I twisted my body in a spiral and dashed further to the left attempting to slow down her speed, thinking she would have to deaccelerate, yet her compact movements followed me intently without a loss of momentum at any sharp turn.
Her breath at my neck instilled an uneasiness in me I hadn't felt in a long time and her lips parted to utter the words, "Who are you?" Backhanding me straight into a building, crashing through the layers of the building.
"Ughhhh...fuck! She sure does hit hard." I complained, lifting my limbs out of the debris and the dust collapsed on me. Fortunately my mana managed to take most of the forces brunt and minimize the damage I received.
I quickly looked around, noticing the uncanny silence. This building was a home, so why was no one screaming?
"Oh." A gasp spewed from my mouth as a crimson pool flooded from beneath the mountain of wreckage. Limbs severed away and splashed in a gruesome texture around the floor and walls.
"You survived? Well don't start losing focus now." Instinctively, I cocked my head to the side, an incisive frozen spear slitting the side of my cheek, even with a minute graze. She intently followed up with a flying kick aimed at me whilst my back was turned, but I swiftly changed my centre of gravity, sliding around and placing myself below her blow, carrying her momentum over by pushing her kicking leg lightly.
A thunderous crash erupted and the building blew away in the tremendous clash. Rumbles sent through the ground, imitating that of an earthquake. She got up from the rising dust clouds and steeped into my view. "Such unexpected martial prowess from someone so small. I didn't realise dwarves were such impressive combatants."
Dwarf? Does she think I'm a dwarf because of my height? Of course she would. There is no way she would suspect a child of being this capable.
I kept my silence, our stares clashing vibrantly and the air anarchically engaged in a fierce tussle, blowing away the remains of the building invading our space.
Lets test the limits I've achieved from my training, I thought. I knew I didn't have the sword of Time on me, so I would strictly have to rely on purely my skill alone.
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After the quick pause between us, I made the first move, closing the distance with my lightning charged palm aimed precisely at her solar plexus, readying to drill a hole in her. However as I plunged it in, she grabbed my wrist with brutish strength and slammed my attack into the ground below us, severing it and manifesting ruptures in the ground.
A cocky smile spread through her delicate features. Though she was a highly trained soldier, she was a woman first and foremost.
Wasting no time, with my hand stuck between the cracks I made, a heavy whiplash struck me below my chin disorientating my vision and sending a chaotic ringing assaulting my thoughts. Her heels mark imprinted on my feverishly red torn skin as I bounced back tumbling like a tumbleweed into the street.
"Is that it?" She asked, genuinely checking for a reply to check if her mission was accomplished. I thought of not responding and trying to suspend my heart with my magic, but I figured someone of her skills would recognise it immediately.
I scrambled onto my hands, resting up and began dragging myself onto my legs, withdrawing the blade made specifically for someone of my height.
"I see. You truly are a great warrior. Please, could you enlighten me as to why you was in library trying to steal our donation?" She made light conversation, trying to discern my motives. Obviously I wouldn't reply and reveal my pre-pubescent, high-pitched like a frail princess voice. Instead I reached for the daggers in my belt and launched them forward, propelled with wind and gravity magic, imitating the effect of heavy tracking missiles, hounding her no matter where she would dodge.
Her expression visibly became shaken, her eyes widening at the complexity of magic she most likely hadn't seen yet. It's a very difficult process, after all, to merge two magical affects and have them co-operate as one.
She grasped the necklace that hung from a neck. Silver laced, beautifully extending and carrying around a golden gem that started glinting a, animated colour, a heavy long sword protruding from it, all black in colour as she vanished from her spot, and wind mana gathering in a torrent round the edge of her blade hushed in a verdant hue that loudly expressed its destruction, swiping at the two daggers hurling at her and blowing them away into the night sky.
"Come one, try harder than that!" She challenged me with a sadistic grin, cackling maniacally into the moon like some sort of werewolf. Then her gaze refocused on me. Or at least where I was. I had already retreated strategically, hidden my mana trace and set down illusions encase she attempted to chase after me.
"Come back here, you coward!" Her voice reverberated all the way into the forest I swung through, as I smiled, pleased at my progress.
"I may not have achieved what I needed to, but at the very least know where I stand. Guess I'll have to go with plan B to learn it. Maybe it'll be a good place to develop some relationships as well, huh? The academy in the capital sure does bring back nostalgia."