Hunter Academy: Revenge of the Weakest

Chapter 1075: Chapter 255.1 – A quick one

The lights above flickered into full brightness as the room’s combat protocols activated—sigils along the walls lighting up in faint blue patterns, stabilizing the field and marking the edges of the simulation boundary.

Dakota was the first to move.

—BOOM!

Her foot shattered the ground beneath her as she launched forward with a speed that compressed the air in a low whump, vanishing in a blur of movement.

Astron’s eyes caught the motion a split second before impact.

—CLANG!

His forearm snapped up, reinforced with mana as Dakota’s palm strike slammed into his guard, sending a sharp shockwave cracking through the air. He skidded back half a step, boots dragging a faint groove across the floor.

Dakota grinned.

“That’s new.”

Astron didn’t answer. He shifted his footing, moving into [Cyclone Stance], the pressure around him building instantly as mana surged to his limbs in coordinated pulses.

—SWOOSH!

He stepped in, his body twisting in a fluid, spiraling motion—left leg feinting, arm drawing back—

—BOOM!

—SHUNK!

[Typhoon Burst] collided with Dakota’s flank—but she was already moving, shifting her weight to redirect the blow. Her hand snapped forward, crashing into his ribs with the force of a hammer wrapped in compressed wind.

—THUD!

Astron staggered—but didn’t fall.

His body twisted mid-recovery, mana coiling down to his elbow—

—CRACK!

[Quake Fist].

Dakota’s arm snapped up to block, but the ground beneath her splintered, the kinetic blast vibrating the floor with raw, anchored force.

She leapt back, a faint bruise forming across her outer forearm.

“Heavy,” she muttered, cracking her neck. “You weren’t this explosive before.”

Astron exhaled and stepped forward.

His strikes came faster now.

—SHRAK!

—CLAP!

—BOOM—CRACK—THUD!

[Thunderclap], [Tempest Wave], [Stormbreaker].

Each technique flowed into the next, but with an efficiency Dakota hadn’t seen before. His [Judgment Points] were clearly active—the mana in his body moved with no delay, no misfire. It didn’t gather, it surged. It didn’t linger, it struck

He spun into a downward strike—[Stormbreaker]—his entire body twisting into a compact spiral before launching downward like a comet—

—KA-CHOOOM!!

Dakota met it with a burst of her own.

—WHUUMM!!

A dome of blue energy exploded around her—[Tempest Sphere]—catching the impact just before it could connect fully. Even so, the floor beneath her fractured, a wide spiderweb of cracks bursting out under her feet.

Dust kicked up. The lights above flickered once.

Dakota stood within the fading edge of the sphere, her breath steady. Astron crouched just a few meters ahead, the floor behind him scored with streaks from his movement.

For a moment, neither moved.

Then Dakota slowly lowered her guard.

“…You really did get stronger.”

Her voice wasn’t mocking. It was low, edged with something rare—approval.

“You’ve cleaned up your rhythm. Learned how to layer power instead of dumping it all at once. And that defense—” she rubbed her arm “—you actually parried me.”

Astron rose from his crouch, brushing the dust off his sleeve.

“I trained.”

Dakota let out a sharp hah, folding her arms. “No kidding.”

Then her eyes narrowed, gaze sharp.

“But you’re not done.”

Dakota’s eyes gleamed—not with simple satisfaction, but with challenge.

“I need to see more. Show me how well you’ve actually mastered your body.”

Her foot shifted slightly.

It was subtle—but Astron’s eyes narrowed.

That wasn’t [Gale Stance].

It was [Storm Stance]—her hips angled, heel pressed down, center of mass rooted. A stance built for explosive output. Her mana flickered—thicker now, coiled tightly around her tendons like compressed thunder.

“Let’s see how far you’ve come,” she murmured.

—BOOM!!

She launched forward, no feint, no hesitation—her heel shattered the floor beneath her with a raw detonation of power.

Astron shifted.

His body dropped into [Gale Stance], feet sliding, momentum controlled—not to meet her head-on, but to bypass her blow.

—WHOOSH!

Dakota’s punch carved a shockwave through the air as he slipped under it, shoulder brushing her waist.

Astron twisted—

—CRACK!

His elbow fired into her side in a whip-crack motion—tight, precise. She grunted, staggered—but didn’t break.

—THUD!

She retaliated instantly, her left knee firing upward like a piston. Astron crossed his arms to block—

—BOOM!

—skidding back a full meter as the reinforced strike connected.

“Better,” Dakota muttered.

But her stance shifted again.

This time—it was [Cyclone Stance].

Fluid.

Deadly.

Her whole body rotated on the axis of her spine as she shot forward—arms loose, feet light, like a dancer threading blades.

—SWOOSH—CLAP!

Her palm snapped out.

Astron bent low, twisting with the strike—his own arm lashing out in a counter-spin.

—CRACK!

Flesh struck flesh.

Shock rippled down both their arms.

Dakota grinned.

They were no longer teacher and student.

They were combatants.

Astron pushed forward, his stance shifting mid-movement—Storm to Gale, compressing his body and launching a flurry of precise strikes:

—PAK! A rising palm to her chin.

—THUD! A side-step kick aimed at her knee.

—CRACK—SHRAK! A spinning backfist that forced her to duck.

But Dakota wasn’t just receiving.

She was reading.

—THUMP!

She ducked and swept his legs—Astron flipped mid-air, planting his hand on the ground to twist and land upright.

“Nice reflexes,” she muttered. Then—

Her body blurred.

—WHUMP—BOOM—CRACK!

She unleashed a rapid-chain [Tempest Fang] sequence—palm, fist, elbow, kick, all within seconds—each strike blending into the next like a storm given shape.

Astron dropped into [Cyclone Stance]

He spun into her strikes, deflecting them at the last instant, weaving like a serpent through incoming blows. His counter was a spiraled uppercut laced with [Typhoon Burst].

—BOOM!!

It connected.

Dakota’s body lifted an inch from the ground.

—THUD!

She crashed down and rolled—grinning, despite the blow.

“So you’re layering the stances now. Good,” she breathed. Her knuckles pulsed with energy. “Now show me if you’ve mastered them.”

She dropped low—[Gale Stance] again—and vanished.

—ZIP—THRUM!

Her body was a blur as she darted in and out of Astron’s vision, using short bursts of directional force, faking left—striking right—twisting low and firing an upward palm toward his solar plexus.

Astron twisted just in time—dropping his hips, sidestepping the strike.

But Dakota read it.

—BAM!!

Her fist struck his ribs on the pivot, the force doubling from his own momentum.

Astron stumbled—

But didn’t fall.

Instead—

His eyes flared gold for a moment.

–Judgment Points: Activated

—ZWOOM—ZRAKK!!

Time around him slowed—just a fraction. But enough.

He dropped into a hybrid stance—Cyclone feet, Gale arms—and retaliated with a triple-sequence:

Left hook with mana-threaded knuckles—CRACK!

Spinning kick off his back leg—BOOM!

Palm thrust forward, the signature of Storm Stance—THUUUM!!

Dakota caught the first.

Parried the second.

But the third—landed.

Her back hit the reinforced wall of the arena.

The stone cracked.

Silence.

Both were breathing hard now—mana shimmering around them in faint pulses.

Dakota raised a hand, palm open.

“Stop.”