"I refuse to run." With a soft declaration, Veda swallowed her fear and leapt out of Hydra's heads' paths.
WHOOSH
CRASH
'There are three ways to beat the Hydra, destroy it with one attack, disrupt the magic circle or defeat Julia.'
'I don't have enough mana to freeze the entire beast and disrupting the magic circle won't immediately end the fight, so defeating Julia directly is my best option right now.
'I should also stop decapitating heads because it's a waste of energy.' Veda extended her arm and froze the surface of the beast's neck, creating a solid pathway to the body.
"I'm not letting you do that!" Realizing Veda's intentions, Julia scowled and channelled more mana into the circle; her reserves diminishing by the second.
"ARGH!" Following Julia's instructions, two of the Hydra heads soared towards Veda.
"Ah!" To increase her speed and traction on the slippery ice, Veda channelled Earthly Aura into her legs.
DUMMM
"GRRR!" Persistent in their murderous endeavour one of the approaching heads rammed their head into the frozen neck.
SHATTER
'It broke its neck just to shake me off?!' Refusing to be caught in the impact, Veda leapt off of the aqua beast's neck.
'I'm vulnerable in the air...'
Reaching the same conclusion as her adversary, Julia commanded one head to hunt the magic knight midair.
"Ice magic: Frost haze!" Using a modest magic circle, Veda generated a chilling smoke screen of small snow particles; limiting visibility for both her opponent and the Hydra.
SSSSSSS
Unable to slow down their momentum, four of the hydra's heads bashed into each other.
CRASH
"Where'd she go?" Unable to see through the obstacle, Julia squinted and channelled more mana into the circle.
"Here..." No more than two meters in front of her, Veda appeared out of the smoke screen unscathed and cleaved her spatha with all her might.
'I win!' Convinced of her victory, Veda suppressed a grin.
SHING
Emerging from the mist behind her, the last of the Hydra's original heads rammed into Veda's back.
[Veda Stewart, Class A has been eliminated.]
"You forgot about one." Julia grinned.
***
25 students remaining
***
3.5km northeast of the forest's centre.
Adonis P. Vindicta (44 eliminations)
'Their teamwork is incredible.' The purple-haired teen acknowledged.
"Keep up the pressure!" Sicily slammed her spear into the ground, channelling more mana into her everchanging magic circle.
"I'm on it!' Spur, a girl with short brown hair, exhaled sharply and continued with her deadly melee barrage, her fists and feet adorned in sharp crystals.
'Spur is a close-quarters fighter who uses her diamond magic to enhance her physical attacks, making her stamina significantly more than most. This is because she doesn't need to expend that much mental energy to cast complex spells. She's a true brawler.' Adonis analyzed whilst simultaneously using his gladius to deflect all of the girl's attacks rather effortlessly.
CLANG
CLANG
CLANG
"PYUU!" A small bird darted through the air toward Spur and Adonis, its glowing white eyes focused on the latter.
'Sicily on the other hand is a ranged type similar to Amber, she uses her familiar magic to temporarily turn mundane animals into magic beasts and control them. More importantly than that, she is a cunning tactician with vast knowledge making her particularly tricky to deal with.'
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'These two are a nigh perfect duo...' Adonis chuckled before moving his head to the side evading the bird's attack.
WHOOSH
'I can handle Spur's hand-to-hand contact pretty easily, but the constant magic beast assaults force me to split my attention. Adding to the danger is the fact that the magic beasts aren't always the same, they range from White Rank Pigeons to a swarm of Unranked bugs.' Adonis leapt several meters backwards, creating distance between him and the close quarter's combatant.
"Order?" Spur scrunched her face and repaired the crystals on her fists.
"Retreat." Sicily commanded.
"What's the plan?" Following Sicily's commands, Spur dashed backwards.
To relay information to her teammate, Sicily summoned a hummingbird from the sky and positioned it beside Spur's ear so she could explain her thoughts.
'He's not fighting on the level I expected him to. Either the rumors of him being Tier 9 are heavily exaggerated or he's holding back for some reason. It's likely the latter because he shows no signs of fatigue, although he hasn't even bothered using magic yet. '
'On the note of magic, I noticed during the magic exam that his casting speed and output are top of the class while his control is below average. Either he's reluctant to use it due to his lack of control or has completely run out of mana which is unlikely. His magic affinity, Inferno Magic is too much of a mystery so I won't even try to analyze it.'
'A battle of attrition isn't wise because Spur is no longer in peak condition and I'm running low on mana, the best option would be to retreat but I doubt he'd allow that... So I'll just allow Spur to distract him then I'll use my trump card.'
"So I just have to fight?" Spur asked.
'With all your might.' Sicily emphasized.
"That's all I know." Spur smirked.
'My blade isn't cutting her crystals and it's too damaged to be coated with too much Aura.' Adonis studied his gladius which sported multiple nicks and scratches.
'I'll just match her in hand-to-hand combat.' He concluded before sheathing the sword.
"It's been a while since I've had a martial arts spar." Adonis dashed forward with considerable speed, denting the soil beneath him with every stride.
THUD THUD THUD
'He's not using his sword? I know his hand-to-hand combat is among the best because of his 'fight' against Maxwell but I don't believe he can compete with Spur when she uses her crystals and Aura.' Sicily frowned.
"Spur, attack!"
"No need to tell me twice!" Spur enthusiastically dashed forward to meet her opponent in the middle, throwing a sharp cross with her diamond-crusted fist.
'The force behind her punches isn't even the scariest part.' Adonis moved his head to the side and grinned as the fist glossed past him.
WHOOSH
"Hm!" Employing her left hand, Spur threw a left hook towards Adonis's body.
'It's the diamonds...Their sharpness and hardness make her bare fists feel like you're being stabbed by a graded weapon.' Wary of the blow, Adonis parried the attack by lightly tapping her arm.
'He's good.' Intensifying her assault, Spur launched her right fist toward Adonis's chin.
Unbothered by the fist that soared towards him, Adonis leaned backwards and threw a sharp calf kick toward Spur's lead leg.
WHOOSH
'That's fast!' Unable to register the speed of the kick, Spur gave up on trying to dodge or check it and simply attacked once more.
CRACK
Before she could even hope to throw another punch, a sharp cracking sound pierced her ears.
"Argh!" Feeling an agonizing throbbing in her lead leg, Spur fought the urge to buckle to the ground
'How does his kick have so much power!' She grunted.
BRRRRR
WHUUU
Saving Spur from further injury was an abnormally large worm that burst from the ground and wrapped itself around Adonis's leg.
'She can also control animals that are underground?' Adonis lowered his head toward the magic beast.
'An opening!' Taking advantage of Adonis's restraint, Spur punched Adonis's guard; freeing him from the worm's grip and sending him flying.
BAM
THUD
"Uh." Adonis halted his flight by placing both his hands and feet on the ground.
'The bleeding's not that bad.' He consoled.
"Familiar Magic: Bird Strike." Increasing the pressure on Adonis, Sicily fetched a pigeon from the sky and sent it falling towards Adonis.
ZOOM
'Her casting speed is amazing.' Before he could take a step back, Spur appeared on his left and swung at his left cheek with the assistance of Earthly Aura.
DUMMM
'Although I fractured her leg she's still moving at the same speed, her grit is impressive.' Despite the circumstances, Adonis held Spur's arm and shoved his knee into her solar plexus.
"Argh!"
Slowed down by his attack, Adonis was too late to completely evade the bird; receiving a deep in his armour's shoulder pad.
BAM
'If I had opted for the 'blade protection armour' I would've been severely damaged... I made the right choice.' He acknowledged.
'At the cost of being damaged, I've learnt quite a bit about these two... No matter the potential risk to her comrade, Sicily is willing to do anything to eliminate her target... This is evident because she was willing to use 'bird strike' despite the high chance of Spur being caught in it.'
'Spur is as impressive: Despite her physical condition she's always going to fight with her all, meaning I shouldn't consider her injuries when evaluating her.'
'These two's compatibility is what makes them a deadly team to face, Sicily is willing to harm her teammate to achieve the objective while Spur accepts this and fights at her peak despite this and any existing injuries.'
*Extra Information:
Magic knights have the option to pick from 4 basic types of armour:
Blade protection: Provides a level of defence for the user against blade attacks.
Force protection: Provides a level of defence for the user against blunt force attacks.
Magic protection: Reduces the effects of magic attacks.
General: Has the effects of all the other three types to a much lesser degree.