Chapter.21: Four Way Dance

Everyone still cheered for Ryuji as he limped back to his seat. A medic brought him a cold towel and ice pack for his head. He tried to relax his body after that brutal beating.

"You did well in your match. You evolved from meathead to a stubborn gorilla." Hiro complimented in a sarcastic tone.

"Huh, stuff it rich boy. You go next if you're so tough."

Hiro smirked, he did want to go next, he was getting anxious to see how the other ones would fight. Hiro stood up to make his way to the arena, but Ren stopped him by blocking his path with his sword sheath in front of him.

"Wait, I'll go. I want to fight Kurosawa-Sensei, it's a rare opportunity to learn from a Master like him."

Hiro wouldn't budge, he wanted to fight too. His thirst for collecting information on strong fighters was insatiable. Ren wanted to fight as badly, as a swordsman he wanted to improve his skills fighting a real master.

"Well then, how bout you both fight us."

Ren and Hiro turned to look in the direction of the ring. Both Barnaby and Gentaro were standing there staring them down.

Natsume, who was sitting next to Anna was confused about the situation.

"Headmaster, is that allowed? I thought it was a one-on-one fight?"

"They make the rules. I agreed to let them call the matches as they see fit. If they want two on two I can't stop it."

Natsume looked worried, Kaori, and Itsuki were in the same row as her and they agreed as well it could be bad for Ren and Hiro.

Ren and Hiro looked into each other's eyes, they didn't say anything but they agreed the same.

Ren and Hiro walked up to their respective opponents. Ren bowed to Gentaro.

"It's an honor to spar with you Kurosawa-Sensei."

Gentaro bowed back in respect. "Let this match test our mettle as warriors."

Hiro looked up and down at Barnaby, he didn't seem impressed with him, in fact, he had a question in the form of curiosity and trash talk to ask.

"Excuse my rudeness, but how did you get the name Barnaby Morales? It seems rather odd."

"Ha, not the first to ask me that. My Mom was Latino and my Dad was Caucasian. So I'm kinda of a mix if you say."

Hiro smirked. He knew that from first looking at him during the introductions, he just wanted to get under Barnaby's kin.

All four combatants took their places, Ren got into his stance ready to draw his sword. Hiro generated a silver short bow, Gentaro cracked his neck and fingers, and Barnaby's hands were itching to draw his pistols.

"Ready, BEGIN!"

Barnaby drew his pistols out with great speed. He fired multiple shots at Hiro, who fired back with arrows made of energy.

Ren dashed to Gentaro, his sword struck at high-speed aimed at Gentaro, who dodged it quickly and flipped Ren over in a throw. Ren spun himself back up using the momentum to strike three times, but Gentaro kept dodging each one. He struck Ren in his vital points paralyzing him for a second, then palm striked him in the chest with incredible force.

Ren stopped himself by sticking his sheath in the ground. He wiped the blood from his mouth that slipped out from the attack.

"Impressive, you're just as strong as my Master said you were."

Gentaro chuckled, he appreciated the compliment.

"However, I have to get stronger. There's someone who needs me and I can't let her down."

Ren got back into his stance, and the marks on the sword sheath glowed, in a dash Ren charged at Gentaro, he rotated his body in a spiral, and the sword drew at the speed of light from the rotation force, water surrounded the blade as Ren went for Gentaro's head.

Gentaro again dodged, he once more struck the vital points on Ren's body halting his access.

Ren fell to the ground. He didn't understand what just happened.

"I see. The SuiRyu. That's a sacred sword. You must have inherited it from your Master. It's a shame though you don't have skill."

Ren grumbled, he tried fighting back again with his trained speed. Gentaro dodged effortlessly, and in the end, he grabbed the blade of the sword with just his fingers. Ren was taken aback that he was able to do that.

"Don't be ashamed child. It takes years of practice to master a sacred sword. You're just not there yet."

Ren's eyes gaped open. Gentaro went for another palm strike, now it was aimed at Ren's face.

On the other side, Hiro and Barnaby continued their fight. Hiro meticulously analyzed Barnaby. Every step, wave of an arm, and how he handled his guns were stored in his memory.

Barnaby was smiling, he was enjoying his fight with Hiro. He was hitting all the arrows, every one of them was perfectly aimed at his legs.

"You're good kid. Working up a sweet fighting you."

"Why thank you."

"But, being smarter than someone doesn't guarantee a victory. Let me show how it's done."

Barnaby's guns shot the ground below him, he used them to launch himself upwards, then his guns morphed into one, turning into an assault rifle.

Hiro didn't see that coming. The shots from the rifle fired at high speed, faster than his arrows could keep up. He had to take evasive steps to avoid the shots he couldn't target. The rifle changed again, now it was a grenade launcher, Barnaby fired explosive rounds at Hiro, the blast radius was strong, and he couldn't keep his feet stable on the ground.

Hiro tried to look at the firearm to figure out its design. But Barnaby was gone, Hiro saw from the side Barnaby was there now holding a speargun. The gun fired a charged bolt at Hiro, Hiro barely dodged in time with only his glasses taking a hit.

"Get it now Sonny. You can spend you're entire time reading your enemy but if your enemy is a relentless storm there's no amount of studying that can stop it."

Hiro stared down at Barnaby, he tried to fire another barrage of arrows, but Barnaby morphed the speargun into a revolver, rapidly firing at the bow itself destroying it.

Hiro was out of his league. For the first time in his life, he met an opponent he could not keep up with.