Sparring with Elites

(Lillian) "At the ready!"

Liz and Adrian both drew their swords. Adrian was using twin swords as well, and Liana realised that the patterns on his swords matched the emblem on his uniform.

(Liz's thoughts) 'He's an elite, so the only way to possibly defeat him is to attack. The way to survive the longest is also to attack. Once I'm put in the defensive, I won't last long.'

(Lillian) "Begin!"

Liz disappeared from her spot and appeared in front of Adrian almost instantly. A loud clash sounded, and they were at a different spot of the arena. Liana was having trouble keeping up with their speed. From what she could tell, Liz still held the advantage, but was slowly losing it. They exchanged a few more moves when Liana saw something strange.

(Liana's thoughts) 'I've never seen her do that before…'

Liz had changed her position and took up a defensive stance. However, this stance was strange, and Liana couldn't tell what it was supposed to be. Liz was standing with her legs slightly wider than shoulder-length apart, with her swords crossed in front of her pointing towards the ground. The only reason Liana was able to take this all in was that Adrian seemed to have sensed something was off and wasn't attacking.

*

(Rose) "You taught her that?"

Lillian smiled as she shook her head.

(Lillian) "That's her own move. Mine is the Double Dragon Strike. Hers is a Dual Snake Strike. She took my move, having seen it once, and altered it."

Rose shook her head as she watched the spar.

(Rose) "Sometimes I forget just how overpowered the two of you are, and now there's a third."

She sighed softly and put her attention fully back onto the spar. Another reason she was here was to step in if she was needed. This was a friendly spar and Elites were supposed to be able to control themselves perfectly, but four of the five were new and accidents could happen. Lillian was present as well but had specifically instructed Rose to be present, as Lillian cared deeply for both of the girls and might step in when unnecessary. Rose honestly knew that her boss was more responsible than that, but she didn't question her chief's decision.

*

Adrian finally seemed to have come to a decision and charged at Liz. Liz didn't move from her spot as Adrian cut downwards with his right hand, but let her swords catch his sword. However, Adrian still had his left hand and quickly attacked her with it, slashing towards Liz's side.

*

A loud clash sounded and there was a cloud of dust that preventing Liana from seeing what was going on. When the dust finally settled, Liz was attacking once again, with Adrian in a clear disadvantage.

(Liana's thoughts) 'What… just happened?'

*

Lillian grimaced as Adrian cut downwards at Liz but was deflected by her crossed swords. When Adrian attacked Liz's side, Liz released one of her swords and let Adrian's sword slide and hit the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. She then used her swords to deflect Adrian's left strike and pushed him backwards, quickly charging in to attack once again. Now though, Adrian was clearly in the disadvantage as he had lost one of his weapons.

*

Liana hadn't noticed that there was a sword stuck in the ground where Liz was standing earlier, but when she noticed it, she frowned.

(Liana's thoughts) 'Adrian is an Elite, which if I'm correct, is a lot more skilled than—'

Her thoughts were cut off as Adrian deflected a blow from Liz and sent her sword flying.

*

Lillian stood with Rose, watching the spar with a small smile. Rose turned to Lillian and nodded, and Lillian in turn turned her right hand which was relaxed at her side halfway. Not long after, Adrian took the chance to turn the tables once more. It was no more than half a minute later that he had his sword at Liz neck, having fully disarmed her.

*

Adrian lowered his sword and they both bowed to each other before Liz jumped off the platform and ran over to her sister.

(Liz) "How long was that?"

Lillian smiled at the excited look on her younger sister's face as she tilted her head slightly towards Rose.

(Rose) "Six and a half minutes."

Liz groaned, but grinned almost immediately after.

(Liana) "It's more than five minutes, at least. I hardly think I'd be able to last that long, if Brian's skill is at any level near his twin's."

Her eyes discreetly followed Rose who had gone over to Adrian and from what she could tell, was­ reprimanding him, as he had his head down and from what she could see of Rose's face, she was angry, to say the least.

(Lillian) "Liana, you have five minutes to prepare before it's your turn."

Liana nodded. She had already mentally prepared herself for it, but now that she was actually going to do it, she felt herself begin to panic internally. Her main concern though, wasn't whether she'd win or not. She already knew without a doubt that she'd lose the spar. But rather, it was how long she could last. Most importantly, would she impress Lillian with how much she'd improved since they started training? She'd only seen a fraction of Lillian's power but she already knew that she'd never be able to catch up to her. Liana was a faster learner than the majority of people, but with Lillian and Liz it seemed like she was a slow learner.

*

Rose finished scolding Adrian and walked back over to Lillian, who had an amused look on her face. Rose smiled lightly as she said,

(Rose) "Better me than you. I know you'll punish him later anyway."

Lillian didn't reply, simply turning her attention to Brian. Rose didn't take offence as she knew her chief to not be one for many words, although there were times when she did talk more. Now was not one of those times.

(Rose) "I do hope Brian's better than Adrian."

Lillian nodded.

*

(Lillian) "Liana, it's your turn. I hope you're ready."

Liana nodded and jumped onto the arena, shortly after which Brian did as well.

(Lillian) "At the ready!"

Liana drew her sword and noticed that Brian's sword was exactly the same as his brother's, other than the fact that there was only one.

(Liana) 'They're definitely making this easier for us.'

She had come to the same conclusion as Liz about attacking first and relaxed her body as she knew that if she was tense, she'd just make more mistakes.

(Lillian) "Begin!"

Liana dashed forward, though slower than Liz, and attacked swiftly. Her attack was just as swiftly blocked by Brian. He slid back a little bit and his eyes widened.

This girl is crazy strong. No wonder chief wanted us to spar them.

Liana continued with her attacks and Brian continued deflecting her attacks.

*

(Rose) "She's good."

Lillian nodded, a ghost of a smile playing on her lips. They continued watching the spar as Liana and Brian exchanged moves. For each time Liana would attack him, Brian would counterattack, which was blocked by Liana who in turn sent out another attack.

*

Liana turned her sword in her hand before attacking once more. Brian blinked and blocked but did not counterattack. Liana followed up with a punch using her left hand almost immediately after. If Brian had counterattacked, he would be left open to this attack. He made the right decision and didn't, and thus was able to catch Liana's fist, preventing her from hitting him once again. Liana's lips tilted upwards as she twisted her body and grabbed Brian's wrist using her right hand, which was holding her sword. Brian was too shocked to react fast enough and there was a tip a sword pressing against his neck. Brian grinned and dropped his weapon, but internally he was screaming.

(Brian's thoughts) 'How did I just lose to her?'

*

The thoughts running through his head was running through everyone else's as well. Except for Lillian. She had noticed what Liana was doing the moment she started.

(Recollection) "Another thing hiding a trump card can do is make your opponents' underestimate you. If you hide your true potential from the start of the fight, they'll probably be wary of you." Liana wondered what Lillian had meant and went to sleep pondering it. When she awoke the next morning, she knew what Lillian was trying to convey to her.

Liana had used a huge burst of strength at the start, making Brian surprised by her strength, then lowered it to about half of her actual strength. She constantly made mistakes that would have cost her the fight, but Brian was too cautious and didn't take advantage of it.

Until a point when he finally decided that the first attack was either a stroke of luck or something that she had tried to knock him out in one move but failed.

*

When Liana noticed his movements had changed, she executed a simple feint, but added a twist. While most would have twisted their left hand to catch the opponents' wrist before they could theirs, it was a predictable move, so instead of doing that, she used her right hand instead.

The movement of her turning the sword in her hand before attacking was to shift the point of the trigger to change her sword into a dual sword. What she had done was to change it into a dual sword, then close it up on the other side.

This all happened while Brian was trying to block her punch, so he didn't notice it. She then grabbed his wrist, careful not to cut herself with the sword, and pulled him towards her right, switching her sword to her left hand in the same motion. It ended up with her sword against his neck.

*

Breathing heavily, Liana noticed the emotions Lillian was experiencing and grinned widely. She jumped down and ran over to Lillian.

(Liana) "Was that good?"

Before Lillian could even open her mouth to reply, Rose cut in.

(Rose) "That was incredible! I've never seen anyone do that before! Where'd you learn it from?"

Liana giggled softly at Rose's obvious excitement.

(Liana) "I got the idea from Lillian, but I came up with the move myself."

Rose's eyes widened.

(Rose) "Never mind. I shouldn't have asked."

She walked off to talk with Brian. She looked like she was shouting at him, clearly taking out her frustration on him.

(Liana) "Erm… should we do something about that?"

Lillian shrugged, then turned to face Liana with a smile on her face.

(Lillian) "Good job. That last move was impressive."

Liana blushed lightly.

(Liana) "It wasn't—"

(Liz) "Are you kidding me!? That was unbelievable! If even Rose reacted like that, it really was impressive."

She shrugged.

(Liz) "I'm just upset you managed to defeat him but I couldn't defeat his twin."

Liana sent an apologetic look to Liz.

(Liana) "I—"

(Liz) "Don't apologize or try to make me feel better. I used a move that was developed from my sister's, while you created a whole new one. You deserve the win."

Liana knew that Liz really meant it and smiled.

(Liana) "Thanks."

Liz shrugged and went back to watching Rose. Liana's eyes wandered back over to the other three still standing where they had left them.

(Liana) "Are we going to have to spar them as well?"

Lillian grinned.

(Lillian) "If you want to, but I have to warn you that Adrian and Brian are the two weakest of the five."

Liz and Liana both shivered at the thought of fighting someone more powerful than their previous sparring partners. They both violently shook their heads, rejecting the offer to continue sparring.

(Liana) "Do we get to see what they look like if we don't spar them?"

Lillian shrugged, then snapped her fingers once. The three appeared in front of them, still in the same formation. Lillian moved her fingers a little, out of the view of Liana and Liz, and the red-haired girl removed her cloak, revealing… a short girl? She looked really harmless, if you ignored the dangerous glint in her eyes.

(Lillian) "The red haired is Elena."

At a closer look, Elena's small arms weren't small because she was still young, it was because her muscles were just really compact.

(Liana) "How… old is Elena?"

(Elena) "I'm nine. I owe my life to Lillian."

Liana's eyes widened at the sound of Elena's voice. Despite her young appearance, her voice really did not match it. It sounded well-trained and mature. Like something that belonged to a fifteen-year-old or older. Liana tilted her head slightly.

(Liana) "What do you mean you owe your life to Lillian?"

Elena raised an eyebrow and gave her an incredulous look. Due to her childish appearance, her expression made her look cuter, instead of angry or upset.

(Elena) "I mean exactly that. If you want details, you'll have to ask her yourself."

The next in the line was a brown-haired girl with hazel eyes.

(Liana) 'Finally, someone who looks like they belong in this tribe.'

She took off her cloak and stood about half a head to a head shorter than Lillian.

(Lillian) "Daisy is sixteen."

The next one was a boy with the average appearance of a member of the clan, much like Daisy.

(Lillian) "Kenneth is sixteen as well."

Kenneth pulled off his cloak and ended up the same height as Lillian.

*

Liana and Liz examined the three and concluded on the same thing: Elena was the most dangerous of the three. They didn't know why, but they felt a sense of danger just being around her. While they were both lost in their thoughts, Elena had walked over to Lillian. Because of her short height, she was barely at Lillian's shoulders. Lillian raised a hand and rubbed Elena's head.

(Lillian, softly that only Elena could hear) "Another time, hm?"

Elena closed her eyes and enjoyed the feeling of Lillian caressing her head. Lillian smiled at the young girl enjoying head-pats. Or rather, head-rubs. Initially she hadn't wanted to train Elena from such a young age, since she had to and thus knew what she'd go through. However, Elena begged her and Lillian would never admit it, but she has a weakness for puppy eyes.

*

Rose saw the picture of the four girls with two awkward people in the background from where she was shouting at Brian. She smiled and ceased her scolding of Brian, her mind occupied by something else.