Chapter 334: Aria Vs Ava
?
It wasn''t a fight.
Not even a ''smackdown.''
Just an adult kicking a baby in the face.
Aria was a ninth-ss Spell Weaver specializing in nature.
Ava was Zenith Warden with two abilities.
Zenith Replenish and Zenith Soothe.
Replenish helped allies, restoring their Aether reserves, not the Wardens themselves, while Soothe only did, as the ability''s name stated, soothe pain, difort, and the like.
Her body naturally had incredible healing properties, but that wasn''t even close to being enough.
She was more or less guaranteed to lose.
The only chance she had of winning was if she could shoot Aria fast enough, breaking her force shield and causing their professor to interfere.
Yet she wasn''t given the chance.
"Root Surge!"
Just before she could pull the trigger, roots sprouted out of the ground and gripped her legs in their spiky embrace, crashing her to the ground as they snatched her up.
She fell face first, but she didn''t lose her hold over the gun, her body automatically healed itself, allowing her to keep her wits about her and lock her only weapon close to her chest.
"Incapacitate!"
But, again, Aria showed no ''mercy.''
As she tried to aim her gun at her friend, the roots holding her upside down suddenly flung her on her back, knocking the wind out of her.
While her force shield protected her from the impact, the momentum of said impact wasn''t canceled out, so she still felt pain-a great deal of it.
The pain went away a momentter however, as she had already healed.
Letting out a scoff, Aria raised her hand, and the roots followed her movements.
Ava realized what was going to happen next, but for the final time, she couldn''t stop it.
Her palm swished left, and the roots-n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
Bang!
Smacked Ava into the ground, causing dust to fill the air, and a gunshot-like sound to echo in the arena, a result of her force shield absorbing the impact.
Bang!
She didn''t stop.
Bang!
Even though Ava had no chance to move...
Bang!
Aria didn''t stop.
Bang!
Not giving her a chance to breathe.
Bang!
And with every ''p'' from her hand, Ava''s face paled even further.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The poor girl was running out of Aether at a fast pace due to the constant hurt and healing cycle, her core overworking itself.
Aria was using much of her reserves as well, but not as much as Ava, so if this was a battle of attrition, she would''ve won the fight with no sweat.
It wasn''t, however.
Ava was not much of a soldier.
She waved a white g.
She surrendered.
''Her bravado amounted to nothing, it looks like.''
Sighing, Emir looked away from the scene and announced:
"Aria wins."
His voice was as disappointed as his face, but the students didn''t mind or even notice that as they celebrated the end of a hard-to-watch ''fight.''
"Finally!"
"Man, I almost started crying..."
"God damn, she''s got spirit! I would''ve surrendered way earlier!"
"Me too, me too."
"Still though, that was expected."
"True, us healers ain''t suited for fighting."
"Who said? Trust me, once we get other abilities, we can be menaces on the battlefield."
"Sure sure."
As they chatted away, Emir went to check on Ava, his mind a current of thoughts.
''I get what she''s going for, but she should''ve tried harder at least, Aria was too pussy to hurt her, so she could''ve won if she stuck out longer.''
He was right.
If she onlysted a minute or so longer, Ava could''ve taken Aria by surprise once she stopped swinging her around with those roots of hers and shot her up, making swiss cheese out of her, but unfortunately for the girl, she couldn''t handle the process leading up to that conclusion.
Emir checked on the kid, and it only took him a nce to know that she was fine-only dizzy, out of breath, close to passing out, and experiencing a headache that could knock out any
mortal.
He looked at Aria, who stood next to him, and said:
"You realize what she nned to do now, correct?"
She flinched her head down in shame, understanding what he was trying to say.
"Y-Yes Professor."
"Good. Do better next time. If this was you showing no mercy then I wonder how you''d attack normally; tickle them maybe?"
"I u-understand Professor!"
He sighed and his face, which showed disappointment, vanished and was reced by a calm
smile.
Step...
Getting closer to her caused her to flinch again, but he didn''t scold her as she thought he
would, only patting her head.
"You got time, you''ll learn, now go."
Blushing, she nodded repeatedly and scurried off to join the crowd of students, not even
looking back at the friend she almost killed.
''Carrot and stick works everytime.''
A chuckle escaped him while he turned his gaze and stared at the door as if waiting for
someone.
Said ''someone'' or rather, ''someones,'' arrived a few secondster, two trauma team respondents from the ''Hub.''
Equipped with all manner of weapons and wearing the best augmented suit avable, E10s, they ran towards Ava, a floating stretcher trailing behind them.
Without asking a single question, they loaded her on the stretcher, nodded towards Emir, and
rushed out quietly as they came.
Emir, who weed their courtesy and professionalism, nodded back at their departure and returned his attention to the students.
"She''ll be fine, no need to worry... Now next up, Arthur, Xavier Jr. tform three, c''mon!"
The blessed flinched once he was called, but unlike a certain tsundere, it wasn''t out of shame but anger, more concentrated than Sofia''s; his eyes now burning with mes locked onto his
professor.
''...Hm?''
Slightly tilting his head, Emir, who quickly noticed the look, inwardly asked:
''Why?... Rather how?''
He knew why. It was because, in the protag''s eyes, he let the fight y out for too long.
So yeah, what he wanted to know was how.
Weren''t the systems inside the little protagonist''s neuralwork supposed to work together
and quell his naivety?
Or were they now less effective at doing that since they lost the mainponent that made Arthur listen to them?
A girl. At least the voice of one. A very annoying voice at that.
...Most probably.
Ticked off at remembering that squeak incarnate, Emir clicked his tongue, which caused the
one staring at him to snap out of it and quickly rush over to the tform as Xavier Jr was
already there, waiting, shield and longsword in hand.
"I''ve given you a chance, don''t waste it."
Arthur, who mistook Xavier''s words for mockery, took his ded staff and stood opposite his
opponent.
"I''ll show you who gave who a chance!"
Emir raised his brow, not because the reply was good-no, far from it—but because of what
that reply implied.
''Huh... he grew a backbone of sorts.''
[You think this shift is because of the bitch I ate?]
[I don''t think that I know that. It looks like he''ll be some Chinese protag with a mix of
Korean, not a Japanese one.]
[I don''t know which is worse.]
[Me neither Ly, me neither.]
As he said that, their conversation ended, and he nced at both students, checking if they
were ready.
They were.
And so...
"Begin!"
Emirmenced the match to begin.
But as Xavier stepped forward, nning to attack before Arthur could write down a single
rune...
He slipped.