There was an explosion, and Kojo jumped back. Green vapor was coming off the places where he was stabbed as they slowly closed.
"My healing's slowed."
Jattara waved away the dust cloud. A jade-colored liquid appeared in her hands, and she formed it into a scythe with a blade at both ends. She broke it at the middle, turned it into two giant sickles connected by a spiked chain. She spun it around herself, then pointed it at Kojo.
Quicksilver.
Kojo glitched, then shot at her with a loud boom, punching her in the stomach. She flew back, and he charged at her to attack again. She spun her sickles around, and he had to jump around and block with his claws in order to avoid getting hit. He saw a blind spot and tried to get a hit, but Jattara unexpectedly made another blade and jabbed him with it. He tilted his head, getting only a graze on the cheek, and drawing a drop of blood. Jattara pulled the blade back, liquefying it into a spinning ball with Kojo's blood in it. The jade-colored poison turned blue and started giving off sparkles of electricity. She formed it into a shard and stabbed herself with it. It, however, got absorbed by her body like a sponge absorbing water. She sidestepped as Kojo was about to land a punch and punched him away, pouncing on him before he could land. He managed to jump back, but Jattara was on him before he could regain his bearings.
He made a pillar of earth to hit her; another one emerged from the ground behind her, and the two collided in midair with Jattara in the middle. Magic circles appeared around the joined tops of the pillars, and a barrage of elemental blasts rained on it. There were several bright flashes, and the pillars broke apart, and a blur of jade lightning shot at Kojo. He flipped backward, but Jattara slashed him in midair and spun, bringing her ankle down on Kojo, knocking him into the ground. Magic circles appeared above the arena, and poison spikes rained down in the arena.
Quicksilver.
Kojo ran around in order to avoid them. He heard a whistling sound and turned to see Jattara running alongside him, keeping pace as he accelerated. The two separated, then clashed, exchanging blows in a high-speed battle that was so fast, only the purple and green flashes of electricity that were produced as a byproduct of their speed could be seen all over the arena. Jattara made more shards in her hand and clenched her fist around them, stabbing them in. She then spun her sickles, jade flames appearing on them, and knocking him into the arena wall.
The crowd cheered.
"Why must they always cheer when I'm getting beat up?" Kojo mumbled, charging at Jattara again.
(Oh, I see. She used your blood plus her poison to imitate your abilities. That's interesting. She must be quite the alchemist. I wonder if she synthesizes it in her own body or through the use of some magic,) Sysia said with interest.
"Wow, he's really getting his ass handed to him," Koniko said. "That idiot better survive this."
"This isn't looking good. She's using her poison to imitate any ability Kojo uses," Lin said, looking on as Jattara spun her chains to attack Kojo, using them in tandem with poison jade claws, forcing Kojo to summon Caliburn to block, creating a shockwave. Jattara spun the sickles around her waist, sticking Kojo with the blunt side and knocking him back.
Sharone looked on.
"Stay safe," she said quietly.
(Get moving.)
"She's good," Kojo thought as he attacked, parrying Jattara's attacks.
"She made it appear as if she was only good at long-range attacks with that chain vibe she had, but she's good when it comes to close combat," he smiled. Jattara wrapped her chain around his leg and pulled him over, slamming him into the ground and into the arena wall.
(Why'd you let her grab your leg? No, why are you taking all this damage?)
"I'm putting on a show. Besides, if she didn't grab my leg, I couldn't do this."
Stealth.
Jattara slammed him into the ground, sending dust into the air. Jattara charged into the crater but didn't find Kojo. Something knocked her back. Another attack from behind sent her flying. She threw her chains into the ground and used them to catch herself. She closed her eyes, concentrating on her surroundings. She suddenly flipped backward and started spinning her weapons around her, blocking the invisible attacks but still taking damage.
"Looks like Opal's champion has vanished. Jattara has gone on the offensive. No one knows what's going on at this point," Zang said, squinting.
"What the hell's going on?" he asked as Jattara got knocked back again. She tried to attack but was knocked around by high-speed blows from all directions that at times sent her flying, then fell her in an instant.
"Where's Kojo?" Adriana asked anxiously, looking around the arena.
"Seems your fighter's in a bit of a pickle, eh, Michael?" Duke Philip said. Michael just grunted and looked away.
"Your bad habit again. You only get to brag after you've won," Michael said. "And from the looks of things, Jattara's already adapted to Kojo's technique."
Jattara made a cloud around her.
Yukio squinted at the arena.
Eye of Horus.
Her eyes glowed. She saw through the cloud and saw Jattara had locked on to Kojo's location and was attacking. She was, however, unable to keep up and jumped back.
"Did he just get faster?" she wondered. A fireball then sent her flying. She used her speed to land and threw her chains in that direction. Kojo appeared behind her, fist raised. She was able to perceive him with her eyes, but her body couldn't keep up.
Quicksilver x 3.
Kojo punched her so hard it cleared the cloud and knocked her into the wall.
"Oh, I see. So all this time he was biding his time, adapting to Jattara's fighting style and waiting for the right time to strike," Yukio said. "Impressive."
Kojo appeared behind Jattara and made a swing at her. She blocked with her sickles, which broke due to the force, and got knocked into several earth walls that shot out of the earth behind her, and she slammed through all of them and crashed into the arena wall. Kojo made a fireball in his palm, compressed it, then released a stream of red-hot flames at her, melting the walls around her. He stopped, realizing that she had used her poison to make a barrier around herself. She stood in a quickdraw stance, then rushed forward to attack. He drew his blade, and just when it was about to hit, she suddenly released a jade aura, and he jumped back.
"This energy, that's..."
(Curse Magic.)
She began chanting, magic circles appearing around her. Chains shot out of them and wrapped around her. She broke them, releasing an even more powerful energy wave that cracked the barrier protecting the spectators.
She breathed heavily, then looked at Kojo with snakelike slits for irises in her green eyes.
"You finally show your true colors," Kojo said. Going into a neutral stance and pointing his sword at Jattara. Jattara raised her hand, and magic circles appeared on the barrier, turning it into a cage and trapping Kojo inside.
"I noticed," she said. "You weren't defending against my attacks," she said as she made dozens of shards of multi-colored poisons materialize around her and stabbed herself with them.
Adriana yelled.
"What's she doing?" Koniko asked.
Reynolds stood up.
Philip leaned forward.
"Michael, what's the meaning of this?" The king demanded.
"I swear I had no idea she was a curse magic user."
"Curse magic," Sharone repeated. She quickly got to her feet and made a blood lance in front of her, about to fire at the barrier, but Yukio grabbed her hands, stopping her.
"No, stop. This barrier is set to amplify and redirect any attacks aimed at it. The barrier at this point is filled with poisonous gas. Destroying the barrier would endanger the lives of all the people here," she said.
Sharone reluctantly deactivated her spell.
(Careful, Kojo.)
"So tell me," Jattara continued, taking off her mask to reveal a nasty scar that ran along the sides of her mouth. "You're stronger than all the other competitors, so why are you participating? Why are you deliberately taking hits, knowing that you may not be able to shrug them off?"
"Nothing really," Kojo said. "You just reminded me of something my mother told me."
"Which is?"
"When life hits you, hit back harder," he yelled and charged at her, swinging his sword. She caught it mid-swing, cracking the ground under her.
Black tears streaming from her eyes, a crazed look on her face.
"I've been through hardships and always struggled to survive, being cautious so as not being cautious so as not to die and here you are lecturing me about life?" She yelled then threw him into the arena wall.
She slowly walked towards him.
" I'm going to kill you. " She screamed and charged at him.