Chapitre 48: Venting Some Frustrations
Altair reached out and grabbed Joshua's sleeve as she spoke with fake tears in her eyes and a faltering sorrowful tone, "B-Big Brother, don't you like me? I-I'm doing my best for you! Why do you hate me so?"
Joshua gave her a disgusted look and couldn't stop himself from throwing a crisp slap at her face. The sound it produced echoed in Altair's room and caused all of Joshua's friends to look at him with shocked expressions.
Even though Joshua didn't like her, in their minds, he shouldn't have slapped her like that when he could have just left her alone. It was obvious to them that there was something wrong with Altair's mind so using violence like that would only hurt Joshua's position. Thus, they couldn't help but feel sympathy towards Altair who dramatically fell to the ground with Joshua's sudden attack.
"Don't touch me you disgusting servant girl!" Joshua bellowed fiercely while straightening his back a little, "You don't even deserve to be here!"
Altair looked up at Joshua with disbelieving eyes as she asked, "Y-You hit me?"
Joshua felt satisfied to see that expression on Altair's face. She was finally acting like a proper servant girl to him. He smugly grinned while saying, "Of course! You deserve to be on the ground!"
'Finally,' Altair thought to herself. 'I can finally bring out the stick.'
She looked at the ground before her for a few moments as an awkward silence descended on the room.
Joshua was elated by this meek performance that Altair was putting on. In the face of the rage he felt for her attitude and the worry about his friends treating him differently, he had completely forgotten how dangerous he thought Altair was just moments ago. Now that she was on the ground before him he felt a deep satisfaction and felt like he was on top of the world.
Until Altair broke the silence in the room by muttering, "Papa told me that those who attack me must be punished."
Those words reminded Joshua of Altair's explosive power and he felt a shiver run down his spine.
Altair stood up quickly and looked at Joshua with a face devoid of emotion. With how she acted earlier it was a stark contrast and unnerved all of the children in the room. It was as if the slap that Joshua hit her with meant nothing to her, like she didn't feel it.
Altair actually did feel it as her cheek was burning from the blow.
Altair didn't wait for any of them to recover. She could finally release her pent up frustration and get some exercise while she was at it! She was pleased that Joshua walked right into her plan.
Even if her plan wasn't actually working out the way she was thinking it was.
She sent a swift kick at Joshua's unprotected shin. Joshua was too busy posturing to see it coming. He only felt a sharp pain on his leg and he abruptly cursed loudly. He knew he had been attacked the moment the pain hit him. He quickly put up his guard while throwing a quick jab at Altair's head.
Altair promptly burned some of her Mana to reinforce her body. She caught his jab with her left hand and pulled him closer to her in an attempt to ruin his guard. Joshua had enough experience to know that getting pulled forward would be a bad idea so he used his Spiritual Energy to add to his strength and stabilized himself.
Altair narrowed her eyes as it felt like she was trying to pull a tree. She could pull him forward if she chose to burn an excessive amount of Mana to do so. But there were still four others she potentially had to deal with so doing that would be a bad idea. She wondered if Joshua had more strength than her right now. She didn't know anything about this Spiritual Self thing that Renald had briefly told her about. But she didn't doubt that they could strengthen their body with it because of their earlier encounter.
She decided not to risk it and chose to use her skill instead of power to deal with Joshua. She let go of his hand just as he was throwing his other hand at Altair's face. Altair ducked underneath his fist and threw her palm at his nose just like before.
Joshua wasn't about to lose to the same thing twice. He quickly blocked her attack with the hand that Altair just let go of. However, he didn't see the real attack that Altair had sent at his gut.
At the same moment that Altair had sent the attack at Joshua's face, she sent her other hand for his solar plexus. Joshua took the hit and coughed up air as his lungs locked up. It was a feeling he had never experienced before and he started to panic when he was unable to take a breath.
Altair took advantage of his fumbling about as he quickly tried to put distance between them. She stepped into his ruined guard clocked him in the face four times.
Joshua's defense was pitiful due to his lack of focus from being winded.
Altair hooked her leg around the back of Joshua's while he tried to pull away, causing him to fall backwards. While he was falling backwards, Altair quickly jumped forward while throwing her palm at his nose again. Joshua's instincts were to break his fall with both hands so his face was completely unguarded. With the help of gravity, momentum, and her own strength, Altair smashed Joshua's nose with a sickening crack upon impact.
That blow instantly knocked him unconscious as he fell limply to the ground.
The rest of the kids stared at Altair with wide eyes. They were speechless because this was the first time they had ever seen Joshua lose. It didn't help that they had thought Altair was a weakling due to Alice and Joshua's report on how badly she was beaten before.
It was too shocking to have someone who was acting so sweetly before them suddenly turn around and become a merciless fighter without any warning. It went contrary to everything they had seen and grew up knowing. If someone was strong then they naturally acted strong and independent. Someone like Altair was unheard of.
Altair checked how much Mana she had left and nodded with satisfaction. The fighting style that she had been taught in the Coalition army was designed to be used against people who were far taller than herself. This was the first time she had used it seriously against someone around the same height as her. She half expected that it wouldn't go so well but she was surprised at how straightforward and awful Joshua's attacks were.
She wasn't even that good with their style of unarmed fighting since she could create any weapon she needed on the fly. If the others that Joshua had brought were only as good as Joshua then she didn't have any reason to be worried about them right now.
Alice was the first one to return to her senses as she looked at Altair in disbelief. Joshua was the king of their grade. Altair looked much younger than them, maybe two years at most. Even among the students a year older than them, Joshua wouldn't be beaten this badly.
The energetic kid had a big smile on his face as he shouted, "Wow I didn't see that coming! Are you telling me she lost to Joshua so badly before? I don't believe it." He had always wanted someone to shut Joshua down. He just didn't expect that it would happen like this.
The large kid looked at Altair like he had found a new rival as he said, "I kind of want to fight her now." All thoughts of Altair being a sweet sister had vanished from his mind. The only thing he was thinking about now was trying out his own skill against her. With his reach, he was confident that it wouldn't go the same way as Joshua.
Rictor adjusted his glasses as he said, "I think I'll leave that to you. Someone has to carry your unconscious body to the medical pod when she's done thrashing you." He had a cold sweat on his back as he acted like what Altair did didn't surprise him much. He silently chastised himself for not listening to his ability. He had almost been fooled by Altair.
The large kid grinned broadly as he stepped forward.
Altair frowned at them. This wasn't how they were supposed to react. She didn't know where she went wrong with her act but it was clear that she had failed. Instead of them being extremely wary of her they actually looked excited by what she had done.
She saw the big guy start to flex and posture himself to fight her. She decided to drop her act then and there. Since she had failed to make them not want to approach her then she would just use force to beat fear into their bodies. This was a lot harder to do but Altair didn't mind. She was annoyed enough already.
Altair didn't give him a chance to get into his stance. She quickly rushed the larger kid and treated him like an adult from her old world when she was unarmed. She attacked his that she could right leg that she could reach instead of trying to go for his head which could cause her to overextend herself. Her aim was obvious: get him lower to the ground so she could deliver a real blow to his head.
The large kid didn't expect this sudden rush and by the time he got his guard up his shin had already been beaten like an egg. Altair's sudden ferocious onslaught was very un-childlike and he had no way to defend against it. It wasn't that he was too slow. It was because Altair would change where she was attacking every attack and it took too long for him to see where the attack was coming from to defend against it.
Since he couldn't defend against her attacks he chose to attack instead. He threw powerful punches down at Altair, which she easily sidestepped. But she was also waiting for him to do this. As soon as his attack met air she quickly threw her palm at his jaw. In order to properly attack downward it required the larger kid to bend over slightly. This small change in his posture meant that he was now leaning ever so slightly toward Altair.
By now, the kids shin was a bruised and bloody mess from the kicks that Altair had thrown at them. Her shoes were pointed, which added to the sharp pain he was feeling. It wouldn't be long before his leg gave out completely on him. He had to stop Altair from one-sidedly pummeling his leg.
He reached out with both hands in an attempt to grab Altair into a bear hug. Because of how much smaller Altair was than him and how she dexterously avoided his attempts at attacking her, he had judged that it would be best to just grab her. Since she was so small there was no chance in his mind of her escaping his grasp. Once he had hold of her there would be nothing she could do.
Altair was not familiar with this type of attack. However, she did know that any attack from someone that big would probably be disastrous to take. She jumped backward to avoid being grabbed but didn't expect that the boy would lunge towards her with the same movement, effectively catching Altair off guard.
He closed his hands around Altair's and held he in a vice grip. He then straightened up and stood at his full height with a broad smile of victory on his face while Altair dangled in his arms like a doll. He then spoke in a sinister tone as he said, "Gotcha Now!"
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
Harqoua
Harqoua I've been toying with a survival story plot that uses game elements for a few days now. Plot is bare bones currently but I think it could have some potential. Not sure if I should post it up at the same time as this story though. No idea if I could keep up with both releases. I'll see how it goes by banking the content for that story while working on this one and if it doesn't interrupt the flow I might do both at the same time.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone