Chapter 83 - Holy Ground
Chapter 83 – Holy Ground
Upon hearing that this new girl suddenly indicating that both of them belongs to the same clan, Claire was surprised and immediately pointed it out, "Azrael, aren't you an orphan with a common background?"
Barbara, who realized the mistake, closed her mouth with the hands instantly, "oops…"
Azzy who was stiffened by Barbara's loose tongue now became angry after seeing her reaction.
He quickly thought of an excuse on the spot, "No, she was just referring to her clan in a formal way."
Claire just stared at him in silence as if she was thinking he was kidding. Thankfully, the blank expression on him helped at the moment and made her believe his words.
Since Barbara is a member of the nobility, Claire also thought it might be possible. The only suspicious thing is the girl's reaction. It appeared as if she blurted out a secret.
Meanwhile, Azzy wondered whether this cousin of his really managed to keep the fact that she's time traveled.
Even though Reaper told him that she's telling the truth, he became skeptical about it after witnessing this incident.
"Anyway, let's start the training. We don't have much time." Azzy reminded Claire to divert the situation. He then looked at Barbara and said her to stand in the side for now.
Claire nodded and continued to walk before stopping five meters away.
She then summoned her soul card and then, took out a heavy sword that brimming with a holy aura.
As she raised the sword above her head, the aura erupting from the sword, surrounded her. Meanwhile, her eyes turned golden. "Are you ready?"
Azzy nodded calmly. At first, he used to get extremely uncomfortable as her strong light attribute is an enemy to his Death/Dark attribute. So, he hesitated to help her out.
But, under the suggestion of the Reaper, he trained with her for the past six months to shake off that uncomfortable feeling. Right now, after getting used to it, he was no longer bothered by it.
At the same time, the divine sword spirit also became good at controlling its hatred after getting used to it. Of course, it goes without saying that it still views the presence inside Azzy as its enemy.
Of course, there's one more person who was feeling extremely uncomfortable at the moment. Barbara who was infected with Protos energy also felt the hate from her sabertooth tiger towards the girl, or rather the sword.
Remembering how her Neko used to dislike light attribute people, she thought it was because of the same reason.
"Start."
Claire quickly dashed towards him as soon as she heard him. Even under the double gravity, her moments weren't restricted even a bit.
Azzy stood there calmly. He waited until his opponent reached him and slashed at him.
Just as the tip of the aura about to touch him, Azzy made his move.
He sidestepped to the left and dodged the attack. But, it wasn't stopped there. Azzy immediately counterattacked at the same time.
At the instant, the sword missed the target, he instantly grabbed her left arm that wasn't holding the sword and then, threw her in the opposite direction.
Claire was flung away for a couple of meters before she managed to control her body and landed her feet on the floor.
She didn't stop and dashed towards him once again.
This time, as she swung the sword at him, her eyes darted left and right to check where he will going to dodge.
However, to her surprise, Azzy ducked and grabbed her shirt near the waist and flung her down at the floor before he dashed backward to gain distance.
As he barely used any strength on her, Claire wasn't injured in the slightest.
"Again…" He spoke as she stood on her feet.
The sparring was continued, by Claire getting defeated in every move. Azzy was simply using different kinds of techniques on her for every attack, making his pattern appear quite random.
"This unconventional style of fighting…" Barbara fell into a daze as she watched the battle from the sidelines. "it kinda resembled Auntie Evelyn's mixed fighting style."
After a while, Azzy once again counterattacked, this time by kicking her left foot in a way that made her split her legs suddenly, thereby, losing her balance.
Azzy walked back a few meters in a distance, waiting for her to stand up.
"Azrael, you are going too easy on me." Claire pointed the sword at him and complained, "even if you don't use the lightning wolf, at least use your soul power."
Azzy put his hands behind the back and replied, "I already told you many times. I'm not your sparring partner and only help you train your battle skill. So, what you should worry about isn't whether I'm going all out or not. First, your goal is to land a hit on me. Then, talk about making me use my soul power, later."
Claire wasn't offended by his remark as she was used to his personality. Instead, she takes it as a challenge and smiled, "Then, I'll force you to use it."
"Good luck." Azzy gestured to her to continue.
This time, her facial expression turned serious as she unleashed the soul skill for the first time in three months.
"Soul skill: Descent of the Heavenly Guardian."
Suddenly, an enormous amount of natural energy absorbed into her body, filling her soul power to fill and at the same time, energy wings made of light particles appeared behind her back.
Strangely, the sword in her hands disappeared while a halo appeared above her head.
She appeared so pure that it almost enraged Vajra. As for the Reaper, he just laughed it off. He didn't think much about it.
Barbara went into a daze. She felt as if she was seeing an Angel that descended from the heavens to the earth. However, the roaring of her Neko inside the mindscape brought her to reality.
"What's happening with Neko? It was no longer enraged but rather terrified? A platinum grade beast is afraid of this gold grade sword with a light attribute?" Closing her eyes, Barbara went to her mindscape and then, concentrated on calming down her buddy.
Back to the battle, Azzy, who already seen the skill once, wasn't surprised and even praised, "Good. It appeared to be more controlled. Now, the outcome of the battle depends on what combination you will use with it."
"Well, I wanted to save this until the annual tournament finals to surprise everyone and get into the Champions League but I guess, I have to get acknowledgment from you, first." She replied with a smile as she took out a four-star skill card.
"Holy Ground, Activate."
She poured her soul power into the card, before throwing it onto the floor, activating the skill card.
The card shone brightly for a couple of seconds before turning the porcelain tiles on the floor into golden color.
"Oh! What is this card?" Azzy looked at the golden floor, curiously as he felt a slight suppression on him.
After all, he was someone who would be perfectly fine even if gravity was increased by 20 times. He has never seen such a skill card before.
Claire fell silent.
If they were just by themselves, she wouldn't have bothered to keep it a secret. However, Barbara's presence made her hesitate.
After all, she's a person from another academy. She immediately turned her head and looked at her.
Barbara who was busy with calming her Arcana spirit just looked blankly at her in return.
Meanwhile, Azzy understood what she was thinking, said, "don't worry. Presently, she wasn't concentrating on the battle right now. Either way, I will make sure she won't spill it to her teammates. You can trust me on that."
Claire nodded and then, explained, "I turned this area into Holy ground. This four-star card will increase the healing ability of light attributed Arcana masters by at least one-fifth. At the same time, my attacks will be also strengthened by a fold.
And you know that I can continuously recover my soul power endlessly for ten minutes after I use this soul skill."
"It's not enough, Claire. There are going to be several geniuses in the tournament with higher soul ranks. You are still stuck at peak-rank-4. Add another skill card to this combo. It should be one that increases your power or speed." Azzy gave a bit of quick advice.
"Hmm… How about this?" She took out a mysterious skill card upon much deliberation.