"Fight you?" Astra's eyes twitched as a question sparked from genuine confusion came out of her mouth.
She later turned her body towards Kaelyn, causing the dark water to swish around her.
"It's obvious that she is deviating from usual protocol. As for why…clearly it's her own personal judgment."
"For example, that smile from earlier, and that curious look too…" Astra thought as she made an observation.
"How does that make any sense?" Later, she voiced other concerns.
Kaelyn narrowed her purple and black eyes as her blazer persisted its flow. She continued smiling and said,
"It makes perfect sense. Fighting a Celestial is the best type of training you can get. It properly simulates the most probable dangerous situation you will face as a Dreamlander."
Astra tilted her head. She responded, saying, "You're a Sentinel, the Vice-Captain of our group. At best I'm only an Ember. There is no way that I can defeat you."
Kaelyn nodded as shadows stretched under the violet night sky.
"You're right. But I'm not asking you to defeat me."
"Rather, I just need you to hit me once." Kaelyn later held her hands up, opening her posture.
"That still sounds almost impossible," Astra said, trying to negotiate. "At the very least, can I get a weapon or an artifact?"
"Smart question." Kaelyn rested her hands down to her side. "Yes, you can. After all, this is your subconscious."
She chuckled slightly.
"Heh, don't go too overboard with it though. Any drastic changes are going to become 'corrected'."
Astra's lips curled up slightly upon hearing the affirmation.
"Don't worry, I already know not to do that…I can't let that Artifact react that way again." She reassured Kaelyn inwardly.
She held her palms up as she imagined cold, technological metal resting on her hands. She casted her gaze towards it and held back her laugh.
"A gun…?" Kaelyn asked as she placed her hand on her chin out of curiosity.
Astra didn't respond. She only gripped the object, allowing its energy to flow freely.
"I didn't expect someone like you to choose such a mundane object…" Kaelyn's eyebrows raised as her lips curved upwards once more.
The instant Kaelyn said that, Astra felt her ethereal intuition flare up, pointing in Kaelyn's direction.
She didn't waste any time. She focused her eyes and aimed the gun towards Kaelyn, who stood completely still.
Bang!
Immediately, an energy beam burst forth from the futuristic barrel.
"Aiming straight for the head?" Kaelyn remarked dryly as she tilted her head to the side, allowing the blue light to pass by her.
"I doubt your safety is threatened in any way here." Astra replied, still holding her finger on the trigger.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Astra fired three shots, still aiming at Kaelyn's head.
However, they all missed due to Kaelyn moving her head calmly—the blue light passing through the space between her ponytail and her head.
"…" Astra creased her eyebrows, noticing something.
Whoosh!
Immediately, Kaelyn rushed toward Astra, penetrating the illusory wind in between them.
Splash!
Astra didn't waste any time. She immediately exerted strength in her foot to propel herself backwards, causing the dark water in the river to fly upwards in Kaelyn's direction. It almost formed a wall of water.
She tried to create a distance between her and Kaelyn!
But before Astra even moved to the other side of the river, Kaelyn had already penetrated that wall.
Astra didn't panic, attempting to aim the gun at Kaelyn.
However, Kaelyn was much faster. She sidestepped, moving outside the line of sight of the barrel as she grabbed Astra's right wrist with her left hand.
Whoosh!
Kaelyn's right fist pierced the air, causing water droplets that dripped from it to disperse instantly.
Bam!
"Argh!" Astra let out a yelp as her torso was struck by Kaelyn's fist.
She was sent flying, and so was the gun.
As Astra rolled over on the dark violet grass, she imagined her original gun disappearing.
Immediately, another gun appeared in her hand. Her body shook as she used one knee to get up, trying to ignore the pain rupturing her stomach.
She moved a strand of hair that was covering part of her eyesight to see a casual Kaelyn walking towards her. She was still damp, however with each second, each dark water droplet faded—like the air itself had sucked it in.
Astra immediately pointed the gun at Kaelyn, preparing to fire.
Bang!
Instantly, a violet beam of light charged towards the Sentinel.
As before, Kaelyn tilted her head to dodge the energy beam.
However, like a tracking missile, it swerved around! It was now looking at the back of Kaelyn's head!
For a split second, Astra's lips were preparing to curl up as she saw no movements from the oblivious Kaelyn.
Zoom!
It missed!
The beam had missed Kaelyn!
"…!" Astra's eyes widened as her face expressed complete and utter bafflement!
And, as if the beam of energy had taken advantage of this shock, it had struck her own arm!
"Gah!" Immediately, Astra clutched her right shoulder as her arm that held that shoulder dropped like a bird that was struck. Her right shoulder felt warm, wet and scorching hot at the same time, with the only common denominator being that it was painful.
Observing this sight, Kaelyn stepped closer to Astra, finally stopping within a few feet of her.
"You're…" Astra looked up at Kaelyn, trying to control her breathing. "A Celestial of the Dimension of Probability…"
Kaelyn chuckled.
"That's correct. I don't have to do much, I just have to make sure your attacks are less likely to hit me."
"But I think it's still a little strange to me," Kaelyn added. "Out of all the weapons you imagined, you chose such a basic, conventional weapon."
"After all, conventional weapons—even those found on the black market—are largely ineffective against Celestials who are Ember and above. You'd be better off choosing a more unconventional weapon like the Supporter or a Charged Reactor. Knowing your scientific knowledge, I know you know about such things."
Astra didn't respond. She didn't even react to the mention of the Supporter.
Kaelyn continued, "Even a low-level Ethereal Artifact would've been better." She later stared at Astra's injured right shoulder. "Even when your body is only at the level of an Ember, a powerful gun like you used only gave you a minor injury."
"Which is why more often than not, it's much better to use a combination of martial arts, Ethereal artifacts, unconventional weapons, and your own Celestial powers."
Astra's lips twitched as she tried to put on a smile.
"You're talking a lot in a fight. You're explaining this to me like we're done with the test for today…"
Kaelyn shook her head as she answered with a smile,
"I'll still give you more chances. But that doesn't mean I can't continue to teach you while we're sparring."
"Besides, I can tell you're quite inexperienced with fighting with your fists. Otherwise, you wouldn't be trying to keep your distance earlier." After explaining this, Kaelyn raised her right hand, gesturing for Astra to get up.
Still holding her right shoulder, Astra propelled herself upwards using only her legs.
Standing on two feet, she removed her left hand from her shoulder and stretched it outwards, appearing as if she was grabbing something.
In that instant, a long piece of metal faded into existence. Streaks of light appeared on the cane, one by one, as it formed fully.
This was the Supporter.
Astra held her breath as she dashed forward at Kaelyn, damaging the dark violet grass.
Whoosh!
Astra swung at Kaelyn, causing a shockwave that ruptured the wind and disturbed the waters of the dark river.
This was because she had jumped upwards, dodging the strike.
Sensing her opportunity now that Kaelyn was in mid-air, Astra had also jumped, attempting to intercept the target.
Both of them rested in mid-air, below the violet night sky and above the dark waters that flowed through the river.
However, Astra had the advantage. She was above Kaelyn, preparing to strike her with the metal cane. In normal circumstances, it would be impossible to dodge such an attack in mid-air.
Whoosh!
"You missed." Kaelyn's lips curled up as she felt the violent wind from Astra's 'miss' wrap around her body.
"Despite using such a heavy weapon so well, she is still green. There was no masking of her movements…" In a split second, Kaelyn inwardly analyzed Astra's fighting style.
However, in that same split second, Astra's pained face suddenly shifted. She took on a teasing, almost joyous expression.
The pale blue light near Astra lit up slightly as a faint ethereal aura surrounded her.
Immediately, Astra let go of the metal cane. And as if it had a mind of its own, the object went in the complete opposite direction that she had swung at.
Bam!
"…!?" Kaelyn's body folded as her eyes widened out of shock. The sound of the cane hitting her body ruptured throughout the air as her body fell from the sky like lightning.
Crash!
As Kaelyn struck the ground, a rumble was felt throughout the subconscious space. A brown dust emerged from the impact as the surrounding dark violet area cracked, almost reaching the waters of the river.
As Astra fell down, she unbuttoned the top collar of her shirt, observing the dust spreading out.
Though, as the dust got more and more transparent, she saw Kaelyn standing there with her hands in her pockets—unbothered.
Astra touched the ground and walked towards the black silhouette that held Kaelyn. She kept her smile as she opened her mouth, saying,
"You really wanted me to show you that I was a Celestial, didn't you?"
Kaelyn waited until the dust settled—until she could see Astra properly. Once this happened, she laughed dryly like she was completely unbothered.
"Haha! I'm a little surprised," She said, dusting off her blazer. "I didn't expect you to figure out my intentions like that."
"It was rather obvious." Astra shrugged. "I could've seen it through your smiles and your subtle curiosity. Your personal judgments in changing the tests at your whim. Leading me into very hard but not impossible tests so I could feel that despite me being driven into a corner, I could fall back onto my 'trump card'."
Kaelyn's smile gradually became smaller and smaller as Astra explained.
"But still, you wanted to win. So you only wanted me to showcase my abnormality at the time that would make the most sense—when I felt like I had no other options—so you can counter me at the time you expected the most. There's no wonder why you told me to choose another weapon."
Astra chuckled softly.
"Hehe, all I had to do was act to hide my strategy so I can catch you off guard. Why do you think I exaggerated my technical inexperience? I had no other way to win."
By this time, Kaelyn's smile had already left her face, and her hands had already left her pockets. She looked at Astra, pondering.
After a while, she held her neck and tilted her head. She then said:
"I thought you would've been more hesitant to showcase it. If I knew you would've been so open to doing that, I would've never gone through this effort…"
Astra chuckled again, this time more loudly.
"Why would I be hesitant to show you? I mean, everyone knows that there's something off about me. Why do you think they gave me the 'Protector' status?"
Kaelyn removed her neck from her hand as her eyes widened. She placed her finger to her lip, as if she was recalling something.
"Your genius isn't just for books, it seems."
After a second, she narrowed her eyes—allowing a smile to appear on her face again.
"I think I like you, Astra."
Astra's mouth widened slightly as her eyes softened. A strange sense of curiosity and wonder had placed itself on her face.
"Why is she saying this all of a sudden? Was she tense before because she didn't know how to get the info that I was a Celestial? Is she really that shy?" Such questions were all Astra could've thought about.
A silence for a few seconds ensued.
"Okay," Kaelyn broke the silence. Feeling more relaxed, she adjusted her hair with a smile and said, "What sort of Celestial powers were those? There's no way you got that just from failing the ritual from the Second Dimension."
Astra held her hand to her chin and gave a faint smile.
"Who knows?"
"It's just another special thing about me, isn't it?" Astra made sure to drag out the word special.