The last Stretch

It took a while but we finally managed to make it to the final section of the children's competition. I was both dreading and anticipating this. I had already had my fill of fights today. The aching from the fights had pretty much gone away at this point, but the on off sleeping and the stress from all the fighting made me mentally tired, This was partially remedied by me nearly sleeping through the entirety of the third years magic tournament with no interruptions, but I was still feeling it.

The king had risen and approached the front of his box, similar to when the competition started. He signaled down to the people in the arena, and the yellow dome appeared again.

" It appears that we have reached the finally of this years newest batch of children in our Academy Competitions. But before that, We have a match that we have yet to properly complete. Alice From Elysium, Mr. Jack Harkness from Fort Atlas please return to the arena so that we may complete the competition we have had to postpone. And this time I ask you both to please refrain from your more, savage, tendencies." He then returned to his shiny throne.

" Asshole" I muttered to myself. I wasn't looking to get executed or anything but I found it hard to hold in my annoyance at his words, especially because I feel the second part was directed towards me. I did make sure to shoot him a glare, I'm not sure if he saw it or not.

I got into my position and so did jack. I didn't really think about it before but this was actually really weird, facing him after what just happened. I accidentally, struck him in a rather sacred place and I can only hope I didn't do lasting damage. He choked me and beat my face in, after tackling me to the ground. Rage taking full control of him, so he is definitely not thrilled to be facing me right now either.

" S-sorry about that." I said unsure what to say, but the silence was even worse than saying literally anything else, I could tell that much.

" Yes, I'm sorry as well." He said with a chuckle. "Regardless, it was rather ungentlemanly of me to take such rough care of a girl such as yourself." He said and looked away I think he was a bit embarrassed. I was the same I didn't know how to face him. This was really awkward.

"Lets just get this over with, not a repeat of last time though. Alright?" I said and looked for the overseer to try and make him hurry up.

" I have never agreed to something more, in my life." Jack followed my lead.

Unfortunately the damn person who was supposed to oversee the fight was taking forever so we just awkwardly stood there not able to meet each others gazes. Finally after what felt like an eternity I decided to walk up to Jack and extend my hand.

" Lets pretend that never happened, Greetings, I'm Alice it is pleasure to formally meet you." Attempting my best to be as formal, and respectful, perfectly disguising the earlier awkwardness.

Jack took my hand lifted it to his mouth and kissed the back of my hand " Jack Harkness, as too is it my pleasure to become acquainted with thee." He looked up into my eyes with an unusually provocative glint in his eyes. He was trying to one up me.

" Damn it" I muttered. Pulling my hand back and turning to return to my spot.

"I implore you, no puns until the battles over." He called out

I simply smiled at him and politely flip him off. He laughed a little probably guessing the implications of the simple hand gesture. Jack seems to be a lot more than he is letting on. He's definitely more annoying, but I think I like him more now than I did.

The Referee finally decided to show himself and the fight could get on it's way. I noticed that he didn't look like any of the Refs that had been overseeing us thus far, so I refrained from giving him a hard time.

"This match will determine the victor of the Children's Physical Combatants Competition. Should this Match be halted due to the same actions as the previous match you both will be disqualified and the competitors in third and forth will fight to decide a victor. That being said this match will have the same rules as the official match before. Are you both ready?"

We both nod our heads.

" Now I want a clean and honorable fight, Understood?"

We again confirm.

" Alright, in that case the match will now commence. Begin!"

I sped forward to close the distance between Jack and I. He had anticipated this, and sent his own series of attacks to stop my assault. Side stepping to avoid a chain that violently whipped beside me, a knife blade that was aimed at the back of my neck forced me to roll to avoid it. A Kama Blade was aimed at my face once I had recovered and I parried it with a knife sending an immediate counter, to which Jack dodged and wrapped his chain around my wrist, pulling towards his side in an attempt to knock me off balance, and make an opening. I follow the force escaping the blade lock we had, and rolled removing all pressure on me. Grabbing ahold of the chain I pull, but the chain slides around Jacks figure like an obedient snake, and doesn't hinder him at all. After I had pulled all the slack my yank could, he whipped the chain causing the pile I had near me to entrap me, and he immediately whipped it behind him. The chain had wrapped around my torso completely and I was sent in a clear arc leading up to then sky then back down toward the ground. Adjusting myself, I undid the chain as I was reaching the height of the arc.

The upward momentum of my body unraveled the chain and I spun before I was halted from flying further, the chain was only wrapped around my wrist again and I, now suspended a several meters off the ground. I pulled on the chain, launching myself back at Jack. Stowing my knives and unsheathing my sword. I slash at him with the assistance of gravity and the speed I was already falling at, barely missing him and bending the blade of my sword into a very odd shape locking it into the ground, making it completely unusable. Abandoning it, and attempting to ignore the shock reverberating throughout my body from the harsh landing, I grab my knives again and press forward. I thrust one knife forward as Jack parries, a second is sent in reverse grip towards his throat. He shifts his upper body back slightly to avoid the tip allowing me to slide my foot between his legs. In a quick sweep I pulled his leg out from under him and leave a shallow cut from his shoulder along his chest. He let himself fall back avoiding the worst of my attack and sent a kick towards my head. Dropping down low his kick sails over it's target, as he lands on his side. He rolls for a second before sliding and replanting his feet underneath himself.

Quickly pulling his chain back to him, both of his weapons returning to his hands, Jack swiftly throws both of his weapons in to the air, grabbing some of the slack that had traveled up with the weapons, and began swinging them around in a circle. The diameter of the circle grew, the chain feeding through his hands, until he had almost no additional chain near him. He had attempted to keep his distance while doing this, and once he finished, he used his forward momentum to whip the chain back, and let the chain make a wide crescent around mid chest level, aiming for me. I ducked as the chain wizzed over my head. Making it around full circle, I had time to start closing the distance between us. His chain made another long dramatic arc once they finished their first rotation, this time over his head, and impacted the ground, missing me, because it would have been embarrassing to be hit by something so predictable. Only it wasn't and I was hit.

As soon as the chains hit the ground they whipped out in either direction defying all possible logic when it comes to how whip like weapons should work, and slammed into my stomach. The chains animated, as they attempted to entangle me, by wrapping around my arms, legs, and chest, however I nimbly dodged each attempt. It did however manage to distract me for long enough for the other side to come join the fun, and for the blades at the ends of the chains to reach back to where I was. I was now dodging blades, trying to stab me and Chains trying to bind me. My feet hadn't even touched the ground as I could only bounce, and swing off the chains attempting to hold me, making it to the ground would take too long and I would be risking myself. There were a few close calls, but thankfully the chains were more like snakes at this point and I could use them to hold my self up, otherwise this would probably be a lot harder, or I would have just lost. After enough dodging and subsequently harassing the poor chains with my knives I had worn them down enough to end the fight.

Taking a deep breath, or rather the most drawn out, and controlled breath I could at the moment, I Narrowly dodged the blade of the knife end of the chain, and launched myself as hard as I could towards Jack, through a small opening. Descending into a graceful freefall, a faint glow radiated from my blades, hands and feet, the chains wouldn't allow me to escape so easily though and surrounded me again. As soon as I was about to land it attacked in as many ways as it could, but simply not enough. In a flash, I let out a multitude of full powered Strikes, managing to sever the weakened chains I had been working on for around a minute or so, and my feet gracefully touched the ground. That was all I needed, I gently walked forward for a few steps, my movements slow and consistent, as Jack tried to establish a new way to win now that his chains were nothing more than a pile of broken links. Then I stopped. Appearing behind Jack with a Knife to his throat, and using the rest of my body to constrict his movements, I had ended the fight.

" What the hell was that!?" Jack asked in confusion and surprise

" Trade secret." I said into his ear. Though I was behind him

" Winner Alice" The Match official called.

Once the match was called I let of of him and fell back to the floor. The last move was not something I could do very often in a fight, and took the rest of my SP. Luckily I had enough to pull it off. In a fight an opponent has to gage themselves based off their foe. If a person moves at a constant speed or pattern they become predictable. This move utilizes that to the fullest.

The move I used was something I made myself. Something that has bothered me since I reincarnated here with stats, was how you never saw people passively moving around like they are in fast forward or slow motion. If stats are the representation of physical abilities then how is it that life doesn't move slower for people with higher stats? Eventually, I found it is for two reasons. The first is that people are able to naturally control the output of stats to a great extent, not quite the as well as my control skill in specificity and versatility, but similar, and like my skill it is typically like a switch. The second is that sight works the same here as my old world. Allow me to explain.

Have you ever been in a car moving down the road and aimlessly watched the trees, bushes and buildings fly past you? Have you ever wondered how you can read signs so well if they are also moving that fast? Depending on the speed of you, your surroundings, and your object of focus, ones eyes are able to adjust accordingly, allowing for detailed sight at far higher speeds than people are able to move. This ability is supplemented by the speed stat, increasing ones ability to see and react to a change in speed, however bursts of fast and slow movement are still able to throw off ones sight momentarily. Those moments are even more deadly at a higher level. That's what I based it off of. If I can move in a way that causes my opponent to not be able to trace my movements in detail, I can use the knife arts to completely mask myself, since they mostly rely in misdirection, speed, and accurate attacks. The draw backs are I am also put in a position where identifying my surroundings are a little harder, but since I have been gifted with some absurd senses since being reborn, I can manage.

Extending my hand down to Jack, to help pull him up, I shake his hand and we thank each other for a good fight, before turning to return to the others from my school. As my eyes wander amongst the crowd I meet eyes with Anabelle who was staring daggers at me. She seemed to have been brought back from the brink of death, and I had a premonition that she was soon going to be a real thorn in the side.

" Nice job Alice." Gram patted my on the head, and I playfully twisted his arm.

" Thanks for getting him back for me." Tanya said and Lyric nodded in agreeance.

" Anytime." I smiled

I got a few more "well done"s by the others, and even a few people I have never met before congratulated me on the win. It was thrilling, but being completely honest I didn't really like the stares. I have never really liked being the center of attention, and while it doesn't scare me anymore, I still feel a bit nervous with multiple people staring at me.

That wasn't the end of my fighting though because there was now the final even t before the children didn't have to stick around anymore. I initially contemplated staying and attempting to learn a thing or two from the other fighters, but now I think I'm just going to take a nap afterwards.

The finial competition was about to commence and this time we had a different test to determine the brackets. This time we had team fights. An important part of becoming adventurers and/or soldiers, which is the probable future for every child currently fighting, getting along with strangers is a must. You can't win every battle alone and it is impossible to know everyone you my have to ally yourself with. That being said, we were randomly placed into teams of four the only catch is that you cannot be on the same team as another from your school.

The only other information that was given was that there are no repercussions for eliminating your own teammates. I was a little unsure as to how to react to this. It wasn't specified what exactly we were supposed to do yet, or the repercussions for losing a teammate. Eliminating your own teammate won't hurt you specifically but I can't rule out the chance that the act of losing a teammate may have adverse effects.

Getting our teams I grimace at the people on it, or rather one singular person made me already exhausted. I was teamed up with, Korona Chevall, Viola Lenni, and Anabelle von Haven. Corona and Viola were alright with me but Anabelle was already trying to figure out the best way to kill me.

" Hello everyone. I'm Viola." Viola was the first to try to break the tension between the four of us. Anabelle was glaring at me and her glare followed her gaze, so she was now intimidating Viola instead, making her shrink away from us. After a second her sights were back locked on me, and Viola relaxed a bit.

" Nice to meet you I am Korona." Korona shook Viola's hand introducing herself. Currently she seemed like a calm person. From what I could see right now she was reserved and well mannered, however that wasn't quite the case while she was fighting. In the match with Emmy especially she seemed to have a few screws loose.

They both then looked at me and then Anabelle. We had kept our distance and there was a stiffness between the two of us. Being honest I really didn't like her. However, Despite the fact she is a deceitful lying little crap, I wasn't going to let her bother me. Unfortunately, Her glare was waring thin on my patience, and irritation grew as I realized I was going to have to work with her to get further in the competition. This animosity created a stiff feeling between the two of us.

" Sorry, I'm Alice. I'm delighted to work alongside you both." I turned to the other two and introduced myself. I could feel the Anger intensify from Anabelle as I ignored her.

" I'm Anabelle Von Haven. Its a pleasure." Anabelle managed to compose herself to get through introductions but I could tell that I was sitting on a time bomb on this one.

After some time for the groups to do introductions and some small getting to know you chatter. The announcer got the attention of everyone in the Arena. " Attention groups, The challenge is now going to be decided. Our Challenge for this Preliminary match will be ... The King Game!!!"