"I already made a request to be removed from this month's evaluation list because of my training." Layla said as she watched her teacher play with a kunai in his hands.
"I know. I personally rejected it."
"Why didn't I get a notice then?"
"Oops, maybe it got lost in the mail." He said with a sadistic smile on his face.
Veralth her teacher had never been the one present for her evaluation, it was far too obvious that he saw this as a perfect opportunity to make her look bad by coming at the worst possible moment.
But still, she could bluff her way through the fight. He definitely knew that he caught her unaware but, he didn't know how unprepared she was for the fight.
She would have to use this to her advantage in any way she could and make sure that no matter what happened he didn't find out that she couldn't use her enigma.
Layla quickly picked the kunai that Veralth earlier threw just as 5 others whistled through the air towards her. She easily deflected some while she dodged the others.
Kunais were not Layla's weapon of choice but every member of the shadow clan had trained with it at one point in their lives, although she never liked them she currently had no other choice.
Veralth kept his distance, hurling kunai upon kunai in Layla's direction. The projectiles moved at incredible speeds and they were difficult to spot because they were all painted black but she still managed to evade some and deflect those that came to close.
Layla knew that she would never win in a long distance battle, she had to close the distance between them one way or the other.
She plucked out another kunai from the wall beside her and stepped into the darkness moving swiftly and quietly following the shadows until she emerged at the other side of the building.
'WHOOOOSH!'
A kunai was sent flying in the direction of Veralth who swiftly knocked it to the side and sent others in her direction as well.
"You call yourself a master of the shadows and this is how close you can get?" Veralth mocked stepping forward. "I thought fighting a shadow user would be somewhat challenging, I guess I was wrong." He said as he pulled out a katana from its sheath.
'How prepared is this guy?!' Layla thought as she readied herself.
Veralth was upon her in seconds, his katana swiftly making its way to her. Layla dodged the slash squatting down to deliver a kick but Veralth backed away before coming back with another violent slash.
His katana ricochet off the puny kunai Layla had in her hands and she had to grip the kunai tightly to prevent the katana from sliding on to her hands.
Her old teacher was still testing her at this point, he would attack her for a while and then step back, trying to learn her movements while observing the way she fought.
He had not started taking the fight seriously and wasn't even using his enigma yet.
He came at her again this time his full force sending the katana vertically down, Layla deflected the strike while dodging and delivering a kick that caught him in the side.
During the time he taught her Layla had also learned his antics and even employed some of them in her fighting style.
"Never show your opponents your full strength." Veralth said, a dark smile on his face.
"Not until you have gauged the extent of their strength." Layla said, finishing the statement.
Layla had learnt a lot from Veralth, she had engraved his lectures in her heart in a quest to improve. Every single lecture, every single lesson. She paid attention to all of them!
She trained just so that she could measure up to the class, even when it was against her normal way of doing things she pushed past it. Past every limitation she had placed on herself.
But it was all for nothing.
"I see, so you did learn. My time teaching you wasn't wasted at least, unlike the gift of shadows was on you."
Layla schoffed, tightening her grip on the Kunai. She was terrible at using it, she needed to get her hands on that katana one way or the other or somehow make it to her room to get her short swords.
Although she knew that was nearly impossible she could only hope.
'I'm basically barehanded with this, I need to get something else and fast!'
The two members of the shadow clan stared at each other a deafening silence permeating the air, they knew that neither would show their hand which left one thing to be done.
They would crush each other with their overwhelming force, each person pushing so hard until the weaker flame was extinguished.
Each person had a reason to hate the other, Veralth had coveted the gift of shadows since he was a child. He trained and trained and trained but when his enigma manifested it was a measly gift that didn't get him any ounce of respect in the house of shadows.
But even still he had pushed and pushed until he got to where he was as an instructor. He had to carve out his path with his bare hands, digging through the mud until he finally got recognition in the clan.
Then how was it possible that a weak girl, the weakest among his students manifested the gift at such a young age! The gift was utterly wasted on the likes of her, he could feel it in his bones.
Throughout his time as instructor he had seen many of his students falter and fail because at a point without your enigma you can only climb up so high.
Out of all the people, out of all his students it had to be the most carefree student among them. Although yes, she was among his favorite students back when she trained with him.
During that time she would always tell jokes and make light scenarios that would have been otherwise daunting.
She was the class clown and everything was okay, that was until her enigma was unveiled and he could not help but hate her.
"Such a worthless waste of talent."
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[A/N]
Thanks for reading!
Layla is now face to face with the person she once called her master and sadly for her she can't rely on her enigma in this match.
Who do you guys think will win this fight? Layla who is fighting purely with skill? Or Veralth who is fueled by rage?