I'm Trapped Inside a Prince as the Most Powerful Entity-Chapter 182: A Mutual Respect (Part 1)

Monica and Eric both reached their assigned training platform. They stepped onto the cool dark stone. The transparent energy barrier shimmered into existence around them sealing them off from the rest of the noisy training hall.

An awkward silence hung in the air between them. Monica looked at Eric her expression a complex mixture of her earlier burning anger and her new competitive fire. She was ready to fight. She needed to prove herself.

"Since you chose me to be on your team," she said her voice sharp and challenging

"I expect you to fight me with your full power. I want to see your real strength. Don’t hold anything back like you did when we fought in the garden." She held a simple wooden practice sword in her hand its weight familiar and comfortable.

Eric also held a similar wooden sword which he had picked up from the weapon rack that materialized on the platform.

Hearing Monica’s words Eric just nodded his head. He didn’t say anything. He just met her gaze his own expression unreadable.

Monica was a little surprised by his simple quiet agreement. She had expected him to say something arrogant something dismissive. She watched him carefully trying to figure him out. I don’t understand him at all, she thought to herself a familiar frustration bubbling up. First he shows so much attitude in the auditorium.

He calls me weak in front of everyone. And now he has chosen me to be on his team. What is going on in his mind? I can never understand him. Shaking off her confusion Monica focused on the task at hand.

She got into her fighting stance her body perfectly balanced. She shouted at Eric across the platform her voice full of challenge "I’m ready! Are you ready?"

Eric simply nodded his head again. He gave her a signal that he was also ready. His quiet confidence was infuriating to her.

Seeing his signal Monica did not wait. She charged forward.

She ran at him with incredible speed a blur of motion. She brought her wooden sword back far behind her waist gathering all her strength. Then with a great deal of force a power that would have broken a normal man’s bones she swung it forward in a wide powerful arc. Right in front of her stood Eric waiting.

As Eric saw the wooden sword coming towards him he also moved. He swung his own wooden sword with great speed. He could see Monica’s attack very easily.

The now-familiar glowing blue line appeared in his vision showing him the exact path her sword would take. His body was also able to keep up with his reaction time very comfortably. He felt strong and fast. He felt powerful. He swung his sword to meet hers directly. He did not dodge. He did not parry. He met her attack head-on.

The moment Monica’s wooden sword and Eric’s wooden sword collided with each other the result was explosive. There was a loud sharp crack that echoed within the enclosed platform. Both wooden swords shattered at the exact same time.

They broke into countless pieces upon contact. The splinters of wood flew through the air and fell to the stone floor on either side of them. The force of their combined blow had been too much for the simple practice weapons to handle.

Monica stood there her hand still holding the useless hilt of her broken sword. She stared at the splinters on the ground then at Eric. A look of complete shock was on her face. She had put all her strength into that blow.

She had expected to overpower him to send his sword flying from his hand. But he had met her attack with equal force. He had matched her power completely. Seeing this she said in her mind a new understanding dawning on her I knew it. I knew he didn’t show me his full strength in our last match in the garden.

He was just playing with me then. She now understood that he was much stronger than she had first thought. This partnership this rivalry was going to be very interesting indeed.

And a small part of her was actually excited about it. The challenge she had been looking for was standing right in front of her.

As Eric and Monica saw that both of their wooden swords had broken into splinters they looked at each other across the training platform. And for the first time since they had met a genuine smile touched both their faces.

It was not a smile of friendship. It was a smile of mutual respect a smile of two fighters who had just found a worthy opponent. They both knew that from this point on things were about to get much more interesting. The real test had just begun.

On the side of the training platform new weapon racks had materialized. They were filled with many more wooden practice swords. Without a word Eric and Monica quickly went to the racks. They each picked up a new sword. Then they looked at each other again across the stone platform. They charged forward at the same time their swords held ready.

This time however something was different. Monica wrapped her new wooden sword in her own magical energy. A fierce red aura a glowing light enveloped her blade. It shone with a heat and intensity that you could almost feel from across the platform.

Eric seeing this knew he had to do the same. Through his own recent brutal training he had also become quite skilled at wrapping magical energy around any weapon. He could do it very easily now. He focused his will. And a brilliant blue energy his own magical aura wrapped itself around his sword.

But during his long hours of training just a short time ago Eric had discovered something new. He had learned that he could not only wrap his magical energy around weapons. He could also wrap it around the muscles of his own body.

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