บท 59: Chapter 59 - Lily Vs Ghost

Standing on the brightly lit training ground, Lily focused on the opponent to the other side of her.

Her enemy did the same as she raised her guard and got ready to act at a moment's notice.

Both of them had been trained in various forms of martial arts and other fighting techniques under the training of S.H.I.E.L.D., meaning the deciding factor of this match would be who could put it into application better.

Lily obviously planned to hold back on her strength, as using too much of it would hurt the girl. Not only was badly wounding the girl against the rules of the match, but she also didn't want to.

Ghost, on the other hand, also intended to hold back but for a different reason. She believed the girl she was fighting to be nothing but a child, and she had no intentions of hurting a child.

She would end it with surrender as quickly as she could, but she greatly underestimated the girl before her.

Lily noticed that the girl wasn't taking her seriously, which was perfect; it would allow her to end this fight as quickly as she could by catching her off-guard.

Quickly she lunged forward; her footwork was lightning-fast and light. She used her superior speed to close the distance in a matter of seconds and send a rear hook to the girl's side.

The current style Lily was using was boxing, it was one of the many styles Lily had learned from the Agents, and it was the one she deemed best suited for this situation.

To be exact, Lily was a mixture of a Swarmer, a type of boxing that suited her small frame, strength, and durability. It allowed her to close to the distance at quick speeds and rapid-fire attacks on her enemy.

It was a style that didn't need a lot of technique, and because of that, it suited Lily's current situation, allowing her to make up for her lack of time to train with frontal pressure.

But that wasn't all; the second she landed the rear hook on the girl's side, she pulled back with a leap quickly.

This was the second style of boxing she was trained in, a Counter Puncher.

It was a style that used her light frame and fast footwork to quickly move around the enemy, using speed, reflex, and coordination to dance around their opponent and litter them with hits whenever they tried to attack them.

Ghost stumbled slightly from her punch, not expecting the girl to move so quickly and land a hit. She didn't even have enough time to react and turn intangible, but now she was aware of the girl's speed.

She underestimated her before, but that punch the girl landed had a lot of force behind it, and the girl's speed was anything but normal.

She could see why the Agent had warned her before; she wasn't going to underestimate her a second time.

Ghost's eyes tracked Lily under the suit as she moved into a better position to fight.

She positioned her right leg forward and left slightly back, ready to attack at any time. Ghost was primarily trained in styles that had to do with her legs, such as Kickboxing, Muay Thai, and even Taekwondo.

She was able to combine them and create a style that would suit her needs in any given situation, so she just had to go with the flow.

Lily moved around the girl with her fast footwork. Her feet didn't stay on the ground for any more than a few seconds before she jumped to another location, circling the girl like a predator to a prey.

Once behind the girl, Lily made her move and quickly dashed towards her to close the distance, using a jab directly to her back.

However, Ghost was ready for it this time, as her body suddenly blurred and went intangible, the punch going through her body and coming out the other side.

Lily quickly reacted to her failure and retrieved her hand, aiming to jump back and return to her safe distance.

Seizing the chance given to her, Ghost made her body stable again and quickly spun her body around. Her leg curved into a roundhouse kick that came slamming into the side of Lily's head. However, Lily was able to block it with her arms by quickly pulling her guard up.

Lily could tank the hit due to her increase in durability, but allowing herself to get hit in the head and possibly limit her vision wouldn't be wise.

However, it seems that Ghost was expecting that as she made another move the second the kick failed to deal damage.

Pulling her leg back, she switched to her other leg, sending a low kick to the girl's knee, aiming to destabilize her body.

Lily wasn't that weak, though, as her durability was enough to take the hit without falling; however, she did lose her balance as she was forced to take a step back to stabilize herself.

Both girls were playing it rather safe while also throwing quick attacks at their opponents, drawing out the fight for quite a while. The deciding factor would most likely be whoever could land the cleanest hit on the other and bring them down.

But for Lily, that was going to be hard, as the girl was able to turn intangible at will.

With a surge of power, Lily retaliated; she absorbed the ambient energy around her and sent it toward the girl, who had turned intangible again to avoid being touched.

Ghost was taken aback by the sudden blast of energy coming toward her, but she assumed that her intangibility would help her in avoiding it.

Unfortunately for her, she was wrong, as even in her intangible form, the blast of energy made contact with her body and sent her flying backward and onto the floor.

That was something completely new to the girl, as she had never been hit before while in that form. It felt odd.

She didn't hate it.

The Agent was also surprised because this wasn't a recorded ability that Lily had. Of course, it wouldn't be, as she hadn't revealed it yet.

She was waiting for the right time to reveal her third and final ability for the time to the Agents. The energy blast.

She chose this ability because it wasn't very powerful, but it had multiple uses, which could aid her in her plans with S.H.I.E.L.D.

The only thing that wasn't in her plans was using it this early and using it against Ghost, but she didn't have much of a choice since the girl kept turning intangible.

But it went well; the girl was sent backward and was disoriented by the blast.

Lily quickly closed the distance between the two and pressed her body against the girl's body, pinning her down.

"Just surrender."

She said as she bent her arm back in an armlock position.

However, Ghost wasn't willing to surrender just yet; turning herself intangible once more, she phased through the girl and got away from the lock. Appearing behind Lily, she counterattacked.

Wrapping her arms around the girl's back and gripping onto her clothing, using her own weight against her to flip the girl over and slam her onto the floor, a common tactic in Judo.

She pinned Lily instead, changing the situation in an instant.

"I could say the same to you."

It was a good move; it might have even worked if it was on anyone but Lily. But the girl seemed to have underestimated her once more, underestimated her strength, that is.

Lily used her brute force to push the girl up, literally lifting her off the ground on her back and breaking out of the locked position.

But she didn't stop there; in a display of raw power, she gripped onto the arms of the girl and flipped her forward, slamming her onto the ground with the intention of straight up knocking her out.

But Ghost's intangibility once again proved to be her saving grace; once more, as she dissipated into the intangible form, she slipped out of Lily's grip and freed herself.

Stumbling to find a foot.

'Her ability is problematic.'

Lily thought to herself as she had to find a way to adapt her strategy. While she could do a lot of damage to the girl and was faster than her, she couldn't land a proper hit because of the girl's ability.

Her blast was able to hit her, but her blast wasn't nearly strong enough to knock the girl out.

'What if?'

Lily suddenly had an interesting thought about how she could counter the girl's ability. Her energy mutation allowed her body to absorb and store ambient energy in her, and she could condense it and send it out in the form of a blast.

But what if she didn't send it out? What if she just condensed it on her body parts.

Lily felt the energy flowing into her body as she used the ability, mixing with the energy within her. She felt the flow, controlling it as she condensed it, but instead of having it flow out of her, she condensed it around her hands.

A very faint glow covered a layer of her hands as she felt the energy condensed properly, and her body adapted to make the X-Gene better as she did it.

Her body working with her mind to improve.

This all happened in a matter of seconds, and Ghost was readying her next attack.

As Ghost moved forward with a sidekick, Lily blocked the incoming blow with her hand on guard and closed the gap. Now that she had a way to hit the girl, she planned to swarm her.

She aimed a series of powerful strikes at Ghost's stomach, aiming to pepper her with light and fast attacks.

Ghost used her intangibility once more, attempting to phase through the attack, but to her surprise, the punch landed, followed by another, and more.

She was rained with light gut punches even in her intangible form, she didn't have time to react, and she was too stunned to even think properly.

Lily's punches were light; to her, to Ghost, it could be considered getting hit by a fully grown adult rapidly in the same location.

A groan escaped her lips as she quickly registered what was happening.

Ghost, recognizing the danger, shifted her tactics. Instead of trying to phase through the attacks, she jumped back, trying to increase the distance between the two of them.

But Lily wasn't going to let her do that.

Lily stepped forward quickly and sent out a jab, landing the blow directly on Ghost's face and causing her to stumble back.

She had lost her composure and wasn't able to react properly now that her advantage had been taken from her; she was messing up more and more.

The battle was coming to an end. Lily pinned the girl down onto the ground and wrapped her legs around her waist and arms around her neck. Like a serpent, she bound the girl in place, not allowing her to move.

This time she couldn't even phase out of her grip.

The battle moved to a halt as Lily spoke into the girl's ear, her face right behind the girl's head since they were in a wrapped position on the ground.

"Just give up already."

Recognizing her waning advantage, Ghost tried to make a move, but she failed.

Her strength simply couldn't match that of the girl's; she couldn't break free from the bind or fight back.

Her muscles tensed as she realized she had lost, and all the tension was released with a sigh.

Relaxing her muscles, Ghost spoke loud enough for the Agent to hear.

"I surrender."

Ghost knew that her loss was imminent the second the girl could touch her, but she wasn't mad. After all, the fight was just a test, and her life wasn't on the line.

And on the bright side, she finally met someone who could interact with her in her phased form.

It wasn't bad.

Releasing the girl, Lily laid back on the mat of the training ground and released a breath of air, finally finished with this test from S.H.I.E.L.D.

It was fun; she enjoyed putting her techniques into practice and seeing how much she had improved since coming here. It showed her that joining S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't a bad idea after all.

"Good job, you two. Especially you, Lily, you passed the test."

Though Lily emerged victorious in their clash, both combatants showcased their formidable skills, leaving a lasting impression on all who witnessed their extraordinary battle.