The Ark Of Lack Of Battle Experience

Midori was brought back to reality after the last sentence. Unfortunately, the child didn't make the final slash as the Valkyrie used her arm to block Midori's hilt. It would seem that Mavislin was still in shock about Midori's performance and seemed like she wanted to call a truce.

But, with an abrupt switch of hands by Mavislin, Midori's body was forced downwards as the Valkyrie used her free hand to grasp onto Midori's blade. The child was taken aback as she needed to catch her breath after performing the most challenging move she had known.

A single tug was all Mavislin needed to make the child slam right into the ground. Then, while stepping on the blade, the Valkyrie spun several times and launched herself upwards with her whip twirling underneath her.

"You've got a long way to go if you think this is over," said Mavislin with a smile.

A trail of brown Elemental Energy was forming at the whip's tip when Mavislin flew upwards. The brown course started to harden to become large tree trunks surrounded and encaged Midori. The poor child could stand, but it was too late for her to do anything.

Or so Mavislin had thought. Midori only needed to shed blood to perform the Blood Mastery again. The Valkyrie was still in midair and had changed her body position to have her legs higher than her upper body. Mavislin had a smirk as she knew what was going to happen next.

Meanwhile, Bryan and the kids were all growing worried about what the Valkyrie was planning to do to the poor child at the bottom of the pit. Ashley was amazed, while Baldwin seemed intrigued. Tomoe and Raiyen both looked at each other.

They silently agreed to save Midori if something went wrong. And Tomoe felt a pang of guilt when he watched the little girl perform the Ninth Seed. On top of her acute sense of hearing, Midori could remember every sound she as heard since birth. Names, places, and fights...

All of these sounds that Midori's ears could pick up are locked in her brain forever. The Ninth Seed was based on Tomoe's ritual dance, the most challenging move to do with the contortions and forceful thrust of the weapon. But Midori almost had it had she not stopped at the final strike.

Maybe it was for the better since that move should be practiced at least a thousand times before it could be as fluid as Tomoe's performance. Bryan caught Tomoe's worried gaze and recalled the time he noticed Midori staring at their duels.

Now it was the Slayer's turn to feel worried as he linked Midori's random bursts of physical strength to how he powered his kicks. The significant difference was that Midori only saw the surface and copied the moves from the first level. But the child was a kid born from experiments.

Midori had no prior experience in fights up until the week now. So none of these kids have fought against a real opponent in a life-and-death situation. And while Tomoe and Bryan had years in dueling against foes, Midori only had a few days to pull off the stunts she was showing today.

The Slayer clenched his fists as he recalled the times he used those kicks. Remember that Bryan's legs were trained to kick heavy things like oak trees, and a single kick could shatter someone's bones. Midori hasn't trained herself to be at that level yet, so she shouldn't use it.

The child's legs might shatter, or her opponent could easily find an opening and aim straight for her vitals. Moreover, the blood rush wasn't appropriately dispersed throughout the body. From above, Bryan nor Tomoe could determine if Midori was correctly using the blood flow technique.

But the Valkyrie could tell by looking at Midori's constant gasps of air. Midori hasn't noticed it yet, but each time she concentrates her blood flow to gush towards a body part, her heart is forced to work more instead of using the already circulating blood to power the kick or punch.

It should be alright to make the heart pump faster during the rush of fights but not to the point that it hinders your body from making quick decisions. For example, Mavislin was already going slow on Midori regarding counter-attacking. Any faster, and Midori's heart is going to explode.

And to add insult to the wound, Midori concentrated all the blood to either her legs or arms, neglecting her other vital body parts. That was the reason why after each leap or jump, Midori would feel dizzy and would be at her most vulnerable.

"Are you sure we shouldn't stop them? I'm getting serious chills about this..." asked Bryan, tugging onto Baldwin's sleeves like some fearful kid.