Through Hera's continuous learning and Zephyr's instruction, Hera had already learned all of the Six Powers. Among them, she mastered Soru, Moonwalk, and Tempest Kick the best. Iron Body and Shigan could only be described as mediocre, and the one she mastered the worst was Kami-e. Hera really couldn't imagine herself turning into a piece of paper, so her progress in mastering it was much slower.
The training camp had also reached the end of its first year. This stage mainly focused on training the Six Powers, so there wasn't much danger. Only some students practicing Iron Body couldn't withstand the instructor's fists or hadn't mastered it yet, but they were all saved in front of Hera, who had awakened her new abilities. Moreover, with the help of the First Bullet, more people mastered Soru than in previous years.
On this day, Zephyr began his speech again, which also meant that the training was about to enter a new stage.
"I am very gratified to see that everyone is still in the training camp. No one has dropped out or died in these past few months."
Zephyr first encouraged everyone and then said, "Next year, we will form a team to hunt pirates at sea. Before that, you still need to undergo a cruel training session to simulate what a battlefield looks like."
After saying that, Zephyr took out a list and asked everyone to pair up according to the list. Hera was directly paired with Zephyr.
Once everyone was paired up, Zephyr said, "Next, you will start fighting each other. Only the last person standing will be considered the winner."
Then Zephyr turned his gaze toward Hera. "As for you, you'll pass as long as you can hold out until everyone else has decided a winner and you're still standing."
With an order, the cruel training began.
Hera gave a bitter smile. Although she had already known about this cruel scene in the recruit training camp while reading the manga, it still felt a bit too cruel when she experienced it personally, especially seeing Kuina and Ain already fighting with punches landing on flesh.
Zephyr saw Hera still looking around. "Can you still be distracted by others while facing me? It seems you don't take me seriously. Let me state this in advance: I won't go easy on you for Garp's sake."
After speaking, he had already teleported in front of Hera, his pitch-black fist striking toward Hera's face, already infused with Armament Haki.
Hera felt the fatal threat before her. Her clothing had already switched to the most compatible spirit dress state. After hitting herself with the First Bullet, she used Soru, barely dodging the strike with a sudden burst of speed.
The City of Devouring Time spread across the arena, attempting to weaken the enemy in front of her as much as possible. However, under Zephyr's Armament Haki, the continuously spreading shadows shattered upon contact. The weakening effect on Zephyr could only consume his Armament Haki and failed to actually weaken him.
Zephyr saw Hera dive into the shadows during that momentary resistance, and the expression on his face gradually turned grim. "Do you think you can escape my pursuit by relying on this domain? How naive." With that, his Armament Haki fully erupted. Sensing Hera's position, he threw a punch.
Hera was forcibly blasted out of the shadows by Zephyr. The entire City of Devouring Time trembled under Zephyr's punch. Ignoring the sent-flying Hera, Zephyr struck down toward the City of Devouring Time.
The place he hit shattered instantly. The City of Devouring Time was directly smashed by Zephyr's punch. Hera, flying through the air, hurriedly tried to retract the domain, but it was too late. The backlash from the domain being smashed caused Hera to spit out a mouthful of blood.
Having no time to feel regret for the City of Devouring Time, Zephyr's next attack was already approaching. Hera quickly used the Fourth Bullet on herself to recover her status while firing several shots toward her feet. Using the recoil of the shots and Moonwalk, she adjusted her posture and fired a continuous volley of Second Bullets at Zephyr, trying to restrain him.
While rushing toward Hera, Zephyr swung his black arm, shattering Hera's Second Bullets. Seeing that the Second Bullets were ineffective, Hera steeled herself. After buffing herself with another First Bullet, she switched Zafkiel to its 'ability' form. Her black and red dress transformed into a blue and white military uniform, and the long gun minute hand turned into a military saber as she charged back at Zephyr.
With the acceleration of Soru and the First Bullet, Hera instantaneously moved behind Zephyr. White spatial power lit up on the blade—'Cancer Sword.' A powerful slash struck toward Zephyr. Zephyr shouted, "Good timing!" and twisted his waist to meet Hera's military saber.
In the clash between Armament Haki and spatial power, Hera was the first to give way. She was once again sent flying by the shockwave, coughing up blood. Zephyr, however, felt another trace of threat—it was a bullet filled with spatial power, sneaking in an attack just as Zephyr's old strength was spent and his new strength had yet to rise.
It turned out that while Hera was releasing the Cancer Sword during the clash just now, she had also released a freely controllable Lions Bullet, attacking Zephyr while he showed a vulnerability.
Zephyr said, "Too naive, brat. Do you think I wouldn't be able to react to a sneak attack like this?" Zephyr hadn't used his full strength in the previous clash, and moreover, his years of combat experience meant he would never throw a punch that exhausted all his power. His black arm met the bullet.
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