Kiera
I just freaking beat a Neph at hand to hand combat. That weird thing happened again to me. It was like time suspended for a quick second and I got these flashes of Caleb's arm wrapping around my neck a moment before he was actually going to do it. In that second, I was already one step ahead of him and took him down.
My roommates, Jack and Aaron, from the Gray Sector each took their turns and were defeated. I kind of stopped watching the fights after a while. I didn't know who anyone was or what experience they had. I was just feeling pretty damn proud of myself for winning that round.
Declan won his fight, too, of course. I heard whispers about his being a record time to ever defeat someone in the First Trial. Trev also advanced into the next round. I only know they won by looking at the bracket drawn on the board.
By now, everyone had either won or lost their battle. I was up against some girl named Justine and guessing by the girl who was glaring at me, she would be my next oppenent. Oh and she just happens to be the girl currently glued to Declan's side. I haven't even said a word to the girl and she has it out for me.
Whatever, I'll deal with her tomorrow during the Second Trial.
~
After the trial, we showered which felt amazing. I got all the knots out of my hair and now it actually resembled the color blond. I left my hair down to dry. I even smelled good. I could get used to this place.
Lunch was the same as breakfast. So was dinner. I went to sleep fairly quickly that night. I was exhausted after all of today's events and I needed to be ready for tomorrow.
~
The morning bell rang before I was even awake. I jolted upright and threw on the black jumpsuit. My roommates had already left and I was alone. I tossed my long hair in a pony and ran out into the hallway.
I crashed into something solid and lost my balance. Strong arms reached out and caught me before I could make a fool of myself. Looks like someone else was late and rushing to get to breakfast, too.
I opened my mouth to apologize until I realized who I had run in to. Trev was smiling down at me and said, "You're late too, Kiera?"
Strange. He was being friendly. I just nodded not trusting myself to not say something stupid or rude.
"Well let's go before all of the good food is taken," he said dragging me down the hall.
Only the White Sector had served themselves so far. The Black Sector was starting to get up when we arrived so I parted ways with Trev while he went to fill his plate. I waited until it was the Gray Sector's turn to get some food. I got up with the two guys and loaded my plate again.
I ate just as fast as yesterday, not even caring if Justine or Declan were watching. I was still hungry after eating all of it. A tap on my shoulder made me turn around and almost fall out of my seat.
Trev was standing there holding out his half eaten breakfast. My eyes opened up really wide making me look like a complete idiot. Laughing good-naturedly, he set the dish in front of me and walked away. He was acting really weird, but I wasn't complaining.
The second bell rang and we all went back to the same room we were sparing in yesterday. Butterflies were already swirling around in my stomach as I was walking. My match against Justine was first.
"Welcome back, entrants. Today those of you who lost your fight yesterday will sit out for today. Your names have been ranked under the average of the class so far. But do not worry, you will have many chances to move back up the list. Today's trial will be the same as yesterday's, but you are permitted to use your powers. However, do not purposely injure or maim your oppenent. There will be severe consequences if you do. Now, who's ready to begin?" Coordinator Vlad said.
The background completely faded away as I got ready to face off against Justine. The whistle blew to commence our dual. I have no idea what her power is or how to defend against it. She cut my thoughts short when she threw the first punch.
I brought my arm up to deflect the blow. Justine seemed to get angry that I blocked her. Her eyes began to do this weird swirling thing just as a blade of ice flew over my shoulder. I didn't even see her throw it.
My shoulder felt as if it was on fire. I brought my fingers to touch the fabric of the jumpsuit in my shoulder and they came away bloody. The knife made of ice sliced through the material and made a clean cut along the top of my shoulder.
I was in so much shock that I didn't know what had happened until I was laying face first on the mat. Justine landed on my back and pulled my pony tail up. My neck jerked back and I reached up to try and claw her hands off of me. She leaned down and whispered in my ear, "Surrender or I will make you regret it."
"No," I forced out.
"Fine. Then I'll just have to-"
I tapped two times on the mat to signal I was done. There wasn't anything I could have done to get her off of me. I was at such a disadvantage. I didn't have the training experience or powers that they all did. Coordinator Vlad walked over to the board and crossed my name off, putting me just above the average.
~
Declan
Kiera lost her dual against Justine. No surprise there.
I started to get bored waiting for my turn. Quinn was acting cocky as if he thought he could beat me. A few girls from the other sectors were all over him, hanging on to his every word.
A few more matches went by without anything significant happening. When it was finally my turn to spar off against my opponent, I stepped up to the mats, crossing my arms in front of Quinn.
Coordinator Vlad blew his whistle and our fight began. Quinn cracked his knuckles and beckoned be forward. His yellow eyes pinned me with hatred.
A well placed kick to his side had him stumbling. He went to catch himself but wiped out when my elbow connected with his temple. He was still for a couple seconds and slowly climbed back up to his feet.
Quinn crossed his arms in an "X" in front of his chest. Black goo formed at his feet and moved over his body until he was completely encased in the liquid. He made little balls of the goo in his hands and pelted them at me.
I backflipped over all of the flying balls of goo and landed on my feet. Quinn was relentless. He kept lobbing the goo at me so I couldn't advance. I continuously dodged the goo that was still coming at me. This was getting old real fast.
I let the balls get close to me without moving to dodge them and held up one hand. I froze all of the balls in the air, some just inches from my face. Then with a flick of my wrist, I sent all of the balls hurdling to Quinn at once. Losing his focus, his armor of black goo vanished and he dropped to the ground, covering his head.
I stopped the balls again when they were about to hit Quinn. If I let them go, they would surely melt Quinn's skin right off. That was against the rules of course, so I held them suspended in the air long enough to make Quinn tap two times on the mat.
Coordinator Vlad put a line through Quinn's name. I never doubted the outcome of that fight. No one can beat me.
~
Kiera
Declan's opponent, Quinn, was downright scary. I had no idea what those black globs could do to you and I didn't want to know. The way his face was a hard mask of determination and concentration proved he knew what he was doing was dangerous.
Declan's power was even more terrifying. Apparently he had the power to use other Nephilim's powers against them. It almost looked like Declan was playing around with Quinn. He kind of just stood there acting like he was going to let the black goo hit him. Then in the split of a second, he reversed the direction of them, right to Quinn.
If Declan can reverse the powers of Nephilim, it must be close to impossible to beat him. I wouldn't even stand a chance against him.
The remainder of the duals played out. The whistle blew to begin each fight. Hands tapped on the mat to end the fight. Entrants' names were crossed off.
"Congratulations to the final four. You will all do your final battles tonight after dinner. Two of you will have to fight in two battles to determine the ultimate champion. Those of you out of the tournament may go to your rooms or come to watch. Tomorrow's trial will require endurance so you may want to skip out on watching the finalists and go straight to bed. Keep up the good work, entrants," Coordinator Vlad said.
Everyone turned around and headed to the cafeteria for lunch. Jack, Aaron, and I took our seats at the back of the dining room and waited for our turn to be served. The Black Sector was getting their food and I noticed Trev getting double of everything he put on his plate. He looked up from scooping salad onto the dish and caught me eye. His violet eyes winked and he gave me a genuine smile. I waved back.
Once all of the sectors had their lunch, I went up to the buffet with my roommates. I got what was left of a turkey sandwich, a little bit of salad, and an apple. As I was walking back to my table, I tripped on something, falling flat on my ass, and dropped my tray. All of my food spread out over the floor and the apple rolled under a table. I looked back to see what had made me lose my balance and choked.
Apparently, I had just tripped over Declan's thick boot sticking out from under his table. He glared down at me, frowning as his dimples surfaced and said under his breath, "Idiot."
"What did you just call me?" I shot back, standing up now so I was level with his face while he was seated.
He raised his eyebrow and said, "You heard me."
"Hey man. Don't be like that. It was your fault she tripped," someone said, backing me up.
"Why is this girl even here? She can't do anything. That fight she won was just a fluke." Justine whined.
Oh, I was so going to give both of them a piece of my mind. I took a step forward already clenching my fists, but never got the chance to do anything. Someone turned me around and put an arm around my shoulders, guiding me back to Jack and Aaron.
I plopped down in my seat and blew a hard breath between my teeth. Another body sat down next to me and put a plate full of food in front of me.
"Thanks Trev. Just so you know, I could have handled that alone," I said.
"Yeah, I know. Thought it was better if you didn't, though," he laughed.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked him.
"Doing what?"
"Cut the crap. You know what; giving me your food, sitting here, backing me up against The Power Couple."
Trev snorted. "The Power Couple? Good one."
"I know right? I just came up with it," I said laughing.
Trev nudged my shoulder with his and whispered, "You're different than I thought." Then he stood up and walked over to the tables for the Black Sector.
~
Declan
I didn't feel like having to dual anyone else tonight. I knew I was going to win before we even started this tournament. I'm not being cocky like Quinn was, it's just a known fact that I am so much more advanced than anyone else here. I would be fighting Justine soon and once her name was crossed off, I would defeat the winner of the other match.
After dinner, most of the entrants went to their rooms to rest for tomorrow. Only a few came to the Trial Center to watch the rest of the battles play out.
Justine and I were up first. Coordinator Vlad blew his trusty whistle when our bare feet touched the mats. Justine eyed me from across the mats and winked. I slow grin spread across my face.
My eye flicked to the side of the room where the entrants who wanted to come stood watching. I was surprised to catch sight of blond hair and gray eyes. She quickly averted her gaze from mine and pretended not to watch.
In that moment that I hadn't been focused on Justine, she had about a dozen of her ice knives hovering in front of my face.
"Does this mean I win?" She asked.
Not about to give her the satisfaction, I plucked the largest knife out of the air and twirled it in my hand. Justine knitted her eyebrows together knowing I was up to something.
"No, I win," I said.
Having acquired Quinn's power after battling him earlier, I engulfed the knife in his black goo. Weighing it in my hand, I threw it straight up in the air and closed my open palm. The knife vanished into thin air and reappeared right under Justine's chin. She stretched her neck to avoid burning her skin against the blade.
Justine's eyes turned into a translucent blue as she reapplied ice around the blade. Without missing a beat, the goo just melted the ice right off. Justine backed up a quick half step then ducked to the ground.
She laid on her stomach with her arm outstretched. Ice shards the size of hail shot out from her fingertips and headed for my feet. Ice immediately froze my feet to the ground, immobilizing me. I didn't need to move my feet for what I was about to do next.
I slammed my fists together and suddenly Justine was standing where I had just been. Her feet were encased in ice and I was laying on the ground where she had just been. I can't remember who had the power to teleport Neph, but I now have the power to do so.
Then I used Justine's ice power to make the ice at her feet continue to move up her body. It reached all the way up to her neck where I made it stop.
Justine was frozen solid. She couldn't move if she wanted to. She couldn't even take the ice off of her even though her power is using ice because she wasn't the one who casted it; I was.
Coordinator Vlad blew his whistle and drew a red line across Justine's name.
He blew the whistle and the fight between Trev and one of my classmates from the White Sector began. Trev was a wild card. I never knew which tricks he was going to pull or if he was a reliable Nephilim. I tended to just avoid him.
He won the fight easily enough. The guy knew how to fight and he fought well. I guess it made sense that since he could erase minds, he could psyche his opponent out from the fight.
Trev would be the most "challenging" for me. I was actually looking forward for the fight between us even though I already knew the outcome.