Chapter 8: Sun and Moon vs Fire and Ice

The next matchups went on and on until there was only one fight left; the number of remaining participants would be reduced to eight after this round. This marked the end of the quarter-final rounds, and most of the teams that won after us had done so convincingly. Our fight was the only close one. The last battle for today would be Kaiser and Reika vs. Yuji and Zen. From what I am aware of, this would not be a clean win. Yuji had come the closest to beating Quinn on our first day of class among those who lost but passed, and Zen was an enigma. Zen's power was strange, to say the least. I didn't get the best idea of what it was when he fought Quinn; he almost seemed to be holding back. His power seemed hard to control and quite lethal.

Yuji's power, in particular, was not something I was happy about. He had the power to share memories, meaning he could copy a person's memory and then use it to counter them. For example, if Quinn teleported behind him, he would know she had the habit of doing that and could counter. He was also gifted in many martial arts and other skills due to his ability to copy memory. I was pretty sure he couldn't deep dive into a person's memory spontaneously; rather, he could essentially search for what he wanted and then leave. Zen had a much weirder power; he could control blood from what I was aware of. I had no idea of the scope of his power, but it seemed too lethal to be used properly from what I had seen.Yuji would use his power, and Zen would be using his power which contrasted their images. Yuji stood tall, around six feet. His hair was slicked back with gel, blonde and neat, not a hair out of place. He had red eyes and wore fashionable accessories, including golden earrings. His academy uniform had a bunch of pins and touches added to it. I guess as long as you were learning, they didn't really care what you did with your clothes. He even had sunglasses on indoors; calling his look extra was putting it lightly—he was the entire circus. He beamed with confidence, and his looks made him very popular in class. To be frank, he was someone I didn't exactly like; I hated fake people like that. Although he could be an easy target for me to use in the future. Zen was the opposite of that. He was short, maybe five and a half feet tall. His eyes had dark rims to them, he wore black eyeliner, and he seemed bored. His black, messy hair was greasy and long, coming down to his butt, and his clothes were similarly black with chains on the bottoms; it seemed he wasn't a fan of the uniform. Zen was also skinny, notably so, and his skin was pale like a sheet of paper. The only thing he shared with Yuji was his red eyes.Yuji was like the blinding and flashy sun, and Zen was the unnoticeable moon in the sky, withdrawn and glowing with a much fainter light. In contrast, Kaiser was a burning inferno, and Reika was a frozen wasteland. Kaiser spat out mockingly, "You just gonna stare at us, shades? Might need a new pair after this round." Kaiser cracked his knuckles. "Mr. Nakamura, I think we're ready." Mr. Nakamura laughed. "Eager, are we? I expect that confidence will carry you far. If everyone is set, you can begin when you are ready." Reika chimed in, her cold demeanor apparent as she didn't look at Kaiser as she stated, "Let's not waste time with these two jokers. I want to move onto the semifinals with the real competition." Her face was stern, almost bored; her pink eyes showed her confidence and lack of nerves. Contrary to that, Kaiser looked excited, almost like a kid getting a new toy.The arena was set—a spacious, circular battlefield surrounded by the watching eyes of their classmates and instructors. The air was thick with anticipation as the fighters took their positions, the tension palpable. Kaiser and Reika on one side, Yuji and Zen on the other. The contrast between the two pairs was striking, with Kaiser and Reika exuding raw power and icy precision, while Yuji and Zen presented a strange amalgamation of refined skill and enigmatic lethality.Yuji smirked, his confidence unshaken by Kaiser's taunts. "Don't worry about my shades, Kaiser. You should take notes on how to dress and fight, commoner." He adjusted his sunglasses, a glint of mischief in his red eyes. Zen, on the other hand, seemed almost detached from the situation. His dark-rimmed eyes scanned the arena lazily, as if he was indifferent to the upcoming battle. His presence was unsettling, a stark contrast to Yuji's flamboyant demeanor. Zen's greasy hair and pallor made him look almost ghostly under the harsh lights. Mr. Nakamura raised his hand, signaling the start of the match. "Begin!"Kaiser was the first to move; he practically was drooling as he vaulted off the floor. However, with a discerning eye, I noticed he was slower than before. He had never fought without the advantage being completely one-sided. I nudged Soren a little. "Watch closely; he's gonna be their weak link if they move on." Soren gave me a puzzled look. "He's your roommate, is he not? Shouldn't you be pretty confident in his skills?" I smirked. "It is precisely because I have been around him a few days that I know he relies on his power a lot. I would place bets that this fight will be unexpectedly hard for him. A man that has relied on overwhelming power for so long is like a fish out of water when it's stripped from him."Mirroring my words, Kaiser's momentum was halted fairly quickly as Zen emotionlessly stepped forward. His swapped power of memory control meant he had a lot of skills in his brain that I would assume Yuji showed him. Zen clotheslined Kaiser, stopping his momentum flat. Kaiser fell to the ground, gasping for breath, momentarily stunned. Reika frowned. "Stupid reject; after I came up with a plan and everything." She threw her fan towards Zen just as he was about to stomp on Kaiser. The fan was much faster than a person could possibly throw, likely due to her new power, biokinesis. She could alter her power at will now. Her normal fighting style was thrown out the window for raw power as the fan cut Zen painfully.He grunted, a cut forming on his cheek. He gazed at her annoyed. "In the way." Zen wiped the blood from his cheek with a nonchalant flick of his hand. His red eyes glowed briefly as he glared at Reika. "You'll regret that," he muttered.Reika stood her ground, her pink eyes blazing with cold determination. "Kaiser, get up," she commanded icily. Kaiser struggled to his feet, his pride having taken a hit, and he wasn't going to let that slide. The anger that I had known from day one resurfaced; his veins began to pop, and his eyes began to lose control. Kaiser shouted, "You think you can forget about me?" It was Reika who shut him down. "Back off, dog; the gloomy one is mine. Chase your bone over there with that chew toy." Kaiser seemed mad and unthinking, but at the very least, he understood the command. He turned to Yuji. "Better take off those glasses, Yuji, because I am gonna break them in your eyes!"He jolted forward again, a blind charge at Yuji. I sighed. "That won't work." This would be boring if all Kaiser did was charge ahead like a rabid animal; he won't win that way. Yuji laughed. "Let's try these new powers; not very fitting for me, but oh well." He took out a small knife, seemingly given to him by Zen. Yuji cut a small amount of his arm; he winced a bit from the pain, then smiled. "Despite my looks, I don't mind getting a bit dirty in order to win." He turned his finger into a finger gun and pointed it at a charging Kaiser. He laughed. "I almost feel bad; this will be like putting down an out-of-control bull." The blood began to pool at the tip of his finger; then he muttered in a cocky manner, "Bang!"The blood shot forward. I could barely watch; it would shoot right through Kaiser and out the other side. Without his biokinetic power, he had no hope. He fought too recklessly; he would never be able to win this way. The bullet shot true and struck Kaiser directly in the shoulder; he was pushed back, and blood spurted everywhere. Soren looked down. "This is brutal." It seemed he couldn't handle blood well; I couldn't blame him; that was a lot of blood. Wait. That much blood? That's odd. I mean, he did land a clean hit, but the blood was like a pool on the ground. That much blood was unnatural. Yuji seemed to come to the same conclusion; he swallowed nervously. The air behind him laughed. Before anyone knew it, Kaiser was behind Yuji, unharmed. He pointed a finger gun to the back of Yuji's head in a mocking way. His smile was wide, his green eyes almost euphoric. In a childlike way, he pointed it to the back of Yuji's head and playfully repeated, "Bang!"