BXBX NOVEL Chapter 92: Mastered
"Tch." She clicked her tongue before bracing for the next paw swipe. It sent her flying again, and again, she flipped in the air and landed on her feet so she could charge at the tiger as soon as she hit the ground.
She had noticed it. The tiger wasn't just helping her train. It held the answer to what she needed.
The tiger's weight and mass made it immovable when it wanted. But that wasn't everything. That alone wasn't enough to not budge when Yanael charged at it with full force.
Yanael jumped and dropkicked the tiger, fully prepared for the tiger's retaliation. Even if she got hit again, she had to confirm what she thought she had noticed the tiger do.
Yanael leaped up and, mid-air, spun around and pointed her feet at the tiger's shoulder. She bent her legs before extending them as quickly as she could. Combined with her own speed, her feet rammed into the tiger like a pair of ballista bolts.
Yanael grinned as she fell through the air. She grinned in the face of the paw coming straight at her before she could readjust and even try to land on her feet.
Since she was in the air, she couldn't try it out and got swatted away for a third time. it was the hardest blow so far, and the furthest she had flown.
Yanael bounced and rolled on the forest floor and broke a couple of smaller trees before coming to a full stop at the base of a thick, sturdy one. She stood up, hair disheveled and face dirty with mud and blood. She had one hand on her knee and used the other to wipe the worst off of her face.
She used her hands to quickly brush back her hair and tie it in a ponytail while walking toward the tiger again.
The tiger raised an eyebrow as if in surprise that Yanael was not only fine but also willingly challenging it again.
It let out a puff of air and quickly raised its paw again, swatting at Yanael. It wondered how much she could take before breaking.
Like before, the tiger's paw silently, quickly, and powerfully passed through the air without making much of a stir before slamming into Yanael.
But unlike before, Yanael wasn't sent flying. She took two quick steps. But that was it.
She offset the force of the strike and redirected it into the ground. It wasn't perfect, and most of her body buzzed and ached.
But it was a success. With this, she could stand secure in front of Zach.
Yanael grinned at the tiger as it looked at her and its paw, stupefied. It frowned and its nose crinkled in anger. Yanael's taunt worked and the tiger tried again, refusing to believe that the same outcome would repeat.
The tiger was right. It didn't. Yanael only took one step this time, and the tiger felt even more like he was smacking a puddle of mud. It growled.
Again. One step.
The tiger finally realized that it wouldn't work and its eyes glowed green as it looked at Yanael. Yanael met its gaze with a fierce grin of her own. The tiger made its move.
It used both its paws to swat at Yanael from either side.
But the tiger had given Yanael too many opportunities to learn. She hardened her body at the right time and relaxed her muscles at the right time. She let the force of the two paws pass right through her.
She absorbed the blows with her shield and with her bare arm. She redirected the force into the ground. Her bare arm was scratched by the tiger when it pulled back its paw and was almost cut off at the wrist. But so what? She could still wield her sword.
What really mattered was that she had taken the tiger's technique, learned it, mastered it, and then surpassed the tiger in it.
The tiger had served its purpose, and the fire in Yanael's eyes gradually cooled down. Her grin faded, and she looked at the tiger with a cold gaze.
If her service of Zach was affected by the wound on her hand…
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Oh, the tiger was going to pay.
But now that she was done, she didn't have to be the only one to make it pay. She glanced at Zach. She could see the worry in his eyes even from this far away. She swore to apologize and to be better in the future. It was unforgivable that she was making him worry this much.
Then again, it wasn't her fault, was it? It was the tiger's. She glared at the tiger again.
It raised a paw before bringing it down so fast it was nothing but a blur. It couldn't swat or squash Yanael since she just absorbed and redirected the force of its strikes.
But what if she couldn't redirect the force? What if the force was already headed downward?
The tiger slammed its paw into Yanael, fully anticipating the sensation of turning her into a pile of meat and blood or, if that didn't work, pushing her into the ground and then tearing her head off.
The tiger was wrong again.
It had forced Yanael's feet several hands into the hard ground, and her knees were bent so far they were almost touching the ground. Her neck was also forced downward by the paw.
But it was worth it.
Her sword was pushed all the way to its hilt into the tiger's paw. Yanael grabbed the handle with both hands and twisted.
Blood squirted and the tiger yelped.
It had wanted to feel Yanael be crushed, so it had used its intact leg. It had felt something alright. It had felt Yanael drive a sword into its paw.
The tiger pulled back and inspected its paw before snarling at Yanael.
It was time for round two.