"Defend yourself," the woman said.
The boy tried to move, but he noticed she was far too fast so he decided to take the hit.
Without wasting any time, he began channeling all his Aura into his stomach, turning it a metallic black.
When Scáthach's spear struck him, he was sent flying backward until a tree stopped his momentum.
His shirt had a hole in it, but luckily, his stomach was intact.
"Interesting," she muttered, her eyes fixed on his skin as it slowly returned to its normal color.
Ludleth was breathing heavily as he recovered from the blow. Though the attack hadn't seemed to harm him on the outside, the energy impact had caused internal damage.
But that wasn't what truly weighed on him it was the massive amount of Aura he had used to activate Hardening. It had drained fifty percent of his energy.
Scáthach, meanwhile, watched the boy rise to his feet, waiting for him to strike.
Noticing how the woman stood still, expecting his attack, Ludleth took a deep breath and began pumping Aura through his veins.
His heartbeat quickened. The Aura within him boiled, surging through his arteries. His veins bulged, his eyes bloodshot. Hot smoke began to stream from his nostrils and mouth.
Ludleth stepped forward, leaning in, then shot off with such explosive power that the ground cracked beneath his feet. A punch aimed straight at her temple.
Just as Ludleth's fist was about to land, the woman shifted, and he rolled straight into a crater in the ground.
Unlike before, the blond boy began to move like a spring, trying to confuse the woman before attempting to strike. However, she always dodged at the last second, as if she had already predicted exactly where his blows would land.
"Fool," Scáthach said with a slight frown. "If your attacks are that predictable, you'll never hit anyone."
Ludleth knew she was right. He had never truly focused on combat. He had spent nearly all his time learning to control and expand his Aura, leaving him with no time to learn many techniques.
Out of the many ways to use Aura, Ludleth had only managed to learn two.
Enhancement, which allowed him to strengthen his body for a limited time at the cost of great physical stress, and Hardening, which consumed a large amount of Aura to reinforce a specific part of his body.
This time, instead of simply dodging, the woman shifted slightly and struck the boy in the stomach with a punch too fast for Ludleth to activate his Hardening.
The sound was like a bone cracking. The young man flew six meters, bouncing off the ground three times before coming to a stop.
Staggering, he got back on his feet. The Aura inside him was in turmoil. He quickly looked around to locate Scáthach and noticed she hadn't moved an inch since the fight had begun.
Ludleth knew he was fighting against time. Once his Aura reserves ran out, his body wouldn't be able to continue.
"Is this your limit?" Scáthach asked. "Give it your all or let's end it here."
At that moment, she began preparing to attack. Seeing this, Ludleth pumped even more Aura into his bloodstream. His skin flushed with an unnatural redness, his mouth now spewing only white smoke, and the temperature around him seemed to rise.
His body was starting to suffer. Burning under the skin. But he couldn't slow down. Not now.
Without thinking, the boy charged at Scáthach. As usual, she didn't get hit but this time, as if he had foreseen her dodge, his strike hit the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust that made it hard to see.
Moving quickly, he tried to take advantage of the moment, attempting to strike Scáthach from behind his hand now darkened with a metallic black hue.
The dust began to clear, and Ludleth saw it he hadn't managed to land the hit.
"Better than before, but still not enough," she said, just as the boy began to feel that something was wrong. He looked down and saw it. Scáthach's spear had pierced through his stomach.
Pain. It wasn't the first time Ludleth had felt it, but this time it was worse than anything he had ever known. His consciousness began to fade, but the Aura still coursing through his blood kept him from blacking out completely.
"Too predictable," she sighed.
Then she looked at Ludleth, as if waiting to see how he would respond to this situation like it was all part of a test.
Ludleth, barely conscious, couldn't hear her voice. His mind, desperate to escape the pain, focused on one single thought: hit Scáthach.
He knew he could never reach her through normal means. To her, his attacks were as easy to read as an open book. So he had to use his current situation to his advantage.
Pushing his Enhancement beyond its limits, he allowed the spear to sink deeper into his flesh, using Hardening to protect his vital bones and organs.
And in a single instant he was closer to her than he had ever been in the entire fight.
Grabbing the woman's hand to prevent her from releasing the spear and dodging, he then used his head now hardened and pitch black to try and strike her with a headbutt.
Ludleth didn't know if the attack had landed. At this point, his entire body had gone numb. But as his focus faded, he heard Scáthach's voice:
"Interesting."
Then a wave of pain crashed through him. Just before he lost consciousness, he felt something strike his head and then, darkness.
————————
Ludleth's eyes snapped open. He found himself lying on a bed of flattened grass.
He tried to move, but his body betrayed him. Every muscle was pulled tight like a bowstring. Every bone felt cracked.
It took him a few seconds to remember what had happened.
"Took you long enough to wake up," said a female voice.
Ludleth turned his head with effort. Scáthach was sitting on a nearby rock, legs crossed naturally.
"Get up. We don't have any more time to waste."
"How long was I unconscious?" Ludleth asked, his voice hoarse.
"Not long. But you'd better check that ability of yours."
[Summon Time Remaining: 00:25:00]
He had been out for fifteen minutes.
'I was too reckless. I can't afford to waste time like that. I shouldn't have risked everything on that last attack. Wait my stomach…'
Quickly, the boy checked his abdomen and to his surprise, there was no wound.
"How is this possible?" he asked.
"Don't get used to it," she replied.
Scáthach stood up from the rock. "I don't have the time to wait for that injury to heal."
"Thank you," the boy said softly.
Scáthach tilted her head slightly. "You have potential."
"But your foundations in combat are pathetic."
"Even a child would fight better than you. That's why we'll focus on that now."
"Afterward, you'll need to train your body. You'll keep doing that even when I'm not around. If you don't I'll hit you."
"We start now," she said with an authoritative tone that allowed no room for argument.
With no choice, Ludleth got to his feet.
"At least… did my final blow land?" he asked.
With a faint smile, she replied, "Not even close."