Chapter 311: 310: Rivals

Date- 27 Mar 2321
Time- 15:11
Location- Sky Blossom City, Card stadium, Arena no.2
"Force punch" Corey who was under pressure facing my punches suddenly started glowing and my punches did not seem to affect her. Instead of using this as an opportunity to get her balance and defence stance back she just kept taking my punches head-on. With my every punch the glow on Corey started to grow stronger. 
And after 2 seconds the glow that was covering Corey's entire body converged and focused on her right fist seeing that I knew what was going on. No wonder my punches were not affecting her and she just stood there taking them head-on. she was collecting the force behind my punches and building up energy to use it back on me. 
Knowing Corey's next punch was going to be devastating I jumped and took three steps back just enough to be out of Corey's melee range and enough for me to engage Corey again after her punch so that she does not get time to get her stance together.
But contrary to my thoughts Corey did not use her 'force punch' to attack me. Instead, she attacked the arena floor. And used the reverse force from punching the floor to jump back in the air. After performing a somersault in the air she landed on her feet in style. It was a wrong judgement on my part that led to Corey using this opportunity to pull back and get a breather. 
"I thought you were just a greenhouse flower who only knew to stand behind his summons. I am surprised you did not summon your stone elements yet." Corey realised that she had underestimated my fighting ability and fought recklessly. Which almost cost her losing the hand to hand combat with me. Not the duel, just the hand to hand combat. Just like how wars have many battles Corey wanted to best me in all combat types, melee, ranged, cards, rules and runes. She seemed to have taken this duel as an opportunity to show Susan that she is better than me when it comes to combat. I guess this ideology stemmed from when she decided to open a Card studio right next to my card boutique. She was trying to prove to me and Susan that she is better than me at Card creation too. I do not know what made Corey so comparative towards me but if I had to guess I would say it must be because of the close relationship between me and Susan. 
Corey thought that I was a rookie in hand to hand combat and decided to end this in one go by using the skill Barrage to land continuous punches on me to activate the Double back passive effect while leaving her entire defence to skill Iron defence. She never expected that I would make a quick judgement and aim for her legs instead of defending and trying to get out of her melee attack range. 

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"I know what you are trying to do Corey, but I will not let you have the satisfaction of getting it. Be it close combat or Cards or Rules and runes I will beat you in all of them. And enjoy it while I am doing it. Corey, I am flattered by your infatuation with me but girl you should know when to take a hint. I ain't interested in you." A classic technique to throw your enemy off their game is getting them angry and clouding their judgement. 
Let's just say I am being childish right now trying to fight Corey on her term to best her. But there is a point to all this, the first one is that if I make use of any other skill or item cards other than the close combat cards I will lose one of all battles in the war that is the duel between me and her. 
I already lost the first battle by being the first one to summon the grimoire and making use of close combat cards. I did not plan on losing the second battle by making use of any spell skill cards. 
A wise general would focus on winning the war rather than winning each and every battle. But this duel meant more than that for me and Corey. This feeling… I finally knew why Corey was so irritated and ready to pick a fight around me. She saw me as her rival. 
Rivalry, when taken positively it has lead to the formation of history's greatest friendships but when taken with negativity it has bred history's greatest tragedy. For now, Corey's rivalry was just at the level where she wanted to prove herself in front of Susan. Yeah, Corey's rivalry towards me stemmed from my close bond with Susan. 
Corey is competing with me for Susan's favour. For me, Susan was the first person whom I started to trust and form a relationship with after being transmigrated into this new world. If I were to say in deeper terms my relationship with Susan was like a chick that will imprint on anyone whom it sees first as its parent. By this, I don't mean I see Susan as my parent but Susan definitely means more than just a friend or colleague to me, she is the first root I laid in this world. Like the saying goes no matter how big the man grows he can never forget his roots and always comes back to them. 
I think for Corey Susan must also mean something more than just a mentor, friend… I have heard her call Susan mother so I guess this weird chick imprinted on Susan and believes her to be her mother. Anyway seeing Susan closer to me than her, Corey sees me as a rival for Susan's favour. So all her weird and rude actions towards me finally became clearer. I thought Corey hated me for being closer to Susan but now I knew she was just like a child fighting her sibling for her mother's favour. 
Understanding what Corey did not mean I would let her off easy. As no matter what the reason was what she did was not cool, after all, I had just started getting used to the idea that Corey is one of my trusted friends but one day she just woke up and started to be a bitch. Trusted friends do not do that.

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