Julia watched as Winslow closed the short distance to attack. Without much thought, she got into a defensive stance and channelled her mana, allowing it to blaze around her entire body.
She had no intention of using her sword on someone like that. 'My fists will be more than enough.' She thought inwardly and jumped out of the way when Winslow unleashed the power of his abilities as soon as he reached five metres, and pointed his right arm out.
A cluster of vines collided with the ground where Julia once stood. "Not so tough now, are we?" Winslow mocked and pressed on with his attack with Julia evading the vines. Her agility and reflexes made her actions surreal to watch.
Not a single vine was able to get a hold of her, frustrating the boy to no end. Understanding that he wouldn't be able to catch her like that, he forfeited the use of his abilities and closed in to engage in hand-to-hand combat.
"Ho, ho, ho… Now we're talking. His abilities won't do shit against an ice user like her. And she hasn't even used it yet."
"What did you expect? Julia isn't your normal awakened. She's a Knight for a reason. And I pity that boy who decided to annoy her. Haha..."
The students watching the fight were impressed with the moves Julia displayed and quickly became avid fans of hers, some cheering already.
Winslow did not have the luxury of listening to what they had to say and promptly reached in to deliver a blow. One had to know that if Julia wanted, she could continue evading him till he got tired and would never close in on her.
But where was the fun in that? She wanted to beat someone, and this was a perfect opportunity to do so.
She pointed out her left hand, palms open and caught Winslow's fist, stopping the boy's momentum in an instant.
Baffled by how easily she did that, he was distracted briefly and this caused him a nosebleed.
BAM!
"Ugh!" He groaned in pain as his head tilted backwards from the force of the blow. Julia wasted no time and followed that up with another blow to the gut and finished it off with a turning kick to his head.
"Awesome!"
The students cheered as Winslow was sent flying a second time. 'Who the hell is she?!' Winslow cried inwardly, now more than ever, curious as to who she was. He quickly recovered with stained lips and got back up to his feet.
He observed Julia stand in the distance looking at him condescendingly. With gritted teeth and a resolve to make her pay for attacking him, he yelled and charged forward again, this time going all out.
Julia instantly noticed the change in him and responded appropriately. Each and every blow the boy sent her way generated powerful gusts of wind that could have levelled buildings if not for the strong material the maze was made of.
Julia expertly evaded and blocked the attacks charged with mana, speed and power. If their audience were normal people, they wouldn't have seen anything besides the constant exploding air and blurry movements.
"Damnit, why can't I hit you?!" Winslow's voice was laced with frustration and anger. Every blow and kick was expertly blocked or evaded. He sometimes tried to use his vines to capture her but to no avail. She was simply too slippery.
"This is just sad. At this point, the guy should just give up. He's only making a fool of himself."
"I know… But I kinda also understand how he's feeling. He's trying to get a hit in but that seems impossible to achieve as well. I'll be frustrated too, you know?"
"Yeah, me too. But what's done is done."
The conversation among the students intensified as they watched Winslow try everything but kept on receiving damage instead. The gap in their abilities was worlds apart.
Suddenly, they noticed Julia's expression change as she closed in on Winslow, this time, going in for the attack. However, instead of using her fists like she was doing before, he pointed out her right hand at him and channelled her mana.
WHOOSH!
Instantly, Julia trapped Winslow in a block of ice, ending this facade once and for all. She got bored really quickly and decided to end things.
"Hmph!" She snorted and then turned around, making her way back to Abigail. But things weren't that simple either.
Winslow may be out of his league, but he wasn't completely helpless. Cracks began to form in the block of ice as soon as Julia took 15 steps. She halted and then watched with a frown as her ice block began to crumble to pieces.
BOOM!
In an explosive manner, Winslow got out of the ice trap and leapt into the air, "Let's see how you get out of this!" He cried out and with an outstretched right hand in the form of a claw, made a pulling motion towards Julia.
Noticing this strange action, she got into a defensive stance ready for anything. But this time, she was a tad slow in reacting.
Vines instantly appeared all around her and coiled around, trapping her inside. But that was not all as Winslow's palm closed in and the vines shrunk in size and toughness. What's more, the vines began to emit a green smoke that suffused the surroundings.
"What's that? I haven't seen him use something like this before?"
"Likewise… Is it poison?" As soon as someone muttered that word, everyone swiftly backed off. If poison was what was being used, they had no business being too close.
'Hehe… You should have simply been a good girl when I approached earlier.' His dark thoughts ran amok as his expression morphed into a crazed one with a foolish grin and the light in his eyes malevolent.
Trapped inside and exposed to the green smoke, Julia retrieved a mask she carried along before she could inhale more green smoke as the moment she inhaled a bit, she knew it was poisonous. The only thing she didn't know was the kind of effects it would have on her.
However, she quickly noticed some green marks on her hands and felt slightly weakened.
'I see…'