"I told you earlier. You cannot beat me in battle." Estella raised her chin high, being proud of her martial arts, looking at Claire who coincidentally crashed on the purest lightning crystal on the ground and got paralyzed for a second before she got up on her feet.
Claire was still feeling a little bit numb as the lightning energy invaded her body. But, since she cannot break the agreement, she didn't use any soul energy to push it out and let it disappear on its own with the help of her immune system.
The arrogant heiress of the Moon Clan continued to boast, "Do you know that everyone in our family must learn swordsmanship? Choosing close combat is the worst thing you can do when dealing with me."
Claire didn't move from the spot and just replied to her instead of resuming the fight, "If that's the case, you would have fought me with a sword, instead of a bow. Either you are bluffing or overestimate yourself too much. If not for my Rael intervene in the match, you wouldn't dare to challenge me like this again."
"My Rael?" Estella felt amused by her words, feeling how pathetic is the girl before her. "Obsession isn't a good characteristic for an individual blessed by the heavens. People like us are guaranteed to live for thousands of years. So, being obsessive about love will bring nothing but pain."
Estella's words have a point but will Claire listen to her advice? Naturally, she won't. In fact, she got angrier as she was pointed by her of all people. However, she controlled herself, waiting for the last bit of numbness in her legs to disappear.
She asked her reasoning behind the transfer, "Why did you come to our academy, anyway? Something tells me that you aren't here just for the company of another child of heaven."
Estella's facial expression changed a bit as she remembered something. In her memory, she seems to be arguing with a couple in their middle ages.
Returning to reality, Estella charged forward after answering, "I'll tell you if you win against me."
"Well, I guess I can't hold back any longer," Claire mumbled to herself while becoming serious. Now that she was completely alright, it was time to engage in battle rather than wasting time in useless banter.
Both of them charged towards each other. When they were only a few feet apart, Estella jumped and performed a roundhouse kick. It was then, she saw Claire turn into a blur for a moment while a powerful punch was landed on her stomach.
As she was about to fall on the ground, two more punches landed on the same spot, thereby increasing the damage. Estella's back hit the ground with force.
"Ugh." A groan escaped from her lips as she tried to get up but Claire didn't want to give up the opportunity. She quickly jumped high and attacked with a knee strike. However, before the attack landed, thanks to her quick thinking, Estella managed to roll aside and dodged it at the last moment.
"Damn it." Claire felt like she made a mistake in going for a knee strike instead of just stomping on her stomach. But, then she realized that would look too ungraceful for a girl. That might be the reason her instincts decided to go for a more flashy technique.
Meanwhile, Estella clutched her stomach because of the pain from the earlier strikes and jumped backward to increase the distance and formulate a plan in her head. "She focuses much on offense. So, I need to take advantage of it. Kokutsu Dachi (Back stance) is the right thing to do in this situation."
After deciding on a strategy, she turned her back foot out to the side and bent her knee, and drew her foot towards her body to a little over shoulder-width apart, resting the foot lightly on the floor. She placed almost two-thirds of her weight on her back foot and the remaining on the front.
As for Claire, her fighting style more depended on aggressiveness without worrying about defense. The only thing she has an upper hand on is her speed. So, she decided to make this advantage into her weapon.
Pushing the leg against the ground, Claire charged forward and went into the offense this time. In Estella's eyes, her opponent looked blurry but as she wasn't on offense and only focusing on counterattacks, she was able to feel the target of Claire's fist. With the back foot as her support, she moved back and evaded the punch and then, rotated her body as she launched a kick.
Unfortunately, Claire's new speed isn't something to be underestimated when she focused on the opponent's movements. She managed to duck her body and also dodge the kick.
The battle went on for twenty long minutes without deciding any winner. Azzy had long abandoned the instructor and went towards them, stopping just outside the habitat and becoming a spectator. Meanwhile, his team members also returned after his message to Gideon. They were also standing along with him, watching the battle.
Maybe, due to the presence of the audience or maybe, it's just because of the frustration of not getting an advantage over the opponent. For whatever reason, the battle became really intense between the two girls despite getting low on stamina and being filled with bruises all over their bodies.
Claire's powerful punch landed on Estella and the latter's kick landed on the former. Estella's back hit a lightning crystal before she fell onto the ground while Claire just crashed onto the ground.
"Argh…" Estella roared in anger as she clutched her fist. She got up on her feet. Meanwhile, Claire was also on her feet. Both of them are extremely low on stamina and probably left little strength to continue.
"Let's decide this one move." Claire dashed towards her opponent with everything she has got.
Estella was clutching her fists tightly and went into an immovable stance to anchor herself to the ground so that she can defend the attack. She knew very well that her remaining stamina doesn't allow her to make big moves that require great mobility.
Claire was only a few feet away from her opponent. She was about to throw a punch while Estella is focused on blocking it.
It was at that moment, a man in long grey hair suddenly appeared in the middle of them, blocking Claire's punch and grabbing Estella's arm, shocking both of them. "Alright, your duel stops here. The flag in your wager has been destroyed in the battle between student Louis and students Lark and Calder. Student Azrael has succeeded. So, that means both of you have lost this task and your respective teams will also face punishment along with you."
"Eh?" "Huh?"
Claire and Estella were stunned and looked at each other.
"Seriously? Can't he just let finish the battle?" Azzy muttered under his breath. He may have looked indifferent on the outside but Azzy was super annoyed by Arley's move. For the past twenty minutes, he was looking forward to seeing who will emerge as the winner but in the end, the match was canceled one more time.
After a brief silence, Estella shrugged her shoulders after freeing herself from Arley's grip, "it's alright. This is only day 1. There will be a lot of chances where I can prove that I'm stronger."
Claire snorted in response as she turned around, "you got lucky for two times. There won't be the third time."
When her eyes fell on Azzy who was waving her hand, her mood improved a little bit, and walked towards him. But, just as she walked for a few meters, she lost all of her strength in her legs and lost her balance.
Azzy quickly dashed towards her and caught her before even the instructor moved a footstep, changing his cold expression to that of a surprise.
"Are you alright?" He asked her. She let out a smile and nodded, "Yeah, I guess I need more training."
"This kid, he's gotten faster than when he participated in Champions League." Arley took a glimpse at Azzy before he thought of someone else who is now in the forest, agonizing over the destruction of the flag. "Perhaps, only Louis can match him in terms of speed."
Unknown to them, Estella stared at the couple, feeling very disturbed in her chest.
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