Reflections on the Warpath - [An Isekai Progression Fantasy]

Fifteen seconds gone…

Jay jerked his left foot aside the second he felt Caldus' whip. He wanted to keep punching but knew it wasn't worth it. If the whip caught him, the fight could flip on its head in an instant.

Caldus pounced on Jay's caution. He swept Jay's base leg aside before reversing their positions, shoving Jay into the wall, and backing off into the street. While Jay reeled from the unexpected attack, Caldus adjusted his hold on the whip. He wrapped three loops of it around his knuckles, shortening his weapon's length before snapping it side to side and beckoning Jay forward.

Jay had no choice but to oblige.

He activated Eye of the storm as he advanced, allowing himself one last moment of quiet before the battle's crescendo.

Marko still toiled against Tara Cinderborn, except now he had four clones hounding his opponent. The Smothering Grasp gladiator had several gashes in her moko, and even sported a fresh cut across her cheekbone, but looked no closer to death than Caldus. Still-burning cinders choked the air around their battle, shreds of smouldering refuse that orbited the Ashmaker.

Kestrel had removed all the street's scrap wood earlier, yet they'd missed the bins. Their own ignorance handed Marko's opponent the invaluable fuel she needed to fight.

Beyond the brawling gladiators. Yandiel and his guards were back on their feet. The Directorate captain screamed out orders as he began to turn and run.

We'll get him…

He can't get that far in four seconds.

Before Jay, Caldus weaved his shortened whip in a figure of eight. It lashed through the air, forming a shifting barrier that covered his front and sides. Even using Eye of the storm, Jay struggled to track the whip's movements.

Well he's not called Caldus the Slow, is he.

Jay dropped Eye of the storm. Ping shot forward, leading the charge. She smacked off of Caldus' leather dome before careening into the building behind Jay and taking what was left of a window with her.

Caldus grinned as he met Jay's eyes, daring him closer.

Jay kept running. His opponent wasn't the only one full of tricks.

Before he reached the whip's perimeter, Jay skidded to a halt. He held up his left arm and pulled his wrist back, firing the Quicksnatch rope that coiled beneath his bracer.

The rope shot out.

Jay braced himself.

Caldus' whip caught Jay's rope the instant it passed the threshold. They fused instantly. The whip's momentum snatched the rope from Jay's bracer, rapidly unspooling the rest of the rope.

The sudden jerk wrenched Jay's arm away from him but he held strong. After all, he'd been preparing for it.

Caldus hadn't.

The rope's interruption didn't strain the gladiator's arm as it had Jay's. But Jay didn't need the rope to deal damage, he just needed an opening.

With the whip glued to Jay's rope and the rope tied to his bracer, Caldus could no longer form his leather dome. He flung his arm aside, but tethered to Jay's wrist the whip couldn't move like it used to.

The gladiator's all encompassing defence was completely negated.

Three seconds left.

Jay closed the gap in two steps before breaking open Caldus' defence with a jab. The punch snapped his head back before Jay tugged on his opponent's cloak and pulled him closer.

Jay pulled back his right, condensing his hand into a metal fist before smashing it into Caldus' temple with pinpoint accuracy.

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The gladiator's face was half swollen already thanks to Jay's lightning infused haymaker; Caldus' left eye probably couldn't see a thing. His bruised skull was obviously a weakness. And if Jay wanted this fight over quickly, he had to exploit it.

Two seconds.

Jay's fist pulled back again.

It smashed again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

One.

But when Jay pulled his fist back the fifth time, Caldus pushed along with him.

The meagre push couldn't possibly have stopped Jay, but the second it gave Caldus was all he needed. The gladiator reached up to his neck, tugging at a chain buried deep under several layers of armour.

Memories of Amaya, both from Vega's fight and his own, sprang into Jay's mind as he watched his opponent in dread. Her mocking sneer still haunted Jay's nightmares at times, taunting him for each missed opportunity.

He saw none of that in Caldus.

No, but what he saw scared him far more.

Blind desperation and wide-eyed fear.

Time's up.

BOOM!

Jay hurtled away from his opponent. Caldus shot backwards too, flung off the ground by his own last resort.

Jay rued his missed opportunity while cursing his overconfidence. Of course there was another layer. Did he really expect to defeat a D grader within twenty seconds?

Cocky.

Cocky… and stupid.

Caldus slammed spine first into the stone wall behind him. Beside his folded body, both Marko and his opponent momentarily stopped to stare.

Why the hell was I so fucking cocky and stu-

Jay thudded against the wall opposite his opponent, barely staying conscious by tucking his head forward.

Across from him, Caldus began to stir. The slouched over gladiator pressed his hands against the rubble, slowly climbing to his knees.

Jay rose too, but he couldn't stay focused on his opponent for long.

His twenty seconds were up, and Yandiel was already running.

—

Jay broke into a sprint.

His gamble had failed. He'd bet on himself and lost. Jay's opening twenty seconds had already burned away, forfeited to the hunger that drove him to fight.

He wouldn't forfeit the mission too.

Yandiel was still within Jay's sights. He and his guards had made it halfway to the main road and were screaming bloody murder to anyone awake enough to listen. If Jay didn't kill his target soon, they'd have half the city watching them.

As if that wasn't bad enough, he couldn't forget about Randiel and his reserves at the Crossed Oars. With how the night had gone so far, Jay wouldn't be surprised if they were on their way already.

One of Yandiel's guards, a short but stocky man with cropped blond hair, spun to face Jay.

Fear washed over the man's eyes as he raised his spear. The spearhead burned red, flushed with heat as steam curled off it.

A harmoniser?

He is a fighter, I suppose…

But even if Yandiel's guard was a harmoniser, he wasn't a particularly dedicated one.

Jay raised his fists with intent to kill.

The guard faltered, falling back a step and cowering behind his spear.

Wouldn't last a week in the coliseum.

A second of hesitation was all Jay needed. He breezed past the spearman, unwilling to spare the time it'd take to fight him. Right now, Jay only had eyes for his target.

The leathery jowls that framed Yandiel's snout flapped with his every step. The humanoid pig shot a frantic look back at Jay, before squealing at his guards.

"Get him you good-for-nothing louts! If he touches me I'll kill each and every one of you and your children to boot!"

The remaining three guards stopped and turned, each drawing their weapons. The closest of the three stepped forward, swinging a two-handed axe towards Jay. The weapon left a faint blue afterimage behind it, and for a moment Jay wondered what essences shaped the guards attack and which were used in the axe's creation.

PING!

Ping deflected the axe, flinging its arc away from Jay.

He stopped wondering and started fighting.

Jay lunged at the guard, careful to avoid the axe's afterimage that still swung at him. He tagged the man with a jab before instantly firing a right cross.

The guard was out cold before he hit the ground.

"Jay, watch out!"

Jay dove aside the moment he heard Marko's scream.

A roiling sphere of flames engulfed the man he'd just knocked out. Spewing out an acrid stench that choked the entire alleyway. Marko blinked next to Jay, clamping his mouth shut with his hand.

You're a bit late…

Jay kept his criticisms to himself. He hadn't defeated Caldus, so how could he judge Marko for not sticking to the plan. Behind them both, Tara Cinderborn held up both her arms as flaming debris encircled her. The gladiator bore new scar that pinched her left eye shut and leaked crimson blood over half her face.

The cut ran deep. An extra centimetre and they'd both be fighting Caldus right now.

"She used the spear-man as a meat cannonball, Jay," said Marko, holding back a dry-heave. "Lit the poor guy on fire and hurled him at you."

Jay stared off at Yandiel. The Directorate man had almost reached the main road.

Marko shook his head.

"We can't afford to ignore her, Jay. Don't even try it."

The flaming corpse floated off the ground, hovering for a second before launching towards Jay.

Marko gripped Jay's wrist, preparing to teleport, but Ping smashed the fireball into the ground before it came close.

Jay's eyes flicked between Yandiel, and Tara.

"Ping, you have to go after him!" he screamed, knowing that she wouldn't want to leave his side.

Ping stayed in place, ensuring she stayed between the fire harmoniser and Jay.

"You have to do it Ping," Jay pleaded, "Get over there and break his knees, Ping. We can't afford to let him go."

Ping shot off. Behind Tara Cinderborn, Caldus rose to his feet.

Marko grasped Jay's shoulder before shaking his head and laughing to himself.

"What's so funny?" asked Jay.

Marko smiled.

"I'm guessing this is scenario D then?"