My Turn Out There
Before my test began Miss Ivy gave me a few words of advice from the looks of it. But it's strange that she took me far from the others just to talk to me. Probably something serious or maybe it's about Elizabeth.
Better keep my guard up for this one.
"Elizabeth, I know you're working for the Intelligence Division. Now before you have some doubts about me I'm also a member there just not from your squad. I wanna tell you how much of a volatile girl Elizabeth is." Miss Ivy suddenly got serious in the middle of this conversation.
"I've noticed that after one failure." I responded.
"Emotions are a powerful medium to control magic. And we know that Elizabeth is our main target. Our main objective is to keep her safe from everyone outside of our organization. I'm surprised you're the youngest member to be dispatched for this mission." Miss Ivy is surprised by that fact.
"I was given the mission since I was the closest person to operate in that close proximity. So far only one person became a threat towards Elizabeth." I replied.
"What caught me off guard was that she made our magic resonate while she was isolated in a chamber. Our magic levels oddly skyrocketed for a few minutes. It's her neutral mana that made us empowered for that time frame.
That's what I fear our enemies might do to Elizabeth. She might become a battery for an army or something similar to that. She can influence other magic users just by being under pressure. At least that's what we've seen out there.
I hope you do your best and report this as soon as possible to them. We might never know that she might become our worst nightmare if not controlled. We've learned something today I guess." Miss Ivy sighed.
"I'll give my report by then." I responded while nodding.
"Alright then your test is up next. I won't hold back so show what you've learned under Exia's supervision." Miss Ivy tries to invoke me.
"I'll make sure I'll pull every punch out there." I answered her invocation.
After that we left the area and headed to the test room. And with it our combat gear worn for protection against lethal magic.
"Alright for our final test specifically for Miss Beatrix since she is a Body Magic user. Our test will be combat-focused. Hand-to-hand, mano-a-mano. I want to see how you fight against this veteran.
I may not be a Body Magic user. But that doesn't mean you should underestimate a fighter like me. I gave you a spell for our test so you better use it during this long fight.
Our rules are simple, the fight will continue until one party drops more than two times. By dropping, I meant getting knocked down and forcibly pinned into submission. If you get dropped more than two times you'll be forfeited from the battle and you have to retake it again.
If not then you pass if you survive more than 3 minutes fighting me at full-tilt. Or an instant win if you manage to make me drop or fall into submission." Miss Ivy removes her coat to show off her battle gear for this specific test.
Surprisingly despite how short Miss Ivy is you can't deny how built she is. A veteran indeed from her battle-worn body from probably fighting out in the frontlines. Her exposure did pay off for her in the long term.
To become someone to be reckoned with. A body filled with hard work under its belt to become what it is now.
"For an old lady like me fighting the kids. This is a joke to be honest, I won't hold back Miss Beatrix remember that. Show me everything you got." Miss Ivy raises her fists and starts chanting magic on her fists making it glow white.
"I'll show you everything I've learned so far from my mentor." I responded while also raising my fists.
And soon after we both went on our first attack crossing our fists barely avoiding our faces. Things went down from there, grappling and blocking each other's attack. I can tell Miss Ivy is holding back her magic. But I managed to pressure her into an opening and pushed her back to give me some space.
Regaining composure from her own pressure I pushed on as she pressed on the offensive by mixing knee attacks and punches. I can tell she is great and I need to get to my Mom's level to be able to keep up in the long term.
None of us have dropped down just yet. I kept my distance again to try and pace myself to prevent getting tired too early. Since from the looks of it this is still her warming up phase. She's just testing me from the looks of it.
Now that I caught up to her antics. She might change flow again into an offensive push and caught me off guard. I need to push her back enough so I have enough time. This is just the first minute too.
"Beatrix, nice that you're keeping distance but playing the long game will only make you more vulnerable if you keep that up. That's my word of advice for you. So better keep your toes moving or else you'll be… Surprised." Miss Ivy suddenly closed the gap in front of me.
And she pushed me back but thankfully I was barely quick enough to block her blow that pushed me far back into the wall. But I wasn't expecting her to close the gap too soon.
Miss Ivy is really pushing me to the limit in this fight. I have to do something before I fall down. Proving myself that I am worthy to be a member of the Intelligence Division. I ain't done yet Miss Ivy, I'll show you how I work things out.
I ran up to her then into a dive to grapple her down and make my first move there. There! I managed to pin her down and use my momentum to push her back to the wall using my feet. A successful attack.
"Damn, that was a good one taking things a bit unconventional. It's great but are you good enough?" Miss Ivy suddenly kicks up sand from the ground
That forced me to close my eyes which was enough for her to regain ground. And the clock hits the halfway mark. I just need to survive this.
Miss Ivy is finally on her full offensive. And she's doing everything to make me fall down or get knocked out. Kicks, knees, and punches from all directions while I block it and try to counter-attack as much as I can.
She can pull off 2-4 punches at a time where I can only counter back one. But there was a flaw on her offensive from the looks of it. It's a risk, and I don't know if I can pull it off.
But I have to try and see what's gonna happen. I only have half a minute left before I can successfully survive her test. Ah, screw it, I have to do things the hard way if it means proving myself.
I have to hit her from the middle which may open up her defenses so I can deliver the final blow before the clock runs out. While she's pushing onto my blocks. I can sense the timing is so thin I have only one shot of doing this successfully.
And as soon as I find that… NOW! I managed to give a good body blow then onto the counter attack. Following up into a hook finally pushing her back far enough to drop her onto her knee. Seems like she didn't really expect it.
After that the clock rings and the battle is finished. I survived and I managed to make Miss Ivy fall down. As the adrenaline finally wears out after a few seconds I also fall down to my knees as Mia and Sylve helped me out before I fell to the ground.
Miss Ivy soon later stood up and walked out on her side with Miss Claire waiting for her on the other door. Probably starting to give her verdict on the clipboard.
"Bea, you pushed yourself out there hard." Hailey worried about my actions.
"You fought amazingly out there. I didn't expect you to have prior training on hand-to-hand combat." Sylve was impressed.
"I mean if it was her training that managed to beat down Krome's goons. Then it should be something else. Right?" Mia was casting recovery magic on me.
Which worked quite well and quickly as the pain and numbness fades away painlessly. I let out a sigh.
"I didn't expect to actually make her fall down like that. I saw the chance and I took it." I muttered to myself.
"Well you took that chance very much in your favor." Hailey responded.
"I didn't expect Miss Ivy to be THAT buff since I was expecting her to just be a normal mage and all. She looked like she was fighting for real." Sylve was curious.
"Me, too." Elizabeth nodded.
"Though what's the real surprise here is Bea's win here against Miss Ivy. She fought face-to-face and won." Hailey kept on telling me how I won against all odds.
This is nice, this feeling is such a warm group of friends surrounding me. I never knew I was missing out this much in my youth. Better keep this close to me so I could remember this in the future.