30 Minutes Later

Golden rays stretched across the skies of Ilia, bathing the city and its festivities in the light of the setting sun. Pink- and orange-tinged clouds lazily drifted across the sky, serving as serene backdrops to the fireworks and displays of holographic lights that heralded the end of Sikalia’s Brightest Day. Despite the season, a slight yet persistent breeze through the region kept temperatures comfortably cool, while softly rustling the leaves of the surrounding forest to generate a peaceful white noise that could lull even the lightest of sleepers to slumber.

Amongst all of these summertime displays, Ilia’s Centerpiece Tree and its surrounding rock pillars stood as tall and stoic as ever. Even from many kilometers away, the light shows that hailed the sunset could be seen from Ilia’s Preservation Park. One stone pillar in particular, being the tallest of them all, offered a stunning view of the city in the distance and the towering mountain to its south. However, only two individuals were around who could appreciate the view… and their attention was elsewhere entirely.

Standing in silence with his arms crossed, Austin stared down Pierce, who stood atop the stone pillar across from him. A wary sigh soon escaped Austin’s lips; the two had recently arrived at the agreed-upon duel location, and despite traveling together for half an hour, neither of them had spoken a word to the other.

Pierce’s eyes narrowed in response to Austin’s sigh, but he said nothing. Instead, he backed into a runner’s stance, keeping his eyes on Austin the whole time. “…Alright, dweeb,” he eventually spoke up, breaking the thirty minutes of silence between them, “let’s get this show on the road. We fight until one of us forfeits, or can’t fight any more!”

“I dunno…” Austin glanced westward, toward the sun setting over the city of Ilia and the distant mountains. “A duel like this… probably isn’t a good idea… I mean, we don’t even have energy shields, or anything…”

“So what?” Pierce countered, “as a Velocitechnic, I’m more than durable enough to take my own kicks. And as a Simulator Psychotechnic, you automatically get my level of durability whenever I’m near you. So don’t try to use that as an excuse to back down, now!”

“Won’t that just turn this into a stalemate, then? What’s the point?”

“The point is that skill can break a stalemate of raw ability. But hey, dweeb, if you want to forfeit the match and acknowledge my superior abilities, then I’ll take it.”

“What—?!” Austin drew back, confusion and frustration writ across his face. “I’m not forfeitin’, I’m sayin’ the duel is a bad idea!”

“A bad idea that you suggested,” Pierce shot back, relaxing his runner’s stance to stand up straight and plant his hands on his hips. “If you back out, that means you forfeit — and that I won. It’d be one hella boring win, but a win nonetheless. That’s how forfeiting works.”

“Tch…” Austin pursed his lips, attempting to stare down Pierce — who simply returned the gaze. Eventually, Austin broke eye-contact to look all around him; standing on top of the tallest stone pillar in the Preservation Park as they were, Austin had a clear view of the entire park, and of the tops of the trees a few dozen meters below.

As Austin’s gaze wandered, Pierce’s remained fixed on him, his brow furrowed despite his confident smirk. Nothing but clear skies and distant clouds served as a backdrop, seemingly isolating Austin and Pierce on the stone pillar nearly twenty meters in diameter. Despite the distance between them, however, Pierce kept his full attention on Austin, watching his each and every move.

Eventually, Austin returned his attention to Pierce, and then backed into a tense defensive stance. “Fine. Have it your way,” he conceded. “Let’s get this over with.”

A dangerous grin spread across Pierce’s face. “Glad to hear it, dweeb! Too bad all those big words of yours won’t mean shit in the end.”

“I’d say the same to you,” Austin muttered under his breath, and then raised his voice for Pierce to hear. “Since you’re the fastest of us, I’ll countdown to the start.”

“A handicap you’ll definitely need,” Pierce replied.

“Fuckin’… tch. We’ll start on ‘go’. Ready?” Austin called out, his body involuntarily tensing up even further in anticipation. “Three…!”

Pierce resumed his runner’s stance in the blink of an eye, his attention focused solely on Austin.

“Two…!”

Austin held up his hands, attempting to mimic the martial arts stances he had seen Spike take in the past.

“One…!”

For just a moment, the persistent breeze through the park died down, causing the soft rustling of the leaves below to cease and be replaced by a deafening silence.

“…Go—!”

The moment the word left Austin’s mouth, he felt an incredible blow to his stomach that launched him through the sky over the trees of the Preservation Park. Pain shot through his body, but he found himself surprised in how it didn’t sting much more than a hard slap. I knew my body would be durable enough to take Pierce’s blows, since he has to be in my simulator range to hit me, but I didn’t quite expect this… Damn it, Austin, focus! Immediately, he clapped his hands together, using his Imperator Psychotechnism to seize control of his own body and fly through the air. As he did, he felt his perception of his surroundings slow down — and then, in the corner of his eye, he spotted Pierce sailing through the air toward him. Reflexively, Austin dodged through the air, resulting in Pierce’s incoming kick missing him by just a hair. Everything slowed down…? Austin thought warily, keeping an eye on Pierce as he sailed past — and the flow of time reverted to normal. …Oh, right, of course. Just like I copy Pierce’s durability when he’s near me, I must be copying his reflexes, too. All without having to think about it. I mean, I knew it would work like this, but seeing it in action is something else entirely… at least this should even the playing field!

“Hmph…!” Pierce snorted in derision as he disappeared below the tree tops, landing on the ground after his first attempt at a flying kick. He immediately launched into an all-out sprint, weaving through the underbrush of the forest as he kept Austin’s flying form in the corner of his eye. Damn! I knew that him copying my powers could be a pain in the ass… Pierce’s thoughts raced through his mind just as quickly as his feet pounded the ground. But how the hell did he react THAT quickly? This should be his first time trying to copy me! And now he’s flying, too… but I know his powers. He doesn’t have any way to attack at range, so he still has to get close to me to do anything, and that limits his options. So think, Pierce. There’s no way you’re losing to the dweeb! With that thought, Pierce blasted off across the park, crossing over entire hills and sections of forest in the blink of an eye.

Up in the air, Austin frantically swept his gaze across the forest. Faint cracks could be heard from below — the signs of Pierce repeatedly breaking the sound barrier as he slowed down, sped up, and changed directions — but the sonic booms came in too quickly and from too disparate areas for Austin to follow. Brow furrowed in concentration, Austin attempted to track the booms all the same as he braced his body for any potential unseen attacks; barely a second later, Pierce appeared from directly below, feet directed upward in an attempt to knock Austin further into the sky. However Austin was able to react just in time to dodge out of the way of Pierce’s foot, momentarily locking eyes with his opponent before reaching out with his hand to try and grab Pierce’s arm. C’mon, I just need to touch him…!

“Shit—!” Pierce swore aloud as he twisted his torso around midair to evade Austin’s outstretched hand — and then he used the rotating motion to swing himself around completely and slam his feet down onto Austin’s back, sending the latter rocketing toward the ground. That was close… Pierce thought to himself, now beginning to fall back to the ground himself after the split-second physical exchange with Austin. Getting close to him is dangerous. If he touches me just once, this whole thing might as well be over — but the damn dweeb is staying in the air! As Pierce alighted on the ground, he threw a glance toward Austin’s location, finding that the Psychotechnic had managed to stop his descent just above the treetops. With an irritated scowl, Pierce took off running again, hoping to disorient Austin and then launch another surprise attack.

The sonic boom from Pierce’s sudden acceleration soon reached Austin’s ears, alerting him that Pierce was once again on the run. I can’t just stay on the defensive… Austin mused, and then searched all around him for some object to aid in the fight. Upon spotting a downed tree, Austin quickly swooped down to it and slapped the bark with his bare palms, at which point he seized control of the dead tree’s movements and focused on hoisting it into the air. Just as he was getting the hang of it, Pierce appeared in the corner of his eye; entirely by reflex, Austin psychically swung the tree around, managing to slam it into Pierce’s approaching form and crush him against an adjacent tree. Startled by his own reflexes, Austin was little able to react as Pierce burst out of the trees a second later, using his ability to quickly accelerate to demolish the bark and then chuck dozens of the remnant wood chips at Austin. Several of the chips found their mark against Austin’s body; he was hovering close enough to Pierce that the mach-speed wood pieces weren’t able to pierce his skin, but the sharp stinging pain they left behind drove Austin into the skies once more.

Pierce glared after him, only to jump to the side a second later as Austin exerted control over the remnants of the dead tree and used it to swing at Pierce. With another supersonic kick, Pierce obliterated what remained of the tree and then sped off into the forest once more. “Damn it…!” he muttered to himself. How the hell is he matching my speed? This can’t just be him learning as we go! Maybe he’s been practicing with my speed behind my back, somehow?! Agh, there ARE other Velocitechnics at WCU, so maybe he is! In that case, I have to do something that it isn’t possible to have trained for! As Pierce continued ducking and weaving through the forest, occasionally sidestepping debris that Austin rained down from on high, the thought of using his blue and silver chain blade crossed his mind — only for him to quickly dismiss it. Damn it, Pierce, you can’t use that weapon! It’s way too fucking sharp for this! Not to mention it’d basically be like admitting that I can’t take him on my own! If he whips out his sword first, THEN I’ll use my blade, but until then, I need another solution! What would he not expect? What’s hard to train against? What would most people at WCU not have…? Oh! The frustrated scowl that adorned Pierce’s face was soon replaced by a bitter grin. I know!

From the air, Austin watched the forest closely, having lost sight of Pierce amongst the foliage. It’s so fucking hard to track him! he thought in annoyance, fucking superspeed… I knew I should’ve practiced more with my Simulator powers. Right now, I can barely do anything… the next time he gets close to me, I need to try and stick next to him, so I can keep his speed. That’s the only way I can turn this around. Unless… The image of his claymore, wreathed in magnificent blue and gold, briefly came to mind before he forced it away. No, Austin, you can’t do that. Pierce would throw a fit. Though, he does have his own weapon, so I guess it’d be fair, but—

“Overdrive: Speed Break!”

“Huh—?!” Austin exclaimed, the sudden shout from below forcing him out of his thoughts. Pierce is using his Overdrive?! You can’t be serious—! He began to turn toward the source of Pierce’s shout, but before he could complete the turn or even his thought, Pierce appeared in the corner of his vision — and then slammed into him from below faster than he could react. “Ungh—!” Austin grunted in pain, confusion writ across his face as he spiraled up into the sky. What the hell? Why couldn’t I react fast enough, this time—? Mid-thought, Pierce appeared in the air beside Austin, his legs swinging around and down onto the Psychotechnic. The latter immediately attempted to fly away, as he had done several times already to evade Pierce — but this time, he proved just too slow. Pierce’s foot connected and knocked Austin back toward the ground; all Austin’s evasion attempt had succeeded at was changing the angle of his descent.

As he fell through the air after landing his attack, Pierce watched Austin recover from the blow just above the trees. A smug smirk slowly spread across his face. Alright, this is it! Pierce thought to himself, Speed Break seems like it only increases my max speed by around 1 Mach or so, but that difference is enough. Time to end this before the dweeb can get used to it! Immediately, he blasted off toward Austin, reaching the Psychotechnic before he could begin again to ascend into the air. Instead of leaping at Austin directly, Pierce jumped toward a tree near to Austin and then used it as a springboard to hit the flying Chaotic from a more oblique angle, thereby launching Austin almost horizontally across the treetops and back toward the stone pillar where the fight had begun. A split second after he landed that hit, Pierce dropped to the ground and then rocketed off again, this time using his speed to run up the stone pillar so as to gain altitude on Austin. Ha! Fucking finally, I have the upper hand! Just one more kick, and I can end this!

“Uagh…!” Austin grasped his chest as he involuntarily dry heaved, his sides and stomach aching from the kicks Pierce had just landed on him. What the fuck?! Why do his hits hurt so much, all of a sudden?! Can my Simulator powers not keep up with an Overdrive, or something? …Shit! I need altitude, now! Shaking off his earlier discomfort, Austin clapped his hands together to renew his psychic control over his own body and then shot upwards into the air. Just as he cleared a dozen meters over the treetops, however, Pierce suddenly appeared above and to the left, careening through the air from the direction of the stone pillar. Eyes wide with surprise, Austin reflexively held his hands up to block. Wait, no! Don’t block, evade—! he mentally shouted at himself, commanding his arms and body to move, but Pierce was already too close — and too fast. Pain shot through Austin’s arms as Pierce’s foot connected, launching Austin toward the forest below. Shit! Austin quickly asserted psychic control over his body, managing to slow his downward momentum as he had several times before, but he could already tell that this time was different. Not only had he been lower to the ground at the moment of Pierce’s kick than every other one of Pierce’s aerial assaults, but the Velocitechnic had also possessed far greater momentum. Fuck, I’m gonna hit the ground—!

Less than a second passed between Pierce landing his hit on Austin and Austin smashing into the ground below, impacting with such force that dirt and leaves were thrown into the air, forming a small dust cloud that practically glittered in the twilight. While light, the dust cloud was still thick enough to obscure the surroundings; Pierce landed on the ground and rushed over to the cloud, tensely waiting for the dust to clear. That HAD to have done the dweeb in. Right? There’s no way he could recover from—!

“Oi, oi, oi… should’ve fuckin’ expected this to happen.”

“…Huh?” Confusion crossed Pierce’s face as he heard a voice distinctly different from Austin’s, with a much deeper timbre. “Who…?”

“Oh, don’t you give me that shit!”

A blast of air immediately cleared the dust cloud; Pierce reflexively held up an arm to shield his eyes from the dirt before taking a look at the scene before him. Sure enough, Austin was sitting on the ground, his chest heaving as he clutched it with his right hand. And standing over Austin was another figure — a man, with dark tanned skin and scruffy black hair that was long enough in front to frame his face down to his cheeks, and long enough in back to be tied into a low ponytail. Combined with his full black goatee and the light beige scarf wrapped around his neck, Pierce immediately recognized the man, and adopted an apprehensive smile as he muttered, “…Davídrius…”

“Tch.” The Dean crossed his arms, his face contorted into an irate scowl as he glared at Austin and Pierce. “…Now, I’m only gonna ask this once. What the fuck is goin’ on, here?!”