Chapter 38: Chicken Beats Rock

The other three fights held even less suspense than Red's. It was fair to say that the crowd was very disappointed.

"Good job." Alex greeted Red with a firm slap on the back. Red simply nodded in return.

"That was was a pain. I couldn't even find an opening in his armor." Red was honestly upset. He had wanted to win in an upfront and overwhelming manner. "Lets just hope your fight goes better."

Eveline nodded in response, as she walked toward the second arena.

She would never admit it, but she was nervous. She was worried about everything.

Would she be able to damage her opponent? Would her opponent die from her attacks? Would she be injured? Could she possibly die?

Thoughts raced through her mind, twenty at a time.

Even so, none of it showed on her face. She looked calm and composed. Even a careful observer would be hard pressed to notice anything.

She did have one tell. The nail on her left index finger. Whenever she was stressed, she would pick at it with her thumb nail.

Even now, standing in front of the arena with her arms at her sides. Small movements could be seen inside of her left sleeve.

The contestants entered their rings and waited for the signal.

Teresa stood behind Eveline, as they looked across the arena at their opponent.

The opponent was slightly taller than Eeveline. She had long curly brown hair. Her name was Teri.

She was one of their classmates. One of the few who was smart enough to take every class in the first year.

In front of her stood her companion, Cadejo. This three foot tall monster of a hound, had two heads. One head was completely black, the type of saturated black that never reflected any light. The other head was completely white, a pure and radiant white.

Its rippling muscles could be seen through its short white and black coat. There was no pattern to the coloring. If you looked closely, it even seemed to be changing constantly.

Teri held a standard sword and shield. They suited her somehow, they seemed to compliment her straightforward, if not bullheaded, mentality.

"Begin!" Sendra's powerful voice sounded once again to start this batch of fights.

Eveline didn't hear it.

Her mind was in chaos. She couldn't focus.

She had fought wolves and salamanders before, sure. She was no stranger to a little combat.

But this would be the first time he ever launched an attack against another person.

Her worries spun and spun her in circles in her mind.

Teri, on the other hand, was ready immediately. She could see that Eveline was lost in thought.

Suddenly, a loud bang broke Eveline's train of thought. She finally noticed her opponents again.

To her credit, Eveline quickly noticed what had happened.

Seeing the recognition in her opponents eyes, Teri made her move. She pounced forward, shield arm raised and sprinted towards Eveline's right flank.

Cadejo launched forward as well. His path arced towards Eveline's left flank.

They closed in on Eveline from two sides simultaneously. Eveline still had not moved yet.

Teri didn't care. She would not give her opponent another chance.

Teri came in low, shield leading. Ready to bash her opponent and open her up for a stab with her sword. Opposite to her, Cadejo swiped his claws across at chest level.

If these two attacks connected, broken bones would be the least of Eveline's problems.

Right before her shield connected, a fierce wind blew and forced Teri to close her eyes momentarily.

She felt no resistance to her shield arm. When she opened her eyes, she was looking straight at Cadejo.

Cadejo on the other hand was looking off toward where they had just come from. Teri turned and saw an uninjured Eveline standing in the center of the arena.

"How in the hell did...." She was not even able to finish her question.

An explosion of fire and lightning threw Teri and Cadejo apart.

The blast nearly ripped the shield from her hand as it slid her ten feet back from where she stood. Cadejo on the other hand was barely pushed back at all. More than anything else, it seemed to irritate the him.

Cautiously, they slowly circled around towards Eveline. They once again positioned themselves on her flanks.

Again they dove in. This time, Teri went high with a slash at shoulder height. Cadejo lunged forward to bite her with both heads.

Once again a strong wind was whipped up right before their attacks landed.

This time however, Teri had kept her eyes wide open and fixed on Eveline.

She watched, in surprise, as Eveline hopped slightly, then the wind blasted out from her chest and threw her back nearly a dozen feet. Out of the reach of their attacks.

As she was thrown through the air, Eveline raised a piece of paper in her right hand.

The enchantments on the page glowed blue. The next second a white bolt of lightning, no wider than a finger. As it shot out towards Teri, the paper turned to ash.

The arc slammed against her shield before she could even understand what was happening. It threw her spinning through the air. As she hit the ground, the roar of the lightning was still echoing in her head.

Cadejo immediately loped over to Teri's prone form. He stood directly between them and growled as he stared at Eveline. Waiting for the next attack.

Teri quickly stood up and shook off the blow. She knew she should have been able to take that blow. But she had been caught by surprise, yet again.

"You will not surprise me again." She yelled, as she and Cadejo once again charged at Eveline.

Eveline knew that her surprise attacks would have little effect now. So, this time she decided to go on the offensive.

Arc after arc began to slam into Teri's shield. They were not doing much damage to her, but they did pin her down. The strength of each blast was almost enough to break her defense.

Fortunately for her, this left Cadejo free to attack.

Unfortunately for Cadejo, the movement provided by Eveline's new armor was more than he could keep up with.

Every time he got close, she would simply activate the enchantments on her armor be whisked out of range. All the while she continued her assault on Teri.

"Give up Teri. You can't win." She yelled, as she once again dodged Cadejo's attacks. The frustration was apparent on both of the beasts faces. She almost felt bad for not letting him bite her, at least once.

"You think you have us beat? Get real!" Teri shouted back.

In response, Eveline launched another two blasts of lightning. 'Well, if she wants to go out fighting I will just have to finish this quickly.' She thought to her self.

Eveline activated enchantment after enchantment. Trying to bust open this rock of an opponent. She even began to mix in a gout of flame every so often. She continuously hammered Teri's defenses with spells for nearly six second straight.

'If this damn woman doesn't go down soon, she will put me in the poor house!' Eveline thought to her self. She could only grit her teeth and pull out more enchantments.

"Behind you!" A shout ripped through her mind. It was only then that she realized it had been nearly ten seconds since Cadejo had tried attacking her again.

She quickly turned, expecting to see Cadejo bearing down on her. Only to find him still nearly ten feet away.

Cadejo had not been idle. Both of his heads were facing each other, with maws wide open. Between them was a large black and white orb. The colors swirled wildly in the orb, but they did not mix.

Eveline had no idea what to do. Cadejo was directly in front of her, and Teri was directly behind. Assuming she could even dodge the blast, she would definitely be hit by Teri.

Before she could come to a decision, the orb of energy split open, and a pillar of swirling energy shot towards Eveline's chest.

It was too late. The energy was going to hit her. There was nothing she could do about it.

At the last second, Teresa flapped into the path of the beam. It slammed into her, but rather than being blown back by the powerful beam, she simply floated there.

As the energy continued to slam into her small frame, she still did not move an inch. In fact she seemed to be glowing brighter and brighter as the energy began to wane.

After a full three seconds, the beam finally petered out. Cadejo, laid slumped on the ground. All of his energy spent. Eveline and Teri could only gawk at the strange scene of a radiant blue chicken floating in the air in front of them.

"Move. Now!" It was all the warning that Eveline was given. On reflex, she activated her enchantment and was thrown off to the side. Just as a beam of pure blue mana ripped past where she had just been standing.

It slammed into Teri's shield. She was able to hold on for a full second, before the force ripped the shield from her hand and threw her out of the arena.

Eveline could only stare at Teresa in shock. "Why didn't you tell me you could do that!" She stammered at Teresa.

"It never came up." Was Teresa's giddy reply.