Chapter 12 - The Final Training Combat

The two simultaneously exchanged blows. Claire was gritting her teeth while Zahi enjoyed every second of it. It pissed Claire that Zahi's not affected by the attacks she inflicted, though Zahi was just used to pain.

"Shifter Katana!" She almost slashed through Zahi's face as she made a forceful kick, but he dodged and grabbed on her right leg and threw her away.

Claire landed on all fours, refusing to fall down from his throw. Before she can make another attack, Zahi was already closing their distance and threw several knives at her. "Shifter Spring!" She jumps to the right, avoiding all those knives.

Zahi anticipated her move and headed straight to her. Before he can even grab her, Claire swiftly transformed her shifter into a spear that almost stabbed through Zahi's left shoulder. He slides himself to the right and leaps back. "It's getting difficult to pin you down."

"That's good news!" She stands up to a kicking stance while her shifter transformed into a shotgun. She strikes her shifter at Zahi on every kick she made, making him run around to avoid her attacks.

This made Zahi sort into using his gun. There were 4 second intervals between Claire's kicks, giving him a short time to aim back at Claire. When he got an opening, they both fired in unison causing Claire's energy munition and Zahi's bullet to collide.

"What!?" It surprised Claire to see Zahi use a gun for the first time. She shifted her stance, becoming more cautious now that Zahi was armed. She kept a good distance from him, making it more difficult for him to aim at her and attack with pinpoint precision. She kept moving, constantly looking for any opening or weakness in his defenses, waiting for just the right moment to go on the offensive.

With Zahi's decades worth of experience, Claire's tactics was nothing to sweat about. He was confident enough with his skills even at a large distance. Even from a great distance, Zahi took aim at Claire and fired. He missed on purpose, but it showed off his aiming skills and gave a scare to Claire. He was clearly playing around and enjoying the fight.

"Eek!" Claire freaked out and got stunned for a second, which allowed Zahi to chase after her. But before he can reach her, Claire leaps back and morphed her shifter into a katana again.

"Quit dodging and fight me!" Zahi started to get annoyed with Claire being evasive. She grins and dashes towards him. "I'll give you a good slashing!"

When Claire gave a forceful kick with her shifter katana at Zahi, he got to redirect her attack with his gun, but Claire's katana was sharp enough to slice through the gun. That leaves Zahi with no other weapon to use. "Hey! That gun was a gift!" He complained.

"Then you shouldn't have used it!" Claire attacks again with a spinning kick. In a deft move, Zahi caught onto the leg she kicked out at him, catching her off guard and gaining the upper hand. He easily took hold of her leg, gripping it tightly leaving Claire to flail and struggle in his grip.

"Ah shit!" She realized she was about to get thrown away again. Before Zahi can throw her, Claire pulled on his legs causing both of them to fall. She sat on top of Zahi and had a huge smile on her face. "Hey!! I pinned you down!!"

"In your dreams!" And in a whim, Zahi pushed her away with full force making her roll away. "I can't consider that as a win!" He said as he got up.

"No fair!! But that was clearly my win!!"

"No. If you want to win this, then you'd better pin me down and make me incapable of attacking you!" Then Zahi charges at Claire again.

Claire resorted to be in defensive mode as she think of a way to immobilize and finally defeat Zahi. Their fight have gone intensely for hours, both were still full of stamina and determination to crush one another. If people were to watch and witness them fight, then it would be normal to assume that these two are complete monsters.

As their fight goes on, both wasn't aware that they already reached a new morning. Others that walked into the combat training grounds freaked out as they witness the two still fighting each other. "Gah! That was shocking, Captain Zahi was still on toes with his trainee?! They're both monsters!" One of the soldiers commented.

"So they were the assholes making a lot of noise last night?! Geez." The passerby simply left them alone to avoid getting involved with them.

"...g-give it up already!" Zahi still had the energy to trash talk Claire, although he's barely catching his breath. "Just f-face it, a loser l-like you never stand a chance!"

In a similar case, Claire won't let Zahi have the last word despite not breathing properly. "I-I'll never stop you damn o-old man! I'm gonna kill you!!!"

"N-Not if I kill you first!!" When the two was about to clash again, Zahi couldn't take another step and watched how Claire made her way to punch him. From that final blow, Zahi got down on his knees before completely hitting the ground.

Claire eyes widens. "I-I... I did it!?... I DID IT! SEE OLD MAN!? I BEAT YOU! I DID IT! I DID!—" Her fleeting moment was cut short as she also fell on the ground. Both have reached their limits and have stayed on the ground until people that was going to use the training grounds found them.

Both were sent to the medical facility and have been aslept for a whole day so that their bodies can recover. And the first to regain consciousness was Zahi, he found Claire who was sleeping on the bed next to him. Recalling the result of their training, a gentle smile grew on Zahi's face.

"You did well, Ms. Claire Duvent." He shortly got up to return to his duties and left Claire a simple congratulatory note. Claire have finally completed her training!