Of course, if she got too close he wouldn't be able to dodge, but for the first time since he had met Elizabeth, Tibaut felt he could actually win a fight.

Now most people when doing anything competitive with someone who lost a loved one recently would, I don't know, show some sympathy and maybe go easy on them. Like what absolute dickhead would see a person in mourning and decide to give 120%?

Anyway, Tibaut exploded with enthusiasm against this chance. He almost felt as though his heart would explode from the excitement. He had long been victory-starved and today he was going to have a feast.

He almost suicidally threw himself towards her. She tried to respond with her spear but was caught off guard. Tibaut landed a devastating blow on her face yet she didn't move an inch. She quickly countered with the metal shaft of her spear and sent him going sideways for a few feet.

("I should have known it wouldn't be that easy.") He thought as he picked himself up off the floor. Yet he couldn't help but feel joy at the sight before him. She had staggered to her knees from the punch. Ah, how long has it been since someone reacted like that to his attacks?

But he realized he couldn't take it easy.

("But what the hell was that blow") He thought to himself as he was struggling to get up. He normally would have jumped to the side to lessen the blow of the impact but he felt paralyzed as soon as it touched him. He felt the side he was hit and realized that area of his shirt had been partially burnt.

"That sure as shit wasn't fire." He said.

He noticed she was coming towards him and soon had an idea of what paralyzed him. Her spear was brimming with electricity.

"Oh yeah, she mentioned that, didn't she." He said before ducking the spear after her swing.

Her expression soured slightly and she soon switched to stabbing motions which Tibaut was quick to evade from while firing off some fire lances.

She avoided the ones to her abdomen but had a few hit an arm and a leg. She was really regretting not wearing her armour at this point, but she didn't let the pain show on her face.

Tibaut soon attempted another suicide rush and Tina watched him closely before lunging her spear. Amazingly Tibaut managed to jump onto her spearhead and used it as a launchpad to dropkick her.

As soon as the kick hit her face moved one of her hands fast enough to touch his leg and hit him with her magic.

The magic attack stopped his momentum, while she flew back. Within the next second, they both hit the floor.

Tibaut did a kip-up with a cautious look on his face with his hair looking dishevelled from the electricity. Tina groggily got herself back up and picked up her spear which landed beside her. It didn't look like this fight was going to end anytime soon...

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

After another thirty minutes or so of intense physical activity, Tibaut had his hands on his knees, sweating as he breathed heavily for air. Down on the ground was Tina, wincing in pain with various parts of her limbs looking as though they had been slammed with a boiling hot kettle.

"Man, you really don't run out of energy, huh." Tibaut blurted out while wiping the sweat from his brow. The euphoria of combat had faded and his conscious was starting to take over.

"Hey Elizabeth, heal her already, it'd be cruel to leave her like this any longer!"

"S-shut up." The pink-haired warrior responded trying to fight through the pain.

"I can still fight," she tried to push herself off the ground but her arms were wobbly. "I need Elizabeth if I'm going to kill that bastard." Her throat forced out on the ground.

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and walked over to her. She threw a glass bottle of water on her and swiftly healed her.

"And I was saving this for a dire situation." She said with just a hint of sarcasm in her voice.

Within seconds Tina felt her energy return to her and turned around shocked to Elizabeth.

"What the hell?" Tina asked confused. "We were just training! How the hell could you use something so important for this?

Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders.

"It would honestly be more of a bother if you weren't fully healed by the time we needed you. Besides I have a few of these left."

"But this level of healing," Tina looked at her arms and legs. The only thing left was the burns on her borrowed clothes. Elizabeth also realised those burns were the only thing left and gave Tibaut a good smack as he was watching the farce in front of him.

"That potion must have been expensive." She then sniffed her clothes. "It doesn't even have a smell, all the stuff we can afford smells either bitter or minty."

Elizabeth cleared her throat.

"Well they were gifts from relatives, so it's not too big of a deal to me."

Tina looked at her in amazement for a few seconds before quickly fixing her expression.

"Must be nice to use expensive stuff so willy-nilly."

"Now, then do you see the gap between us?" Elizabeth asked.

"I was fighting the redhead not you. Give me another round and I'll be making him squeal."

Elizabeth had to rub her forehead from the amount of cope she was hearing.

"Say, Tina, were you trying to kill him?"

The pink-haired girl soon began stammering.

"A-wha- Well I'll- okay you t-told me not to go for his head or um, heart and I didn't hit them right?"

"It certainly wasn't because of a lack of trying." She responded back.

"I'm sorry, Excuse Me!?" Tibaut tried to interject but the two ignored him.

"While you were trying your best to defeat him as if you were battling in some savage coliseum, he made sure to use his weakest magic on you while only attacking whenever you showed the will to fight. If he wanted to, he could have killed multiple times during this fight."

Tina remained silent about what her 'rival' was saying.

"What? Are saying I'm too weak to be of use to you guys? Are you saying I'm too weak to get revenge? Well I don't care I'll, I'll get that bastard even if I have to throw away my life. Ezekiel took me and was one of the first people who said I-"

Elizabeth raised her hand to cut her off. She soon walked over to her and placed it on the sitting Tina's shoulder.

"Tina, I'm not saying you're weak. I just think you should train with Tibaut for the time being. Besides, you already know we don't have much quality when it comes to the adventurers here so whether you wanted to or not, you'll be taking part."

Tina sulked before turning her head away.

"Can I train with you if I beat him?"

"As much as you'd like!" She replied with a smile on her face.

Tibaut found the scene almost endearing. It was like watching an older sister comfort the younger after a tantrum from not buying something they wanted.

"Wait a minute do I have to deal with her genuinely trying to kill me?" Tibaut asked his guild master.

"I suppose I'll give you a break from each other."

"Oh than-"

"I'll just go ahead and fight you two instead."

("There really is no rest for the wicked, huh.") Tibaut thought to himself as he accepted his fate.