Eleanor stepped forward, her body ready to spring into action, but something held her back.
A pestering thought told her to stay patient, so she decided to pay attention for a short while.
Cole looked at the strange stance his opponent took; his eyes shrunk inward as he took a step backward.
"I don't think this is part of the rules," he thought.
He turned to look at Eleanor, hoping she would intervene, but disappointment hit him heavily.
He watched Eleanor stand alerted in her position but not moving to stop this.
Seeing his situation, Cole knew there was nothing he could do to change it.
He began to internally reconstruct, his mind shifting from a scared state to a calculative one.
"How do we get through this?" His fear folding into calculation
His brain cogs moved at full speed, thinking of every single outcome he could picture.
This was a habit he had unknowingly picked up after his battle in the arena.
While Cole was still planning, his opponent lunged at him with a stance that seemed to be an amalgamation of two basic stances.
Keeping the core concept of both stances.
"These are the advanced forms of the stances." His opponent explained during his attack.
Cole wasn't in a rush to counter like he previously did; this time he stayed calm, attempting to predict his opponent's movement without activating the Eyes of Scrutiny.
"His attack will be a kick," Cole decided as he watched the approaching figure.
The attack finally arrived, and as Cole predicted, it was a kick, but a problem arose.
Though he successfully predicted the attack, the stance was still too unknown, too foreign for him to accurately dodge.
"Tch!" Cole grimaced in pain as he ended up getting hit by the attack even after his successful prediction.
His opponent didn't let up but instead kept the pressure up, planning to deliver another attack.
"Stop!" Cole suddenly heard.
His opponent, currently in the midst of an attack, gave a reckless smile and proceeded to land another attack.
This attack directly knocked Cole to the ground under the gaze of his classmates.
"I said stop," Eleanor shouted out again, this time with a tinge of annoyance.
Cole struggled back to his feet as his opponent stood above him, a weird discomfort overtaking his eyes.
"You will be losing 30 academic points for failure to comply with instructions," Eleanor said harshly to the boy.
After her judgement, she turned to the rest of the students before saying,
"It will be double if anyone else dares defy me. Class dismissed."
Bryan hurriedly rushed towards Cole, assisting him and checking him for injuries.
"I am fine," Cole said awkwardly. His pain resistance had greatly increased over the last few days.
"Are you sure, you don't look fine," Bryan said while unintentionally rubbing his shaved head.
"Why does he always do that?" Cole thought, while watching Bryan's weird repeated actions
The atmosphere grew slightly weird as both of them remained silent.
"We should head back to the hostel now," Cole said slightly.
"Ohh yes, yes," Bryan replied as he hurriedly attempted to escape.
"Stay," Cole suddenly heard from behind him.
Without turning around, he knew who it was.
"Am I about to lose points again?" Cole whispered while turning.
"You may leave," Eleanor said again, but this time towards Bryan.
Bryan didn't bother saying a single word, immediately leaving the hall as fast as he could.
"You come here," Eleanor said towards Cole.
With short and jittery steps, Cole approached her.
"You have excellent talent for martial arts," Eleanor said directly, her eyes softening slightly.
Cole was quite shocked by the declaration, as he never thought of himself as someone talented.
He only considered himself average at best.
"Being able to predict an advanced combat stance attack is quite impressive for a total newbie," she continued.
"Are my flaws that obvious?" Cole thought.
"Your analytic and learning capabilities are quite astonishing. As a reward for your earlier display, how about a short special lesson?" Eleanor proposed.
Cole was immediately astonished, his eyes opening wide, a bright glint appearing in them.
"Really?" Cole asked skeptically.
Eleanor silently glanced at him, her eyes returning to the previous sharp form.
"Show me your stances again," Eleanor ordered.
Wasting no time, Cole immediately got into his stance with a serious expression.
"Your form is too lax; toughen it."
"Your legs are too loose; plant them steadily."
"Your arms aren't tensed enough."
Eleanor kept giving corrections, and each time, Cole's stances got better and better.
The sun had already almost completely vanished at this time, the sky already darkening.
"That will be it. Practice these stances as hard as you can. I look forward to seeing your progress," Eleanor said with an almost unnoticeable smile.
"I am also quite curious as to how well you will do with techniques."
"Techniques—what are techniques?"
"You may leave."
Cole, completely exhausted from the training, battle, and training again, didn't have the energy to say a word.
He forced his tired muscles up before heading towards the exit of the large combat hall.
Cole left the hall with a deep feeling of accomplishment. His heart was pounding wildly.
"I finally have a chance," he said out loud with a large smile.
His smile gradually faded as he remembered the change he felt earlier.
During and after the battle, especially towards the end. Cole could remember the vivid discomfort, even pain, he felt in his eyes while analyzing his opponent's form.
"Why were my eyes acting up again?" Cole thought worriedly.
"I hope it isn't something overly serious."
Eleanor stood in her spot, watching Cole's retreating back.
"Quite talented and hardworking; too bad he has a one-star spirit." She said with melancholic eyes as she turned around before heading towards a door on the other side of the hall.
In the room, Eleanor looked at a corner before saying coldly.
"What do you want with the boy?"
"Hehehehehhe" A laughing sound suddenly came out the corner, slowly receding.
Cole continued his journey home ignorantly, completely unaware of the danger lurking in the shadows.