Second Contact

Before I even realized what had happened, Marcie had already dragged me over to a staircase. I finally got out of her hold and followed her down the steps and out to the large seating area circled high above the arena.

 From here, everything was far clearer, I could see the Knight's armor and its intricacies better, and it blew me away even more. There wasn't a hint of a joint lock on any of the limb pieces, with servos that likely moved in time with the wearer to prevent any slowdown of movements.

 Each plate of metal encompassing the torso area was segmented and loose, while looking like it had the capacity to lock up at a moment's notice. Flexibility along with defensive capability. The red lights that glowed out from the helmet grate and the highly powered parts of the armor only served to enhance the intimidation factor of the beautifully crafted armor.

 Yet now that I was closer to both fighters, something about the martial artist was different. While the Knight brought up the side of me that loved technology, the martial artist ignited an almost primal sense of fear within me. I could tell, even if the Knight seemed more intimidating, the martial artist was far more dangerous. And when the fight started, my theory came to fruition.

 The Knight seemed to live up to the hype, shooting off at a high speed towards the martial artist, appearing as no more than a blur. His first attack was a frontal punch at full speed, likely in an attempt to end the fight in one move.

 All the martial artist did in response was shift his weight, move to the side slightly, and grab the Knight's wrist. In a moment, the Knight was on the ground, facing the ceiling of The Ditch. The crowd, who'd been extremely rowdy, seemed to quiet down at the Knight's immediate takedown, but roared again when he got back up and created some distance between himself and the martial artist.

 Or maybe it wasn't fair to call him a martial artist, seeing as he wore something more similar to a martial arts uniform mixed with a monk's robes. The man himself was middle aged, with a stubbly beard, shaggy hair, and clearly sleep deprived blue eyes.

 He got into a fighting stance once more and stared down the Knight, giving off more of that dangerous aura every moment that the standoff lasted. The Knight got into a runner's stance, and very audible clicks resonated through the arena. It sounded like the Knight was shifting into a higher gear, and I was right.

 This time when the Knight shot off, the world was tinged in gray and my blood ran cold. Someone was using a Timepiece. That wasn't the worst part either, the prior warning of my watch didn't even have time to register before a new one was beamed into my head by the small machine.

 "Emergency refuel in process, removal of the watch at this time could end in a mortal result." U-27's calm voice nearly distracted me from finding the source of the disruption, but it was hard to miss when the martial artist walked up to his opponent despite everyone and everything else being frozen and kicked the Knight in the stomach hard enough to shatter the armor covering it before walking back to his previous location.

 Before time returned to normal, the martial artist looked into the crowd, and when he scanned, his gaze fell on me, staring right into my eyes. The look in his tired, dead, and now golden eyes was piercing, and too similar to what I felt whenever Marcie's eyes focused on me, yet far more intense. I reflexively recoiled in shock, but it didn't matter, time returned to normal, and the Knight flew back like he was hit by something.

 To everyone else, the martial artist merely stood still, and his opponent was defeated, but I knew the truth, and I had to get out of there. Unlike me, the martial artist knew how to use his Timepiece, and the last time I'd seen someone use their Timepiece, their fight had been far beyond the level of anything I could get involved with.

 So, I grabbed Marcie by the arm and ran, ran as fast as I could to the exit of The Ditch. Up the staircase with pure urgency in my steps. Perhaps that was why Marcie decided to follow along with me despite her ability to simply leave my grasp and stay behind.

 We made it to the final area, but it was densely packed. I could no longer just blow through the hallway at top speed, getting through everyone took time. Time that I couldn't afford to waste.

 That man knew I had a Timepiece, and while I didn't know much about them, I knew that the users of them were dangerous, and possibly hostile to each other based on what I'd seen earlier. The strength to hit someone so hard that the impact they made destroyed a reinforced concrete wall, the ability to throw something so fast that it pierced like a bullet, and now, the technique to properly kick through and shatter metal armor.

 I finally made it out, and was about to let out a breath of relief, when the world turned grey once more and I heard the voice of a man behind me. A tired drawl that led me to slowly turn around and face him.

"You're unsanctioned, aren't you?"

Now that the man was closer and I could finally get a good look at him, he was the same man from the first time I'd been brought into the world of a Timepiece. The scruffy man who'd stolen something from my classroom before disappearing.

"Quite a long way from school, aren't you. Boy."