His Other Half (KiriBaku)

Chapter 14

September 29, XX84.
-The Royal Box, Above the Colosseum-

        Another angry bellow cut short as the redhead slammed a fist into his nose, but then Ei was moving. He didn't linger above his unconscious victim, needing to observe this new competition before they came at him from all angles. He deflected a sword of the staff, twisting to duck under a second blade that cut into the man behind him, and he swept the light end of the staff under the feet of a man with a double-headed ax, sending the weapon flying, which cut a woman across the cheek and landed in a pile of sand, followed by the pained scream of whoever had been buried beneath the rubble.

        The way he moved was lithe and beautiful. He could slip into the weak blind spots of weapons and get closer than his opponent wanted him but could use the staff to clear his personal space when someone tried to do the same. He didn't have a blade, but Ei disarmed and incapacitated his opponents like it was child's play. There was grace in the way he moved: an expectancy. He wasn't reacting.

        "He's a skilled reader," Itsuka observed, and Katsuki smothered a snort so as not to be rude. Ei, reading? "Not books, Your Highness," she sighed. "Attacks. Movement. Body language. He sees the signs of attacks before they happen and reacts before he needs to. Not only does it throw his opponent off trying to over-correct, but it gives him the time to counter before the attack. Neito and I are both readers, to some degree, and I wish I could say the scene about Tetsu, but that man's more pig-headed than the boar we ate for breakfast."

        "That's right, you three entered the competition together, didn't you?" Katsuki asked, making small talk through the background sounds of carnage.

        Itsuka nodded and smiled. "Neito was born here, but I was from Keitoro, and Tetsu hails from Riux. We met in the cage matches and decided to come here when the Cour began."

        A different sort of rumble shook the arena in tune with a telltale buzz, dramatic magic users making an entrance.

        "Cage matches?" Katsuki asked, a crease in his brow.

        She nodded again. "I made a living for myself in Andoris, Your Highness. I--oh, no what is that idiot doing?"

        Katsuki followed her gaze at the question as a wave of yellow energy pushed the competitors away from Eijiro, forming a large ring of yellow energy barring them from entry. Two men of very different sizes stepped through the light.

        "Neito," Itsuka growled. "Why must you always show off?"

        Kick his fucking ass, Ei, Katsuki cheered.

        Neito raised his palm, full of light, and Tetsutetsu raced forward from his side. Tetsutetsu didn't need any weapons, not when his magic allowed him to turn himself into a man of steel, and Eijiro's only chance was to resist away and allow the bull to charge past him.

        Itsuka stopped her silent cursing, tilting her head slightly in thought. "I've seen that before."

        Ei launched himself at Neito, and the man backed away, keeping his hand raised. His mouth was moving, and it kept moving even as he twisted under the redhead's attacks. According to Itsuka, he was reading, too.

        A rune burned suddenly against the inside of the ginger girl's wrist. A link charm. That was a strange way of communicating, and after a quick, polite glance at the prince, she answered with a growl. "The hell do you think you're doing, calling me? You're fighting, you idiot!"

        "I'm testing a theory," Neito Monoma's voice filed from the charm. "Multiple theories, actually. Quite brilliant of me, I'm sure. Do you remember the story I read to you and Tetsu a few weeks ago? Have you noticed his reading? "