Chapter 29: Art vs Iris
He shook his head in disappointment. After all that, she missed her throw.
Not just him, others had similar thoughts.
He took the sword from his lap and stretched it to Charles. Charles was hesitant, staring at Iris whose gaze was unwavering.
Looking back at Art who still had the sword stretched out, he said, "As much as I would like to spar with her, I think she wants someone else."
Art a little bit confused, looked towards Iris. He looked behind him to see nobody before looking back at her with furrowed eyebrows. Without a doubt, she was starting at him.
'What's with her, why me?' He looked at the sword he was holding before closing his eyes to make a decision.
'Hmmm. This might be a good opportunity. I'll make them believe I'm still very weak, hereby raising the face-slapping to greater heights,' he chuckled slightly with a slight smile confusing Charles.
When his eyes opened, they were burning with determination as he stood up and walked towards the arena.
"What the hell, Why did she choose him?"
"Tell me about it. She hasn't sparred with anyone for over a month and when she does, she chooses this guy."
"True, he has improved above our expectations in physical appearance but would it also be the case for his strength?"
"By the looks in his eyes, it seems that way."
"I guess we would be finding out soon."
Different voices muttered as he walked into the arena. Charles believed that there was more to this. Maybe she was seeing something that he couldn't. So he focused all his attention on what was going to happen not planning on missing out on any detail.
Frigga was also here and he just watched all this quietly.
Art arrived at the center of the arena a few meters away from Iris with the same determination in his eyes and an unwavering grip on the hilt of his sword.
With a deeper voice than usual, he voiced out.
"What is this about?"
After staying quiet for some seconds, she moved her lips to speak and this was the first time he was hearing her voice.
"You…."
He raised an eyebrow waiting for what she wanted to say.
"Why did you badge into my room the other day? Do you know that it could've affected what true weapon I receive?."
'Barge into her…. Oh! That time. Hell! She hasn't forgotten about that. So she didn't approach me about it all this time for fear of affecting what kind of true weapon she would've gotten. They must really take that crap seriously.'
He cleared his throat before speaking up. "Look, that was an accident. I believe I explained that earlier."
"Explained? That never happened," she frowned slightly."
"I didn't?" He placed his hand on his jaw in thought.
Her mouth twitched slightly seeing the casual expression on his face.
"But there's one thing I do remember," he said with a hint of disappointment on his face.
"And what is that," she was feeling a little anxious.
"You should change your taste in design. That was a…." he got interrupted by the clutching sound from her sword.
"Come," she said taking a fighting stance with a tint of red on her face. Whether it was due to anger or embarrassment that was unknown to him but he cast it aside while also taking a fighting stance.
Their voices were low so the others didn't hear what they discussed and they were itching to find out.
Everyone watched each opponent staring intensely at each other. Surprisingly to even them, they were looking forward to a fight by Art. Someone who was their weakest.
Well, that was what they could've said some weeks ago but now he felt different and they wanted to see what he could do especially with someone like Iris as his opponent.
"Ahhhhhhhhh!" Art made a battle scream, something they didn't expect while running to Iris.
He had his sword raised up, leaving him wide open which was something not even an amateur would do and the way he ran was sloppy with a silly expression on his face.
The way he charged in was ridiculous but they didn't judge yet, that was until he began to attack her.
Every slash he sent out wasn't even precise and barely had any strength. Even though his movements were sloppy, he was still impressed that she could dodge it all barely moving from a spot.
Iris had no problem dodging them all. This went on for some time before she slashed her sword which he managed to block and the sheer strength made him skid backwards.
He gritted his teeth while running forward, of course not forgetting a battle scream. This time, after dodging his attack, she kicked him on his back causing him to stumble.
The people watching this couldn't help but stare at him in pity wondering why they even expected something from him in the first place.
Frigga was the one enjoying himself the most. He wished that he was the one sparring with him. Even though he made a jest of him and insulted him, he avoided harming him physically in any way as it won't be good for him if he was the cause of his death.
Seeing art recovering brought great annoyance to him but now he realized that his thoughts were in a box.
If Art got better, his dream to beat him up to a pulp over and over again was now becoming a reality. He couldn't wait.
The excitement coursing through his veins caused him to lick his lips.
Before Art could charge forward this time, she was the one who advanced first. Before he could react her sword was already pointing at his neck as he fell to the ground with sweat dripping from his face and his hands trembling while staring at her like a monster.
She looked into his frightened eyes with a neutral expression before retracting her sword and walking away.
Art watched her walk away while cleaning his sweat from his head with a relieved sigh. Some people stared at him in disgust. Just how could someone be so weak and cowardly?
A girl with long straight silver hair which was trimmed at the front and sky-blue eyes walked towards him. As she got to where he sat, she stared at him for some seconds before speaking up.
"Are you okay?"
Art nodded his head slightly, still seeming terrified by Iris' last action.
The girl in front of him was Jasmine and she was number 5 in his ranking so she was obviously very strong.
She has always thought of Iris as a rival even when the latter didn't feel the same way and has been trying to get her to fight with her after their last match which happened over a month ago which ended with her loss, but her efforts were to no avail.
She found it weird how Iris just challenged him out of the blue like that and believed that something was up.
But even after watching their fight not as if it could be called that, she still decided to see him up close if she might figure something out but she realized now that she might have been overthinking things.
After seeing him nod, she walked away. Art stood up and began to walk away. They didn't hide their disappointment and mocking gazes.
On the outside, he seemed depressed and downcasted but internally, he had a big smile.
'Step 1 completed.'
Weekly Power Status
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