Chapter 12

POV Velariel

I was with Logan in the training field.

"Well, kid, I have no doubt you've improved all this time, but you can still get better... so come at me with everything."

As my teacher asked, I threw myself at him with full force. I started with a high kick, which he blocked with his forearm, but I followed up with a tail strike that hit him in the solar plexus, causing him to back up a bit, though not much. He countered with a punch to my face, which I dodged by moving my head, but then he did something unexpected.

When his hand was behind my head, he grabbed it and kneed me right in the forehead. Fortunately, I have my gem there, so it softened the blow. In retaliation, I sprayed acid from my tail, making him back away to avoid it, creating some distance between us.

"Did I do something to upset you?" I asked, a bit shaken by his more brutal approach than usual.

"Kid, it's not that I enjoy hitting you or anything like that, but you're entering the big leagues now, where they won't show mercy just because you're a kid... so the real training starts now." With that, he unsheathed his claws.

Seeing my teacher getting serious, I knew I had to do the same, so I summoned two kagune from each side. Before he could react, I bombarded him with the leaves of my branches while I backed away.

POV Narrator

Seeing his student keep her distance and attack from afar, Logan nodded internally. He knew his main weakness was long-range combat, something his student also understood after more than two years of training. However, a veteran fighter like Logan always had a countermeasure for this.

Logan ducked to avoid the crystals, grabbed a rock, and, as he stood up, threw it at Velariel's leg, making her lose balance. She didn't fall, but she had to stop, which was enough for Logan.

The teacher lunged at his student, arms extended, trying to stab her. She defended herself with petals that, though pierced by Logan's claws, still prevented Velariel from getting hurt. She counterattacked with her two scorpion tails from both sides, attempting to stab her teacher.

To her surprise, she succeeded, shocked to feel her tails pierce her teacher's stomach—a mistake he quickly exploited, slashing through the petals and leaving three large claw wounds on her chest.

Logan stepped back three paces, giving his student time to process what had happened. He had also remembered that the girl's blood was acidic, so he had to avoid it.

Velariel ran her hands over her chest, causing the black blood pouring from her wounds to stick to her fingers while the spilled blood burned the grass beneath her.

After more than half a minute, Logan wondered if he had pushed her too hard and was about to stop the training... until he had to dodge a sphere of black energy with purple sparks aimed at him.

Looking ahead, he barely avoided the claws of Velariel's right hand, now clad in her Kakuja armor.

POV Logan

Seeing the girl in that armor reminded me of what Beast had said about it—that it was something complementary to the girl's back tentacles, a type of evolution or something like that. I don't know; I'm no scientist.

But I do remember two things: apart from an obvious increase in defense, the armor also enhances her strength and speed. Additionally, she can now make the crystals she shoots explode, like the ones she's firing at me right now.

If the first time she bombarded me felt like a hail of bullets, now it's a storm of explosive bullets that not only fires faster but also... explodes.

One of these explosions sent me flying a few meters, and as I tried to get up, I felt a hard kick to my ribs that sent me airborne again.

"In moments like this, I'm glad I have a reinforced skeleton."

I rolled to avoid one of the girl's tentacles aimed at my head, got up as quickly as I could, and even then, the girl sunk her claws into my right shoulder.

I grunted in pain and responded by sinking my claws into her abdomen. For a moment, I thought I had messed up in multiple ways, but to my relief and concern, the girl responded by stabbing her two centipede-shaped tentacles into my stomach... again.

In response, I withdrew my claws and stabbed them into her stomach, to which she responded with a growl of pain, digging her claws and tentacles in deeper, and biting my neck with her second jaw.

I think if it weren't for my reinforced skeleton, she would have torn my head off. When I thought... maybe this had gone too far and I wondered how to get the girl off me, the kid raised her other arm, which held a sphere of black energy with purple parts.

"Oh shit," I could only murmur before someone shouted.

"ENOUGH!"

And everything went black.

POV Velariel

When I woke up, I found myself on a bed in the medical room. Everything was blurry, but I could make out Professor Ororo, who seemed to be yelling at Master Logan while he stood with his head down, and Professor Xavier was behind her, silent but with a serious expression.

As I began to see more clearly and hear some sounds, the professor turned her head toward me. I saw her say something, but I couldn't understand her words. However, it made Professor Ororo stop yelling at the teacher, and both of them looked at me.

Professor Ororo approached me and began stroking my head, saying something I couldn't quite understand. At some point, Dr. McCoy entered the room, placed his hand on her shoulder, and seemed to calm her, though she still looked anxious.

Eventually, I started to hear better, and as best as I could, I asked:

"W-What happened?"

I tried to sit up, but Dr. McCoy stopped me.

"Take it easy, little one."

"Though, to answer your question… SOMEONE!... went too far with the training," said Professor Ororo, glancing at Logan, who only looked away with a look I couldn't identify.

"By the way, dear, do you remember what happened?" asked the professor.

"I was... I was training with Master Logan and... he cut me on the chest. I remember looking at my blood, and then... nothing."

"Hmm, just as I thought," Dr. McCoy said. "This training seems to have triggered a type of survival instinct in Velariel, which led to her violent response."

"Instinct?"

"Yes, like the animal response when feeling in danger that activates the instinct to fight or flee. In your case, it seems there's only room for fighting. I suppose the training in the Danger Room never seemed dangerous enough to trigger this..." he murmured the last part, but we all heard it.

"And that's why Logan acted the way he did sigh, the kid didn't leave him much choice," said Professor Xavier.

"Yes, but that's not enough excuse to hurt a student!" Professor Ororo said.

And after that, there were several hours of yelling at Master Logan.

First of all, thank you for reading this chapter. The first-person perspective at the beginning was due to a mistake on my part, but I liked it, so I decided to keep it and add more. Let me know if you'd like to see more of it in the future.

Also, tell me what you thought of the fight. Personally, I think it's the best one I've written so far.

Here are the new abilities for the two classes that I forgot to include in the previous chapter:

Hide: helps with concealment.

Reduce Presence: lowers the user's presence.

Obfuscation: makes the user stand out less overall.

Shadow Protection: helps the user blend better in darkness.

Basic Chaos Control: allows basic control of chaos energy produced by the user.

Paranormal Sense: allows detection of magical activity.

Mental Resistance: provides resistance against mind reading and mental attacks.