A Hard Days Spar (Solo)

Anna was sitting on one knee as she watched the training between six Shinigami commence. She was fiddling with her rings like usual, and her hair, strangely, wasn't covering her face. Her hair was shining brightly in the sunlight, and her bright blue eyes seemed to stand out more than usual. There was a wrapping around her left shoulder due to a wound from a few days before; the wrappings seemed to be new. Anna was smiling as the Shinigami were fighting, and watched two in particular that were only using their Asauchi.

The first one, Edward, was a more aggressive fighter and was trying every possible way to get past the others defence. Edward was a dark-skinned man with short curly black hair and a large build. His eyes were covered by black sunglasses, and he had a beard that faded with his skin. Every time he would take a step his feet would be forced into the ground; often dirt was kicked up from under his feet. He had a long scar along his right arm that was easily visible to anybody whom watched him, and the middle finger of his left hand was missing. Edward also seemed to have a weak right knee because every time he moved it there was a slight balance issue: very slight. His shinigami clothing was torn up in a multitude of places and he had multiple cuts from his current fight, having already defeated one person, that shined with crimson red blood. The second fighter, Larrie, was very defensive and really quick. Larrie was a skinny white male with shoulder length brown hair. His eyes were a dark brown with a hint of orange around it. He had a light step and was good with his sword. He kept bouncing back and forth with his blade; he danced to the rhythm of his opponents sword. There is a cut on his right arm with blood flowing from it, and a slowly flowing river that formed down his arm dripped to the ground. Larrie's clothing was pretty much in wonderful condition.

Larrie was constantly taking steps back as Edward sent flurries of swings towards him. Larrie blocked each with his sword and seemed to be analyzing his opponent quickly. Edward swung down, and his sword was blocked easily. He took a step forward and swung to Larrie's right, stumbling slightly on his right leg. This gave Larrie an idea, and as he blocked the attack to his right he kicked his foot forwards at Edward. The strategic move was successful as Edward fell backwards; his sword fell out of his hand when he hit the ground. Edward went to get his sword. Larrie lifted his hand towards the sword and energy built.

"Hado #1: Shō!" said Larrie, and the sword was pushed away from Edward. Edward looked back at Larrie and a sword was pointing towards his neck. Larrie defeated him at this point and Edward knew it. Larrie turned around, and his eyes went wide as one person was left, and that one person was charging a Kido spell. He rushed towards the male with short dirty blonde hair and dark blue eyes. This was Jacob, and Jacob looked to be young. He was very quick and good with Kido, from Anna's knowledge, but wasn't really good at melee or power. He was short and had pale skin, his clothing untouched and no wounds to be seen on him. His achievement was that he took down two people by watching for their weakness, seeing as they were mainly trying to win mainly by strength and not intelligence. The teacher was strict about whether or not somebody was defeated, giving extra training to those who did not pass. If they could still fight, then they weren't defeated. If they were put on the ground with a sword put near a fatal point, then they have been defeated. If they are able to defend themselves and continue fighting, then they were not defeated. Larrie was now near Jacob, and swung at him as Jacob extended his arm outwards.

"Hado #9: Hōrin!" Jacob says and out comes a tendril of orange energy that wraps and traps Larrie. He then sticks his blade to Larrie's throat. This was a sign of defeat, and Anna smiled. Their teacher clapped. He was a strange person. Long brown hair, red eyes, and a short stocky build. He signals for them to get out of the battle area, and then takes out a list. She covered her face with her hair.

"Next people to fight are Anna, Jack, Felix, Evpraksia, Nina, and Carlos. Form a circle, draw your sword, and then fight." said the teacher. This was his strange way to train them. He wanted them to have to expect when somebody is going to make the first move. This could be any time; it could be from any person. With this known she walked and formed the end of the circle. She drew her sword with speed, expecting somebody to charge and not wanting to be taken by surprise. As she expected somebody was already swinging her way. She stepped to the side, unable to see what this person looked like through the rush of her hair. The person was fast though. They recovered about a second later and swung up, the light from the sun reflecting through her hair and into her eyes. She used this and the sound of footsteps to help her block the swing. After swinging her hair out of her face, she noticed that it was a female. They were quick, but Anna was able to keep up. As Anna blocked a swing at her diagonal left, she quickly got an overview of the person she was fighting. It was a teen girl with black hair and white eyes, possible blindness, that seemed to be looking at nothing in particular. She had light skin and her shinigami robes were rather torn up near the feet. Anna blocked another swing, this time from her lower right.

"What's your name?" Anna asked, and the girl didn't reply, but instead looked directly at where the voice came from and swung the flat of her blade at where Anna's neck would be. Luckily, Anna expected this and ducked, making sure not to make a noise, whilst tapping the ground to the right of her opponent with her sword. The girl reacted quickly and swung at the air where she heard the sound come from. Upon hitting nothing she loses balance and falls to the floor. Anna put the blade at the girls throat, turning around.

"Evpraksia." said the girl with a heavy Russian accent. She sighed and dropped her sword. "Good win." she said after moving Anna's sword away. Anna turned to the other four whom were fighting; she didn't care to look at them for long and started to say her incantation. Her target, from what she saw, had a muscular build with short brown hair and looked to be thirty or forty. His eyes were brown and his skin was about the same color, if not a bit darker. He had many cuts on him, his clothing torn quite a bit, but hadn't given up with his fight still.

"The fires of hell, a scrap of your power, another damned soul." Anna whispered, her energy building. She looked back up with a smile, getting ready to use the Kido. A moment later, she remembered her targets name: Carlos. Carlos pushed back his opponent, a black haired man with blue eyes and a short stubble for a beard. This could've been either Jack or Felix, and Anna took a guess as to it being Felix. Felix was swung his blade quickly at Carlos and was countered easily with a block. Whem Carlos blocked, he slid his sword down the inside flat of Felix's blade, hitting the guard with a great amount of force. This knocks him Felix off balance for a second, and Carlos punches him in the face. Felix fell down, knocked out from the force of the punch, and was declared at a loss.

"Good fight, Felix." said Carlos, and this confirmed to Anna his name. Carlos saw the other two fighting, and started walking there way. For now, Anna wouldn't pay attention to them. Instead she picked up some dirt and quickly ran up behind Carlos, the sound of her feet alerting him, and punched at where his chest would be.

"Hado #5: Kakyuu!" she shouted, and a ball of purple fire embraced her hand. It shined brightly and created a good deal of heat. As she did this she threw that dirt at his face; the dirt started to burn his eyes. The punch made contact and the ball of fire hit him with force, knocking him back several steps, while she rushed forwards and stabbed towards the left of his throat.

"Hado #4: Byakurai!" is all she heard before her sword arm was struck by the spell. Her sword came falling out of her hand as she was now unable to control her right arm. Carlos swung at the wound on her arm, but Anna ducked underneath the blade. She saw her blade only seven feet away. It was stuck into the ground just barely. Anna made a run for it, only to have her right arm grabbed by Carlos. Anna swung around and punched at his throat. She made contact and was let go of; Carlos had to recover from that simple yet dangerous punch. Anna rushed to her sword, and went to grab it.

"Hado #1: Sho!" was said by the voice of a female and Anna's sword lifted out of the ground and away from her. She didn't dare turn back to look, and kept after the sword. She grabbed it and spun around. Seeing as there was only one female fighter left for her to defeat, she knew her name: Nina. Nina has red hair that is shoulder length, and brown eyes. She was thin and tall, barely any cuts on her from her previous fight. Anna looked at Carlos, and then she looked at Nina. They were ignoring each-other at that time and were focusing on Anna, whom had an arm that wasn't functioning.

"So what's going to happen? Are you going to team up against me?" she asked them. She steadily walked backwards and was awaiting the two of them to rush at her. They were waiting for something, and that was strange. Why would they wait? Anna stopped moving, her foot a bit behind her to give her a stronger hold on her ground. Nina moved first, rushing forward and swinging at Anna's top left. Anna quickly forced her blade under, pushing it over head and to the right of her. This was simply done by using the momentum of the already moving blade and giving it a nudge upwards. Nina would now find a blade about three inches from her eye. She quickly lifted her hand and slapped the blade away.

"You're annoying me quite a bit, weakling." said Nina, and Anna simply kicked forwards at her, hitting her in the stomach. Carlos then came from behind her with a swing towards her arm wielding the sword. Anna ducked and before she could turn and swing at Carlos, she was knocked forward by a hard punch to the back.

"You're too fast, so I had to get you in a position where you couldn't dodge." Carlos said, and he was just about to lift his blade and put it to Anna's throat when she pushed herself into a spin and into Carlos. He swiftly stepped back in confusion, and was surprised to find his blade locked with Anna's. She liked taking risks, and that was a big one.

"You're too slow." she said and she kicked him in his stomach too, knocking him back slightly. She then spun around and side stepped Nina's swing downwards. Her plans were strategic, this is true, and Carlos was now down on the ground due to Nina's swing across his chest. Carlos dropped his blade and fell backwards, signifying that he gave up. This shocked Nina for a second, for she didn't want to do this. Whenever she came back to reality Anna had her blade held at Nina's throat.

"Good fight." Anna said, and Nina just shrugged her away. This angered Anna greatly, but she ignored it as she walked away, knowing that she was free to do what she wanted now that her battle was done. She decided to go and get herself healed. As she was walking away she noticed that the blind girl was following her. Interesting, she was a good fighter. Anna couldn't exactly remember her name, but when she turned towards the girl, they seemed to have left already. Had she just imagined it?