The Academy’s Crude Pink-Haired Martial Artist

The hazy view spread out before me returned to normal as I exhaled.

What the heck?

It felt like my consciousness was abruptly cut off, snip-snippy- just like that.

Did I lose consciousness from that one hit? Me?

“This is, what, the heck—”

“Is there time to be surprised?”

Chuckle-chuckle- Leona’s fist lunged out again.

In an honest direction. If I tried to block again like before, she’d definitely break through my guard and smack my face.

If the hierarchy were just a couple of levels higher, I might manage to block, but Leona is on a different level. No matter how much I flew and fought in my past life, there’s no overcoming such an overwhelming gap.

Assuming it was a simple close combat.

…Of course, right now, I’m without a weapon, so I’d definitely get wrecked, but I won’t let my guard down like before for no reason.

If I pick up a weapon, I might be able to hold my own.

But she can even use mana to strike me.

There’s no blocking, deflecting, or dodging. And she’s barehanded.

That means, without a weapon, all I can do is evade that fist.

Damn it.

I twisted my waist and leaned my body.

Hwoosh—! A dizzying wind brushed past my cheek.

But Leona’s body didn’t stop.

Her outstretched fist twitched as her shoulder flexed and her outstretched leg burrowed deeper into my waist.

A twisting movement aiming for my shoulder.

I can’t dodge it like this. I pulled my right foot back, which had shifted weight, and stepped my left foot to the right.

Then, I immediately bent forward and twisted my body.

Suddenly, I felt a strong wind whip past the back of my head.

I quickly rolled my eyes. Leona’s approaching foot. The moving waist. The tightening abdomen. The swaying shoulder. If I wait any longer, it’ll be too late. I moved my body.

I bent my upper body, turned my head, hunched my shoulder, folded my waist, and bent my legs.

I dodged the first punch, the second grazed my hair, the third hit my shoulder, and the fourth brushed my ribs.

And the fifth.

Instead of a fist, it was a leg.

This beast can no longer differentiate between hands and feet.

I immediately raised my arm to guard.
I lifted my outstretched leg slightly to shift my center of gravity.
I relaxed the leg supporting my back, preparing to retreat the moment I got hit.

Then, crack—!

Her shin, swinging like a whip, struck my forearm.

I retreated as planned to soften the impact, but the pain was joltingly intense.

“Damn! Ugh…”

Curse words slipped out involuntarily.

“Didn’t you say you’d only use your fists?”

I yelled while gripping my left forearm, which felt cracked.

“Nyaahaha! You dodged so well that I’m getting excited too! Sorry-sorry!”

Leona, awkwardly smiling, scratched her cheek and came closer. For a moment, my body flinched, but realizing she was just coming nearer, I loosened up.

“Here, drink this.”

“…Why are you giving me a potion right from day one?”

A violet potion was in Leona’s hand.
I didn’t refuse and accepted it as she was just handing it over.
But this wasn’t an ordinary potion.

With this kind of viscosity…

“Is this a high-grade potion?”

“It’s the only one I’ve got!”

“You’re not going to bill me for it, are you?”

“Eeh? As if I would do that? Drink up!”

Pop! With a cheerful sound, the glass bottle opened, emitting the characteristic aroma of a high-grade potion.
I gulped it down immediately.
Instead of a liquid, a jelly-like solid wrapped around my tongue and slid down my throat. It then mixed into my mana and blood, spreading throughout my body like it was taking root.

With a refreshing and prickly sensation, the persistent pain in my arm completely vanished.

What’s left of the potion inside me…

“…Hm?”

In my lower abdomen.

It gathered in my dantian.

“What the heck…”

A potion?

It feels a bit strange for a potion.
But I can’t say it isn’t a potion either.

What is this?

As I rubbed my warm, tingling lower abdomen, I looked at Leona.

“Is this… a potion?”

“Well, it’s something similar! How does it feel? A bit better?”

I raised my now fine arm to show her.
Leona smiled in satisfaction and raised her fists again. This time, with both hands.

“If you’re all better, get ready!”

“No, I need some time to absorb this—”

She didn’t give me any.
Boom! Punches shot out, aiming for my face.

“Damn it!”

I instinctively raised my guard.

And.

“Nyaaha! You’re really a fool!”

Crunch.
Once again, stars burst before my eyes.

This time, it was two.

*

It was already past midnight.
In the middle of the training grounds, where punches struck like it was hard to believe, Leona chuckle-chuckle- laughed.

That laughter was a natural response to Eliaernes’s achievement.

With punches extending one after another, punches that Eliaernes could never block due to her hierarchy.
Eliaernes was dodging non-stop.

At first, she instinctively raised her guard to block, but by the tenth punch, she didn’t raise her guard at all.

By the twentieth, she didn’t even get grazed.
By the thirtieth, it wasn’t even touching her hair.
By the fortieth, evasion flowed like water.

And now, she reached a point where she had to dodge Leona’s occasionally swinging legs.

An indescribable genius. Yet, it felt strange.
It wasn’t the fighting style of a genius, nor the movements of a genius.
It resembled the movement of a former prodigy rolling and turning on the battlefield, a relentless fighting method.
Removing habits, stripping away unnecessary parts, killing style, forcing maximum efficiency.
It was as if it tore the unconscious domain of a human and yanked it into the conscious realm, altering it.

Meanwhile, she was quietly stacking the substance of the potion she had absorbed.

Leona’s smile had become uncontrollable.
Having laughed non-stop, her cheeks ached.

While I wanted to ride this momentum, it was clear that Eliaernes’s tender body wouldn’t hold up.

Her gaze remained sharp, and her petite lips continued to spew forth thick curses, but she had reached her limit. If she pushed much harder, her body would suffer.

While she seemed to think it normal to train while injuring herself, Leona had no intention of letting that happen.

Thus, to break the flow, she circulated her mana even more fiercely. Creeeak- It felt like she was wrapping the very space itself as her fist was clenched.

Eliaernes’s eyes blazed sharply at that. She wasn’t frightened. Not even thinking of dodging.
Just with the intention of facing Leona’s punch.
And the will to definitely land a hit hung just by her tightly closed lips.

Leona’s lips wore a brighter smile than before.
A hit capable of breaking bones at the very least.
She had prepared more than enough potions for it.

What on earth would she aim for?
As excitement swelled in her heart, Leona’s punch was unleashed.

In that moment.

“…So that’s it.”

A chuckle escaped from Eliaernes’s lips.
Simultaneously, a light footwork followed, and her body spun widely. Her delicate body leaned to one side.

With her upper body bent low, as if about to touch the ground. Ready to topple at any moment. But she wouldn’t fall. Her firm legs remained grounded, steadfastly holding her center.

Then, cherry blossom-colored mana erupted forth.
With its aftermath, her pink hair released and danced like cherry blossoms. One leg standing firmly on the ground moved. It shot upwards.

Posture, weight distribution, footwork, striking point.
Leona’s eyes widened as she witnessed the entire process. Her smile erased, her breath momentarily halted.

It was the back kick that Leona’s master always used, and Leona herself mainly employed.

Returning Kick.
It was reproduced in Eliaernes’s body.

Weak. Crude. Not perfect.
The balance wasn’t right. The power was lacking.
Weaker and more pathetic than her own and her master’s.

But it was the same.
A clear Returning Kick.

As the white leg and straightened fist began to meet…

Leona’s punch was pulled back.

The leg that had been swinging dangerously halted mid-air.
Behind her fluttering skirt, her pink underwear, damp with sweat, was visible.

And then.

“Why suddenly pull back? What the heck, why did you stop?”

Eliaernes spoke, filled with disappointment, annoyance, rage, and competitive spirit.

“I thought after just one round, I’d get the hang of it…”
She mumbled something more, but Leona didn’t respond, quietly staring at the exhausted Eliaernes, who was staggering.

“Um… Well, I’m sorry for the rude remarks. While fighting, this just kinda… happened…”

On the other hand, Eliaernes thought Leona was mad because of her curse words and nodded with her head bowed.

And she smacked her lips in regret.
She had just been on the verge of comprehending the technique of the back kick that had blasted the basilisk’s head in the entrance exam.
And it was the same technique Arisa had used continuously.

Despite countless trainings, her body remained tender, soft, and short, which led to her weak strength and short reach.

The only thing that could serve as a strong weapon for her was the kick technique.
If her hierarchy rose, she wouldn’t need to rely on it, but for at least another year, she had no choice but to lean on it.

But that too was incomplete.
She had merely imitated Arisa’s movements, not grasping the essence embedded within.

While dodging Leona’s attacks and moving her legs, something felt like it was finally clicking.
I seemed to have discovered the method of weight distribution.
However, even that wasn’t certain.
If I could clash fists with Leona somehow, I could have improved it and adapted it to my flavor, but just before that, Leona withdrew her punches.

Of course, it was clear that if they clashed, my leg would be shattered, but that didn’t matter to Eliaernes.
She believed that chugging a potion or visiting the resident priest in the academy for healing would quickly remedy any aftereffects.

On the contrary, she thought of it as a cheap experience.
But Leona held her punches back.
She couldn’t gain enlightenment.

“…Ugh.”

Putting aside such regrets, just as she was reflecting on her previous movements…

“Eliaernes.”

Leona, with a slightly subdued voice, asked.

“Who taught you that Returning Kick just now?”

In an instant, Eliaernes’s eyebrows twitched.

“What do you mean? Returning… what?”

She was aware that Leona’s movements were similar to Arisa’s.
It even crossed her mind that Leona might be Arisa’s student or something similar.

But what was this Returning Kick?

It was just something she had tried her best to imitate from Arisa’s common spinning kick.
Not her exclusive move, just an ordinary back kick.
Even that was only mimicking the appearance; the process was merely spontaneous thought and reliance on her instincts to move.

So she didn’t know of any Returning Kick or anything like it.
That’s a name a flowery-headed Arisa might use.
If Arisa had named it, it would probably be something like Super Strong Spinning Kick or some nonsense.

Having completed her thoughts, Eliaernes shook her head.

“I don’t know anything like that.”

At that response, Leona’s narrowed eyes stared quietly at Eliaernes.
It was a gaze trying to grasp the true intent behind her words.
After staring for a while and coming to some understanding, she burst out laughing as usual, “Nyaahaha!”

“Since you’re Eustetia, that makes sense.”

And then.

“But you were a bit arrogant.”

Thwack!
Her fist shot out, striking Eliaernes’s jaw.

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