“Let's get started, but are we going to fight directly? Aren't you going to teach me a technique or something?" Zoe asked, surprised to see Lucy standing in a fighting position in front of her. When Lucy said they were going to start training, Zoe had ideas like swinging swords together and repeating what Lucy would show.

“I think you will learn faster this way. I chose this method because you were so impatient. And if you can hurt me even once, I'll let you go after Hadrian. What do you think, isn't it better this way?" Lucy looked very confident for someone holding a sword made out of scraps.

The fact that Lucy looked down on her lit a fire inside Zoe. There can't be such a big difference between us, she thought. "But don't be a sore loser when you're hurt!" Zoe said, while her eyes were shining with mettle. She roughly mimicked Lucy's posture and added. “So, what are the rules? Am I just supposed to hold Pinky in my hand?”

A burst of laughter broke out at Zoe's last sentence. Brad and Dan were pounding the floor with laughter. Flo had a hard time holding back her laughter, and finally, she couldn't help but burst out laughing. Even Lucy had tears in her eyes from laughing. “Did you really name your katana Pinky?” said Lucy.

Zoe, who couldn't make sense of this amusement, was really pissed off. She gripped Pinky tightly with her right hand, holding the katana with the sharp end pointing to the ground behind her right leg. She started running towards Lucy. When she reached her, she made a nimble attack from below and cried, "I named it after the finger I sacrificed, is that so funny?"

Lucy was still laughing when she saw Zoe running angrily toward her. But when she saw Zoe's inept attack, she suddenly turned serious and dashed to the side. Not only did she dodge the attack, but she also positioned herself behind Zoe. She struck Zoe on the back of the neck with the hilt of her sword and simultaneously tripped her, knocking her to the ground. Lucy was no longer laughing. The others had stopped too.

“You're right, we shouldn't have laughed. I tried so hard to stop myself, but…” Lucy, who clearly had a hard time saying the rest of her sentence with a serious face, but somehow managed not to laugh, continued, "Pinky is such a cute name for a katana." A small chuckle came from the crew, who had been sitting and watching the fight, but it didn't last long.

After the blow, Zoe, who seemed to have gotten over their reaction, got up and sat down, holding her neck. At the moment, she was only thinking about how she couldn't hit Lucy. She was trying to figure out how her opponent, distracted and teary-eyed from laughing, had dodged her attack so easily. No matter how hard she thought, she couldn't figure out how Lucy did it so effortlessly. She stood up and brushed herself off. She mentally summoned Pinky to her hand. She had dropped it when she fell.

Lucy, who seemed to have suppressed all her laughing reflexes, was back to her pre-fight seriousness. Her wild aura was there, and her eyes were starting to radiate fire again. While she waited for Zoe to get up and recover, she took a fighting position again, moving away from her. "By the way, there are no rules," she said in a flat voice and stared into Zoe's eyes. "You can try whatever comes to your mind. Think of it like a real fight and show me what you got.”

Lucy's overbearing demeanor was spurring Zoe. Even though their techniques were not even close to being on the same level, Zoe could not stomach this attitude. No one can look down on me like this, she thought. These inner feelings took her by surprise a little. When she thought about it for a moment, she realized that it might be a feeling from her past that she didn't remember. I must've never let anyone look down on me before I fell down here, she guessed.

Now fully focused on the fight, Zoe cracked her neck and said, "As I said before," throwing Pinky into the air and activating the Mantis Blades from her wrists. “Don't cry when you're hurt”. The Mantis Blades were almost as tall as a sword. She swung her arms several times, with her right and left fists clenched. This time, she started to slowly approach Lucy. Right next to her, Pinky was gliding along, following her.

It was clear that Zoe thought she could get the results she wanted with these more familiar weapons. Lucy, who had anticipated this move from Zoe, changed her stance. Grasping the scrap sword in her hand with both hands, she took it to the right side of her hip. With this stance, she planned to reach a wider range and stop Zoe before she could reach her.

Slowly approaching her target, Zoe wondered what to do about Lucy's new stance. She could more or less predict what would happen if she got too close. However, by nature, Zoe was not the type of person to give up. If she was going to accept defeat, she would have done so already. With an idea that just occurred to her, she suddenly quickened her steps. When she got a little closer, she started running.

Zoe, who was now sprinting, came within the attack distance and sent Pinky to attack the sword Lucy was holding. Her plan was to engage Lucy with Pinky and launch the real attack with the Mantis Blades. As Pinky reached for the sword and attacked, Zoe leaped forward, swinging her right arm forward, and attacking with the Mantis Blade. Yet, things did not turn out as she expected.

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Foreseeing what was to come, Lucy seemed very sure of what to do. She had already guessed that such an attack was coming, as Zoe had unleashed her Mantis Blades. She took her left foot half a step forward and bent her knee. Taking a step forward with her right foot, she again made a powerful attack with the sword she held in her right hand and threw Pinky away. Immediately after this attack, what she did was turn around with the acceleration she got from her powerful attack and kick Zoe's stomach with her left foot, who was attacking by leaping towards her. With the impact of the kick, Zoe flew several meters away.

The Araf crew, who had been watching every moment of the fight with delight, was enchanted by Lucy's combo attack. The audience was excited by this solid performance of Lucy, whom they had never seen fight before. They didn't even know she could fight. Even Flo was cheering. Although Dan and Brad were surprised by this, they had agreed to not say anything. Flo could be offended by what was said and revert to her cold, stoic self. It was nice to see her having fun too.

Dan looked at Lucy, whom he saw fighting for the first time, at Flo, who wasn't afraid to show her feelings and at Brad, who was cheering with excitement. The air was filled with joy and hope. When Dan thought about whether he had spent a day like this in the Abyss, nothing came to his mind. He then looked at Zoe, who was lying on the ground. All this was made possible by her being thrown here. The misfortune of one gave hope to the others, long doomed here. Maybe it wasn't fair, but that was the way it was.

Lying on the floor, Zoe wondered why she couldn't hit Lucy. She pondered for a brief moment and finally decided the problem was her jumping before attacks. She got up, shook her head, and started walking towards Lucy again. She summoned Pinky and tried to attack without jumping this time. Again, Lucy ditched the sword and dodged Zoe's attack, taking a step toward her. This time she headbutted Zoe and knocked her down.

With her head hurting, Zoe felt the need to sit where she had fallen for a while. She was holding her head in her hand and thinking of a new plan. She thought to herself that there could not be such a big difference between them. She stood up, still holding her head, and stared at her opponent. She studied Lucy a little and decided to initiate her move. She had already come up with a new plan.

Lucy liked Zoe's demeanor, who got up every time she fell and never gave up. It must have to do with her Will stat, she thought. Just as she was thinking about her opponent, Zoe rushed forward herself rather than sending Pinky first this time.

Lucy swung her sword from afar, trying to stop Zoe. Zoe countered the sword with the Mantis Blade on her left arm and tried to hit Lucy with the Mantis Blade on her right arm. Lucy easily dodged this attack and swung her sword again, trying to keep Zoe away. Anticipating the attack, Zoe jumped back for a moment and dashed forward again. She was much better when fighting with the Mantis Blades.

Zoe was forcing Lucy to retreat with her attacks, but this was mostly because Lucy was trying to avoid inflicting any real damage to her. The Mantis Blades were clashing with Lucy's sword, sparks were emitted, and Lucy, who had to deal with two weapons at once, took a step back with each attack.

Not fond of being cornered, Lucy decided to resort to footwork again. She decided to dodge Zoe's attack by taking a sideways step and inflicting a small amount of damage on her. Because from here onwards, the enemies Zoe would encounter would not hold themselves back like Lucy. Maybe Zoe had to learn this the hard way.

Just then, Lucy noticed that Zoe was looking elsewhere out of the corner of her eye. And at that moment she realized what her pupil was planning. Still, she decided to just take the attacks without showing her realization, but now her eyes were more on where Zoe was looking than her weapons. Then Lucy pretended to be trapped and attacked Zoe's Mantis Blades. She pretended to turn it into a power struggle, but her attention was entirely on where Zoe was looking.

Zoe, who thought she was trapping her teacher and was actually trapped herself, made a quick stab attack with Pinky, who had been flying behind Lucy since the beginning of the fight. Realizing that the attack was coming from Zoe's gaze, Lucy made a sharp attack with her sword and swung Zoe forward. Then, with a sudden movement, she turned around and caught Pinky, which was swiftly flying toward her.

Impressed by Lucy's move, Dan and Brad from the Araf crew started clapping and cheering. Not too surprised that her plan had failed, Zoe attacked nevertheless, not knowing how to give up. However, now wielding two swords, her teacher easily knocked her down.

While Zoe was lying on the floor, Lucy walked up to her. She held Pinky toward Zoe and spoke for the first time since the fight had begun. “This was really good, I have to give credit where credit's due. It might work well against most enemies, but you're giving too many opportunities to attack. Anyone who wants to hurt you can easily do so.”

Zoe did not get up and was obviously thinking of new ways to attack. "I know, I was attacking like this because I trusted that you wouldn't hurt me." She sat up and crossed her legs. She was waiting for Lucy to speak as she examined the katana in her hand.

“Why do you think you are losing?” asked Lucy. “Is it because I'm more experienced with swords? Or is it because I do better footwork? Or because you lost your memory and forgot how to fight?”

“It could be because of all of these,” Zoe answered indifferently.

"No. You are losing to yourself, not me,” said Lucy with the air of a master mentor.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Zoe snapped. This sentence, which angered her, had brought Zoe out of lecture mode and back into combat mode. She stood up, shaking the dust off her clothes.

“I don't think you'll ever hit me unless you figure it out for yourself,” said Lucy. She took a fighting stance again in front of Zoe, who was now standing.

"Really?" said Zoe. Her entire demeanor had changed. She stood very firmly in her place. And from her stance, it was very clear how determined she was this time. Now she was holding Pinky tightly in front of her with both hands. Looking at her teacher with a burning fire in her eyes, she continued. "For some reason, I don't feel like I'm going to lose anymore."

Looking impressed by Zoe's determination, Lucy also raised her sword and smiled. "When will you learn?"