24, Fighting

The two of us crossed over the rope perimeter and stood a meter apart. The circle was around 4 meters in diameter.

I took a stance with my weapon in my hands and waited for John's permission to start the battle. I wasn't sure what was to come but what I had to do was simple, hit her before she could hit me.

Minili was also in her fighting posture, she held her scythe pointing down with the claw like blade pointing up. She looked over to John, I did the same and we both waited for his words to start the match.

"Begin."

John gave us the go ahead and before I had even turned my head Minili was moving. Her Scythe was swinging vertically with a mix of a stab and slash, I jumped to the side dodging her attack.

She quickly chained her second attack and sent a downward diagonal slash at me while still lunging forward. I had two options, keep dodging or counter attack.

I decided to go for the counter attack, after all if it doesn't work I can just dodge. My quickly thought up plan was to knock her weapon out of the way and stab her chest.

I stepped back to be where I thought her range would end and swung the back end of my staff into her scythe. It knocked her downward swing off course and provided an opening for me.

I brought my back foot forward and stabbed towards her middle hoping to end the fight in one blow.

Unfortunately for me she didn't just stay still and get hit. She stepped to the side and my attack missed.

She shuffled back and swung her weapon horizontally, pulling it towards her due to our close proximity. With the right end of my staff still facing her I quickly brought my left hand down to perform a side block.

I succeeded in blocking the swing but I failed to consider the curved end of her weapon. She pulled my staff out of the way using the momentum of her swing, and extended her arms to hit me with a jab.

I realized my mistake mid way and tried to fight against her momentum but failed to push it back. I got hit and lost the match.

If I was a second earlier with my reaction to her pull it would have been my shoulder that was hit but she landed a square hit on my chest leaving a bright green glow.

John announced the end of the match and declared Minili the winner. I exited the ring and Dotam walked into it while giving me a smirk.

I ignored him and walked over to john. "How could you have won?" John asked me this as he touched my chest and removed the glow.

I took a few seconds to go over the fight before speaking. "I should have known that her hooked weapon could pull the staff around and dogged instead of blocking. I could have jumped backwards or dropper low on my knees and had the swing go over my head. Then I could have sent a jab making her back up, or landed a blow to her body. It would probably have been easier for me to go for the limbs instead of the chest."

"Good analysis, dropping down would hurt but it would bring you the best result from that situation so long as you are fast enough. Thought it could be bad if she could control her strike and lower it because you would lose most of your dexterity. Your block would also be more stable if you planted one end on the ground and braced it with your foot. This would prevent her from moving your staff too much"

I nodded my head, the feedback he provided made sense.

"Overall though, for your fight you did a good job. Now you should watch how Dotam fights, you will face him next." The two in the circle were looking towards John and I waiting for his permission to start.

I lightly rubbed the spot on my chest where Minili hit, it didn't hurt compared to being actually stabbed but it didn't feel nice either. As John spoke I focused on the fight.

Dotam charged at Minili right away, with a shorter reach he had to get close if he wanted to land a hit.

He was forced to step back and dodge as Minili was stabbing at his feet in quick succession. It seemed they two had completely opposing game plans.

Minili wanted to keep him away by jabbing at his unprotected feet that were harder to block for him.

Dotam on the other hand needed to get in close to hit anything but he had to dodge constantly. Attacks to his upper body could be easily blocked or deflected with his two axes and his attacks would be tough for Minili to defend against.

But he had to get close enough for that to matter. Minili kept him at a distance dodging and it was clear he was getting frustrated.

After several more dodges he yelled out in frustration and charged recklessly at her. I thought it would go the same way as before but this time Dotam didn't dodge that attack, just took it and kept running at her.

This surprised Minili enough that he could get close enough and swing his axes together in the middle of her chest. Minili's eyes flashed with determination and she backed up but Dotam was now close enough and wouldn't let her widen the distance.

Dotam continued to give chase but was unable to land a blow despite swinging his axes at her constantly. At some point he slowed down slightly and Minili took advantage of this and side stepped one of his wild wide swings and landed a neat blow with the back end of her staff.

Dotam was stunned by this, he had spent so much of his attention on the blade end that he neglected the back end. John called the end of the fight and Dotam growled in annoyance.

Minili just gave him a happy grin and patted his shoulder. "Better luck next time." Minili skipped out of the ring and over towards John and myself.

She didn't have any glowing marks on her but she was breathing quite hard showing that she didn't win as easily as she made it look. "Your turn Etanali. Go get him." "Thanks Minili, I won't lose this time."

I walked into the circle and got ready to face Dotam. From watching his fight I knew that he finds low attacks hard to block and doesn't deal with distance very easily.

He is also willing to make wild, reckless attacks like a berserker. His swings are fast and hard but he doesn't seem to be very agile but he is fast in a straight line.

If I can keep him moving and tire him out I might be able to win.

With John's words our fight began, Dotam yelled loudly and charged straight at me as fast as he could. It was clear he didn't want a repeat of his match with Minili.

I wasn't intimidated by his charge and I jabbed at his chest which he blocked by swinging his axe. This slowed his momentum down but he was still coming towards me.

I maintained the distance between us; walking backwards while managing my space within the circle. I was also jabbing continually at different areas causing him to dodge sideways or swing his axes.

I could see his irritation increase on his face growing with each lap around the circle. We weren't moving very fast but it was a steady pace of constant movement.

On our fourth lap around the circle, constantly poking his defense looking for any openings, I decided to change things up. After all it is just a practice match.

Instead of jabbing at him like I had been doing, I swung the back end of my staff up at an angle just off vertical. This caught Dotam off guard for half a second but quickly recovered and smashed his axe down hard to block it while also swinging his other one at me with a rising slash.

I braced myself for the impact and used the momentum of his block to speed up my downward swing at his chest. I used my arm to receive his slash, it would give him a point but it was a willing trade for the win.

My hand went numb but I was still able to maintain my grip on the staff. His axe was still lowered from his block so my snappy strike hit him on his chest by his collar bone.

Minili cheered loudly, after such a boring match to watch it ended in such a quick manner. It took a second for Dotam to realize he had been hit and he showed a surprised expression on his face when he saw the blue mark.

Afterwards he smiled at me. "Not bad for a broken compass. You're definitely worth fighting. Next time won't be the same, I'll wipe the floor with you." "In your dreams. You may have landed a hit on me this time, but that was because I let you. After leading you around like a child I figured I should give you a reward."

Dotam's grin turned to a grimace as he remembered his earlier frustration and growled out a response. "Just you wait." He then exited the circle and joined John, Minili had already ran into the ring.

"That was great, Etanali! You won on your first bout! I've beaten him a few times, But for your first day that was really impressive." "Thanks Minili, it was hard but I was just a tad faster than he was. He is a really good fighter though. He hits quite hard too."

"Yeah he does, but at least it's just bruises, it sure beats losing a limb. Those illusion fights were horrible." "yeah they SUCKED, I hope I never get disemboweled again. That was the worst sensation ever. Never get close to someone wielding sickles."

"Oof that doesn't sound fun, my worst encounter was with the chain scythe. I got caught up in the chain and then got my head pierced. I wouldn't recommend it, it was both embarrassing and painful." Looking over at John and Dotam they seemed to have finished their conversation and were ready to start the next fight.

With John's permission our second fight against each other started. The round started with each of us probing each other's reaction speed with quick jabs and side steps.

None of us were willing to try for a block because it wasn't as fast and could leave us open for a jab. I was the first one to try a swipe, my aim was to change the flow of the battle and have her do a weird movement and leave an opening for me.

I had been maintaining my stance throughout the battle so far so I decided to go for a hail mary attack. I gripped tightly with my left hand and made a wild swing at her middle.

I used my right hand to push the staff faster, it would have less power but it would go faster. The wide reaching swing surprised Minili and caused her to take two jumps back quickly.

I didn't get any openings but now I had the chance to put her on the defensive.