Demons & Slayers

Serene vs Xander

Xayah and Rakan rushes to the fighting dojo as soon as they heard the news. "What the hell is going on here, Xander?" "Just in time, Xayah. Here's my jacket. I can't let this get dirty." "Oi oi oi. Xander, this is ridiculous even for you. Why would you cause a scene on the first day?"

Xander ignores Rakan's comment and steps into the sparring area. "So what rules do you want to play by?" Xander throws the question at Serene, mocking her as the rules state that the person being challenged will decide the rules of the duel. Serene feels insulted. "Are you mocking me?" "Not at all, I'm just giving in to you since you are weak." Xander's sarcastic comments infuriated Serene, causing her to feel rage from within. "How dare you insult me!" "I'm just stating facts." "Fine! Since you think you are so cocky, lets go with the point system duel."

The point system duel is where the fighters will gain points for knocking down their opponents, dealing a clean blow or successful consecutive attacks onto their opponent. The duel can end if the opponent is knocked out. 
"Alright. First to 25. Gotta give you a chance." Xander's words made Serene angrier. The countdown for the duel begins. As soon as the bell rang, Serene readies up to attack Xander. But in an instance, Xander disappears and a knife is placed in front of her neck.

He's fast. I couldn't even react.

Serene was unable to react to Xander's speed. "I'll give you one chance to surrender now and walk away without a scratch." "In your dreams, asshole!" Serene manages to move out of harm's way and tries to counter attack. "Well... Don't say I didn't warn you." Xander speaks as he sheathes his knife. Serene guards herself and anticipates Xander's actions. But it was all for naught. The speed at which Xander attack was too fast for Serene to keep up. A volley of attacks rendered Serene powerless. Each strike pushes her into a direction where the next attack awaits her. Xander's skill in martial arts puts Serene at a severe disadvantage. Serene is breathless and the points were racking up quickly. Before she knew it, Xander was already at 23 points to her 0 points. "What did I say? You are weak." Serene was at a loss. She wasn't expecting this. The last time she felt overwhelmed was the during the demon invasion where she lost her family and almost lost her life if Dr Vaz had not saved her life.

I can't go down without a fight. C'mon, Serene! Put in everything you've got!

In that very moment, right before Xander's next punch could touch Serene, a burst of magical energy flows from within her. A flash of lightning fills the sparring arena, focusing on Serene. Serene is overflowing with magical energy, with electrical pulses flowing around her. There is a glowing aura around her. Xander is being thrown aback with his right arm burned by the lightning that was struck during Serene's transformation. "Ohhhhh, not bad. She might actually put Xander in his place now." Xayah laughs as she makes the comment. She begins to believe that there is something special about Serene and decides to keep an eye on her from here on. Serene's focus intensifies and she disappears in a flash. Xander barely reacted to her sudden change in speed. He manages to block the first attack but as soon as he tries to reaching for her, she disappears and reappears from another position. He's barely keeping up with her speed. However, he is slowly getting accustomed to her speed. Just when he feels he is in about to catch her, Serene senses danger, understanding the severity if she lets herself get caught.

Instinctively, she seeks to become faster. The encounter with Xander in this sparring session forces Serene into a state of exponential growth. Somehow, Serene grasps the idea of reaching a higher state of her current transformation. Right before Xander's fingers could touch her, Serene glows ever more brightly. And a transcendence occur. A flash of light lit the area and Serene disappears in a flash before returning with a different outlook. Covered in a white lightning aura, Serene's concentration intensifies. Her mind locked on to Xander, determined to take him down. Xander makes the first move, looking to end the duel. He dashes to Serene with his right fist aiming for her stomach. In a split second, just when everyone thought it was over, Serene's responses caught everyone off-guard. Right before Xander's fist could land, Serene makes a spin and dodges the punch. Xander loses his balance during that split second, allowing Serene to take advantage of it. Using the momentum of the spin, she delivers her first blow onto Xander's  left temple. The speed at which Serene's blow hit Xander cause him to lose his focus, unable to recover in time. Serene sees an opportunity. She dives in and begins her counterattack. Left hook, right uppercut, left heel kick and right kick to his ribs. Her flow of attacks increases her speed and she begins to pile more attacks onto Xander. Serene is getting her points with the volley of attacks she is delivering. 

Soon enough, she hits 23 points, being on par with Xander. She crouches down and delivers a kick upwards onto Xander's chin, sending him flying into the air. That hit gave her the another point. Serene rushes in for the final blow. "You're finished!" Serene shouts just as she goes in for the kill. In that moment, time seemed to have slowed down. Right as Serene was about to hit Xander, she glances at his face and sees a smile on his face. In that moment of that slight hesistation, Xander grabs the fist that was heading towards him, spins in mid-air and throws Serene past him. The tables have now turned. But Xander is still two points away from victory. Serene regains her posture and turns around, anticipating Xander to be attacking. But as soon as she turns around, she loses sight of him. Out of the blue, Xander appears right in front of her. She panics and goes for a punch towards his face. Xander grabs her fist and twist her arm behind her back. Serene tries to break free but her efforts were in vain. Xander moves closer towards her right ear. "What a surprise... Seems like you are worthy to be a specialist after all... Here's a little gift from me", Xander whispered. 

He pushes her off balance and kicks her in the ankles. Serene falls with her hand still being held by Xander. In a blink of an eye, he charges his palm with magic energy and moves towards Serene. As his palm moves closer towards Serene's belly, she could feel the heat radiating from his palm. Just how pure is that magic energy? Serene was unable to react as soon as she sees the concentrated magic energy in his palm. As soon as it touches her, she was sent flying, crashing into the wall behind her. Xander becomes victorious in the duel. He walks toward Serene who is knocked out from the impact. He stares for a moment before smiling and whispering to her.

"You'll thank me soon enough."