it was my turn to smirk. Weirdly enough, I felt very relaxed right now and even excited.

BEEP!!!~~

Dale transformed within a second and charged at me at full speed. The smirk never left my face. Step 1: Provocation? Check.

I put up my shield and sighed. He punched my shield in an attempt to break it but to no avail.

"You coward! Come out right now!", he growled angrily.

I tilted my head mockingly. "Aye~ Your attacks are so much softer than Duke's. Are you sure you're one of the top rookies of the World Academy?"

Dale was going red with rage and transformed into an even bigger form than before.

Step 2: More provocation? Check.

He tried breaking the shield again but it still wasn't enough. He proceeded to break the ground next. Since the arena was uneven now I had to let go of the shield and jump back. I formed the two pistols in my hands but this time using my force control.

"Ha! You think such toys would hurt me?", he mocked. Trying to punch me which I dodged easily. They were very slow compared to Kayden's punches during our training.

"I guess we'll just have to find out." I grinned before shooting him continuously. Since the bullets contained some of my force control, they pierced his skin making him hiss in pain. "Not so tough now, are we?"

Step 3: Even more Provocation? Check.

The bullets no longer stopped him from coming toward me. Since I was nearly out of bullets I replaced my guns with twin swords. One had a golden handle while the other had black. I charged at him with my force control covering the sword and my feet.

He went on to punch me near my ribs but I blocked it with my shield and attacked his arm with my sword leaving a deep cut near his triceps.

He somehow got even angrier because of frustration. "Fuck this shit!", he cursed before punching my right arm which sent me flying across the arena. If I hadn't formed the shield last minute to protect my arm, the match would have ended with me losing because of how strong the impact was. And since the shield didn't form fully, it broke from the punch but I was still able to avoid maximum damage.

Ouch! That hurts... I covered my wounded arm with my good hand and attempted to at least heal the broken bone. I was nearly done when Dale charged at me again. I jumped back dodging him.

"You know they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. I wonder how hard you will fall." I provoked him yet again to make him lose his cool which he did and charged again at me. I could hear the crowd gasp.

I placed my hands in front and released two golden chains cover again in force control but this time I used Mr. Kartein's skill. I wrapped the chains around him and lifted him in the air. I tighten the chains to restrict his movements while he struggled to free himself.

Now one might think, why did I provoke him so much just to make him lose it every time? The answer to that is simple. If I got him caught first, he would buff up and might even break the chains. So when in the last provocation he didn't transform I knew he had reached his limit and that was the perfect moment to get him.

The more Dale struggled, the tighter the chains got, nearly crushing his internal organs. He coughed out some blood before losing consciousness.

After a moment Inhyuk claimed, "Dale can no longer continue. EUNWOO SEO WINS!"

The arena was silent for a few seconds and I could only hear my heartbeat. Slowly I placed Dale on the ground and the crowd cheered loudly again.

"He's one of our own!"

"Eunwoo won!"

"We are no less than the world academy!"

I limped toward the other kids as they cheered. Jiwoo came to support me first.

"That was damn fantastic! How did you do that?!", Jisuk asked.

"That was so cool, Eunwoo", Jiwoo said with his eyes twinkling.

Subin joined in, "Yeah! Where did you learn that recovery skill? Everything was so unpredictable! You were like a whole different person there!"

"Good job, Eunwoo", Wooin said.

"Let's have a proper spar once you've recovered", Gangseok said smiling down at me and I agreed.

"This persistent jerk-", mumbled Jisuk.

The world academy left the arena quickly.

Inhyuk came to me and said, "You did great, Eunwoo. The principal has asked to meet you along with the other instructors in his office so follow me."

I nodded and told Jiwoo that I would be back at the dorm later. I wonder what they want to talk about...

_____

(This is my first time writing a fight scene so please let me know your views :D )