Chapter 110 - Reina and Karles (3)

Since Nerun seemed to be able to defend himself, Karles seemed to lose all restraints and started attacking Nerun with all his might. As a Warrior, his priority was to impede Nerun from being able to use spells, and since the latter was close by, what better chance to do so? Karles was confident in his strength. Even if Nerun knew martial arts as well, so what? In front of true power, all traps and whatnot were meaningless. Besides, wasn't Nerun supposed to be an Adept?

Of course, many Magick spells are used close to the caster, directly with their hands or other parts of their bodies, but these tend to be last-minute resorts for Adepts whenever a Warrior has managed to get too close. Karles simply thought Nerun wanted to surprise him by using such a spell right next to him, so he could not mount a proper defence. A bold yet very dangerous choice for an Adept. Had that been the case he simply would have thought that Nerun was intrepid.

But this thought remained nothing but a dream when he realized that Nerun was no longer using any spell when stopping his attacks. Karles was attacking furiously and non-stop with his fists and legs, in a rapid barrage of attacks. His Martial Art was quick and intrepid, with strong and decisive fists capable of destroying anything in its path. Nevertheless, all of his efforts failed to find their mark, as Nerun was parrying every attack with fluidity and easiness.

- RA TA TA TA TA

Karles' attacks sounded as if multiple and heavy raindrops were falling on an umbrella. However, whenever a punch or kick was thrown, Nerun's extremities were there in advance in the perfect position to stop them right before they could exert maximum power, and their force completely negated. Karles could not help but feel nauseous, as he felt like a fly getting trapped slowly but surely in a spiderweb. Nerun was using his -Unbreakable- stance, the second form of the Free Flowing Fist.

In just under a minute, Karles felt much of his strength sapped, and he could even sense a small force from his attacks being rebounded towards him and blocking his meridians little by little. Even more amazing, was the fact that Nerun had not even needed to move from the position he took when Karles started attacking him. Nerun was like an impassable wall, and Karles was feeling suffocated. Not understanding how Nerun could stop him with such ease, he could only step back and restart his assault from another angle. Otherwise, he was certain that he would be the first to lose the bout once Nerun found a chink in his defence.

Reina was even more amazed when watching the fight and her interest in Nerun increased even further. As an onlooker, she could see even more than Karles, who was in the middle of a fierce battle. Nerun's movements were not only fluid but aesthetically beautiful and completely in tune with the environment. She could even feel as if the space itself was helping Nerun fight against Karles. Nerun's control over his body, his movements, and the strength applied to each fist and leg was simply without fault.

However, this was not the main reason for Reina's astonishment. It was that Reina was sure that Nerun was in complete command of the fight and its development. And she was not completely in the wrong. As Karles and Reina were trying to find Nerun's bottom line and prowess, he also was evaluating his new friends, as well as the level of those that were called geniuses by the Academy.

And Nerun was not disappointed. Not by their level of competence, nor by his own. Karles' power wasn't as great as that of Elijah when the latter was the same age. It was also inferior to that of Sombra, although they were not exactly the same since the latter was more of an expert in assassinations and subterfuge. But it wasn't that far, nonetheless, still greater than many of his brothers and sisters in the Orphanage. This was not an insult nor a demerit towards Karles but instead spoke of the talent and effort of his pauper brothers who achieved such levels even when their resources nor situation were as prodigal as that of the fourth son of the Santana Family.

Actually, if Karles was compared to other grandmaster level experts, he would be well situated in the upper rank of them. Nerun was being a bit unfair to him since he was comparing him with true monsters among the so-called geniuses like Elijah and Sombra.

Once Karles got away from Nerun, he started accumulating Qi in his right arm to prepare for a powerful technique. Nerun however, decided to follow Karles and keep the pressure up to defeat him.

But, the moment Nerun was about to move, he felt a strong movement behind him, and he barely had time to turn around and summon his three ice spikes in front of him, forming a wall.

- BOOM!

A small explosion sounded and the ice spikes were converted into shards that flew everywhere from a strong kick that Reina, who had appeared mid-air, right next to Nerun, had launched and completely destroyed the spell.

"Hehehe... I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist it. I see that you were not kidding when you asked us if we wanted to fight you together. I'm not confident enough to defeat you on my own, so you'll forgive me for joining Karles, right?" said Reina with a mischievous smile on her face, and small dimples forming on it. Such a cute smile from a girl who could throw such a violent attack made Nerun have some cold sweat on his back.

'Damn. I have to remember that girls can be more dangerous than boys!'.

Karles took the chance to jolt his arms and legs back into proper form, and once again resumed his starting pose. He understood that Reina was not trying to humiliate him. He was in agreement with Reina. Before, he was just about to use all of his power, but even then, he wasn't the least bit confident he could defeat Nerun. That being said, he wasn't mad. He, as well as Reina, was happy since the stronger Nerun was, then the better chances they had to increase the Rank of their class. Also, they knew better than most, of the benefit of befriending a true genius. So silently, both Karles and Reina decided to go all out and get to know Nerun's true ability.

Silence reigned through the room, however, Nerun's answer was clear, as he kept smiling and simply assumed his stance while facing Reina and Karles at the same time.

Multicolour lights started to spin around Reina's legs, as two snake mists surrounded her body. She started laughing and suddenly jumped towards Nerun at incredible speeds. She was much faster than Karles, perhaps even a little faster than Nerun.

Reina started to spin quickly while approaching Nerun, and after every spin, an incredibly powerful and dangerous whip kick filled to the brim with Qi flew towards Nerun, who fully concentrated dodged the attacks by the bare minimum range, albeit with some difficulty.

- Whooosh

Every attack rendered the air, and Nerun could feel some slight pain as every kick of Reina passed just inches away from his body. Reina's kicks attacked every vital point, up and down, with no true rhyme nor rhythm, which increased the difficulty to dodge them, however, Nerun managed to do so, while accumulating energy in his extremities. At times he had to use his legs and arms to divert the attacks. Finally, as Reina was accumulating Qi, her last kick went full speed ahead towards Nerun's temple. The latter also threw a powerful kick with the sole of his left foot, with two energy snakes that looked ethereal, misty yet with a blue tinge to them surrounding his lower left extremity.

These energy snakes looked different to the normal misty, pearly-looking Qi snakes that surrounded Qi warriors. This was the consequence of Nerun using both energies Qi and Mana in his attacks.

Right as both kicks clashed, Karles seized the chance to attack Nerun with his own Martial Skill. After gathering Qi in his right arm, the shape of a huge buffalo's horn made of Qi started to appear around it, and jumping with his full power, he approached Nerun from the back while attacking him with this powerful technique.

The attack was mighty and if Nerun was reached by it, he would certainly be defeated. Nonetheless, as if having eyes on his back, Nerun used the rebound from the clash between his and Reina's kicks and slid backwards and managed to dodge Karles attack skillfully. Then, using the same absorbed energy from the attack, Nerun quickly launched his arm towards Karles' leg, and grabbing it with great dexterity, he turned backwards sharply and slammed him against the ground.

Immediately, Nerun used the attack to jump and keep spinning, avoiding another fierce attack from Reina's legs and meanwhile extended his arm downwards while once again reciting:

"Ακίδες πάγου" /Akídes Págou/

The three ice spikes flow downwards inexorably and drilled into the ground right next to Karles' head, barely inches away from it.

Reina landed next to the spikes and looked behind her at the already defeated Karles who could not believe he had lost once again, even with Reina's help. The latter was tempted to keep going in order to see more of Nerun's, however, that was no longer necessary. After all, this was not a life-or-death battle, and she also wanted to keep a few tricks up her sleeve.

Besides she had already seen everything she needed to see. Nerun was not only worthy of being in the Inner Class. She was quite confident, that perhaps only the most powerful of the students in the top-ranking Class would be able to give Nerun a run for his money. In fact, after seeing that Nerun was standing a few meters up ahead without being fatigued, and completely nonchalant, she was sure he could probably go a few more rounds at full power. It was not to the point of despair, that she thought that there was no way she could defeat Nerun if she went all out, however, she was also sure that she had not seen everything Nerun had to offer either.

Karles got up with some difficulty and looked at Reina smiling. They were certain that the rumours about Nerun not being up to par with the requisites of the Royal Military Academy had to be complete nonsense. In fact, if anything, Karles was even certain that it was not totally impossible that Nerun could even challenge for a position in the Core Class in the nearby future. Nerun's image of apparent weakness in his energies, was nothing but playing the pig to eat the tiger, a fact that somehow made him annoyed, but also helped Nerun to be underestimated when facing another enemy.

The three students looked at each other and then started laughing with each other while clapping each other's hands.

"Nerun, welcome to the Lyceum!" said Reina happily.

After leaving the training room, Karles and Reina told Nerun about their contact details and then decided to meet each other before the school gates tomorrow morning. The small skirmish allowed them to become quick friends, and they told Nerun a ton of things he had to take notice of in the school, about the different teachers, and about the rest of the important students that Nerun needed to pay attention to in the Inner Class. They also spoke long about the different resources and special rooms that they could use to enhance themselves.

There were special training rooms with different environments to train all types of different techniques. There was also a Skill Repository where different Martial Skills and even Magick Spells from around the continent could be learnt. The Alchemy Room, Apothecary, Blacksmith Oven and other important places were also on the list, and Nerun was intrigued with everything he could do and learn at the Lyceum. He had not even seen the tip of the iceberg.

When the three new friends had been talking for a while, Reina then decided to ask something that had been bothering her for a while:

"Nerun. You don't have to answer if you don't want to. But let's face it, you are a genius. As much, or an even greater genius than most of the students in this Inner Class. I might even go as far as to say that you have a very good chance of fighting for a place in the Core Class. Then what is the whole deal with the Royal Military Academy and the talk about how you were not qualified, and that nonsense everyone is talking about?"

Silence reigned among the group, both Reina and Karles paying full attention to Nerun. Karles was also interested. After a few minutes without anyone making the smallest sound, Reina and Karles decided to move on. It would be a lie to say they were not disappointed, and imperceptibly a small wall had started to form in their hearts. However, before they could leave, Nerun then stopped them while making an important decision after seeing the frankness and honest treatment he had gotten from these two new friends. He knew that if was to make true friends and allies that would support his cause, then he also needed to start trusting them. Certainly, there were certain things that could not be completely shared. However, if he decided to shut down completely and not open himself towards anyone, then he could not hope for people to believe in him as well.

Therefore, Nerun decided to come clean and share some of his experiences with these two teens. To know who to trust and who to keep at a distance would be a test of Nerun's wisdom. A test he needed to overcome on his own.