Art of Battle

Out of all the students there, General Fulcan had selected Jack. It came as a surprise to the others but General Fulcan selected Jack cause he watched the clip of his fight with Jonathan and found it strange Jack fought a D_level talent rank master wielding a basic-tier armor.

Having no good excuse to refuse, Jack walked up onto the platform.

"Hey did that master not get a beat down from Nathaniel?" A master asked.

"I think so. though Nathaniel used that armor."

Jack and General Fulcan were standing at opposite ends of the platform. "Now for this session I would like you all to not use your talent, later on, we will try to learn how to combine your talent with combat skill to make more of an impact but for now forget about it," General Fulcan explained as he looked at Jack. "Okay, when you are ready I want you to come at me with the determination to kill."

The fight had started and while General Fulcan didn't move at all, Jack started to throw punches randomly which General Fulcan avoided easily.

Jack threw out a punch fast, some how not being able to land a punch was slowly filing him with anger.

However, General Fulcan was able to move his head to avoid it—Jack then changed his fist and went to grab General Fulcan instead, But that was a mistake, General Fulcan had already pivoted on his foot and went for a spin—while doing so he went 540 degree and whipped his leg on Jack's head.

The force was strong and sent Jack crashing into the built-in platform barrier before falling to the ground.

"Again!" General Fulcan said.

Although the force was strong enough to cause a master some lethal damage it didn't do much damage to a body like Jack's which General Fulcan did not fail to notice. Jack tried attacking again throwing punches of his own, but every time his attacks would come close, General Fulcan would move slightly or deflect the strikes with his hands, elbow and knees. then when he was attacking he would use his legs.

The confrontation lasted about three minutes before General Fulcan finally changed his defencive art into offence, Jack was getting hit every second he started to get worn out by the whole thing.

General Fulcan stomp kicked Jack and was able to follow up while Jack was mid air with a punch to the face.

Jack felt his nose break as he crashed forcefully into the barrier for the second time.

Okay, that's enough," General Fulcan said.

Jack pulled himself up, he was covered in his blood and was now huffing and panting but he assumed a battle stance.

[ Battle art: Stargazer art of truth activated ]

General Fulcan shook his head. " The battle ended when you fell to the ground, your fate in the hands of the opposition."

"What you have just witnessed is the battle art we expect all masters to learn. It is named the Basic battle arts. A mixture of old world arts amongst other things with the hands, we are predictable and that should be used for defence accompanied by the elbows and knees but with our legs we are unpredictable that serve as a good offensive weapon."

General Fulcan then started to look at the crowd of masters again. "Is there anyone here who would like to have a go? This is your chance to have a one on one battle with a master academy general."

Most of the masters were nervous. They didn't have much hand to hand combat experience and General Fulcan had just battered Jack.

Out of all the students there, a single person had her hand raised. "I wouldn't mind having a little fun." A master announced in such alluring voice that most masters felt their heart skip a beat.

When She came into view, Jack was surprised to see who it was. 'Just what is she thinking?' General Fulcan doesn't discriminate she would be beaten just the same as him.' Jack thought.

"Come over to the platform," General Fulcan said with a smile.

Tying her blonde hair into a bun and taking a look at Jack, She had a big smile on her face.

"Bring it on."

********************

The lady looked around the room and spotted Celine, she was standing close to Jack checking his wounds with obvious worry on her face.

" That's the human she bonded with at least he is cute, But how?".

The group caught the lady looking over in their direction, then next thing they noticed was a cheesy wink with a smile.

She looked so cute that it made Jack smile but it was abruptly cut off as he felt a blow on his left ribs.

"Argh"

He stared at Celine, she looked away and didn't say anything.

Now General Fulcan and the lady were up on the platform and even Jack was a little curious to see the outcome of the match... she's a B_level talent rank master.

" What's your name master"

She smiled. " Celesta "

General Fulcan got into the same fighting stance as before and moved his fingers, telling Celesta to come forward. Unlike Jack, Celesta didn't rush ahead and calmly walked over. Then when they were close enough she got into a fighting stance of her own.

Jack face palmed himself. "I should have activated my battle art first not like that would change anything but I should have fared better." Jack thought.

Celesta was the first to strike; she came in throwing her fists in quick succession, two to the head and then another to the body. However, just like before, by using his hands, elbows and knees General Fulcan was able to knock them away.

" Why did she have such strong punch?... Just like Jack she is also strange.' Fulcan thought.

'He could block them!' Celesta thought. 'That's impressive I pulled back a lot on my speed, I was sure from watching the match earlier this would be fast enough.'

After blocking the attacks, General Fulcan followed, rotating his body while extending the leg horizontally to strike her torso.

Seeing this, Celesta jumped Back and spun while redialing her knee towards his throat but at the last second it seemed like the angle had changed causing Celesta to miss.

Then while bringing his leg back, he was able to catch Celesta on the head with the heel of his foot but at the last second she spun and went for an uppercut. "He barely managed to dodge but he noticed something... her speed, she is constantly increasing her speed but it is not an ability, if it was the platform would have turned red which indicates the breach of a set rule.

Celesta went in started throwing punches rapidly only this time, in the same amount of time she had thrown more, she was faster. General Fulcan was able to block the first three and the second two but the last one was a carefully perpetuated feint and had gotten in and hit him in the stomach. He felt the powerful blow that had the weight of a hammer but didn't let it distract throwing out his own sequence of kicks.

The fight now continued with no breaks in between, but this time Celesta have forced General Fulcan to use a defensive battle art, he focused using legs to attack and his hands, elbows and knees to block but another punch went through hitting his right ribs.

"How is this possible" General Fulcan thought.

As the fight continued, Celesta got more excited, and she started putting more power into her punches. It got to the point where it was power close to that of a saint rank human, one rank above a master which doesn't make any sense.

General Fulcan felt like he had allowed the fight to go on for too long and he could not concentrate due to the abnormalities of the masters and he did the one thing he never thought he would do in a battle against a master... he cheated... he turned off the sensor of the platform and used body enhancement.

Then, when General Fulcan prepared for a kick, he was able to predict where Celesta was planning to dodge. Using his other foot, he performed a 360 degree uppercut knee kick. It landed right under Celesta's neck, but General Fulcan didn't stop there since he knew the damage was minuscule. He continued to kick in rapid successions.

"His kicks they are stronger than before." Celesta thought.

When the kicks stopped for a breath of a second, Celesta thought she had finally gotten a break, but when she saw General Fulcan moving towards her she took a stance and was ready for another kick, General Fulcan performed a feint kick before punching her right in the face. The blow was harder than celesta thought it would be so she was unable to prepare herself in time, her legs gave in and she was sent flying, she tore through the platform barrier and crashed into a wall.

Did General Fulcan just kill her?" A master said.

"Isn't that going too far for a simple master?"

Before General Fulcan himself had realised it, he had been too consumed by his past memories and possibilities of her being a cross breed, it had affected his usual clear mind. However, he knew the student was still alive since he opened the academy server to check.... All Generals of the masters academy have this server.

Celesta slowly started to get up, pushing her body up with her arms, she's fine and nothing like a master who fought a General except for the dust.

Unfortunately, I didn't expect to meet such a skilled master that I seemed to have taken the fight a little too seriously," General Fulcan said. "Just think that you were lucky. If I was fighting at full strength you would have died."

" The clip of the both battles have been recorded and sent to you academy digital watch I want all masters who wish to learn to perfect the basic battle art in a week."

General Fulcan got off the platform and left the class, it was strange for the masters cause General Fulcan never leaves until the bell rings signifying the end of the class.