Chapter 210 The Revanche

"Hey, Hey... are they really going to fight?" Jilly asked Nathalia, who was biting her nails in nervousness. "Wasn't that too sudden?"

"I know, but I didn't have anything to do. You know that since Stella came back here, she wanted to fight Luke again." Nathalia replied while she watched Luke go to the right edge of the square, and Stella go to the other, "What could I have done to stop them?"

Livia approached Nathalia and tapped her on the shoulder. "Relax, Nath. This will just be a training battle, so we have to enjoy it. Go, Luke! Go, Stella!"

All the Strogueher people gathered around the battle square, wondered who would be the winner. All Nathalia's cousins were very familiar with Stella Hoka's abilities, since she protected all of them during their travels through some of the cities of the Broteforge Empire. Still, they knew little about the 'Half-Wolf', except for the stories that sprang up throughout the city after he became champion. As well as they knew him from the accounts of Livia, Jilly, Nathalia, Shiro, and other guards.

"If he is even half of what they say, it will already be a great fight." Lais Strogueher spoke up. This girl had white hair like all the Strogueher, but her eyes had an almost gray tint.

The other younger Strogueher agreed with Laís, and soon they stopped their mouths because of the tension in the atmosphere.

When Luke reached his edge of the square, he whispered low. "Bastet, you don't have to leave. This will just be a practice fight." Luke needed to warn, because his Summoning used to always be ready to fight, and he still summoned himself sometimes.

Luke needed to warn, as his Summoner always was ready to fight and still summon himself sometimes.

"Are you going to fight with everything you have?" Stella asked. There was a confident smile on her face, because she knew she was much stronger than when she had first fought against Luke, and on that occasion, she couldn't even use her full abilities.

"Ann... Have no doubt that I will use everything I have."

Then, Stella extended her right hand forward and summoned her Magic Staff of Panspermia. The shaft of this staff was composed of red iron, and Luke didn't know the material, but the color matched perfectly with the cape that Stella wore, which was also red. At the tip of this Panspermia Weapon was a yellow crystal, held in place by five thorns sticking out of the end of the metal shaft.

Luke looked at it and was impressed. Although this wasn't the first time, he had seen a staff in his life, he believed that this was the first Panspermia Magic Staff he had ever had the opportunity to see.

"Ow! Are you a mage?" Luke asked, interested.

Luke knew that Magic Staffs of Panspermia were quite rare, more than any other weapon, and there were several reasons why they were so rare. A Mage's most important weapon, his staff, can increase the power of any Gene Skill by up to 50%, and if he knows how to use Runes, these magic weapons allow him to store ready-made magic circles within their core. In other words, spells much more potent than Gene Skills, but also with the same activation speed, could be stored by the Magicians.

After noticing the half-wolf's surprise, Stella slammed her staff on the ground and replied:

"That is my greatest skill, magic. I just had to practice fencing for a while to fill in my own skill gaps, but since you will be using everything you have, I think it would be disgusting of me not to reciprocate that."

Luke didn't feel guilty for lying about going with everything he had; after all, Luke couldn't go against Stella with everything he had to avoid destroying the gym. The Second Stage of the Sea Ornament positions took the half-wolf to another level.

"So, can we get started? I want to get home before the rain starts." Luke spoke with a relaxed spine, and placed his hand on the back of his head.

The woman with staff in her right hand merely nodded, pondering whether Luke was confident because he was dumb or underestimating her.

After a few seconds of silence from the two opponents exchanging glances, Stella was the first person to move.

"<Sepulchral Sphere>!" She shouted the name of a Gene Skill and pointed her staff in Luke's direction.

From the tip of the Magic Staff of Panspermia, a black sphere appeared. The interior of this sphere mimicked the darkness of a starless sky, and when Luke felt this twenty-centimeter sphere approaching him, he felt cold. However, Luke didn't seem surprised by this and made a minimal movement to dodge it.

The gust of wind created by the fast movement of the sphere only pushed Luke's hair back a little.

'He dodged it so easily? It can only have been luck. I doubt he'll do it again.' Stella thought, after all, this magic was so fast that monsters never could dodge it, and although it wasn't capable of creating much damage, hitting it was the first step in most of her combos to single-handedly beat powerful enemies. "<Sepulchral Sphere>!" She shouted another time.

Again, Luke dodged with extreme naturalness, only taking a step to the side.

This time, Stella realized that it wasn't the luck of the half-wolf, but she also realized his strategy to dodge. The half-wolf was waiting until the last possible second to move; that way, there was no possible way for her to predict where he might go and thus not anticipate his steps.

'He's smart, but I'm smarter. I'll use several Sepulchral Spheres, so he won't know where to dodge.' Stella thought.

After she outlined this plan, Luke started running towards her, surprising her quite a bit. Still, she wasn't unhappy, because when Luke started moving, she thought she could finally hit him by predicting his movements. However, Luke was moving in a manner that was so confusing and fast, that it made his movements impossible for Stella to read.

With no options, Stella had to use a Gene Skill other than the <Sepulchral Sphere> because it would no longer be effective at a distance of five meters.

However, Luke was already too fast, and since he didn't want to waste too much time or sweat, he used one of the Sea Ornament stances. While he was running, he put both arms behind him and, through a sudden burst of speed, he reached her before Stella could even utter the full name of her other Gene Skill.

"<Column Celesti—" Luke's hand grabbed her face, and, without a second thought, he dragged her until she hit the wall.

Tum~

With Stella's collision against the wall, the entire gym shook, and some dust fell on the heads of the Strogueher's who were watching. Everyone was stunned and unsure how they should react; after all, Stella was stronger than them all combined, but she still looked like a child fighting against the half-wolf, who didn't even give her a chance to show off her vast repertoire of Gene Skills and Magic.

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