“Uh, Setsuna-san, do you think Asuna-san is going to be ok? I don't think I've ever seen Master look that angry before...” a nervous Negi asked, watching the match begin from the challengers only area.
“Keh keh, this should be fun.” Chachazero muttered next to him.
“I'm not really sure Negi-sensei. I mean, Evangeline-san is defiantly powerful, but right now she's no more than a normal middle school girl. Without her magic, I'd be more worried about her getting hurt. Asuna-san can get carried away some times...”
“Ah, th... that's true, I guess. Still though...” Negi said, looking worriedly over at the ring, where Asuna was still trying to stop laughing.
“I'd be more worried about the girl if I were you. Master is far more capable than you give her credit for. You don't live for more than a few centuries without picking up a few tricks after all.”
“What do you mean by-” Setsuna turned away for a moment, only to be stopped by Negi's cry.
“Asuna!”
“Huh?” Setsuna spun around to see the girl in question crashing to the ground. “What happened?”
“Told you so.”
“I didn't see,” Negi leaned forward on the railing separating the spectators from the fighting. “Is she ok?”
“She doesn't seem to be hurt,” Setsuna replied after a second, raising an eyebrow as she watched Asuna seem to dance around the arena erratically, “but I can't tell what she's trying to do, either...”
“It's not like you to be so unobservant Setsuna-dono,” came a familiar voice behind them, making them jump. “But then again you did take quite a nasty hit not to long ago, so I suppose that can be excused, de-gozaru.”
“Eh?” Setsuna looked around. “Oh, Kaede-san. What do you mean?”
“Look closer,” the smartly dressed ninja replied. “You'll see.”
Negi blinked, then turned back to the fight. What did she mean? He strained his eyes, trying to see what she was talking about, but there wasn't... wait! “What's that? Thread?”
“So it would appear. As small and quick as it is, it's probably very hard to avoid. Asuna-dono is doing better than I expected.”
“So that's why...” Setsuna muttered.
“Still, she can't win as things are. Pure defence can only get you so far de-gozaru.”
“She'll get tired eventually. Then Master will really have some fun.” Chachazero added gleefully.
“Asuna-san...” Negi started shaking, a black cloud materializing over him.
“She'll be alright Negi-sensei. I think.” Setsuna nervously patted him on the back, trying not to let her own worries show.
“Don't worry Aniki! Asuna-anesan wouldn't give- Whoa!” There was a moment of silence, punctuated by a cry of alarm coming from the arena. “... Was that what I think it was?”
“A Shundo coupled with a point blank attack, followed by an impressive display of Iron fan style by Evangeline-san?” replied a stunned Setsuna.
“... Yeah.”
“Wow,” whistled Chachazero happily, “She really went flying.”
“That was impressive though. I didn't think Asuna knew Shundo.” Ku Fei said from beside Kaede, putting a hand up to shield her eyes as Asuna's trajectory brought her back down to the ring.
“She doesn't. At least I thought she didn't. She never mentioned it in training.” Setsuna replied.
“That fits with what I know of her to, de-gozaru. Of course, I didn't expect her to win her previous match either.” Setsuna shuffled uneasily as Kaede looked at her questioningly.
“I've been to lax in my training lately,” she muttered sadly. “After all this is over I'll have to re-dedicate myself.”
“Don't be to hard on yourself Setsuna-dono. Something strange is going on.” Kaede said, turning back to the fight.
---
Asuna hit the ground hard. It hurt. She groaned as she got to her feet, keeping an eye out for any more thread attacks. She blinked as she realized Eva was just standing there looking at her strangely.
“What?”
“Just what are you Kagurazaka?” Eva asked, her voice to low for the crowd to hear.
“Eh?”
“That was Shundo. Earlier you used Kanka. Before today you hadn't even heard of either of those techniques, I'm certain of it!”
Asuna rubbed the back of her head nervously. “Um... So?”
Eva was incredulous. “So?!?”
“It works doesn't it?”
The vampire nearly face-faulted. “You really are Baka Red, aren't you.”
“Hey!” Asuna yelled, still not happy about her unfortunate nickname.
“An ordinary schoolgirl suddenly learns Shundo, a technique that should take months to learn to use with any degree of accuracy, and uses it perfectly first try!”
“Well...”
“And even more ludicrous, the exact same thing happens with Kanka of all things, the legendary ultimate technique that can take a lifetime to learn! Takamichi's been training to use it since he was younger than you are, and it's only after years at my resort that he can!”
“Wasn't that hard...” the girl in question muttered. Eva ignored her.
“You're dodging my attacks at a speed that would make a master jealous. Even now you're still acting like none of this is a big deal!” Eva was snarling now. “So what the hell are you?!?”
“Oh...” Asuna bit her lip. That was a good point. She wasn't acting like herself. She didn't really feel like herself either. Not in a bad way or anything, she just felt... more confident. Like she could take on a god and win. There was really only one answer she could give. She smiled smugly. “I'm the best. That's all there is to it.”
Eva's left eye developed a noticeable twitch. “Alright. If you want to play around, I guess I'll just have to force an answer out of you. Congratulations, I didn't expect you to push me this far.” The air around them seemed to become still as the noise from the crowd faded into the background. Asuna's smirk faded as she felt the wind shift and saw Eva begin to glow with a strange blue light.
“Wh- what are you doing?” she asked nervously. “Isn't that... Aren't your powers sealed?!?”
“Technically. But magic isn't the only power source out there. Surely you didn't think the thousand year old vampire couldn't master something as simple as ki now, did you?” The blond was smiling now, in that creepy way that sent shivers down Asuna's spine and said very clearly 'I am going to kill you and I'm not even going to care.' Or at least it normally would.
Her mouth opened before she could stop it. “You know, that look really doesn't work in that costume.” Asuna slapped a hand over her mouth, but it was to late. Eva paused for a moment, her eyes flickering down as she remembered what she was wearing. When they came back up, there wasn't a catgirl-fuku-swimsuit combo in the world which could have deflected the white hot fury of the Dark Evangel.
Asuna didn't even see her move. She must have though, because suddenly she was doubled over in pain as Eva's fist buried itself in her stomach.
“Enough of this.” she heard Evangeline mutter by her ear, before she was thrown backwards, out of the ring and several inches into one of the thick stadium walls.
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(Posted Wed, 21 May 2008 18:32)
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