"So, are we not going to spar..?"
"We will, let's head there now."
I didn't know why we were in the Occult Research Club room, but then she guided me outside again. We went into the inner courtyard of the old school building. There in front of us was the gymnasium.
"Couldn't we have just come here at the start....?"
But Akeno did not answer my question; only her smile did.
We had gone to the school gym. We stepped inside, the familiar scent of polished wood and rubber hitting me. The gym was empty, the silence broken only by the squeak of our shoes on the floor.
"Are there any rules...?"
"No weapons, no killing blows, first one to yield loses, but what do you mean by risks?"
"We should ask a risk, something maybe like a kiss."
"A kiss, you are bold, Amamiya-kun. But what happens if I win?"
"I'll give you something you want. I'll tell you how to progress your lightning."
I wanted to test how strong I was compared to them. Akeno was currently weaker than Rias, a mid-class devil, so if I couldn't keep up, I knew what level I was at.
"You, how do you know about that?"
The words hung in the air. Her face had changed; the smile that was on her face had vanished, and her eyes went cold. And then I felt it, that murky feeling I felt before. It was killing intent; it had flared up as soon as I had mentioned that.
The ability that she kept hidden from outsiders, but I had said how to progress it, an ability that she didn't show a lot.
So how did I know about it?
"What an interesting offer. I accept your terms." She seemed to get back to her usual self. She didn't press the question. For now.
The stakes were higher than she knew. I didn't just know about her Holy Lightning; I knew about its secrets and why she had it, as I had read the novel
"We'll start on opposite ends. When the basketball hits the floor, we begin."
She walked to the far side of the polished court, her movements fluid and confident. I mirrored her, my own steps feeling heavy, clumsy in comparison.
Akeno picked up a basketball from a rack near the wall. She held it for a moment, her violet eyes locking with mine from across the vast, wooden expanse. Then, she let it drop.
THUD.
The sound echoed.
I didn't charge. I waited, my feet planted, my body sinking into a slight crouch. A lesson learned from a lifetime of brawls: the one who strikes first often reveals.
Akeno didn't move either; she stood across the court, her bare feet planted on the polished wood, her white sundress swaying slightly, as her violet eyes were locked on me.
I could feel her probing me, not with mana, but with her gaze. She was looking for an opening, a weakness.
She smirked, a slow, confident curve of her lips.
"Show me what you have, Amamiya-kun."
And then she was gone.
she didnt vanish, but she moved with a speed that defied her casual posture. One moment, she was across the court; the next, she was a blur of white and black, her form Colided like a snake.
She aimed a kick, not at my head, but at my knee, a disabling one; she aimed to disable my mobility.
But I saw it coming.
I brought my leg up, blocking her shin with my own. The impact was jarring, a sharp crack that vibrated up my leg.
She was stronger than she looked. Her momentum carried her past me, and she used it to spin, her other leg sweeping low.
I jumped. Her foot whistled beneath me, an inch from the floor. I landed hard, the wood groaning under my weight.
"You're faster than you look,"
She said, as her voice was light and conversational, as if we were still in the café.
"You're stronger than you look,"
She came at me again, a flurry of strikes. Palms, elbows, knees. She wasn't holding back.
Each blow was precise, aimed at a joint, a nerve cluster.
I raised my arm to block hers. My Aura flared like a protective shield; it had blocked her blow.
Thud!
But I still needed to make my own move. I saw an opening. As she threw a punch, I stepped inside her guard, my shoulder ramming into her chest.
The air came out of her lungs. I followed up with a short, sharp punch to her ribs, aiming for the kidney.
My fist connected with her abdomen. Her legs buckled, and she dropped onto her ass. I kicked off the ground and landed behind her.
But before I could even follow up with another strike, she had moved.
"zzzz"
The sound of lightning came from nowhere, and the light illuminated the darkness of the night. It was like a light being turned out. The yellow sparks of lightning clung to her body. They flickered over her skin and clothes.
Lightning surged between our bodies; I had to distance myself from her. As I knew what this was: Holy Lightning, the ability I had talked about. It stung like holy water; it had burned my skin.
A sizzling sound was coming from me. It smelled like burned sugar.The pain was excruciating, a thousand needles of pure light piercing my skin.
But underneath it all, there was a dark, primal rage that began to stir inside of me. The Ogre blood in my veins roared to life. My Aura exploded outwards in dark purple energy that swallowed the light of her lightning.
The burns on my skin began to heal, the flesh knitting back together in seconds.
"Ara ara, can you hurt me even more?"
Akeno's face was excited, and a shade of red was on her cheeks as if she were pleasuring herself. She was breathing heavily, her chest heaving. She was enjoying this. The pain. And the fight.
And so was I.
I felt it. the thrill and the dark and intoxicating rush of adrenaline. The pain was a distant memory, as it was a dull throb compared to the power that was surging through me.
My horns felt like they were on fire, and I could feel them growing. My teeth ached, and I could feel my canines elongating, like they were being sharpened.
"I thought we weren't going to use killing moves."
"Huh, but that wasn't a killing move."
Her smile was of pure sadism, her violet eyes gleaming in the dim light of the gym. She was toying with me, testing me, and, even more, teasing me. This is who she was. The S and M Queen of Kuoh Academy.
"I'm going to enjoy this. I'm going to break you."
Her voice was low and seductive, like a whisper you would tell your significant other while in bed.
"Try me."
I pushed myself up. My muscles didn't scream in protest, but my neck hurt. One moment it felt like I could move my head, and the next, I felt like new.
She came at me again.
Lightning exploded out from her body, not in the normal wild arcs from before; it was more focused, like concentrated forms of lightning in the form of spears.
Creak!!
With a slight move of her hand, yellow lightning fell from the sky of the gymnasium in the form of spears. They were fast, and I wasn't going to be able to dodge all of them. The only thing I could do was to tank them or dodge.
I saw the spears falling, yellow lightning. They were as sharp as blades; they were fast, extremely fast. I couldn't dodge them all; my body couldn't move that fast.
So I stopped time.
[Severed Universe — Active]
[Time Frozen: 10 seconds remaining]
The world went white with white feathers that fell from nowhere. They drifted through the frozen air, landing on the splintered wood, even on Akeno's raised hand.
I moved. My legs pushed off the floor, and the wood creaked. My movement was slow. I ducked under the first spear and rolled past the second. Though I had stopped time, I was still in the range of the lightning.
I moved forward, just in front of her. I readied myself in a striking position. I readied my aura; it clung to my fist.
Then time resumed.
Aura clung to my fists; fire leaked out. It was something I didn't have before when I used aura, but it now leaked out like a never-ending tide, clinging to my fist.
I didn't hesitate. My fist connected with her shoulder. Fire flooded out from my fist, an explosion of fire that erupted and enveloped Akeno.
She had tried to move, but it was too late; she was in the middle of the explosion, engulfed by fire.
But nothing had happened. This feeling—it was mana.
She had protected herself with mana.
"Ara ara... You really are something else."
The fire dissipated, and there she was, standing in the center of a crater. Her dress was in tatters, her skin was smudged with soot, but she was unharmed. A thin, shimmering barrier of mana flickered around her, a pale, violet shield.
"Using a special move so soon? I'm flattered."
I didn't answer. I just glared at her, my body coiled like a spring. The fire on my fists had died down.
"I wonder, what else do you have hidden up your sleeve, Amamiya-kun?"
She came at me again, her movements a blur of white and black. She was faster now, her strikes more powerful. The lightning crackled around her, a dangerous, unpredictable aura.
I met her blow for blow, my fists and feet meeting her lightning-charged attacks. The gymnasium was filled with the sound of our battle, the clang of my fists against her mana shield, the crackle of lightning, and the roar of fire.
I was losing.
She was too fast and too strong. I was a brute, a block of granite weathering a storm of steel. I blocked, I parried, I absorbed the blows. My Aura flared with each impact, a shield of red energy, but I could feel my regeneration kicking in, dulling the ache in my arms, the sting in my shins.
I needed to make my own move. I saw an opening. As she threw a punch, I stepped inside her guard, my shoulder ramming into her chest. The air came out of her lungs. I followed up with a short, sharp punch to her ribs, aiming for the kidney.
My fist had met hers. But before we could even continue with the encounter, when her fist had met mine, something behind me exploded.
It wasn't that something exploded; it was the delay that the lightning had. Since I had stopped time, I had forgotten about it, but It was still there.
Boom!!
Lightning in the shape of spears hit the ground around me. The floor was torn to bits, and the pillars holding the roof were shattered. The floor had become a mess.
Swoosh!!
Debris came flying towards me, and I had to use it: Shrine. Lines of White appeared outward, as if I was slashing a sword in my hand. In a quick motion, I pointed at the debris that came flying towards me.
White lines appeared in the air; they were thin and sharp. This slash wasn't an ordinary one; it was different, as it was shaped like a waffle.
The chunks of wood and plaster hit the lines. They were cut cleanly; they weren't shattered, nor were they pushed to the side. They were cut into utter pieces, becoming so small it was almost unnoticeable.
"What—"
Akeno's eyes widened as she looked towards it. Though unseen to her eyes, she could sense it—the weird feeling of Mana being cut, and the way the debris was cut into unnoticeable pieces of rock.
But before we could even continue i had raised my voice. with my hands raised upwards.
"I yield."