Hard To Battle

"Alright 3.....2...-

"Wait!" Kathleen suddenly spoke, making instructor Arron stop his countdown.

"Can I injure the tiger?" She asked staring at Aaron's face.

"Well, the academy doesn't lack Alchemists nor the pills to heal a little animal." Instructor Aaron answered with a casual tone.

'Although I guessed that he selected me because I looked different than my usual self, but I still don't understand why is he letting the students fight this little beast. What is his original objective? Wait, could it be he was also one of them. Forget it, I simply can't form any assumptions based on the current situation.' Kathleen thought in her mind as she took a battle position.

Aaron's character is not much described in the novel given he was just a side character, that's why she didn't understand as to why he was doing this.

"Alright....3....2.....1 start." As the Instructor said that, the dense mana which was surrounding the flaming tiger cub suddenly disappeared, allowing it to move as it pleased, and of course, it won't stand still after seeing a pray infront of it's eyes.

The tiger cub started running towards Kathleen as it's yellowish-red flames started increasing around it's body, from the bystanders view-point, it looked like a huge fire ball is running towards Kathleen.

Her hand's grip tightened around her sword, it would be a lie if she say that she wasn't feeling any fear. But since she is already prepared for something like killing people, she chose to see through this challenge.

When she first woke up in Kathleen's body, her normal body instincts guided her towards the dorm room because she don't know the exact location. She also wanted to try the same thing now.

She closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again. However, without knowing herself she already raised her sword and slashed it towards the tiger. Mana started to circulate throughout her body without any obstructions in it's path and it surged into her right hand which she was holding a sword with.

Roar~

The flaming tiger jumped into air, just as it arrived into two metres distance infront of Kathleen's body, bringing it's claws forward, it slashed down at her neck with its sharp nails as the fire surrounded it's legs.

Boooom~

Kathleen's silver white sword and the flaming tiger's claws collided, generating a shockwave around them. Kathleen's mana fluctuations gone everywhere around her as they came out from her sword, while on the flaming tiger's side, it's embers splattered everywhere around it after colliding with the sword.

'This is it! I did it. If ahh-

Kathleen's thoughts stopped as she sent flying back by the after-shock of the attack, and the flaming tiger landed on the ground, rubbing it claws slightly on to the ground showing its white sharp nails which didn't have a single scratch on them even after colliding with a sharp Sword.

Unlike humans, magical beasts don't need any mana circulation techniques until they reach 4-star or 5-star rank, their magical path will be smooth until there, and they also don't have any minor levels in their magic ranking system. Of course, the levels can be easily distinguished by seeing their mana output and strength when fighting them.

In this case, the flaming tiger is at 2-Star middle rank, which was the same as Kathleen.

Kathleen who was sent flying back balanced herself and prevented herself form falling on her butt. The uniforms are designed combat orientedly since the students will often do battles.

'Hmm, my speed and reaction-time was improved by my body instincts, but I still can't use my strength like the original owner used. Stay calm and analyse the situation, wait, if my strength is not sufficient, why don't I just use my magic and Swordsmanship as a supplement for that.'

Kathleen's quick analysis showed her a path to defeat the tiger.

The flaming tiger also seems to be received a bit of a damage by the after-shock caused by their attack, so it looked a bit daze for minute before returning to it's normal state, seeing that the human it attacked was still standing, it again rushed towards Kathleen and this time, it's flames intensity increased to another level.

They started exchanging blows, the tiger claw slashes are getting stronger and stronger by every attack and pushing Kathleen backwards, but the fear that had been in Kathleen's eyes seems to be vanished as she started to gain a gist of her own strength.

Small injuries also started to appear on her body as the time passed.

In the crowd of students, Sophie and Rowena watched the fight with a frown on their faces.

"Hey Sophie, should I request the instructor to stop the battle, Kathleen seems to be in a disadvantageous position." Rowena said and looked towards Sophie.

"That would not do any good for Kathleen's reputation. You don't need to worry as the instructor will definitely save her if she is in any life threatening position. However, that was not the problem now, Kathleen has to win this match no matter what, did you not hear the murmures around you?" Sophie said not moving her gaze from the Battle.

"Murmurs?" Rowena frowned and focused on hearing the people whispers.

"Hey, didn't I tell you? She only had beauty but no strength to support her confidence."

"Duke Oliver even made her the heiress of the duchy, now she realises that it's not easy to rule people just by the support of her father."

"I also heard that she did terrible in the entrance exams and beraly passed them to enter the academy."

These type of murmurs are everywhere, making it hard for Rowena to locate who was talking like this.

Instructor Arron brows furrowed as he looked at the battle.

'My intentiona of making the flaming tiger cub fight has been achieved, although I selected this girl for obvious reasons to see something interesting, it seems there was nothing new. Fearing your opponent infront of you will only lead you to the path of defeat. Wait, what is she doing.....' His thoughts stopped abruptly after seeing Kathleen's actions.

Max who was also watching the battle with an interested look opened his eyes wide.

'Did She already learn to do that? but how?'