66: Fluidity Of A Match

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As he stepped into the arena, he was immediately met with a wave of attention from the enthusiastic crowd. Shinji scanned the sea of faces, his eyes settling on the two students in the ring.

"Ah, so Cassy's up against someone," he observed, a wide grin spreading across his face.

******

As the two teenagers stood on the stage, a clear difference was evident in their demeanor. It was like night and day. Caspian with his muscular build, appeared nonchalant and relaxed while his opponent, Flo, was tense and determined despite the large contrast between their stature.

'𝗛𝗲'𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘄𝗻𝘆!' a rowdy voice spoke from within the calm student.

"Hey, give it your all," Caspian spoke, surprising his opponent who looked puzzled by the statement. Nonetheless, he responded with a hesitant "Thanks..?"

A student dressed in a white uniform stepped forward, acting as their referee. Her bluish-white hair flowed freely with the wind as she looked at both of the teens.

"Are you both ready to start?" she asked, her voice firm.

"Yep," Caspian replied lazily, while the other's response was much more enthusiastic, "Yes!"

She made it clear that she expected a fair fight and warned against any life-threatening injuries. She added that she would not hesitate to intervene if anyone disobeyed the rules and that they should expect punishment. Her stern gaze was directed primarily at Caspian, who sighed in response.

'Did you hear that?' he said to himself.

'𝗕𝗮𝗵, 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗼𝗻𝗲-𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴! 𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝘂𝗹𝘁 𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗼 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗵!' someone replied to him, inwardly.

"Begin!" the woman shouted.

As the fight was about to begin, Caspian dashed toward his opponent, cocking back his hand to punch him. However, a liquid substance stopped his fist in its tracks. The substance appeared to be muddied water but was incredibly hard, preventing Caspian from forcing his hand through.

Confused, Caspian muttered "Hm?" as the liquid substance suddenly gained a sharp edge and blasted toward him. He dodged, sticking to the floor before launching at his opponent again, only to be blocked once more by the liquid substance.

"Well, this is tricky," the calm teen muttered.

"My Ability isn't a good match for you, Caspian Loden. Its viscosity will change when force is applied to it. So, no matter how hard you punch it, your hand won't be able to do any damage." Caspian's opponent informed him confidently.

'Makes sense.' he said inwardly.

The calm teen dashed towards his opponent, "trying" to hit him. This continued on for a minute before he stopped abruptly.

"See? I'm your absolute counter." Flo voiced out. He assumed that Caspian stopped because he wanted to stop the fight, but...

'Am I going to sweat if I continue fighting while holding back like this? I don't want to get all sticky and smelly again...' the wavy-haired student contemplated seriously.

But, his thoughts were interrupted.

'𝗛𝗲𝘆, 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹. 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗻.'

'Alright, but please don't make a mess of yourself.'

Caspian suddenly asked for his opponent's name, to which he replied, "Flo. Why..?"

Caspian replied, "Good luck, Flo."

Caspian nodded to him before his calm demeanor was completely gone, replaced by a menacing smile. His muscular body seemed to pulse as he slicked his black wavy hair back, staring at Flo intensely.

Flo, however, was not intimidated and summoned more fluid, confident in his abilities.

'Caspian Loden's other self. I've heard rumors about his strength, but as long as I block with my ability, I'm confident I'll win this!' Flo exclaimed inwardly.

As the two faced off, 'Kaspian' spoke excitedly, "This'll be fun."

In the stands, Shinji smiled. He looked around his area for some popcorn but later gave up after not finding any.

'This is an interesting match-up for Cassy- Well, Kaspian in this case. He'll win anyway but I wonder how he'll do...' he said inwardly.

'Still a shame about that popcorn, though..' he added.

Shinji glued his eyes to the arena below, the intensity of the fight only seemed to be escalating.

Kaspian's eyes shined a ferocious glint as he continued to attack Flo, sending punches toward him with increasing speed and ferocity. However, each blow was deflected by Flo's liquid shield, the fluid responding to Kaspian's force with ever-changing viscosity.

Despite the fact that Flo was managing to block Kaspian's attacks, the latter seemed undeterred, and in fact, only became more aggressive. His movements became a blur as he launched a flurry of punches, trying to break through Flo's defenses.

While Flo was defending against his punches, he still tried to launch some attacks toward Kaspian.

Kaspian dodged and weaved through them with the crowd roaring with each swift movement. Flo, on the other hand, seemed to be getting more frustrated by the second.

His concentration wavered as his frustration grew, trying to keep up with Kaspian's rapid-fire punches while attacking him as well. He summoned more and more of his liquid to bolster his defenses, but he knew that he couldn't keep this up forever.

Thus, he came to a decision.

Suddenly, Flo began to further summon more of his fluid, causing it to spread out and cover a larger area of the arena. Kaspian watched in exhilaration as the liquid substance transformed into a massive wave, towering over him.

The insane monstrous teen merely looked at the attack with a crazed smile.

Without a second thought, Kaspian's leg bulged as he jumped into the air, flipping and twisting as he dodged the massive wave. Cracks appeared where he landed, and dust exploded into existence.

Some leftover fluid quickly tried to get a hold of Kaspian, but he noticed this and immediately dashed around the arena, avoiding the pits of substance.

Flo was unrelenting, he used the fluid on the ground, forming them into sharp spikes. He launched them almost immediately.

Kaspian's grin turned savage as he vanished from Flo's line of sight. He dodged the attack and landed a kick on Flo's unprotected back. He was sent reeling forward, skidding to a stop.

Taking advantage of the opening, the savage student moved with extreme speed, his movements becoming a blur once more. He darted around his opponent, launching a quick series of punches that left Flo abandoning offense on Kaspian.

The fluid-controlling teen focused on his defense as he gave it his all to block all of Kaspian's punches. However, despite that, the wild teen was ruthless and only seemed to become more violent in his attacks.

Flo's concentration faded as exhaustion started to affect him from constantly shifting his fluid to block Kaspian's attacks. The same could not be said about the battle-crazed maniac in front of him, who still hasn't managed to break a sweat.

Slowly but surely, Flo struggled to keep up with the flurry of attacks, and a wide opening opened for Kaspian. His arm swelled with strength and landed a powerful blow on Flo's stomach, sending him flying backward.

Flo's fluid dispersed as he crashed to the ground, air knocked out of his chest. He didn't stand up after that and just stayed on the ground, trying to recover from the brutal hit to his stomach.

******

Erm...

Sorry for disappearing like that bois and gurls. I died for a bit, but like a Phoenix on its life cycle, I have been reborn. (My recently dead dog can't relate, may God bless his soul)

Special thanks to _Bruh and some others for checking in, y'all a real one