Blood Queen Reborn

Chapter 147: Don’t Go Too Far

The moment Vorden said he wanted to fight Erin, whispers spread across the students.

"The Ice Queen against the new guy?"

"If you think about it, they’re both blonde. Maybe he wants to eliminate the competition."

"I’m really curious about his ability. Hopefully Leo won’t ban them for today."

Ignoring the gossiping, the new student had taken his hand out for a handshake.

"Hey, my name is Vorden, what’s yours?" He said.

Erin looked down at the hand, "Mine’s Erin—"

Before she could physically touch him, Leo interrupted them for his lecture.

"Before we start sparring, I shall be showing you a basic martial art that all soldiers are required to learn. For this, I will need a volunteer," Leo began.

He sensed around the class, searching for a particular aura.

"Quinn Talen, how would you like to spar with me?"

Quinn looked back at the teacher, in the middle of equipping a pair of beast gauntlets. He nodded, and joined Leo at the front of the class.

A few students whispered, but out of all of everyone there, picking Quinn made the most sense. While he wasn’t as popular as Erin was, his peers knew him as one of the few gauntlet users in the class.

Both Quinn and Leo stood at opposite ends of the platforms, and Leo continued his lecture.

"Now for this session once again, I would like you all to not use any of your abilities—"

A few students groaned in disappointment, but Leo went on.

"Later on, we will try to learn how to combine your abilities with our fists to make more of an impact, but for now, forget about it."

Quinn flexed the fingers of the black gauntlets, getting used to its weight, or namely, the lack thereof. It was different compared to the usual earth gauntlets he made as having giant rock fists for hands were obviously going to be heavy, but the beast gauntlets gave a tiny boost in strength, more than making up for its weight.

Leo assumed a fighting stance, "Okay, when you are ready, I want you to come at me and don’t pull any punches."

In the crowd, Layla decided to ask Fex a question

"Do you think Erin could do well against Leo?"

"Well, when it was all of us against that dalki, we weren’t able to defeat it," Fex began, "But that old man managed to kill it without breaking a sweat. This might be weird to say, but he might be even stronger than me."

Taking in a deep breath, Quinn charged at Leo. He was a little faster as he used the slightly improved strength from his gauntlets to power his legs, but despite putting everything into a punch, Leo stepped to the side, completely avoiding it.

Before Quinn could even recover, Leo twisted his body, turning his foot, and using the other to kick Quinn in the chest.

The force had slammed the student onto the ground.

"Again!" Leo shouted.

Quinn wobbled back onto his feet, and instead of trying to throw one big punch, he stood his ground and tried to throw several smaller ones. However, Leo adapted, and used his palms to block and redirect the attacks.

After little over a minute, Quinn was panting, his face slowly becoming red.

"Okay, now that’s enough," Leo stated.

"Huh, I didn’t think his punches were that sloppy," Fex commented.

"Well, what would you have done?" Layla defended.

Fex’s eyes flashed a look at Layla and he cracked his knuckles, "You’ll see soon enough."

"What you have just witnessed is the martial art we teach our soldiers here. It is called the Pugna style. A mixture of karate amongst other things with the hands, while using a form of taekwondo in our legs. It’s important to know that the reach in our legs is longer, and more powerful than our arms, but our hands are more versatile and flexible."

Then Leo continued, "Now, I want you all to practice what I have displayed today in your sparring matches. Quinn, you may return."

Quinn nodded, and went back to the others, wiping some sweat off his forehead.

"Leo, he’s..." Quinn had to catch his breath, "He’s pretty strong."

"Oh yeah," Fex snapped his fingers, "That reminds me, why did you want to fight with me, Layla?"

"Er," Layla absentmindedly picked at her nails, "Well, no offense to you, but with gauntlets as Quinn’s main weapon, his hand to hand knowledge must be greater than yours."

Instead of being offended, Fex’s usual smirk twisted into a wide smile, barely containing a fit of laughter.

"Oh my god," Fex wheezed, "You are SO going to regret that."

Upon hearing this, Layla kissed her teeth. She was beginning to regret her decision.

Meanwhile in a different part of class, Vorden and Erin were standing next to each other, and Raten was nodding approvingly.

"Now I wish the teacher picked me, I would’ve shown a real fight," He said with a sneer.

Vorden internally sighed, "Calm down, Raten, you’ll get your chance soon enough."

Erin and Vorden went onto a large mat preparing to begin their spar. She lowered herself into a fighting stance, and Vorden did the same.

[Quest: defeat Vorden Blade]

[Reward: 50 EXP]

[High level opponent detected]

[Defeat the opponent in battle. Additional rewards may be given]

Upon seeing the quest, it was the first time that Erin had seen such a thing. She had seen additional rewards given when fighting alongside Quinn, but not by herself.

Immediately, Erin charged, fists ready, when Vorden narrowly sidestepped. He felt the side of her fist scrape against his rips.

While her arm was still outstretched, he attempted a gut punch, but surprisingly, Erin managed to recover fast enough to grab his hand. It happened so fast, he didn’t expect to be suddenly lifted up in the air, and tossed over her head.

He slammed onto the ground, then rolled onto his feet just in time to block an incoming fist with two hands.

The sheer force caused his feet to slide against the floor, but Vorden shoved her back, gaining a bit of distance.

They didn’t immediately attack again, as their brief interaction had made them think the same thing.

’Just what was this person made out of?’

They both knew they were faster and stronger than the average human, but somehow, the person they were fighting was matching them in sheer power.

"Enough gawking!" Raten said, shoving Vorden off the chair, "Let me have a try!"

Immediately, Erin could sense that there was a change in her opponent’s energy, although she couldn’t put it to words just yet.

"Vorden" threw a fist towards her head, and she prepared to block, but retracted at the last second. Dropping to the floor, "Vorden" swept her ankles with a kick.

[- 2 HP]

[HP 73/75]

[A foreign energy has entered your body]

[Your healing has been disrupted]

’What!?’ Erin mentally shouted.

She landed on her back, then rolled to the side, just barely avoiding a punch to the gut. Before she could fully recover, "Vorden" launched another fist, then another, forcing Erin to catch them.

Slammed onto her back, Erin pushed back against his fists, using every ounce of strength to inch herself upright. She had managed to recover about 45 degrees, only to get shoved into the ground.

[- 2 HP]

[HP 71/75]

Quickly examining her blood bank, she tried to mentally activate it, to no avail.

[Blood bank is inactive]

’What did he do to my healing?’ Erin gritted her teeth.

Then, she was yanked upwards, completely disorienting her movements, only to be slammed back down.

[- 3 HP]

[HP 68/75]

Leo this entire time had been going up to each of the students, and giving pointers on how they could improve. However, the moment he perceived that the aura of a student who was going too far, he ran up to "Vorden" and yanked him off of Erin.

"That is enough!" Leo commanded.