The senior couldn't see Ciara clearly.
Though the whirlwind had subsided, the steam was thicker around her. This was no surprise since the heat would be enough to burn her skin and knock her unconscious.
The senior smiled at the sight before him. He saw a silhouette of Ciara and noticed she was still standing upright.
"Oh? Still standing? Impressive."
pαпdα Йᴏνê|,сòМ There was silence after his remark. Other than the hissing sounds of steam and the cool night wind fighting the heat in the area, no sound was heard.
"Let me end this for you," He said, once again igniting his fists with flames.
>WHOOOOOSSSSHHHH<
The enhanced senior dashed toward Ciara's shadowy figure, prepared to assault her with far greater fervor than earlier.
As he launched his fiery fist at her, he smiled. She was foolish enough to defy him, she deserved what she was getting.
The maddened boy felt his fists connect with the target, and the impact made a loud sound—reverberating through the silent night. However... something was off.
"What is... this?"
"Oh, so you've finally noticed." Ciara's voice came forth.
"W-What did you—" The senior snapped in surprise, eyes widening as he slowly began to understand the cause of his eerie feeling.
Ciara stepped forward, the steam clearing away from her and revealing herself to him.
Her body was covered in a blue-like substance. The senior didn't clearly see what it was at first, and so he squinted his eyes to see it well. His eyes bulged even more at the discovery of what surrounded her.
"T-that's... how did you...?" He stuttered as he spoke.
"You thought I had only two options. Keep up my spell and get burned, or deactivate it and be hit by your attack. You never considered the possibility that I could come up with this instead..." Ciara responded calmly.
"How can you cast a Tier 2 enhancement? You cast a Tier 2 spell just now... You can't possibly have equal proficiency in two Magic Types!" He was on edge at this point, yelling as he stepped away from Ciara.
Ciara, smiling as she noticed the sudden shift in his expression, took a step forward.
"Why are you panicking? Weren't you going to teach me a lesson?"
"How can you cast a Tier 2 wind spell and a Tier 2 enhancement spell consecutively? How?!" He yelled, losing his composure.
Ciara was coated with water around her body, and so she had a faint blue glow surrounding her.
"[Aqua Skin]. That's the Tier 2 enhancement I used to counter your fire. In addition to it, I also cast [Maximum Potential] enhancement to increase its ability. Since you're my senior you know this, so I won't repeat it to you." Ciara shrugged.
[Maximum Potential] was basically an enhancement that could be cast in all Tiers—ranging from 1 to 9 respectively—and its efficiency was determined by the total amount of Mana pool one poured into it, as well as the Mana proficiency the user possessed in the Enhancement Type.
"I have 500 Proficiency points in Enhancements! My Mana pool is also large, how was your Enhancement able to withstand mine?" The senior retorted with disbelief.
He was one of the best in his class. There was no way a junior could be so equally skilled in diverse Magic Types, even if she was special.
"What a coincidence. I have 500 Proficiency points in Enhancements too." Ciara responded with a confident smile, stepping forward once more.
Her declaration surprised everyone present, and they expressed this with gasps. It was impossible, after all.
Normally, in the Foundation class, Proficiency points were largely focused on one Magic Type, making it their specialty, leaving fewer points on the rest.
The senior had 500 points as his maximum point in his set, and it was on Enhancement, yet Ciara claimed to also have an equal amount of points in Enhancement but displayed great skill in her Spell Type as well.
This only meant one thing.
"You have equal Proficiency points in both Enhancement and Spell? That's impossible!!!" He yelled in disbelief.
Ciara smiled to herself. If only he knew that Enhancement was her weakest Magic Type. Her Proficiency points were divided as such;
Enchantment: 2,200
Enhancement: 500
Spell: 7,300
Rune: 1,000
[.]
Ciara's Rune Proficiency had doubled since Richard started aiding her in class.
Her Enchantments and Spell Proficiency had also increased. Her total Magic Proficiency had increased by 1,000. It was only her Enhancement that was stuck, and that was purely for a single reason...
... She didn't like using Enhancements.
"Think whatever you want. It won't help you right now." Ciara replied the senior, who was already looking flustered.
"As I was saying, I have the same Enhancement points as you. Normally, that would put us at a stalemate, but since you already used three Enhancements, and I used only one, not counting [Maximum Potential] which we both used, I had more points and energy to spare."
"No... no way. I refuse to accept this."
"And so, here I am. Looks like your plan didn't work after all." Ciara sighed.
The senior had no choice but to eat his words, yet a glare remained on his face.
"Didn't see this coming, did you?" The exact words he had told her when the march started was repeated to him.
He was lost for words. His companions were also speechless. They all looked surprised and seriously nervous.
It seemed like they were the ones being pushed back and were disadvantaged.
"Now, let's get back to the fight. Oh wait, don't tell me you're already tired." Ciara's tone suddenly took a sharp tone.
It was almost condescending.
"You... how dare you!" The senior temporarily forgot about the cause of his shock and snapped in anger.
Ciara wasn't fazed at all by his bravado.
She knew he was just putting up a front. She could tell, the drawback of using [Maximum Potential] was serious.
Ciara only used it since she had no other way out, and she only used it for a few seconds at a time. But, he had been using it for over a minute now.
'It must be wearing him down...'
"You won't last much longer, you should give up now." Ciara spoke in her now authoritative tone.
"Y-you brat!" The disagreeing boy growled.
He took his stance, preparing to launch his final attack.
He was running on fumes now, and this move would be his last. He knew that, and Ciara suspected as much.
'His Mana Pool must be in the red right now. It's impressive that he's still able to fight. It must be his pride that is pushing him on. I don't know whether to be impressed or disgusted by his stupidity." She thought to herself.
Then, while snickering internally, the girl suddenly realized her strange line of thought.
'Hold on...'
Was she always so condescending? Ciara surprised herself by the way she spoke and thought.
When she was fighting Mia, and even now... her change in personality had been strange. Why?
It didn't take very long for it to dawn on her, though.
She had always been fighting stronger opponents, and now, for the first time, she was fighting someone far too weak compared to her current level.
'I'm stronger. Way stronger.' This was the feeling of absolute dominance... and it was consuming her.
"Is this what it's always like for you... Noir?" Ciara whispered.
She could now understand why Noir was so distant and cut off from everyone else.
She didn't want to become like that. She would not—could not—forget where she was coming from.
'In as much as I am far stronger than this bunch, I'm still far weaker compared to many... I should remember that.'
This sole thought removed her from the haughty state that currently plagued her.
"Rarghhh!!!" The senior yelled and charged at her, but Ciara couldn't even be bothered about him in her melancholic state.
'[Sylph's Whisper]' She thought to herself without even chanting.
Suddenly, the whirlwind returned, even stronger than before thanks to [Maximum Potential]'s effect.
The whirlwind enveloped the area and doused the senior's flames entirely. The pressure and twisting of the wind-based spell sent him flying and he hit his head on the ground, instantly rendering him unconscious.
His comrades, who at this point, were terrified and began to panic.
The decision on whether or not to leave their leader was playing in their head. The whirlwind was growing stronger and stronger as time passed, but Ciara was lost in thought. She didn't notice what was occurring around her.
"Why... why do these things keep happening to me?"
Then she started hearing little sounds from outside her realm of thought. The sounds grew and became hushed voices.
She couldn't make them out clearly because of the sound generated by the whirlwind. She could only make out little words.
"...S-sorry... we're sorry. P-p-please forgive us... please... sorry...." It went on like that.
Ciara wanted to hear more, but the howling wind prevented her from doing so.
"Hush, wind..." She softly whispered to her spell, and it answered.
The Spell gradually stopped, and the wind dispersed.
Ciara looked at her assaulters kneeling, some lying face flat, at her mercy. She was still in a semi-aware state, so it took her a while before she snapped back to reality.
"Please let us go... we're sorry!"
As she heard those words, she returned to reality. She looked around, seeing all the havoc her wind had caused. She saw the senior who faced her battered and injured on the floor, and then saw the others looking with fear.
Was she the one they were looking at with such eyes? Just as everyone else looked at Mia.
"No... I'm not her... I'm not Mia!!!" She yelled, grabbing her head and closing her eyes tightly.
>VWUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMM<
The wind began returning as she yelled, and the vibrations it caused made everyone who witnessed this frightened.
Realizing this, Ciara quickly cautioned herself, calming the winds down once more. Then she fell silent.
She then turned to her attackers. They turned their faces away from her and looked to the ground. Sweat dripped from their body, their breathing pattern was disorderly, and their hearts raced out of fear.
"Go..." Ciara muttered.
They looked at themselves and were hesitant to move, unsure of what they had heard.
"I said GO! Now!" Ciara raised her voice.
This time, they hurriedly stood, carried their fallen comrade, and skittered away like rats.
"Haa... haa..." Ciara took a deep breath, inhaling and exhaling.
She had no idea what had just happened... But she was too tired to think of that at the moment. What she wanted at that moment... Was rest.
And so slowly and steadily, she made her way to her room, all alone in the dead of night, leaving the havoc she had caused behind her.
*******************************
"Interesting..." A voice let out in the darkness.
The pursed lips of the silhouette curled up in a wide grin, displaying a set of white teeth. Its watchful, obsessive eyes followed Ciara as she walked all alone.
A part of the figure wanted to lunge at the clearly distraught girl, however, it managed to restrain itself.
"No... not yet..." The deep voice slowly came forth.
Ciara was not 'ripe' yet.
Taking her out in such a way had no taste. It would be no fun at all.
"There's still something only I have to do. But do not fret so much, Ciara. We'll meet soon!" The shadow's grin widened even more.
It remained hidden, watching as Ciara ventured within her dorm, refusing to even blink for a second.
"Hehehehehe... Hehehehe" It laughed sickly, licking its lips with vigor and anticipation.
"Soon... very soon..."
Finally, a dim light shone in the silhouette's location, causing it to vanish into thin air.
The darkness masked most of the mysterious being's presence, though not entirely.
Because... unknown to both Ciara and the stalker, a third person was present, watching everything unfold from a safe distance.
His calm, unfettered gaze observed the events that had occurred, taking them into cognizance.
Without letting out even a single sound, he also vanished into the darkness, leaving no trace behind.
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[A/N]
Hope you liked this chapter. I made it much longer than normal.
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