Chapter 191 - Oli vs Jonon, Round 2

Pacing back and forth, Jonon was more impatient than ever. His typical calmness was gone and nowhere to be found. He walked back and forth within the confines of his large classroom building. 

"Why are you nervous?"

"I'm not nervous, I'm excited!" laughed Jonon. "But what's taking Pops so long…"

"We'll just have to wait a bit longer than expected. What's the big deal, Jonon?" joked Keldon.

Not far from those two were Oli and Vloz, both seated and patiently waiting. Vloz chuckled at the banter between the enthusiastic swordsman and the curious merchant while Oli had closed his eyes to mentally prepare. "Just relax and let go. Right now is your chance to best test your capabilities before the competition, so make the most of it."

"Thanks, Uncle Vloz."

"You know, you could just call me 'uncle'…"

Chuckling and loosening up a little more, Oli rephrased, "Thanks, Uncle."

"I've had to wait an entire sun for this, but he can't even show up on time? Where's the justice in that?" sighed Jonon.

Keldon laughed and blinked in surprise. "You're really worked up about this… What's gotten into you?"

"Do you know how long it's been since I've had a good sparring match? My brief fight with Mertin doesn't count, not compared to the chance to test new skills and experiment against a new, capable opponent."

"Is that why you refused to ask about Oliver's dark essence?"

"What's better, hearing about his skills or experiencing them first-hand?" Jonon argued with a smile. "I'd rather learn from them, not learn about them. Maybe I'll figure out something to help me progress!"

"You're just excited to test your updated technique."

"And what's wrong with that?!"

Laughing more, Keldon backed off slightly. "Nothing… It's just rare to see you acting so childish. The last time I saw you like this was graduation back in the institute."

"True… But only because you haven't seen my private matches with Lyle, at least before his incident…" commented Jonon, shaking his head to refocus on the moment at hand. "But what's taking him--"

"If you only talk about my return, then I'm bound to return either sooner or later than expected."

"Finally, what took you so long?!" Jonon shouted as Hurman closed the sliding door behind him. "You said--"

"Lizbeth is in charge of the tournament this year and she had some questions for me."

"Oh? Don't tell me your old heart started beating again?" Jonon suddenly joked.

Shaking his head resolutely, Hurman stated, "Of course not. But it seems that they already know about our financial situation regarding Libarn. Rhyner even wrote me a letter to make sure I sat down with her."

"So you have the territory leader playing matchmaker while handling territory business? Now that's what I call multitasking."

"Not you too…" groaned Hurman, glaring at Keldon. "Despite any past relationship that Lizbeth and I had, we talked strictly of only our situation with the Libarn Guild. Unless you want me to start rambling and keep you from fighting any longer, then--"

"Right!" Jonon shouted, looking to the tranquil, brawny young man beside the massive leopard. "We can finally start! Are you ready Oliver?"

Taking in one last deep breath, Oli got to his feet and grinned. "I sure am."

Vloz got up as well, already walking to the side of the room. "I assume we can just watch from the side instead of using the window?"

"That's fine," replied Hurman, happy to join the perennial leopard. As Keldon reached the side and both combatants readied themselves more than five krin apart, Hurman extended his arm to the ceiling. "Are you both ready?"

"Yes!" Jonon eagerly stated.

Oli nodded as well. "Yes."

"Begin!"

Essence burst from each of the men. Earth and water essence danced around Jonon, with earth essence generally swirling around his vital areas while water danced around his two blue blades. At first, only earth essence appeared around Oli, but that changed the moment Jonon lunged forward. The image of Oli vanished and left behind only a shadow for that split second. 

"Now you're serious!" Jonon chuckled, turning to the side and firmly planting his feet. He blocked at his side as a hammer made of earth essence suddenly appeared. The experienced swordsman parried the blow and lashed out with his second sword, connecting with the young man that had seemingly appeared from out of nowhere. "You'll have to try harder than that while I'm serious…"

But Jonon wasn't surprised to see Oli fading out of existence.

"Oh, an illusion? Not bad!"

Jonon lunged again, this time in a new direction entirely. But Jonon was right on the mark as his sword attacks were halted by dual hammers and a reappearing Oli.

"You can sense my earth essence, right?"

"So you knew? Then we try to hide?" chuckled Jonon.

Oli chuckled as well, reasoning, "Well, what better time to test myself and see if I can figure out a way to hide."

"Fair… Then allow me to experiment as well!"

The energy around Jonon's halted swords changed. The sharp, icy essence changed to swirling bits of frost that chipped away at Oli's essence hammers.

But Oli stood firm. He refused to back down so easily. Suddenly, more earth essence fell over Oli and took the form of a gorilla nearly three krin tall. With extended reach and increased power, Oli pushed the swords aside and took a more offensive approach.

Jonon wasn't surprised but his smile grew slightly wider. "Is that the gorilla armor the kids were talking about? I like it a lot…"

"It's quite beastly… more so than I was expecting," commented Hurman.

Vloz softly mentioned with a smile, "Likely because of his bloodline and his peak affinity."

"Oli has peak affinity?!" Hurman questioned loudly. Both he and Keldon were startled to hear such news.

"Well, beasts naturally have better affinity than the average human. Though I will agree that it's beyond rare for Oli to have peak affinity for both earth and dark essence."