Jasper's sword spun in his hand as the referee started the match. He threw his hand up and backed out of the middle of the ring. She was quick to act and immediately rushed forward. A purple mink-like spirit appeared at her side and ran erratically toward Jasper. He smiled and felt a blood red spirit appear next to him.
Its crimson teeth gnashed as it clapped its four hands together. Two scythes appeared in its top hands. Its thick, small legs propelled it toward the girl instead. Jasper thought this might happen. Spirits don't have blood, and so his spirit preferred attacking humans. He shook his head in disappointment and rushed forward.
His blood spirit lunged at the girl with a murderous growl. A furry purple rodent slammed into its side. Its body hit the dirt and began to tussle with the long mink. The mink's small paws failed to penetrate or do damage to the spirit's tough muscles.
Jasper quickly diverted his attention to his opponent, who was bringing their sword down on his head. He stepped to the side and blocked a shield bash with his shield. The sword was immediately swinging at him again with an incredible fastness. 'She's fast alright.' Jasper thought as he was thrown back a couple feet by a fast kick.
Her eyes were hyper-focused as she rushed forward. Her sword carved through the air and threatened to slice into Jasper's thigh. His sword intercepted the blade, but immediately had to defend a series of impossibly fast attacks.
Jasper was on his back foot now and felt at risk of losing. She was faster than him and had nearly the same reaction speed. He was stronger, but that didn't matter when he couldn't get an attack off. He needed to switch the tempo. As his shield was beat backward, he winced slightly.
Jasper remembered a lesson from one of the instructors he'd been taught by. 'When an opponent is faster than you, they can react to anything you throw out. Literally!' His instructors were often times unique characters who were at the top of their craft. Jasper had thousands of different tips and phrases from different instructors that he hadn't understood yet.
Her sword and shield were like a constant rain of attacks on his defense. He understood this phrase as his shield was shoved down. His chest was exposed and vulnerable to an attack. The girl smiled broadly as she swung the blade down. The air was forced out of her lungs as a large ball of earth smashed into her stomach.
Her eyes went wide as she rolled backward on the ground. She retched and sucked in air on the floor 10 feet from Jasper. He wiped the sweat off his face and sighed. "Did you think that attack pushed my shield down that far?" He said and chuckled to himself.
He'd purposefully let her attack push his shield just an inch out of position. With her speed and reaction time, she hopped on the opportunity to finish the fight. He walked toward her and was surprised to see her stand and ready her weapon.
She was more durable than he thought. An attack like that will take out weaker tamers. Mentally, he frowned. This fight was about his limits. She was in the top 10 of tens of thousands of first-years. Jasper couldn't imagine being stronger than 29,000 other tamers in the year.
She certainly came from an influential family. "Almost had you." He said. Subconsciously, Jasper began to slip into a habit he had built. His youngest brother and him used to spar nearly every day for years. Jasper was always on the losing side because of the slight age difference.
One day, he started taunting his brother while they sparred. His brother was the kind of person to perform worse when he got angry. Every time after that, Jasper would constantly taunt his brother to gain the upper hand.
He still lost often, but he won more than he would've if he hadn't taunted him. With the difficulty of this fight and the initial annoyance he felt from the girl's attitude when they first met, he slipped into taunting mode unknowingly. As the audience leaned in to hear his taunts, the fight progressed.
The girl didn't rush forward. In fact, she seemed quite cautious now. Jasper could hear the sounds of the spirits fighting to their side, but he maintained eye contact with his opponent. "I see you took my advice." He said.
She furrowed her brows and defended a probing thrust. "What do you mean?" She said as they circled each other.
"You're going slower now, just like I told you to." Jasper clarified. A neutral smile appeared on his face as he readied his shield and sword. The girl's face contorted in anger as she shed some of the wary energy and dashed forward. Her sword moved just as fast, and began to beat Jasper's defense back.
Her footwork was speedy and had Jasper feeling like he was defending from three different angles. His shield flicked her blade to the side and created a moment for Jasper to attack. His sword's tip sped toward her chest. She brought her shield to her chest and prepared for the strike. But it never came.
The second she had the reaction to raise her shield, Jasper diverted his thrust toward her sword. The flat of his blade smacked against her fingers, causing her to yelp in pain and drop the sword. Jasper's sword didn't let up. Still, she was able to get her shield to stop the next slash. However, he wasn't intending for the sword to get through.
His boot slammed into her stomach, leaving an imprint on her combat gear. His leg shook with force as he winced slightly. He'd put too much power into that kick. Her pigtails flung about as she was sent crashing to the dirt again. "Do you get it now? That was two feints!" Jasper said. Her speed was helping him. She reacted to his feints so quickly that he could divert his attack immediately after launching it.
She was less hurt by the kick but seemed much more cautious. She glanced at her sword that lay on the ground next to Jasper's feet. He followed her eyes and gestured to the sword. "Miss it?" He said.
His mind was not on the fact that there was an audience. He was much too engrossed in the moment. He kicked the sword behind him and threw his sword back as well. "What are you doing?" She asked. Sweat dripped off her nose.
"Winning." Jasper boasted. That made her eye twitch, but she wasn't so fast to rush in. Now they each had just a shield. He tightened his fist and raised it with the shield. He trudged forward in a boxing stance. He could hear the spirits fighting on his side but had little idea what was happening.
He didn't want to take his eyes off the girl for one second. She was fast enough that the slightest distraction meant an exploitative opening. She raised her hands and met Jasper in a series of boxing exchanges. She rolled under his strike and threw a fist up into his rib cage. He grunted and blocked the next strike with his arm.
His feet shuffled and allowed him to dance out of her reach. She quickly unleashed a fury of blows that glanced off his tight guard. His leg slammed into her thigh, causing her to hop backward while grimacing in pain. He tried to capitalize on the damage and rushed forward.
She placed her shield between him and bought time for herself. His fists flashed forward and tried to get behind her shield. She moved quickly and blocked Jasper's strikes. His hands flexed as he dealt with the pain of them striking metal.
They circled each other once more, and with a lot more exhaustion. They both breathed heavily as they watched the other. To Jasper's side, he could see a rushing red figure. His spirit had used its enrage ability while fighting the mink and ultimately put it out of commission. As Jasper glanced to the side, he saw the mink's head stuffed in the ground and its body covered in slashes.
His spirit had a few splotches of purple and some injuries on it, but seemed just as ferocious. It rapidly approached the girl with a mad smile. Its eye vibrated in its socket as its four arms swung around weapons. Jasper dashed forward and smashed his leg into the side of his spirit.
It went rolling to the side and seemed stunned. The girl was confused but used the moment to attack Jasper. Her fists moved so quickly that Jasper could only intercept 80 percent of them. Each one that contacted his chest sent vibrations through his body. His arms moved with incredible speed to try and counter her punches, but she was too fast.
He'd make a desperate attack to try and gain the upper hand. She could read the thoughts on Jasper's face. Jasper let a fist past his guard in favor of getting a bit of his own in. She smirked as he threw his desperate attack. She had plenty of time to hit him and dodge the fist.
Her fist smashed into his chin, making his eyes flicker slightly. But as she ducked under the fist, she failed to notice his leg was rising up from below. Her focus had been kept on his upper body by his insistence on the swing. He'd kept his upper body remarkably still and slammed his shin into the side of her thigh.
Her eyes went wide as her leg failed to hold her weight anymore. Her durability was no chance for a second leg kick from Jasper. A textbook shin to thigh would make someone think of sitting for a couple days. Jasper watched her fall over to the ground with a smirk. "Am I a good actor?." He said.
His spirit rushed toward the downed girl from the side, but Jasper held out his hand. As it passed, Jasper absorbed it into his spirit. She pushed herself up slowly and gingerly readied herself. Her leg was struggling to hold her body weight. "I feel bad now." Jasper said as he scratched the back of his head. He didn't.
She pointed her hand at him, and a torrent of water shot out. It was like a pressure washer and immediately damaged his skin and caused immense amounts of pain. Jasper gasped as water filled his nose, and his face felt like it was being blasted apart. His foot entered the ground and shot a ball of earth toward the girl. She struggled to avoid the attack and was tagged by the ball.
It sent her spinning to the ground. She grunted as she bounced off the dirt. As she stood up, Jasper stood before her. His face was red and damaged, and his one eye was closed. His leg flashed forward and cracked against her thigh once more. Her eyes flickered as she gasped in pain.
She began falling to the ground again, but stopped as Jasper gripped both sides of her head. His hands kept her head up and lined her up in front of him. His knee flashed upward, and his arms pulled down. "Stop!" The referee shouted. He'd barely had enough time to say anything from when the leg kick landed to Jasper following it up with the knee.
Wind brushed some hair out of the girl's face as Jasper's knee paused a mere centimeter from it. He froze and slowly pressed his knee against her head lightly. She flinched from the touch of his hard knee and closed her eyes. "Dodged a bullet." Jasper said as he looked down on his opponent. He released her head and turned to the referee.
The referee looked Jasper up and down before grabbing his hand. "Jasper West wins."