Friendship Ritual

In the duel area of the Hero Department's training field, Miss Bahraeel and I were preparing for our duel. We faced each other from a few meters apart, taking our stances with our spears. This development was beyond my expectations. I had to prove myself to take advantage of Miss Bahraeel and to build a closer relationship with her. Not just an ordinary acquaintance. Although this was unexpected, I somewhat liked the turn of events.

"Let's begin, Miss Bahraeel." I said calmly.

Miss Bahraeel responded with a slight nod and a serious look.

I decided to start normally with my physical strength without using Arkium. I advanced first and lunged at Miss Bahraeel with the practice spear. My speed was fast enough to reach her in less than a second.

Miss Bahraeel, still maintaining her serious expression, dodged and shifted her body to the right, then parried my spear. My first attack failed. But I didn't stop there; I halted and attacked again by spinning my body and swinging my spear to the left to slash at Miss Bahraeel. Yet again, she easily parried it.

From here, I launched a series of intense attacks. I was on the offensive while Miss Bahraeel was on the defensive. I kept charging forward and attacking, while Miss Bahraeel parried and dodged, slowly stepping back. We maintained our distance due to the long reach of our spears.

Her expression remained calm and focused. So did mine; I could only stay calm and avoid being careless. At least, that was my belief.

However, after a while of intense thrusts and slashes, Miss Bahraeel found an opening and parried. This time, she parried with great force, knocking my spear off its attack trajectory but still in my grasp. This disturbed my balance. Seeing this, Miss Bahraeel launched a powerful attack.

Her spear slashed from the right towards my head. With quick reflexes, I dodged the attack by stepping back slightly.

'That attack was fast!' I thought.

Not wasting the opportunity, Miss Bahraeel quickly advanced with the tip of her spear aimed at my left chest. I could only release my left hand from the spear's handle and grab Miss Bahraeel's spear handle to prevent it from hitting my chest. With that momentum, I was pushed back by Miss Bahraeel's strength while holding her spear's handle. At that moment, Miss Bahraeel held her spear with her right hand while pushing me back, then quickly advanced towards me while adjusting her grip. With this, Miss Bahraeel could still push her spear that I was holding, preventing me from moving my left hand.

I thrust my spear with my right hand intending to block Miss Bahraeel's path. But with her quick reflexes, she easily dodged and her left fist shot towards my stomach.

I quickly adjusted my body and made a small leap. My left leg lifted, and I used the sole of my left foot to block her punch. Miss Bahraeel's punch was quite strong. Using that momentum, I used Miss Bahraeel's punch as a stepping stone to distance myself. I jumped back to create space.

I could see Miss Bahraeel smiling. Without waiting for me to be ready, Miss Bahraeel once again charged at me very quickly. It seemed she decided to exert her full physical strength. Her spear also thrust very quickly. Realizing Miss Bahraeel's increased strength, I also exerted all my physical strength. I managed to position my body and parry her attack to the left. While being pushed back, I parried several of Miss Bahraeel's series of attacks. Then, with great strength, I parried her attack, knocking her spear to the right.

A grin formed on my face. Mimicking Miss Bahraeel's next move, I also thrust my spear at her chest. But not at her left chest, but her right, her dominant side. It was too fast for Miss Bahraeel to dodge. She mimicked my previous move, gripping my spear handle with her left hand as its blunt end aimed at her right chest. Miss Bahraeel's body was pushed back, and I quickly charged at her.

My punch aimed at her stomach was blocked with her right foot. To prevent Miss Bahraeel from using this momentum to distance herself from me, I quickly released my left hand's grip on my spear and used it to punch the left side of Miss Bahraeel's head. I used a bit of Arkium. This punch moved quickly and with great force. It could possibly kill someone, but I wasn't too worried.

'You can't dodge this.' I thought.

And sure enough, Miss Bahraeel did not dodge and took my punch to her head. Her grip on my spear loosened and she was thrown to the side. I saw her roll a few times before stopping using her spear's end planted in the ground, her body in a crouched position. Her expression looked very calm. At that moment, I noticed a thin red layer covering her entire body.

'As expected, she used mana to protect her head from my punch.' I thought.

I pointed my spear at the crouched Miss Bahraeel while standing upright.

"I win, don't I?" I spoke firmly with a victorious smile.

Miss Bahraeel was silent for a moment then stood up. She then dusted off her dirty clothes and looked at me with a smile.

"Well, I didn't expect your physical strength to be this great, Young Master Vallois." Miss Bahraeel replied in a soothing voice.

She then took a deep breath and exhaled before saying, "Yes, I acknowledge your victory. You are quite strong, Young Master."

"You can call me Edward, Miss Bahraeel." I replied.

"And you, don't call me without Miss in it. Call me whatever you want." Miss Bahraeel answered while resting her spear on her shoulder.

I turned away, "Heheh. Ishma then."

"Where are you going, Edward?" Ishma asked casually from behind me.

I stopped walking and then turned and glanced at Ishma. "Hm? Going home?"

"You have to take responsibility, you know?" Ishma said with more red aura emanating from her body.

I turned to face Ishma again.

"I'm all fired up now. Isn't it a shame to stop here?" Ishma said provocatively.

I could see her red aura thickening. She then took a fighting stance.

"Hmmm, I guess you're right." I replied calmly and discarded my practice spear.

I took my stance. My right hand clenched in front and my body turned to the left. I used the Gallean Stance to maximize my use of Arkium. Smoke billowed from my body. I also formed simple gauntlets using my skill, Quantumorph Artisan.

As my gauntlets emerged from my skin, Ishma commented while still in her stance, "Interesting skill."

Ishma spoke so softly it could only be heard if using mana.

'Does she think this is my trump card? Well, thanks.' I thought.

"Not worthy to showing off." I replied.

Considering whether something I revealed was a secret, Ishma could immediately tell that what I used was a skill. She didn't guess or ask if what appeared from my hand was an artifact or a weapon taken from a storage ring. As expected from an Identification Eye user.

"It seems you're more comfortable with your fists?" Ishma said.

"Yeah, I guess." I replied.

Ishma then took a deep breath and exhaled while closing her eyes.

"I will attack with the intent to kill, so be prepared." Ishma opened her eyes and disappeared.

'No, you'll break the academy's rules. But... well, I don't care.' I thought.

In an instant, Ishma was in front of me with her spear aimed at my neck. I was ready and had predicted this. My arms crossed to block Ishma's thrust.

*Klang~~*

"Is this fight some kind of, friendship ritual?" I asked in a joking tone. Ishma didn't answer and just smiled. Well, you smiled a lot today.

The loud clash of metal sounded sharply. The force was so strong that it pushed me far back. With her powerful opening attack, Ishma continued to attack intensely. Thrusts and slashes, pushing me continuously backward. The intensity of her attacks was stronger and faster than when she wasn't using mana.

Unable to let this go on any longer, I braced my right foot back and struck the bottom of her spear with my left palm. Using that momentum, I surged forward with Mach Momentum Dash and launched an Arkium Shock with my right palm directly to Ishma's solar plexus.

When my punch landed, the red layer thickened where I struck. It was like a Mana Shield but more minimalistic. More like concentrating mana in one spot to strengthen defense. It seemed to require high mana control. Realizing this, I launched another Arkium Shock, sending a powerful shockwave from my right hand that was already touching her solar plexus.

Ishma was knocked back but not thrown off. Her feet held and skidded on the ground. Then, quickly, Ishma spun her body to the right and slashed her spear at my shin. As a precaution, I jumped and slightly spread my legs. But while I was still in the air, Ishma managed to close in on me and slashed her spear upward. Her target was the area between my spread legs, my groin.

I could see Ishma's sly smile from the air. Reflexively, I shouted, "Hey!!"

"Sorry." Ishma said softly.