138 - trial

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With a twist, his right leg pushed as much of his weight into the ground, his other leg folded up by the knee into his waist, achieving a streamlined leap. His elbows were packed with power and his movements were so smooth it was as if he had merged with the wind. Swinging a wide arc with his right arm in mid-air, a *bam* sound skin to a cannon rang out across the combat space. His movements had produced enough heat to warm his body up, that the cooling ventilation of the magic catalysts in the room had no longer mattered.

To most students, it had seemed like Sakase von Zakwin vanished from the spot, only for a cannon fire to split everyone's ear drums. His fiery expression matched his eagerness to win the mere sparring match. To be honest, he had only hoped to intimidate his rival, seeing as she was still a 10 year old girl. That was the general stance of his noble-stature produced thoughts, pity. However all of that was won-over and erased by his overwhelming desire to improve. He had always acknowledged her strength, what he had difficulty with was conceding to his weakness.

All his feelings, stances, opinions, beliefs, actions, curses, weaknesses and prejudices. None of that really mattered, not a single bit had anything to do with Lilith. The reason was simple. Why should she care? Her only desire; to keep Cress safe. It had nothing to do with her goals. So all of it..., everything... was completely blown away.

With overwhelming superior speed, she aimed and shoved her fist with all her strength... Right into his. Knuckles bashed into each other, raw power coursing through their arms, about to damaged their insides. The possibility of recoil never phased pass her conscious, she had only one goal. Defeat her sparring partner. Her absurd physical stats obliterated, destroyed, disintegrated and vaporised her opponent's arm with sheer momentum. The only thing numbing the pain, their teacher's territory skill.

He had acknowledged her strength, but not his weakness, his resolution was embedded into his heart, how could he give up right at the start? Ignoring his right arm, he had predicted the situation. His left arm had been kept close to his twisted torso to prepare the streamlined leap. With all the previous momentum, he absurdly twisted his torso in the tiny opening formed from Lilith's fist and launched his final attack.

Consuming all momentum he had, his left arm went straight for her face. Lilith's power would undoubtedly destroy his arm, leaving him to be unable to continue fighting. The whites of his bone were compressed into his elbow joint, pieces of his flesh flailed in the air to match his movements. Blood had drenched his right arm, the bleeding colouring the grass texture of the ground with a dark crimson.

His left arm makes contact, her palm catching his fist. With a pivot, she swiped her right leg back to drive momentum into her movements, before ducking down. Her left arm that caught his fist twisted with all her strength, while her right arm was swung with great force against the underside of his caught arm. As it was twisted unnaturally, his joints were not facing in the right directions while her fist buried destruction into his flesh, his bones crying in pain spread to the rest of his arm.

With the previous pivot of her right leg, she pushed her weight into the tips of her feet and swung his whole body in an arc, hitting the ground with a loud thud even in the force dissipating grass. The mana circulating in Kuraver's territory shook, giving him a scare before he examined that there was no damage in his barrier. A passive healing was already starting on Sakase's battered body, he looked like a rag that had been tossed around by mischievous kids.

Once again, fear took root in the other students. The only bit that surfaced in their mind was Ran's lifeless corpse, drenched by a large pool of blood. Even if someone told them that the culprit was caught and executed, their trauma wouldn't just dissipate. Not when such a dangerous being was nearby, casually blending into human society. If another case was to occur, who knows how much of their sanity would be left.

Just like this instance, a great power was displayed. Even without skills, Lilith's physical capabilities were far too insane to be considered normal for a 10 year old. The worse component of this innate fear, was that they could not understand her thought process. Exactly what angered her, what soothed her, whether she had a calm bearing or volatile emotions. All of it was unknown, what exactly needs to happen for this social gap to be bridged?

The solution was rather simple. They should just become friends normally. Even if lacking empathy sometimes, Lilith's general stance was on the side of humanity. She matches and follows up on Cress's alignment. As far as the Student Council president was concerned, Lilith was a rather meek individual unless something important was at stake. Hisa Tsukimi made the correct decision. By making more friends, Lilith would have more attachments to humanity, by then her alignment would be a matter of course.

At the end, even in his battered state, Sakase was still looking straight. She had never aimed for his face, and only broke his arms as they collided against hers. Even with the numbing effect for the pain, there was a significant psychological effect of loss when your limbs are just blown off.

Weightlessness, emptiness, loss, it all shared a common effect. The feeling that something that was suppose to be there is not. Any normal individual would be unnerved, their state of mind set into a paroxysm of fits and panic attacks bordering on insanity. Humans were just never meant to experience such a thing. Despite all of that, Sakase glared straight on from the ground. Whether it was his shame, conscious consuming ego or his overwhelming pride holding his mentality together, it would never be revealed.

That glare set the differences apart from that time with Dan's murder. Fear was absent. With the influence of a few individuals, it slowly spread to the rest of the classmates. If Lilith had wanted to kill someone, she could have gotten rid of the most troublesome individual right now. The fact that she didn't further solidified their intuition.

After being healed back up, he brushed the dust off his clothes. Recovering back his strength, he continued to stare straight at Lilith.

"Uhm... Even I'll get embarrassed if you stare so hard..."

"Ah! I meant to admit my defeat. Know that physical strength isn't everything. In the end it is general knowledge, that skills reign supreme." (Sakase)

"Yes, yes~ Keep making excuses. I'll have you know that I'm taken by Onee-chan."

"... I see. I wish you luck in your... future endeavours... " (Sakase)

"Humu! I appreciate it, thank you!"