The Final Test, Part Sixteen

Elisa walked forward confidently. The spider-like creature clicked its mandibles a few times as she approached. All Rin could do was watch as the battle began.

Quickly, Elisa dashed toward it, with both greatswords trailing behind her. As she reached the spider, she went for an overhead strike that the spider dodged, moving to the side. As soon as Elisa's greatswords hit the snow, however, she was raising them up again in pursuit of the enemy.

The monster spat something in Elisa's direction that the woman easily dodged, side-stepping it just like the monster had done. Closing the distance again, Elisa spun. Her blades briefly became a whirlwind that Rin's eyes couldn't quite track. Apparently, the same went for the spider, as it lost one of its four legs.

"Aaaaeeegh!" The spider let out an ear-rending shriek. Elisa didn't react at all.

[She got it!]

Elisa backed off as soon as she got that hit, putting distance between herself and the enemy. Rin wondered why she didn't go for the kill, but, judging by the serious expression on Elisa's face, she was taking this fight very seriously. She probably didn't want to take the chance of getting surprised by something.

It was insane how agile Elisa was, given her frame. Sure, the woman wasn't exactly "burly" or anything, but she did have quite a bit of muscle on her. Much more than Rin herself did. And yet, she was moving a lot faster than Rin, even though she was carrying two huge swords.

The enemy spat out another projectile, this one, however, took on a weird shape. The spider threw it above Elisa, and the projectile expanded into a ring. Neither Rin nor Elisa had expected that, and, as a result, Elisa wasn't able to avoid it. The ring then compressed once it was around her waist and Elisa was suddenly tied up.

[Wait, no!]

Instantly, the spider moved forward, clicking its mandibles.

For a split second, Rin wondered if she was about to witness something horrible. Instead, Elisa gritted her teeth and, through sheer strength alone, broke her restraints. As soon as she was free, she brought her swords forward and the spider halted its momentum, trying its hardest not to run into her blades. At that moment, Rin caught a smirk appearing on Elisa's face.

Elisa then dropped one of her greatswords, taking the other with two hands. Rin wondered what she was doing and became even more confused as she saw Elisa take up Cara's stance.

The spider-like creature didn't seem to know how to react. It spat out another projectile.

Before the shot was even out of its mouth, however, Elisa was right beside it. The spider flinched, trying to push itself away. Elisa was far too quick, though. With one swing, she took off its three remaining legs. Then, keeping her momentum, she transitioned that swing into a downward stab, and her sword went straight through the spider's head.

It was done.

Elisa exhaled deeply, flipped her hair over her shoulder, and turned toward Rin with a proud smile.

"Well," Elisa said as she picked up the sword she'd dropped and returned to Rin's position, "how did I look?"

"Great," Rin told her breathlessly, as she lay on the snow. "You're a natural."

"Yeah?" Elisa asked as she sheathed her swords and moved to pick Rin up. "If that's all you've got to say, then, damn. I've got to try harder next fight."

---

{Eve}

"Don't lose focus," Cara said, as she stood in front of Eve, with her blade stretched out. "Pretend I'm a much worse fighter than I am. I'm surrounded right now. What do you do?"

As she just stated, Cara was surrounded by ogres. The monsters roared at Cara as she stood defiantly in front of them, maintaining a fighting stance, but refusing to engage. Naturally, if Cara was fighting seriously, Eve fully believed that all three of these ogres would be dead before they could lift the clubs in their hands.

However, because this was a test for Eve, she was simply standing there, waiting for the fairy to do something.

[Think. Calm down,] Eve told herself. [Analyze the situation. Who should you go for first?]

At first, Eve wondered if the answer was to go for the closest ogre to herself. She then changed her mind, though, and turned her eyes to the ogre that was nearest to Cara. The reason was that all of them had their eyes set on her and not Eve.

[She said I should pretend she's a worse fighter. If she was, in this situation, the priority would be to attract as little attention as possible and keep Cara safe. Try to get her through the initial outnumbered fight and, once we take a couple of the ogres down, I can go fully offensive.]

Deciding on that, Eve flew backward, away from Cara. Cara smiled.

"Now what?" She asked.

The ogres weren't going to wait and see, however. As they saw Eve distance herself, they all ran toward Cara. Cara put her greatsword up into a defensive posture, waiting for their clubs to rain down on her.

Eve relieved the pressure a little, though.

[... Don't mess up the spellsign,] she told herself. [You've been practicing this spell. Get it done!]

On that note, Eve drew three different arrows in the air. One aiming up, two aiming diagonally. The result was a burst of different spheres of flames aimed in different directions. It wasn't a terribly precise spell, but it was good into groups of enemies like this.

One of the spheres of flames caught one of the ogres in the head, burning its eyes. Cara noticed that and quickly moved toward it. With one precise slash, she cut the ogre's head off.

[Yes!]

As the other ogres tried to seek revenge on behalf of their fallen ally, Cara did not attack them. Instead, she continued only defending herself until Eve made another move.

[Okay, now, it's a straight-up 2-on-2. Now, I need to give Cara space so that she can finish off these last two.]

"Cara, step back!"

"Got it."

Her teacher instantly responded to her call, putting some distance between herself and the ogres. Eve then quickly cast an Ice spell that made frozen spears burst out from the ground. One of them impaled an ogre through its chest. Cara eliminated this one as well.

Finally, Eve ended the battle with another Ice spell, except this one threw a frozen spear through the last ogre's head.

With all of their enemies dead, Cara turned toward Eve.

"YES!" Eve exclaimed before Cara could even say anything. "WE OWNED THOSE ASSHOLES!"

Cara barked out a laugh, nodding.

"You did. I just followed up on your moves. You're doing damn good, Eve. Keep it up."

Cara meant to turn away from Eve after saying that, but something stopped her. The fact that Eve threw herself at her teacher and embraced her.

Cara froze. Eve didn't care, though. She was feeling too good.

"... Heh," Cara chuckled as she placed a hand over Eve's back, returning the hug in her own way. "You should give yourself more credit, Eve. You're going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future. I promise."

Eve didn't say this, but in her thoughts she replied:

[With you guiding me, I almost believe that. You are so incredible.]