(Julius Argenti POV)
*CLANG*
I get pushed back by the force of the blow.
'How is she overpowering me in brute strength.'
It was the Monday after my surprise party and I was currently sparring with Amina. I was currently wielding the new sword that was gifted to me by Veronica.
It resembled a kriegsmesser, though with a wider and thicker blade. Despite's size it was only 15kg. If was any heavier, it would be unfeasible to wield.
Even though we had super strength, we still had a mass comparable to regular humans. This meant if a person held a sword that was heavier, the weight would shift our centre of balance.
Also when we would swing our sword, we would get dragged along with it because of Newton's first law of inertia. Or in this world's case, Lightaged's first law.
The colour of the sword was dark blue, with an ice-blue metal that traced around the edge of the sword. The colour difference was a result of using two different magical metals to craft it.
The dark blue metal was highly conductive to mana while also having self-repairing properties when fed mana. These properties also extended to the other metal which was compatible with the oscillation mana property.
This meant my sword would have extra penetrating power, while also being extremely tough.
It also had a magic formula engraved onto it that allowed me to automatically launch {Mana Slice} just by flowing mana through it. It offloaded all the computation power needed for the technique onto the sword.
Anyways, I was recoiling from the clash between our weapons. Her strength overpowered me by a large margin. She wasn't even using her full strength.
My brain was thrown into chaos, trying to explain the occurrence that happened. Even her maximum on her enhancement mana property, increased so did mine. I could tell that my body enhancement was on the same level as hers, if not greater.
Then the only explanation for this was that her base strength was greater than mine. Whenever mages enhanced themselves, the increase in strength was multiplicative, not additive.
For example, if someone's base strength was 2 and their enhancement was 15, their total strength would be 30. However, if another person had a base strength of 5, while only having an enhancement of 8, their overall strength would be greater despite the lower enhancement.
But this made very little sense, even though this was the logical conclusion. Not to be sexist, but men usually had greater base strength than women. I was taller, weighed more and had a larger build.
These factors meant I should have greater base strength than her. Granted she surpassed me in speed, dexterity and flexibility. Even if our base strength was equal, I would still win in a contest in strength because my weapon had a greater mass.
I didn't have enough time to think. She followed up with another attack. She swung down her naginata from the top and I was barely able to block it.
'Heavy!'
As she came in contact with the blade, I felt my arms go slightly numb from the shock.
I realised that would soon lose if this kept going, so I kept dodging trying to look for an opening. But Amina's {Hawk Eyes} meant she could she everything I could possibly do while blocking all escape routes.
With her physical superiority, the only way I could win this was with long-range attacks. I kept avoiding her swings while using {Mana Slice} to retaliate.
I then used my other hand to create a {Water Whip}. The {Water Whip} was highly saline meaning that the freezing point was much lower than before.
After entering my soul, I was able to alter the composition of the water I created. It now had salt dissolved into it.
As soon as it hit Amina, the water started freezing her at the point of contact. Now understanding my strategy, she fell back and switched to her bow configuration.
We engaged in long-range battle as we exhausted our mana reserves. She figured out that I wanted to avoid a close range fight at all costs, so kept approaching me, forcing me to spend even more mana.
This left me at a constant disadvantage, I was consuming more mana than her. At some point, I decide to exceed my maximum to fight her in close-quarters combat. I was able to keep up with her for a while, but I eventually ran out of mana and lost.
Amina was declared the winner. Despite suffering a crushing loss, I wasn't disappointed in myself. But I still vowed to myself that would win to prove to her...
'Wait, prove to her? What do I have to prove to her? I just want to get stronger so I wouldn't be powerless in the face of a strong opponent. We were just rivals.'
After the class was over, she asked me to get her some Iced Tea. She didn't expect me to comply with her request, but I still did. I was her attendant after all.
I also bought her a sandwich. I was probably feeling generous. After receiving her food, she thanked me with a smile before I hung out with James and the other boys.
During class, most of the class was only paying attention to Amina. Though Amina was pretty, most guys stayed away from her since they were afraid of her. Violet and Lisa were more appealing and considered the class idols.
However, the roles were reversed. During lunch break, she received many confessions. Getting sick of this, she said to for her to even consider, they had to take off their shirt and go around the school shouting that they loved Amina.
This was a joke to scare away the suitor, but surprisingly he started taking off his shirt. Surprised at his actions, Amina told him and sent him away.
Me, Violet and James were standing on the sidelines in complete and utter shock.
'How down bad could you get?'
Somehow, Amina's popularity skyrocketed over the weekend. I noticed she had many guys following her around, chasing after her like dogs.
Mrs Rumbles passed by us, seeing the commotion Amina was causing. She then dragged Amina to a classroom. She then beckoned for us to come along with her.