Child of Destiny

...

Cloe and Alice continued to stare at each other one more time as they were trying to assess the strengths of their opponents after the brief exchange earlier. It might be a short exchange but it was more than enough for the two to know the gist of the situation.

Alice was pretty skilled in both range and melee battle but that didn't mean that they didn't have flaws. Her ranged attacks were pretty fast but they lacked some power in comparison to the experts that Cloe had in their home.

The melee techniques, on the other hand, were quite strong which also have some swiftness in them. But a Mentalist was still a Mentalist even if they were a Kaleidoscope one. Their physiques were still lacking in comparison when it came to Martial-Artists.

They might be able to have decent strength in their bodies after training it with their Mental Energy. But when it was compared to the tough muscles that the Martial-Artists had developed, they were still slightly inferior.

It was because Mental Energy was supposedly be honing the mind and turn it into a powerful weapon and impenetrable wall. But that was only most effective when it came to mental attacks. And their attacks were supposedly concentrating this area.

Mentalists who were gifted in both mental techniques and physical skills were pretty rare. And that was only if they had special physiques or even a divine body.

On the other hand, Martial-Artists honed themselves and forged their bodies, turning them into deadly weapons. And since they were using the 'Force of Nature' to strengthen their bodies, it was bound to be stronger and tougher than what a Mentalist had.

After all, the Force of Nature, which came from nature itself, was to a higher degree than the Mental Energy that came from the human mind.

Meanwhile, Alice was still pretty confident in this match. She was still not sure what was the unease that she was currently feeling, but she could at least tell that it was still not a threat to her yet.

Cloe might be quite tricky to deal with since she looked like someone who was specialized in the attack. And the previous exchange earlier was the proof of that.

That previous counter caught her a little off-guard earlier due to her carelessness. She was still that familiar with Cloe even though they worked alongside each other during the entrance exam. But now that she experienced how troublesome Cloe could be, she was not going to lower her guard again.

'As long as I avoid any large movements when we are fighting in close range, I should be fine,' thought Alice to herself as she recalled how she got countered earlier.

'She baited me,' she added to her thoughts before taking her battle once again.

Cloe, who was standing a few distances away from her, also took her stance while knitting her eyebrows. She didn't know what was it, but she could feel that something had changed. 'What is it?'

Her intuition was on point as Alice was currently using the other ability that her 'Mind Reading' talent had. It was pretty much a useless technique when she was facing an opponent who could calm their mind and blanked their thoughts, but it was still pretty useful when she utilized it properly.

Her mother told her a couple of tricks about this special talent of hers.

Mind Reading didn't specifically mean that she needed to focus on reading the thoughts of her opponent through looking into their eyes. There were a couple of things that could tell her what the opposing side was thinking.

A simple movement of their eyes and a slight twitched of their muscles was more than enough to tell her the intention of her opponent. As long as she perceived her surroundings properly, protecting herself and throwing a couple of counters were not impossible.

Moreover, her 'Mind Reading' talent was also granting her a calm mind and tranquil thoughts. She might not be able to read the thoughts of her opponents completely, but her improved mind would give her the ability to respond in any situation calmly.

Given that, Alice decided to utilize the maximum potential of her Mind Reading Talent while also using her 'Spiritual Senses' that she had developed since her bloodline awakening.

Cloe could sense it. She could tell that the air surrounding Alice changed all of a sudden. And she was fully aware of what exactly it was.

Talent.

That was right, it was that talent gap once again.

Cloe knew that her talent in Martial-Arts was pretty average compared to the people surrounding her. She became fully aware of this since she was young, since that time when Shin saved her from the hands of those people who were trying to assault her.

She was not talented enough to stand beside Shin and the others. Even Leonard was much talented compared to her due to his instincts in a battle that he picked up in the streets to survive. Moreover, she also heard that he now had a special bloodline just like Arthur and Shiella.

She was lagging behind compared to them.

This was the very reason why she urged her father to let her learn Martial-Arts under the experts that they had at home.

She worked very hard to train and hone her skills despite her average talent. She even studied all of the famous talents known in both Martial-Arts and Mentalism worlds. She learned their abilities, their strengths, and most importantly their weaknesses.

She also tried to look for a way to counter despite her average talent. With that, she became familiar with the skills, abilities, and techniques that most of the talented individuals had which also gave her the means to either counter or coordinate with people who wield such talents.

Even her father's close guard complimented her that no one her age studied this matter as thoroughly as her.

This was also the very reason why she was able to coordinate with Shin and the others during the exam that they had at the academy.

Cloe calm her mind and steadied her breathing. She was aware of how the Mentalists fight, especially the ones as talented as Alice.

Spiritual Sense, an ability to perfectly perceive their surroundings by spreading their Mental Energy around them like thin threads as if it was a spiderweb.

'Presence. I need to lower my presence as low as possible,' thought Cloe to herself as the aura surrounding her started to fade away.

"Ho~!"

Jerimiah, who was watching from the sideline, couldn't help but raise his eyebrows when he saw what was happening. He became very interested in this match right now.

One of the sides was someone who managed to develop her Spiritual Sense at a very young age. The other side, on the other hand, was someone who seemed to have an average talent but also released a very strange aura and overwhelming confidence.

"Interesting~!" he commented while wearing a huge smile.

Even Vincent was also having the same thoughts. But compared to his cousin, he was more interested in what Cloe was doing, she was erasing her presence. He was pretty sure that it was an assassination skill, a highly difficult technique for young assassins of her age. Moreover, he was also sure that Cloe was not an assassin but a real Martial-Artist.

"A Martial-Artist who learns an assassination technique to counter a Mentalist? This is indeed interesting," muttered Vincent to himself while focusing his gaze on Cloe.

Shiella was also shocked. He was familiar with the two, especially Cloe. She knew this girl since they were toddlers and she knew how limited Cloe's talent was.

But from what she could see right now, it seemed like this girl was starting to overcome her limit and compensate for her lack of talent.

Alice started frowning her eyebrows as she looked at her opponent who was standing a few meters away from her. She could see that Cloe was in front of her, but her presence was getting fainter and fainter as more time passed. Even with the help of her Spiritual Sense, she was barely able to perceive the presence of her opponent.

Swoosh!

Then Cloe suddenly disappeared from Alice's sight!

Alice was having a hard time finding the exact location of her opponent due to the faint presence that the latter had. Due to that, she had no other choice but to do a large-scale technique.

She put her hands together and released a large amount of Mental Energy that immediately transformed into a spherical barrier around her.

At the same time, the scattered Mental Energy in her surroundings suddenly started to revolve around her as if they were planning to create a tornado.

It was pretty obvious that she was planning to force Cloe to reveal herself with this storm-like Mental Energy spinning around her.

A combination of attack and defense, such technique was pretty hard to counter. But little did she know, that it was exactly what Cloe was planning, exhausting her opponent until Alice could no longer use such techniques later.

Cloe continued to move around Alice to make sure that the latter was not able to pinpoint her location. She was moving like a stealthy beast that was quietly stacking its prey.

....