Fight

As Melissa looked through the stats of Emma, she could not help but be repeatedly surprised.

'As expected of the famous Emma Alston, she's stacked. She's close to achieving [Hero] status and attaining Rank S. It's no wonder the Mage Academy and the Guild Association consider her a prodigy.'

Melissa used [Clairvoyance] on her title.

[A Mage's Determination: Remaining calm while surrounded by danger is an important tool in surviving any situation, especially for mages who are known to be weak in close combat. As long as a mage is determined in the face of adversity, they can overcome anything (Willpower +20) (Standard Magus +10) (Fast Thinker +20) (Multicasting +10).]

'A decent title which makes her even more powerful. Being a [Mage] with a great reputation means she likely has a tone of spells available at her disposal. She's even a higher level than me. I would have more confidence if I was assassinating her, but combat in the open air is not my style.'

These thoughts happened within a second in Melissa's mind.

"Yes, a duel will suffice. But we will need some rules." Emma pondered over this for a few seconds.

"Um, isn't this going too far?" Bernice looked at the two and then looked at Abe for support.

"While it is important to know of her combat abilities, I don't think a duel is necessary." Abe also voiced his opinion.

"I..." Hester wanted to speak up but Emma shut him down.

"No! A duel is necessary! I will test her abilities whether you all like it or not!" Emma coldly looked at them all as a sinister glint appeared in her eyes.

The four of them shivered and backed away.

"Something's not right with Emma." Bernice whispered to Abe and Hester with concern.

"I can see that." Abe expressed a similar thought. He felt unnerved by her unusual behavior.

"Um, is she like this sometimes?" Hester whispered to Bernice.

She shook her head in response.

"She's never behaved like this. She's always calm and collected but very nice and helpful. She tries to do what's right and help others, but she's never spoke to me like that before."

"Maybe she just doesn't like her?" Hester tried to explain.

"Well, I guess we can only watch the duel if she wants it that badly. Nothin' wrong with a little friendly duel." Abe did not have much speaking power and decided to go with the flow.

"I hope so..." Bernice could only pray to the God of Tame, Cicur in her heart that nothing bad comes out of this.

"I can't think of a decent rule set. George, can you come up with one?" Emma looked over at George for advice who had finished cooking.

He walked over and pondered for a second.

"No killing or causing severe injuries should be allowed of course. Whoever breaks the rules is immediately disqualified and loses the duel. Whoever surrenders first, is knocked unconscious, or exhausts all their energy is the loser. The duel can be somewhere away from the camp so nothing is destroyed. The time limit is twenty minutes. After that, we all need to eat and head out so we don't waste additional time."

"That sounds good enough for me! What do you think Melissa?"

"That sounds fine as well." Melissa had a faint smile as her fighting intent surged. She was interested in fighting a famous person like Emma and testing out her capabilities even if her chances of winning were substantially lower then Emma's odds.

"Lead the way then George to the arena!" Emma ordered George in an unusual way as if he was her subordinate.

He grabbed a few pieces of skewered meat topped with herbs and said, "Follow me."

Emma and Melissa followed behind George as he led them into the woods. Abe, Bernice, and Hester hesitantly looked at each other before joining as well.

After a few minutes of fast walking, they left the forest and went into another prairie field.

This prairie field was a little different than the usual ones.

Traces of destruction from the Great Demonic Wars could be seen everywhere.

Larger craters were everywhere and some of them were still a little barren as if explosions had bombarded the area. Huge scars cut across the land like giant swords had cut into the ground.

A few rusty armored vehicles and tanks laid scattered across the area within the tall grass. Metal pieces from fallen planes, guns, and buildings were scattered as well. Tons of bullet shells could be seen on the surface or half-buried beneath the soil if you moved the grass and looked hard.

It can be imagined that there were a lot of battles that happened here.

The demons retreated when their Demon Emperor Infernum was defeated along with many of their demon lords. The battles moved into the mountains as humanity fought to push back the scourge that had ravaged their lands for hundreds of years. Casualties on both sides likely created a large grave of skeletons hidden beneath the soil.

A lot of the destroyed stuff here was likely left to rot and gradually return to mother nature.

Now, a duel is taking place here that will disturb the peace once again.

"I just want to eat breakfast." Bernice complained as her stomach made growling sounds.

"Didn't think this would be happening." Abe has a look of interest on his face.

Hester merely watched in silence as the George, Emma, and Melissa walked to the center of the prairie field. Him and the other two would be watching from their current spot.

After all, a fight between two Rank A adventurers can be very damaging to their environment and send debris flying. Not a whole lot of people have the opportunity to witness an event like this.

Melissa and Emma looked at each other from a hundred feet away.

George stood in the middle as he munched on his breakfast meal seemingly indifferent about the fight about to happen.

Internally, however, he was slightly interested in the match. This would allow him to gauge the combat potential of the two and collect data which can be useful for their survival in the mountains. If not, he would have told Emma to leave Melissa alone and eat already.

"I'll be the coach, which means I determine who wins, loses, or breaks the rules. No exceptions. Are the two of you ready?"

"Yes." Emma released her fighting intent as her magical aura soared.

"Yes." Melissa revealed a slight smile as her intent grew. As she finished tying her hair into a bun, a shadowy dark aura soared around her.

"3... 2... 1... Fight!"

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Notes:

* Nothing worth noting this time.