"Fifteen minutes." Nathan muttered.
"You may start at any time you want." Alisha remained still.
Nathan took a deep breath, trying to find his rhythm. Fenrir also prepared himself. His current form wasn't enough to deal with Alisha, so he had to get serious.
However, there was one miscalculation that anyone could make regarding Nathan. It was the fact they never expected that his first move was to turn around and run.
Yes, he was running away.
"!!!" All of them widened their eyes in disbelief. Did he just run away?
Alisha said he needed to last for fifteen minutes. In that case, the best way to achieve it was to run.
"Where are you going?" Alisha hurriedly chased after him.
"When fighting against an opponent much stronger than me, it's better to run away!" Nathan shouted without turning back.
"Hahahahaha!" Vivian was laughing out loud. As she expected, Nathan's way of thinking was surely different.
"Wait. You can't run away! Your assignment is to fight me!" Alisha wanted to use her power to speed up, but Nathan surprised her again by stopping.
"What? So I can't run away?"
"Yes. We'll be polishing your hand-to-hand combat, so we have to fight. Running away is indeed the correct move in a life-and-death battle, but this is only a spar." Alisha shook her head helplessly. She felt like she was being played with.
And that was when Nathan's strike came. "I see. If I can't run away, then…"
All of a sudden, Alisha felt danger coming from behind. She hurriedly turned around, wind forming around her left hand.
"Waaf!" Fenrir let out a small roar, which neutralized the wind around her hand. He came with an open mouth, trying to bite her arm.
Alisha knew perfectly how powerful that biting strength was, so she threw herself to the side, causing her to fall.
Fenrir landed smoothly and turned around. At the same time, Nathan was also closing in, working together with Fenrir. This was the perfect chance since Alisha hadn't gotten up yet.
By the time she went back on her feet, Fenrir had already arrived. She kicked him from the bottom, but Fenrir, who was adept in battle, simply perched on her shin before jumping into the air.
At the same time, Nathan pulled his fist, his Ena concentrating on the gaps between his fingers.
"That's…" Vivian widened her eyes.
Alisha instinctively lowered her foot and raised the two arms to guard.
Nathan waved his hand diagonally as if he were sweeping his claws. His Ena was extended like claws, hitting Alisha.
Wind swirled around Alisha's arm, which blocked the claws. Still, he managed to catch her off guard, resulting in her deploying her wind a little too late.
A scratch appeared on her arm as blood started flowing out of it.
At the same time, Fenrir fell on top of her head and tapped her forehead as if telling her that she would be dead if he used his power.
Vivian dropped her jaw, her lips slightly curved. She was shocked and happy. Alisha had restrained herself by not using a bow. In fact, she might only use a small fraction of her true strength in this sparring.
At the same time, it didn't change the fact that Alisha should still be stronger than both of them.
'He baited Alisha to chase after him so that he could position Fenrir behind her. Alisha was too focused on Fenrir's jaw strength, throwing her off balance. Both of them attacked. Fenrir must know that Alisha could block it and choose to escape. Meanwhile, Nathan shouldn't be able to do anything against her unless he managed to catch her off guard.'
Vivian sucked a cold breath. "If this was a normal duel, Nathan would be seen as a coward. However, if this was a life and death battle…" Vivian closed her eyes. She originally expected that Alisha would beat them up, but while relying on tricks, Nathan still won.
It seemed that the disciple she took in was more amazing than she originally thought.
"Did we win?" Nathan asked.
Alisha opened her mouth to complain, but the words stuck in her throat. With a wry smile, she said, "Yes, you've won."
"Oh!" Nathan took a step back and retracted his power. Fenrir also jumped off her head.
"Still, you're amazing." Alisha pointed at her wound. "You were clueless about summoners, but you already managed to manipulate your Ena to this degree. When did you learn that?"
On the one hand, he couldn't reveal the truth about the Soul Contract. It was true that Vivian and Alisha were his teacher and her familiar, but he just met them yesterday. He didn't know what they would do if they found out about him being a familiar as well as being a person from another world. On the other hand, he didn't think they would accept it if he said, "It's a secret."
That was why Nathan pointed at Fenrir and said, "When you used your wind yesterday, I ended up asking him how to do something like that. I tried imitating him yesterday."
"Are you serious?" Alisha gasped.
Even Vivian came over and asked, "You imitated him? Do you understand what you're saying?"
"Yes?" Nathan tilted his head in confusion.
"I told you earlier that the academy will be teaching you how to control your Ena, right? Looking at you being able to move your Ena already… Are you a genius?"
"What's wrong? Is that not normal?" Nathan's face was innocent as if he were completely clueless about it. Meanwhile, he also added inwardly, 'Yes. This is it. I'll just make them think I'm a genius or something. If it doesn't work, I can always say that it might be because my compatibility with beasts is high that I'm able to do it. It's a perfect excuse if I fail when they ask me to learn something.'
"It took me three days to be able to control my Ena." Vivian slapped her forehead before saying, "If you are like this, I might have to change my plan."
"Plan?"
"Yes. Having power is necessary, but don't be drunk with your power, or it'll be over for you. That's why I want you to solve your own problem without relying on me. Of course, I'll answer any questions you have as your teacher. You are a smart boy, so you can come to me if you think that problem is too big for you to handle. I want you to be independent."
"Does that mean I have to hide the fact that I'm your disciple?"
"No. If someone asks, you can tell them that you're my disciple. But there's no need to explicitly declare that you are my disciple to all people you meet."
"Oh." Nathan nodded.
Vivian turned to Alisha. "I'll change the schedule. Instead of training hand-to-hand combat for two hours in the morning, use one hour to teach him how to properly control Ena. After that, divide the schedule for him to study more about summoners as well as etiquette."
"Etiquette?" Nathan pointed at himself dumbfoundedly.
"You're my student, so people will know you sooner or later. It's better to have you learn etiquette so that people don't see you as an outcast." Vivian waved her hand while turning around. "Take care of him, Alisha. I'll go back first."
"Yes, Mistress."
---
[A/N: Wow, you guys are awesome. We've got 60 power stones in 3 days even though there are only a few of us here. I really appreciate it. Here is another chapter for you guys.]