Laying down on the tree, Angus passed the time by reading a book about the material. *Bam* *Bam* a series of noises could be heard from far away.
Angus guesses that the battle has already started. After a while, the sound died down and gave some peace for Angus to read his book. After a moment passed by, someone approached him.
"Angus, I finally found you." said Jayna.
Hearing his name being called, "Oh, hi there Jayna. What are you doing here?" asked Angus nonchalantly.
"Err.. I am your opponent in this class tournament." said Jayna.
"Really?? I never knew that." said Angus.
"*Sigh* you probably didn't listen to the explanation again." said Jayna.
"Well, What can I do? These things do not interest me." said Angus while getting down from the tree.
In the previous class tournament, Angus also ignores the teacher's explanation and gets over it. He even dared to read books while waiting for his group's turn.
"Anyway, since you are my opponent, I guess you already beat the others. So, let's get going. *Yawn*" said Angus lazily.
"Wait Angus, I am still not touching you yet." said Jayna seriously.
Hearing this, Angus stopped his walk without turning around. "You know you could never do that." said Angus as he stored his book inside his wristwatch.
"Yeah, but I still need to touch you to at least defeat your team." said Jayna while doing some stretching.
"Haa… how about the others?" said Angus.
Hearing this, Jayna smiled, "Shadow Guard, prevented the other teacher from coming near us." said Jayna.
After she finishes saying that, a bunch of shadows move from Jayna's shadow. After the last assassination, King Leon decided to attach more shadow guards towards Jayna for her safety.
"Done, Anymore problem?" asked Jayna as she prepared herself.
"Haa… I guess I didn't have any choice then." said Angus as he looked at the wristwatch.
"Alright, I will give you five minutes to try. It will start... Now." said Angus as he clicked his stopwatch.
The moment Angus finishes his sentence Jayna begins to dash towards him. Her hand tried to reach Angus, but Angus easily sidestepped and dodge it. Abruptly Jayna stopped her momentum and grabbed her fist.
She swung her fist while containing fire elemental mana towards Angus [Immolation]. The fire spread along with her hand. Like predicting this, Angus already backs away a few meters away from Jayna's attack range.
Then, Jayna quickly cast a few flame shots towards Angus. Still, he could easily dodge all these attacks. Without wasting a moment, Jayna enhanced her body with mana and engaged with Angus in another close combat.
Dozens of flurry attacks were launched by her towards Angus. Yet, every single punch and kick miss Angus by a hair's breadth. Jayna feels she is punching an air that keeps moving around.
Still, this didn't make her angry or frustrated. It only makes her more excited. Since she can't win against Angus's bet where she needs to avoid him, Jayna relentlessly challenges him like this.
She realized that whenever she kept her emotion at bay, she could find Angus's movement. The moment she saw that she knew how ridiculously insane Angus's movement was.
Every breath, every move, and every single part of Angus's body is moving without wasting any energy. Moreover, it is done flawlessly like he is being programmed from the start.
Later, Jayna found out that trying to decipher Angus's move gives her much more experience than any combat sparring she has before. This is also one of the main reasons she always challenged Angus.
As for Angus, he also realizes what Jayna wants to do. But, seeing her effort to cope with him by learning herself, he feels like helping her a little bit.
Still, he always gave her some strict conditions before she could challenge him. One of them is to make sure that nobody is around them right now.
After dodging for a while, Angus closes his eyes while dodging her attack. Looking at this, Jayna couldn't help but be stunned at such a performance before stopping her attack.
Feeling that Jayna stopped her attack, Angus opened his eyes, "Done already?" asked Angus
Hearing this, Jayna continues to launch attacks at close combat with faster speed while Angus closes his eyes once again.
Looking at this Jayna stopped her attack, "H-How did you do that? How did you keep dodging with your eyes closed?" asked Jayna's back but with glittering eyes.
Opening his eyes and looking at the shining eyes on Jayna, 'Urgg.. I really shouldn't have shown this to her.' thought Angus inwardly.
"Well, it's nothing difficult. You are not the only one that could learn something from your opponent." said Angus.
"Huhh??" asked Jayna confusedly.
"Look here, while you learn my movement. I also learn your pattern and breath of every attack. By mastering this, you could even know what your opponent will do before they execute it." explained Angus.
"Ehh.. That's absurd.. How did you even manage to learn that in the middle of fighting?" said Jayna.
"Well, we already fought a few times before. I just combined all this experience." explained Angus.
'Though I could already do it from the start after a few moves she did. But, she doesn't need to know about this.' thought Angus inwardly.
"I see.. Then, how do I learn this?" asked Jayna.
"You already did. This is different from a technique you need to learn and practice. You need to grasp your opponent's movement to its finer detail and combine it with your fighting instinct."
"It is like trying to understand your opponent's moves which you already did but at a higher level. The more you grasp your opponent's moves, the better the result. Like why I did it just now." explained Angus.
"B-But.. I barely understand your move?" said Jayna.
"Of course, there is no way I will let my opponent grasp my movement." said Angus.
"Hmm... Then, how did I cover my move like what you did?" asked Jayna after thinking for a while.
Rather than replying, Angus only looked at her expressionlessly for a moment. "Hmm… Ahh time is up. Let's get out now before we worry about the other teacher." said Angus while walking away.
"W-Wait... you still didn't answer my question." said Jayna.
But, Angus ignored her and kept walking. Looking at Angus back, Jayna knows that she is already over her boundary and makes Angus mood down.
'Stupid Jayna, I should never ask him to teach the technique.' thought Jayna inwardly.
Even Though Angus helps Jayna in controlling her mana, Angus never truly teaches her something like skills or technique. All this time, Jayna only tries to imitate or steal Angus's moves. But, asking for a technique is different than trying to imitate the moves.
After walking in silence for a while, "How many fingers could you do for the thread exercise?" asked Angus.
Startled by a sudden question, "Eh.. I could only make it four but if I give it my all I could make it five in a short time." replied Jayna.
"Five…" said Angus before back to silent thinking for something.
After a while, "Meet me in the dorm's garden at night and get rid of your shadow guard." said Angus before he went back to his lazy expression.
Before Jayna could reply, Angus was already back to his teammate.
"Angus, where have you been? Didn't I say to stay together?" asked Ian.
"Ahh.. I just happened to find a strange cat in the forest." replied Angus.
'Who the hell will believe that kind of lame excuse?' thought everyone.
"Ehem.. Since all the members of group four are eliminated, it means group three is the winner." announced the nearby teacher.
Although the teacher didn't know what happened during the five minutes delay between Angus and Jayna because of Jayna's shadow guard intrusion, they didn't bother since both of them were back already.
Since even the shadow guard prevents them, it is best that they didn't ask anything about Jayna and Angus.
Soon, the fifth-grade class tournament ends with Jayna's group as the winner. Then, they went back to their dorm.
As the sun begins to set, the peaceful night embraces the royal academy and each resident. On this starry night, Jayna walks out to the Dorm's garden. She found Angus looking at the starry sky.
"Isn't it beautiful and peaceful?" asked Angus.
Looking at the sky, "Yeah.." replied Jayna.
"Every time I look at this beautiful scenery, I feel kind of at peace. I feel the freedom. From problem, conflict, enemy, family, even from power itself." said Angus.
Jayna keeps listening to Angus without giving any reply.
After a while, Angus looked at Jayna intently. "Jayna, I am not going to lie even to myself. I am kind of… interested in you."
Hearing this, Jayna is blushed from the sudden confession.
"For me, you are as beautiful as the starry night in the sky. This is one of the reasons I want to help you till now. For me, you are like the brightest star in the darkest night.
"Yet, you also keep fighting for your fate even at such a young age. Truthfully, I want to help you as much as I do to fight against this cursed destiny of yours.."
After a while, Angus continued, "However… I am also a man with pride and principle. So, Jayna, what could you offer me for my technique?"