"CRACK!" The sound of water moving at close to a hundred meters per second, hitting the ground reverberates through the massive room.
"Did you know, Gabi?" Gabi looked at Elias with a curious, staying alert. His pose ready, and stable,
"There is water everywhere. In the air that surrounds you. In the clothes that comfort you, even you are made of water."
"CRACKLE!-HISS!" Another crackle of pressurized water narrowly misses Gabi, and hits the ground filling the air with clouds of steam. Obscuring the view between Elias and Gabi. They stare each other down with conviction.
"This is the difference between you and me. Sorry, but I have to win this. I didnt spend all those years in the academy for nothing." Gabi chuckled.
"Altough he is stronger than me, his movements are so teleghraphed I could see it from a mile away." Gabi thought to himself. It seems every time he intends to attack, his eyes flicker, his brows furrow, his dominant arm twitches, and it takes about half a second delay for him to concentrate the water in the air and apply velocity to it, eventually launching it at me.
But this is winnable. Compared to other members, he focused solely on his studies, the theory behind the molecules of water in the air.
Gabi lunged forwards, attempting to close the distance between them.
Gabi looks at his rough hands, filled with callouses, compared to Elias' softer frame and hands, its night and day. "Physically, I am slightly stronger, and slightly more experienced than him, who spent his all life sheltered and spoiled."
"Do you really think you deserve to win here?" Elias exclaimed. "Just give up."
Elias presents a fake smirk, a stiff, forced posture, and a chuckle. But deep inside, he is scared, his hands trembling. Scared of the one man who was able to best the person who killed one of the esteemed Knights of the nation. Caius Astrea.
Elias moved backwards and fired another stream of pressurized water, only to miss once more. His hands tremble as Gabi quickly close the distance and clenches his fists.
Gabi throws a punch forcing Elias to block, losing his focus.
"Everybody has a plan til' they get punched in the face" Gabi thought to himself. Yes. There. Losing focus. Synapse Triggers... they require concentration. Resonation requires the highest brain frequencies, Gamma. Break that focus, even for a second, and the connection falters. Break the connection, break the power.
Elias, desperately attempting to make distance, shoves Gabi and attempts to kick him.
But it's no use. Gabi is quite literally reading him like a book, before he even moves, Gabi can see everything. Elias' eyes, his body language, his lips, his face, his footwork.
Gabi uses his left hand to land a hit on Elias' face, which is quickly blocked. But it is quickly followed by another attack. Elias attempts to catch it, but its too late, he was distracted.
"THUD!" Gabi's right hand, lands a liver shot in Elias, forcing him to collapse to the ground. Victory, secured.
But just as Gabi thought he won, he is tackled to the ground. "I CANT LOSE LIKE THIS!" Elias exclaims before attempting to land hits with both his hands, stopped by Gabi.
"SNAP!" Gabi kicks the infuriated Elias, pushing him back, Elias coughing, catching his breath. But it's already over.
Gabi punches Elias in the gut, collapsing him again, before He repeatedly punches Elias on the head, though he is stopped by Sergeant Ivan.
"Thats enough, Astrea." While gripping Gabi's hand. Gabi stares at the man, his nose bleeding and face bruised. he recalls the scene that fateful crimson morning, before shrugging it off.
Medical Staff rush to the scene, loading Elias onto the stretcher and rushing Him out of the room, while Mark, Detective Klein, and Officer Kurt watch in their seats.
Gabi walked slowly to the benches to watch the other trainees fight, after recieving bandages and care from the medical staff. He took a deep breath, the humid air doing little to cool him down. The wait stretched.
Gabi exhales, attempting to relax. He observes 2 other trainee's fighting. "Hmm? A quantum harmonizer.. I wonder how they can just conjure elements from the periodic table out of nowhere.."
Gabi, with disinterest in watching the matches after a few seconds goes by, strategizes. I should carefully watch Mark's match... Im not too confident I can beat him.
A loud voice cuts through the ambiance. "MARK VINTER VS. CLARA VANCE".
Gabi leans down from his seat, observing with interest.
Clara raises her arms, attempting to attack..
"THUD!" Clara falls to the ground, that elbow to the neck leaving her crawling on the ground, but she refuses to give up.
She stands once more, looks at mark with judgement, but her eyes are shaking in fear.
"This is why your brother died." Mark exclaims, before laughing, with some of the crowd looking at him with disgust.
Clara is filled with seething rage, spikes of iron are formed around her, before being fired at speeds of 200 meters per second.
Mark is caught off guard, and barely dodges, but the cost of pulling off something like that is heavy.
Clara falls on her knees, hyperventilating from exhaustion, before he is kicked to the ground by Mark. Mark tries to land just one more hit before he is instantly stopped by Sergeant Ivan once more. Mark attempts to resist his grip, and partially succeeds, though he is shoved back 10 meters into the ground before he is able to do anything.
"Victory goes to Mark Vinter." Sergeant Ivan reluctantly states.
Gabi was watching in both fear and curiosity during the fight. Flinching every hit that Mark lands on the woman. His fists clenched, but his determination remains strong. "I must win." Gabi thought to himself.
Once again, the medical staff does their job.
Mark looks towards the stalls, meeting eyes with Gabi. He smirks at him, before the announcer calls on Gabi to get into position.
They face off, staring each other down, waiting for one or the other to make a move.
Gabi instantly recognized Mark's stance, the micromovements, the eye dilation. Mark was about to attack. But it's useless.
Mark is simply too fast for Gabi's body. Even if Gabi knew exactly what he wanted to do in that exact moment, his body would not be able to execute properly, and so he thought to himself. "Is that it?"
No, it's not. An ethereal voice rang out in the halls, time, stopped.
An amalgamation of eyes stared directly into his soul, unable to move. Then, time continued, but.. something was different.
Gabi's eyes glowing a neon blue, he percieved everything slower, 4 times slower. He could see everything, he could react, and his body was somehow able to react quickly enough to dodge to the side.
Mark, shocked that his prey was suddenly gone, the area surrounded by smoke from the speed of the movements. Mark's eyes searched everywhere to find Gabi, only to find him on the ground, getting up from his knees, coughing.
"What just happened?" Gabi thought to himself, but there is no time for thoughs right now, for he is in combat.
Mark assaults him with a barrage of attacks, all of them narrowly missing, frustrating the man. "How are you this f***ing good?"
Marks eyes could not believe that the child who couldn't even handle a single insignificant sacrifice, and could not even aim a gun properly, who has spent his entire life training while Gabi just lived life casually, Gabi is dodging his attacks left and right, albeit taking all of the effort in his body.
Gabi, eyes widening, processing the information. "Time is somehow slowed down everytime I am about to get attacked? How?... Whatever, I dont have the time to think of this right now, I need to WIN."
Gabi lunged at mark with all his strength, giving it his all to land a hit. Mark quickly reacted, blocking the attack, Gabi pivots his body to the left, and attempts to land a liver shot.
Right when he was about to land a hit, his body flew across the room, he did his best to regain his footing, but he was met with a punch to the face. He shoved mark out of the way, buying him enough time to regain footing, blocking another attack thrown at him.
"WHOOSH!" Mark lunged at him, this attacking taking everything in his strength to pull off. Even Gabi's newly found "abilities" could not block fast enough.
Everything was black for a second, then he woke up in a comfortable bed, with bandages all over his body.