NOVEL SIMPLE The Bird Fights a Shrimp
At 8:30 in the morning, Scarlet and I set out for the sparring classroom. We took our time, so we got there around fifteen minutes before the meeting with Kathyrine.
"Want to spar?" Scarlet asked me. "With like, someone random?"
"Why not," I replied. "Sounds fun." I went over to one of the purple mats and waited. After only a minute, someone came up to the mat.
The woman was short, probably only a few inches over five feet. Her body was very bright and colorful, and I couldn't tell if she was wearing clothes or it was her shell. Whatever it was, it didn't cover the center of her body, leaving the inner parts of her breasts as well as her stomach open. There was something covering her crotch, however.
Her skin was a light blue and her eyes were white with bands in the middle. Her hair was blue at the base but quickly transitioned into yellow and then red. Her arms were covered in colorful armor that had the same color scheme as her hair. They gave off a very insect-like appearance. In addition, sharp claws tipped her surprisingly delicate-looking fingers.
Her body looked like she was wearing a dress, but I suspected it was just armor of some kind. It outlined her quite beautiful figure while also looking deadly. Her legs had three joints with sharp claws at the tips. Her tail was covered in the same armor as her body, with red-and-blue fins along the side. In fact, it almost looked like a shrimp.
Now I realized what she looked like. A mantis shrimp.
I needed to be careful of her punches; I knew how devastating those of a real mantis shrimp were, and that was with a tiny creature without magic.
"My name is Fyxe," The woman informed me. "You?"
"I am Evelyn," I told her. "Good luck."
"You too," Fyxe said.
Then the match began.
Immediately, she shot forward with a punch aimed at my left shoulder. I barely dodged out of the way as the air where I had been standing compressed from the sheer force of the strike.
I swiftly lashed out with my claws, hitting Fyxe's carapace. Damn, it was tough as hell.
Before she could hit me with an attack while I was right in front of her, I dashed backward quickly. I began to circulate my magic around my body, creating a layer of icy protection.
Fyxe's body blurred as she did something new. She suddenly appeared right in front of me, swiping with her leg. The sharp claws ricocheted off the ice I had around me, cracking it. Instead of moving backward to avoid her, I leaped up and flapped to the other side of the mat.
Another few attacks went back and forth between us, with me barely doing anything to her and her attacks grazing me.
Then, while I was dashing around using my [Law] magic to create platforms in the air, Fyxe managed to land a hit directly on my chest. The punch sent me flying backward, out of the ring.
"That's the match," The judge announced. "Fyxe wins."
"That was a good fight," Fyxe said, helping me up. "I've never had that much trouble winning in a while."
"It's my first loss," I told her, smiling. "You were really good."
"Thanks," Fyxe said. "Maybe I'll see you again some time. See ya." She walked away, waving. I went back to Scarlet and saw Kathyrine walking toward me.
"Remember, be nice," I told the tall dragonkin.
"No promises," She said.