Harumi narrowed her eyes at the settling dust. "I knew it."
"That attack had some real power behind it."
"Azrael Zephyr…He's definitely strong."
As the dust settled, the icicles had pierced through ever other thing around him but the ghost stood unhurt.
"Well, I mean yeah we know what's at stake but c'mon couldn't you have gone a little gentler…We're roommates after all." He teased, his glowing eyes fixed on Harumi.
Harumi gave a long sigh, shaking her head. "This is training. Not the dorms."
She gestured he fingers as another barrage of icicles fired at the other.
"Awwn, Guess you're right," The poltergeist sighed, before raising his hand and flicked it to the side.
Before the shard of ice landed, a small boulder blocked the way and tanked the attack instead.
"What?" the blonde's eyes widened for a moment.
"Time to get serious then." Azrael lunged at her with a kick.
She immediately threw her head back to dodge the hit.
Back-flipping to gain some distance, she slammed her hands on the ground sending spikes of ice at the other.
The ghost smirked, gesturing his hands again and yet another rock came and blocked the attack shattering the rock into pieces.
"Is he…controlling those…but how."
Without warning the shattered pieces of the rock charged towards Harumi taking her by surprise, but she quickly dodged the attacks with precision.
"I've heard that Poltergeist can secrete ectoplasms that have different purposes, but I didn't see him using ectoplasm either so how is he doing all this?"
Harumi leaped into the air, dropping with a kick, but Azrael blocked it using his forearms.
The two withdrew, giving each other some space.
"You're a pretty good fighter." Azrael commented.
"And you're quite formidable…Tell me, how did you do all of that?" the girl said easing her stance but her focus still on the ghost.
"Only if you tell me yours." Azrael replied with a smirk. "Right now, I'm just being cautious, rushing in blindly without knowing what she can do would be stupid."
There was a long silence in the air, safe for the sound of the wind blowing.
"'Frost Spell'. That's the name of my ability…" Harumi explained "It allows me to generate ice and then control it. I can control its shape and form as well…and that's also my Deviancy since I'm a water Nymph."
Azrael exclaimed. "Wow. Such an awesome ability. Well then, guess I can tell you mine then.
"My ability is called 'Poltergeister'. I can freely move and control any object that I've infected with my ectoplasm with." The teenager opened his palm and a pink mist-like substance emitted from it.
He smeared it on a nearby tree, and at that moment it seemed like the tree was absorbing the liquid.
"So that's how he was moving those boulders. He must have done all that while the dust was settling." The blonde narrowed her eyes at the ghost who smirked at her.
"Wanna know the fun part of my ability?...I can control the external parts of the objects as well."
Harumi gasped.
In one swift motion, Azrael swung his hand, the bark of the tree broke into several shard-like pieces firing at her.
She summoned a wall of ice to defend herself as the wooden skates pierced into the wall.
"That was too close—!" she panted.
"Sure was."
The blonde turned to see the ghost already behind her.
"He's fast!" She crossed her forearms in front of her as he felt a heavy blow that sent her through the wall of ice behind her, giving her a few scratches. "And also strong…"
Azrael narrowed his eyes in slight frustration, sweat trailing down his chin. "Damn it. She's quicker than I thought. This might drag on longer than I expected!"
___
Meanwhile, another pair had also been in the middle of an intense brawl, fatigue tolling on the two, grime and scratches clung to their bodies.
"You're quite the fighter, Runa." Cyrus panted.
"You…too." Runa said, her exhaustion was more visible than the other.
Though she had managed to keep up with the Imp it still didn't change the fact that she was a girl and was prone to burning out before a male, but she kept pushing through.
"I can't waste anymore time…I need to get more flags but she wouldn't let me get past her." Cyrus thought. "My only option is spooking her so she can back down…"
Cyrus signed as he opened his palm, and a bright orange aura swirled around it.
He grabbed the aura and it seemed to take shape forming into a sleek blade.
Runa widened her eyes at the sight.
"Is that a—?"
FWISH.
The Imp was a blur, and in a fraction of a second he was behind the girl, the blade glinting subtlety.
Runa stood froze in place, a few strands of her hair dropping on the floor.
"Enough of the games." He said, in the most imposing tone he could do. "My ability 'Dance of The Blacksmiths' allows me to generate any type of weapon I imagine, so you couldn't fantom the gap in our powers."
"You…You were holding back?" Runa's fingers twitched a bit as he was frozen in place.
Cyrus facepalmed internally, "You dumbass! She's strong but she's still a girl. You just had to overdo it."
He glances back over his shoulder but to his surprise there was no-one behind him.
"What the—"
A flash of light at the ground in front of the boy, making in jump back landing in the river behind him.
The water soaking his sportswear but he didn't care about that, as his eyes were fixated on the one in front of him.
"It's just one surprise after the other with you, isn't it?"
Runa sat atop a tree branch holding a tarot card in her hand. "I told you…I'm going to win no matter what."
The card glowed faintly as an emerald shadow-looking figure, wielding a bow materialized next to her. "My ability is called 'Requiem of Mystery', I can use it to summon anything on my tarot cards."
"Seriously! That makes her even more formidable than before!"
The shadow drew the bow and fired, summoning a barrage of arrows at the Imp. Though these were far from normal arrows, as the Imp parried each one it shattered into small particles.
"They're made of her energy as well…and I'm guessing it goes for that archer as well, that's why she isn't moving. She's already exhausted herself."
Looking closely at the girl, she was visibly sweating and her body slightly trembling from the fatigue.
This was his chance, but the truth was Cyrus was also starting to feel his body give into the fatigue and if this didn't end soon, none of them might win.
"This is bad! I need to hurry up and beat her ASAP."
***
"Is that so?" A figure raised his brow, he was crouched on the branch of an oak tree.
The brown feathered sparrow next to him chirping non-stop like it was giving a report to him.
"So they've started using their powers." Kairo sighed. "I should have seen this. It was only a matter of time I guess."
The bird chirped even more relaying another message, making the young man scoff a bit. "Seems like Cyrus' in for a tough time too…so what about those other two?"
The man turned at the animal, which went quiet for a moment, before chirping once more, flapping it's wings like a gesture.
Kairo looked at the forest, a knowing expression on his face.
"Yep, that sums it up…I would like you to keep an eye on those two for me, I have a feeling things might go south."
The small creature, surprising gave a small nod and flew off in the direction where Kairo looked.
As the bird flew out of sight, Kairo groaned pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Damn kids…I should have known from the very beginning they had met..."
In a particular clearing, a boy with bi-colored hair was on the floor, his body bruised and beaten, blood trailing down his nose and mouth. His body was too sore to even move.
And then another who wore a dangling earring stood over him.
"You're f*cking pathetic man…not even worth my damn time."
"…That it would be a completely one-sided fight."