Chapter 901

Back to Kat.

—-

The group was about two hours of full speed running outside of the city. They’d grabbed enough food for a decent picnic and there was going to be some interesting entertainment. Xiang and Lily were situated high up in a sturdy tree near the clearing Yang and Kat had designated as their battle zone. Yang was warming up by pretending her club was a set of nun chucks. The fact she looked graceful with it somehow was very impressive.

Kat on the other hand was twirling her fans around trying to get her wrists in shape. She was also channelling a bit of demonic energy into the ground, causing ice to slowly form around her. Kat was using just a bit of energy, about half of what she passively regenerated, just to get it flowing around.

The day was nice and clear, something both contestants were pleased with, for more or less the same reason. Yang would have been very hampered by a spot of rainy weather so the clear skies were very nice. “Are you sure you want to do this?” asked Kat as she stood across the clearing eying Yang carefully.

“Yes I am. I need the practice Kat, and this is the best way to do it. I don’t have to worry about killing you, and I trust you enough not to accidentally kill me. If we had suitably strong training weapons I’d suggest them but you work with what you have,” yelled Yang in return.

Kat let out a long breath. Yang had approached Kat late yesterday with a request for a spar. It wasn’t too much of an imposition as Lily didn’t really know what to spend their third day off doing after spending the day walking around the city. There just wasn’t all that much in the way of entertainment. Most buildings were practical in nature and the closest thing they found to ‘entertainment’ was a spot in one of the local parks where every table had a go board on it. Something they could very much just play at home.

.....

The auction was going to start early the next morning, but it was unclear when their group was going to participate. Apparently, they’d get a letter telling them at what time their item would be sold. How much else they wanted to see wasn’t yet determined... so they had today to pass the time. Apparently, they’d be using battle to do it.

Kat was ready, her mind slowed as she watched Yang move. With Kat in full combat mode Yang just looked... so slow. It wasn’t really her fault. Kat was firmly a Rank 2 demon while Yang was still just at the start of her cultivation journey. Kat just wasn’t prepared for it to be such a stark difference. Yang launched herself forward and Kat eased up a bit on the slow down. There really was no point in keeping things quite so slow. It was beyond easy to see what Yang was doing in that state and this wasn’t supposed to be a beatdown but a spar. Yang had even asked politely for it.

So Kat decided to do something a little stupid. Yang brough down her club using the momentum from the charge to try and deal some damage against Kat, who, for some reason looked to be blocking a large iron club with her two fans. The moment of impact, the ground was the loser, breaking under Kat yet not really disrupting her footing. Kat’s wrists were the next things to start complaining. Stronger and tougher Kat might have been, but her wrists were no match for Yang’s... everything.

Whirling to the side, Kat tried to shove Yang over using the cultivator’s momentum, but Yang’s footwork was solid and she just let the club continue sideways before bringing it back around for a second attack. Kat had time to watch all of this and decide not do something quite so silly again. Kat ripped her feet from the ground and stepped forward past Yang’s club, letting it fall on her old location and slapped her right fan on the top of the club hoping to unbalance Yang more.

It was too much, Yang instantly felt herself tipping over and decided to cut her loses, by dropping the weapon instead. With her hands free they started to glow with a golden light as she turned to the side-stepping Kat and tried to slam a palm strike into Kat’s seemingly exposed side. Kat considered moving but she was interested in just what damage the attack would be doing.

So it was to Kat’s surprise when the attack landed and instead of burning, or being tanked, the energy instead travelled inside of her and started to bounce around, disrupting the flow of her blood and damaging her organs slightly. Kat’s eyes widened even as she felt that same damage getting repaired almost as fast. It was a much more dangerous attack then it seemed. *I... I don’t know why but I expected that to do so much less damage. Was I expecting heat? Yes I guess I was... but... is it the concept? Hmm...*

With Yang’s hand so dutifully delivered to her, Kat stepped forward moving it into an arm lock, a poor one, and then using that as leverage to throw Yang over her head. Yang yet out a strangled protest because of the pain in her shoulder, and a second ‘oof’ when she hit one of the nearby trees. Yang didn’t stay down long though, hitting the ground and running straight for Kat.

*How do I make this useful for Yang? This is supposed to be a spar but I’m taking unnecessary hits and moving too quickly for her to keep up when I retaliate. I suppose I could try to match her speed... but honestly I’m just not that skilled. I need to speed my mind up drastically to match speeds and if I did that I’d know exactly what Yang was going to do for ages before the move completes. Hmm... I guess I’ll just have to do my best.*

Kat resumed her dropped fans and got ready for the charge. She kept them closed, not wanting to slice into Yang but once again tried to the sidestep. Yang was ready for it though and kicked off just the right moment to launch herself at Kat. Reflexively Kat’s tail came around and wrapped itself around Yang’s arm before pulling her off course. Kat continued past, and Yang could do nothing but be pulled along, wrecking her footing. Kat used this chance to perform a slow, but powerful back kick.

Yang hissed as she let herself drop to the floor, her hand still tied up in Kat’s tail limiting her movement but it was enough to get out of the way of the kick. Now, down on the ground, Yang twisted and slammed her fingers into the soft part behind Kat’s knee that was fairly exposed. Sadly for Yang, she missed by just a hair and impacted the bone instead, and Yang could feel it was her fingers giving way.

Things were pretty much over after that. Kat was able to retract her leg and then wrapped Yang up into an uncomfortable hug. “This was... not really what I was hoping for...” said Kat with an apologetic tone.

“Yeah well, it’s not what I wanted either,” grumbled Yang. “How do you not know how to spar properly?”

“Look it’s never really been a big issue and I don’t know how to teach you. I’ve normally fought things that are stronger than me, or I’m not too worried about breaking. I don’t know how to match your speed or strength without speeding my mind up drastically to do it all manually and that would just sort of defeat the point,” explained Kat.

Yang sighed, “I guess this means I’ll probably have to just spar with Xiang then for practice. Not ideal, but I can make it work. Seeing as you’re already here though can you watch us both fighting and make sure nobody gets seriously injured? We really don’t need that,”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Kat shrugged letting go of Yang as she stood up, letting Yang find her own feet, “Perhaps? It goes back to the fact I don’t know what you can both take without consequences. I’ll agree to try certainly but that’s the best I can really offer you,”

Yang groaned again as she flexed her wrist trying to make sure Kat hadn’t pulled anything. It seemed fine, just a bit sore... but it did prove how much stronger Kat was compared to her. Which... was a bit of a problem. Kat didn’t know how to train anyone else, and had never really tried. Her ability to teach those weaker, or even just spar, was hampered so much by the gulf in their strengths. Her regeneration just made it worse. She could trade hits like baseball cards, except Kat had a bunch of fakes she could just print off. Everyone else had to deal with the real thing.

“Look... thanks for coming out for a match... but we are never sparring again,” said Yang tersely.