“That makes it simply more impressive” Kiri would reiterate, “It also shows just how far our Sensei is holding back.”
As Jin, Bee and Kiri stayed there for watching the fights as Jinny caught her breath. It was clear by what Kiri had meant by Jinny being a hard act to follow. There were plenty of students left to go, but honestly that didn’t mean much. Most of the fights were over in under a minuet, the average was around forty-eight seconds. With Gizmo being the sole outlier for the bottom half, he lasted ten seconds before he got kicked out of bounds.
Gizmo also wasted no time in leaving, one his fight was over. He cared not to watch more people get the tar beat out of them.
As the tests were quickly churned though, no one came close to matching Jinny’s performance.
It wasn’t until Bee was called up that Jinny got an idea of what it must have looked like from the outside. The first minuet was, dull, to watch. Bee was agile, flexible, and mean not that it meant much against Slade, but it was still clear that the older girl was skilled.
After that first minuet was the first time Jinny had gotten to see Slade fight anyone else. And it was shocking just how fast it looked from the outside. Slade was a big man, and he moved far faster then it seemed like he should be able to. His attacks mere blurs. Bee put up a good showing, but it was clear that she was being overwhelmed.
At the ninety second mark the fight fully turned against Bee. She lasted ten more seconds before she blocked poorly against one of his kicks and was bodily thrown from the ring much as Jinny had been. Honestly it was more of a shock that her arm hadn’t snapped.
It took her a few moments to get up and rejoin Jinny and Kiri, panting heavily. “Shit, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy but that was something else.” Bee would say wiping away some blood on her lip from where she bit into it due to her exit from the ring. She would sag to the ground next to Jinny. “I swear my bruises have bruises.”
“One hundred seconds.” Kiri would inform the two of them, and from what Jinny could gather he was just keeping the time of the fights in his head, which was impressive. “After Jin, you now hold the record for the lost time in the ring.” He would add.
“Damn, that last switch up is insane.” Bee would mutter as she shook her head, before leaning over and nudging Jinny’s shoulder with one of her own. “You are going to have to give me some pointers, if you can.”
Before Jinny would reply Inei would get called up. And he would enter the ring with an eager grin. A quick look around the room, had Jin realizing that Inei was one of the last students to be called up, just one other student and Kiri were left.
Unlike most of the students Inei took a much more offensive approach to the fight, one that seemed to work out well for him. At least until the ninety second mark, where he just couldn’t keep pace against Slade. Meaning his attempts at offence left him wide open. A leg sweep, followed up by a shoulder slam had Inei skidding out of the ring in short order.
“One hundred and two.” Kiri would mutter under his breath. Before he started stretching, he was either next, or would be in under a minuet.
It turned out that Kiri had just under forty seconds to get himself ready.
Kiri as it turned out was just as reserved with his fighting as he was with his speaking. He waited for Slade to attack, and then tried to slip in his own unseen underneath Slade’s own. It didn’t work particularly better than anyone else’s attempts so far, but it was different.
It progressed much the same as Inei’s or Bee’s fights did, making it clear that Kiri was also rather talented at hand to hand. The biggest difference was again at the ninety second mark. As with Slade’s shift, Kiri also shifted.
It was no longer a spar as Kiri was focused completely on defense, on survival. It was a frantic and desperate as Kiri was battered around the ring, narrowly making blocks or dodging strikes.
Then Jinny would lose track of Slade. A burst of speed leaving him as only blurry after image, and then Kiri was hurled from the ring. Where he would land and was writhing for a several moments before he forced in a harsh breath.
Jinny suddenly realized that her father, had ejected Kiri in the exact same way he had ejected her.
“Impressive.” Slade would comment again. It would only strike them now, but out of the entire class, only two people got comments on the fights. Jinny and Kiri.
Before anyone could recover, Slade would speak up again. “With that, the examinations are concluded, with no broken bones either a first for today. Regardless, class is dismissed.”
And as if he had planed it. The bell would ring right after he finished talking.
“Ow” was all Kiri could reasonably say as he forced himself up. He looked both frazzled, and also proud. Jinny could relate. He would take a moment to get his breathing back before turning to look at Jinny. “Two minuets flat. And I am not looking forward to tomorrow.”
Light the Dark
Snowdrops
Mistress Dizzy
Majoraa
Izurich
LG
twave