“So...how’d it end up to...this?” Phoenix asked curiously, pointing at the large blue black mark that was throbbing in the middle of Arma’s forehead. Zessica had one too, though it was concealed under her long ivory bangs and considering that she was dozing off on Stab’s left lap peacefully, it looked as if she had been knocked out to whatever the source of the bruises were.

Arma sighed irritated, leaning his head back at one the large trees that was located at the side of the school campus. It was recess and Zatch had the brilliant idea of hanging out at the area where they were at to chat. Well, for Arma it was a brilliant idea since spending so much time cramped up in one seat throughout the whole semester was tiring. Phoenix continued to stare at Arma, persistent to rub off her annoying presence at him. Eventually, the tall lad gave in and answered back.

“I swear Zessica is the devil in disguise. She may look innocent but she is the queen of mischief. I mean, she would even make Zatch to have a run for his money”

It had been only a week since Arma forcibly made Zessica to live with him. Reason one; she was living in a dump that had been non-stopped and highly dangerous and reason two being that they were partners now. It was a bit odd to have someone to live under the same roof with him but he was soon pressing his forehead against Zessica with angry eyes and hers being impassive in return.

Like for example, that morning. Arma woke up groggily once more with less sleep as usual. Yawning, he was making his way out of the room and stared at the slightly ajar door questioningly. With his mind not completely synched to his intelligence yet, Arma pulled the door wide open, causing something heavy to land on his head and white powder flying everywhere. This had woken up Arma thoroughly and he quickly scanned around, seeing himself covered with white flour from head to toe.

Several veins throbbing at the prank, he instantly marched down the golden spiral staircase. His footsteps were so fierce; it was a miracle that the staircase withstood it all. He stopped at the kitchen and glared at the culprit who was almost nodding off to sleep while eating breakfast.

“Zzzzessssiiiiicaaaaaa!” Arma bellowed loudly, causing her to slowly sit up straight. She turned one sleepy eye at Arma, stared at him for a minute before returning to munch on her breakfast again. This action made more of Arma’s patience and tolerance to snap, which eventually lead him to leaving both of them with bruises on their foreheads as of now.

“Pfft! I would have understood if she had placed a bucket of ice water wedged between the door and the door frame but flour? Hehehe” Zatch chuckled lightly resting his back on the tree again. All four of them were under the shade of the tree, watching the other students having picnics on the campus. Arma could only groan internally at Zatch’s statement.

“Well, you shouldn’t have head-butted her too hard. I mean just look at her, she looks completely knocked out” Stabs whispered softly, reminding the other three that the tiny girl was asleep. Stabs had noticed that she seemed a bit woozy and had offered his lap for her to doze off much to Arma’s surprise. It seemed lately that Zessica and BackStabber had been getting along in good terms. He didn’t know about Zatch and Phoenix’s statuses yet though.  

Phoenix inched herself closer to the snoozing girl and gently rustled her hair tenderly. She smiled and giggled lightly when Zessica seemed to respond but lightly turned her head by a fraction.

“She really looks like a kid huh? Her hair is so smooth and silky too... I thought it would be...sort of dry since it had that look on her” Phoenix noted, twirling another strand of Zessica’s hair to circles.

“Well she is a girl Phoenix...” Arma added sarcastically but somewhat agreeing what Phoenix had said secretly. After all, he was in her spot a week ago.

“And you think I don’t know that?” Phoenix asked challenging, narrowing her eyes at Arma. The tall lad merely shrugged it off and exhaled out a long sigh.

“I was simply stating Phoenix.”

“That reminds me” Stabs suddenly joined in, grabbing everyone’s attention towards him. He leaned forward, careful not to disturb Zessica as he did so.

“We are joining the Blessed Combat trials. Are you joining Arma?” Arma stared quizzically at the three of them. In all honesty he hadn’t even thought about joining the fighting sport yet, let alone with Zessica. They haven’t really thought about joining anything at all actually. For a week Arma let Zessica settle in at his house and get used to it.

“Don’t know yet. Are you? And there are trials in Blessed Combat?” Arma replied back. Phoenix stared at him as if he was mad. Arma glanced back innocently, proving that he did not know what the other three, had in their knowledge. What struck him odd was, both Phoenix and Zatch was staring at him suspiciously, as if inspecting him whether he was an alien or not.

“Yea...How could you not know? Especially you of all people?” Zatch asked with a somewhat sinister chuckle. Arma felt a dagger poking in his head, just waiting for him to pluck it out and stab it back at Zatch.

“So what if I don’t know? I never have been into one. Doesn’t hurt asking now does it?” Arma countered sarcastically, an enraged electrical dangerous vibe forming between the two peculiar friends. Zatch simply smiled broadly at Arma which resembled much like the Cheshire cat in Wonderland. Before Zatch could even have the chance to remark back, Phoenix barged in, interrupting their staring-at-each-other-with-killing-intent competition.

“Now now, knock it off you two. Let’s not forget about the other news too.” The vibe between the two teenagers slowly ceased and both of them stared back at her, wondering what in the world she was talking about. Phoenix sighed in an annoyed tone and pointed to a figure in front of them.

“We got a new classmate” Arma zoomed in to find an average height guy wearing a bright green cap backwards which revealed more or less of his chocolate brown curls at the edge of the cap. The new guy was tanned and had a fairly strong built. Arma could already see that girls going googly eyes on him and giggling excitedly, causing him to gag mentally. Honestly, girls these days were into muscle and no brains.

Nonetheless, the new guy wore a huge forest green jacket that had two dull yellow lines going from the shoulders to the sleeves. A casual black shirt was underneath and he was wearing black baggy shorts that reached to his knees with black combat boots. Upon closer examination, Arma also noticed he was fiddling with a very complicated looking cell phone with one hand. That hand itself was wearing black fingerless leather gloves with the back of the palm being exposed and his other hand was fished into his jacket pocket. All in all, Arma had never seen this particular guy in school before.

“Apparently he enrolled to this school because his...sources told him that the person he had been looking for since a year or so was studying under this school.” Zatch rejoined, nodding to the oblivious person before them. He was now glancing around, hopping from one foot or another. It was as if he was looking for that very person right then.

“What are you guys looking at?” Zessica’s voice suddenly popped in. All four of them turned to see Zessica now awake, stretching both her arms behind her head and yawning lightly. Stabs seemed more flabbergasted than the rest to which Arma knew what he was thinking right then. How had he not noticed that she had woken up when she was sleeping on his lap?

Nobody seemed to answer her so the short girl decided to look at this person they were mentioning about earlier herself.  She narrowed her eyes towards the new guy, cocking her head to a side as if she was trying to distinguish him. However, what she said next, surprised the rest of them under the tree, including Zatch.

“Euphino?...” The name just barely left her lips and it was just above a whisper. However, Arma would have sworn that the new guy snapped his neck towards them by Zessica’s voice. A huge grin then spread through his tanned face as he flipped his cell phone shut and buried it in his jacket pocket.

“Is it just me or is he looking over at our direction?” Stabs asked uneasily. Sweat beads were already trickling down his forehead.

“Do you know him Zessi...ca?” Phoenix trailed off bewilderedly, staring at the gap between Stabs and her where the short girl should have been. She immediately stood up from her resting position and scanned around the tree only to find there was no trace of the short girl. It was as if she had disappeared into thin air which Arma knew it was impossible. Even so, how did all four of them missed her moving about? Stabs and Zatch got up too, also stunned to find Zessica suddenly gone.

“Fooouuund yoooouuu!~” A very creepily cheerful voice drifted to the bamboozled four. A powerful gust of wind almost knocked them away out of the blue. Zatch instantly pinpointed the location of the source and discovered the new guy. He had a very chipper smile towards the person whose wrist he had gotten hold of. Zessica tried her best to struggle and yank her hand away from his grip. How both of them got there within the spam of few seconds, Zatch had no idea...yet.

 “Hey! Let go of her bastard!” Arma bellowed loudly, already charging towards the new guy. He would have punched that cocky face of his. It didn’t matter to him whether this guy was a new kid or not, all he knew was that bastard had his hands on the tall lad’s partner. Unfortunately for him, he skidded to a screeching halt when Zessica turned to him and spoke out.

“It’s okay Arma, I know him. He is an old acquaintance of mine”

“Excuse me?” Phoenix burst out with incredulity while catching up to the tall lad, her eyes almost bulging out of her eye sockets. Arma was too loss for words to even sarcastically brush her off.

“Beat that sweetheart!~” The new guy mocked cheekily, giving Phoenix a wink. The effect was almost immediate as the fiery girl felt her cheeks grow warm. A second later she was completely enraged with fury. There was no doubt about it in her mind. This new cheeky guy here was a playboy, and she would not let Zessica to mingle with him.

“Euphino, please stop that and I request you to let me go.” Zessica spoke politely as she stopped struggling. Although, her caught wrist had her hands clenched to a fist and Arma noticed that she was peering off dark cold pressure on the guy called Euphino. It almost seemed like he disgusted her much to the new guy’s obliviousness.

“Aww...come on Zessy! Not even going to say hi when we haven’t met for the last two years?” Euphino cooed in a flirty manner at her, leaning closer to the girl. Before he could do anything to tick not only Zessica, but Phoenix and Arma as well, the short girl kicked him where the sun doesn’t shine.

The effect was immediate where Euphino instinctively let go of Zessica’s hand and crouched down with laboured gasps. Zessica took the opportunity to have a good distance between the peculiar guy and her. She was once again at Arma’s side who was refraining himself to inch himself away from her. After all, she just hit somewhere forbidden and Arma could not help feel the pain Euphino was going through as well. One look at Stabs and Zatch told they looked a bit queasy as well.

“I deeply apologies about that but the circumstances forced me to jump into action.” Zessica apologised politely while Euphino simply waved it off good naturedly with a wheezing chuckle.

“Still the same ol Zessy I know huh?” Euphino wheezed, eventually standing upright once more. Arma glanced at Zessica who had her head bowed low, staring at her sneakers. There was still some uncomfortable vibe emitting out from the girl. It didn’t seem like hatred, more like annoyance towards the guy? Who wouldn’t be? Even Arma felt a bit nagged himself.

“Why are you here Euphino?” Zessica asked coldly which ran a shiver down Arma’s spine. He had never heard her voice in that tone before. It sounded deadly and serious as if she won’t tolerate anything that beat around the bush. It was almost like she was the ‘no nonsense’ type of girl. Just what kind of relationship did she have with this annoying no good bastard?

“Aww...Don’t be like that Zessy~ I just came here to see you! It’s been so long since I last met you and my heart couldn’t tolerate it anymore” Euphino added dramatically with a small chuckle, oblivious at the deadly aura that was surrounding the short girl.  

“Now you have seen me so please leave.” It impressed both Phoenix and Arma to find that she had still managed to say this in a polite demeanour yet still have some deadly venom seeping in it. 

“Ne, you really hurt me there Zessy. Come on Zessy! Give me a chance please? You still haven’t found a partner right?” Euphino countered, stubborn to keep the conversation going. Stabs slowly retreated for he sensed something snap within the short girl. Phoenix’s epic rage towards him and Zatch had left him with the impression that Zessica was going to blow in an epic rage herself. Though to down to earth guy’s surprise, she didn’t even as much bat an eye despite having the menacing aura around her seemed to multiply.

“Actually I already have. You are standing right before him at this minute” Euphino’s smile faltered completely as he turned to Arma with wide surprised hazel eyes. His face was purely screaming at Arma that he wasn’t prepared to expect the tall lad to be Zessica’s partner.

“Why?!” Euphino wailed, flinging his arms wildly to express his shock. “What do you see in that monster?”

When the word ‘monster’ flew out of the new guy’s mouth, Phoenix and Stabs straight away grabbed both of Arma’s wrists. The tall lad however didn’t seem to sense it for he was crackling his knuckles, ready to pulverise the guy in front of him into a pulp. That was when Zessica, using her Telekinesis, hit not only Euphino, but Arma as well on the forehead with two chunks of stone.

“Euphino, I won’t tolerate you speaking so ill of my partner. You have no right to do so since I chose him to be my partner out of my own will so I ask of you to deal with that.” Zessica stated her mind out loud harshly, almost glaring at Euphino who shrunk back and nodded furiously in fear.

 Arma on the other hand, felt a bit spacey. Why in the world had she struck his forehead too? Whatever the reason was, it stopped him from being blinded by anger. Seeing that the danger had been averted, both Phoenix and Stabs released him with a sigh of relief while Zatch stood there, observing Euphino from afar.

“Well...I guess we went on the wrong foot so...how did you become a partner of this lovely lady?” Euphino asked with too much pride to even apologies. Arma merely shrugged it off and surprised himself by answering back.

“I don’t really know myself. I did it out on a whim...” Euphino nodded while smiling brightly. Though Arma could see his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. There was something afoot with him. What was he thinking now?

“I won’t accept this” Euphino suddenly started, causing the silence to bear more weight than usual. Arma blinked blankly at the guy who now had a shady looking smile. Phoenix’s natural instincts kicked in and she knew something bad was going to happen in a matter of minutes. Even Stabs and Zatch could feel it too. Zessica simply raised both eyebrows, demanding an explanation from Euphino.

“Zessica, as much as I like you and respect your decisions, I won’t allow you to make this man as your partner.” Euphino said each and every word in a clear cut tone, showing not hints indicating that he was kidding or fooling around. He was serious about it.

“And why is that?” Arma tagged in as he asked challengingly at Euphino, staring straight on to Euphino’s gaze and not looking away as he did so. Euphino did the same to which a crackle of electricity was shared between them.

“Because I say so. You are not capable of protecting Zessica from danger. You even harm her” Euphino noted, pressing his index finger on his forehead. Arma saw at the corner of his eyes, Zessica pulling the fringe of her hair closer to her own forehead and oddly grumbling to herself. Euphino must have noticed the blue-black bruise when he had grabbed her.

“You don’t even know that I am the one who did that to her now do you?” Arma countered back, not at all denying the fact that he was the one who had caused that. However, for this new kid to have guessed that Arma was the culprit, sort of grinded the nerves the wrong way.

“Well of course I know it was you. After all, a monster will always remain a monster.”

That very sentence triggered something extraordinary within Arma. The tall lad felt the rage building up in his chest and he soon lost all rational thinking. The short girl might have guessed this was so as she stepped aside, letting him charge up against the cheeky kid. Euphino merely smirked as Arma brought his fist towards his face.

Much to Arma’s surprise, Euphino easily caught it with his bare hands and everything else became a huge blur. One second, he was glaring at the new kid with his fist in that cocky guy’s hand, the next; he was lying sprawled on the floor with a dazed expression. By then, there was an audience surrounding them, watching as Arma tried to recall what had happened in that brief moment.

“What did that new kid just do?” Phoenix asked bewilderedly for she too didn’t see what had happened. The only thing she registered in her vision was huge blur of green, black and blue. Zatch had his eyes wide open, both glinting red as he read Euphino. It was Stabs who answered the question that lingered in Arma’s and Phoenix’s mind.

“He lifted Arma and threw him over his shoulder. I can’t believe it.”Stabs was evidently gawking at Euphino who had a satisfied look on his face. Arma growled dangerously and abruptly got up, almost tripping over as he did so. He was about to land another punch when at the corner of his eyes, he saw Zessica shaking her head, secretly telling him to stop. Arma glared at the cheeky guy, reluctant to give up but eventually backed away which made Euphino’s smirk grow wider.

“As I said before, a monster like you can’t protect someone. You will end up killing her instead. So I suggest you to break all ties with her as soon as possible” Euphino ordered maliciously, earning another stone chucked at him at the back of his head.

“Euphino, I told you already. Do not speak ill of my partner. He has what it takes to be a better player than you will ever be” Arma was more or less grateful that Zessica was standing up for him but he couldn’t stop letting Euphino’s words to spiral around his mind. He had called him a monster more than once. Was that how he truly was to everyone else out there?

“I see...then let’s have a Declaration Of War now shall we?” Euphino announced, making everyone gasp. Arma felt his eyes wide open at Euphino’s sentence. A Declaration Of War was nothing short but a slang for a rule that was banned long ago. It was a rule that allowed players to steal other partners and make that partner their own. To do that, that very person have to beat his or hers opponent fair and squarely in Blessed Combat. Once the opponent loses, the winner has the ultimate position of choosing which of the partner to be theirs.

“Now now hotshot” Zatch joined in, smirking confidently to the cheeky boy.

“I think you need to update your game guide manual. That rule no longer exist anymore since it caused so much havoc back in the early times this game debuted” It was Euphino’s turn to smirk back at him. He fished out his complicated cell phone and flicked it open.

“Oh, but I think you should follow your own suggestion...” The new kid spoke mocking while showing his cell phone screen. Huge letters bounced off the screen and appeared before everyone in the whole area that was watching. Zatch’s smirk died down as he read the words that was glowing brilliantly at nothing but thin air.

Rule nine: Players can now steal other partners by winning a combat between others in Blessed Combat

Updated one hour ago.

Soon, there were a mixture of anxiety and murmurs between everyone, thoroughly stupefied with the sudden rule that came back after being banned long ago. Arma noticed the corner of Zatch’s lips twitch in irritation. No doubt he was feeling somewhat irritated towards the cheeky guy right now. After all, the title of the ‘Human Database’ belonged to him and Zatch only. There was no way in hell was he going to let some overly confident kid to steal his glory. However, he didn’t say anything in return and kept silent.

“So...what do you say? Monster?” Euphino teased to which Arma did not take it lightly. He knew if he tried to land a punch again, he would be proving what Euphino was stating at the moment publicly. However, he wanted to counter attack, show this cheeky guy a thing or two that Arma had what it takes to protect someone but his mind came up blank at what to say.

“I accept” Zessica’s voice made the whole bundle of voices to hush back into silence. All eyes turned to her as she stood defiantly towards Euphino who had not noticed that she was closer than she was earlier that he flinched back in surprise. Her eyes were now very much glaring at Euphino who inched back in fear.

“Wha...I was asking-

“The monster right? Right now you are confused with the facts. Arma is human and he had always been human since the very start. So to top it off, I accept your challenge” Zessica declared strongly that her voice reverberated everywhere. A huge window popped above her head, spelling her acceptation of Euphino’s request and something else that made the murmurs between all individuals to grow louder.

Armageddon and Zessica accepted to participate Blessed Combat. Your team shall be now known as Team 23. Good luck and don’t forget to be alive!

At that point, Arma felt devastated. He was going into that game. He was going to take part in Blessed Combat and fight other players and it was all because Zessica had accepted Euphino’s stupid Declaration Of War request. Arma glared ruthlessly at Euphino who was more or less surprised at the turn of events. He had clearly had not expected this to happen. All he wanted was to tease Arma for a bit but this had lead Zessica to join both of them into the game. So that meant that she was clearly serious when she said about this lanky person was her partner.

Guilty for creating such a situation with his own bare hands, Euphino simply beamed at her, hoping it didn’t look too awkward.

“I’ll be very much looking forward to be your partner Zessy”

“I believe it’s high time for you to stop dreaming and wake up Euphino” Zessica remarked back, causing Euphino to chuckle lightly. She was still the same feisty girl he had known two years ago but she was also somewhat different. Euphino glanced back at the tall lad who was glaring at him with pure hatred in his eyes but was there a hint of pain in them too? Who knows? With a wave of his hand, Euphino turned his back against them all and walked casually away, thinking that he looked cool as he did so.

As the screen disappeared, Phoenix felt dread inside of her but most of all, happy that Zessica had dragged Arma into the tight situation. After all, this way, Zatch Stabs and Phoenix herself can finally pull the tall lad back on track. So what the girl did next was nothing but a spontaneous action. She kicked Arma’s shin, causing him to yelp in pain and drop back to the ground. Arma glared at her while rubbing his sore shin.

“What the hell did you do that for?” Phoenix simply ignored him as she spoke.

“Buck up, its training time.”

***

“You own all this?” Zessica asked as she stepped in the middle of what Stabs called the training area which was nothing like its name. It was a metropolitan area that seemed to be deserted. There was no life in the dead city and rubbles of several buildings were slowly crumbling down. There weren’t many colours too. The sky was white, the roads and grasses were white and the buildings, cars, highways and all sort of things in the city had several shades of grey and black. It was as if she had entered a very complicated looking colouring book.

Phoenix soon entered in through the portal Stabs had created for all of them. Soon Zatch followed along with Arma. Stabs came in last and closed the portal behind them which left a brown feather behind. Stabs crouched down and picked it up before placing it in his ear as an ear-ring.

“And you said that was from a real hawk” Arma remarked sarcastically. Stabs merely smiled sheepily in return, not denying what Arma had deduced.

“I got this as a prize from winning some random game back when I first started playing Blessed Combat. It’s like a portal to a different dimension which we three always come to train.” Stabs spoke honestly, pointing at the brown feather that was hung limply on his ear. Arma simply rolled his eyes and had his arms crossed over his chest. Zessica simply marvelled around the training area in awe while Zatch had one finger under his chin, thinking deeply.

“I decided. Arma, you are going to train with Phoenix here while me and Stabs train Zessica here, at the park nearby the museum” Zatch announced, clapping his hands in a cheerful tone with a radiant smile. Both Phoenix and Arma felt an imaginary weight stranded on their heads, weighing them down to be crushed.

“No way! I don’t trust you guys of training a small girl!” Phoenix cried out as Arma could only secretly agree. He trusts Stabs despite the ironic name but who knows what Zatch would do to Zessica? Fill her thoughts to the brink of corruption? Make her sadistic? Turn her to a psychopathic killer?

“Actually I think I quite agree with Zatch on this” Zessica spoke which made all of them but Zatch to cry out in bewilderment. Stabs looked like his eyes would pop out any moment while Phoenix had her jaw hung open. Zatch had his eyes widen too, widen in amusement. Arma, who was by now used to all this, could only stare. Zessica merely cleared her thought before explaining her reason.

“Well I do want to train with Arma but I have a feeling that he would be too hesitant with me and not give his all. Even if he was, I might end up getting killed before I get to anywhere. The same goes for you too, Phoenix.” Both the two hot-headed duos felt an arrow strike through their chest but couldn’t help seeing her point. What she said was true but for her to blatantly speak it out loud, was something they weren’t prepared for.

“Now let’s hurry and put our training exoskeletons on” Stabs instructed, summoning a window in his inventory. Everyone else did the same and tapped on the exoskeleton that had been given to them on their first visit to Blessed Combat world. They were showered with a corona of white light before revealing their training suits. It has a heavily padded top that had protective plates over the shoulders, elbows, knees and chest. The rest of the body was woven with flexible fabric which was padded as well, only with a malleable material that doesn’t hinder any movements in the slightest. The real one would be the same but with a different design according the machines they would fight with.

However, suddenly, the training suits seemed to flicker and everyone’s attire reverted back to their own casual wear, causing Arma to stare at his own clothes with shock.

“Don’t worry, that’s how it’s supposed to happen once you enter another dimension. You are wearing it and it’s not disappeared. Think of it as second skin. I believe it makes fighting look more natural don’t you think?” Arma didn’t seem too assured about it till Zatch made a light jump to prove it to him. His jumps are usually two inches high but now, in that dimension, he was leaping thirty feet in the air.

“My body feels light” Zessica noted, staring at her own two hands. She even twirled around, making the hem of her fur trimmed park to fly about behind her. Arma felt a pang of recognition hit him, but he didn’t know what. There was something about this place that seemed all too familiar. Had he been here before?

“Now without wasting any more time, Phoenix, do you have that?” Phoenix nodded, as she went through her inventory again. Arma glanced at her suspiciously, wondering what in the world what ‘that’ Zatch was talking about till she brought out something he did not like in the least, a mirror.

“Before you run away, we need to fix that fear of yours Arma. Otherwise it would be what that Euphino kid says. You won’t be able to protect Zessica and end up hurting her instead.” Arma wanted to argue with Zatch, try different methods to get away but one look at Zessica, who was boring her eyes impassively at him, strangely stopped him from doing so. He knew what Zatch said was true. Arma eventually sighed, poising himself to attack as he faced the fiery girl.

“Don’t blame me if you get hurt Phoenix” Arma spoke gloomily to which Phoenix gave a winning smile, the mirror ready in her hands.

“The only one who is going to get hurt is you Arma. Enough talk. Let’s duel” The moment she spoke this, two health bars appeared above them, one for Arma and one for Phoenix. Each of them was completely full and was glowing green. As if passing a secret message between them, both Phoenix and Arma went on full throttle at the same time, clashing at each other and bouncing back against each force.

“They’ll be fine. So let’s go Zessica” Zatch spoke, almost pulling Zessica away. The short girl briefly observed the two of the players who didn’t hold back in the slightest and soon let Zatch and Stabs to guide her away from them. The noises of Phoenix and Arma clashing at each other slowly drifted away and it didn’t take long for the three of them to reach their destination. However, by the time they arrived, Zessica was almost out of breathe, her face red from walking too long.

“Wow, I am surprised that you are this weak Zessica” Zatch noted loudly to which Zessica simply answered back in silence. Stabs could only laugh hysterically, sending secret messages with his hands to the short girl as an attempt to say not to mind too much about boy in glasses. The short girl gave a nod, indicating she knew what to do.

“Anyway, back on the topic. Let’s see how much good you are on defence. I’ll be your opponent for now as the offence. Try blocking my attacks” Zatch instructed professionally to which the short girl simply nodded in return. She didn’t say anything and clutched both her hands to a fist before her face, knees somewhat bend low. Zatch noted she was using the basics but all the same, he mirrored her actions as well. He gave her a nod, indicating he was going to start and then swiftly tried to land a punch on her.

Within a fraction of a second, Zessica had her eyes distracted on the fist but easily dodged it. Zatch then used his other fist which the shirt girl caught easily despite having her attention on the first punch. With his right arm extended out due to the first punch, Zatch then swayed his arm to strike his elbow on the girls face to which Zessica instantly dodged by leaning her head back, watching as the arm went right to left. Using this chance, Zatch then attempted to throw her clean off the floor by kicking both her legs in an attempt to throw her off balance.

It was as if the girl saw it all coming. Zessica didn’t even give a chance for Zatch to kick her leg when she jumped despite having her upper torso leaned back. Using the momentum, she spun around in a summersault and landed a good distance from Zatch, her hands poised to fight again. Stabs saw an evil smirk creep up on Zatch’s face before he charged at the girl, causing him to wonder what sort of plan had Zatch up his sleeve now.

More punches were thrown at her way and Zessica dodged them all either by catching it with her own hands or manoeuvring her body away from it with style. All the while, Zatch continued to read her with his Minor activated, all the more interested with the results. When Zatch tried to give a high kick at the girl, she simply ducked and kicked his other leg which sent him careering on the floor out of balance.

“Sorry, got caught up with the moment.” Zessica crouched down and offered her hand. For a moment, Stabs thought Zatch was going to grab her wrist and throw her off his shoulder. He sighed in relief when Zatch did no such thing and simply accepted her offered hand instead. She weakly pulled him up while he still had his eyes glinting red in delight.

“Okay. Your turn. I’ll be defence, you’ll be offense” Zatch instructed, back in his fighting stance. Zessica mirrored his action with somewhat reluctance. She simply stood there for a moment, causing Zatch to jump lightly impatiently. Eventually, she stepped forward with her left foot and tried to land a punch at Zatch. Zatch didn’t even move as the punch came in his way. Why should he when the punch when through him instead?

Zessica immediately retracted her hand, back to her guarding position. Zatch simply sneered lightly at her, standing upright and flicking his wrist with his index finger pointed out.

“That’s right, you don’t know my Major yet now do you? It’s Intangibility. Or Phasing if you want to call it. So for you to land a punch on me would be difficult now wouldn’t it?” Zatch chuckled lightly to which Zessica simply stared at him with bored emerald green eyes. She then reacted once more, throwing another punch that went through as well. Grunting softly, she gave a kick at him which also went through. The kick was not exactly well practiced which made Zessica to fall back from imbalance. Zatch immediately had a fit of laughter once he saw her fall from her own attack.

Even so, Zessica got back up, her emerald green eyes glowing brighter than ever now which gave a halt to Zatch’s laughter. He then sneered lightly, expecting the most unexpected that would come at his way. Zessica went forward again, this time using her Telekinesis. She picked up several chunks of stone and flung it fiercely at Zatch which didn’t as much left a scratch. Instead, all the stone fell through and landed limply on the ground.

“Is that the best-

Zatch couldn’t finish his sentence when she was throwing another punch again. Even though it went through as he expected, there was something that made him almost retreat back. From his reading, the most extraordinary thing was happening inside of Zessica at that moment.

The short girl continued to throw fruitless punches and kicks at him to which he either dodged with ease or let it phase through him. However as time continue to stretch on, he was feeling some sort of thud in each impact Zessica threw at him. Zatch furrowed his eyebrows in suspicion, wondering what the sensation he was feeling right then was.

 At a distance, Stabs watch the fight in awe. Sure the girl was using the most basic things in combat but she was lacking power. The speed in her hand was fairly alright but the way she moved her whole body was lethargic. Stabs knew if she continued to fight like that, she would soon run out of energy. That was when he felt a huge pulse of energy suddenly bursting out of nowhere. However, it was so brief; Stabs wondered whether he had imagined it. 

“What, giving up already?” Zatch asked childishly, laughing mockingly at the exhausted girl who was panting feverishly for air. She had her hand clutched at her chest which soon triggered the stone at her neck to shower her with green electricity. Zatch sighed in disappointment once the stone started fulfilling its purpose. He was expecting more from the girl but in the end, it was like he had read back before Hallway of Horrors started. She was weak and depended on the stone to keep her alive.

That’s when Zessica thrust forward again, one hand randy to throw another punch. Zatch sighed once more, knowing all too well that it was going to be fruitless. He had thought that she would be smarter than she was right at the moment. Just when he thought the fist was going to come, Zessica suddenly spun, he knees bend down low with one leg giving him a sweeping kick instead of a punch.  

For a moment Zatch was surprised and jumped over the sweeping leg and landed back on his feet again. When he was about to retort something back, he realised he was staring nothing but air. He scanned around; looking to where she may have gone the moment he landed only to find no one there. Soon Zatch turned to Stabs, he was blinking furiously as if wondering whether his eyes were tricking him or something.

Just when Zatch was about to give up and call out for her, he felt something happening to his body. It was an uncomfortable feeling when something else hit him from behind, causing him to jump forward. Swiftly, he turned around to see Zessica standing there with one arm extended out in a punch which was smoking from the force. Zatch poised himself to block her other attack again when she stepped forward with her left leg and swung her hand back. Forcing her left foot to withstand the force, she swung her fist forward.

At first Zatch was going to easily let himself stand on the spot and watch as the punch go through him. That was until, he saw her eyes. They were bright green though the black iris in the middle had altered to the shape of a crosshair of a gun. He sensed the uncomfortable feeling again and instinctively reacted. To his surprise, he found himself catching her fist in his hands once more. It shouldn’t even be possible since he was still using his Major of phasing. Then again, she had punched him effectively at behind.

Using this chance with confusion in his mind, he pulled the girl’s arms and threw her off his shoulder. She landed with a loud thud on the floor and the uncomfortable feeling in Zatch ceased. Zessica was now evidently in pain, struggling to get up as she rolled to a side and cradled her right arm that was used as a pivot to throw her off the floor. Zatch used his Minor at the girl once more, reading her before having himself a small smirk.

“You really are an interesting one Zessica.”

“How so?” Zessica asked with great difficulty, groggily getting up as she did so.

“Well let’s say from what I gathered, your defence is very good. Just not very special if you don’t mind me adding, important detail. However, you are able to predict what your opponent is going to do next by calculating the odds and estimating which probability would surface. To top it off, you calculate it very accurately too. However, your offence is terribly weak. You had me surprised when you finally made some impact on me and I am still wondering how you did that but judging from the face you are making right now, you don’t know.” Zessica remained silent, not at all denying what he was saying. Zatch continued to ramble on, one statement after the other.

“It’s a pity that you don’t have much of your memories. I can guess that you were able to use your Minor and Major in a very unique way but you are back to square one since you don’t remember how. You even almost passed at using both at the same time but that hasn’t been fully perfected now has it? So in short during offense, you really can’t do anything without a partner now can you?”Zatch sniggered lightly while Zessica sat crossed-legged before him, absorbing each word thoroughly. She didn’t answer since it was all true.

“What piques my interest is, while your defence movements are somewhat complex to make the offense confused to predict your moves, why is it that your offense seem so much similar to Arma’s when he first tried to fight?” This caught the girl’s attention immediately. Zessica stared at him with an impassive face before answering back.

“How am I supposed to know that? I never really fought in offense.”

“You were more of a person who worked in the shadows right?” Once more the short girl didn’t say anything in return.

“Tell me Zessica...Since you are really good at calculating the odds, what are the probabilities that Armageddon, was your former partner?” Zatch asked suddenly, his tone serious. By then Stabs came over and heard his question as well, which made goose bumps erupt on the skin at the back of his neck. Zessica continued to stare before answering him.

“Zero...Even if I don’t have much of my memories, I know my former partner was a girl and older than me by three years. In addition to that, Arma has his memories intact so it’s impossible.” Zatch shook his head sadly, almost in disappointment.

“True, since you know your former partner is a girl then he wasn’t your partner in Blessed Combat. However, what are the odds that you met him back in Earth?” By then, Zessica remained silent, already catching on to what Zatch was trying to hint in their conversation but not clearly there yet.

“I could only guess what you are thinking. What I am trying to say here is that, Arma has a thing inside of him that makes everyone else cower away in fear. However, you, Zessica, you seemed to be drawn by it instead. You didn’t really think about his specialties. Instead, there was something about him that made you want to choose him right? Something familiar about him...” Stabs felt more goose bumps erupting on his skin while Zessica remained deadpanned, absorbing word for word and not interrupting Zatch since all of it that was spewing out of his mouth was true.

“I won’t beat around the bush so let’s say that not all memories Arma has is intact. I believe you have some hidden connection to him.” Zatch explained. Both Zessica and Stabs raised eyebrows at Zatch who continued on.

“Like for instance, Arma thinks this is the first time he is participating in Blessed Combat...But in all honesty, this is his fifth...”

Authors note: Can't believe I typed all of this in one day (the other days was too lazy and still plotting this chapter in my head) I am already working on the next chapter too. Sorry for the cliffhanger since ....I don't know it just happened!

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