THE BOOTCAMP (2)

The bootcamp for Delta Class was about to start. Everybody had gathered, leaving Angelika and Noah. No one cared about Noah, but Angelika, everyone waited patiently for their goddess. But as things happened, their war goddess was not in a good mood. She came on the stage emitting a cold, deathly aura. She was in the mood to kill. Hair braided like a boxer, dressed in proper fight gear, carrying her two swords. She threw both the swords at the sides as she cracked her knuckles.

Angelika was in the mood for a fist fight.

She looked around searching for Noah, as she didn't know his identity. After careful observation, she found Noah at a distance hiding behind a fat student.

"You there… come up here and help me with the demonstration," Angelika called out Noah.

"Me..?" asked Melv with a big smile. Angelika signaled hastily to the one behind him. Everyone stared blankly as they tried to figure out who that was. Without finding any other way, Noah stepped forward and took a big gulp down his dry throat.

"Come along now. We don't have all day." Angelika put on a fake smile. Noah felt that the Grim Reaper was calling him. "I couldn't find my fight gear...I won't be able to help you." Noah stuttered.

"Take me. Me. I have my gear..." voices from the crowd shouted.

"No big deal. Can someone help him with spare fight gear?" Angelika responded.

Seeing no other way out, Noah said, "Let me try to find it again."

"Don't make me wait." Angelika gave a fake sweet smile. Everyone was in awe of Angelika but Noah knew what it meant.

While Noah was away, Angelika practiced her martial techniques and everyone fixed their eyes like glue to her. It was a sight to watch for them. But Angelika's patience was running thin.

Noah returned at last in his battle gear.

"Don't just spar. We want a good fight. Angelika, show us what a real fight is like!" the crowd shouted. Seeing Angelika fight was something most of the guys in the crowd had only dreamt in their sweetest dreams. This was a chance to see it in real life and etch it in their memory as a beautiful dream.

"Why not!" exclaimed Angelika.

"What… what do you mean by real…" gulped Noah. Noah who was calm even against the Saw-Scaled Viper or the Masked Jackals felt Angelika to be an otherworldly existence. There was no way he could fight her. She was like a Demoness from Hell itself.

"Fight. Fight. Fight", a loud roar came from the crowd.

"Why worry when you are wearing battle gear. You won't die..." shouted Angelika and whispered the next part so that only Noah could hear. "At most some bones will be broken." Noah's eyes widened. "She is here to take revenge. I cannot run now. I cannot let her break my bones as well. What should I do? The only thing I can do is fight and avoid her blows as much as I can. If I can tire her out, then only I can survive this predicament. But that will not be an easy task."

"Use whatever you want. I don't care. I will use my fists. They are very hungry today." Angelika moved into battle position. Noah as well. Both stared at each other and Angelika was the first to leap into the fight.

Angelika practiced Martial Arts every single day for the last 5 years. If anything, she was a pro in using those moves now. "I fear not the one who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the one who has practiced one kick 10,000 times..." said a top martial arts expert in old times. Noah was literally feeling this now.

Angelika closed the distance with Noah and tried a Left Jab. Noah could not evade so he tried to block with his right arm.

"But wait, there is no power in the jab...It is a feint", before Noah could move Angelika had landed a Right Body Hook at his abdomen with all the force she could gather. Noah bent downwards as he reacted to the blow at his gut. Taking this opportunity Angelika hit a Straight Knee Strike with the full force of her body. Noah flew away at a distance like a paper.

It was a scene to be demonstrated over and over in a slow-motion camera if it were a motion picture. The crowd cheered at the sight of the shot. What a brilliant fighting technique they thought as most of them had never seen a martial arts practitioner fight in real life.

Also, some started booing Noah, "Loser. Trash..." words keep getting repeated. "How did he survive in the NMZ? I think he did not even go there..." said one of them who was envious of Noah's current status and relationship with the Principal. "He bought the flower somewhere", some said. "Must have been the case", the crowd started giving a disgusted look at Noah.

Only one person was truly worried and it was Melv. "Come on, wake up Noah", he shouted. "Don't listen to these morons. They are a bunch of nothings. You can stand up and fight." Melv didn't care about the angry eyes in the crowd as he bad-mouthed them.

Noah slowly tried to stand up.

"That's it? I thought you had some guts..." shouted Angelika. "Such a wimp tries to be a peeping tom? Come on. My fists are still hungry." Angelika stared at Noah like an Eagle measuring its prey from a distance.

As Noah was about to stand up properly holding his abdomen, Angelika rushed again. She leaped towards Noah and stepped on his thighs to deliver a Step-Up Knee Strike, a deathly blow from Muay Thai martial arts. She flipped her body in the air to land safely at a distance maintaining her balance.

But Noah who had taken the strike had fallen face-first on the floor.

"What happened champ?" Angelika taunted Noah sarcastically.

Noah, who was groaning in pain, tried to stand up again. "You are no fun. Okay, let's change the way of the fight. You come at me." Angelika uttered. "I am, swworryy", these words came out of Noah's swollen mouth. "It wwyas a mistake. Nwot intentwonal."

"Even if that's the case, which it is not because I can see in your eyes, you are a pervert, you should at least strike back for all you have received so far. So I am offering you the last chance to come at me or I will strike again. Only way for you is to beat me...so.."

Noah saw no other way than to fight back which he hesitated so far. He touched his wristbands and switched off the G-Tek device. All this while he was in 3.5x G. Now he is back to normal.

The crowd started booing Noah. Louds cheers were coming for Angelika who gave Noah a freebie. Angelika prepared for Noah to hit him. But she didn't realize the mistake she had made by giving a freebie to Noah.

Noah took a deep breath and stared at Angelika. He took battle positions.

Noah rushed at Angelika aiming at her gut. Angelika could see him from a distance and moved her hands to block it midway, "But wait where did he go?"

Noah had changed direction midway. His swiftness and agility increased as he came back to normal gravity. He moved to the left of Angelika, who tried a swing at him. But suddenly he appeared on her blindspot, again to the left, fell back a little and again closed in. His speed had assisted him in making swift movements.

As Angelika lost track of him, he appeared on the right of Angelika and flicked her waist with his fingers. He could have landed a blow, only he didn't want to hurt her.

But to Angelika who had totally misjudged the whole thing, a blow would have been a worthy hit from her opponent. Instead, it was flickering of fingers and it hurt her pride. She waved her hands towards Noah heavily in anger. Noah stepped back.

"I win right. I hit you. So let's call it a day." Noah gave a smile.

But what Noah didn't understand was that he had enraged that already angry war goddess. Angelika spared no words and came right at Noah. Noah dodged swiftly again. Angelika closed the distance and prepped for a Roundhouse Kick.

Noah understood he cannot receive the blow. He swiftly ducked and rolled towards the back of Angelika. Angelika, who had missed the kick totally, turned around to follow up with a Cross Jab. But to her surprise, Noah was just in front of him. One inch more and their noses would hit. Angelika was startled, no one had come this much close to her ever, be it a battle or personal life. They could almost feel each other's breaths.

Noah raised his hand aiming to punch. Angelika was frozen at the moment. Her reaction instincts didn't work. She prepared herself to receive the full blow of the punch.

The crowd stood up as Angelika was about to receive a punch from Noah. They could never imagine such a situation happening to their war goddess. Even Melv was so dumbstruck that a fly had just made a tour inside his widely open mouth and came back safely. As things changed, he wanted neither to get hurt but Noah had given him a shock with his counter-attack.

It was as if everything had stopped in time. An uncanny romance shaping up in the arena as some peach blossoms had flown in by a sudden breeze. A perfect melodious orchestra was the only thing missing in such a slow-motion 360-degree cinematic view.

Everyone had almost lost themselves to the moment, as Noah approached Angelika. But to her surprise, instead of a blow, Noah flicked her forehead with his fingers, as he gave a smile and stepped back a few steps.

"Wait! What just happened?" The crowd clueless looked at the smiling Noah.

Noah was enjoying this now. He cannot take on Angelika in a real fight. But this doesn't have to be like that. "If she loses her will to fight anymore, then the job is done…" Noah thought.

But as Angelika understood what had happened, she started burning with fury. She tried to control her Ability as much as she could. She didn't want to use it here in front of everyone. No one had seen her ability to date. She had won all matches only by her fighting skills.

In anguish, she screamed and rushed again. No one has bested her in battle and yet she cannot even beat this guy somehow. "What did he do on his wrists? He was such a weakling before." she thought as all reasoning was going dark. Angelika picked up her sword. This caused a panic for Noah. "She just won't stop, unless.."

Angelika was quite good with swords. She aimed her sword at Noah and people could only see flashes of the sword parrying towards Noah. Noah could not dodge all of them, as he was not used to sword movements. He tried to evade one and arrived at the back of Angelika.

Noah hit the knife-edge part of his right hand on the side of Angelika's neck.

As the knockout point is close to the Carotid Sinus, which our body uses to keep track of blood pressure, it's possible that hitting this spot confuses the body into thinking that blood pressure is dangerously high and shuts down the brain as a safety precaution.

Consequently, Angelika lost consciousness for a few seconds and as she fell, Noah caught her. He laid her slowly on the floor.

All this while, the onlookers in the crowd who were bad-mouthing Noah had silenced down. Most of them seemed to look for their jaws which were wide open. Some also felt that their eyes had left its socket. It was an unbelievable event. Noah had bested their War goddess Angelika.

The blow was not severe, Noah measured the impact carefully such that she would wake up in a few minutes. Noah sat beside Angelika as she lay unconscious.

"Anytime now. She will wake up and the first thing I wanna do is apologize. That way she won't have the opportunity to attack me without letting me finish my words properly. I can only hope for the best." Noah exhaled deeply and prepared himself.

Angelika was gaining consciousness slowly. Noah smiled and asked her, "Are you okay?"

Angelika was confused, she was about to hit him but she was lying on the floor. "What just happened? Wait, there is a sudden pain in my neck. Did he knock me out?" Angelika looked around and gradually realized what had happened.

Noah was about to speak his mind out now. He had prepared for it.

But before he could utter a single word, he could feel the deathly aura returning. The demoness has resurfaced. His heart suddenly skipped a beat. The blood pressure has increased tenfold. It's the same feeling, only the intensity has amplified. It is bloodlust.

Before he could react, his pupils dilated. Noah fell to the ground. He had lost consciousness.

Angelika could not control her ability. The ability to strike FEAR.

…