Chapter 22
Arya watched from the sidelines in a shaded area as a boy and a girl sparred each other using their abilities. Catalina gave her a flask of ice cold water and some grapes to snack on-her favorite fruit. Bless Catalina and her soft spot towards Arya.
Arya wanted to watch the sparring matches since she was curious as to what kind of abilities existed and to learn more about fights between ability users. She had never fought with anyone other than Elijah and Catalina before and she wanted to see more abilities in action before she joined in.
Arya popped a sweet green grape into her mouth as the first match beginned. Elijah and Myna sat with her on the wooden bench. Once the boy and girl stepped foot onto the court, a translucent force shield surrounded them and the training court. To prevent people from getting hurt by accident if the fight got way too intense, Catalina explained. They would prevent a stray ball of fire or a shard of ice, etc from flying into the crowd.
The girl, a silvery/white-haired beauty with mixed-matched purple and red eyes, apparently had a cloning ability as she made two copies of herself and all her clones including herself attacked the boy at once, fists ready and faces all determined.
The boy, a thin and wiry-looking boy with dark green hair and black eyes, seemed to avoid and dodge every attack or blow the girl or one of her clones tried to land on him.
He weaved, ducked, and casually avoided her every attack with ease like he could predict her attacks.
"Mr.Elijah, can that boy see into the future? It looks like he knows that girl's next moves."
"Yes, he can but only 10 seconds into the future. His ability is Precognition."
"Simple power but it's so effective. Look at how much that girl is struggling right now."
Arya pointed at the fight that was going on.
The girl did indeed have a hard time landing a single blow on the boy. He moved swiftly and nimbly compared to the sluggish and slow movements of the girl.
Three copies of the girl attacked at once in hopes of being able to overwhelm him.
But the boy was ready for it.
In such a fast movement, his right leg shot out and caught the clone trying to sneak up on him in a back kick that sent her flying through the air. A right hook caught the clone on his left by surprise and sent her flying through the air as well until she smacked hard against the force shield and slumped to the ground.
The remaining girl threw out a straight punch but the boy arched his back low enough to avoid it.
The girl continued to throw punch after punch at him, but he either blocked it or dodged it.
Finally, he ended the fight with an uppercut to the girl's chin. Looks like he got the real girl as she slumped to the ground and all the other clones melted away like snow on a hot day.
This was his victory.
The students clapped and cheered for the boy while the girl dragged herself off the court, defeated but honorably accepting her defeat.
Next up, a boy and a girl again. Arya popped a few more grapes into her mouth.
A girl with dark blue hair and matching dark blue eyes.
A boy with long white hair pulled back into a low ponytail and icy blue eyes.
The girl vanished in a flash the moment the match started.
She vanished in a blink of an eye and reappeared behind the boy seconds later.
She threw a punch at him but he too was gone in a blink of an eye.
He reappeared a few feet away from her.
Arya gasped.
"Speed vs Speed? They both have speed abilities."
Catalina shocked her head.
"Not exactly, little princess. That girl is Isolde Eques and she has a speed ability.The boy is Ambroz Maxic.He has a teleportation ability. But Ambroz can teleport so quickly that it looks like he has a speed ability."
Isolde and Ambroz were engaged in a close range fight, throwing punch after punch at each other, but each one was fast enough to dodge whatever attack that was thrown at them.
The two were just a blur of movement as they fought each other at close range.
Arya could barely tell what was going on so far but she thought one of them was getting tired and starting to slow down a bit.
Myna frowned.
"Princess, I think the boy's getting tired. Look, she landed a hit on him!!"
Arya saw how the boy could no longer keep up with the superhuman pace of the fight, his teleportation abilities slipping up and he wasn't able to move out of the way quickly enough to avoid the punch the girl threw at him.
Strange, if her power was super speed, then why did her punch send the boy flying so hard that he broke through the barrier and crashed into some poor spectators?
Elijah noticed her confusion and quickly explained to her in detail.
"Isolde utilizes her ability efficiently and she can use her super speed to increase the impact of her attacks."
Arya nodded in understanding.
"So she can increase the damage and impact of her punch through speed. I get it. It's the same principle that governs why falling from a taller height is more dangerous than falling down from a lower height. Falling from a taller height means there's more distance and gravity placed on you. Isolde using her speed means that it doesn't matter if the distance is a few feet or a few inches, she can still use her speed to inflict massive damage to her opponent. That's a smart way to use an ability."
Elijah nodded.
"Indeed, it is, princess, good observation. Next match is about to begin."
"You decide on who goes first beforehand or is it random?"
"We randomly pair up students at the start of class. No two students spar with each other twice if we can help it. We want them to get exposed to fight different opponents who have different abilities."
"Thanks, Eli."
She ate up all her grapes already. Oh well. Arya focused her attention to the next fight.
Two girls this time.
Arya made it a game now to try to figure out what their abilities were.
The blonde hair girl vs the pink haired girl. The pink-haired girl looked muscular and strong with buff arms and a built figure compared to the pettiness and delicate looking appearance of the blond girl.
The pink haired girl smashed her fist into the stone court and the ground shook and rumbled as the stone cracked and split into thousands of pieces. Arya thought that that pink haired girl was trying to gain an upper hand by causing the ground to be uneven and badly unnavigable. That's a smart idea in case the other girl was a close combat fighter. If you didn't have good balance or control, you would not be able to get a solid footing which could impact your fighting ability.
That's a pretty smart idea, Arya thought. That girl is an experienced fighter. Catalina nodded her approval.
The blonde hair girl summoned something. It was a small army of stone….creatures of some sort. They looked ugly and lumpish with heads too big for their bodies and huge, thick arms that ended in boulders for fists. There were about six of those stone creatures.
"Her power reminds me of Azalea,", Arya absent-midingly commented.
Catalina nodded.
"Yes, her power is similar to the little princess's power but her golems-what her stone creatures are called-are more stronger and durable than her little dolls are."
The blonde haired girl pointed a finger at the pink haired girl and all six golems charged at her.
The pink haired girl didn't move, instead, she seemed to be very confident in herself.
A golem swung its rocky fist but it was too slow as the pink-haired girl was able to quickly dodge out of the way, stepping to the side as the golem clumsily swung at where her head was just moments before. The pink-haired girl swung her fist at the golem's head and a loud crack and explosion could be heard as the girl's fist made contact with the golem's head and the solid rock head shattered into a million pieces from her raw strength. A powerful sidekick caused the now headless golem to go flying through the air until it went crashing into the force shield and slumped to the ground behind its master.
The pink haired girl caught the fist of a golem trying to punch at her. Another golem tried to sneak up on her from behind, fist raised, but she dodged in time and the golem's fist ended up punching its fellow golem instead. The pink haired girl whipped into action. She grabbed one golem by its arm and judo flipped it. The golem landed with a loud hard impact that cracked the ground under it that destroyed it and caused it to shatter into a million pieces. The remaining golem retreated on the commands of its master with the 3 golems.
Clapping and cheering could be heard from the watching students. This fight seemed to be in the pink-haired girl's favor.
"The blonde girl is relying too much on her golems to fight for her, Mr.Elijah. I bet she doesn't have any fighting skills."
Elijah nodded. Silly Elysia and her overdependence on her golems to fight for her. He told her so many times to learn some fighting skills like hand-to-hand combat or swordsmanship-or to even just work on improving the durability and quality of her golems!!
Numbers didn't mean a guaranteed victory if the opponent was far stronger and more skilled.
Elijah observed the match. He noticed Arya was also paying close attention to the matches as well.
As much as he didn't want to admit it, Arya was his favorite kid he had ever taught before.
She was a fast learner and an eager learner as well. She worked hard and was talented. A rare combination.
In the training court, the pink haired girl leaped up into the air, 10 feet into the ground, her fist raised.
The blonde hair girl seemed to know she didn't stand a chance of winning anymore.
Her face said it all. She admitted defeat already.
The pink haired girl allowed gravity to take hold of her and she flew back down. Twisting and turning herself in the air, she positioned herself so that she was flying face first back towards the ground. She threw her shoulder back and her fist made contact with the ground. It was like an earthquake suddenly happened. The ground shook and the trees trembled and their leaves rained down to the ground.
The remaining 4 golems went flying backwards from the impact of the punch that sent shockwaves through the ground.
They crashed against the barrier and fell down limp as rag dolls.
The students cheered more loudly and went crazy.
The battle was clearly the pink haired girl's victory.
The blonde hair girl looked sad but resigned. She accepted her defeat with dignity like she never expected to be able to stand a chance in the first place.
A red-haired boy was up next. His opponent-a black haired boy- was making his way to the training court when the red haired boy did something unexpected.
He suddenly jabbed a finger at Arya.
"I challenge Her Highness, Princess Arya, to a spar!!"