Confused...I am, yes. This is a very twisted situation.
'Is this the chaos theory bullshit, butterfly effect? Eh?' I contemplated.
This was not how it was supposed to go. Originally in the novel, Nola Reinheart was meant to win facing some random girl.
Countless stares bore into me and my nerves began to fray.
Sighing, I strolled towards the arena.
Nola was glaring at me, emitting an air of superiority that suggested she considered me nothing more than mediocre.
Sigh...welp, since it has come to this, might as well fight.
I wanted to test my physical abilities anyway, and what better arena to hone my skills than a controlled and secure environment like this?
***
Noah entered the arena. Nola couldn't help but take stock of her opponent's strength, she felt his level to be somewhere around (G+).
Nola herself was an (F-).
When his name was called out, she noticed the look of pure panic that washed over his face.
'Such a candy-ass,' Nola thought to herself, rolling her eyes.
Nola let out a sigh. Without hesitation, she drew her sword, her eyes narrowing. This was going to be an easy match.
She had no desire to prolong this fight; she wanted to finish this quickly, and with the least possible fuss. The guy wasn't worth licking her shoe's dirt.
She had heard about Noah's bad reputation too, about how he was involved in a bathroom scandal, taking photos of girls. Naturally she dispised such people.
Being a girl who prided herself on righteousness and moral values, she looked down on Noah. To Nola, the guy was nothing more than a bug.
Without missing a beat, Nola readied herself with a flick of her wrist.
"Listen up loser," Nola grunted, pointing her finger in the bug's humanoid face.
"There is no need for you to waste my time. You seriously think you can compete against me? Save yourself the embarrassment and give up before this begins."
The guy in turn, seemed to display a casual disregard to Nola's taunts.
"Nah, I'm fine. Let's begin the match," Noah declared, his tone bordering on arrogance.
Nola's brows furrowed at his audacity, her resolve hardening as she prepared herself to take him down.
Originally, she had planned to let him off without any harm, but his brashness and presumptuousness fueled something within her.
She was going to teach him a lesson, and a very good one at that.
She channeled mana into her core.
Her sharpened senses honed in on Noah, silently assessing his every move
With a calm focus, Nola raised her sword, the keen gleam of determination in her eyes.
The blade she was using was a blunt practice sword, but that did not matter—it would still pack a powerful punch and it would teach this dog a valuable lesson.
Professor Riya announced the beginning of the match, Nola advanced towards Noah, her movements fluid and graceful. She was like a wraith, her sword flashing in the air as she delivered one swift blow after another.
Despite his best efforts, Noah was no match for her, and she was quick to capitalize on each of his mistakes.
Noah stumbled back, frantically slashing his machete to keep Nola at bay. But the machete was shorter than the sword.
His form was bad.
Nola merely smirked at his futile attempts, gracefully ducking down and swinging her sword with precision.
The dull edge of the blade connected with his torso, causing a sound.
Noah was sent flying like a ragdoll, his body slamming hard onto the ground.
The force of the hit caused nausea and muscle spasms to ripple through his arm, prompting him to let out a small groan.
"Nice!" Noah cursed, gritting his teeth in agony. But soon, the pain subsided.
A sadistic smirk crawled across Nola's face as she watched him crawl like a dog.
She strode over to him and brought her foot down on his head, pressing down with a satisfying crunch and bringing his face to the floor until he was inches away to licking the floor.
"Give up," she said with a serious expression. "Isn't the thought of getting beaten by a girl too much?"
She proceeded to swing her sword once more, striking Noah with enough force that he stumbled back before regaining his balance.
Nola was on the verge of launching another attack, when Noah sprang into action. He swung his machete with all his might, executing a fake version of Momentum Transfer skill. It was a charge skill.
But Nola was quick to react, effortlessly deflecting his attack with a swift kick.
She then delivered a powerful kick to his abdomen, causing him to sink to his knees.
As Nola gazed at Noah's writhing form, she felt a sense of exhaustion settle in. But there was also a satisfaction to it.
Combat was not her strong suit, and this whole ordeal had taken a toll on her. Afterall she barely trained her stamina. But she didn't care. As long as she won and humiliated Noah, nothing else mattered.
"Just step down," Nola taunted.
Despite being outmatched in terms of skill, Noah's physical strength was already stronger than her's.
He used his strength to struggle and slip away from her foot, performing a reverse roll to stand back up.
The one-sided slaughter continued, with Nola effortlessly sending Noah flying or beating him down repeatedly until he lost his footing.
But something odd began to happen.
Nola suddenly attacked Noah's wrist with her sword, causing his wrist to swell with pain. Despite this, Noah was able to dodge one or two thrusts of her sword.
As the match continued, the students watched with amusement and muttered to each other, "Why hasn't he given up yet?"
Some of the students were beginning to grow restless, with some even mocking Noah's poor performance.
Some scoffed, while others encouraged Noah to not give up in order to save time so they themselves don't have to fight today.
"Bro, don't give up! You can do it," they encouraged him, while secretly sneering at his foolishness.
The longer the match went on, the more exhausted Nola became.
She had hoped to humiliate Noah and end the match quickly, but even after five minutes of continuous struggle, the stubborn bastard still refused to give up. It was like he didn't feel any pain.
"Huff... huff... rat!" she exhaled through gritted teeth, she was getting tired.
Noah saw an opportunity present itself and quickly took it.
Using his footwork, he faked a slash towards Nola and she instinctively tried to dodge. But midway through, Noah twisted his body and delivered a forceful punch to her sternum.
"Gah?!" Nola stumbled back, surprised by the sudden attack.
"What's this? Fighting back?" she muttered angrily, noticing the reaction of the onlookers.
With an overpowering rage, Nola activated her "flower sword dance" and relentlessly beat down on Noah.
Despite his best efforts to defend himself, his face and both wrists became swollen, and it seemed like he could give up at any moment.
Noah struck once more, hitting Nola square in the face with a powerful punch.
Even with the opportunity to end the match quickly, Nola still refused to use any fatal attacks due to the rules and her own ego.
Nola, was becoming increasingly tired and angry with Noah's persistence. Despite being talented from a young age, there weren't many who could match her skill, and the fact that this guy was giving her such a hard time infuriated her.
If fatalk attacks were allowed and she had a sharp sword, the match would have ended quickly.
"You! I was taking it easy on you," she panted heavily, "But..." Nola cut off her sentence as only now did she noticed Noah's condition.
He was slightly bleeding from the head, parts of his face was swollen, and his wrists were both injured and red.
His hair was disheveled and his eyes were unfocused.
Seeing him like this, Nola couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy.
"Pha! I will end your trouble with this. You have the spirit, I will give you that, but you simply aren't talented enough."
With one swift movement, Nola stepped back and energized her sword. It wasn't a damage dealing attack, but rather aimed to push Noah into defeat without hurting him. This was the speciality of flower sword dance art. Even though it was a low level art, and only a support type art, it could easily generate air force to push the opponents away.
Noah tried to dodge, but he was too slow.
The attack hit him forcefully in the torso, sending his body flying almost to the edge of the stadium. But his body was havier than normal people due to the trillions of nanites in him.
Noah's body writhed and twitched in pain, it was clear to everyone that the match had gone on long enough.
Nola, satisfied with her victory, turned her back and began to leave the ring.
Professor Riya took a long look at Noah's battered body and began to announce, "Alright, that's enough. The match ends with Nola being-"
But before she could finish, she stopped mid-sentence.
Nola, sensing that something was wrong, also turned back to look at Noah.