Serum

Dirk stepped on stage for his second fight. This one was against a girl who wore red robes and looked at him with a ruthless gaze. Dirk just met her gaze with apathy though. The violent aura from a child could do nothing to him. 

"Fight!"

As soon as the hand went down, the girl moved and cast several spells. 8 fireballs appeared above her head, and Dirk's mind started to run. Unlike the other elements, fire was obviously very destructive. Dirk could easily get burnt, so he would have to think twice when dodging. Especially fireballs. Those could explode, and their effective radius was large. Dodging may not be possible. 

Because fire was so destructive, Dirk immediately started moving, even activating the anima in his body. His foot pushed off the ground and he shot toward the girl. 

"Hah!"

After a few seconds, the girl shot the fireballs toward him. Since he was headed straight on, he couldn't dodge. He instead created a thick wall of rock, loading it with lots of mana. 

*BOOM*

An explosion shook the arena as the fireballs exploded on the wall. The wall actually crumpled, and Dirk barely jumped out of the way before rock fragments flew at him. He checked out his wall in surprise. 

'Those fireballs had lots of mana in them. Blocking them fully will be hard. But I don't necessarily need to...'

He thought as he started running again. His body was rapidly expending energy as anima was used, but this is exactly why he's been training for years. The girl created and launched more fireballs, and Dirk eventually had to create some distance to be able to react accordingly. 

Then, he created a thin dirt wall. The fireballs hit it, and it was immediately destroyed. However, when one exploded, they all did. That thin wall had taken all the fireballs with it.

"Ugh!"

The girl growled in anger seeing that. It was a huge waste of mana to have so many fireballs be blocked like that. Nothing had even hit Dirk, and her mana wasn't infinite. However, she didn't show signs of faltering. Suddenly, she switched tactics, and a different magic circle appeared on her hands. 

'That's... Fire wave?'

Dirk was surprised as he saw the two circle spell. Two circle spells were much more advanced than single circle spells, and they had equally devastating effects. In particular, fire wave was a spell that Dirk hadn't even learned. Its effect was to cast a tsunami of fire in a cone outward from the caster. Basically, anything in front of them would be engulfed in flame. It cost a lot of mana, but its damage was very real. 

Dirk saw this and realized that he had to reevaluate this girl. If she was casting these kinds of spells, then she was really smart. Especially since they had only just been introduced to these kinds of spells. 

Dirk was surprised, but that didn't affect his reactions. Seeing the spell, he immediately thought of what he needed to do. He stopped in place about 15 meters from the girl and raised his staff like a spear. He brought it back and activated a large chunk of anima, precisely throwing it like a javelin. The staff sailed through the air at high speeds.

The girl saw this and realized that she couldn't complete her spell midway. With the staff headed toward her, she stopped her casting and tried to move out of the way. Unfortunately, the staff was fast, and it still ended up hitting her shoulder. 

*Thud!*

"Argh! Ow!"

The girl let out a scream when the staff slammed into her body, sending her to the floor. Because she wasn't an anima trainer, her feeble body wasn't able to handle the javelin with Dirk's immense strength behind it. She struggled for a bit before getting back on her feet and holding her limp shoulder. When she looked up though, she saw Dirk running toward her. As a last resort, she quickly casted two fireballs, but before she could throw them, Dirk was upon her. 

*Whack!*

Dirk swung his leg around, creating a whipping sound and slamming it into her thigh. The girl was bent sideways before falling back to the floor. Seeing that, Dirk went over and placed his foot on top of her already hurt shoulder, applying weight. 

"Ahh! Oww! Get... Get off!"

"Stop! The winner is Dirk!"

The girl wailed and some tears came out of her eyes as Dirk stepped on her, but luckily the referee called the match. Dirk stopped and backed away, but the girl didn't stop groaning and crying in pain. Both her arm and her leg that was kicked felt like they were broken. 

Nurses rushed to the arena, taking the girl away. Meanwhile, Dirk simply walked back to his seat without any reaction. Ava looked at him, unsure of what to say.

"...You sure didn't take it easy on her."

"Anybody can be a threat regardless of gender."

"Yea, that's true. But why did you suddenly go so hard? You haven't hurt anybody so bad this far."

Ava questioned, surprised by his intensity. Besides that fight with the boy where they had beat into each other, he hadn't been so difficult with anyone. 

Dirk responded dully.

"She showed that she could cast high level magic. If I didn't disable her quickly, I would be in trouble."

"High level magic?"

"Two circle. Fire wave."

"Really?! But how? We haven't even studied two circle spells that much yet."

"Exactly. She's smart, and a real threat."

"Huh. Well nevermind then."

Hearing him, Ava suddenly understood. If anyone could cast that, they would indeed be a difficult opponent. Dirk simply took the best course of action, which was to not give her the chance to cast anything. That throw of his staff was the best way to go at the time. The only other option was to defend or try to run. He also didn't use magic since he was unsure of how long it would take her to cast. 

After sighing, Ava went quiet for a bit. As she took a look around though, she suddenly thought of something. She spoke to Dirk unsurely. 

"Hey so... I think we might be fighting soon."

"Us?"

Dirk suddenly looked at Ava, and then at the stand they were sitting in. There were only a few kids left excluding them. Dirk himself only had one more battle, and Ava only had two. After that was the championship fight the next day. Depending on their lineups, Dirk and Ava may end up fighting each other.

Seeing that it was very possible to fight each other, he shrugged.

"Well, if we end up fighting, just fight as if it's a regular opponent. Don't hold back."

"Hold back? Against you? Of course I wouldn't. If anything, this is a good time to see how well I match up to you. You always beat me in physical fights, but now we can use magic. I'm pretty good if I do say so myself."

Ava spoke smugly, and Dirk nodded. She was indeed skilled with water, and she was even a higher Tier than Dirk. Her magic could overwhelm him if he wasn't vigilant. Though, both him and Ava knew that he was never one to let down his guard. 

"Next fighters!"

"Alright, that's me. Wish me luck!"

"Good luck."

Dirk spoke as Ava skipped over to the arena. Her fight this time was against a boy who, while not looking like much, released quite the powerful aura. Dirk could faintly see some water mana roiling around his body. He felt that this would be an interesting fight since both people had the same attribute. 

"Fight!"

After Ava was ready, the two went at it. They both instantly casted water balls. 6 formed above each head, but neither fired. The two opponents looked at each other awkwardly. Were they evenly matched? This would indeed be an interesting fight. 

The two eventually launched their spells at each other, and from then on, they constantly exchanged water spells that varied. 

However, that wasn't the only form of combat. Turns out, this boy was an anima trainer too, so he could fight physically. When Ava went in to throw punches or kicks, he was able to block and return his own. The two would tussle for a bit before backing out and going back to launching spells. 

The two truly were evenly matched. After a while though, that turned out to only be true for their Tier and Ranks. When it came to stamina, strength, and technique, Ava was able to beat out this boy. Her punches and kicks hit harder, she could fight intensely for longer, and she could handle attacks better. Everything that she had over this boy came from Dirk's training. She couldn't help but smile even as she was getting hit. 

In the end, she came out victorious. After the boy got tired, she was able to put him in a hold and force him to tap out. The referee called the match, and she walked back to Dirk. 

"I won!"

"Good job. That was a good fight."

Dirk nodded to her as they high-fived. Her training up to this point won her that match. Even Ava realized this, and she couldn't be more proud of herself. This is exactly what all that pain was for. 

However, when the next fighters went up, both of them suddenly realized something. There were only them and those two fighters on stage left. That meant...

"Looks like we're going to be fighting each other after all."

Ava sighed, and Dirk nodded. Both of their next fights were against each other. Whoever won would fight the winner of this current match. Unfortunately, only one of them would fight for the championship. 

"Well, rest up. This next fight will be hard."

"For me, yea. I don't exactly expect to beat you."

"Anything can happen in a battle. Never believe that the outcome is set in stone."

"It's because of that that I won't win."

Ava rolled her eyes at him. He was basically her teacher. How could she beat him so easily? Everything she knew about combat came from him, and she knew that he was infinitely more skilled than her. She viewed him as superhuman. The thought of beating him in a fair, head-on fight was nothing but a fantasy. 

With that, Dirk and Ava watched the fight closely. Dirk analyzed the combat patterns of both people, and Ava focused on recovering. She didn't need to worry about the ongoing fight since she didn't believe she would win. She just wanted to do her best against Dirk. 

Eventually, the fight ended. It was between two boys. The one who won was a tall kid with blonde hair and a valiant look. He wore fancy clothes that weren't optimized for combat and wielded a sword, one that was dulled of course. There weren't many kids who used weapons since none of them knew how to wield any and just used magic, so he was definitely a bit outstanding. 

After winning, that boy looked over to Dirk and Ava and smiled. He was now going to the championship fight, so whoever won between them would be his opponent. He had seen both people fight, so he was curious, though he already had his own guesses.

"Next fighters! Dirk Strider and Ava Gaimbert!"

"Well, that's us."

Hearing the referee, both Dirk and Ava stood up. It was a bit weird that two people so close to each other were now opponents. The two of them now had several rumors flowing around that something was going on between them with how close they stuck to each other. But they didn't mind it too much. It also wasn't like they hadn't sparred hundreds of times before. The only difference this time was the intensity and stakes of the fight.

"Hey, don't you go easy on me. I'm giving it my best, so give me yours."

Ava tapped him with her fist as they walked. Dirk shook his head though.

"Doing that would kill you, so I won't be. I'll give you a good fight. I want to see how much you've grown over our first year at the academy."

Saying that, Dirk smiled at Ava, whose eyebrows raised. Like that, they walked onto the arena and to their corners. 

'Ava still isn't in her best shape, so I'll compensate.'

As Dirk situated himself, he activated the anima in his body. He hardened his muscles and bones, expending anima and physical energy at a fast rate. When the referee raised his hand, Dirk's body was already a bit fatigued. Then, the fight started.

"Fight!"

"Hah!"

As soon as it started, Ava raised her hand and formed a spell. 6 balls of water appeared above her. At the same time though, Dirk also casted a spell. 4 rock arrows appeared above him.

Ava launched one of her water balls as soon as it was ready. The ball shot straight toward Dirk. However, it was intercepted halfway by one of the rock arrows which blast apart the water ball and stuck itself in the ground. Seeing that, Ava launched 3 more in succession. All of them were intercepted by Dirk's arrows, and all of the arrows stuck themselves in the ground between them like spears. 

With that, Ava had two more water balls. She launched both at the same time, but at that moment, Dirk shot off the floor as a pillar launched upward from beneath his foot. Both balls flew past him. 

"Come on!"

Ava didn't care much about the missed spell. Seeing Dirk charge forth, she also rushed to meet him. The two clashed in the middle with Ava throwing the first punch. It was quick and straight, knocking into Dirk's arm before quickly pulling back. Dirk simply maneuvered around as she threw punches or kicks. Most of them were dodged, but the ones that hit didn't do much damage. 

"You left your staff. You really are going easy on me!"

Ava let out a little growl. She only noticed now, but Dirk never brought his staff on stage. He was fighting her on equal grounds, but she only saw it as a handicap. She wanted to think that he was calling her weak, but she knew him well enough to know that he wouldn't do that. He had other ideas. But that still didn't mean she enjoyed being pampered. 

Meanwhile, the two went around in this little dance in the center of the arena. Around them were Dirk's rock arrows that were sticking out of the ground. He used those as objects to move around, forcing Ava to use footwork to keep up. 

Eventually though, Dirk put a stop to the dance. He suddenly counterattacked with a simple punch. That punch caught Ava off guard, but her instincts kicked in at that moment. It was like she predicted it as her body bent, letting the fist sail past.

"Hm, good."

Dirk nodded and kept moving. Ava recovered and moved with him, going back to that dance. She hit him a few more times, but like with the punch, he countered out of nowhere. This time though, it was with a weapon. 

As they went around it, Dirk suddenly grabbed the rock arrow in the ground and pulled it out. It was around a meter long, and he swung it around like his staff.

*Bang!*

The rock arrow slammed into Ava and shattered on her body. She was thrown away, tumbling to the ground. She felt the side of her body contract with pain as if she were hit with a club, but she ignored it and popped back on her feet. If there was one thing she had learned, it was that Dirk could take advantage of people's low pain tolerance. She couldn't be caught off guard while recovering from a blow. 

Sure enough, right when she got to her feet, Dirk was right back on top of her with another rock arrow. He swung it around like a bat, and she blocked with her arm. This time, the rock shattered, but she wasn't sent flying. Her body only lowered to the floor. Unfortunately, Dirk pulled out yet another rock arrow, and he swung that one right after. 

*Bang!*

"Ugh!"

Ava gritted her teeth as yet another rock slammed into her. Her ribs and both arms felt like they were whacked with bars of metal, the bones underneath her muscles being bruised. This was with her Rank 2 anima as well. She couldn't activate it like Dirk, but it still strengthened her body. That seemed to do nothing though against his strength.

After being hit with the rock spears, Ava was hurt, but she wasn't distracted. She dodged Dirk's follow up kicks and bounded backwards, putting some distance between them. She then cast another water ball spell, 4 water balls appearing around her. Dirk decided to meet in kind, 4 rock arrows appearing around him. 

*Zip!*

Then, the two threw them. Ava's water balls yet again collided with his arrows. Unfortunately, the arrows won, and they also sailed straight to her. Ava panicked a bit as those spears of rock threatened to impale her, but using her instincts, she dodged as best she could. 

Her body pulled on all its strength, twisting and moving out of the trajectories of the spears. She was quickly in a position of only having to face two, but she couldn't quite dodge those last couple. They came down.

*Slice!*

The two rock arrows dug into her leg and side. The first reopened her bandaged wound and made it even worse, and the second opened up a large gash above her ribcage. She grimaced, but was relieved. She at least wasn't impaled.

As the rock arrows pierced into the ground behind her, she steadied herself. Blood streamed out from her new wounds, but her eyes were on Dirk. Surprisingly, she wasn't feeling any hostility. In fact, the wounds made her excited. He was taking her seriously. At least, more so than with the other opponents. She was almost happy to have been hurt. 

It wasn't like the wounds debilitated her that much either. Although they were deep, she could still move around, albeit with some pain. However, the fatigue from her previous battle also started setting in. She hadn't recovered a whole lot, so she was more tired than normal. 

After calming herself, Ava concentrated on Dirk. He was looking at her with an approving smile. Despite that though, Ava felt a sense of danger. She didn't know what was going on, and the alarms going off in her mind only served to confuse her. 

Then, he moved. Dirk took a step forward, and suddenly, Ava felt the ground underneath her shift. A pillar came out beneath her foot, throwing her off balance. 

Dirk then sprinted forward. Ava tried to correct herself, but Dirk suddenly cast another rock arrow spell and threw it at her. It was only two arrows, but Ava only twisted herself enough to avoid one. She received another deep wound and tumbled to the floor. 

Then, another pillar right under her body launched her in the air. She was suspended in mid air, and Dirk arrived right at that moment. He raised his leg and kicked out, sending Ava flying.

*Bam!*

"Ahh!"

Ava couldn't help but let out a pained shout and she hit and rolled on the floor. She could barely breathe, her body was screaming, and she struggled to even move. She was truly in pain, and was a bit shocked that Dirk would hurt her so much. The way he did it also shocked her. She couldn't keep up with the rapid changes at all. All of his attacks chained and compounded on each other.

Ava pushed up her body while coughing and heaving for air. She looked to where Dirk was, but couldn't see him. She thought it was the massive headache at first, but realized a bit too late that he simply wasn't within her field of view. 

"Get up."

A voice came from behind her. Ava heard him and didn't respond as she pulled her body up. Everything was bruised. Her face, torso, legs, arms. Everything was hurt in some way, and she looked horrible. Meanwhile, Dirk hadn't yet been touched the entire time. While he made himself fatigued, there wasn't any point in time where he had to exert lots of energy anyway. He had Ava in the palm of his hands the entire time. 

"You're... how do you do it?"

Ava asked as she weakly faced him. For some reason, she couldn't even counterattack during the battle. He was too nimble, and it felt like anything she did was futile. He was simply too good. Too experienced. Against him, she couldn't do anything.

"Over time, you'll learn. Combat sense is hard to teach. It comes from many battles. The training you've done so far is only the groundwork."

"Only the groundwork... It feels impossible."

"It's not. Now come on. Keep fighting."

"What?"

"You can stand, so you can fight. Come on."

Ava looked at Dirk like he was stupid. Continue fighting? She could barely stand, let alone fight. She was tired and hurt. She wanted nothing more than to wrap her wounds and be done. 

She shook her head. But then, Dirk smiled.

"Fight, or I'll yield."

"Wha..."

Dirk spoke, and Ava's eyes went wide. Was he threatening her with his loss? It was insane, but it worked. Ava couldn't help but get angry at him. He was going to throw away all the fights so far simply because of her? He wasn't even hurt, and he was going to lose to her? It was madness.

"Idiot! You're an idiot!"

Ava erupted with that anger, and her weakness was pushed away. She dove at him with a fist, throwing punches and kicks as fast as she could. Dirk defended as she pounded him, and he occasionally threw out his own counterattacks. Each one delivered lots of pain to Ava, but she pushed through. 

For several minutes, Ava did everything she could to deliver blows, even trying to tackle him to the ground. As the fatigue surpassed her willpower though, Dirk ended the fight.

Blocking a punch, he suddenly took hold of her arm and bent it around. The two went to the floor as Dirk's body wrapped around her. Ava was baffled as she felt the irresistible pull of her joints and was put into an intricate lock. However, as he took her down, she felt no pain. It was almost like he was cradling her. Only the last pull on one of her joints caused her to grimace a bit, and she tapped out.

"Stop! The winner is Dirk!"

At that time, the referee called the match. Nurses rushed over with a stretcher bed, and as Dirk got up, he picked Ava up and set her on the bed. Her wounds weren't light and there was blood in several places around the arena. For the first year students, this was the bloodiest match yet. Nobody else had been beaten so thoroughly. 

Dirk walked off stage and left with the nurses, disregarding the determined gaze of that boy who would be his opponent. That fight was tomorrow. For now, he was done, so he decided he would just follow Ava who was being taken to a medical building to get healed up.