At the center of the arena now stood Cù Sith and Tiana, or rather their projections. Right now, both of them were facing each other in the virtual world, and the other participants could only spectate through the projection.
Tiana was pretty relaxed, still with a bright smile and expectant eyes. Ray hadn't judged her to be someone that enjoyed fighting, but maybe he had just forgotten that she might be the type of person that has fun doing whatever.
Cù Sith was not as relaxed. In the Practical Test he had gained a big motivation to enroll in the academy. In order to once again fight Ray, he decided to abandon his tribe's original plan and enroll in the academy. Most of his pack was not that happy with him, he didn't care.
There was a problem, however. He and his pack had completely failed in the Theory test, mostly because it was never their plan to actually enroll, and their performance in the last test was not that great.
Due to Ray's interference and his own pack's unhappiness, he was not completely sure if he could actually enroll, so he needed to win this.
So, it kind of pissed him off seeing Tiana so relaxed and cheerful.
None of them were using weapons, and both of them were not wearing their usual clothes.
They are wearing a skin-tight shirt and pants with a simple belt. It almost looked like a one-piece. Regardless, it fit them oddly well. Tiana's body was very well-trained, revealing muscles burning with vitality as well as her captivating curves. Although this piece of clothing was less revealing than her usual, it did not make it better. In the case of Cù, this suit allowed everyone to see every detail of his chiseled body.
For a moment Tiana stared silently before nodding with a hint of approval.
"Not bad, not bad. I knew dozens of my sisters that would kidnap you for your physique alone."
Cù was not unaware of the amazon culture, after all, they were often mistaken as barbarians even though they couldn't be more different.
"You are not bad yourself, there are few in my tribe that could pull off a suit like this as well as you."
"Geez, aren't you too good with words for a barbarian?"
"Aren't you too open to men for an Amazon?"
Tiana laughed heartily at this exchange. Cù also smiled. Both barbarians and Amazons were stuck to several stereotypes, and it was hard to find who didn't use them on them. Not all barbarians were illiterate or were unaware of how to use technology or the internet. Not all Amazons were androphobic or men rapists.
They had just formed a certain camaraderie.
«Participants, prepare yourselves. Once the countdown reaches zero, you can start the combat.»
«3»
Cù entered his favored stance and circulated his mana and aura inside his body. Tiana did the same.
«2»
They both stared into each other's eyes, trying to judge their intentions.
«1...»
Their muscles tensed, and they prepared themselves to burst into motion.
«0!!!»
It was very sudden. In a moment, both of them were a few meters from each other, and in the next, they were already clashing in the middle.
Cù had struck first, and Tiana had expertly blocked and redirected his attack before starting a counterattack.
'Her mana and aura are on par with mine, not a problem, I should be capable of surpassing her using my Gathering of Souls.'
"Whoa!! You are as strong as me! And your control is incredible!"
Tiana kept her cheerful personality even in the midst of battle.
There was no reason to panic, though. His affinity was already working, and soon the first howl would be heard.
"Well, it seems that with you, I can't hold back at all."
Cù stopped and waited to see what she was about to do.
She brought her own hand toward her mouth and pressed her thumb against her canine before forcibly pulling it, creating a cut on her finger.
Blood flowed out of the cut, and then it suddenly multiplied. More and more blood surged from that small wound before twisting and covering her arm.
With a proud smile, she started explaining.
"Ufufufu. As you can see, I have a unique affinity called Blood Forgery. It allows me to multiply the blood that I have and form weapons and armor from it."
Cù was confused as to why she had decided to explain her affinity, but he was not going to ignore her information. To multiply your blood and then use it to forge weaponry.
It was different from the usual blood element, which was normally for healing and several manners of cursing. And while not rare for people capable of creating constructs of blood to appear, none of them had an affinity specific to doing so.
Now around her arm was a bloody gauntlet with quite an intricate design.
"Can you withstand my Blood Forgery, Cù?"
"..."
He remained silent and adjusted his stance. Amazons were known to be masters of several fighting styles. An amazon capable of completely switching between several weapons and even using them at the same time was quite the danger.
Tiana rushed forward, still with a smile. She multiplied the blood in her gauntlet and forged more armor for her. Blood was lighter than various metals, so her only concern was mobility and not weight.
The armor was quite like a weaponized version of her actual clothes, so it left quite some gaps.
In her hand she also forged a blood spear, which she used to swing while jumping in Cù's direction.
He reacted quickly enough and ducked under the swing and tried to counter but was stopped and forced to retreat back by the other end of the spear that had grown a shovel-like spearhead.
"Oops, I wanted to make a normal spearhead and ended up with a shovel instead, silly me!"
Cù understood something. Tiana's personality was naturally cheerful and open, however when in battle, her true personality became her mask. The way one acted during battle was completely different from during normal life.
So why was it that she was remained with the same personality? She didn't, she used her personality outside of battle to mask her strategies and lower the opponents' guard.
Cù noticed this because of the shovel spearhead. For others, it might seem like a silly mistake from a clumsy girl, but that didn't make sense. The way she swung and forged the shovel spearhead was meant to cause blunt damage, it was not something you would do with the normal spearhead, due to its small area of contact.
Howl
A sudden howl was heard around the virtual world.
A sudden storm of mana and aura surged forth, enveloping Cù. He felt his mana and aura reserves doubling. His aura started to reshape his body, green hazy claws grew from his fingers. His mana mutated and gave him new abilities.
He started to analyze Tiana with this ability, checking for blind spots and openings.
He found several openings, but he also was capable enough to notice that all of them were traps.
'If there is no opening suitable for me, then I will create one!'
He rushed forward and aimed a powerful strike at Tiana.
Her eyes narrowed.
'He didn't aim for any of my openings, did he figure me out?'
Her spear started twisting before reforging itself into a shield. The process was surprisingly smooth and swiftly blocked Cù Sith's strike.
The ground shook, and a smirk found itself on both of their faces.
They traded blows at amazing speeds.
'Amazing! I can barely keep up thanks to my armor's durability and his own decrease in control, otherwise I would have been toast!'
Kicking him away, she stepped back, gaining several meters of space.
She then turned the shield into a bow and forged an arrow. At the same time she was drawing the blood arrow, she muttered an Amazon chant, magecraft to improve blood-related affinities.
Her arrow flew true and fast, leaving a brilliant trace of red light.
Cù, who had been kicked away, tried to get up when he sensed a powerful projectile flying in his direction.
And as if scripted.
Howl
A new sudden surge of mana and aura was caused by his affinity.
'Again?! Geez, just how many times can he double up his reserves.'
Translucent green wolf ears appeared on top of his head, which twitched as he heard the approaching arrow.
It arrived pretty fast, and it was already upon him.
With a flash of blue light, he disappeared.
'He's gone?!'
Tiana reacted quickly. From her back, winglike structures were forged. The blood in them rippled, and from said ripples newly forged weapons appeared.
Spears, swords, lances, hammers, and other weapons good for thrusting and throwing appeared and shot in various directions, making the surrounding area explode.
From the debris, Cù's figure suddenly appeared in front of her, ready to strike.
In a hurry, she retracted her blood wings and forged two curved blades that blocked the strikes of his claws.
Both grinning like fools, they stared at each other, battle lust radiating from both of them.
They exchanged several strikes. Although Cù Sith had the advantage due to his superior strength, Tiana was a much more advanced warrior, although she was marked with several wounds, she was swiftly redirecting his attacks instead of directly blocking.
From time to time, Cù would disappear in a flash of light, but Tiana was no longer caught off guard, this ability was no teleport. If she reacted fast enough, she would force him to reveal himself without reaching far away.
Claws and bloody weapons kept clashing, the weapons were repeatedly being reforged since Cù was constantly destroying them.
Howl
'Shit! Another?! I can barely keep up!'
The surge of mana and aura knock her away, at least giving her a few moments to breathe, but she was in a hurry. Once again, she forged two wing-like structures, in order to conserve mana, she even dismissed most of her armor.
These structures were bigger than the last ones, and they started shooting arrows instead of the usual weapons.
However, before they reached Cù, he had already completed his transformation and disappeared in a flash of light. However, this time it was not simply a stealth technique but a stealth technique in tandem with teleportation.
He appeared right beside Tiana.
"You fought well, let's fight next time. Soul Reaper Hound!"
Red light enveloped them both as Cù struck her soul.
Her soul was quite chaotic. A sea of blood under a bright orange sky, bloody weapons and armor carved into the blood sea.
He didn't watch it for long, though. He suddenly woke up in the capsule he had entered before the match.
A faraway mechanical voice could be heard.
«The Match has ended!»
«The victor is Cù Sith!»
************************
Author's Note: Well, it was pretty fun to write this fight, I had already established Cù's powers but I was really unsure what to give Tiana, Blood Forgery or a knock-off version of Ultra Ego, if you know what I mean.
Tell me what you though!
Who were you betting to win?
Cù Sith?
or Tiana?
or maybe it would end in a Draw?
Check out my other Novel(Fanfic) : Transmigrator Competition