LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 41: Training Conclusion.
Zoey wanted to see just how much this changed Alexander could handle. So, she started off with her All-out Boxing form. The 5th form of the Ultimate Boxing Style. Complete and utter freedom to dominate any opponent in front of her. While it was nowhere near completion, she figured it would be enough for Alexander. As far as she knew, he had no fighting experience against fighters. Close combat was his weakness.
Alexander sent a sharp punch aimed at her face. The crackling of the electricity around his arm spoke of its dangerousness. Zoey met him head-on. Offense was her thing, after all. She sent a straight of her own, and lightning ran through her body once they clashed.
She expected him to be sent sliding back, but this transformation of his put him above her own strength, which was new to her. Despite realizing that Alexander was stronger and faster than her, the smile on Zoey’s face only continued to grow. Did she only have strength as her advantage? Of course not! Boxing was a fighting style that relied on more than just brute strength!
Zoey took on Alexander’s quick and unhinged assault using all the fighting experience she’s gained so far. His attacks were fast, but they weren’t fast to the point where she couldn’t react to them. She should be fine if she protected her vital areas, like her face, throat, and chest. But being on the defensive like this wasn’t exactly her style.
With a clumsy block of one of his kicks, Zoey looked like she was taken off balance. In his transformed state, Alexander quickly honed in on this moment to take advantage of it. Unfortunately for him, it was only a feint. Zoey easily got her balance back, and then shoulder bashed straight into Alexander, almost knocking him over. She quickly dashed over and grabbed him by the face before he could recover. Letting into his stomach with her right glove multiple times.
His back hunched over from the power of her unrestrained blows, but his will to survive and win never wavered. Even while he felt his intestines being pounded into paste, he was able to cough out another spell. This spell blasted both himself and Zoey away from each other. Zoey saw that her Abnormal Conditions leveled up to 5 after taking that spell head-on and forced herself up despite the pain and numbing of most of her body.
“How can I be losing with all this magji!? I’ve never lost to anyone but my teacher when I used this spell! What are you!?” A scary amount of electricity began to focus around Alexander’s figure.
Zoey was too focused on raising her skills to notice, but more than two skills were rising because of this training session. Besides Boxing and Abnormal Conditions, Teaching, Endurance, and Terrifying Aura were rising as well. It may not look like it, but Zoey was teaching both Alexander and Lindsay with this training because they were training together. Endurance grew with every painful hit Zoey took and how long she pushed herself despite being tired. Terrifying Aura gained experience if Zoey terrified her opponents and to what degree has she frightened them. The more terrified, the higher the experience gained for the skill.
As Teaching rose in level, so did its effects on those who were being taught by her. Those under the effects of Zoey’s Teaching skill wouldn’t realize that whatever area that Zoey was teaching them in would have drastic growth! For both Lindsay and Alexander, over the course of their training, their fighting ability was growing incredibly fast, and unless they went under several life-threatening battles every day. They couldn’t replicate anything close to what they’re experiencing under Zoey’s Teaching skill.
Because their fighting ability was growing so fast, Alexander was able to temporarily match up to Zoey in close combat from time to time, even with her greater experience and skill. However, it wasn’t enough to overpower and defeat her on his own. He was fighting an uphill battle using everything he’s got, and it still wasn’t enough to bring out the win until Lindsay found her second wind seeing Alexander give his all to put Zoey down.
If her fear of Zoey’s strength was holding her back, why didn’t she just eliminate her fears? Slightly encouraged by Alexander’s lunacy, Lindsay bashed her forehead against the gym floor till she felt that she had enough courage to stand on her feet and stand up against her. Normally, she wouldn’t do something so painful and reckless, but could she possibly advance as a magjistar if she couldn’t even do something like this? It took a few tries before Terrifying Aura no longer had its grip around her heart and a bloody forehead, but eventually, she did it. Now with a heart filled with lunacy, Lindsay reentered the battle.
“Ice Volume II: Frenzied Blizzard!” She yelled, momentarily taking away Zoey’s attention from Alexander.
A fierce spiral of white snow came flying out of Lindsay’s wand straight toward Zoey’s unprotected back. Lindsay and Alexander carefully watched her to see how she would react to this attack. Alexander prepared himself to cast a spell to attack her after she responded while Lindsay reanimated her plush croc with more mahna. It grew in size right beside her, and she climbed up its soft body with her legs dangling in front of its chest.
Zoey responded the only way she could, by running away from the spell as it wasn’t something she could really punch, unlike Alexander’s lightning balls from earlier, which she could. However, even with being on the track team, magic was just something else... It quickly caught up to her and let Zoey experience what it felt like to be in a blizzard for the first time in her life. Every single inch of her body was enveloped and invaded by the cold. By the time the blizzard passed by her, she was nearly frozen into an ice cube.
She was completely unable to respond as two spells flew towards her, slowly merging into a spiraling beam of magji as they neared one another. One was a beam of lightning, and the other a beam of ice. Zoey could only stare at it as it headed straight for her. But how could she accept being hit without even trying to retaliate back?
Zoey threw one last punch with all she could muster toward the combined spell. Unknowingly finally tapping into the 0.4 magic stat she had as her fist was briefly coated in mahna. This added to her already naturally powerful body and only increased her Tornado Fist’s strength even more so. A spiraling left punch with a blue aura coated around it headed straight for the spell. As the two clashing forces met, an explosion formed.
An explosion of ice, lightning, and boxing glove pieces erupted. Alexander and Lindsay silently watched to see the aftermath. The ice part of the clash coated the area in a white mist, making it difficult to see what happened. In only a few moments, this would no longer be an issue. Both magjistars saw Zoey barely stood standing on her feet with her fist still held out in a punching position. However, she completely lost consciousness.
“It's finally over...” Lindsay climbed down from her plush crocodile and dropped to her butt.
“Thank all that is good and just in this world... If she could keep going after something like that, then I... I don’t know...” Alexander joined her in her relief.
“Remind me to never suggest training with Zoey ever again,” Lindsay asked.
“This only happened because you wanted us to get a killer instinct or whatever. Remember? It was fine before that.” Alexander reminded her.
“Okay, let me explain myself. I didn’t think that Zoey would be a complete monster! Sure, I knew she was strong, but this!? What we just experienced was completely outrageous! If she really went all out, then she could probably match a B-grade daemon by herself!” Lindsay clarified.
“I just don’t understand how she’s like this either... It doesn’t make any sense. Could it be that normal mortals are affected by the Balance of the World just like magjistar are? Is that why she’s so powerful?” Alexander asked.
“No, that doesn’t make sense either... If that was true, every human born without magji would be incredibly gifted physical wise. We would have hundreds of people just like Esteban at the school. Because he was born with so little magji potential, the Balance of the World gave him physical attributes beyond the normal magjistar.” Lindsay debunked.
“Then what’s the deal with Zoey?” Alexander couldn’t figure it out.
“Maybe she has even less magji than Esteban...” Lindsay shrugged her shoulders.
Both Lindsay and Alexander didn’t feel anything from Zoey when they first met her. But both of them clearly felt the mahna residue from her punch there. Either Zoey has finally tapped into the potential always hidden inside her, or she was always able to use magji. Lindsay was more inclined to believe the former over the latter because she only used it when she had no other options. Alexander shared her opinion because it didn’t make sense to him why she would hide it at all.
“Let’s wrap up today’s training and never do something like this again.” Alexander clapped his hands.
“Agreed.” Lindsay had no problem with such.
Alexander princess carried the unconscious Zoey to the infirmary. No one was there, so they could nurse Zoey back to health with some simple magji.