Iron angel (Book 1 of IA)

[27] Prep

Maybe revenge wasn't such a good idea after all.

"Faster! You think you can outrun Soul Steel with that running like that!" Isa yelled.

"No sir!" I yelled back.

I guess revenge only motivates you in training if you are the main protagonist of a Shounen manga. But hearing that name, I clenched my teeth, and tried my best to kick up my pace.

It has been a week since rehabilitation and I was back in training. Isa vaguely suggested to lower the training difficulty at first, but I insisted we keep it up. Ironically I found all the running exercises easier now, since it was much lighter. I run faster and jump higher than before, with little to no effort. But since I hadn't gotten used to my new legs yet, it was harder for me to the grasp the sense of how long my stride was going to be, so I frequently ended up miss-stepping and tripping over myself.

"Hmph. 5-minute break, close quarter combat next." Isa shouted, then walked over to the side.

"We did it Kard! You only tripped 5 times this run!" Rin's blue hologram figure emerged.

"And you got better at sarcasm." I said, rubbing the knee which I fell on a few moments ago.

"NO! That was an honest compliment!"

(╬ Ò﹏Ó)

"Fine, fine. Whatever." I sighed in dismissal.

"Kard!"

"What is it again?"

"Look what I found on the school board!"

"Ugh. Let me see."

Rin's hologram was replaced with the school website's window, and on the very front page the title said:

'Amare Equitone Adelphia Irie, goddess of IIMT, now elected as student council president!'

"Don't you think she is cute?" Rin added.

Below the title was an image of a girl, who appeared to be a little younger than me, she had a smooth, pale, exquisite face. Along with long silky golden hair, she hadlarge deep sapphire sparkling eyes, and wore a white uniform dress decorated with badges. And the smile she wore, is one that will make bachelors go crazy.
To be honest, if someone told me she was a goddess from heaven, I would have believed that. She seemed too perfect for this world, and one could even say she is perfection, but despite all those facts, she is still far from Illyria..

"Dang, for sure, but with girls like these what can I say...there's no point going after them."

"If you never tried how would you know?" Rin asked, hand hips.
While she said this, I took a quick grab of water and sat down and lean back.

"I don't. But its obvious, with her appearance and social status, it should be pretty clear." I answered.

"Social status?"

"Yeah, if I remembered correctly, she is great niece of the elemental queen."

"Ehhh! I never knew that. But why does social status matter? Isn't there a saying 'there are no borders between love?'"

"Fair enough, but this is real world, not a fairy tale. In the end, it all comes down to money and power."

"But...But money can't buy everything!"

"True. But without money you're screwed to begin with."

"But two people can still live happily without money!"

"That's next to impossible, most divorces these days are caused by money."

"That's unfair!"

The window closed and shifted into an expression.

｡ﾟ･ (>﹏<) ･ﾟ｡

"That's reality for you."

I felt kind of bad for saying this to Rin, but I really couldn't keep the truth away from her either.

"Break's over, on your feet fresh meat!"

"Yes sir!"

"I want you to stand here." She pointed, "we're doing it different this time. I want you to attack me first."

"Yes sir!...what kind of attack sir?"

"Anything, give me your best shot fresh meat!"

Charging at her and throwing a simple punch would be plain suicide...

A flying kick?...No, she will catch it and break every single bone in my body...Run at her and then do a feint?

"What's with the standing? You being a soft meat again?"

Feint, was my best option, but the question was, what attack would I use to follow up with?

"Do you think Soul Steel will give you time to just stand there?"

She's just trying to get at me, you gotta calm down...

After running through all the possible scenario's in my head, I decided to follow up with a sweep kick to knock her off balance, then finish her off with a knock out strike to the temple.

"No sir." I said cracking my knuckle, "but you're not Soul Steel." I charged at her, then stopped when I was three feet away from her and feinted. And like I thought, she completely fell for it as she reached out and tried to grab me and missed me by about millimetre. I ducked and aimed a sweep kick at her back leg. She lost balance and fell back. Just as I was about to leap forward and follow up with the temple strike, she bent her hands back, palms against the ground, with the rest of the body still in midair. She pulled her legs back like a spring, then kicked at me. I felt like a soda can crushed by a hydraulic press, with fluids leaking out everywhere. Then I landed onto the ground several meters away like a crumpled soda can, hardly able to breathe. Like a crumpled soda can I laid there for several minutes, or an eternity, since I was still questioning whether I was going to be able to live after this.

"Not bad for a fresh meat. Training ends here, you're dismissed..." A shadow towered above me, without a doubt the voice was Isa's, as I slowly cock my head towards her.

"No...I want to keep on going." I said, as I slowly propped myself up with one hand then quickly added: "Sir."

"Are you deaf meat? I already..."

"Soul Steel won't give me a rest..." I gulped, then stood up with one hand on the wall. "Please sir. I am not going to leave this place until I am done."

Isa's eyes shouted danger for a second, and I thought it was going to be the end of me, but as seconds passed, the danger resided and it returned to the normal cold harsh again.

"Very well. Now pray you don't become dead meat."

As she said those words, I swear I saw a smirk.

Q: Have you ever practiced a type of martial arts before?