Jiyu and Elyx king of fighters

One swing after another, waves of compressed air managed to form waves on the water’s surface. With each swing and kick, it would wave and weave accordingly. In union with the chaos of destruction, the liquid remained rather calm even as the huntress danced atop it. An athletic slender figure, bare of any clothes. Her muscles tensed up with each movement she made. A small sanctuary all of her own for the time being, hidden deep within the woods that not many visited for their bad reputation. But she could not care less, for her power exceeded so much at this point, she did not even have to consider the option of possibly running into a worthy opponent here. And so, she walked through the spooky forest for as long as she pleased, even the predators avoiding someone with magical power so high and in full view of one’s senses. She walked and walked, unsure of what she was in search of, if anything at all. But she did find it eventually, a small opening in a thick vegetation that lead her to a secluded flooded cave. The walls were all covered in moss that thrived on the moist atmosphere and air in this place. With the foreign souls of power dancing together inside of her body, the huntress was even capable of walking on the water’s surface with ease, as if it was ground as much as the dirt she was on before. Ever since few days back, she had spent most of her time here, training. But was she improving at all? No matter how many punches or kicks she would send out, it felt as if she was not progressing anywhere. And so, as the sweat slowly ran down her dark skin, she stood still. Breathing in and out heavily, she stretched. The natural state of human being felt the best after all. The moment she figured out this place was hidden from the reach of humanity, she removed all of her attire and threw it at a nearby rock. Training in nothing but her birthday suit, for some reason it felt much more effective for the girl that held an odd disdain for clothes. No one could judge her for anything in here. It was her training ground and no one else’s after all. But as soon as she stopped her movements and tried to relax her body, a thundering voice reached her vulpine ears.

”Ending rather abruptly, aren’t we? I thought you wanted to control all of my powers at full. But you will never reach such level of power if you take breaks like these for no good reason. Your body is not even aching yet!”

A titanic wolf, probably bigger than a regular home you would see in human city. His fur of abyssal black color, nestled in the cave as much as he could. And those shining bright red eyes, still hidden beneath that skull mask of his. He was not truly there. The body that the girl was seeing right now had perished centuries ago. But the wolf’s soul was inside the huntress, inside Eris. And it was more than capable of communicating with her through means like this, a projection forced into her head and eyes. If she was to reach out, she would touch nothing more than air. And yet, it felt so real that she could almost swear she could feel the fluffy fur of his. Shame he was not a female wolf taking on a humanoid form. Then the view would surely be much more pleasant for all of them, without a doubt. Crossing her arms across her chest, the girl put up a cheeky grin as her ears twitched a bit, the fluffy tail behind her body slowly moving from left to right, it’s tip hitting the water’s surface with each movement and causing small ripples to travel out and disappear right after. It was clear that her confidence did not drop one bit even when facing such seemingly terrific beast. Some would surely be scared of it even while knowing that he was not truly there. Such was the nature of Visor it seemed, his power exceeding what everyone thought possible. The one single most powerful ancient guardian to ever protect Joya, undefeated to the very end. Now, his soul rested with the huntress they all chose, lending her portion of his power.

”My muscles would not ache even if I was to keep this up for days on end without taking a single break. Not to mention that just doing this is really boring! Trying to fight imaginary ghosts… where are all the good real opponents, seriously…”

With those words, the girl shifted around her power a bit, the seemingly tribal marks beneath her eyes slowly disappearing as her feet started sinking into the water. And soon, she was fully submerged and swimming around, the sweat washing from her body with each motion, caressing her soft, yet scarred skin. Even though she did not exhaust herself at all, it was a pleasant feeling. Being simply enveloped by the element, embraced by it and cleansed fully. Sensation that brought another soul from the darkness. Kaya, terror of the deep. An Undine that was yet another powerful ancient guardian. She on the other hand appeared much more humanoid that Visor, her figure actually having proportions quite similar to those of Eris herself. Though of course she was still a mythical being that was quite the ways away from being considered a regular human being.

”Arguing again? What I saw was the girl crushing just about anything that dared to stand in our way before she found this place. So I say she is already powerful plenty, no need for your powers Wolfy. You’re the laziest one of us anyway, I’m surprised you’ actually bothering to help at all.”

As usual, her tongue had a sharp tone that managed to force the Abyssal soul to grown with distaste. It was not unusual for the souls to argue like this, it already happened many times in the past. And eventually, they would always get back together, get along. After all, they were all in this situation together - stuck inside of a huntress that had the power to control them all at will. Something that you would not see everyday, it simply had to be respected in at least some manner. Not like they were too bothered by that fact either, as it was surely better than their souls just kinda resting in the soil of Joya, stuck in a state of some kind of weird limbo.

”It was the girl who wanted to control all of my powers. I’m just making sure she doesn’t blow us all to smithereens with it is all. Not to mention that the two of us share the same passion. The fact that I’ve spend most of my days in Joya relaxing and being fed does not mean I am lazy at all times!”

All that said, it was quite amusing watching the wolf’s robust body resting atop the water’s surface, his head alone the size of regular human’s body. Even in such place, his abyssal fur flowed fluidly as if there was dancing wind playing with it, crimson red flames filled with dark hue flickering and swaying atop his frame all over. The feeling of his presence alone swallowing everything in eternal darkness did not go away even if he was but an imagine inside of the girl’s mind after all. Didn’t discourage the other spirits however, as another one rested atop a lonely tree root which managed to penetrate the ceiling of this cave, the rest of it growing way above them. A tiny harpy, an ant in comparison to the wolf, as she was also smaller than Undine down below her. With skin darkened just as Eris’ and blond hair unkempt, she grinned.

”Maybe your powers are not needed after all. I mean, the lassy is doing just fine without you. As Kaya said, she absolutely crushed everything that got into her way here. Is there anything that could even stand in her way right now?”

”How simple minded! You act as if you’re not even a guardian. Or perhaps your era was just far too peaceful? In any case, know that there is always someone or something stronger than you. You must be ready for absolutely anything and wield power greater than anyone’s if you ever want to stand on the top, victorious!”

”Maybe you’re right. But I gotta lean towards Iris there, I can’t even properly imagine what beast could be a match for me right now. I want a challenge but all we ran into was a breeze. Too boring! If I gain even more power, wouldn’t fighting become even more dull? I can’t have any fun if I hold back either, it sucks. Or maybe I could just try to find pleasure in completely obliterating anyone who stands in my way…?”

”Please, do not grow to be a crude savage my dear. A guardian has to possesses elegancy and gentle soul that knows mercy. You have to protect, not slaughter. Try to not forget the contract between all of us, the terms on which you are using all of our power.”

As the conversation grew, the final soul joined in as well. The only one who was physically larger than the Abyssal wolf was now squeezing in this cave as well, her stony body lying atop the water. A dragon. It was actually somewhat comical to be watching at this scene from the outside, not that anyone really could. Almost like a gathering of oddities, the ancient guardians truly were anything but your ordinary beings roaming the Earthland. Letting the water swallow her for a bit, the huntress submerged to escape the spiraling argument, though to no avail. It was at times like these she wished she would not have several voices literally sitting inside of her head and trying to scream over one another as they brought forward their own values and views of the world. Yes, she did promise to use their powers to protect those who reside in Joya just as guardian would, but she really wasn’t one, was she? She didn’t want to be, being stuck in one nation sounded awfully dull to her. Especially if it was her home that she already knew nearly perfectly. It also meant that she couldn’t have just gone and crushed the other tribes to bring her own fame, for that would not be really protecting anyone now, would it? Swimming back up to bring her head to the air again, she sighed.

”I haven’t forgotten nothing. But I want to have some damn fun too! How am I supposed to have fun if there is nothing that could challenge me at all?”

Her words echoed throughout the cave system as the souls looked at one another. And finally, Kaya would jump from the water to stand on it’s surface as well, striking a somewhat important pose as if she was about to announce something very important. One perk of having all these people inside of her head meant that they could notice more than she did. This allowed them to inform the girl of things that she would not necessarily know about her environment.

”Before you so diligently started tearing apart these woods, I noticed something in that small village we were in. A crumbled old flyer that had something about a fighting tournament in it. Seemed really out of place there, so I’m assuming another warrior was traversing those parts and accidentally dropped it. Secret tournaments are usually only held of the participants are either criminals or extremely powerful. Both should provide some entertainment in my opinion.”

Somehow, her last words were accompanied with a mischievous smirk and perhaps a thought of tearing some evil-doers into pieces. Then no one could complain about not protecting by massacring others. Was the elegant Undine actually that terrifying when it came down to it? The wolf only growled some more and turned his gaze to the side, possibly thinking about how much pain in the bottom that could be. Iris was rather indifferent, the birdbrain wasn’t really interested in all that much. And Aileen, the great earth dragon just sighed quietly. She was probably the only one who would be content with just sitting in Joya and watching out for possible threats. Truly a loving mother of that nation, one of the most adored ancient guardians and still having stories told about here among the young ones.Unfortunately, Eris was more about the fun part of possibly getting to fight someone strong.

”Alright, that’s settled then! Off to the tournament we go! Get back into my head you people, I need to find my clothes again!”

And just like that, the titanic figures that were all over the cave suddenly disappeared in a blink of an eye, leaving no trail whatsoever as if they never even were there in the first place. Made sense, really. They were in the girl’s head all this time after all, anyone watching from the outside would think she was completely crazy and talking to herself this whole time. Probably not the best of ideas to be doing this in the outside world where regular mortals walked then, not she was planning on that. Grateful for Orion’s ability, she pushed her body out of the water only to walk on it as if it was solid surface, mimicking the actions of the souls as well as she started wandering around the cave, looking for that one stone where she left her damned clothes. Oh, how she wished she could just leave them here and go outside in her birthday suit. It felt most comfortable and surely would please the male side of humanity, as well as maybe some of the female one too. But it would also get their guards and such to go after her, creating more unnecessary and boring problems that she would much rather avoid. After finally finding them and dressing appropriately, though still leaving majority of her skin exposed to the fresh air, she stretched one final time before leaving the cave. Though that journey was rather short-lived, her feet stopping in their tracks only few seconds later.

”Hey, where is this tournament anyway? It can’t possibly be in that village we were in before, right? There is no way we can fight in such cramped place! And you said that the flyer looked really out of the place there too!”

She would turn her head to the side as she spoke, as if there was another person next to her at whom these words were directed. But the replies she waited for came directly from within her very being, Kaya speaking from the mass of souls inside the huntress’ core.

”Of course not! I believe I saw something about ‘Sphere Island’, whatever that’s supposed to mean. If it’s an actual location, then I have to perform slow clap for the creativity of people that named the place.”

So that was their location then. Eris couldn’t say she knew the location, but a slight buzz inside of her head spoke otherwise. Almost as if a surpassed memory of some kind, or even something that came from much more primal place. A guidance that she did not quite acknowledge, something subconscious. Has she been to such island in the past but forgot? Well, it was certainly possible. Her memories were everything but properly organised these days, as all seemed to be in a haze of uncertainty, hidden from her direct remembrance. If she already once were to such place, perhaps it could help her in more ways than one then. Yes, she definitely had to attend this tournament, no matter of what nature it actually was. And so, the rather sloppy journey began as the huntress followed nothing but her gut feeling as to where her destination actually was. And in such situation, even the guardians inside of her head were not of much help, as all they really knew was Joya, the place they protected for most of their lives. Not that anyone could really blame them for something like that, there were beings that would not leave their home in a lifetime. Eris was different in that regard, driven by the desire of exploration and constant fight against boredom. As unfulfilling as it sounds, that was what her life boils down to. Doing the very best just to fight off boredom. In that sense, doing so was enough to live exciting life. But… it didn’t feel complete. As if there was something else to it all.

”Come to think of it, you’ve never told us what exactly your life has been like before you gathered all of us.I can’t imagine there was enough excitement for someone like you in Joya alone, yet it feels like this is one of the first times you left the Jungle. And what’s more, for some reason, we cannot access your earlier memories.”

The wolf’s rough voice rumbled through the girl’s being as she scratched her head, simply sprinting on the air in one direction as if it was something that she did on regular basis. While that ability was something quite new to the huntress, part of the souls inside of her, it felt strangely familiar. As if she was capable of doing so even before the whole guardian business. All of this was so strange, it made no sense at all! Well, at least she now had these powers to command, so that was nice. But what Visor said was true, as she herself had problems recalling any older memories.

”Even if I had problems with my head, the memories should still be recorded somewhere for you to see, right? Ugh, it feels like there is some weird force blocking me from remembering it all. Or maybe… like there’s nothing there at all, is more what it feels like. Ah, whatever! No point focusing on the past, I survived it and that’s what matters. Now my goal is to survive the present and have fun!”

That was a reasonable goal, right? She hardly weak, but unlike other powerful magicians out in the world, she had absolutely no noble goal in sight, nor was she scheming to take control over the world. She was in the middle, using her rather great strength to just do whatever she sees as fun. And not many could stop her in that. In a sense, that was perhaps quite a scary thought. But so far, the girl didn’t managed to cause any catastrophic events just yet. Yet being the key word in such sentence, seeing how the souls inside of her already knew her nature and thus could predict that she would be cause of a great chaos eventually. But going by her logic, they would all deal with it when that time comes. Leave tomorrow’s problems to tomorrow’s you, as it would. Thoughts like these were their own way of coping with priorly mentioned boredom as they slowly closed the distance between Eris and the Colosseum-like structure where the tournament was taking place.

”Think we’re gonna make it in time? Even if Er-chan runs on the air in straight line, it seems like we have still ways to go.”

”I wouldn’t worry too much. All of us focus on speed in one way or another. And the girl is using our traits, isn’t she? She’s probably faster than any vehicle that could get us there anyway.”

”Actually, our traits can be transferred into her body only in the state of complete or partial takeovers. Right now, her speed is her own. But inhabitants of Joya are naturally stronger and faster than regular humans, especially those who act as hunters and huntresses for the tribe. That said, do we even know when the tournament starts?”

Aileen brought about a pretty good point and all the souls suddenly fell completely quiet. Clearly, not one of them knew when the event would actually be taking place. Even Kaya who saw the flyer directly didn’t exactly grasp the precise letters and numbers that were already faded on the crumbled and wet piece of paper, buried in it’s muddy grave of village roads.

”Hey, Hey! If we arrive there only to discover that the thing already started and we can’t join or that it’s happening several days or longer from now, I’m gonna kick all your butts! Wasting time like that when I could be having fun elsewhere, that would be unacceptable…”

It looked like the ancient beings could only hope that this wouldn’t turn out bad now. Even if they were powerful spirits, they didn’t exactly have means of defending themselves against the girl that had control over them all in a sense. And it looked like they would find out soon enough, as the general shape of sphere island started to come into view. It was a ball alright… not very exciting from this viewpoint. But the arena was surely somewhere on there, they just had to find it and try to join. Hour or two later, the chosen huntress would finally rest her bare feet on the dry land of the isle, looking around in curious manner.

”Sure is big… I’m guessing you didn’t pick up where exactly on this island the tournament is? Ugh, it’s gonna take forever to find this thing! Starting to think this was not the brightest idea of them all.”

”Relax. The place might be big, but so should be the arena. No way we can miss a building that would tower above everything around it. Everyone just has to keep their eyes open, as long as you move swiftly, we’ll find it for sure.”

While Kaya definitely wasn’t the best at encouragement and reassuring, it was better than nothing. And so, they did as was told.. And surely enough, in few, they managed to spot their destination in the distance, rising over the treetops and mountain range. Without any further delays, the chosen huntress decided to hurry up and bold to the said destination, soon finding herself in front of a giant gate that would lead her inside. There was one problem, however. It was pretty clearly closed. The silence coming from within the girl only solidified how nervous some of the souls were. But there was at least some solace, as guards stood in front of it. That meant the place wasn’t abandoned, which should already be easily determined by the cheering coming from within. And so, filled with confidence, the dark-skinned female approached the gate, filled with anticipation.

”Open for me, would ya? I’m coming inside!”

But the guards only stepped in front of her and formed a cross with spears they were holding. Somewhat primitive looking for such a grand event.

”Apologies miss, but all the seats are already filled. No more spectators.”

”I ain’t no damn spectator, I’m a participant. Now, open up so I can go beat up some idiots senseless!”

Clearly surprised, the two guards looked at one another, perhaps unsure of how to react to such words. But in the end, they did not budge one bit. Instead, they tightened their grip on the weapons, as if to reinforce their point.

”The fighting already started and the brackets were closed. We’re not letting anyone new in. If you don’t understand that much, you’re probably not smart enough to participate anyway!”

Getting somewhat aggressive, the guards were clearly adamant about not letting her in. Something that the huntress wasn’t exactly all too thrilled about. And neither were the guardians inside of her. Now, any sane person would probably turn around and just leave in peace, letting this whole event be. But who ever said that Eris was on the more sane side? Instead, she started grinning in somewhat menacing manner, the sharp gaze in her eyes penetrating the two men with ease.

”Well, if I’m not to have any fun by participating, I might as well wreck this whole place and have some fun that way. Yeah, beating up all the participants with no rules to stop me might be even better!”

It went without saying that those words were rather alarming to the guards who quickly prepared themselves, now ready to forcefully throw the girl out of this place. It was unfortunate that they did not knew what was about to happen. One of them started a mad dash with his spear against her, only to watch her silhouette disappear, followed by a sharp pain in his side as her fist buried deep into his flesh, cracking at his inner organs. An attack of a great impact that forced him to stumble to a side, holding the place where he was struck with his free hand. In the meantime, the other one panicked as he watched all this happen to his buddy. But by some rather odd leap of logic, he figured out that attacking the girl was still a smart idea. It really wasn’t, his weapon being parried to the side the moment he pointed it’s sharp end towards her. And with even more force than before, she delivered a palm strike into his chest. One so forceful that it made an audible crashing noise, perhaps the movement of her hand alone creating a sonic boom and shattering the man’s ribs into pieces as his body flew back, crashing into the gate and taking it down with him. Smile rested on Eris’ expression as she was rather content with the warm-up. But before she was able to infiltrate the building, more guards showed up along with pretty important looking man. One that was dressed in a fancy suit, even wearing a monocle.

”W..what is going on over here?! Guests around the from door heard that and became distracted from the fighting! What…”

His words were silenced by a single look at the Joyan huntress in front of him, as well as the mess she managed to cause already.

”Oh, not much. Just me having some fun on my own, since your goons didn’t allow me to enter without violence~”

She would reply, a teasing note dancing on her tongue as she spoke. Unlike his soldiers, this one clearly recognized her power and swallowed audibly. Unsure of what to do, he closed his eyes for a moment and presumably shoved his plans and pride aside for a bit.

”You wish to enter? Very well. There is one very powerful contestant inside already. To be frank, I find his strength unfair, but I was unable to find any good way of getting rid of him. But… yes, you will work. Please, come on in. I hope you do not mind fighting in pairs?”

”As long as I can have some fun, I don’t care! Bring me straight to the battlefield.”

It wasn’t exactly how she planned it, but it’s not even all that much fun when things go your way, so who really cares. She got inside by showing her power to those that run this place, and it was enough. The fact that she would fight alongside another person was quite curious. Perhaps this would be even more interesting than the girl anticipated. And just like that, she was allowed to step into the arena, guiding by the intense cheering that could even make the ground below her bare feet  shake.

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