Sparring Session(2)

Amelia stood a few who meters ahead of me and the air around us was filled with a suffocating silence.

I don't know what to make of this situation. If I won, then Amelia would definitely be depressed since the person she hated the most turned out to be stronger than her.

The best choice here would be to lose on purpose but I can't make it obvious since the Instructor is observing.

"Haaaah..." I couldn't help but sigh at the ridiculous situation.

Swish—!

Right then, an arrow brushed past my face grazing right below my right eye. I was about to instinctively move to my side but stopped myself at the last moment. Since there won't be any injuries even if the arrow hits me, I let it be so that Amelia would think she missed.

But was this girl seriously aiming for my eye?!

"Tsk, I missed." the black-haired girl clicked her tongue in frustration.

Oy! You really were aiming for my eye?!!

Flashing a smirk, I jerked my head. Although she said that, it was clear to me that she wasn't really aiming for my eye. 

She is too kind for her own good to go easy on someone who tried to assault her.

But I can't just keep standing. I knocked an arrow on my bow and-

Swish—!

…And before I could even draw the string, another arrow shot past me, barely leaving my eye intact.

"Do you really want to take my eye out that badly?!" I yelled.

Amelia mockingly shrugged as she was enjoying watching me suffer while feigning ignorance.

"Accidents can happen," she said.

"Yeah, that just shows how clumsy you are at using your weapon." I retorted.

Paying no mind to my words, Amelia knocked another arrow on her bow, drew the string, and quickly aimed at me.

I instantly jumped to my right and barely dodged the arrow. This continued for another half minute or so as I kept narrowly avoiding her arrows.

I must say, playing weak is quite good and refreshing in its own way.

No, I am not a masochist nor do I enjoy being looked down.

Maybe it is because of the fact that the opponent was Amelia that I was able to enjoy this.

There was anger behind her attacks but no hostility, each of the attacks was meticulously shot to avoid all my vitals

Regardless of the reason, I was quite amazed to see the strength of Amelia. 

Amelia's precision was quite good and despite being so fast to shoot, her aim was rather perfect. Even now she is deliberately trying to shoot the arrow right below my eyes.

Sigh…But it seems that she lacks the talent for it or maybe my standards are just that high.

I decided to end it here since there is a good chance that she might notice that I am holding back if this match continues longer.

I started running in her direction.

Usually, an archer's weakness is close combat, but I knew that Amelia is no ordinary archer and she might have already expected that Lucas would try to engage in close quarters after being pushed around by her archery.

Swish—!

Thrub—!

Before I could even close half the distance, an arrow collided with my leg.

"Urghh.."

I pretended to let out a groan by holding the leg that was shot.

"Did you bring a secondary weapon? Aren't you smart?" Amelia shot a smirk, "But it's all pointless if you can't close the distance on me to use it."

I didn't bring any second weapon. To be honest, I didn't even know that you could bring a second weapon to the spar.

Baring my teeth, I got up. Throwing the bow to the side I took a stance with my fists.

"Fine, I'll play along." With a bored expression plastered on her face, Amelia shrugged and threw her bow aside too.

As if I was no threat to her whatsoever, she started walking toward me. 

A taunting grin formed on her face as she came face to face with me.

One thing is real though, she is a kind-hearted kid through and through.

She could have humiliated me anytime in this match yet all she did was play around with me a bit, even the taunting grin she has now is just an act, merely a mask to cover up something hidden inside her.

Are all kind people this forgiving towards their assaulter? Or does she have a reason for treating Lucas this way?

Kwoosh—!

Thwack—!

While I was lost in my thoughts, the whole world turned upside down.

Then the next second, everything turned black. It seems like by using my own weight against me, Amelia managed to flip me over her shoulder.

Huh… it was a blunder on my part. I thought of pretending to lose in a fistfight but this is something I didn't expect this at all. 

Before I could get out of this situation, Amelia held my right hand and locked me into an armbar submission lock.

Ahh, fuck!

Over-the-shoulder flip followed up by an armbar. It's like she is using tai-jutsu.

It felt like my arm was going to be ripped off.

"Submit!" while I was locked in an armbar submission lock, Amelia's cold voice fell into my ears.

Submit? Was she asking me to tap out and admit defeat?

I smirked at her. In my perspective, she looked quite cute trying to make me admit defeat instead of making me suffer more.

"Tap out, you bastard!"

As if she was annoyed by my smirk, she doubled the intensity of the armbar. 

Unfortunately for her, this body was tempered in the harshest of the conditions a human could ever face. There is no way a simple armbar or tai-jutsu will ever be able to bruise my body much less breaking a bone.

"Haaaaah..." 

While heaving a sigh at my current predicament, I stood up with Amelia still holding my arm. 

"Eh?"

Amelia was surprised to see me standing up and completely froze. I didn't lower my arm so that Amelia wouldn't fall but now looking at her, rather than an armbar she looked more like a koala holding onto my arm.

We must be looking quite comical to others.

"How long are you going to keep holding my hand? My arm is about to break from your weight." 

Only then did Amelia break from her stupor and release my hand. Her face was completely red perhaps due to embarrassment. 

"Ah, um..."

She was unable to speak anything and kept looking at me and other people who were watching us.

"I give up."

"Excuse me?"

"I said I give up."

"Why?!"

"What do you mean why? My arm sprained from that armbar and holding your weight. I can't continue fighting like this." It was only after I explained that she seemed to calm down but immediately glared.

"You better not think that today will be the last day you suffer at my hands."

I looked at her not expecting such a clichéd line. On the other hand, her face was still red from the embarrassment and her eyes were teary. 

I didn't find it necessary to reply to her, so I just left the training grounds.

Ding—!

[7 editor points have been rewarded]

As soon as the screen appeared before my eyes, I stood still for a few moments and continued to move towards the infirmary.

Although I had already predicted it before, now that it has been confirmed I have to be more careful from now on regarding Amelia. Since Amelia is, after all, one of the main characters of the story.

I walked till I reached the infirmary and waited outside for some time. Since I don't have any injuries it would be pointless for me to go inside. But I came here nonetheless so that if anyone were to see me coming from the infirmary then they would think that I was injured.

After all, I still have to keep my power under wraps.

*******

(Amelia's PoV)

"Ugh...I can't believe I did something so embarrassing."

"Calm down Amelia. I mean, no one could've expected that he would stand up in the middle of an armbar."

It was after the drill exercises were over. Anastasia and I were walking through the corridor talking about our matches. Both of us had won our matches.

"Yeah, you are right. It was all that guy's fault."

Currently, we are talking about my match with Lucas. No matter how many times I tried to forget, the scene kept repeating itself in my mind, and the embarrassment wouldn't go away.

"That may be right but Amelia I wanted to ask you something."

Sia who had been smiling till now suddenly turned serious. It was my first time seeing her like this but I didn't think much about it and nodded.

"Do you think that Lucas is different from before?"

I was perplexed to see her asking about Lucas but I decided to answer her truthfully.

"I don't know. I haven't observed him all that much but if I have to say something, then he is definitely from the last time I had seen him."

That would be my honest opinion if I were to cast aside my emotions and think rationally about him.

"How so?"

"I feel like he has become indifferent to everything and his eyes looked cold. And he never picked a fight with anyone like he did with Quinn and the Instructor."

"I see. Thank you for answering me honestly even though it must have been unpleasant for you."

Sia had a wry smile on her face as she looked apologetic. 

"Don't worry about it. I am different from back then and to be honest, his presence doesn't bother me anymore. If I face him again, then I would definitely beat the crap out of him."

Sia smiled wryly at my response and changed the topic. The mood returned to normal as we continued talking before separating and going towards our respective classrooms.

I may have acted like nothing happened but I was also curious about the change in Lucas. The Lucas now was a lot different from the past. 

His face was always indifferent and his eyes looked dull. His attitude was also quite different since he was never one to pick a fight with others.

Honestly, I don't know why he has changed. Even at that time, I didn't know why he changed, and seeing him change again gave me a bad feeling.

(A/N: I had already mentioned this but let me make this clear once again. The MC didn't transmigrate into Lucas's body, he just regained his previous life memories. As to why that is the case and what happened to Noah will be revealed later in the story. Hope this clears any confusion you might have had.)