Chapter 52 - 51 - The Other Student Anomaly

So, this is the other student Anomaly, huh? The others were all staring at her with expressions that ranged from awestruck to intrigued to curious. 

"I'm sure this is the first time that most of you are seeing an Anomaly in the flesh, but stop staring so intently, it's rude," Sighed Instructor Mikhailova. 

Heh, she has no idea... 

"It's cool, I don't mind!" Responded Sakura with a smile, before turning to us, "Feel free to ask me any questions, I won't bite!" 

For a few seconds, no one said anything, until eventually, Tairo spoke up nervously... 

"C-can I...shake your hand?" 

Huh?

"Oh, uh...sure, I don't mind at all, but it's not like I'm a celebrity or something, you know?" She replied with an awkward grin, holding out her hand. 

"I-it's an honor, you are the first Anomaly I have met in person, I am in awe...," He replied with a giddy expression, shaking her hand. 

So, he's an Anomaly fanboy, is he? Hehe, if only he knew...

"Anyone else have anything they wanna ask me?" She asked in a friendly tone. 

Hm, actually, I'm curious about something... 

"Yeah, I've got a question."

"Sure, go ahead!" She responded, before adding warily, "You don't wanna shake my hand too, do you?" 

"No, I don't. I was just wondering...is Sakura your real name? Seems way too much of a coincidence with that hair color of yours," I asked curiously. 

Her expression turned into one of surprise, before laughing cheerfully... 

"What, is that all you wanted to know? Well, it's not the name I was born with, but I legally changed it after I turned eighteen...it was a lot of work, but I managed to legally change my name to just 'Sakura', no last name!" 

"Huh...seems like wasted effort, but to each their own," I replied with a shrug. 

"Right, uh...anyone else?" 

No one really seemed to know what to ask her, so the instructor stepped in... 

"An Anomaly gives you the chance to question her and that's all you guys can come up with? Sakura, let's move onto the exercise, shall we?" She suggested with a sigh. 

"Sure, if you say so, instructor! Alright, everyone, pay attention. I want you to all form groups of three or four, and then take turns fighting me. I'll give you five minutes to form your teams!" She explained, getting straight to the point. 

"Make it three minutes," Chimed in Instructor Mikhailova sternly. 

"Oh, uh...sure. You have three minutes to form your teams!" 

This isn't good...fighting another Anomaly is risky, if I happen to make direct physical contact with her, then she'd know that I'm an Anomaly too. And unlike the other three Anomalies, she's a student like me, and she hadn't participated in any tournaments or anything, so her X-Ability was pretty much unknown. 

Also, I have to form a team right now? This is way too sudden, I don't know who I'd want to work with...or more accurately, who I'd least NOT want to work with. 

"Hey, wanna team up?" Suri interrupted my thoughts, tapping on my shoulder from behind. 

Her, huh? Yeah, why not, I mean...she's probably my favorite person in my class, so I had absolutely no reason to turn her down. 

"Sure, let's do it. Okay, so we need one more person then."

"How about him?" She suggested, pointing at Kiran, who was staring up at the ceiling absent-mindedly. 

Hm, he's like my second-favorite classmate, so yeah, I can work with that... 

"Works for me," I replied, walking over to Kiran and tapping his shoulder, "Hey, wanna team up?"

"Hm? Oh, okay, why not?" He agreed with a shrug. 

And so, I had formed my team. The other three teams had also been formed. Tairo, Bytra and Makoto. Andre, Lin, Taayin and Mitchell. And Seila, Katie and Zoya. Anyway, Asshole's team went first. The instructor formed the Duel Field around them and Sakura, and a countdown began ticking. 

"Alright, let's see what you guys are capable of," Grinned Sakura, cracking her knuckles. 

The three of them didn't reply, they were just standing still nervously, as the countdown ticked below ten seconds. 

"<Primary Manifestation: Twin Hammers>!" Makoto activated his X-Ability first, as it went down to five seconds. 

"<Primary Manifestation: Thorn Whip>!"

"<Primary Manifestation: Sword>!" 

As the countdown reached zero... 

"Well, what're you waiting for? Come at me!" Exclaimed Sakura, standing still with a confident look on her face. 

Upon her cue, Bytra shot forward and swung her whip across towards Sakura's left, who didn't move. Right before it could strike her, she raised her left hand and suddenly, a purple wall of XFE appeared, the whip deflecting off harmlessly. Hm, so her X-Ability lets her manifest her XFE, huh? It's hard to tell what it might be from just this though. 

I was watching her closely using the scope in my right lens...I'd asked Ruby to modify it so that I could activate it at any time, without having to switch my X-Blasters to sniping mode. And I was using it right now to watch my fellow Anomaly as she fought...right before she formed that wall of XFE, her throat moved slightly, but her lips didn't so much as quiver...she might be better at inaudible chants than I am, faster too. 

Makoto then sprang up in front of her and swung his hammers down at her, she countered by pointing her hand at him and rapidly forming a large, long arm of XFE extending out from her actual arm. The XFE arm grabbed Makoto before he could finish his swing and then flung him away with immense force, he crashed onto the wall of the Duel Field and passed out. 

Asshole then sprang up behind her as Bytra swung her whip at her again, the two of them attacking her simultaneously. Unfazed, she pointed each of her hands at either of them, and formed those large XFE arms again, grabbing them, lifting them up and flinging them straight down at the ground. The Duel Field teleported them out before they could slam down and break a ton of bones...too bad. 

She's pretty good...I have no idea what her X-Ability might be, and after my last experience with trying to guess what another Anomaly's X-Ability was, I knew that there wasn't much point in speculation. After all, it doesn't get more random than 'fairy tale Anomaly'. 

Anyway, the next group to go was the group of four, Andre, Lin, Taayin and Mitchell. As the countdown began ticking after they entered the Duel Field and surrounded Sakura, they looked a lot more proactive that Asshole's team did. 

"<Primary Manifestation: Dozen Tails>, <Secondary Manifestation: Wings>!"

"<Primary Manifestation: Arm Armor>!"

"<Primary Manifestation: Finger-Blades>!"

"<Primary Manifestation: Rapier>!"

As the countdown reached zero, Andre, Zoya and Taayin shot towards her simultaneously, while Mitchell flew straight up. Andre zipped across to her right, she reacted by forming a wall of XFE between them, as he unleashed a barrage of rapid consecutive punches at it. She formed a long, curved sword in her left hand, as Zoya sprang up behind her and Taayin leapt at her right from the front. 

As Zoya drove her blade towards her back and Taayin swung his finger-blades at her neck, both attacks suddenly got deflected away, as Sakura surrounded herself with a square XFE barrier. It quickly faded though, and she sprang away with a slight, barely-noticeable grimace. Had she used up a significant amount of XFE or something? 

I don't think anyone else noticed though, I only did thanks to my magnified vision. Mitchell then swiftly swooped down at her and spun himself forward rapidly, whipping his tails down at a blinding speed. She formed those large arms again, blocking his strike, but the force knocked her down to one knee, and her manifestation was severely cracked. 

Unfortunately, Mitchell had no momentum left, and was a sitting duck in mid-air, he didn't have enough time to reorient himself and fly back up...because before he could even try, Sakura grabbed him with both XFE arm and squeezed, the Duel Field teleporting him out before he was literally crushed to death. Interesting, she grimaced again, she's definitely starting to run low on XFE... 

"Oh, man, pretty sure I felt my ribs start to bend...not a pleasant feeling," He remarked with a shudder, as he reappeared outside the barrier. 

Zoya and Andre were looking a bit apprehensive after what just happened. Undettered, Taayin zipped towards her with a wild smirk on his face, leaping at her and swinging his finger-blades at her midsection, which she narrowly evaded. Taayin then reached out and grabbed her wrist, his smirk widening... 

"Now I've got you, <Secondary Manifestation: Torture Chamber>!" He exclaimed with a wide smirk. 

Say what? 

His Dark Attribute XFE burst out and surrounded her, restraining her wrists, ankles, neck and midsection, while a variety of torture tools manifested on either side of him...woah, talk about an elaborate X-Ability...by the look on his face, that move costs a lot of XFE, which he'd mentioned during the first teamwork exam...hm, from what I'd seen so far, she should have been able to avoid that though, guess forming so many Manifestations without the XFE capacity of a Prodigy takes its toll. 

"Now's our chance!" Exclaimed Zoya with a determined look, before sprinting rapidly towards her, "<Secondary Manifestation: Mini-Rapier>!" 

"<Secondary Manifestation: Armor Spikes>!" Joined in Andre, following her lead, as Taayin picked up some of his XFE-manifested torture tools and pointed them at her. 

Zoya sprang up to her left, her blades poised to pierce through Sakura's throat and heart, while Andre appeared behind her and leapt up with his fists balled together, aiming to bring them down on her head, while Taayin was driving a scalpel and something else towards her abdomen. 

Not bad, looks like it's their win-...suddenly, a bright purple flash burst out, before a couple of explosions echoed out from inside the barrier, and in the next instant...all three of them were outside the barrier. Huh? What just happened?

I swiftly tapped on my I-Watch to bring up an app that Ruby had created, one that was linked to the scope in the right lens of my glasses. Alright, let's replay that last attack in slow-motion...hm, no good, it's too bright...okay, reduce brightness and increase clarity, and try again...I can almost see something now...I'm on the right track, just a bit more... 

Wait, that can't be...no way...first off, that bright flash shone out of her eyes, but that wasn't what had caught my attention, no, it was what she did right after that...XFE manifested all around her like armor, including wings and a tail, what's more, she fired out purple XFE blasts from her palms immediately afterwards...that was...my sister's Primary Manifestation, no doubt about it, the only difference was that it was purple instead of red. 

Hm, let me review that footage again...incidently, the scope in my right lens was synced to my DNA signature, which means that I'm the only one who can see its display, even my iris doesn't reflect what I see, so no one else can see what I can. I don't understand the science behind it, except that it's super cool and convenient. 

Well, now, this is interesting...her expression looked especially strained during that last attack...hey, I think I might be on the track to figuring out what her X-Ability is. At least, one part of it...like my tiers and Johan's fairy tales, it's highly likely that there's more than one power to her Anomaly X-Ability...

"Woah, that was a close one! You guys are pretty good, you had me pretty nervous for a moment there," She remarked with a carefree laugh, "Let's take a short break before the next bout, I used up a fair bit of XFE in that last fight."

She's sweating and averting her gaze a bit...that must have drained her more than she wants to let on. Well, no matter, after that last fight, I'd say that my chances were pretty good...I can beat her...and the next fight was going to be my team against her... 

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