The Foxgirl's Suggestions and the Mage's Trial II

An hour passes, Ancestra pacing around her room back in the inn. Unsure whether to treat her sparring with Deb, she scratched her head.

'Is he treating this as an actual fight? Is he going to teach me something about hesitance in combat? Is he gonna go easy on me?' were some of the questions that stood out in her mind. Shrugging her doubts, she went back to Guild Senida, the Rose still gripping her heart. Haruka, Deb, and Elspeth, the girl who the foxgirl mentioned also made an appearance there, with Ancestra being led to the large, gymnasium-sized training room.

Both the girl and the mage were ten meters away from each other, with Deb wielding his staff as if it was a crutch. He had a kind expression on his face. His position was the same; standing up straight, his head tilted a little to the side. Even though his form was relaxed, Ancestra couldn't see any openings at all, nor did she know how to spot them. His usually kind eyes felt like something else.

'He's looking down on me.' Ancestra's expression crumpled in discomfort, the Rose tightening around her heart just a little more. She put her bandaged hand over her chest, breathing in and out. She tried to stabilize herself to no avail. In fact, it made it even worse.

"Want a piece of advice?" Haruka shouted at Ancestra, farthest away from the two of them around fifteen meters along with Elspeth.

"I-I don't think there's pieces of advice given easily in the middle of battle, is there?" Ancestra looked at Haruka with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, if you have allies during the battle they give advice. And with Deb as your enemy, you definitely need advice." Haruka chuckled. Ancestra chuckled nervously in response.

"Don't listen to him." Haruka said it so casually, not even sounding like advice at all.

"What?"

"Okay, listen up you fuckers. We have a mock battle here with the resident pedophile and mage, Peccamvimus Debonair- fucking Ophelia your name is a mouthful- and Ancestra Elena Enicillis, the survivor from the boundary. The rules are that you do not use attacks that endanger both of your fucking lives, or else I, your host, Elspeth Omari Extrun, will have to intervene. You don't want my fuckin' ass to interfere. Trust me." Elspeth shouted with a sour tone for the people who decide to come over and watch.

"Overall, basically go try to fuckin' kill each other. Emphasis on TRY, for fucks sake." Elspeth cursed at the two, looking at them with her dark grey eyes. For some reason, they felt caring. Not at all vile or spiteful like her voice, which Ancestra found cute.

"You have five fucking minutes. Ancestra only needs to land ONE fucking hit in or render Deb unable to do anything. Deb has to knock Ancestra the fuck out or make her unable to do anything. That's about it." Elspeth finished setting the rules and let silence fill the tension in the air.

The crowd hushes down, thinking that even though there wasn't a signal yet, the battle feels like it's already started. A minute passes by, with Elspeth raising her metallic hand and a grin on her otherwise bored expression.

"Start!" She shouts.

"Do you feel confident, Ancy?" asked Deb nervously, scratching the back of his head. His form seemed so lax; it was scaring her. The Rose suffocates her chest in response.

"I-I'm not sure… I feel more scared than anything…" Ancestra stutters, lowering her body into a stance. She could feel her bandaged arm throb at the same pace as her heart, it accelerating and wounding itself against the Rose's silver thorns.

"Are you sure? I'm just a mage, you know. Close quarters fighters like you have it easy against mages like me." Deb downtalked himself, portraying himself to be as weak as he looked.

"I'm not the most fit as well, and my stamina is quite low. Even Haruka's stronger than me as a fellow mage, and she's also stronger than me physically." He laughed pathetically.

"…" Ancestra was sweating bullets, not knowing what to expect. She had to keep her focus on the ominous mage, which was hard due to her heart being constricted. She couldn't calm down, no matter what she did. She was already breathing into her nose, and out her mouth. She clenched her hands, biting her lip.

"I'm an easy target, Ancy. Come, hit me! Elspeth will give you a reward after you win!"

"OI, FUCKWAD! SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!" Elspeth shouted furiously, throwing a blade conjured out of nowhere that travelled inches away from his face to the wall meters away from him from the opposite side of the hall. It covered his vision for a critical moment.

"A-ahahaha… See? I couldn't even dodge that because it was so fast. I'm sure you followed all of that with your eyes, right?" Deb chuckled awkwardly, pointing at the mark left on the wooden wall while looking at the little girl. He was right, she followed everything that transpired in that small moment with her eyes.

She thought of following up after that to catch him by surprise, but she was paralyzed by nervousness.

'Tch. I gave her a chance. Now she can't win.' Elspeth cursed inward to herself, crossing her metal arms with a light clank. Haruka sighed, her hand gravitating to the shorter girl's head, patting it. Elspeth growled at Haruka but spared no extra effort to slap it off.

"If you won't come first, then I'll go ahead. Is that alright?" Deb asked the nervous Ancestra, who was busy eyeing him and gauging his movements. Her eyes haven't closed for more than a few seconds, and they're starting to water due to air exposure. He took one audible footstep, and Ancestra blinked, unable to take it anymore.

Hearing a large gust of wind follow after Deb's footstep, Ancestra was dragged by an indescribable force that lifted her body up into the air, then slamming back down into the ground. It hurt her more that that was such a bad moment to blink than her being pounded into the wooden floor.

The crowd was still silent due to how fast that small sequence was carried out. Ancestra got up, unaffected physically by the attack.

She readies her stance again, this time with the intent to strike. Deb shrunk back a little in fear.

"O-Oh Lia, here she comes." He whispered to himself, readying his cane to at least try and defend himself. It feels useless though.

Ancestra disappeared from her position without so much as a sound, before reappearing in front of Deb, her right hand pulled back and bolted forward like a gunshot. She was nervous but was confident it will hit.

Deb gently weaved to the right, her fist and arm inches away from his pretty face. He avoided it so easily that it made Ancestra's speed look like a joke. The mage swung his staff onto Ancestra's exposed back, only for Ancestra to twist her body in midair to follow up with a kick from below. Deb then readjusted his staff to stop her kick with unbelievable strength, definitely unbefitting a mage.

He waved his hands, Ancestra being dragged back by the same force that slammed her on the ground back to her original position. Ancestra breathed in, and out. She's calmed down a little bit. All of her movement made it seem that the air and winds were also in her command, especially her punch and mid-air body twisting. The amount of power and body strength it took to pull that was far more than an average human could achieve.

"Deb, you liar! You said you were weaker than me, then what was that?!" Ancestra shouted at the male, feeling cheated.

"Oh… so you felt confident you can hit me and went for it?" Deb smiled pathetically, scratching his cheek.

'Oh no.' Both thought Haruka and Elspeth.