Sixty-three

Ella approaches me and kneels down next to me. She looks into my eyes and smiles softly. She leans in and kisses me gently on the lips. I feel a surge of warmth and electricity in my body. A magic circle appears above our heads, glowing brightly.

"You're lucky, Jade. Because this is the first time I'm going to use this technique," Ella says, breaking the kiss. She looks at Jade with a confident smile. "This is my true power."

I bowed to Ella, "Mistress, I am at your service. What do you want me to do?"

She smiled wickedly and pointed at Jade, who was standing across the arena. "I want you to beat her. Show her no mercy."

"Yes, Mistress," I replied obediently. I felt a surge of power in my veins as I ran towards Jade, who looked terrified. I was much faster than her, so I easily dodged her feeble attempts to defend herself. I landed a punch on her face, making her stagger back.

"Please, stop, Eloise," she begged. "You don't have to do this. You're not yourself."

I snorted and said, "Sorry for you, but I only obey my master's orders. Anything you say will have no effect on me." I concentrated my magic in my fists, making them glow with a bright light. "Sorry, but it's over for you, Jade."

I approached her with the intention of finishing her off, but something stopped me before I could touch her. A voice in my head, faint but familiar.

"Please, run away. I don't really want to hurt you. Please, run away before she takes control again."

It was the real Eloise.

"What are you doing, Eloise? Why did you protect her?" Yumi asked in Eloise mind, sounding angry and confused.

I tried to ignore her, but Eloise spoke up. "You're not even under her control. You're still obeying her orders. Can I at least know why?"

I hesitated, then said, "I don't really like Jade. I just wanted to hurt her."

Eloise didn't buy it. "Just say that you were obeying Ella's order because she kissed you."

"No, I'm not. I don't know why you're saying that, Eloise," Yumi said, sounding flustered. Eloise noticed that she was a bit red, and laughed at her.

"My little Yumi is in love. Well, do what you want now. I'll let you do what you want."

"Thanks a lot," Yumi said gratefully.

I snapped back to reality, and saw that Jade had recovered from my attack. She glared at me and , "Fine, Eloise. I will fight you. I won't let you hurt anyone else."

I smirked , "That's interesting. Come on, then. I'll wait for you."

She tried to attack me, but I dodged her blow very easily and gave her a kick that made her back away. "You're really annoying. Now it's time to finish you off."

I concentrated a large amount of magic in my fist and then moved forward very quickly. I was about to punch her, when someone jumped out of Jade sword and blocked my attack. It was Eiji, the demon who had fought Alana before.

"Don't worry, Jade. I'll take care of her," he said, pushing me back.

I grinned , "Interesting. After the last time you fought Alana, I always wanted to fight you. Now that I have the chance, I think it's great."

Ella, who was watching from the sidelines, gasped. "What's going on? Where did he come from?"

Jade smiled and said, "Now it's going to be two on two, Ella. So be prepared to lose."

Ella frowned and said, "Interesting. Let the fight start, then."

Eiji attacked me again. He was really fast, but I didn't dodge his blow. I preferred to stop him with one hand. "Is that all you can do? Tell me." A black aura appeared around me, making him flinch.

There was a loud noise, and then the headmaster's voice echoed through the speakers. "The test is over. That's enough fighting."

I sighed and dropped my hand. I looked at Jade and Eiji, who were panting. I smiled and said, "That was fun. Maybe we can do it again sometime."

I looked at the timer on the screen. It showed 30 minutes. That was how long we had been fighting in the arena.

"30 minutes is really fast. I didn't even see the time pass," Ella said, smiling at me. 

"Oh no, our team didn't get even one point," Jade said, sounding disappointed. 

"Our fight is postponed to another time, Eiji," I said, looking at the demon who had saved Jade.

"Yes, we'll see who will win," he said, smirking at me. He went back to his sword, and then all the participants were teleported.

We were back in the auditorium, where the headmaster and his assistant were waiting for us. They had been watching the whole test, and they were going to announce the results.

"It's time to check the results," the headmaster said, looking at the screen.

"In first place, we have Naoka's team with 40 points. Then, in second place, Ella's team with a total of 30 points. Then, in third place, Hiro's team with 10 points. And for the fourth place, we will have to fight, since there are two teams that have zero points. For that, we will give time to both teams, and you will have the choice to choose which of you will fight. You have until 15 o'clock. Well, the rest of you can go back to your activities," the assistant said, reading the scores.

 "It's great, we made it through." Naoto said.

I smiled , "It's mainly thanks to Naoka that we qualified. She got the 40 points."

Naoka,blushed , "But no, I'm sure that if there had been more time, you could have won points."

Naoto nodded , "Yes, that's true. You were amazing, Eloise. You almost beat Jade and Eiji."

I shrugged "Well, I'm going for a walk. We'll see each other later."

Naoka said, "Okay, see you later."

I left the auditorium, and walked around the campus. I wanted to clear my mind, and think about what had happened. 

I didn't understand what Eloise meant. I didn't feel anything for Ella, except friendship and she will be of use for my revenge on Jade. That was all.

" If I had more time, I'm sure I could have beaten Eiji. He doesn't look as powerful as he is." I thought.

I heard someone running behind me, and I turned around. It was Ella, who had followed me.

"Wait for me, please, Eloise," she said, catching up with me.

I stopped , "Oh, what are you doing here?"

She smiled , "I can still see you, can't I?"

I looked away, feeling a blush on my cheeks. I didn't know why, but I felt embarrassed by her presence.

She noticed my reaction, and asked, "What's wrong with you, Eloise?"

 "Nothing, don't worry about it." I said.

She tilted her head , "Is it because of the kiss earlier? Sorry if I kissed you. I didn't really know what to do, and besides, it was the first time I used that technique."

 "Oh, well, I noticed that your technique has a weak point. It doesn't work on demons." I said.

She nodded , "You must be right. Usually, my technique that paralyzes the enemy has always worked. But it didn't on Jade, because she had a demon inside her sword. How did you know that?"

I said, "I could sense the demon's aura, when Jade was enveloped by it. She was able to resist your technique, because of that. I would advise you to work on the body to body technique. It could certainly be useful."

She smiled , "Will you train with me?"

 "Why not? It sounds pretty interesting." I said.

She took my hand and said, "Great. Let's go, then."