Happy New Year, or whatever you guys are gonna celebrate about. It's Jan 5. 2014 for me, so it's about 4 days later than when I should be saying in here, but I may as well say something since I didn't on the actual day. Anyways, you guys know the same drill. Author's note at bottom. Enjoy...

Cecilia was standing with one arm on her hip, waiting for her opponent to appear and start off the round. She sighed as she impatiently waited for whoever it was she was supposed to face off with. Her outfit changed from the clothing she wore to armor that covered her body. The armor consisted of wrist guards, leg guards, a breast plate, shoulder pads, gloves, boots, and a black tight suit. She grew annoyed as her finger started to tap against her armor faster and faster with each passing minute. Eventually, she clenched her hand around her arm and started to bite her lips as she turned to Kurousagi.

"How long do I need to wait for my opponent to appear?"

Kurousagi flinched, doing a complete 180 from her behavior before, as she started to frantically look around for any signs of the representative from [Fores Garo]. Finally, a young girl appeared on stage while hesitantly moving towards the middle.

Her long ocean blue hair flowed as they lightly bounced against her shoulders with each step she took. Her clothing resembled a gang member's clothes, consisting of a black leather jacket, a black shirt, a pair of jeans that had a few tears here and there, and a pair of shoes that appeared to be made of rubber. And yet despite her tough appearance, Cecillia could tell that this girl's personality appeared to be the exact opposite of what she wore. It was a bit tricky to tell. Was this because this girl had a split personality? Maybe it was that she was putting up a tough front to try and hide her insecurities? Either way it didn't really matter at this point. They were here to fight, so whatever she chose to do from here on out didn't concern her.

"Um…" the nervous wreck started to speak. "M-My name i-is Otome S-Sakura…" She bowed repeatedly. "I-It's nice to go, um, well, a-against you…and…uh…..well…what was I supposed to say again?"

"This is my opponent?" Cecilia thought to herself in a somewhat lax mood. She looked closely at Otome's face, trying to check for any signs of a liar or a trickster, but nothing really stood out in her line of sight. Maybe this really was some kind of screw up?

Kurousagi, relieved that someone finally shown up, looked to both contestants and nodded to herself.

"Are the both of you ready?"

Cecilia adjusted her wrist guards and flexed her hands before standing proudly against her opponent, who quickly brought out a small knife and held it in her shaking hands.

"Then let's begin!"

Kurousagi gave the signal before leaping off the stage. Right then, Otome started to just wildly wave her weapon around while running towards Cecilia. The armored mistress just sidestepped away from the weak and obvious attack, and watched as the young girl tripped over herself and fell on her face.

"I almost feel sorry for the poor thing…" She thought to herself as she saw Otome scrambling to get up. Her opponent then started to take a few breaths before rushing over with a bit more control than last time. However the results were the same as Cecilia simply moved away before the girl had noticed the miss and tried to hit the brakes as soon as she could. Despite the serious atmosphere, this didn't seem to be anything more than a simple battle between an adult and a child. Cecilia was starting to feel more like a bully with each struggle, so she decided that it probably would be best to just end things as soon as possible.

"Well this seems like a waste of time…" Kurousagi stated proudly as she crossed her arms while watching along with the rest of her community. "Cecilia-san has this match in the bag if it is against such a weak participant like Otome-san." She glared at Tsuki , who was still clinging onto Izayoi's arm. "Looks like this is going to be an easy win for us, so you may as well get the next representative right now. So if you may…please get away from Izayoi-san!"

However, the young werewolf was still smiling.

" ~~~I don't want to ~~~ "she replied in a very playful voice as she clung tighter to press her chest against the delinquent's arm. Kurousagi's eyes changed to resemble a raging demon, as she gave a small dark laugh. "Besides, it's too early to decide who won just yet!"

"Oh?" the now pink-haired rabbit asked. "So you seem to be underestimating us that much? It's because of mistakes like those that we defeated you last round. And yet, you seem very confident about this representative…"

"Baka-usagi…" Ryo, who was still leaning against the tree, suddenly exclaimed. "It's because you don't think so hard when you need to that things start to suck in the community."

"WHAT?!"

Kurousagi's anger had boiled to the point that smoke seemed to be rising from her mouth and leaking from the edges of her mouth. "And what exactly does Ryo-san mean by that?" she asked as she slowly retrieved her paper fan to deliver "judgement".

"Don't you think it's weird for the community to send someone like that as their representative, out of all the other tough choices there?" He pointed at the crowd as he referred to the various tough-looking figures that they could make out at their distance.

The pink-haired rabbit stopped as her anger changed into concern. There was truth to the newcomer's words, so she decided to give it a bit of thought.

"Could it be….that they want to use their stronger member last?"

"Then why did they send Tsuki in first? You know she was obviously stronger than what we're seeing right now."

"Then…maybe she was the only choice? Maybe a substitute for someone else?"

"Nope, everyone in our guild is accounted for." Tsuki playfully replied. "We aren't taking any chances against any of you."

"Then…I know!" she smacked her hand with the other as she appeared to realize something. "It's because they know how strong we are and they decided to give us a free win!" She placed her hands at her hips while puffing her chest out with pride. However…

"This is why I called you an idiot!" Ryo was suddenly standing while smacking her with another paper fan.

"Ouch!" Kurousagi exclaimed as she held her hands to her head. Ryo was clearly exhuming some frustration of his own, as he seemed to be taking control of the situation that had somehow turned around.

"You really don't seem the think, do you?" He heavily sighed before realizing that he needed to spell things out. "That's a damn facade, a trick, SHE'S PLAYING DUMB!"

"WHA-?!" Kurousagi's ears perked up suddenly the gears started to suddenly click in her brain. Tsuki, who finally released her grasp on Izayoi, was laughing as she watched the [Little Garden] aristocrat stand dumbfounded at what was supposed to be a fairly obvious tactic.

"I-I-I-Is it all…true?" The blue-haired rabbit asked as she slowly turned to the werewolf, who gave an evil smirk while sitting down.

"Yeah, it's all true. This is actually to make sure that her opponent isn't soft-hearted or stupid." She waved her arm lazily as she saw the rabbit on the verge of tears. "Otherwise we would've had someone else take over. After all, we're putting quite a bit on the line, so like I said, we aren't taking any chances…"

Izayoi didn't move, keeping his eyes on the battle instead, as if studying the two participants and trying to predict their moves.

"Hey wolf-girl," Tsuki looked up at the blond-haired boy. "The rules were that this game ends when Kurousagi here makes a call or whether either of them steps out of the ring, right?"

"Yes, that's what was agreed on."

"Then you mind telling me what the reason is for this rule?"

"Eh?" Kurousagi gave a blank stare.

"Well that's because it's supposed to limit the playing field of course…"

"Exactly, you're limiting the playing field, but your abilities seem to be best used without a limit, so it doesn't make sense about why you would make things harder on yourself…"

"Whatever do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb. You know that a battle gets more interesting if you go wild without putting any limit. Putting on a boundary field is only really meant for puzzles or riddles. To put one in a battlefield is like forcing everyone to have a handicap. So why would you need one if you were trying to be serious?"

"Hm hm hm hm… you're not so bad…" Tsuki stood while her hands were folded behind her. "Well there's no point in denying it. Yeah, we actually decided to change things at the last minute per the request of one of our fighters. THAT one specifically." She pointed her thumb at Otome."She insisted in having this boundary thing set up in the first place."

"You mean that coward is really that strong?"

"Well not exactly. Let's just say that she can be quite…persuasive…"

The battle seemed to simply drag on longer and longer. With each passing second, Cecilia started to feel a rising sense of guilt growing inside. This is just a pathetic waste of time anyways, so why bother making herself look worse than she already does? This is all going to just continue on and on until one of them loses, and the crowd is starting to look bored, so if Otome wasn't going to give up, then she may as well. After all, this is a three-win game, and she could just deal with another player after Izayoi takes care of Otome. But she wanted to ask one more time before making the call.

Cecilia stopped and sighed. "Is there any way I can convince you to give up?"

The cowardly girl shrunk back a bit. "N-No…I-I-I-I'm r-r-really sorry…"

"Fine, then I guess I may as well just end this…"

The armored lady started to raise her hand, catching most of the audience's interest. She'll say "I surrender", the battle will end, and then…..then….then…..? She wanted to surrender earlier because…the audience looked bored…no…that can't be right….she didn't…she couldn't care less about how the audience thought…no…she should've just used her [Gift] right then and there, and she'd rather die that let that delinquent bastard take over for her. Why did she even waste time in the first place?

At the last minute, she brought her hand down swiftly, holding it out straight and parallel to the ground towards Otome, who suddenly made a rolling motion.

*PSSHHH*

A small hole appeared in the spot where she was just moments ago, with smoke rising from the darkness, signaling that it was a laser, or something with laser-like properties, that caused the hole on the stage.

"W-What was…" Otome was shivering as she was sitting on her butt with a face that looked like it was on the verge of tears. But this time, Cecilia didn't show any signs of sympathy towards her opponent. She kept her hand facing forward, her eye twitched just slightly as each mysterious attack she launched would just miss Otome, who would somehow escape each hit by rolling around. Eventually Cecilia sighed as she crossed her arms.

"That's not bad. You're doing pretty well for a cowardly fighter."

"T-Thank you…"

"So why don't you start taking things seriously and stop that charade?"

"I…I don't…"

"Enough. You obviously didn't just get by with luck. You know how to read movements and predict my attacks. Also, that 'attacking' from before? You weren't just attacking recklessly, or pathetically. You were testing me…"

"I…I really…"

"I'm not falling for that stupid act anymore. Either give up, or take this more seriously!"

There was a moment of silence. Otome's body was a bit crooked, but her body was positioned in a more upright and straighter pose, like a rag doll that was holding itself up. Neither participant moved an inch before…

"..ha…ha ha…"

Otome's body started to shake a little. As if it were being rattled by an invisible hand.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

The girl, who was timid and shaky just moments ago, had completely changed. She now wore a wide evil smile that resembled those with a deranged mind. Her eyes widened as wide as humanely possible, making them resemble small plates with a tiny black dot in the middle. Her head was slightly cocked to one side, and the knife in her hand had suddenly changed from novice's handle to the method an assassin would.

Cecilia sharpened her eyes with slight disgust as she saw the young girl's drastic change. Otome drew her hands over face to brush through the front of her hair, with her face changing to a calmer look. Her eyes sharpened and her mouth changed from a twisted smile to one that shown indifference. However, the danger that she emitted didn't change one bit.

"You're right, I guess I can finally stop that stupid façade since you found out."

"You seem more straightforward this way."

"Well a girl's gotta have a tough side. Otherwise she can't make it out in the real world…"

"I suppose that's something we can both agree with."

"Oh really? That's interesting…"

"But I have to say that I'm curious about something."

"And what, exactly could that be?"

"What did you do to me?

Otome cocked her head slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Don't act stupid now. I know you did something to me to my mind! So admit it! What on earth did you do?"

"You sure you didn't just feel bad for a pathetic little girl like me?"

Cecilia glared while pointing her finger at Otome.

"Enough! I know you aren't as innocent as I first thought, so there's no holding back anymore for this battle!"

"Fine by me, I was sick of holding myself back anyways…"

Cecilia unfolded her arms and started running towards the trickster, who followed her lead by dashing with her knife pointed towards her. The two of them clashed, meeting eye to eye as Cecilia's armor had negated the sharp weapon that was being used against her. However, Otome didn't even twitch her face, but rather, her confidence was growing even bigger than before. Cecilia gritted her teeth, but her mental state didn't change in the slightest as she gave a small grin. Otome quickly pushed away, dodging the laser by just a few inches. She cautiously looked around for any sign of the source, but she couldn't see anything that could've made that laser shot from before. Just as she turned to watch Cecilia, she felt something in her stomach, forcing her to release a large gasp of air. She staggered slightly as Cecilia quickly moved back a short distance and held her palm out. Otome leapt to the side just in time to dodge what appeared to be a blast of pure light. Her face changed from a serious look into an enlightened one, as if she suddenly figured something out.

But that didn't matter at the moment.

Cecilia dashed towards Otome without any hesitation. Despite her "lady-like" appearance, Cecilia was familiar with close-range combat. Unbeknownst to the other villager in her world, she had been practicing fighting with her ghostly "servants", so she wasn't as helpless as they initially thought. She launched a combination of attacks at the tricky girl.

Left chop, roundhouse kick, punch, backfist, uppercut, elbow strike…

She relentlessly made an attack after another, not even stopping to take a breather. Otome didn't seem to be showing any signs of exhaustion either, dodging each and every one of Cecilia's attacks without a scratch. Neither of them had any intention of letting the other get in a hit, nor did they let anything escape their sight. They kept eyeing each other, as if watching for every muscle movement, every twitch on their face, every slight movement, until they could find an opportunity to strike. The air grew fierce as the crowd, who were once deathly silent, suddenly yelled and cheered at the two competitors and their grand duel.

"Amazing!" Kurousagi exclaimed as she watched intently. "Cecilia-san and Otome-san are equally matched! Neither of them have landed even one hit on the other, even after everything that's happened!"

"No…"

She turned to Izayoi, who was watching with a more serious look on his face.

"The two of them aren't equally matched. The difference between them is actually pretty significant."

"Eh? How can that be? If their attacks are evenly matched, than doesn't that mean that their skill levels are about the same?"

"That could be said in a normal case, but this isn't really a normal case here…"

Ryo raised an eyebrow as he turned to Izayoi.

"Well if you haven't noticed, nothing in this world is exactly 'normal' here…"

"It's not that, I'm talking about the difference in their fighting abilities."

"How so?"

"At first, it looks like the two of them are matched, but the truth is that Otome has the upper hand at the moment because she needs to see more"

"But, it looks like the two of them are just watching the same thing. They're watching each other's movements, and waiting for the right moment to attack."

"Well you're right about that, but that's just too general."

"What is Izayoi-kun trying to say? Kurousagi is just getting more and more confused here…"

Izayoi crossed his arms for a moment as he went into thought.

"How about this, can you tell me what Otome is watching for in Cecilia's attacks?"

"Huh? Um…" Kurousagi started to poke her head to try and stimulate her brain. "Cecilia is attacking with punches and kicks, so…her arms and legs?"

"And? Didn't she use something else in the battle?"

"Something else?" the rabbit-eared girl tried to think back to the whole battle.

"Ah! You're talking about that strange attack?"

"Exactly. That laser-like attack that burned a hole in the arena. Now tell me what Cecilia would need to watch for if Otome was attacking, based on what we know so far."

"Um…Otome would be using a knife, her legs, and her arms as well…"

"Close. Since she's using a knife, all Cecilia needs to watch for are her arms and legs."

"Huh?"

"A knife isn't usually a projectile weapon like a gun. It doesn't drastically affect the distance of attack, it only affects the amount of damage it can cause."

"So then, even if she's using a knife, Cecilia-san only really needs to watch Otome's arms and legs for attack movements?"

"Yeah, so if we compare the number of things Cecilia needs to watch to how many Otome needed to, the difference would be pretty obvious. Otome's had a slight disadvantage from the start because she needed to watch for three different attacks while Cecilia only really needs to watch for two."

"I get it," Ryo interrupts. "So you're saying that if Otome had the same skills as Cecilia, then there would have been a slight delay in reaction time since she needed to be extra cautious."

"Exactly. There's no way to tell when Cecilia would use that technique again, so she needs to be more aware of her surroundings while keeping an eye on Cecilia's attacks. It's like trying to read a book while walking through a busy street. Most people would slow their movements to compensate the extra work in their brain, but Otome seems to be able to do both without any problems. In fact, she's probably just waiting for the right time to counterattack."

"Then…Cecilia-san is losing?"

"No. We still don't know what her [Gift] is yet, so she might be able to make a comeback." Izayoi sharpened his eyes slightly. "The problem is Otome's [Gift]. I'm not exactly sure what it is, but maybe, if my hunch is correct…"

Cecilia continued to launch a flurry of attacks continuously, as she watched each of her opponent's movements. The stress from the extra weight from her armor and the heat accumulating inside, began to take its toll as she felt herself sweat everywhere in her body. However, she didn't mind it at all. She just needed to keep up the pressure on Otome, and sooner or later she'll slip up. That's when she'll deal a heavy blow.

Otome on the other hand, didn't seem to have much trouble keeping with Cecilia's attacks. Every movement that the armored fighter made, she could see a minute away and instinctively react accordingly. She twisted and turned, swiftly avoiding each and every attack with a smile. She still wasn't completely sure about that laser from before. As far as she knew, Cecilia was just biding her time recharging for the next shot, or just waiting for a good time to use it. However, this didn't bother her in the least. No matter what happens, everything was already set into place.

The two of them continued to exchange moves. Every attack that was dealt by Cecilia was dodged by Otome. However, Otome's body must have finally started to give out because she suddenly toppled over and fell on ground, struggling a little bit as she tried to get back up.

"You're done!" Cecilia thought as she held her palm out towards Otome.

AAAnnnnnd... like a jerk, I'm cutting this off right here.

So I was trying to avoid directly stating what each character's [Gift] was until the next chapter. I think this might've been able to be done better, but I think I've held off long enough, so yeah. Let me know what you guys think. Negative reviews are always welcome since it helps to know I suck at. I'm guessing some of you might fine this boring now, or maybe it's the fact that our "Alerts" don't seems to be working. Who knows. But anyways, I've already gotten a couple more chapters written, so I just need to find time to proofread, edit, etc. and I'll get them in when I can. Thanks for reading, and here's to the year 2014.