It might even instead let Daddy catch a flaw.
Seeing the distance between father and daughter grow smaller and smaller, the grading teachers held their breath, eager to see how Noah would launch this attack.
Noah flashed to Leon's front; an obvious feint was easily dodged by Leon.
Then Noah crouched, gathered power in her legs, and leapt into the air.
"That jump height… what explosive power, how did she do that?"
"She must have used some kind of physical technique to temporarily enhance her body. But I vaguely remember physical training isn't part of our hatchling division's curriculum, right?"
Facing the teachers' questions, Noah's homeroom teacher explained, "We don't offer physical training. But Noah has a pair of very capable parents; I suppose they taught her."
"Oh, If someone so young in the hatchling division can so skillfully master physical technique, those parents aren't ordinary. I'd love to meet them sometime."
No need, teacher, you've already seen one of them.
In the field, Noah jumped into the air; lightning magic condensed in her right hand, and a chirping of birds rose abruptly.
'Using the acceleration from the fall to strengthen the impact of the Chidori… not a bad idea, but easy to see through, you little dummy,' Leon thought that, and already had several anti-air countermeasures in mind.
"Tsk, finally got close to the opponent. I thought she'd leap behind for a sneak attack, but she's just falling from straight above? That's not a great tactic."
"Yeah, I think so too. You can't adjust body posture while falling, making it easy for the opponent to find a flaw and counterattack."
"She's a bit too hasty. 9527's left, right, and lower guard are airtight; she can only attack from above, but she's neglected her magic strength and has no one covering her attack."
The scene at the match unfolded just as those teachers analyzed: Noah, holding a lightning spike, fell straight toward Leon's head.
But she was in the air and couldn't adjust her posture.
And her falling speed wasn't as fast as imagined, giving Leon plenty of reaction time.
Seeing this, the veteran "black-armored" observers outside the field shook their heads in succession.
"That girl's too impulsive, still young. 9527 Big Pot definitely won't hold back, tough match!"
"But honestly, for her to reach this level is already better than all previous students."
"If it were me, I wouldn't have made the defense as severe and perfect as 9527 did; at least give the kid a little opening."
The teachers in the stands also critiqued Noah's upcoming likely-mistaken drop attack.
"This kind of reckless attack should be deducted points."
"I thought this year we might finally get a perfect-score student, guess I was wishful."
"Hey, Lydia, the kid is excellent, sure, but maybe not that excellent."
Homeroom teacher Lydia bit her lower lip slightly, eyes fixed on the falling Noah, silently praying, "You shouldn't be like this, Noah…"
No one expected much from Noah's 'descent from the sky'.
But only she herself, like a sharp sword, sliced through the air resistance and plunged downward.
"Too big of an opening, Noah."
Leon shifted a step, turned sideways and raised his hand, from that angle it'd be easy to grab Noah's arm.
After all, she couldn't dodge while falling.
"That's premature, 9527."
"What—"
At those words, the bird chirping that had filled the arena stopped abruptly.
Noah's lightning in her hand reformed into a… wolf's head—
Lightning Wolf Break Formation!
"What a fast weapon change, so smooth!", Vice Principal Wilson exclaimed.
But Principal Oullette had to pour cold water on it, "It still won't work. At that distance, even a lightning spike, a quick-attack magic, can't hit 9527, let alone a lightning wolf."
"But if—", Vice Principal Wilson pointed excitedly at Noah below,
"That Lightning Wolf isn't being used to attack, it's being used to adjust the aerial attack angle?"
"What?", Principal Oullette turned to look again.
Falling, Noah improvised, transformed the lightning spike into Lightning Wolf Break Formation.
But her move didn't aim at Leon; she flung it in another direction.
The next moment, the recoil of Lightning Wolf Break Formation pushed Noah to arc around Leon's head, and at an incredible timing and angle she landed behind him.
"Incredible! From the start she never intended to strike from the top, her target all along was 9527's back!"
"To be able to think of using the magic's recoil in such a tense moment to propel her body, adjust direction, and turn her height disadvantage into an advantage…"
"Extra points! Extra points! Give her lots of extra points!"
"Big Pot! Your backside is about to get stolen by that girl~"
The bird chirping that had disappeared burst forth again.
This time, the sharp sound seemed laced with a song of victory.
Lightning lit her resolute, determined profile; magical winds whipped, lifting her hair.
Daddy—
"One strike… decide it!"
———
Even battle-hardened Leon hadn't expected Noah to use that method to adjust her attack direction.
Perhaps among his previous opponents there had never been a child as clever and willing to try as his eldest daughter; or perhaps he'd been so focused on teaching her that he was momentarily careless.
Whatever the reason, Noah's tactic was undeniably successful.
Against an opponent of Noah's level, or even a bit higher, there'd likely be no time to react to that move.
"Succeeded…"
Noah's lightning spike was about to strike the black armor's waist.
But just as she allowed herself a small moment of joy, a blue lightning flashed on the armor's surface without warning, forming what seemed like a firmer layer of barrier and directly repelled her approaching spike.
The impact knocked Noah back several steps, her arms tingling slightly.
Steadying herself, Noah looked up.
The blue lightning was gradually fading from the armor's surface.
Noah pursed her lips, a little aggrieved in her thoughts, ''Daddy still has stock tucked away~' Hmph, why didn't you teach me this move?'
Seeing Daddy hiding tricks there, the little competitive streak flared up all at once.
'You didn't teach me before, when we get home this time, you'll have to beg me to show you! Hmph!'
In the stands, Vice Principal Wilson scratched his temple, "9527 is also using lightning magic."
"Mm, not surprising. Compared to fire, lightning magic is rarer, but not unheard of. Besides, decades ago we specifically hired some teachers with special magic elements to teach students like Noah," Principal Oullette said.
Wilson nodded, "I'm just surprised by the coincidence that both the examiner and the examinee use uncommon lightning magic."
Oullette raised an eyebrow, looking down at 9527.
After a moment, she murmured, "Yes, quite the coincidence."
———
Leon slowly turned to face his daughter.
Noah's breathing was uneven; the lightning in her hands flickered uncertainly, as if about to die out.
She had just said one strike would decide the match; Leon guessed it was because her remaining mana was low.
Lightning Wolf Break Formation, being a long-range spell, consumed a lot of mana; conventional means couldn't bypass Leon's defense, so Noah had thought of using the recoil from Lightning Wolf Break Formation to adjust her angle.
But the tactic had failed; Noah's remaining magic could no longer support continued combat.
"That's enough, end the assessment."
"I think so too. Noah performed very well, both in combat technique and battlefield reaction she's excellent. Stop it—"
"Wait—"
The speaker was Noah's homeroom teacher Lydia. She raised a hand to signal the others not to stop yet, but her eyes never left Noah on the field,
"She doesn't want to stop yet."
"What? But anyone can see that the child's stamina and magic are nearly exhausted. She's done more than enough."
"For an ordinary child, yes. But for her, she can do better."
Lydia knew her student; scenes from two years together flashed through her mind. She watched Noah prepare to rise for another strike and the corner of her mouth lifted slightly,
"It's rare to let her go all out in a safe environment, let her try again."
The grading teachers exchanged looks, and in the end decided not to stop for now.
Truth be told, they also wanted to see what brighter performance Noah might still pull off as her reserves ran low.
'Can't drag it out any longer.'
Leon thought inwardly.
'If this goes on, what if I wear my daughter out.'
But he couldn't end the duel hastily.
Because clearly, his darling daughter hadn't had enough.
If she felt she'd had enough, she would've already put away the Chidori in her hand.
Since that wasn't the case, Leon wanted to give this father-daughter duel a perfect ending. He slowly raised his right hand; thin arcs of electricity flickered in his palm, and in an instant the explosive bird-cry resonated through the arena.
Lightning shone across the black-gold breastplate; vast electric power surged out and rippled around.
"No, no way… this feeling is oddly familiar, I swear!"
"Big Pot, we don't look like black-armored guys, why don't you act like we do?"
"Guess why I came to the academy to be an assistant teacher back then?"
"Why?"
"Because on the front lines you always meet those lightning-magic dudes!"
"..."
A single simple Chidori had dredged up not-so-nice memories for the teachers.
But they laughed and teased, none seriously believed the lightning-user in front of them was that old 'black-armored' guy from back then.
Unless that guy had settled down, started a family among the dragonkin, why on earth would he be allowed into the academy?
Who are you kidding.
Noah, seeing her Daddy suddenly get serious, blinked in brief surprise and then understood.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.