As soon as she said those words, Freide dashed in Sola's direction with a startling speed. She raised her sword high and brought it down in a powerful downward slash.
There was little time to react, but that was enough for Sola to deflect the attack.
But the attacks didn't stop, she was like a furious beast, not letting him stand on his ground and attack back.
Sola was getting used to how strong and fast he was, far beyond that of a mundane person.
Anyone would think he was losing the fight and under a lot of stress, yet the grin on his face never faded.
He was testing his newfound strength, which made him feel really good.
After a bit, he started receiving hits, his missing arm was a huge weakness after all.
He could also hear some of the students laughing when he got hit. She was stronger than him, and she knew how to use a sword, which he didn't. The only advantage Sola had over her was that he was faster, and most importantly, he was angry. The reason he decided to fight was that he wanted to vent his hatred on something, and he thought fighting would be perfect for that, and it was.
He managed to make couple of attacks himself, regaining ground he realized that constant attacking drained her energy and her strength was dimming a little.
Little by little, while Sola was dodging attacks and only taking weak hits, she began to grow tired.
Then it was his turn to attack, dashing in her direction, he dodged Freide's defensive attack with a swift motion and landed a good blow on her.
She fell back, picked up her sword, and as she stood in a fighting position, the tattoos on her hand began to emit a faint golden light.
The teacher was standing near them, her eyes narrowing in surprise when she saw that.
Sola felt that something had changed about her. Her expression was unreadable, she was completely focused.
In the next moment, she appeared in front of Sola before he even realized what had happened. She was really fast.
He took blow after blow; every attempt to regain control of the battle ended in failure. He simply had no time to react, the attacks were far stronger than before, and she was stunningly fast.
It was obvious he was losing, and it was only a matter of time before the blow he took would be the last, just before the teacher stopped the fight.
But then he heard it.
[Your mark has awake-]
The familiar, soothing voice stopped abruptly.
[No, it has not]
It was a different voice this time, it was mysteriously deep and somehow scary.
[I will not give you an ounce of my strength until I see how much hatred you have in your heart]
The strange voice reverberated in Sola's mind.
'You want to see my hatred, huh?'
She was not stopping, though, growing stronger and stronger every second.
Sola, on the other hand, was desperately deflecting her blows with a weird expression on his face—it was like he was in pain.
A couple of seconds later, their swords met, and Sola stepped closer to her instead of backing away.
Their faces were close to each other, but for some reason, Sola was pouting.
But then everything became clear.
Sola spat a mouthful of blood in her face, forcing her to close her eyes for a moment.
The whole room grasped, even Beth was stunned by what happened just now.
He secretly bit his cheeks while fighting.
One second was all Sola needed. He slashed his weapon with full force, grinning with blood all over his mouth, painting his teeth red.
A second later, Freide was leaning on her sword, her hand resting on the spot where she had just received a blow.
"Want me to stop the fight, Freide?"
Said teacher Beth as if mocking her and giving her motivation to fight.
"Don't you dare."
Said Freide in an angry tone.
Sola was more tired than her though, he could barely stand. So, when the next attack came, he fell to the ground and saw her in the air, falling toward him with a downward slash. Before the blade could hit him, though, he heard it again.
[Your mark has awakened]
He felt tremendous power rising from inside of him, flooding his mind with wraith.
Only now did he realize how much he hated this girl and wanted to win against her.
But the situation he was in was very difficult to win from.
Grabbing the hilt of his sword with his only arm, their swords were about to meet above his head. Freide's sword struck Sola's near the hilt, close to the start of the blade.
Unexpectedly for everyone except Sola, his grip on the sword loosened a millisecond before their swords met.
And what happened in the next second left everyone silent.
Freide struck Sola's sword, which he was no longer holding, causing it to rotate around her sword and land with the hilt right above it.
With a swift motion, Sola caught the sword above her hand, which was still coming down.
He then twisted the blade and aimed the sharp tip at her throat.
But before the tip of the blade reached her smooth skin, it was deflected.
Beth was standing in front of him with a pleased expression.
"The fight is over."
She looked at Sola, who looked like a beast that had just had its prey stolen.
The sword was trembling in his hand while looking at her, his eyes burning with fury.
But then he snapped out of it, and the realization hit him.
Why did he just try to kill her? He couldn't control his emotions,
Instead, they controlled him.
He would never want to kill her, she seemed funny and interesting, she was also really strong and knew how to wield a sword well. If anything, he wanted to become friends with her.
He dropped the weapon and whispered:
"I am sorry."
Looking at her while saying it, he suddenly realized that her face was covered in his blood.
Freide slowly stood up and looked Sola dead in the eyes.
Her mouth curled upwards as she did.
"I like you, you crazy bastard."