With this being the premises of his new state, he had no difficulty distracting Sabrina from seeing his random jolting around. And when he finally went in for a back attack, he went in with the confidence that he was going to at least land a blow, even if he didn't end up being a fatal one. There was definitely no way she could keep up with his speed.
Gabby was right in that regard, Sabrina could never hope to see him coming at that speed, talk less of defending herself. But as Gabby was soon to discover, Sabrina's petals and her consciousness were two very different things.
With the precision of an anti-missile, and with a speed that matched Gabby's own, the flower petals rose up from the basket with that same flowery elegance and stopped Gabby's attack before it could land on Sabrina's exposed back. Gabby was seriously amused. Those petals were truly something! At this point, he was more bemused than bewildered. So, still on that same speed, and vibrating at an unfathomable wavelength that was, Gabby proceeded with his attacks.
He had now tested the limits and reaction speed of her wall of defence. So he didn't relent, Gabby continued to bombard her on all sides with a relentlessness that was characterised by his own craziness and speed. But every single attack was stopped and repelled by the strange flower petals. This continued for a while.
Well, it was a while to him because he was moving at a ridiculous speed and wasn't tethered to the same time frame. Gabby got seriously busy. He tried and tried his best, but there was no head way at all. Interestingly, he noted that Sabrina's consciousness wasn't the one controlling the petals. It seemed like they were acting independently of her control. Several failed attempts told him that valuable lesson.
Moving at such a high speed had its own side effects. In order to maintain a high speed of that nature, he had to burn a serious amount of his own mana. It was the price for this ability. And even though he was part vampire, his human side demanded that he regulate his mana, or risk burning out entirely. After several failed attempts to get a crack at Sabrina, he deduced that it was pointless to continue to deplete his mana on such a fruitless exercise.
And so, he exited his high-speed state. Very slowly, all the atoms in his body began to return back to their original state. Trying to bring himself to a sudden halt was like trying to land a plane by simply dropping it from the sky. No, like a jumper easing his way with a parachute, and like the pilot gently guiding a plane's steady descent to a perfect touch down, Gabby slowly eased his body back into their natural state.
By the time he had slowed down completely, he looked at Sabrina carefully and noted her countenance. Gabby froze up- he had been right after all! Her consciousness wasn't in direct control of her defence, it was an automatic system! No wonder he hadn't even been able to land a single attack! The little girl remained completely stoic. Anyone could tell that she was definitely unbothered, like she wasn't fighting three different hybrids- at the same time!
Her flat expression hinted that she wasn't surprised with the outcome of the battle. Gabby didn't know if he was being paranoid or something, but he genuinely suspected that all of this was playing according to her plan. It was that distinct bored look at the edges of her eyes that suggested that she might have actually expected this to be the case. If that was true, then it was possible that that there was likely to be much trouble ahead.
It was almost always bad news if in battle, things appeared to be proceeding according to the enemy's plan. And worse still, she was yet to even show her cards, or even launch a direct frontal attack on any of them! So far, it had been strictly defensive and deflective maneuvers. Again, she demonstrated the chilling ability of hers that suggested that she might actually be aware of what was going through their minds, and proceeded to gainsay them into conceding defeat;
"Gentlemen, surely you're not too blind to see that continuing this battle would be a pointless resolve. I urge you to put your ego aside and reconsider, you might actually get hurt."
Sabrina's attempt to discourage her enemies was met with very different reactions. For instance, Gabby and the rest of the team were already dealing with their own individual reactions to the little girl's petal power. But for the lead teacher of Melbourne High School's team, 'dumbstruck' was the best possible word that could be used to describe her. Confusion and shock intertwined themselves in the crevice of her heart, and lurked around the chambers of her mind.
Wallice was truly shaken by this incredible display by this girl. Surely this was a joke? As the team's lead teacher, she was well aware of the ferocity of each of her students' attacks. For Gabby in particular, Wallice knew that only an advanced mage could hope to match his speed. At best, they could try to anticipate his movements and read his attacks through the slight distortions in the air when he moved. But the little girl hadn't reached that level yet!
Or had she?! Wallice was bedazzled. She couldn't help but feel like she had just been blindsided and as a result, she had plunged headlong into a ditch. Just who was this little girl anyway? Wallice thought to her rattled self. Who was she? Wallice couldn't understand why her own investigations hadn't churned out any significant information about this particular enemy! Oh Wallice didn't like what was happening, she didn't like it at all!
A dark storm cloud rolled across her already disturbed horizon, bringing a very sudden and very dark realisation to her; the Blood Blade user! Of course, how could she forget? Could it be that it had been this little girl all along? It actually seemed very plausible that it would be her! With her gainsaying smile, cute features, and polite manners, (and a record that seemed to hide her true past), it was very probable that this was the entity!
Wallice was deeply troubled. This was a lot to chew on, there were just too many unknown variables. She could almost feel her brain churning itself out like a baker kneading dough. She had to organise her thoughts. Or by default, she would concede to the wiles of the girl-child, and automatically become a victim in someone else's web of lies.
No doubt, there were a lot of things that were just out off place with the child, but what disturbed Wallice most was just how off the grid such an astute student was. How come such a powerful high student of this caliber hadn't gotten the recognition she deserved?!
Wallice racked her brain from the inside out. Mentally, she went through stacks and stacks of gathered information about not just this year's contestants, but any child prodigies that had been in existence within the past two decades. Valarie was the first name to come to her mind, but she quickly (and jealously shoved her name aside) and focused on other names of possible suspects.
With a jolt, the name hit her- Sabrina!
Ah yes, it was a name long buried beneath the piles of memories and long list of ambitious achievers in the mage world. It was a name that only existed within the area of a certain timeline in her memories.
'Sabrina…' Wallice echoed the name again as she tried to jog up old forgotten memories.
She remembered. Of course she did. The little girl called Sabrina was a well known child prodigy just like Valarie at the time. In fact, if memory served her well, the girl had actually managed to surpass Valarie back then. But that had been the peak of her own journey as a child prodigy. Nature viciously snatched back the gift it had bestowed upon Sabrina. Her decline started very early in her career. And before long, she completely disappeared from the public's eye.
It had been a very sad tale indeed, but that wasn't Wallice's concern.
In that very moment, the lead teacher was rejoicing that she hadn't stubbornly held on to tradition by demanding a one-on-one robin format round. As far as things were, it genuinely seemed like it would have been a dastardly mistake for her and her boys. If Sabrina was still Sabrina, then they would have had absolutely no chance of winning that sudden death round.
Overwhelmed with a flood of epiphantic thoughts, Wallice cupped her hands over her mouth (like a small microphone), and began to yell at her three students shamelessly;
"If you want to show your ace cards, now is the time!! This is your chance!"
Wallice didn't even try to conceal the urgency in her voice. Now that she had realised what a danger the girl was, Wallice abandoned finesse to the wind. It wasn't a time for all of that.
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