Everything But...

Jien stepped cautiously and silently toward the edge of the Gel Fog, ensuring that he wouldn't leave the mist lest Olivia be waiting for him outside, but making sure to stay as far away from the Sweet Slumber mist as possible. While he knew that if he remained here he would be affected by Sweet Slumber at some point given that it did not just require inhalation but could also affect a person through skin contact to a lesser degree. Still, he would wait until the last moment if he could help it. Either this would work in his favor in exposing his opponent for a longer period or he was simply wasting both their time if she was waiting for him outside.

Luckily for him Olivia was not specialized in wind magic and thus after trying a few minor spells that failed to disperse the Gel Fog she became fed up and charged into the fog wanting to use her speed to complete a quick systematic search. By the time she had made her way into the fog the Sweet Slumber draught had mixed well enough with the Gel Fog that the change in color was too slight to actually notice. She quickly ran through the fog in a systematic pattern that she had learned from her mentor for searching an area.

She eventually got close enough to Jien's location near the edge of the fog that he was able to hear the sound of her footsteps in the fog. He hoped that she was not using a trick to lure him out and heightened his senses as he steps out of the fog swiftly, doing his best to not leave himself open to attack as he retreated. His movements were a bit more clumsy and dull, but not enough to cause a severe issue. He had stayed in the smokescreen for a bit too long and it worried him a small degree as he made it into the fresh air.

He scanned his surroundings to the best of his ability, looking around the open air and then at the slowly clearing Gel Fog. He didn't see Olivia on the outside but he still wouldn't let down his guard until the result was declared. Despite Jien's cautious mindset all of the adults were giving themselves knowing smiles. They were well versed enough to know that Jien had likely done something to use the smokescreen and that Olivia had chased right into it without much thought.

This was an oversight in their children's training that they would have to shore up before academy. They had trained their children regarding fighting in different circumstances, trained them regarding the major professions if only academically but had not trained them about how these professions could be used in a fight. Not to say that they looked down on Jien for doing so, in fact they were rather interested in both what he had done, how and why.

They could see that Jien was moving a bit more sluggishly than before so they knew that at least to a small degree he was caught in his own tactic. Though this could be counted as a point against him it could also be seen as the actions of a cautious strategist. They continued to watch as Jien distanced himself cautiously from the thinning fog. By the time he had made it twenty feet away the white mist was thin enough to see the shadow of the still standing Olivia moving towards the edge of the smokescreen.

Sooner than Jien had suspected Olivia made her way out of the Gel Fog once more. As it had thinned she had spotted his shadow through the ever so slightly pink tinged fog and had chased it at what she thought was her full speed. She was mildly irritated by the fact that he had decided to play hide and seek rather than face her. She had adrenaline coursing through her veins and driving her forward single-mindedly, not noticing the fact that her pace was falling every so often and her muscles were growing weaker.

By the time she made it to where Jien was standing at the ready he eyelids were drooping slightly. She brought her blades up to slash at Jien using her forward momentum to cut down the annoying young man in front of her. As he blades were brought to her right shoulder she saw him flick his wrist and a stringy grayish liquid splash on her blades and further onto her small pauldron. As she tried to bring her blades down she realized that they were stuck to her shoulder by something like a glue that had already hardened to an extent.

Jien, knowing that the concoction that he had used wouldn't actually hold back her blow if she pout force into it, moved quickly to rest the edge of his blade against her jugular. Immediately the referee had called the match as Jien's victory to which Jien didn't show any signs of satisfaction in this type of victory. The stoic expression on her opponent's face made Olivia so angry that her eyes went bloodshot and she was about to yell at him before her eyes drooped closed and her body fell forward into his own.

Jien caught her and gently laid her on the ground before backing off to let the adults take a look at her. He hadn't used anything particularly dangerous but he knew that the adults would want to make sure. When asked he cooperated by telling them about the use of Gel Fog and Sweet Slumber, receiving a mixture of raised eyebrows and praise regarding the interesting combination.

It wasn't long before Runa came forward with a draught similar to the one Jien had first used to wake himself back up. She used it to wake Olivia from her short nap, which worked perhaps too well. The first thing Olivia did was bounce to her feet, glare at Jien and scream "How can that be fair? We didn't even fight. You just hid and then struck when I was mostly down."

To this he turned to the adults around them and asked the simple but pertinent question. "Did the use of self brewed alchemical agents break any rules? I am pretty sure there was nothing stated against it stated before we started." 

To this it was Gloria Romero, Barret's mother who smiled a cold smile and answered. "Everything but killing, crippling or otherwise aiming to permanently harm your opponent is allowed."