I entered the Sparring Hall wearing my Battle robe and Erica also followed me. Her beautiful face with a perfect figure and tight-fit robe made her look stunning. Even I had sneakily taken some glances at her, a perfect example of elegant beauty.

Before I could praise Erika for her beauty, she spoke, "Stop peeking at me like that and get down to work. The things you have told me are way too vague."

'It seems she doesn't want unnecessary chatter when it comes to work,' I thought.

Feeling her seriousness, I smiled and shared my dilemma with her. I further added some details of my Rabbit incident.

She listened to my story 'Me and the Zombie rabbits' seriously. Just after I finished and expected some response, I saw her covering her mouth while her body was shaking a little. Then-

"Pfftt..."

All of a sudden, she started laughing loudly as if she couldn't control herself anymore. Her laughter continued nonstop for a whole minute before calming down.

I thought to myself, 'Where did her cold personality vanish? Was this all an act?'

After having her fun, Erica calmed down, clapped her hands,

"Sorry for that. Heh, I didn't expect you to have such a history."Well

"Glad that you had fun at my misfortune." I could only click my tongue.

"Pfft... But you were in a dangerous situation, you know? If they weren't cute Rabbits but some ferocious beasts, you wouldn't have the chance to run away in one piece."

I nodded in agreement. My carelessness almost got the best out of me that day. I would be in an even more dangerous situation if Carl didn't find me in time.

Erica proposed We should have an all-out fight first, "Actually, I am curious. How can you fight with a power that heals others? And I have been itching for one lately. As your lightning also heals your opponents, we have nothing to fear, right? Are you in?"

I pondered for a moment before approving, "Sure. And don't hold back."

"Never planned to."

Erica took her practice sword and immediately surrounded her body with dark elements. And slowly, a thin layer of darkness covered her whole body- as if she was wearing a dark full-body suit. And the dark veil- slowly lost dark color and became something closer to transparent. This was a signature move of dark element users. The Pandemonium gave it a cool name- "Reaper's Cloak." This was a terrifying ability that tricks your opponents' senses.

Reaper's cloak works in a simple but effective way. We see with our eyes. Light enters through eye lenses and our optical sensory nerves pick up light from objects. Then they send the image to our brain which the brain analyzes. That's how our vision works.

If someone asks, "What do you see after closing your eyes?"

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Everyone will answer that they see Darkness. But that's wrong. You just "don't see" Light. True darkness isn't something human eyes are capable of seeing. So, if there is no light, there is no vision.

Reaper's Cloak takes advantage of this flaw of our eyes. When using this trick, the Elementalist of darkness absorbs the light that falls on him. As a result, no light reflects from his body, and his opponent's eyes don't get his image. Thus, making him technically "Invincible" in favorable terrains. So, darkness users who master this technique can silently come behind others' backs and reap their lives like a reaper.

As Erica was weak now, she could only confuse me with blurs. That was already a praiseworthy accomplishment.

But too bad, my lightning enhances all of my senses, not just my vision. I strengthened my hearing with lighting energy and effortlessly found Erica's position from her footsteps.

"This will be my first fight in the academy. Let's test the water first."

My heart jumped in excitement.

I started circulating my Lightning energy from the core and gathered them in my legs. Pushing the ground with my left leg, I sprinted at a terrifying speed. My body flashed while crackling lightning surrounded my body. And, I instantly came in front of her as she wasn't that far from me.

I moved my lighting energy flow to my hands from my legs and threw my fist towards her. If my opponent was Carl or Nadia, they would have been sent flying. But even after being caught unprepared, Erica parried my fist with her practice sword. Being one of the monsters of Kriegar wasn't just for show.

But, even after a successful parry, she was sent ten steps backward and had to stab the ground to regain balance. Like her skill, the explosiveness of my punch also wasn't a joke.

Erica straightened her back and spoke in a surprised tone,

"I imagined you to be fast. But not this fast! That's an unimaginable speed for a Real core stage."

"Your reaction speed is also astonishing." I also complimented.

She silently accepted my compliment and channeled her dark elements. Her practice sword became darker than black and surrounding lights started being sucked in. Creating a mystical scene. Seeing this, I suddenly came into realization and voiced out,

"Your property isn't anti-healing but energy devouring!"

Erica was shocked, then laughed out. "Oops, busted."

But I wasn't happy to discover that. So I asked, "Then why did Miss Edna say your property is anti-healing? Are you deceiving everyone ?"

Listening to my words, Erica pouted,

"Don't reach conclusions so fast, will you? I didn't think you would realize my property so easily. Yes, it is kind of energy devouring, but it works better with pure healing energy. Other energies are way too complex and also harm my body. I once devoured fire elemental energy, and for the next few days, I couldn't even move because of a stomach ache. And you want to call this pathetic property of mine energy devouring? That would be an insult to such a cool property."

"Oh? then how did you devour light just now?" My curiosity wasn't over.

Erica rolled her eyes at my stubbornness but decided to come clear, "I didn't. I only attracted the light's energy by using my property and temporarily storing it in this sword. It's my ultimate move. Pretty neat, right? Be careful as it can burn your smooth skin."

Hearing this, I decided to no longer question her. Golden lightning burst out of me. My eyes became golden due to the intense flow of lighting energy. Erica was strong, so I had to show her my respect, even if my opponent is a 'she'.

Inequality is a thing only when one side is weaker than the other. But when both sides are equally strong, there is no place for such things.

I again flashed in front of Erica, and she vertically slashed her dark sword at me.

To avoid the slash, I put pressure on the ground with my right leg and made a 270° whole turn. This helped me evade the sword, and my right leg went for her shoulder because of the spin.

Erica saw my upcoming kick and used the momentum of her slash to bend down her upper body. Fast reaction speed as always. Everything happened in just a matter of seconds.

But something unexpected happened. As my kick didn't link with her shoulder, I lost control of the torque.