Nola Reinheart VS Noah Grey![2]

Nola saw the battered and bruised figure of Noah rise from the ground, a bead of sweat trickled down her temple.

A nagging intuition gripped her, and in that very moment, a troubling thought crossed her mind: 'Something is not right.'

With her curiosity sparked she gazed deeply into his eyes that once held nervousness and fear.

They were now replaced with an intense determination. His once ordinary black orbs now appeared eerie and unsettling.

A feeling crept up on her that this was not just her imagination playing tricks.

Suddenly a realization hit Nola.

'I had seen eyes like these before, but where?'

Although the memory was out of reach, the intensity in his gaze was uncannily similar to someone.

Shaking her head, Nola steadied her focus on her opponent, assuming a stance.

Her breathing was labored and uneven. She was out of gas.

The match had taken its toll, enduring far longer than anticipated and exhaustion weighed heavily upon Nola.

As if in response, Noah also assumed a peculiar stance.

***

Noah's POV(Point of View):

I caught sight of Nola's figure, as she was ready for another round.

With a deep breath, I eased my tensed muscles, feeling a slight pain as I exhaled.

Earlier, I instructed Nano not to use its abilities on me, no healing, no pain numbing. How else would I know about my own limitations?

I gradually lowered myself onto my left knee, adopting a squatting position.

I then leaned forward with my head, followed by the rest of my body until assuming a runner's stance.

Firmly planting my left hand on the ground, I slowly raised my right hand.

With the reverse grip, the machete's razor-sharp edge found its place beside the outer curve of my elbow, while the blunt edge nested snugly against my forearm, held tightly in place by my grip.

Finally, I lifted my right hand ready to strike.

It was the perfect pose to deliver momentum transfer's charge.

There were reasons to why I refrained from using 'Momentum Transfer' skill until now.

First was obviously my low mana reserves with zero capacity.

Mimicking the charge skill without actually using it was all intentional.

Imagine yourself in a fight, rubber bullets flying at you with alarming frequency.

As the fight goes on, you'd expect nothing more than benign rubber bullets. But what if your enemy suddenly switched to deadly metal bullets without any indication?

This despicable tactic is commonly referred to as a 'Surprise Effect'.

Very simple but very effective if done right.

With body imbued with mana, I launched myself forward, expending fifty percent of my mana reserves in the process.

The sudden speed shocked even me.

Fixing my focus, I swung the machete with all my might, my leap suddenly doubled in speed.

Nola, who saw my charge towards her was baffled.

She tried to dodge, but it was too late.

The speed with which I moved caught her off guard, and her attempt to defend herself with her sword proved futile.

The force of the attack was too much for her worn-out, unprepared body to handle.

Her grip on the sword loosened, and it flew out of the stadium while the blunt machete struck her in the stomach

"FU*G!" Nola exhaled.

Her eyes rolled back in agony as she slid across the ground, eventually coming to a stop at a distance.

She was in pain.

Good.

I will give her more pain. Toxic bitch.

***

"Ugh...it hurts..." Nola groaned, her body weakened from the prolonged period of time she had spent trying to 'humiliate' Noah.

In contrast, Noah had a slightly better stamina than Nola thanks to Nano.

Still his physical condition was worse than that of Nola.

The crowd fell into a deafening silence as they witnessed the scene unfolding before them.

It made no sense to see someone ranked in the thousands overpowering someone ranked in hundreds.

"How is this possible?" some

students murmured in disbelief.

Others simply gasped or muttered in shock.

But amidst the tension, a voice rose above the silence.

"You can do it Noah! Go for it! Finish her!" James cheered, drawing everyone's attention.

Noah repositioned himself, his mind set on finishing the battle.

"One more should do the trick," he thought to himself.

With the last of his mana reserves, Noah propelled himself forward with momentum transfer.

Nola saw the boy coming at her with incredible speed, and could only sweat profusely as she covered her face with her hands.

"Hut!" Noah let out a forceful cry as his machete collided with her, causing her to bounce off the ground and come to a stop near the edge of the arena.

She was still conscious, but on the brink of giving up.

Most students couldn't believe their eyes as they watched a seemingly weakling like Noah beating Nola.

"How is this even possible?" They whispered to each other in disbelief.

But there was one person who was even more puzzled than the rest: Luke Armstone.

Luke had been beaten to a pulp by Noah previously and had never suspected that the boy could be capable of such a feat.

At first, he thought Noah was simply hiding his true power during the fight.

But after watching Noah struggle against Nola time after time, getting beaten down only to rise back up, Luke couldn't make sense of his strange behaviour.

In the end, Luke concluded that Noah must be a masochist who enjoys getting beaten by girls with no other reason to explain his weird behaviour.

Step! Step! Step!

Noah moved in slowly for the final blow.

His body was beaten and his mana reserves were completely depleted, but at this moment, none of that mattered.

Nola, who saw Noah strolling towards her, attempted to get up.

"Ankh!" She exhaled, her body twitched with pain, and she was too exhausted to continue.

Noah stopped right before Nola.

But suddenly, he fell to the ground.

"Heh?" A questioning sigh escaped Nola's mouth watching what happened.

"Halt!" Professor Riya shouted out an order to halt the match. Rushing to Noah's side, she checked his body and discovered that he had completely depleted his mana reserves.

This was a very novice mistake. Ones a person depletes all his mana, they would end up going unconscious.

How could someone do such a noob mistake?

"Since Noah cannot fight anymore, the victory goes to Nola Reinheart!"

Professor Riya declared.

A strange expression crossed Nola's face as she watched medical staff take Noah away.

Tears filled her eyes as she contemplated the outcome of the match.

'Did I really win? This victory feels anything but fulfilling. How could this pathetic victory even be called a 'victory'?'

Her expression was vexed with a frown on her pretty face.

On the other hand, Professor Riya, who watched the entire thing, was confused.

She looked at the boy who was currently being taken away by the medical staff.

With a stern face Professor Riya let out, "I should probably check his file once."